- The British Railways system of classifying steam locomotives by power using a number from 0, least powerful, to 9, most powerful, followed by either F for freight, P for Passenger or MT for Mixed Traffic.
- 0F
- 1F
- 2F
- 3F
- 4F
- 5F
- 6F
- 7F
- 8F
- 9F
- 0P
- 1P
- 2P
- 3P
- 4P
- 5P
- 6P
- 7P
- 8P
- 9P
- 0MT
- 1MT
- 2MT
- 3MT
- 4MT
- 5MT
- 6MT
- 7MT
- 8MT
- 9MT
- 56xx
- A GWR 0-6-2T engine
- 57xx
- A GWR 0-6-0PT engine
- ARPS
- Association of Railway Preservation Societies
- B&MR
- Brecon & Merthyr Tydfil Junction Railway
- Barry
- Woodham Brothers Scrapyard, Barry, South Wales. The source of many locomotives now in preservation.
- B.R.
- BR
- British Rail or British Railways
- B.R.C.W
- BRC&W
- BRCW
- Birmingham Railway Carriage & Wagon Company
- BRC
- Buckinghamshire Railway Centre
- BRUTE
- British Railways Utility Trolley Equipment, a wire caged trolley with a low floor developed by BR to replace existing luggage trucks and mail bag trolleys.
- Bulleid
- Oliver Vaughan Snell Bulleid, Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the Southern Railway 1937-1948
- C&W
- Carriage & Wagon
- chain
- chains
- As a unit of measurement, 22 yards or 1/80th of a mile
- Churchward
- George Jackson Churchward, Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the Great Western Railway 1902-1922
- CME
- Chief Mechanical Engineer
- Collett
- Charles Benjamin Collett, Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the Great Western Railway 1922-1941
- Composite
- Carriage having more than one class of seating, ie First and Third or latterly First and Standard.
- Conflat
- GWR telegraphic code signifying a flat wagon for containers
- DCMS
- Department for Culture, Media and Sport
- DMBS
- Driving Motor Brake Second
- DMU
- Diesel Multiple Unit
- Down
- In reference to the direction of travel means away from the major terminus (i.e. towards Bridgnorth on the present day SVR)
- Drummond
- Dugald Drummond, Locomotive Engineer, later Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the London & South Western Railway 1895-1905
- Dukedog
- A GWR 3200 Class 4-4-0 engine, rebuilt using earlier 'Bulldog' frame and 'Duke' boiler.
- ECS
- Empty Coaching Stock
- E.E.
- English Electric
- ELR
- Engineer's Line Reference, East Lancashire Railway
- ETT
- Electric Train Token
- F.P.L
- FPL
- Facing Point Lock, equipment that physically locks points so that they cannot move.
- Fairburn
- Charles Edward Fairburn, Chief Mechanical Engineer of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway 1944-1945
- FE
- Footplate Experience
- GCR
- Great Central Railway
- GER
- Great Eastern Railway
- GNR
- Great Northern Railway
- GNS
- GNSR
- Great North of Scotland Railway
- GPO
- General Post Office
- GRC&W
- GRCW
- Gloucester Railway Carriage and Wagon Company
- Gresley
- Sir Nigel Gresley, Chief Mechanical Engineer of the London & North Eastern Railway 1923-1941
- GUV
- General Utility Van, formerly used to transport mail and parcels
- GWR
- Great Western Railway
- GWS
- Great Western Society
- GWSR
- Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway (Commonly known as the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway)
- Hawksworth
- Frederick Hawksworth, Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the Great Western Railway 1941-1948
- HLF
- Heritage Lottery Fund
- Hot box
- A situation that occurs when an axle bearing overheats, causing damage to the axle box and the axle itself.
- Ivatt
- Henry George Ivatt, Chief Mechanical Engineer of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway 1946-1948. CME of BR (London Midland Region) 1948-1951
- LB&SCR
- London Brighton & South Coast Railway
- lever lead
- lever leads
- The (usually brass) information panel on a point or signal lever informing the signalman which other levers need to be pulled to release that lever
- LMS
- London Midland & Scottish Railway
- LNER
- London & North Eastern Railway
- LNWR
- London & North Western Railway
- Loriot
- GWR telegraphic code signifying a machine truck
- LRO
- Light Railway Order
- LSWR
- London & South Western Railway
- Macaw
- GWR telegraphic code signifying a timber truck
- Mica
- GWR telegraphic code signifying a meat van
- Mink
- GWR telegraphic code signifying a covered goods van
- Mogo
- GWR telegraphic code signifying a covered motor car wagon
- MOSI
- Museum Of Science & Industry
- MPD
- Motive Power Depot
- MR
- Midland Railway
- NCB
- National Coal Board
- NER
- North Eastern Railway
- NHMF
- Trustees of the National Heritage Memorial Fund – see HLF
- NR
- Network Rail
- NRM
- National Railway Museum
- OW&W
- Oxford Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway
- P.W.
- P.Way
- PW
- Permanent Way
- PTR
- Port Talbot Railway & Docks Company
- Rexine
- an early form of vinyl used by the LNER for wall coverings in teak coaches
- Richard Deeley
- Chief Mechanical Engineer of the Midland Railway 1904-1909
- Riddles
- Robert Riddles, Member of the Railway Executive for Mechanical and Electrical Engineering responsible for the design of the British Rail Standard Class locomotives
- S&DJR
- Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway
- S&T
- Signals & Telegraph
- S.W. Johnson
- Samuel Waite Johnson, Chief Mechanical Engineer of the Midland Railway 1873-1903
- SE&CR
- South Eastern & Chatham Railway
- Siphon
- GWR telegraphic code signifying a milk van
- Snake
- GWR telegraphic code signifying a passenger brake van
- SR
- Southern Railway
- Stanier
- William Stanier, Chief Mechanical Engineer of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway 1932-1944
- super D
- An LNWR 0-8-0 goods engine
- SVR
- Severn Valley Railway
- TMD
- Traction Maintenance Depot, also referred to as Diesel Depot
- Toad
- GWR telegraphic code signifying a goods brake van, which became the standard design's nickname
- Toadfit
- Telegraphic code signifying a vacuum brake fitted brake van
- TOPS
- Total Operations Processing System, an American computer system adopted by BR in the late 1960s to number and manage rolling stock.
- TPO
- Travelling Post Office
- Type 1
- The British Railways classification for diesel locomotives of up to 1000 bhp
- Type 2
- The British Railways classification for diesel locomotives of 1001 bhp to 1499 bhp
- Type 3
- The British Railways classification for diesel locomotives of 1500 bhp to 1999 bhp
- Type 4
- The British Railways classification for diesel locomotives of 2000 bhp to 2999 bhp
- Type 5
- The British Railways classification for diesel locomotives of 3000 bhp or more
- UIC
- Union Internationale des Chemins de fer (International Union of Railways)
- Up
- In reference to the direction of travel means towards the major terminus (i.e. towards Kidderminster on the present day SVR)
- VSOE
- Venice Simplon Orient Express
- Warwell
- Telegraphic code signifying an ex War Department Well Trolley
- WCR
- West Coast Railways
- Weltrol
- Telegraphic code signifying a Well Trolley