I'm curious and have not seen a discussion about the use of these two words anywhere I've looked so far.

In Canada we typically use railWAY vs the use of railROAD in the USA. While the words are certainly interchangeable and up here in the great white north we also frequently say railroad, I get the sense that in the USA it is mostly railroad that is in common useage.

So, what I am curious about is the use of 'railway' on certain pocket watch dials such as the Hamilton 'Railway Special' and the Hampden 'New Railway'.

Would anyone know why these American watch makers would use the words railway instead of railroad on these models? Was 'railway' the common word many years ago and it changed to 'railroad' at some point perhaps?

Thanks,
Ralph

"Railroad" was more of an accepted term in the USA due to the common use of that word by the named "Railroad" Companies. The term "Railway" has British roots as I recall having origins in sixteenth century mining "wagonways" which were replaced by wooden "Railways" in about 1630.

I was also thinking it had to do with incorporation of railroads through the 30's. The Norfolk and Western was called the N&W Railroad through the 20's, but sometime during the 30's as it acquired more trackage from abandoned roads of the Depression, the name changed to N&W Railway.

Not sure why, but it seemed to be a business reason for the change of name.

Regards! Mark

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U...railroad_and_railway for what it's worth.

Regards Mark

While certainly interesting info,guys, I was really wondering why the American watchmakers were using railway. Are you suggesting that it was just common usage to use the British 'railway" at the time these pocket watches were being made?

In the case of the watch companies, now you're simply talking copyright ownership for a name.

You want to read an ugly history, read about John C. Dueber's successful law suit against the major watch companies regarding the use of the word 'Railway' on their watches.

Regards! Mark

Dueber-Hampden trademarked the word Railway for use on his watches and successfully sued other manufacturers and prevented them from the use of the word on their watches.

happy hunting

Railroad sounds countryside, whilst railway has a more urban tone. (Dirt road, country road, highway, parkway).
IMHO of course and has probably nothing to do with the subject in this thread.

Regards, Krister

Wikipedia offers 2 arguments for the differences.
Firstly at one point most of the worlds Railways were part of the British Empire hence the predominance of the British term.
Secondly Road was used to describe a Single track environment which was predominant in the early days in the US. This tenuously supported by the later use of Urban Railways which for the most part are Double track.

As usual I stand to be corrected.

Another slant to this: Any idea why trolley systems were called "street railways", and not "street railroads"?

For reference I added a 1901 Hampden advertisement to Mark's post above. There you will see they gained exclusive use of "Railway" which had previously been infringed by other companies. By the time of this decision Columbus which had marketed "Railway" and "Railway Special" watches would soon be out of business but apparently Ball was permitted to continue selling his "RR Queen" 0-size watches.

Don

Thanks for adding that, Donald! I was looking for a good example, but ran out of time.

MUCH appreciated!

Regard! Mark

Interesting reading about the trademark.

Does that mean, for example, that Hamilton dials with 'Railway Special' would/should only be on pocket watches manufactured prior to 1901 and not after?

While many of the United States railroad was used, many of the larger companies use the other term, a few examples Northern Pacific Railway, Acheson Topeka & Santa Fe Railway, and the Great Northern Railway to name a few. There was also the Grand Trunk Western Railway, that this was owned by Canadian National Railways.

Larry

It is only a trademarked name. The same RR at certain times after a merger, stock split, new owner, litigation, etc. might change their name from Railway to Railroad or visa-versa.

regards,
bb