Misleading Railway Terminology

[Bullhead]

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!

[richard]

I think "going up to" is an older English usage referring to the main centre.
Oxbridge also still uses it today. Eg. Students "go up" to College, but "go down" when they're heading home between terms.

I kept telling people at Churchill that it made no sense - for the journey from home to College, I'd head south over 100 miles, and drop in altitude by about 150 metres - but they'd still call it "going up" to College!

The advance/rear signalling sounds like it could be argued both ways. Changing the prepositions would definitely help to make it clearer though. "advanced beyond" for example.


Richard

[Bullhead]

I think "going up to" is an older English usage referring to the main centre.
Oxbridge also still uses it today. Eg. Students "go up" to College, but "go down" when they're heading home between terms.

This tradition was supposedly immortalised by Dr.Spooner, who observed to an errant student, "You have hissed all my mystery lectures. You have tasted two worms. Pack up your rags and bugs, and leave immediately by the town drain!"

[Tom Quayle]

The main one that niggles me is Up to the Capital. I have always considered Up as refering to North. I prefer to head north not only is there less buildings in the way the people from north of the boarder are in my experience less hostile than those in the Capital. If Up to the Capital is to be considered Correct the ECML is 2 Up main lines. lol Im just getting stupid now