European Railroad Discussion > U.S. vs. U.K. railway terms

Interesting article on BBC.com about why Americans call train drivers "engineers".  Apparently that term was also used in 19th century England and was carried over across the pond. Today in the U.K. "driver" is the term always used for the person driving the train. Makes sense as do many other U.K. railway terms such as "triangle" (wye), "carridge" (car), "footplate" (cab). To me the strange one has always been "sleeper." To us, its a car you sleep in. To them, its a tie.  

http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-32758223

George Bernard Shaw said that Britain and America are divided by a common language.
No more so that in the world of railways / railroads. For instance, a bank (incline) is a grade,  chimney is stack , sleepers are ties, points are switches, "right away!" is "Highball!", bogie is a truck, passing loop is a siding, level crossing is a grade crossing, gradients are measured as a percentage (1 in 50 is 2 percent), station is a depot, platform is a track, signal box is an interlocking plant, brake van is a caboose, wagon or truck is a car, pilot engine is a helper, a banker loco is a pusher, loco footplate is the deck, shunter is switcher, a yard or shed driver is a hostler, northbound and southbound or main track rather than British Up and Down, Fast or Slow, Through or Local lines, permanent way department is maintenance of way, railway enthusiast is a railfan ...
The list goes on and on!
John McIvor
svsfilm.com
 

andersonb109 Wrote:
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> Interesting article on BBC.com about why Americans
> call train drivers "engineers".  Apparently that
> term was also used in 19th century England and was
> carried over across the pond. Today in the U.K.
> "driver" is the term always used for the person
> driving the train. Makes sense as do many other
> U.K. railway terms such as "triangle" (wye),
> "carridge" (car), "footplate" (cab). To me the
> strange one has always been "sleeper." To us, its
> a car you sleep in. To them, its a tie.  

That would be carriage, no "d" rather a second "a".

newtonville150 Wrote:
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> http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-327
> 58223

Illustrated by a photo of an Italian footplateman I think. Looks like FS on his overall.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/18/15 06:33 by 86235.

Ooooooooh you've started something now.
Keith G, London, UK

There is some common language here,  when there were railways in Newfoundland, they called locomotive engineers "drivers".

Oddly enough, with enforcement of language law in Quebec, the academics and professionals who enforced said laws chose to use Classical or European French terminology.
Wrong idea .....Quebec French has evolved in the last three hundred years, and the "cheminots" (railroaders) had adopted their own terminology. Of course, the working railroaders in Quebec and New Brunswick wasted no time in making this known to the bureaucrats in Quebec City, and in time North American French has replaced Eurofrench.

Example ; Eurofrench   Snowplow = Chasse Neige,   Quebec French   Snowplow = Chareux.    Parks Canada had to replace many road signs which used European French which the
"routiers"  (truckers) said they could not understand the signs because they were written in Belgian.

One fact of life in North America is that when a term become commonly used by the population, the dictionary writers add it to the dictionaries. Some European countries jealously guard traditional language, and to the French elites, this is the case. As a former Montrealer, I learned and used the "patois" of that City.

US vs. UK railroad/railway terms

As a follower of the USENET newsgroup uk.railway , I find this discussion very interesting as I often find strange (to me) terms used in that group.

A couple from down here in OZ.We referr to switches as points.Another is Bogies = trucks.
Regards,DK

I thought railfans in the UK were called gricers.

Dick

2ebright Wrote:
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> I thought railfans in the UK were called gricers.

Not a term you hear very often these days

To expand on His Eminence's point about there being variation in terms between Quebecois French and Classical French, the same sort of parallel exists between the Spanish railroad terms used in Mexico vs. South America (and, presumably Spain).  Wagon vs. carro, or example.  The differences are really pretty extensive to the point that they're really considered separate languages for operations and car (wagon) control systems.

JohnMcIvor Wrote:
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>
> ...station is a depot, platform is a track...
> The list goes on and on!
> John McIvor
> svsfilm.com
>  

In the US, a station is a point designated in the employee timetable. Nothing more or less. A depot is (usually) a structure used to shelter passengers of freight, but is not defined in the rules. I don't think the UK "depot" is the same as the US "station".

They call a track "platform"? I've never heard this, can you explain?

Here a "corridor" train would bring to mind something on the Northeast Cor rider.  In the UK, a "corridor" train is
one that had an aisle allow you to walk from car to car, rather than just separated compartments accessible
only through exterior doors.

Personally, I always liked "bogies" in place of "trucks" on a car.