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

Image taken from here