Acronyms, Abbreviations & Terms Used in OGR Forums

The Conventional description could be misread.  One can run TMCC and I think DCS in Conv.  Maybe use:  Train control mode using varying track voltages and reversing units (see E Units).

E Units can be mechanical or electronic.

But good list.

I dislike acronyms almost as much as I abhor graffiti.....

RTR 12,

FWIW, (JMHO) IIRC, POTS = Plain Old Telephone System 

At least that's how I learned it but I could be AFU – All Fouled Up or FUBAR - Fouled Up Beyond All Recognition -  its just the NAVY in me...   which generally means SNAFU – Situation Normal, All Fouled Up  

Now Rich can have his way with me...

Best, Dave

Arthur P. Bloom posted:

"POTS - Plain Old Telephone Set (Just for Fun - We'll see if anyone notices?)"

 

This plain old telephone man noticed. It's actually "plain old telephone SERVICE," and it's an actual RBOC / LEC term. (Regional Bell Operating Company / Local Exchange Carrier).

 

POTS, as opposed to PANS, which is "Pretty Amazing New Stuff" referring to optical fiber packet transmission, for example.

Dan Padova posted:

I dislike acronyms almost as much as I abhor graffiti.....

Having started my career in telecommunications 41 years ago, POTS caught my eye.  I agree with Arthur.

Also having been around too long.   I agree with Dan, I hate acronyms as much as graffiti, and that is an awful lot.

However, we are stuck with acronyms, so I commend you RTR12 for starting this list off.  There are some I certainly did not know.

rtr12 posted:

List of Acronyms & Terms Frequently used on OGR Forums

To anyone using acronyms on the ORG Forums, a suggestion to help us all:

Before using an acronym don't always assume acronyms you use are well known to all.
Worst of all, many train acronyms are not easy to look up. (eg: the first match for TMCC
on Google is for Truckee Meadows Community College). Please spell out abbreviations for
the first use and resort to an acronym thereafter.

This list has grown much larger than first anticipated! To all that have helped with this list,
I wouldn't have known a lot of these without your help, Thank You!

As that guy in the tights says "Holy C#@$  Batman"

You have a great start and the additions are still coming!

How about we write clear concise posts and keep the abbreviations to a minimum.

if I have to guess what something means I'll just pass it buy.

Dave

david1 posted:

How about we write clear concise posts and keep the abbreviations to a minimum.

if I have to guess what something means I'll just pass it buy.

Dave

Like those "Vanity" license plates no one understands?

Continental United States - CONUS

LIITOGST

Leave it in the other guys septic tank

Gary

Mark Boyce posted:

Arthur P. Bloom posted:

"POTS - Plain Old Telephone Set (Just for Fun - We'll see if anyone notices?)"

 

This plain old telephone man noticed. It's actually "plain old telephone SERVICE," and it's an actual RBOC / LEC term. (Regional Bell Operating Company / Local Exchange Carrier).

 

POTS, as opposed to PANS, which is "Pretty Amazing New Stuff" referring to optical fiber packet transmission, for example.

Dan Padova posted:

I dislike acronyms almost as much as I abhor graffiti.....

Having started my career in telecommunications 41 years ago, POTS caught my eye.  I agree with Arthur.

Also having been around too long.   I agree with Dan, I hate acronyms as much as graffiti, and that is an awful lot.

However, we are stuck with acronyms, so I commend you RTR12 for starting this list off.  There are some I certainly did not know.

RTR!@ = what ?

To all the recent posters and their comments,

Thanks for the additions, and the kind words! I think I have them all added in without messing anything else up.

Dave Garmin,

I am familiar with FUBAR and SNAFU, but never seen the term 'Fouled' used with those before? I think Rich will be OK with them in that form! 

Dan Padova,

Rtr12 is me!! My handle, moniker, forum name or whatever they call these things?? Actually Rtr12 = Tom (or Thomas - my legal name). And I don't care for these much either, but I am also guilty of using them from time to time (and not identifying things first). I worked for a large company for 20 years that had so many Acronyms they actually put out a company manual named 'Acronyms and Terms'. None of the employees knew them all either, reason for the manual!! The employees had fun with that one.

Thanks again to all for the extra additions.

This can really start going sideways quickly.  Too much work for a hobby.

Part of my life is tripping through government run health care client guide lines which is loaded with acronyms which lazy writers, who seem to be asserting impressive knowledge,  just assume others know.  It falls flat for me.

As far as I am  concerned it may as well be  a code.

Effective communication is clearly  conveying knowledge.

I certainly can't argue with that! This list is getting a bit long and I sometimes wonder if anyone ever uses it?? Probably still missing a ton of things too, but I try to add new ones as I see them around here.

After a few years it finally registered to copy the idea from others and add it to my tag line, sign off or whatever they call it these days. Just thinking it might help at least a few folks around here and at least maybe make it easier to find.

ZW-C should probably point out the Lionel Manufacturer Number (Lionel 6-32930).

Same for the ZW-L (Lionel 6-37921)

Should add an entry for the ZW-R, ZW (R), or ZW Model R - natural evolution of the ZW - most notably uses 18V (#1445) indicator lamps instead of 6V (#51).

It boils my blood when someone calls a ZW-C or ZW-L a ZW - they aren't!

Thanks for clearing up a few abbreviations for me!

One that might be added is NKP,  for the Nickel Plate Road, which is all too commonly abbreviated as "NPR" which AFAIK stands for National Public Radio.

WTF, think you've got most of them covered except WTF.   

I'm pretty sure that was on the list at one time. Rich helped me with the editing and formatting when I first started working on it and posted it here. There were a couple of things that didn't quite make the cut. 

That is also one of my favorites!

If you like acronyms, deal with the military...all three major services have their own jargon..unintelligible to outsiders...l have sat in meetings where l was speaking "Sanskrit" and they were speaking "Navajo".

I wish that you forumites would spell things out. I hate that when you use initials.

Here's one missing. I had to go to a slang dictionary as the usual meaning didn't fit......  ISO

"International Standards Organization" is the one most folks here would know.

OR

"In Search Of" -   which means "wanted" I guess   (wtb wft is what I'd expect)

Adriatic posted:

Here's one missing. I had to go to a slang dictionary as the usual meaning didn't fit......  ISO

"International Standards Organization" is the one most folks here would know.

OR

"In Search Of" -   which means "wanted" I guess   (wtb wft is what I'd expect)

 

Added, Thanks

Jsulli21 posted:

KMA. As in KMA club

when you have enough years and age to retire.

and you then can tell your boss to Kiss My A..

life long membership attained.

Good idea and I like it, but I don't think the moderators would take kindly to it.

eddie g posted:

I wish that you forumites would spell things out. I hate that when you use initials.

That was one reason I made this list, along with the requests/complaints from others in a couple of other threads.

I was also one of the ones that didn't know too many of these.

It took me years to figure what ISO meant here on the Forum.  Of course I recognized right away it wasn’t International Standards Organization.

We have a neighborhood  email/media/social site where people post things they have to sell, want to buy, neighborhood news, report strange goings on, etc.  ISO shows up there all the time and I still have to think about it.

Yes indeed!!  

Thanks for the list RTR12.

Here's few more to ad.

ABS-Automatic Block System

ALCO- American Locomotive company

Budd- Railroad car manufacturer

COFC-Container On Flat Car

CWR-Continuous Welded Rail

FM- Fairbanks Morse

GE- General Electric

LIMA- An American firm that manufactured railroad locomotive (1870's to 1950's)

Ma&Pa- Maryland and Pennsylvania railroad

RDC-Rail Diesel Car

USRA-United States Railroad Association

Trussman posted:

Thanks for the list RTR12.

 

Here's few more to ad.

ABS-Automatic Block System

ALCO- American Locomotive company

Budd- Railroad car manufacturer

COFC-Container On Flat Car

CWR-Continuous Welded Rail

FM- Fairbanks Morse

GE- General Electric

LIMA- An American firm that manufactured railroad locomotive (1870's to 1950's)

Sorry but, "LIMA" is NOT an acronym nor an abbreviation. The company name was Lima Locomotives Works, located in Lima, Ohio (which is also NOT an acronym or abbreviation).

Ma&Pa- Maryland and Pennsylvania railroad

RDC-Rail Diesel Car

USRA-United States Railroad Association

 

Hot Water posted:

Trussman posted:

Thanks for the list RTR12.

 

Here's few more to ad.

ABS-Automatic Block System

ALCO- American Locomotive company

Budd- Railroad car manufacturer

COFC-Container On Flat Car

CWR-Continuous Welded Rail

FM- Fairbanks Morse

GE- General Electric

LIMA- An American firm that manufactured railroad locomotive (1870's to 1950's)

Sorry but, "LIMA" is NOT an acronym nor an abbreviation. The company name was Lima Locomotives Works, located in Lima, Ohio (which is also NOT an acronym or abbreviation).

Ma&Pa- Maryland and Pennsylvania railroad

RDC-Rail Diesel Car

USRA-United States Railroad Association

 

 

Psssst…. Hotwater,  The title of this thread is : List of Acronyms & Terms Frequently used on OGR Forums.

In the original listing there are company names mentioned w/a description of the company, such as Atlas, K-line, Lionel, Marx etc etc (etcetra etcetra   ;-) )  .

A few more acronyms:

ACF - America Car and Foundry (rail car manufacturer )

BFF - Berwick Forge and Fabricating ( rail car manufacture in Berwick Pa )

IRB - Insulated Rail Block

IRJ - Insulated Rail Joint

eddie g posted:

I wish that you forumites would spell things out. I hate that when you use initials.

Every time I see one of Eddie's posts I end up SMH......

I just recently saw this one on Ebay from a seller that listed "MM".  So can anyone tell me what that means?

LUG can also be Lego Users Group.  I think this is relevant given the advancement of lego trains.  Can often be found as part of a group's name, such as PennLUG.

While looking at Marklin models I came across this description of an engine:
"OVP TOP Vitrinenmodell" translated to: "OVP TOP Showcase model."
"Top showcase or top cabinet " describing a piece of high quality that you would keep " on the top shelf".
Further investigation revealed OVP in German "Originalverpackung" translates in English as "original packaging"

OVP: "Original verschlossene/versiegelte Packung." Or OVP means 'Original Verpackt', so.... it comes with the original box, but it does not mean that it is new and unused.

One might think CONUS stands for continental United States but it actually stands for contiguous United States in other words the lower 48 states.  Just sayin’.

Larry

rtr12. Your list. HITNC (How is that not cool) It's an inside joke in my family. At a gathering many years ago I lamented that the youngsters were in their shorthand speak and said I know this one. So I hit them with HITNC. Everyone groaned and said it doesn't work that way. You don't make up your own and expect everyone to know what you are saying. But evry now and then my son replies to something I send him with HITNC. 

May I add, a little jingle to the original color code on resisters.? The first letter is the marker. Bad Beer Rots Our Young Guts But Vodka Goes Well. Black,Brown Red Orange Yellow Green Blue Violet Grey White. = 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10

@pennsynut posted:

rtr12. Your list. HITNC (How is that not cool) It's an inside joke in my family. At a gathering many years ago I lamented that the youngsters were in their shorthand speak and said I know this one. So I hit them with HITNC. Everyone groaned and said it doesn't work that way. You don't make up your own and expect everyone to know what you are saying. But evry now and then my son replies to something I send him with HITNC.

Really??? They said that?? Just where exactly do they think 90% of those acronyms came from?  You kids made them up and then expected the rest of the world to know what they meant because you were to lazy to text out the whole phrase! That should have been your answer to them! All in all great list because I don't know even half of the acronyms. It will help me out a lot. and yes, I'm old LOL!!

Is this really needed? Certain "acronyms" listed aren't even acronyms like LW, ZW, KW and many are well known amongst the Forum like OGR, GG1, TCA, PW, PE, WBB, AC, DC, UP, UPS, O22 and others ad nauseum and need no clarification. I've been way from the forum for a while but have recently begun posting again and I've noticed a number of forumites who just seem to be over complicating simple things that I never noticed here in the past. The overwhelming majority of people in here will know what "I have a WBB ATSF F3 A-B-A NIB for sale" means. Every group on the planet has its own jargon and if you want to hang with them you need to get up to speed and not expect them to make sure everyone knows what I'm talking about before I start using an accepted form of describing an item, process or procedure. If you don't know what a term means, ask, don't expect someone to spell everything out in their original post and then use acronyms on any follow ups to it. And Google isn't always the best goto for what something is, our "TCA" doesn't show til about 10 items in as an example. If someone is complaining that they don't know what TCA or WBB means and that's their biggest complaint in life, they should count themselves lucky, just ask, no one is going to jump on you for it or call you out as unworthy.

Jerry

Those abbreviations would make for a great small pocket book available at the checkout of your favorite supermarket right next to where The National Enquirer and The Globe used to be.

I would buy one along with a stick of Mentos and my FAVORITE abbreviation - IPA.

I kid you not.

John

@baltimoretrainworks posted:

Is this really needed? Certain "acronyms" listed aren't even acronyms

I think it’s helpful.

However the only acronyms I saw were ALCo, CONUS, FUBAR, KISS, MAP, POTS, SCARM, SNAFU, and WAG.

I would add OW5 and TOOG.

We need to convince Farmer Bill to come back. Guy just cracks me up too much.

TTIUWP

This Thread Is Useless Without Photos

RTR  Ready To Run (not a kit)

Craftech and rplst8, I'd be happy to add your suggestions (OW5, TOOG, and IPA), but I don't know what they mean? (Hey, the guy editing this list doesn't know all of these things... he still has to look up stuff here too!)

As for need, I don't know? Back in 2014, many forum members were wanting something like this, the only reason it came to be. From the start, everything here has been suggested by other forum members. The list may be titled incorrectly, as it was never meant to be 'acronyms' only. Maybe it should be retitled to something different?  I'm always open to suggestions.

@N5CJonny posted:

I just recently saw this one on Ebay from a seller that listed "MM".  So can anyone tell me what that means?

Could be MM is eBay speak for Mint, Mint which = very poor condition.  Rare = one of 40 million.

Chris S.

If people would simply speak proper English, none of this nonsense would be necessary. 

Most acronyms and abbreviations meanings depend on the context they are used in.  Many of the ones above are known by model train fans or people familiar with model trains.  But in conversing with other people groups they probably mean something else.  Thus the risk and confusion the use of these acronyms and abbreviations initials is great.

Charlie

@rtr12 posted:

Craftech and rplst8, I'd be happy to add your suggestions (OW5, TOOG, and IPA), but I don't know what they mean?

India Pale Ale

John

@Choo Choo Charlie posted:

But in conversing with other people groups them probably mean something else.  Thus the risk and confusion the use of these acronyms and abbreviations initials is great.

Jerry

IPA can also mean Isopropyl Alcohol

EMD model designations .  

E units = EMD's Express passenger locomotive models EA, E1, E2, E3, E4, E5, E6, E7, E8, & E9.  These had carbodies with 2 Diesel engines and A1A trucks ( the A axles were powered and the middle 1 axles were non-powerd).

EMD F units = freight locomotives FT, F2, F3, F7 , etc with carbodies, single Diesel engines, and AA trucks (each A axle was powered).  

EMD GP units = General Purpose locomotives with hood switcher bodies, single Diesel engines, and AA trucks.  Models GP7, GP9, GP20, GP30, etc

EMD SD units = Special Duty locomotives with hood switcher bodies, single Diesel engines, & A1A trucks.

Thank you. As a relative newbie I have struggled with these abbreviations on this forum. Over time I have actually learned some of these like LHS which I frequent when I can. I want to note, as I’m sure so many others probably have already, that AF was originally an independent company before the Gilbert years.

WRW, Glad you find this list informative. I just edit the list, it's all the knowledgeable forum members that make the content possible.

And I too had trouble with LHS (among many others) when I got back in the hobby in 2011. I later found this forum which has helped me learn more things than I can put into a list. It would take a book! The depth of knowledge here is just amazing!

@rtr12 posted:

WRW, Glad you find this list informative. I just edit the list, it's all the knowledgeable forum members that make the content possible.

And I too had trouble with LHS (among many others) when I got back in the hobby in 2011. I later found this forum which has helped me learn more things than I can put into a list. It would take a book! The depth of knowledge here is just amazing!

Thank you curating this resource. Nicely done!

@rtr12 posted:

Craftech and rplst8, I'd be happy to add your suggestions (OW5, TOOG, and IPA), but I don't know what they mean? (Hey, the guy editing this list doesn't know all of these things... he still has to look up stuff here too!)

I’m actually not positive on TOOG but I saw it a few weeks back on here. One person said “There’s Only O Gauge”.  Another said “The Other O Gauge” referring to the early days of MTH and the Lionel-MTH rivalry.

OW5 or Ow5 I’ve seen as O Wide 5’ (or O Wrong 5’ in jest) for our 1 1/4” outer rail spacing which actually represents 5 feet in 1:1.  I think this follows the format of On3 or HOn3 where the first part is the modeling scale, the second char (n or w) sets it relative to the standard gauge 4’ 8 1/2” prototype, and the ending numbers either feet or inches represented at 1:1 life sized.

OW5 is correct in that in the early days of scale modeling in the US there were two scales used for scale O.  One was 1/4" to the foot which makes the track spacing too wide.  The other scale was 17/64" which allows for the correct spacing of 4'-8-1/2" between the rails.  Ultimately 1/4" to the foot won out in the US, but models were still produced in 17/64 up into the early 50's.  In Europe and the UK they use the correct scale at 1:43.5 whereas 1/4" to the foot is 1:48. 

You are also correct in the use of "W" for wide gauge and "N" for narrow gauge.  The Erie started life at 6' scale track which made the change to standard gauge 1:1 easy as they had the width for it.  The former Soviet Union used wide gauge on a number of lines as well.  The last number represents track spacing.  Most common size was 3' gauge in the western US, but there are still some active 2' gauge lines throughout the world.

IPA is India Pale Ale.  A requirement for operating sessions.

Recent suggestions added and I think the list is now current. Thanks to all for the additions.

I have seen TOOG before, was just drawing a blank as to the meaning (OTB - Old Tired Brain...not sure that's a valid term?). Don't think I've ever seen OW5 though? And thanks to Jonathan for clarifying. IPA was new to me too, both meanings.

@rtr12 posted:

Recent suggestions added and I think the list is now current. Thanks to all for the additions.

I have seen TOOG before, was just drawing a blank as to the meaning (OTB - Old Tired Brain...not sure that's a valid term?). Don't think I've ever seen OW5 though? And thanks to Jonathan for clarifying. IPA was new to me too, both meanings.

Wait, one more newly coined this year! 48. Short for 4' x 8' as in 48 Club. But Jerry doesn't like acronyms so he might have to rename the club.

Here are some more.

BN = Burlington Northern RR

C&S = Colorado & Southern (subsidiary of CB&Q)

FW&D = Fort Worth & Denver (subsidiary of CB&Q)

H&St Joe = Hannibal & St Joseph RR (absorbed into CB&Q)

QO&KC = Quincy, Omaha, & Kansas City RR. OK Line. Hogback Road.  Absorbed by CB&Q.

K-Line also was CB&Q line between Keokuk IA and St Louis MO

CZ = California Zephyr, vista dome streamliner operated between Chicago IL & Oakland CA by CB&Q, D&RGW, and WP

PZ = Pioneer Zephyr.  First of CB&Q's diesel powered stainless steel streamliners.  Preserved at the Chicago Museum of Science & Industry

DZ = Denver Zephyr

TCZ = Twin Cities Zephyr

TZ = Texas Zephyr

OSZ = Ozark State Zephyr

GPZ = General Pershing Zerphy

KCZ = Kansas City Zephyr

SSZ = Silver Streak Zephyr

NZ = Nebraska Zephyr

SHZ = Sam Houston Zephyr

ZR = Zephyr Rocket.  Joint train operated by CB&Q and CRI&P (Chicago, Rock Island, & Pacific)

MTZ = Mark Twain Zephyr

Thanks the n advance !!!

Hoo-roo is completely unknown over here in the Land of Hope and Glory... it might be Antipodean, of course. The late Sir Terry Pratchett wrote the definitive guide to Australian usage. TTFN is, to be charitable, long obsolete. AWOL, meaning Absent Without Official Leave, is commonly used and denotes missing, can’t be found at present or simply, doesn’t work.

POS = lacking manufacturing quality, underspecified, or of poor design or concept.

3RO doesn’t appear to be mentioned? I believe this means 3 Rail O, meaning toy-spec O Gauge 3-Rail?  

WTB = Want To Buy, also seems to be missing.

DCC over here, always means Digital Command Control, since none of the proprietary O Gauge electronic systems are in any significant level of use - I just skip past any thread relating to it.

O Gauge is generally denoted as 7mm/ft, or 6mm/ft for US prototypes, following the common practice of building models to a certain overall size (US loading gauges being larger than U.K., with European loading gauges being somewhere between the two). 6mm/ft isn’t mathematically correct for 1:48, but it’s little used and no one minds.

N (upper case) denotes a small scale combination using 9mm gauge track and variable scales between 1/148 and 1/160, 2mm/ft. n, lower case, is used inconsistently to denote narrow gauge combinations - On30 denotes 1:48 (American) O scale, 30” gauge prototype but On16.5 denotes O scale, 16.5mm gauge models. OO9 denotes OO scale, 9mm track gauge. OOn3 denotes OO scale, 12mm gauge, representing 3’ gauge prototypes; 12mm gauge also used for TT which is a scale somewhere between 1/100 and 1/120, sometimes 3mm/ft or sometimes a type of motorcycle racing, according to taste.

Rich, you always tell it like it is.  No nonsense from the Get Go!

Thanks!

Joe

WOMBAT

Waste of money, brains, and time.....

Here's my 2 cents. TIFWIW (lol)

At what point does a list become so large that it is basically a dictionary? Perhaps if rtr12 ( screen name is an acronym- too funny) is still enjoying making and editing this list, breaking it into sublists might be more useful. It would also avoid acronyms that could have 2 meanings. Some possible categories for example:

1. Acronyms related to model railroading- mostly O gauge. Terms like TMCC, ZW, etc. This list would be very helpful to newcomers with definitions and details. "ZW: A variable voltage 275 watt AC transformer manufactured by Lionel from 1948-1966." This would clearly be the most useful list on this forum.

2. Terms relating to real railroading. Example: "fred- flashing rear-end device." I'm sure there are many lists like this already however.

3. Same goes for abbreviations for actual railroads. Examples PRR, NYC. This list could get huge in itself and I see that posters are having fun digging these up.

4. General acronyms used in texts and posts like IMO, BRB. Do we really need a list of these? Well, their own list, maybe.

I don't agree with some posters that acronyms have no place. No one for example is going to type out International Business Machines, or TMCC for that matter. But for an acronym to be useful, there has to be a critical mass of people who understand what it means and only a few people who don't, at least in the area in which it is used. Acronyms are specific to their field and useful shortcuts in that field.

So with apologies to CBQ Bill, how many other people would know what MTZ means? (Read above to find out). Certain terms are better typed out lest nearly everyone has to Google them.

@FireOne posted:

Could be MM is eBay speak for Mint, Mint which = very poor condition.  Rare = one of 40 million.

Chris S.

Depending on the context in the listing, among eBay users MM can mean Media Mail or Markdown Manager.

@Will posted:

But Jerry doesn't like acronyms so he might have to rename the club.

I have no problems with acronyms, I use them all the time at home and in my profession, I do however take issue with creating solutions to problems that don't exist.

Jerry

@baltimoretrainworks posted:

I have no problems with acronyms, I use them all the time at home and in my profession, I do however take issue with creating solutions to problems that don't exist.

Jerry

I hope you knowI was just yanking your chain.

Ok what’s a DPU?

Hi Will:

The MTZ (Mark Twain Zephyr) was last year acquired by WGN (Wisconsin Great Northen), moved to Trego WI, and is being restored to service by WGN.

Because of a separate thread on the WGN's restoration and the fact that O scale MTZ models have been produced by 3RD Rail, Lionel, & MTH, there may be interest from other forumites in the acronym MTZ.

Only my suggestion.  RTR12 can add or ignore my suggestions as he sees fit.

Thanks in advance !!!

@Mark V. Spadaro posted:

Ok what’s a DPU?

Distributed Power Unit. Innother words, in the current world of real railroading, additional units may be placed in the middle as well as on the rear of a long train, all of which are radio controlled from the lead unit, thus only one Engineer and Conductor.

@Will posted:

Here's my 2 cents. TIFWIW (lol)

At what point does a list become so large that it is basically a dictionary? Perhaps if rtr12 ( screen name is an acronym- too funny) is still enjoying making and editing this list, breaking it into sublists might be more useful. It would also avoid acronyms that could have 2 meanings. Some possible categories for example:

First, I don't know what BRB is or what the TI part is in TIFWIW? Second, I appreciate your thoughts and suggestions, always welcome.

Here's my 2 cents... The list was never meant to be a dictionary, only a list of the terms and their meaning. The definitions sort of just happened for a few things and grew from there. Other tried to be helpful and the descriptions grew. That was 7 years ago when the list was small, seemed like a good idea at the time. I'm now wondering if it isn't making things more confusing than helpful and making things more difficult to find?

I think dividing up the list might be a good idea, but I don't want to get into trying to categorize everything. I don't mind editing and adding things, but categorizing would be a real struggle for me. I am the worlds worst at trying to categorize things like this. See the problems folks are having right here on the forum with categories, as in 'which Forum is correct for my post'? You may have seen the recent threads on that one. Moderators are trying to improve this for all and I am quite certain that is not an easy task for them. Lots of gray areas everywhere.

However, this did get me to thinking about possibly whittling things down to just the meaning of the term only, no definitions. Back to basics so to speak. With that info, one would then know the meaning and could go on to find more information as needed. Links might be an option too, but those change and could be a maintenance problem?

Now, when editing, it seems to me to be a bit more difficult finding things than it used to be. Some things that already exist in the list have also been suggested, so I think there are others that share in my experiences with this. Also maybe a reformatting of some sort would help? If things are too difficult they won't be of any use to anyone. Then again, I sometimes wonder if anyone ever reads this stuff?

Most recent suggestions have been added, but there are a couple yet to be added. So all should be current by tomorrow.

@rtr12 posted:

First, I don't know what BRB is or what the TI part is in TIFWIW? Second, I appreciate your thoughts and suggestions, always welcome.

I actually don't use those texting acronyms, but thought it would be amusing to add them to this post. The TI is "take it", as in "take it for what it is worth". And see, I thought everyone knew what BRB is since it has been around since the beginning if texting 25 years ago. "Be right back".  Used a lot by kids who were surreptitiously texting during class. Shows that acronyms can be puzzling.

I do appreciate your efforts. Personally I would like to see a glossary with definitions and compatibility, etc. of all the current operating systems. I was out of the hobby for almost 15 years and have no idea what is what anymore.

By the way (BTW), do you have a name? It's weird replying to rtr12.

Added them, both were new to me. I don't text much and this forum is about my only 'social media'. I'm not very well versed in all the texting stuff.

I'm with you on compatibility of all the O gauge systems available these days, I was out of the hobby for 50 years and it was like starting over again when I got back in 2011 and still catching up. All the systems and compatibility in one place would be nice, but I'll have to leave that one to someone else. I'm not fully knowledgeable on a lot of that stuff either, especially the Lionel control systems.

Tom is my real name, for something to go with the rtr12.