U.S. Practice
Historically, in the United States of America the term railroad, especially when used in a company name, implies a conventional rail system and railway implies a street railway (tramway), also known as a streetcar or light rail line. There are, however, quite a number of exceptions. In fact, many companies change from one term to the other when they re-incorporate, possibly to distinguish between the old and new companies (example: Seaboard Air Line Railroad).
Read more about this topic: Usage Of The Terms Railroad And Railway
Famous quotes containing the word practice:
“A little instruction in the elements of chartography—a little practice in the use of the compass and the spirit level, a topographical map of the town common, an excursion with a road map—would have given me a fat round earth in place of my paper ghost.”
—Mary Antin (1881–1949)
“Predatory capitalism created a complex industrial system and an advanced technology; it permitted a considerable extension of democratic practice and fostered certain liberal values, but within limits that are now being pressed and must be overcome. It is not a fit system for the mid- twentieth century.”
—Noam Chomsky (b. 1928)