How to say class numbers?

[alexl92]

Bit of an odd one, this, but I'm just interested to know how most people on the railways pronounce the class numbers of multiple units?

Let me clarify: Obviously with a class 91, we say "Ninety one".

But with a 158, do people tend to say One Hundred-and-Fifty-Eight, One-Fifty-Eight or One-Five-Eight? Is there an 'official' pronounciation?

 

[Clip]

one-five-eight

Its probably all to do with communication via things like telephone or radio from the old days where its easier to understand than any other way of saying a number so people know exactly what message is being transmitted - that's why its ZERO and not OH and so on .

 

[Crossover]

One-five-eight for your example

I'd say that's the rule for anything not ending in zero. Ie 390 is three-ninety whilst 395 would be three-nine-five

2 digits would be said as is, such as ninety-one as your example

 

[alexl92]

Cheers - that's always how I've pronounced it but suddenly realised that I had no idea if it was correct.

 

[GospelOak117]

I'd go with "One Five Eight" for most classes. But like previously mentioned if there is a zero on the end it becomes "three ten (310)" for example. I also find myself to do this with x11 and x12 classes too. Class "four eleven" and "three twelve". But on the teens it returns to form "class three one three".

Would anyone agree?

 

[SqUaShIe P]

Interesting subject
For like locos, I would normally say 'sixty-six' or 'thirty-seven' or 'ninety-one'
For units, Its varies for me so much.
Id say 'one-four-two'. the then on the other hand, I would say 'one-fifty' and then I go back to 'one-five-five'
I remember thinking about this years ago with bus route numbers in London, Most of them, I would say the numbers individually, but one of my local routes, the 150, Again, I always pronounced it as 'one-fifty'...
its a strange things, I cant explain why i say some differently, because in safety critical railway communications, you always say numbers as individual digits :/

 

[telstarbox]

TfL's iBus (talking buses) use the same system as above:
"One Seven Seven to Thamesmead"
"One Eighty to Belvedere Industrial Area"

 

[AM9]

TfL's iBus (talking buses) use the same system as above:
"One Seven Seven to Thamesmead"
"One Eighty to Belvedere Industrial Area"

Years ago I had a car with Trafficmaster fitted. This was a receiver that announced delays on nearby roads. Saying things like 'slow traffic on em-twenty-five....' (M25) or 'stationary traffic on ay-forty-one' A42 sounded right, but I had to think about an announcement of 'stationary traffic on ay-four-fourteen' (A414) which we all call the 'ay-four-one-four' around here as seems to be the consensus from this thread.

 

[Western Lord]

The convention in British English is to pronounce three digit numbers "one-two-three" rather than "one-twenty three", unless the last digit is zero, in which case it would be "one-twenty" etc. However, this does not apply to 110, which most people would render as "a hundred and ten" rather than "one-ten". In American English it is different, as shown by Boeing's family of jet airliners. This began with the 707 (seven-oh-seven, never seven-zero-seven) and then progressed through 727, 737, 747 etc. In Britain we refer to the "seven-two-seven" etc., but in North America they say "seven-twenty seven" etc.

 

[samuelmorris]

Me personally, because I'm awkward! - some examples
91 - ninety one
90 - ninety
170 - one seventy
172 - one seven two
309 - three oh nine
312 - three one two
315 - three one five
360 - three sixty
377 - three seven seven
700 - seven hundred
707 - seven oh seven
710 (if one were to exist) - seven ten
801 - eight oh one

 

[DelW]

A relative of mine who had worked for BR in the 1960s used the digit by digit method for locos as well, as in a 'class-four-seven' which always sounded odd to me. However I don't know if that was general in the early days of TOPS class numbers, or just a personal quirk. Previously that would have been a 'Brush type four' or just 'Brush four'.

 

[Mikey C]

The convention in British English is to pronounce three digit numbers "one-two-three" rather than "one-twenty three", unless the last digit is zero, in which case it would be "one-twenty" etc. However, this does not apply to 110, which most people would render as "a hundred and ten" rather than "one-ten". In American English it is different, as shown by Boeing's family of jet airliners. This began with the 707 (seven-oh-seven, never seven-zero-seven) and then progressed through 727, 737, 747 etc. In Britain we refer to the "seven-two-seven" etc., but in North America they say "seven-twenty seven" etc.

The 777 is interesting as while there is a British seven-seven-seven usage, the standard US name seems to be Triple-seven!

I've definitely never heard the Class 444 units referred to as Triple fours

 

[D6975]

I called 310s three tens
but I called 110s one one ohs
(when I used their class number - more usually Calder Valley Set)
There's consistancy for you...

 

[Doctor Fegg]

I think I'd generally pronounce them the same as road numbers. I'm trying to think of a counterexample but can't - A442, Class 442; A47, Class 47; M180, Class 180; A221, horrid cramped thing with toilet smell... right, found the counterexample.

 

[Controller1701]

[/B]

Me personally, because I'm awkward! - some examples
91 - ninety one Nine One
90 - ninety Nine Zero
170 - one seventy One Seven Zero
172 - one seven two
309 - three oh nine Three Zero Nine
312 - three one two
315 - three one five
360 - three sixty Three Six Zero
377 - three seven seven
700 - seven hundred Seven Zero Zero
707 - seven oh seven Seven Zero Seven
710 (if one were to exist) - seven ten Seven One Zero
801 - eight oh one Eight Zero One

The bold parts indicate the correct spoken terminology.

Paul

 

[deltic1989]

I may be throwing a spanner in the works here. What is the convention with shunters?
For example class 08, would that be rendered as oh-eight, or just simply eight?

 

[alexl92]

110 seems to be the most controversial then? Personally I read that as one-ten rather than one-one-oh, just as I'd read 180 as one-eighty - it hadn't occurred to me that that one might be the exception to the rule!

 

[breadfan]

How would you say 150271? One-fifty-two-seven-one? So it sounds like 15271?

 

[Taunton]

Old GWR/Western Region steam locomotives had four digit numbers, the first two relating to its class.

Loco numbers were always pronounced digit-by-digit. A video I saw a while ago, where the narrator pronounced them in pairs, really grated. 4932 (an old Taunton stalwart) was always "Four-Nine-Three-Two", but this commentator would have said "Forty-nine, thirty-two", and the class was a "Forty-nine". Nobody EVER called a "Hall" that. 3669 was "Three-double six-nine".

 

[MK Tom]

I called 310s three tens
but I called 110s one one ohs
(when I used their class number - more usually Calder Valley Set)
There's consistancy for you...

Curiously, 310 is an exception for me, as I say 'three one oh' even though I say 'three twenty', 'three fifty' (or 'Desiro' ) and so on.

Sadly I'm too young to have had cause to refer to class 110s much, but 210 I say 'two one oh'.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

How would you say 150271? One-fifty-two-seven-one? So it sounds like 15271?

It would to an american, but very few british people would say '152' as 'one fifty two'. Also you leave a slight pause when saying unit numbers, between the 0 and the 2 in this case.

I'd be curious to see how people pronounce certain numbers though. For instance I'd say 310069 as ''three one oh, oh six nine'' and 90047 as ''ninety oh four seven''.

Also curious if I'm different to most people or not in saying subclasses like ''three fifty threes'' or ''eighty six sixes''. I find it awkward to keep saying ''type'' or ''slash''.

 

[306024]

Back in the day it took me a while to get the hang of how loco numbers were pronounced in Liverpool St Control

47581 - Fourty Seven Five Eight One
37027 - Thirty Seven Oh Two Seven
But
31163 - Three Eleven Sixty Three

Any class 31 that began 311xx was pronounced thus.

 

[Cherry_Picker]

I'm trying to think of an example of when you would be required to give a class number on a formal basis. If you need to report a specific fault with a loco or unit to the signaller or depot then you give the full number, ie, one six five zero three five if you were reporting a problem with 165035.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

I don't work on the railway, so no disasters will result, but my own convention is:

09 = oh nine
15 = fifteen
20 = twenty
37 = thirty-seven
55 = Deltic!

101 = one oh one
110 = one ten
158 = one five eight

333 = three three three

Though when I was a kid and first got into trains, I would have said "one-fifty-six" rather than one five six.

 

[TheEdge]

I'm trying to think of an example of when you would be required to give a class number on a formal basis. If you need to report a specific fault with a loco or unit to the signaller or depot then you give the full number, ie, one six five zero three five if you were reporting a problem with 165035.

In those situations I tend to give them as one seventy two oh eight. Never had an issue.

 

[alexl92]

I may be throwing a spanner in the works here. What is the convention with shunters?
For example class 08, would that be rendered as oh-eight, or just simply eight?

I think officially it's zero-eight but I would say oh-eight

 

[DarloRich]

does it matter - say whatever you are comfortable with

If it was communication in a formal sense surely you would read the whole number one digit at a time to ensure understanding by the receiver

 

[DelW]

Loco numbers were always pronounced digit-by-digit. A video I saw a while ago, where the narrator pronounced them in pairs, really grated. 4932 (an old Taunton stalwart) was always "Four-Nine-Three-Two", but this commentator would have said "Forty-nine, thirty-two", and the class was a "Forty-nine". Nobody EVER called a "Hall" that. 3669 was "Three-double six-nine".

US loco numbers are always four digits, and (from watching American videos anyway) their convention is to pronounce them as two pairs with a definite article in front, so 1234 becomes "the twelve thirty four".

 

[HSTfan!!!]

I think officially it's zero-eight but I would say oh-eight

we certainly refer to them as oh-eights where I work

 

[Doctor Fegg]

In general I prefer to use "oh" than "zero". The latter is easily confused with "seven" over a dodgy phone line.

 

[Western Lord]

The 777 is interesting as while there is a British seven-seven-seven usage, the standard US name seems to be Triple-seven!

I've definitely never heard the Class 444 units referred to as Triple fours

The 777 is the exception! Seven-seventy seven is too much of a mouthful of sevens, as is seven-seven-seven. People in the business almost universally refer to it as the triple seven. They also refer to the other Boeings as just seven-three, seven-five, seven-eight etc.

As far as 110 is concerned, I am old enough to remember the Austin A110 and Wolseley 6/110 motor cars (!). They were A hundred and ten and 6/ hundred and ten. never A one-ten or 6/ one-ten. Most people would refer to a hundred and ten bus, rather than one-ten or one-one-oh.

Of course, one area where all this changes is in cricket. One would more often say "England are three hundred and sixty five for one" (if only) than "three-six-five", though Australians are more likely to say "three-sixty five" and all three expressions are acceptable.