Press Office
When a spade becomes a shovel!
When is a coach a car, a spade a shovel or a train describer a platform indicator?
The answer is in the new Railway Object Name Thesaurus.
The product of six years work, Thesaurus was compiled by the mda Railway Technology Working Group (RTWG) as a tool for museums with railway collections and organisations dealing with railway information.
The Railway Terminology Working Group launch the new Railway Object Name Thesaurus.
The unique publication explains over 4,000 alphabetically listed terms giving associated notes for each one.
In the foreword Sam Mullins, Director of London's Transport Museum, writes:
"When is a coach a car, a spade a shovel or a train describer a platform indicator? The railway sector is blessed with a rich and historic language, but a mine field when a precise description is necessary for organizing and searching. I commend a tool which enables us to extract the full value from the incredible investment we make in acquiring and documenting our collections
Helen Ashby, NRM Registrar and Chair of the RTWG, said:
"We hope the new Thesaurus will help to make railway terminology far more accessible and much easier to understand. Although this book has taken some time to compile, we hope it will be just the beginning of our Group's work in bringing people closer to the story of the train."
Notes:
1.The Railway Object Name Thesaurus is priced at £48.50. It is available from the NRM shop, the mda on 01223 31760 or from lorraine@mda.org.uk.
The Railway Terminology Working Group formed in 1996 and includes staff from the National Railway Museum, York; London's Transport Museum; Beamish, North of England Open Air Museum; the Historical Model Railway Society; Heritage Railways Association; English Heritage, National Monuments Record Centre; and mda.
3. mda (formerly the Museum Documentation Association) is a UK-wide body which supports museums and other collections holders in the management of their documentation and information. For further information see www.mda.org.uk
November 14, 2001