[GreenKeys] East Wire and West Wire?

[Brooke Clarke]

Hi:

I looked into that some years ago and found that the railroads named the 
directions based on the ends of the line.  That convention was then 
adopted by others.  For example in Silicon valley when someone says go 
North on 101 if you have a compass it might be pointing West.  On a 
snake back road when heading in the North direction a compass might show 
South.  So the directions are not arbitrary, just based on the end of 
the line.

Have Fun,

Brooke Clarke
http://www.PRC68.com


Jim Haynes wrote:
> In telegraphy you often have a wire that loops through a station.
> So one direction from the station is arbitrarily called East and
> the opposite direction is called West.  I've also seen North and
> South used in some Western Union circuits and in railroad usage.
>
> Also in telephone carrier systems, where a different frequency
> is used in each direction, a carrier terminal will be identified
> as East or West depending on which frequency is used in which
> direction.  Likewise in a two-wire system with repeaters the
> two ends of the repeater will be labelled East and West, although
> in this case it doesn't matter which end is which since it
> repeats the same frequencies in both directions.
>
> Since the designations are arbitrary you'll have circuts labelled
> East and West even if the wire runs directly north and south.  And
> occasionally due to strange circuit geography you'll find a circuit
> labelled East that actually leaves the west side of the office before
> going toward the East.
>
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