railroad

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

n. railway; main or trunk line, spur; model railroad; tramline, tramway, trolley or streetcar line, street railway, subway. See transportation. —v., informal, rush or push through, expedite; slang, frame, jail. See injustice.

II

(Roget's IV) n.

Syn. track, line, railway, trains, rails, elevated, underground, subway, métro (French), tube (British), commuter line, cable railway, monorail, cog railway, sidetrack, siding, passing track, loading track, feeder line, main line, double track, single track, trunk line, transcontinental railroad, system, el*, iron horse*; see also train 2 .

III

(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus)

I

n.

rail line, tracks, railway, subway, monorail, *el. ''Only a device for making the world smaller.''—John Ruskin.

WORD FIND

• barrier or stop at end of track: bumper

• bed in a sleeping car: berth

• brake operator: brakeman

• bridge: trestle

• cars owned by one company: rolling stock

• crew’s tail car: caboose, *doghouse, *shanty, *buggy, *van, *penthouse, *doodlebug

• driver: engineman, engineer

• driving compartment of locomotive: cab

• elevated: *el

• engine employed to clear cars in yard: trimmer, *yard goat

• engine: locomotive

• fast train: bullet train, express train

• freight car: boxcar, flatcar, gondola, hopper, livestock car, platform car, refrigerator car (*reefer), tank car, *wagon

• hitching clamp: coupler

• holding area for train, cars: yard

• locomotive’s front bumper: cowcatcher

• lover of railroads: ferrophiliac

• magnetically levitated train: Maglev

• meal car: dining car mountain track employing cogs to increase

• traction: cog railway

• passenger car: coach, dining car, Pullman sleeper, lounge car, observation car, smoking car

• porter at station: redcap

• rail layers: *steel gang, *spikers

• rotating platform used to turn locomotives: turntable

• second engine used in steep areas: booster, *rammer

• shunting mechanism: switch

• sidetrack dead-end: spur

• signaling apparatus: semaphore

• signaling framework over tracks: gantry

• single rail track: monorail

• sleeper, luxury: palace car

• slip off tracks: derail

• sorting cars in freight yard: marshaling

• steam whistle’s peep: crow

• supervisor, fare collector: conductor

• supervisor of yard: yardmaster

• switching tracks: shunting

• tie: sleeper, crosstie

• turntable facility for switching locomotives: roundhouse

• wheeled trucks that support cars: bogies

• width of track: gauge

• worker’s hand-pumped transport: handcar

• X-like railroad crossing sign: crossbuck

II

v.

push through, force through, rush through, expedite.