RAILROAD VOCABULARY
Have you ever been around a train engineer when they're telling you about their latest trip and they mention diamonds, a shoofly, and frogs and wondered how those are relevant to railroading? Turns out the train engineer is using common railroad vocabulary.
Click here to visit some railroad terms, so that the next time you hear a train conductor mention a bad order, you won't think McDonald's gave them the wrong burger.
LIST OF THE NORTH AMERICAN RAILROADS
Adopted from Magic Valley Model Railroaders
AA – Ann Arbor
A&WP – Atlanta & West Point
ACL – Atlantic Coast Line
ACY – Akron, Canton & Youngstown
ART – American Refrigerator Transit
ATSF – Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe (AKA: Santa Fe)
B&M – Boston & Maine
B&O – Baltimore & Ohio
BCOL – British Columbia Railway
BCIT – BC Rail
BN – Burlington Northern
BNSF – Burlington Northern Santa Fe
BS – Birmingham Southern
C&G – Columbus & Greenville
C&O – Chesapeake & Ohio
C&S – Colorado & Southern
CB&Q – Chicago, Burlington & Quincy
CG – Central of Georgia
CN – Canadian National
CNJ – Central Railroad of New Jersey/Jersey Central
CNW – Chicago & Nom Western
CP – Canadian Pacific
CR – Conrail
CRR – Carolina, Clinchfield & Ohio (AKA: Clinchfield)
CSX – CSX Transportation
D&H – Delaware & Hudson
DL&W – Delaware, Lackawanna & Western (AKA: Lackawanna)
DT&I – Detroit, Toledo & Ironton
DMIR – Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range (AKA: Missabe Road)
DRGW – Denver & Rio Grande Western (AKA: Rio Grande)
EL – Erie-Lackawanna
FEC – Florida East Coast
FGE – Fruit Growers Express
FNM – Fencarriles Nacionales de Mexico (AKA: Mexican National Railways)
GF – Georgia & Florida
GM&O – Gulf, Mobile & Ohio
GN – Great Northern
GTW – Grand Trunk Western
IC – Illinois Central
KCS – Kansas City Southern
KCSM – Kansas City Southern de Mexico
L&N – Louisville & Nashville
LS&I – Lake Superior & Ishpeming
LV – Lehigh Valley
MEC – Maine Central
MILW – Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific (AKA: Milwaukee Road)
MKT – Missouri-Kansas-Texas (Katy)
MN&S – Minneapolis, Northfield & Southern
MON – Monon (AKA: Chicago, Indianapolis & Louisville)
MOW – Maintenance-of-Way
MP – Missouri Pacific
NdeM – National Railways of Mexico
NH – New Haven (AKA: New York, New Haven & Hartford)
NKP – Nickel Plate Road (AKA: New York, Chicago & St. Louis)
NP – Northern Pacific
NS – Norfolk Southern
N&W – Norfolk & Western
NYC – New York Central
PC – Penn Central
PFE – Pacific Fruit Express
PRR – Pennsylvania Railroad (AKA: “Pennsy”)
RDG – Reading
RI – Rock Island (AKA: Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific)
RUT – Rutland
SAL – Seaboard Air Line (AKA: “Seaboard”)
SCL – Seaboard Coast Line
SLSF – St. Louis-San Francisco (AKA: “Frisco”)
SOO – Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie (AKA: SOO Line)
SOU – Southern Railway
SP – Southern Pacific
SP&S – Spokane, Portland &Seattle
SSW – St. Louis-Southwestern (AKA: Cotton Belt)
UP – Union Pacific
TFM – Transportatacion Ferroviaria Mexicano
TTX – TTX Corporation
W of A – Western Railway of Alabama
WC – Wisconsin Central Limited
WM – Western Maryland
WP – Western Pacific

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