Proposal:

Alias "railroad" tags to the "railway" equivalent, to make the spelling consistent.

Normally I would suggest standardizing on "railroad" (American English), but the existing tags are heavily in favor of "railway" (British English). At the moment, there are 5 instances of railroad and 177 instances of railway .

Proposed BUR script

create alias railroad -> railway
create alias railroad_track -> railway_track
create alias railroad_crossing -> railway_crossing
create alias railroad_gun -> railway_gun
create alias railroad_signal -> railway_signal

This wasn't created as an actual BUR, it can't be voted for or accepted - you should use the Request a BUR page with the script you proposed here. Make sure you enter this forum topic (32654) so the BUR appears here.

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I don't think the railroad/railway thing is just an American/British thing, but it does seem that only the US uses "railroad" while the rest of the world uses "railway". I honestly thought railroad was just an outdated term that went back to Civil War times...

However, there's plenty of American things that use railway too including BNSF Railway, Staten Island Railway or Canadian National Railway. In fact, 5/8 of the major railway providers in the United States contain the word "Railway" as opposed to 1 with "Railroad".

Wikipedia uses Railway track, Railway gun, Railway signal. Level crossing is used for the crossing but the definition includes the word railway.

+1 for railway, Americans know and use both terms while nobody else really uses railroad.

The bulk update request #2744 is active.

create alias railroad (0) -> railway (44)
create alias railroad_crossing (0) -> railway_crossing (9)
create alias railroad_track (0) -> railway_track (246)
create alias railroad_crossing_sign (0) -> railway_crossing_sign (6)
create alias railroad_gun (0) -> railway_gun (2)
create alias railroad_signal (0) -> railway_signal (4)

Reason: Alias "railroad" tags to the "railway" equivalent, to make the spelling consistent.

Normally I would suggest standardizing on "railroad" (American English), but the existing tags are heavily in favor of "railway" (British English). At the moment, there are 6 instances of railroad* and 202 instances of railway* .

The two railroad_* tags that currently exist are railroad and railroad_crossing, but I have proposed additional aliases for tags that currently only exist in railway_* form.

EDIT: The bulk update request #2744 (forum #338800) has been approved by @bitWolfy.

faucet said:
This wasn't created as an actual BUR, it can't be voted for or accepted

Thanks. It was my first time and I was nervous. :D I have done it the proper way now.

I don't think the railroad/railway thing is just an American/British thing, but it does seem that only the US uses "railroad" while the rest of the world uses "railway".

It may also be regional in the US. I tend to use "railroad" in everyday language, but for unclear reasons, I have an idea that "railway" might be more popular on the east coast.

Some trucks and buses are legally required to stop at the places where train tracks cross the road. Around here, they tend to have stickers that say "This vehicle stops at all railroad crossings"... unless it's a bus owned by FirstGroup, a UK company, in which case the sticker says "railway crossings".

Canadian National Railway

If their headquarters is in a country that still has Liz on the money, then they're close enough to British for me. :D

(Yes, I know that both CN and Canadian Pacific have US subsidiaries.)

The bulk update request #2744 (forum #338800) has been approved by @bitWolfy.

Why wasn't this reversed? Roalroad is the American English term, no matter what tags happened to be in use, we should be going to American as the standard, shouldn't we?

furrin_gok said:
Why wasn't this reversed? Roalroad is the American English term, no matter what tags happened to be in use, we should be going to American as the standard, shouldn't we?

exhibit A

exhibit B

furrin_gok said:
Why wasn't this reversed? Roalroad is the American English term, no matter what tags happened to be in use, we should be going to American as the standard, shouldn't we?

The site uses a mix (e.g. grey everywhere)

America uses railway interchangeably with railroad... even if railroad is the "preferred" dictionary term. The majority of posts were tagged as railway and ultimately, railway isn't regional (it's actually not British English) and it's not "foreign sounding" like "lorry" or "ute"

hungrymaple said:
America uses railway interchangeably with railroad... even if railroad is the "preferred" dictionary term. The majority of posts were tagged as railway and ultimately, railway isn't regional (it's actually not British English) and it's not "foreign sounding" like "lorry" or "ute"

This was pretty much my justification.
It does not matter that much, since both terms should be universally understood.