Railway "terminology"

[Jydo]

been looking around the net as well as on here for maybe some kind of list with some railway terminology on it, can't find much?? looking for pretty basic stuff, just abbreviations, acronyms that sort of stuff, can anyone help out with a list or point me in the right direction? spad's, emu's dmu's etc etc that sort of stuff...

 

[Nym]

The jargon buster at work is about 280 pages long, so I don't think a full list would be best.

I'm sure if you listed what you wanted to know someone on here would answer it...

(Signal Passed at Danger)
(Electric Multiple Unit)
(Diesel Multiple Unit)

 

[Jydo]

I don't want to know anything in particular, just looking for some kind of handy list, 280 page jargon buster? shouldn't that be brain buster?

 

[EM2]

Something like this?
http://www.safety.networkrail.co.uk/Services/Jargon-Buster

 

[Jydo]

I'll sift through that in no time, thanks

 

[t o m]

You could try Ellis' British Railway Engineering Encyclopedia.

 

[Pumbaa]

And this; Captain Deltic's 'Topical Railway Acronym Converter':

http://www.alycidon.com/ALYCIDON RAIL/trac.htm

 

[DJL]

I've often thought that this forum needs some kind of hover function for acronyms and class numbers.

How member of this forum know the difference between a 375 and 377 without looking it up? (Probably quite a few but no means all).

Unfortunately I suspect the code for this forum is too closed to enable making such changes

 

[CaptainHaddock]

There's an excellent glossary on the Scot-Rail site as well.

http://www.scot-rail.co.uk/page/Glossary

(NB Scot-Rail is not the same as Scotrail!)

 

[GB]

I've often thought that this forum needs some kind of hover function for acronyms and class numbers.

How member of this forum know the difference between a 375 and 377 without looking it up? (Probably quite a few but no means all).

Unfortunately I suspect the code for this forum is too closed to enable making such changes

Is it really that difficult to look up class numbers if you so wish? I don't see why you would need to know the differences in this context anyway.

 

[bb21]

I've often thought that this forum needs some kind of hover function for acronyms and class numbers.

There is no real need for the forum to provide such a function, mainly because there is extensive information available in the public domain in respect of what you are looking for. We are not going to be able to provide a more comprehensive guide to things such as rolling stock classes than sources like Wikipedia.

 

[PeterY]

I must admit, I still struggle with some acronyms that are used. If a 3 letter code is used for a station, I end up looking it up in my rail guide.

 

[ainsworth74]

You may find it quicker to consult National Rail Enquiries as it recognises three letter codes and could be faster than flicking through a book.

 

[DarloRich]

TLA's run the railway! We love them

 

[DJL]

Is it really that difficult to look up class numbers if you so wish? I don't see why you would need to know the differences in this context anyway.

In what context?

No it's not hard but this was only a (somewhat bad I admit) example.

Having a simple hover function that pops up a single picture of the class, the full name for a station code or a brief explanation of a common railway acronym would be very useful for those who don't have the same extensive knowledge as the professionals on this forum.

If I said "I once saw a 411 do a SPAD between AYP and SID" that's 4 things for someone without much knowledge to look up. (Another bad example, I know)

However as I already stated - it probably can't be done without replacing the entire forum (which I don't propose, not least because a lot of members will be very used to what is here and won't like change)

 

[telstarbox]

Wikipedia has lists of DMUs and EMUs with a photo and a link to the full article for every class.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

With this particular thread in mind, a few of the postings that can be occasionally found upon this website are rather too full of differing railway acronyms for forum members not fully accquainted with such terminology to understand.

 

[IanXC]

Our forum rules do consider these matters:

Please remember many members do not understand rail “jargon” (including acronyms, station codes and specialist terms). Such terms should be correctly defined the first time they are used; codes and abbreviations must not be made up.

If you see something which doesn't meet this (or any other rule) please do report it, and we will make the post clearer.

 

[orpine]

There is no real need for the forum to provide such a function, mainly because there is extensive information available in the public domain in respect of what you are looking for. We are not going to be able to provide a more comprehensive guide to things such as rolling stock classes than sources like Wikipedia.

Agree on the rolling stock (although you could do mouse-overs linking to wikipedia) but disagree on acronyms.
For example - EMU has 42 definitions on this page - http://www.acronymfinder.com/EMU.html - two of which include the word train, several others are plausible.

SPAD has 13 - http://www.acronymfinder.com/SPAD.html - had a not known what it was, I'd say it could be two or three of them at a glance.


A nice, built in de-acronymifier would be useful.

 

[bb21]

I think your reference websites will need to be one of those railway-related ones mentioned upthread, otherwise I agree that it may not make sense.

A hover function can be a double-edged sword, equally liked and hated by many.

 

[orpine]

I think your reference websites will need to be one of those railway-related ones mentioned upthread, otherwise I agree that it may not make sense.

A hover function can be a double-edged sword, equally liked and hated by many.

Definitely. I referenced that site because that's what you'll (or at least I) get when you google for "acronym emu" or whatever; I'm anticipating non-expert users who don't know about the given guides.

 

[ungreat]

Translate this
Was on the dobbin and got asked to pass the sub to go and knock a cripple off the failure .Got there and the distrib had gone on the wagon so got dragging brakes.Had to get it knocked out,blow the air off and then drag a swinger back to the yard

 

[ainsworth74]

Right I can do bits:

'knock a cripple off the failure' = Remove a vehicle from a broken down train

'dragging brakes' = brakes stuck on

'knocked out, blew the air off and then drag a swinger back' = took out the failed wagon, released the air pressure in the brakes and then brought the whole train back with one unbraked vehicle at the rear.

Something like that anyway

 

[ungreat]

Your replies to those bits are right! Except for the wholetrain bit.Swinger applied to any unbraked vehicle
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Try this...
Put the key in the guards switch cos i wanted to shut the doors but the platform bloke had dropped a master in the other end and it took the mcb out.Couldnt shut the doors till he took it out and then had to liven the cab to shut them after resetting.

 

[D1009]

Your replies to those bits are right! Except for the wholetrain bit.Swinger applied to any unbraked vehicle

Your previous post did say A swinger i.e. singular?

 

[wensley]

Translate this
Was on the dobbin and got asked to pass the sub to go and knock a cripple off the failure .Got there and the distrib had gone on the wagon so got dragging brakes.Had to get it knocked out,blow the air off and then drag a swinger back to the yard

Dobbin - shunter
Sub - ground position light / shunt signal
Distrib - Air brake distributor, provides control to the pressure on the individual vehicle concerned

How about this ...
54 TC SOWC APOT 6H93, next train S&C to examine the line, S&T attendance requested.

 

[D1009]

How about this ...
54 TC SOWC APOT 6H93, next train S&C to examine the line, S&T attendance requested.

Got all of that other than APOT.

 

[edwin_m]

Except for the wholetrain bit.Swinger applied to any unbraked vehicle

We had a topic on swingers a few weeks back. I think the conclusion was it could mean different things to different people (without mentioning the non-railway uses, let's not go there...).

Which shows that railway jargon sometimes doesn't even serve one of the main purposes of jargon everywhere - to convey unambiguously between specialists something in their mutual specialism that isn't easily explained in normal language.

 

[wensley]

Got all of that other than APOT.

After Passage of Train