DCHP-1 Online
whistle stop † 
a small, unimportant town or village, so called because trains indicated by a whistle whether or not a stop was to be made.
- 1957 The railway traveler sees only the dismal villages of the main line, the whistle stops around a wooden grain elevator, a skating rink, and a garage.
- 1958 At whistle stops in Nova Scotia's Annapolis Valley . . . she left her train to mingle with crowds on station platforms.
- 1964 At this whistle stop on the way to James Bay . . . they take the place of the family car. . . .
- 1966 Station agents at these whistle stops also came in for their share of chivvying and those who failed to accept the banter in good humor ran the risk of being shanghaied aboard the train and not released until hundreds of miles from home.
- 1957 The railway traveler sees only the dismal villages of the main line, the whistle stops around a wooden grain elevator, a skating rink, and a garage.