Anyone know the term for the area between the cars of a train?

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Anyone know the term for the area between the cars of a train?

  • Good afternoon everyone,

    Does anyone know the technical term for the area between cars? I'm thinking about the Eurail train in Europe, and in this area between cars you have the restrooms as well as the exit/entrance.

    Anyone?

    Trainjumper
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  • The only word I know for that is a vestibule.
  • [8D]
    I assume you do mean passenger trains; all I know to call the space between freight cars is the space or the gap or DANGER! (Nonetheless, it was fun to ride between cars on the Chicago El before they banned it--could smoke, too).

    I wonder, was the original Mr. Pullman a high-church Episcopalian, or perhaps Roman Catholic? I believe the term "vestibule" to be a metaphor on a church vestibule, many of which have that "folded" appearance. Or for those who don't go into analyzing churches, the hall that Dorothy and Friends had to pass thru to speak to the Wizard of Oz.. And if you really want to impress your friends, the term "center aisle" is a bit redundant. Such a passage in the middle is a corridor and two or more towards the sides are "aisles"--unless I got it totally switched! [:(]

    I rode a Spanish (5-ft gauge) Talgo in 1970, and it didn't have those folded vestibules as such. (Just to make sure I'm playing on the same field, I'm thinking of the true in-between space, the area where Janet Leigh made a pass for Frank Sinatra in the 1961 version of The Manchurian Candidate). On Talgos, at least those of that generation, the passenger rarely encountered a door between his car; in other words, no folded "vestibule" apparatus. You probably know that Talgos use (used?) a radically different system of suspension, and with that five-food gauge the ride was low, wide but with high ceilings and incredibly comfortable!

    Instead, the Talgos used sliding floor plates between cars, disc or demilune style, that turn when the lead vehicle is turning. It looked somewhat like the articulated city buses Chicago's CTA and many other transit systems around the world use.

    And what do we call the space betten the first-two thirds of a CTA bus and the remaining third here in the City of Broad Shoulders?

    Why, the "accordion," of course! [:p][:p]

    "Roll out the barrel; we'll have a barrel of fun." ("Beer Barrel Polka")