Does anyone know why ties are called Sleepers in Britain, other than the Brits are a wee nuts?
they are called sleepers, very simply because
thats where the rails rest.
As you are a new member, I would welcome
you to this forum, except for the fact that
you call the Brits “nuts”.
I wouldn’t worry. “Nuts” is more polite than some of the things we Brits get called!
As to your question, I don’t know, I guess its lost in the mists of time. As I said on another thred, the English language has more words than any other and has more than one word for lots of things.
Sidings are called loops if I remember correctly, and trucks are bogies, and switchment are pointsmen, and freight cars are wagons (or goods wagons), and trains to London are “Up” and trains from London are “Down”.
Boy am I glad I was in Great Britain in the summer of 1962 to ride behind some great steam locomotives: Gresley A-4 "Kingfisher, a Bullaird Pacific, a “Black 5” 4-6-0, a Manor 4-6-0 (but no Castle), and a Brighton Terrier Tank among others.
Much later, about 1984, I got a cab ride in a Deltic diesel from London to Newcastle, maintaining a steady 100mph. Now the line is electrified.
I never knew Britan had another name for them.
A sleeper in home building terms is a large beam, often running the centerline of a room or building, which supports rafter ends or other structural members, which rest, or “sleep” on the beam.
Said beam also is used to hold two opposing walls plumb and true to each other.
Only natural that the Brits adopt a word already in use to describe something that is a permanent part of a structure, as the sleepers in track work were not intended to be replaced often.
As we Americanized the English language, we also applied the same logic choices toward certain words.
We call the tool used to remove bolts and nuts a wrench, after the motion needed to accompli***he task, they call it a spanner, it spans the distance or size of the bolt head.
We use the word ties, because they “tie” the track together, as opposed to their use of sleepers, on which the track sleeps, or rests
Ed
My guess is that they call them sleepers because they are the only thing in railroading that can lay down on the job.
…Ed, as you no doubt know…we even use the two words together here to describe a certain kind of wrench: Spanner wrench.
We call them sleepers in Oz as well. Also wagons, bogies, points etc [:D]
It’s getting mighty hot downunder!!![:X]
All of which reminds me of the late John Armstrong describing American and British railroad practices as “just the same but different”. [:D]
Chuck
Reminds me of “sleeping coppers” ( = sleeping policemen = speed bumps).
It took me ages to figure out that American “trucks” were the same thing as the “bogies” under our trains.
Likewise for switchers = shunts/shunters (ie they shunt the wagons back and forth until they make up a complete train).
- Stepho
The question should be, why are sleepers called ties in america?
Mel
Sidings and loops are not the same (least not here). A siding is a dead end track whereas a loop has points (switches) at either end. In the old days some UK railroads avoided the use of facing points; in recent years many sidings have been converted to loops to reduce the amount of time needed to sideline a slower train to enable it to be overtaken by a faster one.
Regarding “shunt/shunters” : However if you are involed in a motor racing accident in Great Britan, you are said to have been involed in a “shunt”!
Ah…the English language!
A number of the different words used in talking about railways (first difference) date from times prior to railways (and, indeed, prior to 1776, a date that some of you may recognize.) Before railways there were tramroads (not tramways)and that’s where some of these words originated:
Track workers are platelayers because of the “L” shaped rails or plates as they were called.
Rails are joined together by “fishplates” coming from fishing or lashing together spars and masts.
My favorite fantasy is that sleepers were named such because they lie down and don’t move (much!)
I always thought that fishplates were called such because of the shape of many of the early ones that looked like fish back to back.
I don’t want to steal the entire article (faithful Trains readers will have it in hand shortly, if not already), but there is a full page piece about ties in the January 2006 issue. The article refers to the original stone foundations for track as “sleepers,” which were replaced by wooden “ties.”
Believe it was Winston Churchill who said something like, “The English and the Americans are two great peoples separated by a common language”. Just another example.
An old ex LNER loco driver once told me trucks had 2 wheels and bogies 4 or more.
Mel.
You may wi***o read "Sleepers Through Time, a article by by Lynn Barnickol
illustrated by Dr. James E. Price