The movable parts are called points. In England the whole thing is called points. None of my relatives or acquaintances associated with railroads ever called them turnouts. Doug
A quote from the low-budget sci-fi/fantasy film The Dungeonmaster, popularized by Adam Savage of Mythbusters. "I reject your reality and substitute my own!"
Language is a dynamic ever changing construct of humans. Each trade or industry develops its own vernacular to fully communicate information. The key is communication. If that is accomplished, then whatever words used are successful. Being precise is more important in some fields such as law from one court to another and not so much for the staff at two different greasy spoon diners. New hires have to learn the ropes. At times the same words or phrases can mean something totally different in different fields. The "crew is dead" means something very different on at train verses a submarine. "Lower the landing gear" for an airline pilot verses a long haul trucker. Rail workers communicate differently than modelers I suppose.
Either one. Switch or turnout, I know what a fellow railroad modeler means by the sentence that it’s used in. It’s like the occasional debate on gun forums, is it a magazine or a clip? Or how about Pop or soda? If you’re from around here or further south it’s probably a Coke.
I tend to use both interchangeably on my model railroad. From a 1:1 standpoint, when operating (volunteer), they're usually "switches". When designing/building (work), it's usually a "turnout." Partly to help separate from a switch-point derail, basically just the switch/points part of a turnout.
I'm easy - call it what you like, as long as it works. Now onto the next burning question: paper or plastic?
So... Some will continue to call it a 'switch' because they are not sure which part of a 'turnout' is actually the 'switch'. And others will continue to call it a 'turnout' because they do know which part of the 'turnout' is the 'switch'. Do I have this right ??
