West Briton Now and Then article

[whole diary]

[LiskeardRich]

Featured in the West Briton's Now and Then on 8th August 2013 is a Railway scene near Redruth. Thought may be of interest to some members. I have uploaded to my Flickr, the file is far too big to share to this site.
http://flic.kr/p/frp4nr

[SandTEngineer]

Nice picture but shame they cant get their facts right....Its actually Drump Lane goods depot.

[Chris from Nailsea]

Quite right: see http://www.cornwallrailwaysociety.org.uk/uploads/7/6/8/3/7683812/1154453_orig.jpg 

[Red Squirrel]

So the questions for all you fact fans out there are:

1. Is Drump Road just the modern name for Drump Lane, or is it a different thoroughfare?

2. If it is the same thoroughfare, then surely it is entirely reasonable to refer to the facility in question as either 'the goods yard at Drump Road' (the modern name for the location) or 'Drump Lane Goods Depot' (though this may require a footnote to explain that Drump Lane is now called Drump Road). 

Just asking! If Drump Lane and Drump Road are completely different places, please forgive my intrusion!

[stuving]

But ... the article doesn't say it is called Drump Road, it just says it is at Drump Road - which I think is true. Or at least it certainly is if the road now called Drump Road was called that in ca. 1912. If the name has changed than you could argue it is either right or wrong.

Note: You may feel that warrants a pedant warning. I might accept that it refers back to a certain Beyond the Fringe sketch about Bertrand Russel and G E Moore, which fits well. I'd prefer to relate it to the White Knight's song in Through the Looking Glass, which fits less well but is a superior piece of logical exposition.

[Red Squirrel]

...from which we may conclude that trout live in trees, or that if we buy kippers it will not rain, or even that you do not love me any more.

[LiskeardRich]

So the questions for all you fact fans out there are:

1. Is Drump Road just the modern name for Drump Lane, or is it a different thoroughfare?

2. If it is the same thoroughfare, then surely it is entirely reasonable to refer to the facility in question as either 'the goods yard at Drump Road' (the modern name for the location) or 'Drump Lane Goods Depot' (though this may require a footnote to explain that Drump Lane is now called Drump Road). 

Just asking! If Drump Lane and Drump Road are completely different places, please forgive my intrusion!

They are very close, from Google maps, the Drump Lane good depot is where the lorry trailers are parked, and drump road is the road labelled accordingly. The now picture was taken from the foot bridge visible on the top side of the lorry depot. You need to zoom out one click on this link to see the subject area.
https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=drump+road+redruth&ll=50.23846,-5.224664&spn=0.001863,0.005284&hnear=Drump+Rd,+Redruth,+Cornwall,+United+Kingdom&t=h&z=18

[stuving]

...from which we may conclude that trout live in trees, or that if we buy kippers it will not rain, or even that you do not love me any more.

Sorry - now I'm guilty of inexactitude. I meant the introduction to the song, not the song itself. Before singing his song, the White Knight tells Alice what the song is, what it is called, what its name is, and what its name is called.

Perhaps it's less well known than I thought, since Douglas Hofstadter (in G^del, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid) does not mention it. That book is all about reference and self-reference, and the relationship between a thing and its name or symbol, and includes other quotations from Carrol.

[Red Squirrel]

Perhaps it's less well known than I thought, since Douglas Hofstadter (in G^del, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid) does not mention it. That book is all about reference and self-reference, and the relationship between a thing and its name or symbol, and includes other quotations from Carrol.

Yay! That makes three of us who have read that book (excluding the publishing team)!

I say 'read'; I got as far as 'Bloop and Floop and Gloop' and gave up. Maybe I'll get back to it one day...

[stuving]

You may be right, that it sold well but was rarely finished. I suspect that's true of a lot of big books. But you did get past halfway!

I do rather hope that most people doing software development are at least familiar with Hofstadter's Law, though. (You should remember that, as it's only on P152 of the Penguin.)

For those who are not, it says: "It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter's Law".

Come to think of it, doesn't that also apply to rail infrastructure projects?

[SandTEngineer]

Well after that interesting diversion (not ) I'd just like to add that the signal box was definitely called DRUMP LANE.

[Red Squirrel]

Well after that interesting diversion (not ) I'd just like to add that the signal box was definitely called DRUMP LANE.

Yes, that much is clear.

What still isn't quite clear to me is whether that brave member of Her Majesty's Press who referred to a facility as 'the goods yard at Drump Road' was guilty of terminological inexactitude (because the labels 'Drump Lane' and 'Drump Road' refer to dissimilar entities) , or was merely calling a thing (an adopted highway near Redruth) by its current name ('Drump Road') as opposed to the apellation by which it was known in the past ('Drump Lane').

[LiskeardRich]

What is now known as Drump Lane Foot crossing is about 1/2 mile further down the line here
https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=scorrier&ll=50.24962,-5.211162&spn=0.000931,0.002642&hnear=Scorrier,+Cornwall,+United+Kingdom&t=h&z=19

(The location of recent fatality)