Trivia: Common railway related fallacies

[317666]

There's a guard's van for your stuff

And porters are on hand on every platform at every station to help you with your ten suitcases onto the train!

 

[trainophile]

And porters are on hand on every platform at every station to help you with your ten suitcases onto the train!

And there will be room for everyone's ten suitcases!

 

[The Decapod]

People who describe a modern electric or diesel train to small children as a "choo-choo train"

 

[CyrusWuff]

Everything was so much better under British Rail. The trains were always clean, ran on time, were never short-formed or cancelled due to failures, and you always got a seat even at the height of rush hour.

 

[mrd269697]

People are often surprised when I inform them Merseyrail are part of the national rail network and we can issue tickets to anywhere in the country, a lot of people think it’s like the underground, or like metrolink.

 

[py_megapixel]

A lot of people think it’s like the underground, or like metrolink.

Probably because that's exactly what Merseyrail's marketing appears to be trying to convince people. And also their attitude with regards to ticketing (refusing to print tickets bought online and also refusing to accept e-tickets)

 

[norbitonflyer]

And porters are on hand on every platform at every station to help you with your ten suitcases onto the train!

All staff working on a station are called "porters" (or, in some children's stories "guards" - JK Rowling, I'm looking at you......)

 

[janahan]

That the diesel or electric motive power unit that heads a train is an engine. It's a locomotive. The engine is the prime mover inside a diesel locomotive (or on or under a DMU car).

Actually, if you want to be pedantic, the correct term (if you look up history) is a "Locomotive Engine" (as opposed to Stationary Engine), following the following reasoning:
Locomotion: traditionally means the act or ability of something to transport or move itself from place to place.
Locomotive: prior to the railways meant: relating to movement or the ability to move
Locomotive Engine: a "self propelled" machine that provides locomotion (technically doesnt have to even be a railway locomotive engine, though commonly refers to one - see road steam engines)
Stationary Engine: a fixed engine that provides locomotion to a seperate entity.

Prime Mover is an awkward term, because in the case of a diesel-electric it only refers to the diesel engine, but the action motive power that provides the tractive effort is an electric motor.