Glossary of NA model and railroading terms

[Allegheny1600]

Hi All,

A friend of mine was inspired to (re)take up modelling NA outline after a visit to see my 'New Ulm' layout and I've been helping him with some of the terminology and various other details.

These are all things that I've picked up over the last few (28!) years, there will be some I've missed or forgotten so please - if it's not here, feel free to add your own.

First, some links to sites that already do this;

Real railroad terms, first one translates some terms into UK, others give a useful description.

 

http://www.railway-technical.com/glossary/us-uk-terminology.html

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_rail_transport_terms

 

http://www.translationdirectory.com/glossaries/glossary260.php

 

https://www.american-rails.com/glossary.html

 

While we're at it, we better bone up on model railroading terms, too!

 

https://www.amodelerslife.com/model-railroad-glossary.html

 

https://www.nmra.org/edutrain/basic-model-railroad-operations-dick-roberts

This last one might not be that useful but the NMRA itself is certainly enormously useful and there is a vast amount of info here.

 

Despite hunting through these sites (quickly!) I still missed odd items.

Tie - Sleeper

Switch - point (turnout)

Car - wagon 

Passenger car - coach

Gon (Gondola) - bogie open wagon

Box(car) - bogie closed van

Covhop (covered hopper)

Truck - bogie

Knuckle - US combined buffer/coupling

TOFC - trailer (as in lorry trailer) on flat car

Autorack - massive bogie van for carrying cars, either parked on two or three decks or even, vertically stacked. 89' for a single wagon or 150' for a double (articulated) wagon!

Doublestack - usually a two, three or five part articulated well wagon, carrying containers two high. The upper container can be up to 53' long!

Bathtub (gon) - immense bogie gondola with a drop (bathtub) section between bogies for coal traffic, carrying up to 110T.

 

Hope this may be useful to other folks interested in happenings on the other side of the pond.

John.

Edited March 2, 2018 by Allegheny1600

[Regularity]

‘Lining the switch’ is like ‘throwing the points’, and both relate to the moving blades. Indeed, some British companies used “switch” and others used “points”.

A turnout is a combination of points/switches and crossing [vee]. Sometimes this is called a “single lead” in the U.K., especially by permanent way people.

Oh yes, permanent way is the same, but whereas we use the term to encompass what it is and its maintenance, in North America they are called Maintenance of Way, or MoW.

Turnout numbers refer to the crossing angle. In North America these are frequently cast units including the guard (wing) rails and correctly referred to as frogs. Switches are referred to by their length, just as they used to be over here, but things tend to be more standardised and a 16’6” switch seems quite common. (I am aware that this is a simplification.)

Peco code 83 and their new code 70 match American practice, using turnout numbers. The code 100 and code 75 ranges use a constant crossing angle with varying radius (large, medium, small) on the curved road.

Although modellers (I suppose I should say “modelers”!) might refer to the radius of a curve, prototype railways use degrees of curvature degrees of curvature, which is the angle subtended by the curve over an American chain, which is 100’, unlike the British chain which is 22 yards (or 66 feet - the distance between cricket stumps).

Turnout timbers are also ties, and those either side of the switch rod (stretcher bar) extend some distance, about 8’, beyond the other ties to accommodate the switchstand, which is used to line (or indeed throw) the switch.

 

Because of the distances involved, and the open nature of the landscape, operation outside of densely populated areas tends towards fewer but longer trains. In suburban areas, things are closer to U.K. practice. Understanding this is the key to understanding the differences between European and American practice, and it starts to make more sense.

 

The different requirements and different terminology can lead to confusion, but if you step back, take a breath and spend some time reading up on things, you soon get the hang of it.