Third class rail travel

Nowadays rail transport in the UK may be first class or standard class. But I'm sure I remember from when I was growing up my family talking about the non-first class as being third class.

A little bit of rummaging around online revealed that:

The Midland Railway, towards the end of the 19th century, abolished second class, improving its third class seating to the same standard as second had been, and reduced the fares in first class. The other railway companies reluctantly followed suit, so as not to appear behind the times. ... In 1956 third class was re-named "second", and in the last decade of the 20th century, "standard".

Which means on the one hand that it wasn't actually third class when I was growing up, but that on the other my family had retained the old usage for thirty years after it officially was discontinued.

(Which, I suppose, is in character: I myself still refer to Cif as Jif, and so forth.)