mailbyrail
Member
- Joined
- 23 Dec 2010
- Messages
- 356
Think they may be replicas, but a good point.At the time those signs were first installed it may well be that passengers were more familiar with the terms.
Strong British influence on C19th Spanish railways perhaps a factor?Spain uses UP and DOWN in exactly the same way as Britain
Ascendente takes you to Madrid as shown by the arrows on the map.
Descendente takes you away
The philologist in me would postulate the idea that the inhabitants of the valleys could have referred to north as up & south as down (to match the flow of the rivers) as a regiolectal feature predating the arrival of the railways. It seems to me the most logical way of referring to direction in the area given that the valleys do not always run perfectly north-south, but wend somewhat. For the railways to use the inverse would simply have been too confusing for the local population.I'm being pedantic here, but I'd suggest that that system, if it existed, agreed with mapping, a human construct, not geography, a physical reality. We're so used to maps with north at the top, hence northwards being "up", that we tend to assume that's a natural norm. In fact it's not so, many early maps were oriented differently, often with east at the top - hence the word (orient signifying east).
Doesn't help with your query at all though
I did accept the similar points made in posts 17 & 24, that elevation and river flow are a more logical and obvious origin of the terms than my assumption of map orientationThe philologist in me would postulate the idea that the inhabitants of the valleys could have referred to north as up & south as down (to match the flow of the rivers) as a regiolectal feature predating the arrival of the railways. It seems to me the most logical way of referring to direction in the area given that the valleys do not always run perfectly north-south, but wend somewhat. For the railways to use the inverse would simply have been too confusing for the local population.
Perhaps moreso when you consider the canals that predated the railways: you would literally be going up and down in the locks!The philologist in me would postulate the idea that the inhabitants of the valleys could have referred to north as up & south as down (to match the flow of the rivers) as a regiolectal feature predating the arrival of the railways. It seems to me the most logical way of referring to direction in the area given that the valleys do not always run perfectly north-south, but wend somewhat. For the railways to use the inverse would simply have been too confusing for the local population.