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© Copyright 2000, Jim Loy
In the game of straight
rail, the object of the game is to hit both of the object balls with
your cue ball (one player has the white cue ball, the other player has the
yellow cue ball). Unlike 3-cushion billiards, you do not have to hit any rails.
See my animations of the important shots, The Rail Nurse
and The Pass Nurse.
The animation, on the left, shows another important shot in straight rail, the chuck nurse. The first object ball is frozen to the rail. The cue ball is hit very very softly, double kisses the first object ball (not moving it), and just barely nudges the second object ball (not moving it), and ending with the same shot. With the use of the chuck nurse, a player can run many points. In 1912, William A. Spinks ran 1010 with this shot alone, and quit with the balls still in the diagrammed position. Because of runs like this, the rules of balkline billiards were adjusted to eliminate this shot. I won't go into the rule changes here.
The player can move the first object ball to the left or right, adjusting its position, with the use of side English.
Willie Hoppe mentioned that Charlie Peterson ran 20,000 points with this shot, in one hour, 41 minutes, and eight seconds, which is almost 4 shots per second.