jerk-water

plural jerk-waters

1. derogatoryrail transportA branch line train, using light equipment

   The mail was brought by a tiny "jerk-water" bobtail dummy and coach run by one, Tony, from Pearl City, a mile away, to a station near the end of the peninsula.

   1918, Charmian London, Jack London and Hawaii, page 19

comparative more jerk-water · superlative most jerk-water

1. UScolloquialderogatoryOf an inhabited place, small, isolated, backward.

   That seems to disappoint them, for every sociologist likes to go back to some jerk-water college and tell those who are in the sociological class how they had to get their information by pantomime."

   1907, Charles Stelzle, Christianity's Storm Centre: A Study of the Modern City, page 103

2. UScolloquialderogatoryrail transportRailroads with low traffic.

   He had risen to the head of the greatest street car system in the world from the position of brakeman on a jerk-water railroad.

   1915, Daniel Jacob Hauer, The Economics of Contracting: A Treatise for Contractors, Engineers […], volume II, page 212

   1 more example

   Can the keen-minded Mr. Willard at Baltimore be more anxious than the keen-minded Mr. Rea at Philadelphia to undertake the management of jerk-water branches in Connecticut or in Rhode Island or down on Cape Cod ?

   1922, Edward Hungerford, Our Railroads To-morrow, page 297