Names for transit equipment

[daveklepper]

Ah, yes, and in Great Britain, whom we call an engineer is called a driver. Interurbans and streetcars had motormen and conductors, in the two-man days, and public continued to call them motormen in many cases, even after one-mann operation began. Most transit systems went to one-man operation in stages, so they had motormen, conductors, and operators, the latter the people running the one-man cars, but the name operator never caught on with the public. While driver was reserved for those operating the buses. And nearly all street railway and interuban companies did have bus subsidiaries.

In response to an earlier critique. I never heard anyone going to the elevated lines used by the 1, 2, 4, 5 (including Dyar Avenue line) 7, or J say they were going to the "elevated. “L,” or “El.” Only “subway.” Even thought they were about to climb up staris instead of down. As far as the B, D, F, and Q in Brooklyn, again it was “the train,” not subway or elevated. I now understand it still is.

And soutbound Yonkers 1, 2, and 3, streetcars (Third Avenue system pale yellow and bright red trolleycars) had SUBWAY as the destination sign, even thourgh they would reverse direction under, not over, the 242nd Street and Broadway station, definitely an elevated station. And the exact same destination sign was used for a different destination, refering to the 241st Street and White Plains Avenue station, also elevated, for southbound cars from New Rochelle on the A line “interurban” streetcar. (New Rochelle, Pelham, Mount Vernon, The Bronx). The exception is the M line in Brooklyn, where people do refer to “the elevated” because the elevated structure used by that line on Myrtle Avenue is not used by any other route, the whole route in Brooklyn is elevated, and (most important), until ab

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

As a general rule of thumb, in New York, it’s almost always the subway, even when it’s on a steel structure above the street. The only “els” in New York are the handful of remaining older lines that were built separately from the subway system.

On the other hand, in Chicago, it’s always the L, even when it’s in a median strip or in a tunnel under the street.

[schlimm]

On the other hand, in Chicago, it’s always the L, even when it’s in a median strip or in a tunnel under the street.

Right, and the Loop is often used to refer to areas near the actual blocks circumscribed by the L (Lake to Van Buren; Wabash to Wells).

[Falcon48]

Ah, yes, and in Great Britain, whom we call an engineer is called a driver. Interurbans and streetcars had motormen and conductors, in the two-man days, and public continued to call them motormen in many cases, even after one-mann operation began. Most transit systems went to one-man operation in stages, so they had motormen, conductors, and operators, the latter the people running the one-man cars, but the name operator never caught on with the public. While driver was reserved for those operating the buses. And nearly all street railway and interuban companies did have bus subsidiaries.

I don’t know this as a fact, but I suspect that the term “engineer” as applied to the operator or driver of a steam locomotive in this country arose because the duties of early steam loco operators had as much to do with monitoring and tinkering with the steam apparatus as it did with driving the train. The engine related duties were very similar to those of the mechanical officers of steamships which, in the 19th century, were also called engineers.

[superchief300]

New Orleans has the oldest continuosly operating streetcar line in the world, and, except for suspended service due to hurricane Katrina, has been going down St. Charles Street since 1893. The line uses vintage 900 Series cars from the 1920s which were built by Perely A. Thomas Car Works. Two other lines in the city which have been reopened after lying dormant for many years use replicas of the 1920 era cars.

[henry6]

I don’t know this as a fact, but I suspect that the term “engineer” as applied to the operator or driver of a steam locomotive in this country arose because the duties of early steam loco operators had as much to do with monitoring and tinkering with the steam apparatus as it did with driving the train. The engine related duties were very similar to those of the mechanical officers of steamships which, in the 19th century, were also called engineers.

I have a feeling the reason is more base than that. The operator or driver of an engine was called engineer simply because he comandeered or controled an engine. Yes, he had to have skill and knowledge about the appuratus he was operating, but the term is a simpler derivitive.