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[quote]QUOTE: Originally posted by deschane Further, most railroads used their own system of classification numbers for their steam locos. Some made sense, others really didn't. For instance, Northern Pacific called it's 4-8-4's class A, while Union Pacific called theirs F-E-Fs. F-E-F stood for Four-Eight-Four. UP made sense, NP's didn't. [/quote] I never knew until now what the reason was for a three-letter designation. So this makes sense, does it? "F" always corresponds to "Four" "E" always corresponds to "Eight" I assume "S" for "Six", "T" for "Two", and ??? for "Ten"... How is the nomenclature "F-E-F" more abbreviated or better to use than "4-8-4"? The only difference is that it is alphabetic, which maybe helps to differentiate engine class from engine number. But NP's class "A" summed it all up in one letter, and leaves open the potential for subclasses. I have wondered about a similar situation, where my local talk radio station, which is at 550 AM, refers to itself as "Fifty-five, WKRC". Now, really, come one. Is the phrase "fifty-five" really more memorable or shorter or better than "five-fifty"?
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