Etymology of railway terminology

I have an idea the GWR used 'compound' for slip points. But then the GW was always a law unto themselves. Never come across 'delta'.

whether the Victorian Railways were the only place to use "double compound" in lieu of "double slip" (same for singles), and "delta" in lieu of "scissors" crossovers?

flabberdacks in post 159402 said:

Anothersignalman in post 159396 said:

Shunt and redock procedure.

Although everyone has understood what you meant, it's interesting to note (in my experience) that this is a specifically Victorian description of the move. There is no equivalent term for a 'dock' in Sydney, and I've not heard any of our British friends describe bringing a train from siding to platform in that way either. It may have come around as a consequence of Melbourne's failure to use any sort of train description system until quite late in the semaphore era.

Just an interesting note about how truly independent the development of Melbourne and Sydney railways were. The language used is totally different, for identical concepts. Victorian electric signalling systems used one switch or lever for all routes from a signal where NSW (usually) had one switch or lever per route.

Irrelevant to the post, sorry! As you were, gentlemen

Oddly enough in Scotland we refer to ‘docking’ when talking about platforming and we often call platforms ‘docks’. That doesn’t seem to be the case anywhere else in the UK.

I think Melbourne's more 'lever frame' language is a cultural thing from having large lever frames running the whole network until late in the piece, going almost straight from big levers to the computers at Metrol in 83 with only a very short power signalling era in between, and a further long time taken to get rid of the rest of the levers from the suburban area.

To me, "delta" indicates three lines meeting with three or six points so that trains from any direction can head out in either of the other two directions.

Sheffield Platform 2C is referred to as the Dock (I think its route indication may be D as opposed to a number as well)

Splodge in post 159435 said:

Sheffield Platform 2C is referred to as the Dock (I think its route indication may be D as opposed to a number as well)

When Sheffield PSB first opened, the points to access it were released from a ground frame and access was only via S89 signal. So it certainly did spend some of its life as a dock, I don't know what it was pre-PSB.

Not quite,

'decant' sidings

'Pull off' for the action of clearing a signal (or calling a route) was still very much in use, even in NX panel boxes, as late as the 1990s; I don't know whether it persisted into IECCs or whether it's still in use (though my suspicion is that most likely it very much is).

kbarber in post 159450 said:

'Pull off' for the action of clearing a signal (or calling a route) was still very much in use, even in NX panel boxes, as late as the 1990s; I don't know whether it persisted into IECCs or whether it's still in use (though my suspicion is that most likely it very much is).

Definitely. ARS even pulls off.

The origins of 'on' and 'off' being, I understand, the earlier kinds of board-type signals which would be turned physically on towards drivers such that the signal could be seen and then turned off in such a way that the signal would be facing away from trains and thus essentially invisible. A form of signalling lacking a positive clear indication and therefore not particularly fail safe.

Joe S in post 159443 said:

'decant' sidings

Yes, it's emptying toilet waste. A very literal interpretation of decant meaning 'pouring from one container to another'!

Many trains will decant before stabling for the night on Central Coast.

kbarber in post 159450 said:

'Pull off' for the action of clearing a signal (or calling a route) was still very much in use, even in NX panel boxes, as late as the 1990s; I don't know whether it persisted into IECCs or whether it's still in use (though my suspicion is that most likely it very much is).

Definitely. ARS even pulls off.

TUT in post 159452 said:

The origins of 'on' and 'off' being, I understand, the earlier kinds of board-type signals which would be turned physically on towards drivers such that the signal could be seen and then turned off in such a way that the signal would be facing away from trains and thus essentially invisible. A form of signalling lacking a positive clear indication and therefore not particularly fail safe.

I think that etymology might be even earlier. I think the first boards (and the miniature braziers that were used for night time indications!) were literally taken off of the post to give a clear signal! And I have seen, somewhere, a (semaphore days) reference to signals being 'taken off'.

Old terminology could remain in use well beyond when it would make sense. For instance I have a copy of instructions for Acceptance Lever working in the Colchester area (1961-ish, signalled with all colour lights) that refers to when a signalman may 'lower' a signal!

Drifting to the edges of the topic, the act of turning a board certainly makes sense of French terminology, that speaks of 'opening' and 'closing' signals.

I do not approve of this, but one doesn't tend to say anything.

<snip>
Speaking of position lights, one to add to the list would be 'cat's eyes' for position-light subsidiary signals in colour-light areas.

Another couple:
'Clear back' for giving TOS (etymology unknown but reasonably logical).
'Under the hammer' for accepting a train under the old Regulation 5 (am I right in thinking it's 3.5 in the modern regs?) The Midland Railway used a hammer head arm for subsidiary signals, which would include Warning signals where they were provided.

What was reg 5, out of interest?

Another couple:
'Clear back' for giving TOS (etymology unknown but reasonably logical).
'Under the hammer' for accepting a train under the old Regulation 5 (am I right in thinking it's 3.5 in the modern regs?) The Midland Railway used a hammer head arm for subsidiary signals, which would include Warning signals where they were provided.