Switch or Turn-out, What Say You??

Real world, I say switch. 

Model railroad world, I us both switch and turnout interchangeably, depending on which word comes out of my mouth at the time.

Rusty

Switch  .....Example... In train order territory "where does time apply?"   answer, At the siding switch where an opposing train clears. (a few exceptions with location but  not the term switch )

Or" can I borrow you turnout keys , Nah, it's just doesn't sound right."

Having said that, I've also heard the term" high speed turnouts" but this more an engineering term. IMHO

 I sometimes use the term "turnout" in modeling  just to not confuse the term " switch" with a toggle switch .

When out on the railroad, there term "switch" is most often used by train crews, however the Engineering Dept. and MOW folks seem to use the term "turnout" more often.

On our home model railroad, I have to be careful to differentiate the two terms, since I have many toggle switches that control track power, so a "turnout" is more commonly used when someone fails to return a turnout back to norman position.

I usually use "turnout" but putting things in context as Hot Water said, "switch" is more common unless you're in a discussion where electrical is also being discussed, you have to use "turnout" to distinguish the rail component from the electrical component. Since we use switches to throw turnouts electrically, I typically use "turnout" since there's usually an electrical component involved with moving the rail component.

As a rule i have used "turnout" but if I have used switch in a conversation I try to say "track switch" and "electrical switch" to distinguish the two.

I agree with the others. For model rail roads it is turnout for track switches and switches for the electrical switches to be able to tell them apart. That being said, I still usually call the turnouts switches as well as calling the electrical ones switches.

However the phrase, 'Switch that switch with that switch over there' does get a bit confusing sometimes.   

Don't lose sleep over this one, Joe.

Railroads -- and railroaders -- use both, interchangeably.  Like much railroad terminology, usage differs from railroad to railroad and from region to region.

The Engineering Department is fairly consistent in using the term turnout on official engineering prints and in correspondence.  However, they refer to the operating devices of turnouts as switch stands and dual-controlled switch motors.

The timetable refers to turnout speeds, but also advises that there are no switch lights on the such-and-such branch.

The rule book addresses hand operation of switches while advising on requirements while proceeding through turnouts.

Have a cold beer, run your O-gauge trains, and leave this topic to those who cannot agree with each other.  

I have always used the term "SWITCH" in 12-inch-to-the-foot scale railroading. The supporting machinery (switch stands, switch motors, switch points, etc.) also used the term "switch" to describe them.

Back in the 70's when I worked at the P&LE Gateway Yard in Stuthers, Ohio, the 2nd trick Switchtender was a fella named Jimmy Funkhouser. All the switches in the 46-track hump yard, the 22-track receiving yard and the 4-track departure yard were power switches, controlled from the tower by the Switchtender. Consequently there was a LOT of radio traffic calling the "Switchtender" to change the position of certain switches as crews went about their work.

Every time Jimmy was called on the radio, his initial radio response was always, "Switches!"

You get the switch, I'll make the cut.....

Line the 5 switch....

Just line the switch and wait right there...

You have authority to place the dual control switch in hand operation...

Uh oh, I think we ran through a ridged switch....

Drop me off at the switch...

Pick me up at the switch....

Pull up to the switch and I'll get off..

Just some common phrases thrown around quite often at work.... ok well not too often hopefully for running through a ridged switch  

I'm off to work now to line some switches for the inbounds

Well, either way, I understand what people are talking about.  

But all my life, they were called switches, until recently I ran into the term "turnout."  My uncle and his friends who worked for ATSF called the real ones switches.  My dad called the toy ones on my layout switches.  

It's my understanding from those in MOW that "turnout" is the term for the diverging (typically the curved) portion of a switch.  On a curved switch, the "turnout" would be the route that leaves the main/lead line curve.

Thus, when we have a switch point that is getting too worn and the switch has a slow-speed order on it, IF the bad point is on the turnout side, then no speed restriction for the normal alignment, only when the switch is lined for the turnout.

Perhaps its different in other parts of the world, but this is the way it is here in this region.

Curved turnout (or switch if you prefer) w/switchstand. On a spur of the RCP&E, Rapid City, SD.

I have called them switches my whole life ("O22 Switches", remote control switches, O27 switches, manual switches, etc.) but whenever I read "turnout", I know what is meant and I translate it to "switch" without giving it much thought.

I recently purchased a dandy of a letter from 1878 written by the Superinendent (President) of a railroad in which both the word "switch" and "turnout" are used in the same letter.  The letter is one of the artifacts I collect from the Providence, Warren & Bristol railroad. The PW&B RR once served my town here in Rhode Island.

The letter, shown below, was handwritten by the railroad Superintendent to a lawyer.  Apparently, men working for (or represented by) the lawyer had left a switch "set for the turnout" position on a Saturday night and it was "only by the care of [the railroad's] men that a serious accident was avoided". 

I own or have read many letters by this particular RR leader and I can tell you that he was boiling with rage when he wrote it.  It's a clear departure from his customary business-like prose.  

It's pretty clear that, since the letter is from 1878 the use of the word "turnout" dates from quite some time ago.  I could be reading it incorrectly, but at least from this man's usage, it would also seem to indicate that a "switch" is the entire apparatus (i.e., entrance, points, left leg, right leg, and the switch machine) and the "turnout" is the track that turns away from the mainline.  

But that might be wrong.  I'd be interested in hearing more from others.

Steven J. Serenska

I found everybody calls them switches. But it says turnout on blueprints.

I agree with post from number 90...a difinitive answer...conrail john

Lets go with FROG.

Back in the 50s, it seems like switch referred to O & S gauge layouts and the HO gauge was turn outs.

I think Kalmback publications historically favored the term "turnout" to disinguish track switches from electrical switches.

All these years, I never knew I was a "turn-outman" in the OKC yard.

Or kicking them out on the Lawton turn-outer.

Just to add some fuel to the fire, In the UK don't they call them "points" ?

Does "turnout" mean "diverging route"?

Only if the switch points are open, i.e. in the reverse position, and lined for the "diverging route".