Term for walking forward on a train.

[msstice]

What is the correct term for walking down the corridor of a train in the same direction of the train's motion? I'm using the words "forwards" and "backwards" but it is awkward because they have have a meaning on their own. Like walking backwards has a different meaning already. Thanks!

 

[Oligonicella]

Movement is relative so I'm not sure there are words that 'granular'. I usually see "walked to(wards) the front" and "walked to(wards) the back" to nail the destination to the physical train.

Consider:
He was meandering down the aisle and spotted an old friend. He stopped and smiled then raised his hand for a shake and stepped forward.

Neither 'down' nor 'forward' have anything to do with the direction the corridor is traveling.

 

[paranoid marvin]

Well, i'd say that if the train is in motion that you'd be swaying rather than walking. I'm not sure that there's a specific word for it, but i's consider 'traversed'.

May also be having a quick read of 'Murder on the Orient Express', and see what Christie used.

 

[Swank]

Up-train.

 

[Ursa major]

Is there some reason the reader needs to know that the character is walking towards the front of the train? Has the character a particular destination in mind (either a specific place on the train, or a person/object they want to get to)?

In the latter cases, you could indicate that (or that the character thought that) the intended place/person/object was towards the front of the train, so unless you were playing tricks, the reader would know that's the way they were headed.

 

[msstice]

Up-train.

I like it. A bit like Up-wind and Down-wind and it doesn't sound too funny, so in conversation it might work, once introduced as world terminology.

 

[msstice]

Movement is relative so I'm not sure there are words that 'granular'. I usually see "walked to(wards) the front" and "walked to(wards) the back" to nail the destination to the physical train.

Consider:
He was meandering down the aisle and spotted an old friend. He stopped and smiled then raised his hand for a shake and stepped forward.

Neither 'down' nor 'forward' have anything to do with the direction the corridor is traveling.

Frontwards and Rearwards or Headward and Tailward, once introduced as in-world lingo, might work ...

 

[msstice]

Ok, question for those reading. If I used the existing terms "Prograde" and "Retrograde" would you kind of follow? It actually doesn't even matter if you know that prograde means to the front of the train, all that matters is that, when introduced in conversation you'll catchon that prograde is one direction and retrograde is the other.

 

[msstice]

Is there some reason the reader needs to know that the character is walking towards the front of the train? Has the character a particular destination in mind (either a specific place on the train, or a person/object they want to get to)?

In the latter cases, you could indicate that (or that the character thought that) the intended place/person/object was towards the front of the train, so unless you were playing tricks, the reader would know that's the way they were headed.

This is a good question. Not for the reader, but important for the character. When we are on the surface we do use terms like North and South for indicating direction, so on a train, some relative terms would likely be used by the passengers.

 

[paranoid marvin]

You usually wood be heading towards the engine if going forward or tail car if heading in the opposite direction. This isn't always the case, as sometimes the engine is pushing rather than pulling. Also depends on the type of train, the era and even the countrt. Apparently in the US, the last car of a freight train is called the caboose.

 

[paranoid marvin]

Ok, question for those reading. If I used the existing terms "Prograde" and "Retrograde" would you kind of follow? It actually doesn't even matter if you know that prograde means to the front of the train, all that matters is that, when introduced in conversation you'll catchon that prograde is one direction and retrograde is the other.

Personally i would much prefer that you said they were moving 'up' or 'down' the train carriage. Prograde and retrograde dont seem to sit well in this context.

 

[Ursa major]

When we are on the surface we do use terms like North and South for indicating direction, so on a train, some relative terms would likely be used by the passengers

The passengers, perhaps....

Oddly enough, in the US**, North, South, East, and West don't necessarily mean the same, depending on the railroad concerned, and not only because even quite short railway routes are never dead straight over their entire lengths (for all sorts of reasons).

I can't recall the details, or the book in which I read them, but some railroads define their trains as travelling either east or west (or, alternatively, north or south) on every part of their (often widespread and complex) systems. So, say, one of those "transcontinental" railroads that run between one or more cities on the Pacific Coast and one or more cities on or near the Mississippi might have trains that are said to be westbound as they head (more or less due) north from LA to the Bay Area.


** - I don't know about other countries, but in the UK, we did (and, perhaps, still sometimes do) use the terms Up train and Down train, with "Up" meaning "heading for London" and "Down" meaning "heading from London".

 

[Phyrebrat]

In the same direction, the train was headed; in the opposite direction, the train was headed.

 

[The Judge]

I've never come across "prograde" before but I see that it's to do with the encroachment of land into the sea due to sediment build-up -- ie a forward progression of the shoreline -- so I'd query its use on a train!

"Retrograde" I have seen and used but only in terms of a deterioration, ie something going backwards in quality, or with regard to astronomy, so again it's not a term I'd think appropriate for moving towards the rear of a train.

 

[msstice]

I've never come across "prograde" before but I see that it's to do with the encroachment of land into the sea due to sediment build-up -- ie a forward progression of the shoreline -- so I'd query its use on a train!

"Retrograde" I have seen and used but only in terms of a deterioration, ie something going backwards in quality, or with regard to astronomy, so again it's not a term I'd think appropriate for moving towards the rear of a train.

This is fascinating: I don't know these contexts for the term. I come from the astronautical/astronomical usage, where prograde means "in the direction of rotation" and retrograde means "against the direction of rotation". Retrograde and prograde motion - Wikipedia

 

[Brian G Turner]

Ok, question for those reading. If I used the existing terms "Prograde" and "Retrograde" would you kind of follow? It actually doesn't even matter if you know that prograde means to the front of the train, all that matters is that, when introduced in conversation you'll catchon that prograde is one direction and retrograde is the other.

Over-complicating things.

 

[THX1138]

Towards the engine. (front)
Towards the cabooses. (rear)

 

[Pyan]

I think up-train and down-train would be understood by most readers, as PM says.

** - I don't know about other countries, but in the UK, we did (and, perhaps, still sometimes do) use the terms Up train and Down train, with "Up" meaning "heading for London" and "Down" meaning "heading from London".

Still do - but this is possibly because on a map, London is up from Southampton. When I lived in Cumbria, I probably thought of it as a trip down to London.*


*And regarded it as on the same level as a trip to Timbuctu, Hyperborea or Ithilien...

 

[Pyan]

Ironically, if I was just sitting in the train, there are two widely-used and understandable phrases; 'facing the engine' and 'back to the engine'.
These seem to take no notice of which end the engine is actually on, but there again, pushing the train is relatively uncommon, except on heritage lines.

 

[Ursa major]

With multiple unit trains -- EMUs and DMUs in the UK -- someone "facing the engine" would likely be lying prone on the floor of the carriage.