Trivia - Obsolete Railway Terms still used

[83G/84D]

My pet hate lol

Me too!

 

[83G/84D]

I remember overhearing a conversation not that long ago between two staff members about the cause of a delay to their train by the one in front.
'They had to knock out a cripple'. Any other unsuspecting passenger in earshot could have been most concerned.

The cripple phrase is still in use on West Country depots.

During an incident in Cornwall recently a failed unit had to be moved as a ‘swinger’.

Could be misinterpreted!

 

[ArchieWoodbine]

A common one, but I suppose 'head-code" is somewhat obsolete, given locomotives haven't carried a code on the front for years.

I've found Hitachi's appropriation of the word "express" in IET obsolete/incorrect - an express in the true sense wouldn't stop every 15-20 minutes between Reading and Bristol.

 

[alangla]

CAPE and PINE surely? They’re telegraph codes AFAIK

 

[Royston Vasey]

It's been called 16-25 since before I got mine but I still use young persons'!

At least the official discount code printed on the ticket is now 16-25, it still reads NSE on Network Railcard discounted tickets!

 

[The Planner]

CAPE and PINE surely? They’re telegraph codes AFAIK

CAPE is often used still, can't see that one going.

Rules of the Route still being used for the Engineering Access Statement and Rules of the Plan for the Timetable Planning Rules.

 

[xotGD]

It's been called 16-25 since before I got mine but I still use young persons'!

Isn't it still called a Student Railcard?

 

[yorksrob]

"One train in steam" operation.

I've heard "compartment" used for saloon, even though there aren't any compartments anymore and "corridor" used instead of vestibule.

 

[Mojo]

Do drivers and guards still refer to signals as 'boards' or 'sticks'?

Common on the Underground for stick to still be used to describe a signal.

 

[mrdon]

Isn't it still called a Student Railcard?

Has nothing to do with students.

 

[jtuk]

There's got to be a last train back on a Saturday joke in here somewhere

 

[hexagon789]

"One train in steam" operation.

I've heard "compartment" used for saloon, even though there aren't any compartments anymore and "corridor" used instead of vestibule.

I've heard corridor or corridor connexion for gangway.

 

[cool110]

Has nothing to do with students.

It has everything to do with students, before 1980 it was for them only (the Student Railcard name lasting until 1982) and mature students are still eligible for them now.

 

[alxndr]

Where is the line between obsolete and slang? Dots, dummy, and feather aren’t official terms but I don’t know which category they fall under, or if it’s both.

I still hear team leaders called TOs (technical officers). In fog, rain, or falling snow into the cabin we will go is a rule now obsolete too.

 

[Deepgreen]

The standard British road sign for a level crossing is surely an obsolete image

View attachment 57511

Not entirely - steam trains still use many level crossings (main line and preserved) and the silhouette is instantly recognisable.

 

[Deepgreen]

A word/term that is still incorporated into railway parlance is 'OFF' for signals that are clear, dating back to times when semaphore arms rested against a stop when at danger. Of course, the term is still valid where semaphores remain, but it appears incongruous in modern environments where LEDs light to show, for example, "OFF UP" as a platform repeater with LED signals.

 

[Emblematic]

The use of "break" in place of the more modern "brake." Especially common on this forum
I particularly like it as, if you read railway historic documents prior to around 1880, the usual spelling for decelerating devices on a train was indeed "the breaks." The "locomotive break." The guards "hand break." American railroads even had "Breakmen." English was a much more fluid language before the late 19th century. It helps to imagine that I am sharing the forum with bearded, pipe smoking history buffs; although I'm usually shaken out of that thought within a posting or two...

 

[mrdon]

It has everything to do with students, before 1980 it was for them only (the Student Railcard name lasting until 1982) and mature students are still eligible for them now.

Pencils used to have lead in them however it’s 2019 and they now have nothing to do with lead. In the same way as maybe that card was to do with students in the Middle Ages, it’s been unrelated to students and aimed generically at young people for as far back as I was eligible for one and had one.

 

[randyrippley]

"cheap tickets" is a phrase no longer relevant or valid

 

[olympus]

A common one, but I suppose 'head-code" is somewhat obsolete, given locomotives haven't carried a code on the front for years

The term 'headcode' is used to refer to the National Reservations System number for passenger trains, not the signalling id or train reporting number that many people call a 'headcode'.

I didn't realise 'feather' was an unofficial term, it must be used as often as the official equivalent.

 

[sw1ller]

I’m still hearing “Arriva” instead of TfW, mainly by my boss to be fair!

The use of "break" in place of the more modern "brake." Especially common on this forum
I particularly like it as, if you read railway historic documents prior to around 1880, the usual spelling for decelerating devices on a train was indeed "the breaks." The "locomotive break." The guards "hand break." American railroads even had "Breakmen." English was a much more fluid language before the late 19th century. It helps to imagine that I am sharing the forum with bearded, pipe smoking history buffs; although I'm usually shaken out of that thought within a posting or two...

The first genuinely funny post I’ve seen on this forum. Thank you.

 

[BluePenguin]

Lots of people still saying "saver" and "super saver" when talking about ticket types. I also hear "standard" and "cheap day" sometimes

 

[BluePenguin]

Or e

Train Manager instead of Guard

or even conductor

 

[Quakers Yard]

Overcarried

 

[Hadders]

Open Return

 

[Taunton]

I've heard corridor or corridor connexion for gangway.

Spelling connection as connexion is also obsolete now The GWR used to like this for "train connexion at junction". It went along with "tickets must be shewn" covered above. Language does change.

The various terms corridor, gangway and vestibule get used interchangeably. Open saloon stock, now normal, used to get called Centre Corridor stock. Traditionally you had all three, or none, on a coach. One that has disappeared is calling a single compartment a "Carriage".

 

[Ianigsy]

Arguably the use of "carriage" harks back to when the first passenger-carrying vehicles were essentially stagecoach bodies on railway underframes.
The idea of having your face or back "to the engine" still seems to hang around, even when more often than not these days that would mean lying face down on the floor...

Wigan North Western recalls the name of a company which hasn't existed for nearly a century (unless the new LNW have plans we don't know about!).

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Trains are still stabled, like horses were.
Network Rail is working hard to get rid of the term "points", they are now "switches and crossings - the movable sections of track that guide trains from one track to another" in every press piece about track work.
There are many, many differences between English and American railway/road terms, like cancelled (annulled), sleeper (tie) etc etc, and gradually the English terms are losing ground.
My particular beef is when the BBC uses the term "subway" instead of "underground" or "metro" system, when they are not talking about the USA - eg in Tokyo or Singapore.
To me you walk through a subway, not get on a train.

 

[HowardGWR]

I still buy a railway ticket to travel on the railway from a railway station.

'Yoof' now buys a train ticket to travel on the train line from a train station.

 

[Emblematic]

The first genuinely funny post I’ve seen on this forum. Thank you.

Oh I don't know, quite a few times I've nearly choked on my pink gin over some of the postings. Very hard to get the Angostura bitters stains out of the smoking jacket...