Re: History of the building of the NE SG line.

["Ron BEST" <ronbest@bigpond.com>]

As a part-time amateur linguist and railway enthusiast, I feel obliged to
buy into this one. I have known for a long time that, at least in Australia,
railway workers call the place where two rails cross a "crossing". I have
also heard them referred to as "common crossings". Model railway people,
perhaps because of the British influence, call them "frogs". Tramway people
(at least in Melbourne) refer to the piece of overhead hardware where one
route branches off another, or where two wires cross, as a "frog". (The two
pieces of wire attached to the ends of the frog to locate it correctly are
called the "frog legs".)

Hasn't someone got a copy of the railway dictionary that came out some years
ago? (I wish I'd bought a copy.)
Rgds

Ron BESDANSKY (formerly Ron BEST)
David Langley <del@ancc.com.au> wrote in message
37679723.95129E32@ancc.com.au">news:37679723.95129E32@ancc.com.au...
> Rod wrote:
>
> > Well you may be right!, I am dammed if I can see a K in either
construction.
> > I have been a Model Railroader for most of my life, and "Peco" always
call
> > the thing a frog!
> > I presume because one rail crosses [over?] the other.
> > On several occasions, usually the result of derailment...I have heard
this
> > piece of track called a K crossing..I have never heard it called a frog
[and
> > when I say frog, the gangers look blankly at me, when I point it out,
they
> > say Oh you mean the K crossing!
> > Hence my reason for calling it so...Never heard it called a V crossing
> > either.
>
> If you have a close look at the crossing (where one rail crosses the
other) it
> looks like a big V with wing rails. At the side of a diamond crossing you
have
> quite different looking crossings - K type because the sort of look like a
K -
> and you also have two V crossings. Gangers in Vic would certainly have
heard of
> V crossings, it is not a local thing, however, they would look blankly
when you
> said frog. Frog is an English thing.
>
> David.
>