Terminology puzzle

[terminologist]

Hi,

I'm new to the site, so apologies if I've posted this in the wrong forum.

I'm trying to come up with the correct terms for the following - if anyone can help, it would be greatly appreciated.

1. A diesel railcar which also has its own heating unit. Heat-engine railcar? Heat-engine traction unit?
2. Railcar - is that the right term, or is motor coach/motor car better?
3. Multiple heading v. multiple traction - which is better?
4. Are the terms 'hauled', 'towed' and 'pulled' interchangeable, or is there a preference for a particular one?
5. Ditto for 'banking' v. 'pushing'.
6. A locomotive that recovers a train from the track - recovery locomotive, breakdown locomotive or emergency locomotive?
7. The name for a trackside winch unit (housed in a cabinet) which is used to manually operate switches/section insulators on an overhead line (may be obsolete technololgy, I'm not sure).

Sorry for the odd jumble of questions. If anyone can help, that would be fantastic!

[Madcaravanner]

Originally Posted by terminologist

Hi,

I'm new to the site, so apologies if I've posted this in the wrong forum.

I'm trying to come up with the correct terms for the following - if anyone can help, it would be greatly appreciated.

1. A diesel railcar which also has its own heating unit. Heat-engine railcar? Heat-engine traction unit?
2. Railcar - is that the right term, or is motor coach/motor car better?
3. Multiple heading v. multiple traction - which is better?
4. Are the terms 'hauled', 'towed' and 'pulled' interchangeable, or is there a preference for a particular one?
5. Ditto for 'banking' v. 'pushing'.
6. A locomotive that recovers a train from the track - recovery locomotive, breakdown locomotive or emergency locomotive?
7. The name for a trackside winch unit (housed in a cabinet) which is used to manually operate switches/section insulators on an overhead line (may be obsolete technololgy, I'm not sure).

Sorry for the odd jumble of questions. If anyone can help, that would be fantastic!

OK
I'll try some off them

1/ - ????? don't understand the term ALL multiple units have heating /or air con

2/ Railcar is an OLD term (pre 1960's) for a single car unit (a Coach with driving cabs and motor or pick-ups) a single car of the multiple Unit type also called Bubble Car

3/ Multiple header - - is more than one power unit of the same type ie. diesel or Electric
Not heard of multiple power being used too often but it would be Diesel AND Electric working together but you normally see an electric loco being hauled by a diesel

4/ Hauled is the term ther others do not normally get used on UK railways

5/ Banking always this designates a train being given extra help up an incline by a loco at the rear slowly approaching it then applying power slowly to assist it to the top

6/ Now-a-days the term Thunderbird is used since Virgin had a fleet of Class 57 loco's named after the characters from the TV puppet series Thunderbirds

7/ Where have you been ??? you mean a Signal box what a very strange question but some of the items you question were never housed in them

[Bevan Price]

Originally Posted by Madcaravanner

OK
I'll try some off them


7/ Where have you been ??? you mean a Signal box what a very strange question but some of the items you question were never housed in them

I suspect he may mean the electrical sub-stations you get near neutral sections.

[hairyhandedfool]

Originally Posted by terminologist

....
5. Ditto for 'banking' v. 'pushing'....

Banking is helping a train up a gradient as noted. On other occasions a train may be 'propelled', for example, a rescuing locomotive, approaching the rear of a failed train, could propel that train to clear the line.

Originally Posted by terminologist

....7. The name for a trackside winch unit (housed in a cabinet) which is used to manually operate switches/section insulators on an overhead line (may be obsolete technololgy, I'm not sure)....

Overhead lines aren't switched in the UK and I'm not aware of any need for a winch.

[Shimbleshanks]

1. Diesel railcar which also has its own heating unit. - You're not thinking of generator vans/coaches by any chance used to provide heating or lighting to passenger carriages when the locomotive itself was not so equipped? But these were always unpowered units - in the sense that they had no traction to their own wheels. As far as I know they were very rare in the UK - though not in Ireland and other countries.

2. Railcar - I would say this is the correct and more elegant term for a single car multiple unit. Motor coach/motor car sound like road vehicles. Bubblecar is just a nickname.

3. Multiple heading v. multiple traction - which is better? Double headed (or triple-or even quadruple-headed) would be the best terms I would venture. You might need to use terms like multiple-traction in the US where there can be up to ten locos on a train and not all of them at the head end.

4. Are the terms 'hauled', 'towed' and 'pulled' interchangeable? - 'Hauled' and 'pulled' sound like normal operation; towed suggests to me rescue of a breakdown or movement of a 'dead' loco.

5.Banking/pushing - banking/banker has always been the UK term; I've never heard pusher used by railwaymen though I'm sure it's the term that would spring to mind for most lay people. In the US they say helping/helper, I think.

6. A locomotive that recovers a train from the track - recovery locomotive, breakdown locomotive or emergency locomotive? Historically, I don't think there were locos in the UK specifically dedicated to recovery of breakdowns. The so-called 'Thunderbird' is a relatively recent development. There would of course been spare locos/links at various motive power depots.

7. The name for a trackside winch unit (housed in a cabinet) which is used to manually operate switches/section insulators on an overhead line (may be obsolete technololgy, I'm not sure).
Not heard of this myself. It sounds a little bit like the devices used to tension overhead wires but these were simple weights on pulleys rather than switches.
Would there have been a need to separately switch out different electrical sections on the early overhead electrification schemes such as the Brighton Line in the 1920s or the Woodhead Route in the 1940s/50s? Perhaps, but I don't think so.

[Madcaravanner]

Originally Posted by Bevan Price

I suspect he may mean the electrical sub-stations you get near neutral sections.

AH forgot them - but not got any wires where I live so not up on the OHL kit

[terminologist]

Thank you so much everyone, all your comments have been extremely useful and educational.

Perhaps I should have provided some context - the terms all relate to the Italian railway network, and may sound a little old-fashioned since part of the document dates from the 1960s.

Regarding the 'winch unit' - I'm definitely looking at a photograph of a cabinet mounted on a gantry support which contains (according to the description) a handle which is turned to open and close switches on the overhead line, so that power can be turned on and off. I was hoping there would be a nice, neat term for this mechanism, but perhaps it doesn't exist in English.

With the "heating unit" term, this is being used to describe units like the Trenitalia ALn 669 or 668. There's a picture of the 668 here http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=328852. The term in Italian is "automotrice termica" - I'm now wondering if this actually means an "internal combustion engine railcar", which presumably has a diesel engine which generates electricity to power the electric motors.

I'm guessing that some of this will be specific to Italy, but if anyone can help with the "winch unit" and "heat-engine/internal combustion engine railcar" terms, that would be great!

[Madcaravanner]

Originally Posted by terminologist

Thank you so much everyone, all your comments have been extremely useful and educational.

Perhaps I should have provided some context - the terms all relate to the Italian railway network, and may sound a little old-fashioned since part of the document dates from the 1960s.

With the "heating unit" term, this is being used to describe units like the Trenitalia ALn 669 or 668.

I'm now wondering if this actually means an "internal combustion engine railcar", which presumably has a diesel engine which generates electricity to power the electric motors.

NOW why didn't you say
My Missuse is half Italiano so just checked and yes the terminology is very old school Italian. It's not heating unit it's heated engine unit a very old term for diesel which works by compressing diesel oil vapour in a heated cylinder--
and the 668 class is actually quite modern considering some Italian rolling stock but the considering others it's positively ANCIENT. I mean consider the 663 photo attached these are diesel multiple units and the translation Railcar is probably the nearest to English you will get

[terminologist]

Wow, thank you - great to have a definition at last, I've been scratching my head over that for weeks!

[Railwayman26]

I have a question about terminology, but not related to the previous question.
I have been extracting information from a Working Timetable in order to run my model railway to an actual timetable. Although I know what locomotives to use in most cases from my own observations, I am stumped by some of the terminology in the WTT as to loco type. The references are D1364; D140; D210; D280; D315; D420; ED350. I believe D420 is a class 47 and am certain that ED350 is a class 73, however, I am not sure about the rest which should include class 33 and class 31. Any help would be most appreciated.