Network SouthEast Route Symbols

[Helvellyn]

So, I'm hoping users of the forum can help me work out why the route symbols were chosen as they were by Network SouthEast. Looking at this site quite a few of the symbols are present. But what did they represent?

Castle on a star? Similar to the badge of the Royal Anglian Regiment. (Logo was also used with 'Great Eastern' name). Also seen with different colours here.

I'm guessing the Chiltern Hills.

The frontage of King's Cross.

Speaks for itself!

Taken from the flag of the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports.

Silhouette of Canon Street station?

No idea.

Design from a canal barge used on the Grand Union canal.

No idea.

Harlequinn design, but why?

HMS Victory.

The Crystal Palace.

No idea, but this logo of Windsor Castle also seems to have been used, and in this picture here another variation of the pictured logo can be seen bottom left (along with the other two!).

Royal Pavillion, Brighton.

Representative of the River Thames. Unsure why the Trident too?

The City, but it also reminds me of the old Thames TV logo!

No idea. Also used with 'Oxted Line' label, as seen here.


No idea.

No idea.

There were also logos for:

• West Anglia - No idea why the bird.
• Waterloo & City - Bank of England?
• Essex Electrics - Taken from the coat of arms of Essex.
• Solent & Wessex - Sailing boats on the Solent. Seems to have been used first for 'Solent Link' which was the electrification of the Portsmouth - Southampton/Eastleigh routes.
• Marsh Link - No idea.

 

[Cherry_Picker]

Interesting thread. Not got much to add but I'm replying in it to tag it. My guess for LTS would just be an association with the maritime history of the line, it travels through docklands, Tilbury is a port, Southend is a coastal resort. Dunno what the specific ship is supposed to represent though.

 

[acmw421]

The Marsh Link logo is Dr Syn, the fictional Romney Marsh smuggler. The SW Lines logo is the Waterloo Victory Arch.

 

[mattdickinson]

North London Lines: HARLesden - QUEENs Park

 

[SWTCommuter]

LTS: looks like a Thames barge: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thames_sailing_barge

Wessex Electrics: the knight's helmet may be a reference to the supposed King Arthur's Round Table in Winchester Castle. http://www3.hants.gov.uk/greathall/roundtable-new.htm

Uckfield Line: possibly meant to represent Hever Castle?

 

[Carlisle]

southwestern is victory arch , uckfield line Is Hever castle and moat, I think west of England is the Arms of Exeter

 

[Hassocks5489]

According to p116 of The Network SouthEast Story 1982-2014, recently published...

• Great Northern: frontage of Kings Cross station
• Anglia Electrics: badge of Anglia Regiment
• LTS: A Thames barge
• Kent Coast: badge of the Cinque Ports
• Kent Link: Greenwich skyline
• South London Lines: the old Crystal Palace
• North Downs: badge/coat of arms of Tonbridge
• Uckfield Line: Hever Castle
• Sussex Coast (my local route!): Royal Pavilion, Brighton
• Portsmouth Line: the HMS Victory
• South Western Lines: the Victory Arch at London Waterloo
• West of England: coat of arms of Exeter
• North London Lines: the "Harlequin" logo/design/symbol (not sure how best to describe it!)
• Thameslink: City of London skyline
• Wessex Electrics: a "Heraldic helmet" (says 'ere)
• Island Line: the Isle of Wight
• Thames: coat of arms of Oxford colleges
• Chiltern Line: the Chiltern Hills
• Northampton Line: "Barge art rendering of the Grand Union Canal"

Incidentally I highly recommend this book, co-written by Chris Green.

Great to see these evocative logos again

 

[LM 170]

One Network Southeast logo that I do not think has been talked about is the Three Counties logo for the Kettering-Corby, Bedford-Bletchley and Watford Junction-St.Albans Abbey lines. Here is image a I came across on Flickr.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkprince66/4987340419/

 

[starrymarkb]

That's not the Coat of arms of Exeter

 

[superdrive1]

The West Anglia logo is the heron bird. a segment in the book 'Along Different Lines: 70 Real Life Railway Stories' refers to this (The book can be found in online form on Google Books)

In short, the reason for the choosing of the heron is that the West Anglia route is common ground for them to be seen flying around. In fact, when the lines to Stansted Airport were constructed by BR, the ground left in the middle of the 'Stansted Triangle' was turned into an artificial pond, with a plastic heron put on the island in the centre of the pond to mark the line's link to the heron!

 

[John Webb]

The 'Kent Link' is Wren's Greenwich Hospital (the two domes and side buildings) with the Queen's house, as seen from the river, with the hill behind on which Greenwich Observatory sits, although they've left that off.

And regarding the Northampton line, they were not canal barges but boats, please!

 

[acmw421]

That's not the Coat of arms of Exeter

Likewise, the Thames logo is not anything like any of the coats of arms of the Oxford colleges. However, both these stated explanations appear in a rather battered copy of Today's Railways Review of the Year 1989 I picked up from a charity shop a few years ago. So the minor mystery at issue, is the question of whether the NSE book parroting from Today's Railways or a similar source, did a press release at the time get wrong what the logos were supposed to represent, or did NSE simply create incorrect logos?

 

[Hassocks5489]

Likewise, the Thames logo is not anything like any of the coats of arms of the Oxford colleges. However, both these stated explanations appear in a rather battered copy of Today's Railways Review of the Year 1989 I picked up from a charity shop a few years ago. So the minor mystery at issue, is the question of whether the NSE book parroting from Today's Railways or a similar source, did a press release at the time get wrong what the logos were supposed to represent, or did NSE simply create incorrect logos?

Possibly all three, to be honest. Today's Railways Review of the Year 1989 isn't listed in the extensive bibliography, but a lot of similar sources from a similar era are given.

 

[Helvellyn]

According to p116 of The Network SouthEast Story 1982-2014, recently published...

• West of England: coat of arms of Exeter

That's not the Coat of arms of Exeter

Wiki is your friend! Got me thinking and it would seem that for some reason the coat of arms of the Dukes of Exeter (First Creation) were used.

I wonder if someone doing some research got hold of the wrong image in a book?

 

[JaJaWa]

North London Lines: HARLesden - QUEENs Park

There's a lot of Harlequin branding in Watford too, which the North London Lines serve. Not sure why though.

 

[John Webb]

Re the "Thames" logo - the wavy water is harking back to the old LCC which had a similar wavy section on its coat of arms, and "Old Father Thames", like Neptune, is sometime depicted with a trident.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

There's a lot of Harlequin branding in Watford too, which the North London Lines serve. Not sure why though.

Isn't Harlequin also the name of a big shopping centre in the area? So maybe there is some historical association between the area and harlequins?

 

[Helvellyn]

Isn't Harlequin also the name of a big shopping centre in the area? So maybe there is some historical association between the area and harlequins?

Harlequinns Football Club started off as Hampstead Football Club, and changed the name as more players from outside Hampstead started playing. According to Wiki Harlequinns was chosen from the dictionary, and it avoided the club monogram having to be changed! Also according to Wiki Harlequinns used to have a lot of players who worked in the City. Given that the North London Line used to run to Broad Street in the heart of the City, maybe this is why it was considered an appropriate logo?

 

[John Webb]

Isn't Harlequin also the name of a big shopping centre in the area? So maybe there is some historical association between the area and harlequins?

The shopping centre was indeed 'Harlequin', but was dropped a year or two ago for something so mundane I can't remember what it is now!

 

[33056]

Stand to be corrected but the Harlequin logo for the North London line might well have been some sort of tie-in with the shopping centre of the same name.

 

[davetheguard]

With regard to the "Thames" logo, I wonder if the Trident is something to do with "Old Father Thames" a sort of mythical river god. There's a statue of him beside the river in Lechlade (but without Trident) that used to be located beside the river's source; which is a shortish walk from Kemble station, by the way. And I think he's also on a building in London (former Port of London Authority building???) this time complete with Trident.

And the wavy lines would just be the river itself, I suppose?

 

[yorksrob]

The Marsh Link logo is Dr Syn, the fictional Romney Marsh smuggler.

My favourite of them.

Remeniscent of happy days

 

[David Goddard]

That reminds me I must order Chris' new book! Love anything Network SouthEast.
Do the monitors at Margate station still carry NSE branding?

 

[GatwickDepress]

My favourite of them.

Remeniscent of happy days

Definitely the best. I was talking to someone about putting up a mural of that logo up at one of the stations a while ago...

 

[yorksrob]

Definitely the best. I was talking to someone about putting up a mural of that logo up at one of the stations a while ago...

Now that would be a good idea !

 

[Busaholic]

Now that would be a good idea !

After he's gone (a long way off, I hope) a statue of Chris Green should be commissioned and placed, I suggest but would welcome feedback, at the main entrance to London Bridge Station.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

After he's gone (a long way off, I hope) a statue of Chris Green should be commissioned and placed, I suggest but would welcome feedback, at the main entrance to London Bridge Station.

Berkhampstead station I reckon - where he still travels from.

 

[Busaholic]

Berkhampstead station I reckon - where he still travels from.

So Berkhamsted not only had Graham Greene. my favourite novelist, but also my favourite railwayman of modern times. Berkhamsted it is then!

 

[ChiefPlanner]

So Berkhamsted not only had Graham Greene. my favourite novelist, but also my favourite railwayman of modern times. Berkhamsted it is then!

Could not agree more - a lovely little town , castle , plenty of WCML activity , canal , nice shops, good pubs (including a cider pub) .....