Great Western Coffee Shop

We all use abbreviations - sometimes too much for our own good, and almost always too much for our newcomers and guests.  Here are over 100 I came up with in the last hour from "around here", most of which are railway related. Please help by posting up those that I have missed - when we reach 125 I'll sort them and leave them in a prominent place!

106 Section 106 - private developer funds for public infrastructure
121 Older generation train - some now being reused
125 Main line express trains in use on most services, from 1970s
142 Type of train in use on local services from Exeter
143 Type of train in use on some Bristol local services
150 Trains used on slower routes in the West
153 Single coach trains intended for lighter loaded servcies
158 Trains used on Regional routes such as Cardiff to Portsmouth
165 Trains used on commuter routes (and sometimes beyond) from Paddington
166 Trains used on commuter routes (and sometimes beyond) from Paddington
180 Main line express trains - "Adelante" - being withdrawn from our area
47 Class of locomotive, largley retired and operating occasional specials
57 Class of locomotive used on the Penzance to Paddington Sleeper
67 Class of locomotive used on occasions where a contracted extra train is run
Adelante class 180 trains being withdrawn around now
AG Andrew Griffiths
AM Member of the Welsh Parliament (Welsh MP)
ASLEF The Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen
ATW Arriva Trains Wales
Avocet Line from Exeter to Exmouth
AXC Arriva Cross Country
B&H Berks and Hants - Reading to Taunton via Westbury
BPW Bristol Parkway
BR British Rail
BTM Bristol Temple Meads
Bustitution the practise of replacing trains by buses
CANBER Campaign Against the New Beeching Report
CDR Cheap Day Return
CW Christian Wolmar
DfT Department for Transport
DM Dilton Marsh
DOO Driver Only Operation
ECML East Coast Main Line
EK Economy Klaus
FCC First Capital Connect
FGW First Great Western
FOSBR Friends of Bristol Suburban Railways
GC Great Central
GNER Great North Eastern Railways
GOSW Government Offices South West
GWML Great Western Main Line
H&S Health and Saftey
HST High Speed Train (Inter City 125 units)
IEP Intercity Express Program
IRUG Ivybridge Rail Users Group
Jacobs Company who produced reports on which current service level is based
JCN Junction
Laira Laira, Plymouth (Depot)
MEP Member of European Parliament
MKM Melksham
MRDG Melksham Railway Development Group
MTLS More Train Less Strain
MTU Motor Traction Unit
NeX National Express - parent company of Wessex Trains
NR Network Rail
NRES National Rail Enquiry Service
NSE Network South East
OOC Old Oak Common
ORCAT System for allotting fares between operators - what does it stand for?
ORR Office of the Rail Regulator
PERTIS Permission to travel machines
PF Penalty Fare
PHP The programming language used on this web site
PPM Parry People Mover
PPM Pence Per Mile
PW Permanent Way
RMT National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers
RPI Revenue Protection Inspector
RSS Regional Spatial Strategy
SDO Selective Door Opening
SDR Standard Day Return
SLC Service Level Committment
SMF Simple Machines Forum - The software we use on this site
SOR Standard Open Return
SPAD Signal Passed at Danger
SPM St Philip's Marsh
SRA Strategic Rail Authority
SRUG Saltash Rail User Group
SSTC Strategically Significant Towns and Cities
STAG Severn Tunnel Action Group
STT Save the Train
SWL South Wales Line
SWPTUF South West Passenger Transport User's Forum
SWT South West Trains
T2000 Transport 2000 (now campaign for better transport)
TIC Tourist Information Centre
TIIS Train Infrastructure Interface Program
TM Train Manager
TOC Train Operating Company
TPH Trains Per Hour
TransWilts Line from Swindon to Westbury and on to Salisbury
Turbo Class 165 and 166 trains used on Thames Valley services
TV Thames Valley
TVM Ticket Vending Machine
TWSW Travel Watch South West
VFML Vehicle Mounted Flange Lubricaters
VXC Virgin Cross Country - former franchise
WC Wiltshire Council (name for new Unitary Authority)
WCC Wiltshire County Council
WCML West Coast Main Line
Wessex Name of franchise who used to run the regoional and local trains in he West
WHM Well House Manor (where I work - please excuse advert (http://www.wellhousemanor.co.uk))
WWDC West Wilts District Council
WWRUG West Wilts Rail User Group
XC Cross Country franchise trains (now run by Arriva)
Zulu Special Train

As a general rule, I have excluded people's initials - but I've made an exception to that where people are mentioned within a number of posts on the site by those initials and / or where they're very much in a PR role and it's their desire (or rather job) to be prominent  ;D

Perhaps for some of the less knowledgeable among us who often wonder what we talk about, we could have a photo asigned next to the class of train?

Yes ... and indeed I think it would be a good idea for someone (do you fancy doing it?) to go through and find links to something a bit longer than my terse descriptions.

And I have just run across HTRWTM5, Easement, ATOC

I can probably provide a photo of each type of train apart from maybe the bubbles ;)

Thanks ... and I guess we had better define "bubbles" too - that's not one that I think too many people will know!

And I've just come across PTS - Personal Track Safety

Cl142
(http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l50/liamy_2006/swr/djs2s.jpg)

Cl143
(http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l50/liamy_2006/cdf6s.jpg)

Cl150
(http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l50/liamy_2006/swr/djs13s.jpg)

Cl153
(http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l50/liamy_2006/aller7s.jpg)

Cl158
(http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l50/liamy_2006/sea21s.jpg)

Cl159
(http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l50/liamy_2006/wa16s.jpg)

HST
(http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l50/liamy_2006/mlm18s.jpg)

220/221
(http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l50/liamy_2006/mlm20s.jpg)

Cl180
(http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l50/liamy_2006/wst15s.jpg)

Cl47
(http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l50/liamy_2006/cwtk1s.jpg)

Cl67
(http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l50/liamy_2006/cdf21s.jpg)

Thats all I can find!

Thanks Liam .. they look good (and I note that they ARE from your own collection / web area too so they're your copyright  ;) - we have to be so careful!)

Indeed, all taken from my website.

S&T = Signalling and Telecoms

LM

London Midland

I might be missing something here, but what is IMHO?

in my humble opinion?

Yes ... and I was so much wondering whether I should (or should not) include the common elements on netspeak that are used around here. Knife edge decision, but I came down against as I would have been duplicating other resoures.   But here are some links

http://www3.telus.net/linguisticsissues/Abbreviations.htm

http://www.noslang.com/dictionary/i

and a few common one I have see here:

AFAIK as far as I know
LOL Laughing out loud
AKA also known as
IMHO im my humble opionon

MTWLEH Melksham trains will leave every hour - oops - that's just a dream!

Thanks for that!

It is worth bearing in mind that the owner of the images contained in the link below (the section from Barnstaple to Torquay) has given permission for anyone to reproduce them.
http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=1003.msg5255#msg5255

As someone who has hundreds (sometimes thousands) of images downloaded from my site and used in other people's pages without my permission on a daily basis (rogue's gallery here (http://www.wellho.net/demo/pflog2.php?away=1), comment about it here (http://www.wellho.info/)), and also with certain responsibilities here, I tend to check copyright terms quite carefully - I have to!  We've got an excellent "crew" around here so there's very rarely a problem in practise, but better safe than sorry!

I see we're on to page 2 now so I've sorted the extras in and come up with a complete list to date. List also includes netspeak items that I save seen in use here (slight policy change - avoids people having to look at lots of different places!) ...

106 Section 106 - private developer funds for public infrastructure
121 Older generation train - some now being reused
125 Main line express trains in use on most services, from 1970s
142 Type of train in use on local services from Exeter
143 Type of train in use on some Bristol local services
150 Trains used on slower routes in the West
153 Single coach trains intended for lighter loaded servcies
158 Trains used on Regional routes such as Cardiff to Portsmouth
165 Trains used on commuter routes (and sometimes beyond) from Paddington
166 Trains used on commuter routes (and sometimes beyond) from Paddington
180 Main line express trains - "Adelante" - being withdrawn from our area
47 Class of locomotive, largley retired and operating occasional specials
57 Class of locomotive used on the Penzance to Paddington Sleeper
67 Class of locomotive used on occasions where a contracted extra train is run
Adelante class 180 trains being withdrawn around now
AFAIK as far as I know
AG Andrew Griffiths
AKA also known as
AM Member of the Welsh Parliament (Welsh MP)
APCOA Car Parking company at many (most?) stations in the area
ASLEF The Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen
ATOC Association of Train Operating Companies
ATW Arriva Trains Wales
Avocet Line from Exeter to Exmouth
AXC Arriva Cross Country
B&H Berks and Hants - Reading to Taunton via Westbury
BoA Bradford-on-Avon
BPW Bristol Parkway
BR British Rail
BTM Bristol Temple Meads
BTW By the Way
Bubble A class 121 train (previous generation, in reuse in Cardiff and Aylesbury)
Bustitution the practise of replacing trains by buses
CANBER Campaign Against the New Beeching Report
CDR Cheap Day Return
CIS Customer Info System
Coffin Nail - Single coach train
CW Christian Wolmar
DeMU Diesel Electric Multiple Unit
DfT Department for Transport
Digital Dorris - Auto anouncer on ex W&W (Wales and West) stations
DM Dilton Marsh
DMU Diesel Multiple Unit
Donkey Class 142 train (also "Nodding Donkey")
DOO Driver Only Operation
Easement The relaxing of a fare rule for a special case
ECML East Coast Main Line
EK Economy Klaus
EMU Electric Multiple Unit
EWS English Welsh & Scottish Railway Ltd
FCC First Capital Connect
FGW First Great Western
FOSBR Friends of Bristol Suburban Railways
GC Great Central
GF Ground Frame
GNER Great North Eastern Railways
GOSW Government Offices South West
GWML Great Western Main Line
H&S Health and Safety
HSS High Speed Services
HST High Speed Train (Inter City 125 units)
HTRWTM5 Heathrow, Terminal 5
IEP Intercity Express Program
IIRC If I Recall/Remember/Read Correctly
IMHO in my humble opinion
IRUG Ivybridge Rail Users Group
Jacobs Company who produced reports on which current service level is based
JCN Junction
KISS Keep it Simple, Stupid!
Laira Laira, Plymouth (Depot)
LM London Midland
LOL Laughing out loud
LTV or L&TV London [and] Thames Valley
MEP Member of European Parliament
MKM Melksham
MRB Meal Relief Break
MRDG Melksham Railway Development Group
MTLS More Train Less Strain
MTU Motor Traction Unit
NDRUG North Devon Rail Users Group
NeX National Express - parent company of Wessex Trains
NR Network Rail
NRCOC National Rail conditions of carriage
NRES National Rail Enquiry Service
NSE Network South East
OOC Old Oak Common
ORCATS Operational Research Computerised Allocation of Tickets to Services
ORR Office of the Rail Regulator
PERTIS Permission to travel machines
PF Penalty Fare
PHP The programming language used on this web site
PIS Passenger Info System
PNB Personal Needs Break
PPM Parry People Mover
PPM Pence Per Mile
PPM Public Performance Measure
PTS Personal Track Safety
PW Permanent Way
RMT National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers
RPI Revenue Protection Inspector
RSS Regional Spatial Strategy
RTM (and RTFM) Read the Manual
S&T Signalling and Telecoms
SB Signal Box
SDO Selective Door Opening
SDR Standard Day Return
SLC Service Level Committment
SMF Simple Machines Forum - The software we use on this site
SOR Standard Open Return
SPAD Signal Passed at Danger
SPM St Philip's Marsh
SRA Strategic Rail Authority
SRB Short Rest Break
SRUG Saltash Rail User Group
SSTC Strategically Significant Towns and Cities
STAG Severn Tunnel Action Group
STT Save the Train
SWL South Wales Line
SWPTUF South West Passenger Transport User's Forum
SWT South West Trains
T2000 Transport 2000 (now campaign for better transport)
Tarka Line from Barnstaple to Exeter
TIC Tourist Information Centre
TIIS Train Infrastructure Interface Program
TLA Three Letter Acronym
TM Train Manager
TOC Train Operating Company
TPD Trains per Day
TPH Trains Per Hour
TransWilts Line from Swindon to Westbury and on to Salisbury
Turbo Class 165 and 166 trains used on Thames Valley services
TV Thames Valley
TVM Ticket Vending Machine
TWSW Travel Watch South West
VFML Vehicle Mounted Flange Lubricaters
VXC Virgin Cross Country - former franchise
W&W Wales and West - (before Wessex Trains!)
WC Wiltshire Council (name for new Unitary Authority)
WCC Wiltshire County Council
WCML West Coast Main Line
Wessex Name of franchise who used to run the regoional and local trains in he West
WHM Well House Manor (where I work - please excuse advert (http://www.wellhousemanor.co.uk))
WWDC West Wilts District Council
WWRUG West Wilts Rail User Group
XC Cross Country franchise trains (now run by Arriva)
Zulu Special Train

Keep posting additions / corrections, please!

Edited to add in suggestions by other contributors, below

It's actually ORCATS - Operational Research Computerised Allocation of Tickets to Services.

You've left off Tarka Line and NDRUG, btw.

---

ps. There's a possible bug in the underlying SMF code - if you put a smiley on that last line, the dotted underlining of the ABBR and ACRONYM tags stops appearing!

HSS - High Speed Services

LTV / L&TV = London & Thames Valley Services (The Locals from Paddington, Branchlines, Reading - Gatwick, Reading - Basingstoke)

PNB = Personal Needs Break (on a member of train crews diagram) In other words when you will next be somewhere with hot water, toilets, cooking facilities etc. Also SRB = Short Rest Break.

Do they still use

MRB - Meal Relief Break?

Also,

Donkey - 142
CIS - Customer Info System
PIS - Passenger Info System
Digital Dorris - That annoying auto anouncer on ex W&W (Wales and West) stations

 ::)Many thanks From a complete novice on the meaning of the those little letters know i think I can see the light   

My pleasure ... and thanks everyone else for your suggestions.  I'll keep adding them in, though, so don't stop giving me ideaa!

I've long wanted to mention that the title of this topic is misleading, insofar as it doesn't actually tell us what THAT stands for! Tracks, Huts and Tunnels perhaps?  ;D

I was waiting to add something useful before posting, however. I'm afraid the best I can do in that regard is to suggest TLA - Three Letter Acronym.

Thanks, Grahame!

IIRC - If I remember/recall correctly  (I had to look that one up externally, and even then, when I used it quite proudly here, it turned out I hadn't 'remembered correctly' at all!)  :-[

Sorry, Ptolemy - can't find a single serious entry for THAT (good somment though!) but I am going back and adding the following:

BoA Bradford-on-Avon
Coffin Nail - Single coach train
DMU Diesel Multiple Unit
DeMU Diesel Electric Multiple Unit
EMU Electric Multiple Unit
EWS English Welsh & Scottish Railway Ltd
GF Ground Frame
IIRC If I Recall/Remember/Read Correctly
KISS Keep it Simple, Stupid!
NRCOC National Rail conditions of carriage
RTM (and RTFM) Read the Manual
SB Signal Box
TLA Three Letter Acronym

Some of which may have dropped out of common usage, but you'll hear oldies like me quoting them

This is just too addictive. Every time I see something that may be revelant, I jot a note down of it.   If in doubt, by the way, I am "including things in" - you may know them or not be interested by others may not!  But I have decide against (I think) all the three letter station codes better to link you here (http://harmsy.freeuk.com/ukrailwayfaq/stationcodes2.html) to learn that "Free of Charge" and "Falls of Cruachan" share the same shortening!

106 Section 106 - private developer funds for public infrastructure
121 Older generation train - some now being reused
125 Main line express trains in use on most services, from 1970s
142 Type of train in use on local services from Exeter
143 Type of train in use on some Bristol local services
150 Trains used on slower routes in the West
153 Single coach trains intended for lighter loaded servcies
158 Trains used on Regional routes such as Cardiff to Portsmouth
159 Trains used by SWT on London to Salisbury and Exeter services
165 Trains used on commuter routes (and sometimes beyond) from Paddington
166 Trains used on commuter routes (and sometimes beyond) from Paddington
170 Turbostar trains (not in FGW area)
172 Trains on order for London Midland, Chiltern Trains and London Overground
180 Main line express trains - "Adelante" - being withdrawn from our area
47 Class of locomotive, largley retired and operating occasional specials
57 Class of locomotive used on the Penzance to Paddington Sleeper
67 Class of locomotive used on occasions where a contracted extra train is run
a (timetable) arrival time
Adelante class 180 trains being withdrawn around now
Adex Advertised excursion train
AFAIK as far as I know
AG Andrew Griffiths
AKA also known as
AM Member of the Welsh Parliament (Welsh MP)
Angel Trains - Part of Royal Bank of Scotland. Owner of many trains
Apache httpd - Web server software used on this forum
APCOA Car Parking company at many (most?) stations in the area
APT Advanced Passenger Train
ASLEF The Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen
ATC Automatic Train Control
ATOC Association of Train Operating Companies
ATP Automatic Train Protection
ATW Arriva Trains Wales
Avocet Line from Exeter to Exmouth
AWS Automated warning system
AXC Arriva Cross Country
B&H Berks and Hants - Reading to Taunton via Westbury
BHX Bank Holiday Excepted
Blog A Web Log
BoA Bradford-on-Avon
BPW Bristol Parkway
BR British Rail
BRB British Railways Board
BTM Bristol Temple Meads
BTP British Transport Police
BTW By the Way
Bubble A class 121 train (previous generation, in reuse in Cardiff and Aylesbury)
Bustitution the practise of replacing trains by buses
CANBER Campaign Against the New Beeching Report
CAPTHCA Completely Automated Public Turing Test to Tell Computers and Humans Apart
CDR Cheap Day Return
CIS Customer Info System
CoC Chamber of Commerce
Coffin Nail - Single coach train
css (.css) Cascading Style Sheets
CW Christian Wolmar
d (timetable) departure time
DaFT Department for Transport - critical sounding abbreviation I discourage
DB Deutsche Bahn - German State Railway
DeMU Diesel Electric Multiple Unit
DfT Department for Transport
Digital Dorris - Auto anouncer on ex W&W (Wales and West) stations
DM Dilton Marsh
DMU Diesel Multiple Unit
DNS Domain name service (turns a computer's address into something more relevant)
Donkey Class 142 train (also "Nodding Donkey")
DOO Driver Only Operation
DPPP Disabled People's Protection Policy
DVT Driving Van Trailer
Easement The relaxing of a fare rule for a special case
ECML East Coast Main Line
ECS Empty Coaching Stock
EiP Examination in Public
EK Economy Klaus
EMU Electric Multiple Unit
EWS English Welsh & Scottish Railway Ltd
FAQ Frequently Asked Questions
FCC First Capital Connect
FGW First Great Western
FOSBR Friends of Bristol Suburban Railways
FSB Federation of Small Businesses
FTP File Transfer Protocol
GC Great Central
GF Ground Frame
gif (.gif) Graphic Interchange File
GNER Great North Eastern Railways
GNN Government News Network
GOBL Gospel Oak to Barking Line
GOSW Government Offices South West
GWML Great Western Main Line
GWR Great Western Railway
H&S Health and Safety
HSBC (as in HSBC Rail) Bank that owns many trains
HSS High Speed Services
HST High Speed Train (Inter City 125 units)
HTML HyperText Markup Language
HTRWTM5 Heathrow, Terminal 5
httpd - Web server software used on this forum
IEP Intercity Express Program / Project
IIRC If I Recall/Remember/Read Correctly
IKB Ismbard Kingdom Brunel
IMHO in my humble opinion
IoD Institute of Directors
IP (as in IP Address) a computer's internet address
IRUG Ivybridge Rail Users Group
Jacobs Company who produced reports on which current service level is based
JCN Junction
jpg (.jpg) Joint Photographic Expert Group (picture file format)
KISS Keep it Simple, Stupid!
Laira Laira, Plymouth (Depot)
LC Level Crossing
LM London Midland
LOL Laughing out loud
LOROL London Overground Railway Operations Ltd
LTV or L&TV London [and] Thames Valley
MEP Member of European Parliament
MF Monday to Friday
MFO Monday and Friday Only
Mk2 Mark 2 coach
MKM Melksham
MRB Meal Relief Break
MRDG Melksham Railway Development Group
MTLS More Train Less Strain
MTU Motor Traction Unit
MySQL the database software this web site uses
Mystex - Train on which passengers don't know where they are going
NDRUG North Devon Rail Users Group
NeX National Express - parent company of Wessex Trains
NR Network Rail
NRCOC National Rail conditions of carriage
NRES National Rail Enquiry Service
NSE Network South East
OOC Old Oak Common
ORCATS Operational Research Computerised Allocation of Tickets to Services
ORR Office of the Rail Regulator
pdf (.pdf) portable document format
PERTIS Permission to travel machines
PF Penalty Fare
PHP The programming language used on this web site
PIS Passenger Info System
pm Personal Message
PNB Personal Needs Break
Porterbrook - Part of Abbey National Treasury services. Owner of many trains
PPM Parry People Mover
PPM Pence Per Mile
PPM Public Performance Measure
PTE Passenger Transport Executive
PTS Personal Track Safety
PU Stops to Pick up only
PW Permanent Way
RDA Regional Development Agency
Recovery time - extra time in schedule to allow for late running
RMT National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers
ROSCO Rolling Stock Owning Company
RPI Revenue Protection Inspector
RQ Runs if Required
RSS Regional Spatial Strategy
RTM (and RTFM) Read the Manual
RUCC Rail Users Consultative Committee
s (timetable) stops to set down only
S&T Signalling and Telecoms
SB Signal Box
SD Stops to set down only
SDO Selective Door Opening
SDR Standard Day Return
SLC Service Level Committment
SMF Simple Machines Forum - The software we use on this site
SNCF Society National de Chemin de Fer - French National Railways
SO Saturday Only
SO Second Open (carriage)
SOR Standard Open Return
SPAD Signal Passed at Danger
SPAM unsolicited advertising emails or forum posts, usually send out in bulk
SPM St Philip's Marsh
sql Structured Query Language (for databases)
SRA Strategic Rail Authority
SRB Short Rest Break
SRUG Saltash Rail User Group
SSTC Strategically Significant Towns and Cities
STAG Severn Tunnel Action Group
STT Save the Train
SuO Sunday Only
SWL South Wales Line
SWPTUF South West Passenger Transport User's Forum
SWRDA South West Regional Development Agency
SWT South West Trains
SX Saturday Excepted
T2000 Transport 2000 (now campaign for better transport)
Tarka Line from Barnstaple to Exeter
TfL Transport for London
TIC Tourist Information Centre
TIIS Train Infrastructure Interface Program
TLA Three Letter Acronym
TLD Top level domain (e.g. .info, .uk)
TM Train Manager
TOC Train Operating Company
TOPS Total Operations Processing System
TPD Trains per Day
TPE TransPennine Express
TPH Trains Per Hour
TransWilts Line from Swindon to Westbury and on to Salisbury
TSO Trailer Second Open (carriage)
Turbo Class 165 and 166 trains used on Thames Valley services
TV Thames Valley
TVM Ticket Vending Machine
TWSW Travel Watch South West
u (timetable) stops to pick up only
UFN Until Further Notice
VFML Vehicle Mounted Flange Lubricaters
VXC Virgin Cross Country - former franchise
W&W Wales and West - (before Wessex Trains!)
W3C World Wide Web Consortium
WC Wiltshire Council (name for new Unitary Authority)
WCC Wiltshire County Council
WCML West Coast Main Line
Wessex Name of franchise who used to run the regoional and local trains in he West
WHM Well House Manor (where I work - please excuse advert)
WSMR Wrexham, Marylebone and Shropshire Railway
WWDC West Wilts District Council
WWRUG West Wilts Rail User Group
x (timetable) stops on request
XC Cross Country franchise trains (now run by Arriva)
Zulu Special Train

Now 222 items listed and sounding like a respectable unit number (note how quickly I stepped past the 142 mark!)

Thanks again, Grahame! Another one, if I may?

LOOU - Locked Out Of Use (broken doors, toilets, etc.)

OP = Original Poster/Topic Starter

EWS, knew it was a national freight train company but thought it meant

Engines, Wagons and Slaves.

Theale Hungerford And Taunton.  A "THAT" train is one of the Paddington semifast services that's transferrred across from the Adelantes to SDO 125s since December.   I have heard sayings like "THAT train is much slower in the new timetable" and "THAT train is late again" ...

Perhaps Grahame, to save confusion putting some of the short things like IMO, in to the Word Filter and making them "real" words?

Issue with putting them in word filter is it would make the assumption that is what they mean by that abbreviation.

True, but most things like "IMO" and "FGW" don't normally mean much else, as I belive they are case sensitive.

FWIW, I think people should supply the meanings of abbreviations and TLAs within ABBR tags. You then just hover over any duw if you dkwtm. HTH. HAND.

According to the "Wikipedia list of UK railfan jargon", a "crank" is an "affectionate term for a fellow railway enthusiast" and "cranking" is "obtaining pleasure in a railway orientated situation" (link below.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_UK_railfan_jargon

Whilst there is nothing wrong with obtaining pleasure in railway orientated situations, one must remember that this is a "family" forum.....

Hmm ... the ABBR tags don't come though on my viewing / browser, and I think it would be impractical on a general board such as ours to get the a predominance of people using them. I suspect that "don't know what an abbreviation means - link to this page" would be better.  And an encouragement to people to explain abbreviations TFT (the first time) that they use them.

I'm also disinclined to allow any/many through the spell checker; flagging them up acts as a warning to posters to keep the text understandable by customers of First Great Western who perhaps haven't been around this forum for very long.

I came across one that I couldn't work out just a few minutes ago ...

TGS. Somewhere on a train where the conductor goes - equivalent of guards van?

HELP!  Anyone?

TGS = Trailer Gaurd Standard
TS = Trailer Standard
TSD = Trailer Standard Disabled
TRFB = Trailer Restaurant First Buffet
TFB = Trailer First Buffet
TF = Trailer First

All styles of Mk3s ;)

Ah - thanks!   I'll build those in at the next round!

Ooh, that's bad, given that both <abbr> and <acronym> are standard HTML tags now.


Can't disagree with that, especially since some people can't spell common railway words like 'Guard' properly. (http://www.takeforum.com/forum/images/smiles/icon_rolleyes.gif)

FFS

Ever heard of a typo??   ::) >:(

Updated list now at:

http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/acronyms.html (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/acronyms.html)

This will be a permanent URL.  Please let me know of any corrections, extras, etc - and many thanks for all contributions

Very useful! one slight mistake, PERTIS is a permit to travel, not permission to travel. ;D  wait for it.............. smart ass!

Might be worth putting the following:

HMRI - Her Majesty's Railway Inspectorate (Related link: http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/server/show/ConWebDoc.7770/setPaginate/No)

HSE - Health and Safety Executive (Related link: http://www.hse.gov.uk)

RAIB - Rail Accident Investigation Branch (Related link: http://www.raib.gov.uk/home/index.cfm)

Also note ORR is Office of Rail Regulation

More than happy to have the additions and corrections - thank you. This is one area that it's worth getting accurate, and I'm sure many of you realise that vey often my fingers type quicker than my brain can smell ...

Sorry another:

Headcode - AKA a train reporting number. Helps identify a particular train. And helps signaller know whether it should get priority. Wikipedia has a good article, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headcode

Added, thanks, Ollie ... but with a proviso. I was brought up on the Southern Electric part  of BR, where headcodes were not the train reporting numbers but rather the route numbers - goodness, I can still recall from my youth, standing on Petts Wood station and waiting for the London trains:

12 Orpington - Charing Cross
13 Orpington - Cannon Street
16 Sevenoaks - Charing Cross
17 Sevenoaks - Cannon Street
70 Orpington - Victoria
71 Orpington - Holborn Viaduct
73 Orpington - Holborn Viaduct via the Catford Loop

Then there were 4, 5, 18 and 90 ... and 22 and 33 on the Hastings line, those last two numbers allocated to that service when it went from steam to Diesel Electric - they had been left out of earlier numbering systems since each train had - prior to that point - carried one set of metal cut out digits, so double numbers (same digit twice) had been impossible ...

P.S. Updates now at

http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/acronyms.html (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/acronyms.html)

to give it a permanent URL and to avoid this thread getting very long on each page. Over 250 terms / acronyms / abbreviations!

Perhaps you should add TAT - The Acronym Thread to your list :D

And would also indicate the nature of the train:-
91 Bournemouth Fast (only stop Soton Central)
92 Bournemouth Semi-fast (3 or 4 additional stops)
93 Bournemouth slow (all stops after Woking)

The rattling REPs are still a fond memory. Travelled at 90mph but felt like they were doing 150mph as they shook you to bits. 

Are you sure they weren't actually doing 150mph?  ;) ;D

I recall I timed them at up to 100mph. It was in the days when a bit of enthusiastic above speed running wasn't so tightly monitored as these days. 

Is there perhaps somewhere else these photos could be hosted?

I believe they still provide a valuable service for newcomers and it should be really easy to replace all the "redex" placeholders (that I and many others are seeing) now they've been taken offline by PhotoBucket by moving the pictures to another gallery, perhaps even hosted here at firstgreatwestern.info?

Err. All of the photos work on my end and I have no removed any of the photos myself. Photobucket went down i would presume.

Contact me if you wish to use any of the photos.

Ah, right - cheers for that. I expect it was temporarily down. I know Photobucket can be pretty flakey.

I have added "QR" as in "QR Codes" to our Acronyms and Abbreviations page (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/acronyms.html) so that you can find out what it stands for  ;D .

Many of our members are known by their initials or some other abbreviation too.   Should we add them to the Acronymn and Abbreviation page?  If you are known here by an abbreviation or acronym and would like to be listed, please post up a one liner telling the team how you would like your description to appear and - subject to editorial content and a majority of votes in favour of adding such data, we'll add you to the page.

I say "no".

If people would like their abbreviations to be more widely known, it's up to them to include them in their signature blocks. I think it's an unnecessary extra Admin / Moderation overhead to expect us to update a table.

Happy as ever to go along with the majority opinion though.

I agree with Phil - I think we'd soon find ourselves getting bogged down in the 'Acronyms, Abbreviations and Initializations' page if we try to put too many items in there.

CfN  :)

(Chris from Nailsea)

I'd say no as well.

bnm.

I've voted yes.  For newbies, seeing something like "I agree with CfN's suggestion" or "I think BNM has given incorrect information about a fare"* could prove fairly confusing, especially when these are the codes for Clifton Down and Burnham Bucks (respectively).  A separate list of regular poster acronyms (so the main list doesn't become cluttered) could be useful.  I can think of maybe 10-15 members who should be included, so there won't be a huge amount of work involved.

BB

* = Obviously, this will never be posted on the forum ;D ;)

I'm inclined to agree with the Moderation Team on this one. I think the Acronyms page should be mainly for the rail stuff, with people putting their shortened names in their signatures; that is the idea of a signature on a forum right ???

Maybe a guide on how to do that might be more useful?

TT

Did you see what I did there...?! :P ;D

Rarely incorrect, I hope <fingers crossed>, but occasionally trumped on price.  :D

Added BMF, ITA, CSM, NPS, and ITT amongst others.   Please let me know of anything missing, OK?

http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/acronyms.html

FGW - formal station code for Fishguard & Goodwick station, which should be openning on May 14th. It is (currently) outside the Great Western franchise area, but this fourm does have a south Wales local journeys section.

How about GoT (Glossary of Terms)?

Please keep your posts in English!

I was reminded how difficult it is for newcomers to discussions on rail subjects to pick up whst's being said if the text is full of abbreviations when I saw this (From http://www.bloodandcustard.org/hdl2011rochester01.html) the other day:


And there has been comment here that some members are dropping rather deeply into abbreviations - to the extent that they are making their posts hard to read.  Please remember our guidelines:


Five years old (so many new members will have missed it), but still looks good to me.  Not only do clear posts help people reading you - they also help you enhance your standing here!

innit bruv!

Sorry... Couldn't resist ;D

All joking aside, duly noted. I am trying to remember the station codes trap door ;) :)

In your example I thought they were MLVs (Motor Luggage Vans) used on the Dover Folkstone Boat trains not GLVs so can't give a definition.

And shouldn't it be GBrF Great Britain Rail Freight not GDrF

EDL is i asumme is a class 73 ED or Electro Diesel (Loco)

GOSW GOBL ???

They are in abbs (abbreviations).  After GOSW one should nowadays add RIP. 

An excellent demonstration, thank you gents, of why we need to keep abbreviations to a minimum and to explain them on first use.   In my example, I tracked GLV down as "Gatwick Luggage Van" and I guessed that after their dockside service at Dover Marine, they got redeployed on express services to Gatport Airwick.

WTF???

TTFN,

FTN

FFS FTN Behave! ROFL ;D

Soz!

FTN

You chaps is just so totally down wiv da kidz, innit.

I definately could of moaned about chat sights that there use of English is their to be..........

Nah ... da kidz in deze partz iz da best.  In the travel and tourism business, there's a very high proportion indeed of younger employees (certainly the case at our place; not so sure about FGW's average team member age) and they're exceptional - putting complete lie to negative stereotypes.   As a forum, we're very much inclusive, and welcoming of visitors and new members irrespective of age and prior knowledge / experience ... and lots of abbreviations tends to lower the readability for the uninitiated, and put up barriers of comprehension that turn off those we want to encourage to join.  In frequent posters (I'm sure you're there by now, Red Squirrel) you'll find a more laid back approach to those barriers - amongst regulars, if some choose to write in a way that others find hard, it's up to them - just stops them getting their points across.

I'm like, D'uh!. Dude!

Whilst looking for a description of the term 'bang road' which I confused two FGW employees with yesterday, I discovered an excellent resource for finding out about railway terminology and acronyms/abbreviations.

http://www.safety.networkrail.co.uk/Services/Jargon-Buster

ENCTS English National Concessionary Travel Scheme....Senior/Disabled bus passes to the uninitiated. I have been guilty of using this acronym in the last couple of days

Now added to this forum's Acronyms/Abbreviations page.  ;)

Posts on this forum frequently refer to train types by their class numbers: 153, 165, 180 and so on. Those, like me, who don't remember which number refers to which type but would like to know whether someone's talking about "the small bouncy one" or "the 3-car one with the tippy side-facing seats at the end" or whatever, can look it up in the very useful Acronyms and Abbreviations section. There are two ways in which this doesn't always quite work though: Sometimes, people use names instead of numbers, talking about a "Turbo" or a "Sprinter" or whatever. The names are probably easier to remember and looking these names up cross-references the class number, but the entries for the numbers don't refer to the names. Secondly, neither the name nor the number give a feel for what sort of train it is. This is easily solved by a quick google (there seem no limits to Wikipedia's geekery!) and no, I don't want links from the A&A; but would it be possible, in time, to have names added to the corresponding class number definitions? Thank you in anticipation!

I'm sure we can adjust A&A ... in the meantime, here's a checklist - with a "*" in front of trains currently running GWR passenger services.   Drawing this up has reminded me that I'm not totally sure of 800 v 801 v 802, what with the uprating and stifling and adding diesel engines to otherwise electric trains!

Pacers
142 Some Formerly operated from Exeter
* 143 Now Exeter based

Sprinters
* 150 Subclasses 150/0, 150/1 and 150/2 Mostlt 2 carriages
* 153 Single carriage trains
* 158 Mostly 3 cars on GW
159 SWR Salisbury depot 3 car trains

Turbo
* 165 Thames Valley, many moving to Bristol based services
* 166 Thames Valley, many moving to Bristol based services

Turbostar
168 Chiltern
170 Cross Country

Adelante
* 180 Five car high speed trains - a few around but leaving soon

High Speed Trains
* 125 (or 253 and 254) - current intercity HST workhorse
220 Voyager - Cross Country
221 Super Voyager - Cross Country
* 800 (IET)
802 Extra IET units on order for working on primarily diesel lines

Electric Units
* 360   4 and 5 car Heathrow Connect. Also 1 with Heathrow Express
* 387   4 car Thames Valley stock
332 Heathrow Express - main trains
801 Electric only IET

Thank you!

The 168s are often referred to as Clubman trains (especially by Chiltern themselves)

The HSTs arr class 43

The HST power cars are Class 43. Class 43 shouldn't be used to refer to the whole train. A HST is made up of two Class 43s and a number of Mk3 carriages.

The Class 158, part of the Sprinter family, were named on introduction Express Sprinter. That's a name still often used.

The Class 159, also part of the Sprinter family, were named South Western Turbo. That name is now seldom used.

Wagan. Want our acronymn page to be the goat not just peng. I have a fomo if we don't add things from this BBC page (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-45492228/peng-beef-the-secret-world-of-slang). No beef but what d'ya think bruvs?

Now I know that I'm old did not understand one word of that !😁

Have you had a TIA grahame?  ;D

Nope. Don't think so.

I'm with you on that one WP, but not with Grahame.... ;D

It is a truth universally acknowledged that as soon as old people (i.e. the over-20s) start to understand a generation's teen slang, it has already moved on. Wagwan yo'sel, coot!

Edit: Actually some definitions of 'coot' are slightly more insulting than I meant to be. I don't know the street slang word for 'effective transport campaigner who, at a guess, is slightly north of 20', on account of my being and old coot.

Hm, I can’t imagine an announcement sounding along the lines of “wagwan bruvs, mans sorry to say that your train has 5 coaches innit, mans bare sorry” (the slang, not the size of the train  ;))

You have to be a bit eccentric to be a transport campaigner, and I note or not and in the definition.

I think a "bird of the rail family" is most appropriate.

A Mallard by any chance ?.

None of that slang is anywhere near new. Beef dates back to the 1880s. The BBC are being cringeworthily dank, as they usually are with this sort of stuff.

My grandfather (who worked for BR in York) was fond of referring to "silly coots", back in the early '80s. Evidently he was ahead of his time.

Sorted.