What is the difference between a RAILROAD and RAILWAY?

Railroad and Railway are terms ubiquitous with the world of trains. Most people use them without thinking twice. Some people say railroad, some say railway or even both. However, you may have noticed some rail companies use railroad, and others use railway. But have you wondered why that is, or even where the terms 'railroad' and 'railway' came from? Or why is 'railroad' so common in a place like the United States but right next door in Canada and overseas elsewhere it's often called a railway? I'll be discussing the history of the terms in this video!
Once again I've tried a bit of a different approach to my commentary video style so please let me know what you think! Thanks for watching!
Music Used:
Jazz Spastiks - Marshmallow Instrumental
Jazz Spastiks - Apples Instrumental
steezy prime - explore
open.spotify.com/artist/4ApyJ...
/ prime
/ steezyprime
Birocrastic - Silently Storming
Slenderbeats - Cigarette Solitude
"Cosimo Fogg - Jazzaddicts" is under a Creative Commons license (CC-BY) 3.0.
Music promoted by BreakingCopyright: • 'Jazzaddicts' by Cosim...
Paul McCartney - Fine Line
Half Life OST - Hazardous Environments
Sources:
LoKiLeCh
Agricola, Georg
Giovanni Grevembroch
RobHist.46
Robert Powell
George Walker
Parker, Warren S.
Seattle Municipal Archives
Birmingham History Forum
The Simpsons - 22 Short Films About Springfield
Wikipedia
Wikipedia Commons
Leeds Library & Information Services
Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division
Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, N.J.; Frick Art Reference Library
www.american-rails.com/mohawk...[pageGallery]/0/
chasewaterstuff.wordpress.com...
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
www.flickr.com/photos/interne...
unitedwaysem.org/history/detr...
www.flickr.com/photos/interne...
Links:
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My Site: amtrakguy365.weebly.com/
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[@holdenleeb2312]

We should all just call it “The Choo Choo Track”

[@MrComradebuttons]

It’s…it’s not already called that? No wonder the guys at the model train clubs think I’m weird

[@FunAngelo2005]

​@@MrComradebuttons or a child

[@davidsimpson9771]

​@@FunAngelo2005damnnnn dude you got him good 🔥🤡 lol you goof

[@thethesaxman23]

I’m from the US and I’ve never really favored one or the other. I believed they were pretty much interchangeable and not based on anything other than preference. Very interesting video!

[@FunAngelo2005]

well, it's not preference, but region. and yes, they do mean the same thing

[@harrisonofcolorado8886]

I like how you used a line from Steamed Hams and used TF2 sound effects too.

[@fieldmarshal7298]

Go tf2!

[@HeartlandChasingNetwork]

That's HL1...

[@thegillingroup1303]

@@HeartlandChasingNetwork no its not

[@Daniel-0093]

@@HeartlandChasingNetwork It's both because the creator of the games, valve, liked to reuse sound effects across their games

[@jmfoerst]

@@Daniel-0093 I always think of it as portal 2

[@rypatmackrock]

Being from the US, I have always been most fond of saying railroad.

[@u686st7]

Among my favorites, the Western Maryland and Norfolk & Western were "railways", the B&O and Pittsburgh & Lake Erie were "railroads" and the Reading was a "company" (i.e. "Reading Company"). Sometimes it differed even within the same organization: The Chesapeake & Ohio Railway owned the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. And then you have the "Transportation Company" (Penn Central and Southern Pacific) and the Consolidated "Rail Corporation" (Conrail).

[@3bydacreekside]

PITTSBURGH

[@smileyhead]

In Hungary we use the term “vasút” meaning “iron road”.

[@512TheWolf512]

Literally translated from Ukrainian, same thing. Iron road

[@sallylang2554]

steel on steel!

[@zeeteavathepipe3184]

Cale ferată in Romanian means the same. It's derived from French.

[@rickwalker7900]

Same in Chinese

[@sailormatlac9114]

You have same in most languages where "Rail" is substitued with the local word for "Iron". In French, it's "voie ferrée" and in Japanese it's "Tetsudo", litterally Iron Way/Road in both languages, same in Italian and Spanish and many other languages. Using the word rail seems to be limited to the anglosphere.

[@TheWinnipegRailfan]

I'm from Yugoslavia and I use the word Train-Rail! Like I always say: I am legally allowed to kill whomever calls CP Rail "Canadian Pacific _Railroad_". ;)

[@BenandMylesMom]

The Winnipeg Railfan I like the Canadian Pacific Railroad

[@_tsiatsiaros.k]

XD

[@Dexter037S4]

CP Bad CN Good My Grandfather worked for CN so I have bias.

[@BenandMylesMom]

Auto Racing Playlists CN is pretty good though.

[@TheWinnipegRailfan]

YOU my good sir are going to get Penn Central'ed :)

[@suprememeowmix9613]

2:25 thanks for giving the early anthracite roads some love

[@halo-sd5qe]

paper towel anthracite gang gang. RDG is yes

[@NOVARailandWeatherEnthusiast]

Bituminous gang

[@LINYTrains]

The oldest operating railway company in the United States is the Long Island Rail Road in New York (1832), two words.

[@KaiHenningsen]

Far as I can tell, it's a mixture of fashion and retconning, and the two terms are actually exact synonyms.

[@Ferrocarril_Chicago]

I always have said "railroad". I do find myself using "railway" when I refer to railroads in Europe, but otherwise I've always said "railroad".

[@AtkataffTheAlpha]

I have a fix: Railroadway

[@archivushka]

Or railwayroad?

[@kmoorother879]

Nah how about railpath

[@VeeTHis]

I have a better one: Railsidewalk!

[@fieldmarshal7298]

I've a fix. US should adopt the international nomenclature and also stop using football fields as a unit of measurement

[@mot649]

What about railrout? Rail lines? Or just Trainways. Tramways for trams and trainways for trains???

[@JoeltheSwedishDragon]

"Iron way", if ye want a direct translation of our Swedish word. :P If you ask me about using English vocabularies however, I prefer 'railroad', simply cuz I'm a bigger fan of American steam trains.

[@IndustrialParrot2816]

hmmmm i like deutsch steam

[@edwardj.ximipa3125]

british steams of course ^^

[@NERJ607]

5:30 Laidies and Gentleman, that's your answer. We'll see you next time in the AmtrakGuy365 KZbin channel.

[@mainecoastrailfan]

Living in the U.S. state of Maine, it's a very mixed combination of Railways and Railroads. There's a lot of old lines that call themselves railroads, however with the Canadian influence, you also see a lot of railways.

[@stevenclark291]

I am from the United States and I have always used the term railroad for heavy rail and railway for streetcars.

[@TrainGuru]

US, and railroad. Great vid!

[@BalticFilms144]

I tend to use both for what sounds appropriate. And then there's the broad term I like to use, "lines" like "Southern Pacific Lines" which includes the railroad company plus it's subsidiaries (T&NO, EP&SW, and SSW).

[@patrickwebb7311]

Since I'm a train enthusiast of trains in the US and UK (based in the US myself) I sometimes use the terms interchangeably.

[@jaredg4519]

Loved the video! Your videos keep improving and improving, can't wait for the next one! :D

[@austin8292]

Pretty cool editing and very informative.

[@DuMontTV]

Very cool and informative. Thank you!

[@Idkjustgothere]

This was very interesting glad to finally know the answer keep up the good work :)

[@rileyhogan8248]

Us. Often railroad. But, when I wrote a paper on a certain railroad, I did differentiate because of, like you said, restructuring.

[@captainkeyboard1007]

As a native American, I call that mode of transportation "railroad." However, the words "railroad" and "railway" have the same meaning and are spoken in different tongues. AmtrakGuy365 gave an interesting forum about this transportation mode which is enlightening to watch.

[@Neillan]

This video is very informative and very well made. Nice work!

[@gomezadams9900]

I'm from a border city in Canada so I use both terms interchangeably. I was hoping you could also do a video explaining how the spacing of the ties came to be.

[@BriceGum138]

That's kinda like a great documentary video to discuss the definitions of railway and railroad by term. I go by railway despite being an American now and then, rarely have I said the term railroad (unless if common like say mentioning 'Thomas and the Magic Railroad').

[@superjesse645]

Intriguing. And I like the style you used for this video

[@gingerdrizz]

Well done Jared, great research!

[@nathancorcoran5347]

Great history video of Railways and Railroads.

[@MichaelSavidgeStoryteller]

Very fascinating and engaging! This will be something I think now about as I ride the LIRR to work

[@RichManSCTV0]

Amazing video! I love learning !

[@TLN-qu4rq]

Also, remarkable job on the video. The style and editing was perfect. I got a very cool vibe from it. I would pay a lot of money to have a video edited like this. Not making any suggestions here. I'm just saying that your style is top notch.

[@JessicaKasumi1990]

Very cool bud. Keep it up.

[@pacificcy3182]

As I grew up watching Thomas in the US, I'm more used to saying railway, though I do sometimes say railroad, which ever one is easier to say at the time.

[@lilgreenguy8757]

This is a fuggin great video ,the asthetic reminds me of the old adult swim bumpers from the 2010's

[@CrossOfBayonne]

The B&O had trackage here in NJ running towards the Hudson River at the CNJ communipaw terminal which also saw famed passenger services like the Blue Comet run out of it.

[@hermanschannel4352]

I’m from Australia and railway is primarily used, but there is a Company called SSR is southern shorthaul railroad, well the terms are interchangeable but railway is primarily used, an other thing is in Australia a single blast of the horn (short or long) is used (in Victoria)when passing a crossing warning sign and when about to cross the level crossing but sometimes a North American grade crossing warning is used

[@catastropheintended88]

When I was a wee lad, I used to call it a railroad, now I usually use a mix but like railroad better

[@uncinarynin]

I'm in Austria, we say Eisenbahn or simply Bahn. Eisen = iron; Bahn = way, orbit, trajectory. I used to think that a railroad was a company operating transportation on both rail and road. But then (British) English is my third language after German and French. In continental Europe we learn British English in school because we consider Britain part of Europe (regardless of how the British think about that).

[@tracynation2820]

Super. Hello from the Tracy Mountain Railway in Colorado. 💙 T.E.N.

[@amfan_17presentations87]

3:18 Uuuh what region?

[@NoNameAtAll2]

Upstate New York?

[@amfan_17presentations87]

NoName Really! Well I’m from Utica and I’ve never heard anyone use the phrase RAILWAY.

[@kmoorother879]

Dante Raphael not in uttica no it’s a Toronto expression

[@amfan_17presentations87]

Random Tuber I’ll see. You know they look quite similar to the ones at New York Central.

[@200nick2]

I have always thought about it like this. When you do work on tracks its called Maintenance of Way. MOW=Railway. And the company that operates on that way is the Railroad.

[@thegreypenguin5097]

4:28 I got this def: a track made of steel rails along which trains run. I understand the basic def, but i'd be interested to know where you got the info for this distinction. thanks!

[@ianpidgley9720]

In the UK i refer to rail based travel as a Railway, almost all of the railway companies in the UK have/had railway in the name: South Western Railway, Caledonian Railway, London North Eastern Railway what you refer to as an Interurban, we call a 'Tramway', which is not to be confused with a 'Light Railway' which refers specifically to a railway constructed under auspices of the Light Railways Act of 1896 (such railways have lesser regulatory requirements, so are cheaper and easier to build, but are limited in there top speeds amungst other things) (although many tramways may in fact be light railways), main line railways are refeed to as Heavy Rail... the use of 'WAY' may be related to the legal term of a 'Right of Way' in the UK railways require a Act of Parliment to construct so as to give them the legal powers necessary to build and run the railway

[@pacificproductionsofficial]

Now this....this is quality content

[@VT29steamtrain]

2:48 its mrsr 5s whistle, where did you get this audio?

[@brent.michael.f.j.snyder]

I use the term railroad the most. I love in Pennsylvania.

[@choochoo9788]

I work for the CPR in Canada. We use "railway" when referring to the network itself, and "railroad" when using it as a verb or adjective. Example "now were railroading" or "im a railroader"

[@nojoek152]

Canadian here,Specifically from the Niagara region. So nice and close to the border. I think I use both terms interchangeably, or at least am used to hearing it that way.

[@mikebrown3772]

In the early days, before the general use of locomotives, the terms tramway, tramroad and railway were used almost at random in describing individual lines along with waggonway in the north-east of England, as well as the occasional use of the general term rail road. The Liverpool and Manchester line used the title Railway, following the example of the earlier Stockton and Darlington Railway and subsequent locomotive worked lines were all inspired by Stephenson's Liverpool and Manchester so obviously followed it's lead. Later the other terms were given more specific meanings with tramroad being used for lines laid with flanged rails (plateways) and tramway or waggonway used for horse worked lines laid with edge rails.

[@ohiorailfanproduction5436]

AmtrakGuy365 as of this video now has 365 videos illuminate conformed 😂 Also very nice video!

[@muhammadfadhiil5992]

I'm from Indonesia,South East Asia. And here we use the term Railway more than Railroad sometimes we used both

[@erical6338]

I consider railway British for railroad, as someone from the land of Shining Time Station, one of my favorite shows as a young child because I was into TTTE. We got a VCR TV when I was 4, I believe, as I was videotaped at that age and after we got that TV I got into TTTE through videos. Because of my childhood, I use both words. I say railway if I'm talking about foreign rails and railroad for when I'm talking about my country or the movie TATMR, which I didn't see as a kid. I got nostalgic for TTTE a few months ago and have seen a video about TATMR on another channel here on KZbin, though. TTTE gave me railway and railroad came from my Explore America books.

[@Brianrockrailfan]

great video liked 🚂🚄👍

[@Lightbolt95]

I am a very weird case I’ve lived on the American East Coast my entire life and was born here and yet I always say railway along with using pretty much exclusively European Termanology because Thomas and friends was pretty much the only show I ever watched for the first 6 1/2 years of my life

[@VT29steamtrain]

Its Railway in Australia, 2:47 what a beautiful whistle! Thats MRSR 5's 3 chime

[@kaydensrailway5594]

Railway, i'm from Malaysia of course, where the Brits built the first railway!

[@mfaizsyahmi]

But in malay we use something in the likes of "fire car/train way", and is one of the languages that didn't use "rail" or "iron"

[@EdwardsDayOut]

Finally thats cleared up!

[@u686st7]

In the USA, a lot of railroads that went bankrupt reorganized as railways and vice versa.

[@HotShotDesigns3D]

Hey Amtrak Guy, what video editor do you use to make these interesting videos

[@AmtrakGuy365]

Sony Vegas Pro 14 and thanks!

[@mikepowell2776]

Although in UK we use the term ‘railway’ I have heard train guards describing holdups caused by conflicting traffic as ‘not having the road.’

[@deantams8666]

I come from Australia and I predominantly use the term railways as described in your video.

[@thomasboese3793]

In the midwest of the US and I grew up with railroads. As an adult, I worked for a railroad. My hobby of choice is naturally, model railroading.

[@frankhan8993]

In Chinese the official English translation of "railway" is "railway", while the Chinese word 铁路, literally means "Iron road", the infrastructure to form railways are called "铁轨", literally means "Iron rail". Furthermore, the word for "train", 火车, literally means "Fire vehicle", indicates there was fire in early locomotives (steam locomotives). Nowadays the trains don't have visible fire anymore but the word remains.

[@GibranalNN]

The Japanese term for railway 鉄道 also literally means iron road

[@fireutility21]

I use the terms “Railway” and “Railroad” interchangeably based on the context. I.e “a Railroad company builds a railway” -greater Chicago area USA

[@Trainman3985]

I like both terms. But I prefer Railroads. Been saying it since I was a kid and hasn't stopped.

[@ghfdfhfdndxhcg2312]

Since I'm American, I call rail lines in North America Railroads, I could say the same for Canada, but since it was mostly British-ruled and still retains some of its British influence today, I mostly call them railways. But for every other country in the world, I call them railways.

[@BNoakville]

I'm actually surprised about the first two interurban shots. Those cars (and row) all belonged to the Puget Sound Electric Railway (

[@TotoDG]

As an Australian, I prefer "railroads", but I have heard both terms being used here.

[@ammo2222]

Its called "Eisenbahn" in german and can be translates to iron Train or iron Path. Eisenbahn refferes to the Network and the Company itself. For Example: The Railroad (Eisenbahn) Train (Zug) travels along the Railway (Schienenstrang) OR travels along the Tracks (Schienen).

[@hernanpatricioorellanaalar3473]

I’m from Chile, we use “Ferrocarril”. According your video can be translated as “Railroad”. Thanks a lot for your video! Greetings from Chile.

[@culdeefp4817]

I’m from Canada and I say railway, but I do use the term railroad when referring to American companies

[@evelynkinson5524]

Here in the UK we still have tramways in the trend if light railways which carry goods and light passenger services on narrow gauge tracks these were often derived from plateways which simply used vertical plate and crude sleepers to manufacture a 'way' of 'plates' these would be more Hardy and modular than wooden sleepers and iron rails which require more permanent fixing. Plateways then gave way to standard gauge light railways serving collieries, lime quarry and kilns certainly in Shropshire and North Wales

[@mfaizsyahmi]

I've been looking everywhere to find differences between languages as to whether they use the word "railway/railroad", "ironroad" (eg. Irish), etc. but to no avail. Perhaps you could look into that and find better luck than I did.

[@Infrared73]

Canadian, and didn't realize that CN and CP self-label as Railway. I usually don't say anything beyond CN or CP so it has never come up before. I've always considered the terms interchangeable.

[@bluebellsfan8704]

Amazing video! I use Railway 🇨🇦

[@jeffeffery8181]

THIS IS JOURNALISM 4 real, I've wondered about railway vs railroad for so long. I live in ontario, I hear both terms a lot, essentially interchangeable

[@anindrapratama]

Here in Indonesia, the state railway company call themselves "Indonesian Railway Company" And during the colonial era it's like "(Insert areas served)- Spoorweg/Stoomtram (Tramway) Maatschappij (Optional)" The Dutch word "Spoor" somehow made it's way into Javanese language which means Railway

[@ihatemegatron216]

I typically utilize the term railroad when discussing the infrastructure, railway or rail company when discussing operators, and rail transport when discussing the topic as a whole. I'm from the united states.

[@tardis5179]

Nice Concept

[@BMMEC6000]

I use “Railroad” and “Locomotive” when talking about American trains but when I’m talking about English trains I say “Railway” and “Engine”

[@IndigoFei]

I used to use Railroad a lot growing up in New York, but moving here most people use railway, surprisingly. I spent a lot of time learning British Rail as well so I'm more comfortable using railway now.

[@markcarey8426]

In NZ we say 'railway'. I believe it's only USA that says 'road'. Didn't know why and still don't but that was an entertaining 6 minutes. Thanks very much.

[@Steamerthesteamtrain]

I'm American and I use the term "Railroad" as an adult, when I was a kid I said "Railway" because Thomas & Friends influenced me.

[@warbabyproductions]

When will u do the crossover episode

[@eggballo4490]

Despite the fact that I live in the U.S., I still prefer to used the term "railway", this is because it sounds more sophisticated.

[@Sonic.Mario.64]

Can you make a history of Southern pafiff?

[@siddokis2945]

I'm in Ontario, Canada and grew up referring to them as railroad tracks and the corporations as the railway, ie. CN railways etc.

[@SleepTrain456]

As an American, I use the terms "railroad" and "railway" interchangeably. Sometimes, I call it a "railroad", other times a railway. I guess part of it is the country it is in ("railroad" for the US, "railway" elsewhere), part of it is the railroad's name (especially in the US, where "railroad" is usually used, but "railway" is used by companies like BNSF _Railway),_ and the rest is what I feel like saying.

[@thebasicgeek]

Well being a Thomas fan I've used 'railway' for a while but being American 'railroad is ingrained into my dialect But I've begun to use them both, railroad when just talking about trains in general and railway when speaking of British railways specifically

[@AdamTheBlueYoshi]

I mostly use railway and the country I live in is in Australia meaning that railway is the common word in australia

[@shanecochran1969]

I grew up in Lynchburg Virginia, USA. Where there was two major Rail lines. We han Norfolk Western Railroad, and Southern Railway. So I kinda grew up using both term depending on what Rail company you where talking about....

[@sammolloy1]

The term “Underground Railroad” was invented later. The original quote was “they must be escaping on an underground road”. While this makes sense, historians claimed that use of “road” at that time meant “railroad” so they clarified it. This is possible, as the Camino Real was translated “Royal Highway” and the buffalo path from Louisville to Vincennes was called “Buffalo Trace”. Around Lexington all the roads that go out of town are, or were, called “Pikes” I’d welcome any input on this. It’s possible “underground railroad” just has a poetic ring to it.

[@TheGreatSovietUnion2]

In Canada, the location where a rail line intersects a road way is called a Rail Road Crossing. Not compound, no hyphen, but oddly not called or referred to as a railway crossing (which is what people call it my part of Canada).

[@eottoe2001]

Both. Growing up there was Southern Railway, the L&N Railroad and the C&O Railroad.

[@marble752]

Depends on the country and / or company. Translated literally frim swedidh, it's iron road. Although the american(?) term railroad is commonly used to describe railroads/ways, except for england, wales, scotland and ireland

[@the_gp9_802]

Is the San Juan crossover canceled?

[@justanotheryoutubechannel]

I always assumed it was just due to the origin of the word, Railway in the UK since it came from Tramway, and Railroad in America because it came from roads.