Mileposts

[nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org]

I suppose this is nit-picking, but the use of the term "mile marker", which is
a direct influence of the Interstate Highway System has no place on a
railroad.  In all of my years of copying train orders, as  an operator, and
using them on line-of-road,  I have never seen a train dispatcher refer to
a railroad milepost as a "mile marker."   The simple abbreviation "MP" was
used to designate the word "milepost."   As a practical matter, I never have
understood  why the Interstate Highways use the longer two name version
"mile marker" rather than the simple one word "milepost." They could have 
then educated the public to use the term "MP" when referring to a location
on the Interstate.  But, the system is already screwed up and it's too late to
change it.  I would have gone a little further and designed a system in which
an exact location such as   MP   325.8  could be pinpointed. If a motorist
was stranded he or she could give exact information as to where they were
located.   But, what do I know.   Bill Sellers.