Being somewhat new to model railroading, I enjoy reading the MR magazine but often scratch my head wondering what “staging cassette”, “MU”, “Classification” etc. means. I guess the article writers just assume that the reader already knows this stuff while the opposite might be true (at least for me it is). Would it be appropriate to include a “vocabulary” of terminology used in an article or create a section here on the website where we can learn about these railroading words?
Thanks
Like any other hobby, model railroading also has its own lingo and its own set of abbreviations you don´t find in a dictionary.
MR now and then publishes a “translation” to help newbies understand us old hats.
MU means multiple units, that´s a lash up of two or more locos or railcars. A DMU is a set of diesel railcars, correspondingly, an EMU is not an Australian bird, but a set of electric railcars.
Cassette staging is a facility for storing trains in a cassette, which can be hooked up to a layout.
Classification (yard) is a railroad yard where trains are “classified”, i.e cars put together to form a train for a destination.
Took me years to grab this, but, heck, I am not a native speaker.
Don´t feel overwhelmed, just keep on reading and you´ll get hold of our lingo!
cuyama gave you a short cut. To get there, at the top of this web site (in the light gray toolbar) is “Resources”. When you hold your cursor over it, a drop down menu appears. Some choices in that menu include “model railroad glossary” and “railroad glossary”. You should be able to find what you’re looking for.
Eh… When I was in nursing school, we were doing a rotation in the Intensive Care Unit.
The cardiac monitor said “PVC” . The other student asked me, “What is a PVC?”
I told her that it was Polyvinyl Chloride. She said not that cannot be.
So she pulled the book of abbreviations off of the shelf behind her,
PVC = Polyvinyl Chloride.
Of course the answer in the ICU should have been “Premature Ventricular Contraction.”
So much for abbreviations and what they might mean.
You will find terms here that you do not know: Just Ask, someone will take time to explain it.
Here is a picture of my Model-5 GRS Machine.
Just enjoy your model railroad!
ROAR
Thank you Lion for that bit of levity. Roar, or as my three cats would say, mewy good.
I do Google searches and find well over 95 percent of my questions with many cross references to make sure I have the correct answer. I then have links to give to others and maybe for more reference as many times there is more useful info in the link. You can build a tremendous set of links in Favorites or Bookmarks depending on which browser you use.
It is rare that I ever have to ask a question in any forums as I usefully find the answer much quicker. Makes my hobbies much more enjoyable.
What always amazes me is how many times I see questions that can be easily answered with a web search. We have the biggest library ever at out finger tips.
For many years I remember having to go to the local library for answers to many things.
Ok, you just want to start a conversation, that is ok also. Many times people are not interested in the solution but only want to yak.
Rich
BTW, “cassetes” is generally a british term. It is used a portable parking lot or “Staging” yard. It’s an open-top box with 4 or more storage tracks that hooks up on a slide to a track coming off the layout.
Methinks that would be a “traverser”, not a cassette.
A cassette is a detachable section holding a train (or part of a train)… Can be made from a plank and some L-brackets to form sides:
With a cassette, you can transfer trains onto and off the layout, or turn the train - if it is short enough 
You can have several cassettes preloaded with trains and insert the cassettes one by one.
Smile,
Stein
And before there were cassettes, there were 8-tracks, LPs, etc., but I digress. [swg]
I’m with you Medina1128, that’s where I was coming from, too. Seems the term cassette means several different things so will have to digest all replies and move on. Thanks for all replies, I’m trying to learn day by day.
Eight Tracks??? Now you are giving away your age!