There is precedent for calling railroad things a shortened name ending in -er: if a railroad refrigerator car can be a ‘reefer’, someone somewhere on some RR may well call tank cars ‘tankers’. After all, hopper car ‘hopper’; steam locomotive, ‘steamer’; telegraph operator, ‘telegrapher’; and locomotive fireman, ‘firer’.
Even the Department of Labor recognizes that last one, “**Job Code:**53-4012.00 **Job Title:**Locomotive Firers **Job Description:**Monitor locomotive instruments and watch for dragging equipment, obstacles on rights-of-way, and train signals during run. Watch for and relay traffic signals from yard workers to yard engineer in railroad yard.” https://www.ui.labor.mo.gov/Autocoder/servlet/autocoder.server.InternetClaimsServlet?TITLE=Journey%20wireman&DESCRIPTION
Hmm, boxcars ‘boxers’? flat cars ‘flatters’? gondola cars, ‘goners’? (I’ve seen a few that just about were)
