Dictionary

footplate en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (US) audio

Etymology

From foot + plate.

Meanings

1. The metal plate which forms the base platform of a steam locomotive and supports the boiler and the driver's cab, particularly in the United Kingdom.
   • Unlike the earlier standard designs, in which the whole of the footplate was on the engine, fall plates are re-introduced and these are hinged from the front of the tender to rest on the rearward extension of the cab floor. 1954 March, “New Class "9" 2-10-0 Locomotives”, in Railway Magazine, page 166:
   • After a while we left the engine, but not before André had examined the 4-6-4 very carefully, with hammer and torch, both outside and underneath. And that was the end of my footplate work on this particular weekend. 1961 March, 'Balmore', “Driving and firing modern French steam locomotives”, in Trains Illustrated, page 148:
   • All the same, nearly eight hours on the footplate covering a distance of 320 miles, with an ambient temperature of up to 103° for much of the time, proved an ordeal which I would not lightly undertake again. 1960 October, P. Ransome-Wallis, “Modern motive power of the German Federal Railway: Part Two”, in Trains Illustrated, page 611:
   • This uncoupling done, Gimbert opened the regulator as Nightall climbed back onto the footplate, in order to pull the one burning wagon away from the rest of the bomb-laden train. 2022 January 12, Benedict le Vay, “The heroes of Soham...”, in RAIL, number 948, page 42:
2. The engineer's cab in any kind of train.
   • Kit had fallen into conversation with a footplate man who was deadheading back out to Samarkand, where he lived with his wife and children. 2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 845:
3. The flat portion at the base of the stapes; pedicel.
   • The footplate of the stapes develops and ossifies in conjunction with the otic capsule and thus takes its origin from the otic placode in the embryo. 2008, Michael Valente, Holly Hosford-Dunn, Ross J. Roeser, Audiology Treatment, page 218:
4. The part of a roller skate that attaches to the boot.
5. A timber in a wood frame that distributes a concentrated load.
6. A platform on which the driver's foot rests but which, unlike a pedal, has no effect.

Forms

Deriveds

footplate man · footplateman

footplate en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (US) audio

Etymology

From foot + plate.

Meanings

1. To travel (or work) on the footplate of a locomotive.
   • Hard work is required from men and machines as I was to experience later when footplating Lambton No 5 on five bogies battling its way up Newtondale. 1979 August, Michael Harris, “A line for all reasons: the North Yorkshire Moors Railway”, in Railway World, page 415:

Forms