Can someone explain the differences between a "railroad" and a "railway"[?]

[cherokee woman]

Locomutt has tried to help me with this, but I'm just not getting it in my thick head. And the dictionary doesn't help either.[%-)][banghead]

[Hugh Jampton]

The difference is purely linguistic.

If red is a color, then it's a railroad
If red is a colour, then it's a railway

[jchnhtfd]

Sometimes it's even worse! I can think of at least one instance where a 'Railroad' went bankrupt and was reorganised as a 'Railway' with the rest of the name the same!

[mudchicken]

Used to have to do with what side of the English Channel or Atlantic Ocean your N. American RR was financed through. Now it's more of a corporate ID thing...

Pa TAY toe - Puh tah toe ...it's all mashed or french fried to me...

amazing the folks who cannot figure out what abbreviations RY., R/W, C/L, mty, M/W are....

[Anonymous]

One has paper-maché Tracks, and the other has Steel Rails


Nooo.....

I beleive it's puresly linguistic aswell, matter of fact, Railway is more a briti***erm.

[Anonymous]

In Canada, either can be used, because, well, we have a stronger British influence, but our railways do connect to south of the border.

~Ra'akone

[Anonymous]

It depends on how the railroad wants to make itself sound.To me a railway is commonly smaller, but there are some fairly large railways. It also doesn't depend on where you are. Here in Maryland, we have the "CSX Railroad" (Class 1 freight line) "Western Maryland Scenic Railroad", and the "Walkersville Southern Railroad" (Small Excursion/historic lines), but we also have the "Maryland Midland Railway", which is a freight line that runs almost all the way between Hagerstown and Elicott City, and from around Guettysburg PA (Northern MD) to Walkersville MD (Mid Maryland). They are bigger than the WSRR and WMSRR, but smaller than CSX, yet have the different extension.

[Trainnut484]

QUOTE: Originally posted by mudchicken


Pa TAY toe - Puh tah toe ...it's all mashed or french fried to me...

Ditto...
Pa TAY toe -- Puh tah toe -- Ta MAY toe -- tuh mah toe.

They still roll the same [;)]

Take care,

Russell

[Anonymous]

I like the color/colour explanation.

Railway and railroad are both used in the U.S., and as pointed out earlier, the designation often changed in a reorganization so that the corporation had a different name yet an almost identical name, for obvious reasons.

Today we have:

Union Pacific Railroad
Kansas City Southern Railway
Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway (yes, the "and" is correct)
Norfolk Southern Railway
CSX Transportation
Canadian Pacific Railway
Canadian National Railway
Florida East Coast Railway
Guilford Rail System

[tree68]

Oddly, one of the definitions for railway in my dictionary is "railroad". More circular definitions.

[Anonymous]

At work we deal a lot with the railroads and the railways. Several times, new folks in the dept have asked me the difference, to which I replied with some completely proposterous story about the gauge of the track, the height of the locomotives, the length of their cars and eventually I couldn't keep a straight face anymore and told them that there really is no difference.

[Kozzie]

QUOTE: Originally posted by dblstack

At work we deal a lot with the railroads and the railways. Several times, new folks in the dept have asked me the difference, to which I replied with some completely proposterous story about the gauge of the track, the height of the locomotives, the length of their cars and eventually I couldn't keep a straight face anymore and told them that there really is no difference.

I agree with dblstack. Here downunder we usually refer to all rail systems as railways, (as in the UK) and we've always thought that everyone in the States uses the word railroad instead. Just a matter of geography, the word you use depends on what is used in your country, but in the end, it's the same thing.

[CShaveRR]

Gee, this came sooner than everyone thought...UP is the only big "Railroad" left!

[daveklepper]

Hey, let us not forget, just to be different:

Long Island Rail Road

That is the official name.

Dave

[Anonymous]

A long time ago, I was told that there originally was a legal difference. I don't remember which was which, but one was was only for the operation of the owner's own equipment, and the other was to be open to all comers, kind of a turnpike with rails.

The difference has become more or less meaningless over the years as many railroads emerged from bankruptcy as railways and vice versa.

[csxengineer98]

the spelling

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by csxengineer98

the spelling

Good call, As I said before, I have seen both large and small lines called railways or railroads. Just depends on how you want to look I guess.

[CNW-400]

I think GASmith hit the nail on the head, at one point there was a reason for the difference designation, but over the years and thru the mergers the meaning was lost.

The Chicago and North Western Railway had used "Railway" in its official title from the very beginning and it was not European (although the track was laid by German immigrants).

Mark

[Wdlgln005]

For some poor railroads, the difference is the time since it filed for bankrupcy last? Take the Rock Island, PennCentral, and how many other roads struggling on with bad track, poor service, and dirty locomotives that can barely pull their weight. Weedy mainlines that should have never been built.