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Pacific Locomotive

Name given to locomotives which according to the Whyte classification have a 4-6-2 wheel arrangement.

Packing

Soft material with good lubricating qualities which is packed inside a gland or other steam-tight joint.

Pannier Tank

Pannier tanks are hung on the sides of the boiler of a steam locomotive to carry the required water supply. Some supports are also often provided from the foot-plate but the tanks themselves do not extend down as far as the foot-plate.

Pantograph

A device fitted to the roof of an electric locomotive or EMU, which is sprung upwards to make electrical contact with overhead wires.

Parcels Train

A train consisting of coach-type vehicles carrying packaged merchandise, but carrying no passengers.

Parcels Van

A vehicle of a parcels train.

Permanent Way

The track of a railway line; the ballast, sleepers and rails. This term distinguished it from that laid temporarily during construction by the contractor for ferrying materials along the length of the works.

Permissive-Block Working

A system of train operation where, under special conditions, a train may proceed with great caution into a block section already occupied by another train. This system would be used at terminus stations to allow a locomotive to enter a platform already occupied by coaching stock, but would normally be used on through lines only when one goods train is following another. (see also absolute block).

Petticoat Pipe

A downward extension to a chimney inside a smoke-box.

Pick-Up Good

A goods train which is arranged to stop and collect or leave wagons where required at any siding along the line.

Pilot Engine

The front locomotive of a double-headed train.

Pilot-Man

A person serving the same purpose as a staff when one track of a double-track railway route is temporarily operated as a single track. Such a person might also be used when a staff is lost, or during some other emergency.

Piston

A disc which moves backwards and forwards inside a hollow cylinder.

Piston Rod

A rod which is secured concentrically to a piston and then passes through one end of a hollow cylinder.

Piston Valve

A type of gas-distribution valve, in which an oscillating piston covers and uncovers circumfrential openings in a cylinder.

Plate Frame

A framework the sides of which consist of plates set on edge.

Plate-Layer

A person who lays or maintains railway track. The term originates from the early days of railways when most railway tracks consisted of longitudinal timber balks on which iron plates were laid.

Plate-Layer's Hut

A line-side hut containing equipment for the use of plate-layers.

Plate-Layer's Trolley

A railway vehicle small enough to be removed from the rails by hand. The vehicle is propelled by hand or by a small petrol engine.

Plate-Way

A railway system which uses flanged rails and vehicles with flange-less wheels.

Platform

A raised structure at a convenient height alongside a railway track from which passengers may board or alight from a train, or from which goods may be loaded or unloaded from a train.

Platform Signs

These come in many varied forms.

Point Blades

The movable parts of the rails in a set of points, typically a pair of linked tapering rails that can be moved laterally to allow a train to pass from one line to the other.

Points

A junction of two railway lines that can be set to guide a train onto one of two alternative routes, or allow two lines to merge into one depending upon your perspective.

Points Lever

A lever for actuating the changing mechanism of points.

Points Rodding

Guided rods which run from the actuating levers in a lever frame to the moving components in a set of points.

Pony Truck

A small two-wheeled truck which can be used at the end(s) of a steam engine to spread the weight over a larger area with out reducing turning radius. Being small, they can be deployed in areas where space is at a premium (eg. by the cylinders, or firebox).

Pop Safety-Valve

A single-outlet steam safety-valve in which an inverted cone or ball is directly sprung down on to the seating of the steam outlet aperture.

Poppet Valve

A spring-loaded gas-distribution valve which consists of a mushroom-shaped device which is raised or lowered onto a seating over an opening.

Portal

The masonry or brick structure at the entrance to a tunnel.

Power Bogie

A bogie onto which an engine is attached.

Power Controller

Drivers device on diesel and electric locomotives and multiple units for selecting and regulating the power produced.

Prairie Locomotive

Name given to locomotives which according to the Whyte classification is of the 2-6-2 wheel arrangement.

Pressure Gauge

A gauge, usually of the bourdon type, and consisting of a round disc around which a pointer moves to indicate some pressure. These gauges are commonly seen in locomotive cabs for measuring such things as boiler pressure, compressed air pressure, vacuum pressure, steam-chest pressure and steam heating pressure.

Pricker

A long straight fire-iron with a turned-up end, also called a "rake".

Priming

Priming is the carrying over of water when the regulator is open. It can be caused by the boiler water level being too high, a sudden opening of the regulator, or impurities in the boiler water. Priming is at best inefficient, and at worst can cause serious damage due to the incompressibility of water becoming trapped in the cylinders.

Private-Owner Wagon

A privately owned goods vehicle running on a public railway.

Puffing Billy

Built to a design by Wiiliam Hedley in 1813. It worked for 48 years on a five mile stretch of track from Wylam colliery.

Pullman Car

Railway Carriage owned by the Pullman Car Company, running generally as part of a railway company's train. The crew on the coach were provided by the Pullman Car Company, and the ticket revenue from passengers was divided as a standard fare to the railway company and a Pullman supplement. Dining services were usually provided. Very early Pullman Cars provided sleeping accommodation. The Pullman Car Company in the UK eventually became part of British Railways, but not until some years after nationalisation.

Pullman Style Gangway

The type of corridor connection used between corridor coaches by the SR, LNER and on BR standard steam stock (Mk.1), as well as most Pullman cars. A few Pullmans used the "Standard" connection when operating on railways which used that arrangement. The gangway is used on conjunction with a buck-eye coupling. Rubbing-plates at the bottom of the connector are held against each other by springs, which replace the side-buffers used when vehicles are screw-coupled.

Push-Pull Train

Another term for an auto-train.

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