Re: Why is it called "up"?

[Chris Brownbill <cbrnbill@enternet.com.au>]

Oh god here we go again!

A variation on the question though - What's the origin of the tradition of Down
trains being given odd numbers and Up trains given Even numbers?


greg@mpx.com.au wrote:
> 
> A few years ago I was at Chatswood station on Sydney's north shore,
> waiting for a train to take me back into town. I poked my nose into
> the old guards shed, and saw a bunch of levers and switches and stuff
> that were marked "up", but it clearly referred to travel in the
> southerly direction, towards the city and Central.
> 
> I can see two things wrong with describing a train going from
> Chatswood to Central as being "up":
> 
> 1. From Chatswood to Central, you travel south, which on most sensible
> maps is "down".
> 2. Chatswood is at about 100-150m altitude , while Central is pretty
> close to sea level. Travelling from a higher place to a lower one is
> usually described as being in the "down" direction.
> 
> Why the confusing terminology?