Misleading Railway Terminology
Posted: Mon Feb 27, 2006 2:44 pm
It might just be me but I have often been struck by the way in which the railway industry uses terminology which is difficult to understand and sometimes turns out to mean almost the exact opposite of what a reasonable person would expect it to.
For example, for most of Great Britain it feels counter-intuitive to say "I took the train up to London" because unless you hold the map upside-down, London is near the bottom - so you go down to it. However, long-standing railway convention is that, in general, the up line is the one which takes you towards the principal city - usually London.
But my particular favourite is the terms used to describe one's position relative to a signal, which for many years were "in advance of" and "in rear of". You'd think, wouldn't you, that the former meant that you were standing looking at the signal and that the latter meant that you had passed beyond it and were trundling happily towards the next one? Well, you'd be wrong, as they meant the exact opposite: if you were in rear of a signal, you had a big red (or whatever) light shining in your face and if you were in advance of it you were actually beyond it. I could never understand why simple terms like "in front of" and "beyond" weren't used instead.
I've also occasionally wondered why "The Sleeper" (i.e., a train composed of carriages equipped with sleeping berths) is called this, as in my experience it is impossible to sleep on them, drunk or sober!
For example, for most of Great Britain it feels counter-intuitive to say "I took the train up to London" because unless you hold the map upside-down, London is near the bottom - so you go down to it. However, long-standing railway convention is that, in general, the up line is the one which takes you towards the principal city - usually London.
But my particular favourite is the terms used to describe one's position relative to a signal, which for many years were "in advance of" and "in rear of". You'd think, wouldn't you, that the former meant that you were standing looking at the signal and that the latter meant that you had passed beyond it and were trundling happily towards the next one? Well, you'd be wrong, as they meant the exact opposite: if you were in rear of a signal, you had a big red (or whatever) light shining in your face and if you were in advance of it you were actually beyond it. I could never understand why simple terms like "in front of" and "beyond" weren't used instead.
I've also occasionally wondered why "The Sleeper" (i.e., a train composed of carriages equipped with sleeping berths) is called this, as in my experience it is impossible to sleep on them, drunk or sober!