I recently came across a Wikipedia article about "gauntlet" tracks.
Gauntlet track - Wikipedia
I was a bit surprised by the term because I remember John Armstrong wrote about these in Track Planning for Realistic Operation and I remembered him using the term "gantlet". I just came across my copy of the book and it confirmed that my memory is correct.
Knowing that Wikipedia doesn't always vet their information, I tend to give more credibility to John Armstrong. My question is which is correct or are both acceptable?
In medieval times, a gauntlet was a leather glove with chainmail on the back. Hence the term throwing down the gauntlet as a form of challenge.
Mr Armstrong was correct,
From Grammarist.com :
"Gantlet was the original spelling of the word referring to a form of punishment in which people armed with sticks or other weapons arrange themselves in two lines and beat a person forced to run between them. It came from the earlier English word gantlope, which in turn comes from the Swedish gatlopp.1 Gauntlet is an alternative spelling of gantlet, but it also has several definitions of its own, mostly related to gloves."
Technically the parallel tracks should be a "gantlet" because that refers to to parallel lines (as in "running the gantlet"), however every citation lists "gauntlet" as an alternative spelling.
So the spelling is a grey area, or is that gray area?
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
on the railroad - the fewest letters usually wins.
The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.
The Chicago, South Shore & South Bend Railroad (CSS&SS) is well known for its gantlet bridge where a fatal accident occurred in 1993. If you Google accounts of this accident, you will find the track arrangement referred to both ways - - gantlet and gauntlet. It is commonly referred to in railroaders' language as "gantlet".
Rich
Alton Junction
According to my trusty "Random House Dictionary of the English Language" (copyright 1968) Definition 1 for "gantlet" is the railroad track construction; they even have a good graphic showing a gantlet track. Definition 2 of "gantlet" is an alternate spelling of "gauntlet" for the punishment.
Kurt Hayek
If anyone's interested in seeing a real-life gantlet track here's two of them at the Townley Station on NJ Transit's Raritan Valley Line. The first one appears at 1:25, the second at 5:35.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mvNZhxkNHk
Another vareity, the gantlet switch:
Thomas Underwood Coll B&O274 by John W. Barriger III National Railroad Library, on Flickr
The Erie Railroad main line negotiated a ganutlet in downtown Warren, Ohio for many years. That must have been an operating headache:
Erie_Warren_Gauntlet by Edmund, on Flickr
Howard Street Tunnels in Baltimore:
Thomas Underwood Coll B&O105 by John W. Barriger III National Railroad Library, on Flickr
Regards, Ed
Another use was scale track. They didn't want heavy locomotives on the scale track.
Gantlet or gauntlet, any way you say it was more common than you think.
Pete.
Part of this is the early-20th-Century spelling simplification that led to 'gage' in technical terminology (as in 'loading gage').
There's a gantlet switch at the entrance to the Fairbanks Morse plant in Beloit, WI.
gmpullman Howard Street Tunnels in Baltimore: Thomas Underwood Coll B&O105 by John W. Barriger III National Railroad Library, on Flickr Regards, Ed
At least in my accent, there is a slight pronounciation difference. The "gant" in "gantlet" would rhyme with "can't", where in "gauntlet" the "guan" would sound like "gone".
Not to throw down the gauntlet....
It's gantlet. Anything posted on Wikipedia should be conmfirmed by other sources
BEAUSABRE It's gantlet. Anything posted on Wikipedia should be conmfirmed by other sources
I visited several dictionary sites and they all state that gantlet and gauntlet are variants of each other.
I've seen both terms used interchangeably on various sites and references. It's not worth splitting hairs over.
Overmod Part of this is the early-20th-Century spelling simplification that led to 'gage' in technical terminology (as in 'loading gage').
I always thought it was gauntlet. Never heard of gantlet. Doesnt even sound right. Im still working on that 'plough' word from a year ago .
PMR
i have always referred to it as a 'gauntlet', i have never heard of it being called a gantlet ???
John-NYBWNote the smashboard above the gantlet track.
Is that to knock the roof top surfers off? There have been a couple teen deaths in NY and a mother is demanding they do something to prevent teens from getting out the doors and climbing onto the roofs of cars. I don't think those kids were going to be the next Steve Jobs.
That tunnel is slated to be made higher to accomodate double stacks, as it was built 128 years ago. The gauntlet must start in the tunnel.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
And I have the totally opposite experience
No, bored urban youth didn't exist in the late 19th/early 20th Century. It's a signal that 1) is obvious to the crew as it drops an obstacle across the track 2) provides proof at disciplinary and court procedings that the signals were operating with its smashed arm.
Tell tales existed to warn trainmen decorating the tops of cars as part of their braking duties to duck before low bridges and tunnels
With the elimination of roof walks beginning in the late Sixties, they are gone in most places now - something non-functional to maintain (aka cost dollars)
wvgca i have always referred to it as a 'gauntlet', i have never heard of it being called a gantlet ???
Yet, it is the preferred spelling and pronunciation on the prototype.
BigDaddy I don't think those kids were going to be the next Steve Jobs.
Darwin Award candidates, rather
Keep in mind that the etymology here is likely from 'gantlope', which is from a Swedish term meaning 'narrow road' and was used to describe a military punishment, rather than from 'gaunt' meaning thin.
'Gauntlet' in English is itself something of a misspelling, as the French it was derived from uses the spelling 'gant' today for a glove. I have the sinking suspicion it is related to other words that got a 'u' inserted for other than sensible reasons, like 'honour' or 'colour'... see Fred Newell of the USGS for 'gage'.
richhotrain wvgca i have always referred to it as a 'gauntlet', i have never heard of it being called a gantlet ??? Never? Yet, it is the preferred spelling and pronunciation on the prototype. Rich
Never?
not up here in canada anyways, it is always referred to as a 'gauntlet' section of trackage ...
never checked a book, just asked a few engineers at CN
wvgcanot up here in canada anyways, it is always referred to as a 'gauntlet' section of trackage ... never checked a book, just asked a few engineers at CN
That might explain it, it may be one of those things where maybe "gauntlet" is the preferred British English version, and Canadians use that spelling while Americans don't? Like the earlier mentioned "plow" vs. "plough", or "draft" vs. "draught", etc.
wjstix wvgca not up here in canada anyways, it is always referred to as a 'gauntlet' section of trackage ... never checked a book, just asked a few engineers at CN That might explain it, it may be one of those things where maybe "gauntlet" is the preferred British English version, and Canadians use that spelling while Americans don't? Like the earlier mentioned "plow" vs. "plough", or "draft" vs. "draught", etc.
wvgca not up here in canada anyways, it is always referred to as a 'gauntlet' section of trackage ... never checked a book, just asked a few engineers at CN
Or it could be that "gauntlet" is the commonly used term, even if not technically correct.
I think that's probably the case here. For many years there was gantlet on the CNW across the Cedar River Bridge on the Linn County Railway cutoff that bypassed Cedar Rapids. Everyone used the term gauntlet, and still do today when reminiscing about it. It's become so common a term that it's correct even if it isn't correct.
Even my spell check changes gantlet to gauntlet, making me retype it every time I write it.
Jeff
Railway Signaling Gauntlet by Edmund, on Flickr
Cheers, Ed
Ed -- didn't you post a trade-press article on the Poughkeepsie Bridge a few years ago, that covered the period of time it was operated 'gantleted'? Seems to me they spelled it without the 'u' in that example.
If I remember correctly they did the same thing on the famous Erie stone viaduct for a while -- how did contemporary references spell it there?