Railroad vs Railway?

snipped-for-privacy@aol.com spake thus:

Whether or not you think the Queen is a real person.

I understand that a railroad goes somewhere distant, as in Chicago Northwestern Railroad, and that a railway goes somewhere local, such as a marine railway, or a mine railway. But I could be wrong.

Chas.

The Santa Fe Railway, now part of BNSF Railway was/is a bit more than local.

J. Bright

But we should, because that's the way they are spelt and pronounced locally. If you pronounce them or spell them any other way, then YOU are wrong.

-- Cheers

Roger T.

Home of the Great Eastern Railway

You call it a "railroad" and I'll call it a railway".

Both of us are correct.

-- Cheers

Roger T.

Home of the Great Eastern Railway

According to the dictionary : RAILROAD; especially : a railroad operating with light equipment or within a small area. Used mainly in the UK and Canada. Bottom line they are interchangeable.

Don Altenberger

Hey Roger, I agree with you! I'll make a note.

Regards, Greg.P.

UK general usage would almost always be "railway", with from a UK perspective the US using "railroad".. Meaning essentially the same thing. In the UK there are other associated words e.g. "pathway", "roadway" and "tramway" that show the general case. In the US the usage was often changed as companies went into and out of receivership and subsequent re-organisation.

Actual language translation as in "Italy" vs "Italia" doesn't come into it. The person in the foreign land doesn't use our language version any more than we do his. We don't need to change any more than he does.

We also do have different meanings for the same words as well as different words for the same item. Any number of examples. The US soccer is the rest of the world's football. The US football is something that is broken up to fill in the gaps between the adverts. (OK so this is a wind up! The word soccer is used in the UK, but only in a secondary sense. The FA, UEFA, FIFA are all football examples......) The UK pavement as the US sidewalk is a more typical example.

In the end we only need to be understood within our own context. If our context changes when we travel, then we have to adapt our usage. Simple really.

Regards

Len

David Nebenzahl posted:

"Do we call it the "Shroud of Torino"?

No!

So learn to speak English already and call it Turin.

- from someone's blog"

Can you ask the to provide me with new badges [at their expense] for my Ford Torino...er...Turin? evidentally it's spelled wrong. :-)

Eric

As was the Great Northern Railway, now also part of BNSF.

Dan Mitchell ============

None, except for preferred usage in different parts of the English speaking world. This usage has changed in various ways since the early

1800s. At first, both words were written as two words; rail road, rail way. England preferred railroad, and the US railway, hence the number of older US railroad named "... railway". Later, the preference changed, I don't know why, and I can't figure when.

HTH.

If a british person speaks about american rail, would they use "railway" or "railroad"?

Would anyone residing in the USA use the term "railway" to distinguish non-american railways from the american way of railroading?

In most non-English-speaking countries (at least in Europe) "railway" is much more common. How is it in english-speaking countries in other parts of the world, such as Australia or Newzealand?

Ì

Tell that to the mob in Quebec. They are no more French than the beaver and moose living there.

When one travels to countries other than Canada or the USA, one discovers that, in Italy for example, he resides in the EUA, not the USA. If they want to say it that way in Italy I don't care. Until they start calling me by my English name, I will not bother to call them by their Italian name. Tit for tat Roger. Torino in Italia Turin in NA.

Froggy,

Nope. Not spelled wrong. Has nothing to do with Turin, Italy. It's another stupid made-up car name word like "Integra" or "Camry" and dozens of other stupid nonsense car names.

Froggy,

In North America there is none. The two terms are used interchangeably

Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Canadian Pacific Railway Great Northern Railway Norfolk & Western Railway Saint Louis - San Francisco Railway Southern Railway Western Pacific Railway

Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad Gulf Mobile & Ohio Railroad Illinois Central Railroad New York Central Railroad Pennsylvania Railroad Southern Pacific Railroad Wabash Railroad

All were large, class one, rail transportation companies. Some were larger than others, to be sure, but none were small.

Froggy,

Re-read what I wrote please Froggy, it applies to all peoples, not just "English" speaking Americans.

Besides, I don't think a Canadian resides in the USA, or in EUA for that matter.

-- Cheers

Roger T.

Home of the Great Eastern Railway

What I meant was that (except for Quebec) Canadians call it the USA, not that they live in the USA. Mexicans say EUA, and they are the only other North Americans* besides us and y'all.

• If you recognise such a place as "Central America" Some do, some don't. At any rate, they all speak some dialect of Spanish and all say EUA. In fact I have seen "EUA del Norte" many times.

Froggy,

That ain't all that's wrong about it!