What is a pike?
It is a travel way, as in turnpike, a road with a turnstile(toll booth). When I was young it was what we called a layout. I haven’t heard it much lately. I will be watching to see how others respond to this
Old terminology for a “layout.” It appears to have fallen out of common use in the early 1970s, give or take.
Also, a place to run Walthers’ “PIker.”
A fish with big teeth. Also a weapon in olden times that sometimes had a severed head on it.
I used “pike” in a post this past week - oooooops, showing my age!!![:I]
Thanks. Sounds like pike and layout are the same thing. Just learning the lingo.
-Ron
Yeah, you’re probably the reason the OP asked the question!
Wow, Lou, I haven’t heard that term in a long time. Actually, I kinda miss it!
Tom [:D]
For railroaders, it’s another name for a railroad, either 1:1 or model. The term originated as a description of a medieval toll toad, which was guarded by soldiers of the local noble, whose main weapon was a pike - basically a long spear. The way was barred by the soldiers with their pikes, which were raised or TURNed out of the way only when the traveler forked over the toll fee (thus the term “Turnpike”). Many toll roads today still have barriers at the toll booths.
Well for me it is my nick name. Been called that for years as was my grandfather.
Dan Pikulski
I remember the term well myself. I think you have to go back to the 1970s to find when the term was in vogue. You see it a lot in the how-to books of that era and before. I always liked the term. I think it has more character than layout. Maybe we oldtimers should make an effort to bring it back.
PIKE FOREVER!!![:D]
Yes!!
I slipped and used “Pike” the other day at a Train show, some folks grinned (the veterans) and others looked confused (the youngsters). I guess it’s what you learned when you were young, and it stays with you, Seems like I remember some articles as late as the 80’s still using the term 'Pike"
Long live Pike!!!
(The term, the fish, and the forum member) [:D]
Remember that old MR department “Along the pike”?
I guess I must be one of them-thar “oldtimers”; reminds me of the first time I received one of them-thar “Senior Citizen’s Discounts” without asking for it. Now that really makes you feel old. Admittedly this “pike” terminology has fallen into uncommon usage but if you were to go through my past postings you will find that I still use it on occasion; old habits die hard Kadee N-Scale being an example. I still refer to a layout proprietor as a “brass hat”, another of those terms from my earliest modeling days, which has also fallen out of common usage.
Jim Pike was one of the original members of the famous singing group “The Lettermen”, later joined by his brother Gary Pike when one of the original members left the group.
I am probably totally wrong in doing this, but I have always used the term “pike” as a shortcut term referring to the entire model railroad and its associated accessories (track, locos, cars, scenery, structures), while using “layout” to mean the railroad track arrangement and supporting infrastructure (benchwork, wiring, controls, etc.).
Folks:
I’ve occasionally run into offhanded usage in old books where “big pike” seems to be used something like “high iron” as slang for the main line, as opposed to secondary tracks. I’m not sure this was anything more than creative authoring, however.
I’m definitely in favor of bringing some of the colorful slang back into this hobby. [:)] Older books invariably have a short slang lexicon in the back, with the whistle charts and Whyte system notation, but all of these fell by the wayside at some point, somehow. [:(]
“Pike” isn’t obsolete.
Model Railroader had a series of articles for Pike Sized Passenger trains recently. I believe it was last year in fact. They even sponsored a contest for pike sized passenger trains. I was hoping they would do the same thing this year.
“Pike” as they used the term applied to small ‘pike sized layouts’ that require smaller, shorter trains. Thus the 2-5 car trains shown and mentioned in the articles.
I guess, since my BRVRR is only 4 x 10-feet, it would qualify as a “Pike”.
My [2c] worth.
LOL…bring it on ! When I first started posting here I was gonna use the term “pike”, I thought somebody wold tell me “this is a model railroad forum”, not a slot car forum. I’m gonna use it more often, I"m an old bugger and I miss it!
God how the slang tems of things have changed over the years!