TRIVIA: Naming of Engines

[MotCO]

Today I travelled on a 125 which was named Exeter Panel Signal Box 21st Anniversary 2009, which got me thinking:

• What is the most unusual name for an engine?
• Who decides which names should be used - is there a 'naming' committee?

Edit - I meant to say unusual rather than usual

 

[hexagon789]

Today I travelled on a 125 which was named Exeter Panel Signal Box 21st Anniversary 2009, which got me thinking:

• What is the most usual name for an engine?
• Who decides which names should be used - is there a 'naming' committee?

Racehorses, regiments, battleships/warships, societies, former drivers, towns/cities, publications, famous figures are all examples of where many names come from.

I believe there may well be 'naming' committees or something along those lines yes, hopefully someone with a bit more knowledge will be along to confirm/refute that.

 

[big all]

i doubt its naming commities
it will tend to a rellivant local heroes or place or system or relivant local heroes to an operating company or connected customer
but off course just a guess

 

[Cowley]

There's been some unbelievably silly names applied to enormous bits of rail borne machinery over the years.
I reckon we could all come up with a few good ones if we tried.

 

[JohnMcL7]

I thought Scunthorpe Ironmaster was a more unusual name and suited the 60 it was on perfectly.

 

[E_Reeves]

Not an engine, but 'Penny the Pendolino' is a little out of the ordinary... so is a few of the pendo fleet, too

 

[Matt_pool]

390 148 "Flying Scouseman"!

 

[GrimShady]

Naming DMUs always seemed pointless to me.

 

[Mordac]

Not an engine, but 'Penny the Pendolino' is a little out of the ordinary... so is a few of the pendo fleet, too

I always liked that one. Sounds like a Thomas The Tank Engine character. When the Fat Controller really hits it big.

 

[Mag_seven]

There's been some unbelievably silly names applied to enormous bits of rail borne machinery over the years.
I reckon we could all come up with a few good ones if we tried.

90014 - "The Big Dish" (Branson of course!)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/145940735@N08/46801383182 (not my photo)

 

[DelW]

Going back a bit, I always thought that the LNER's* use of racehorse names led to some oddities.

Naming locos "Gay Crusader" and "Call Boy" might raise a few eyebrows these days, while "Tranquil" is not a quality you'd want an express loco to have. "Ladas" of course long pre-dated the rather dubious Russian cars.

*(The original LNER of course)

 

[pdeaves]

Who remembers the South West Trains unit named "Mum in a Million 1997 Doreen Scanlon"? I am sure Ms Scanlon is a lovely lady but it's not a suitable name for a train (in my opinion, of course). Just the lady's name without the title would have been better.

 

[nat67]

Naming DMUs always seemed pointless to me.

Especially if they are just a vinyl not cast.

 

[nat67]

Talking of Pendo's and HST's when the XC HST's ran out of St Pancras they where named Rio something. Then on some of the VT 390's they had Virgin Pathfinder, Glory, Knight and so on. I personally liked Virgin Buccaneer as it was a type of RAF cold war Jet.

 

[43096]

Talking of Pendo's and HST's when the XC HST's ran out of St Pancras they where named Rio something. Then on some of the VT 390's they had Virgin Pathfinder, Glory, Knight and so on. I personally liked Virgin Buccaneer as it was a type of RAF cold war Jet.

The Rio names were a mickey take on the Pendolinos - Virgin Trains CEO Chris Green found it very amusing!

 

[GrimShady]

Especially if they are just a vinyl not cast.

Yeah. Like Northern!

 

[nat67]

Yeah. Like Northern!

And on the new VT livery.

 

[twpsaesneg]

Back in the days of Fragonset, many of their locos were named after figures in Greek Mythology.

A lot of their stock was stored on various preserved railways in the Midlands, usually with one able to be used by the preserved railway as payment. One such locomotive was unofficially named "Isopon" due to the amount of filler used in the bodywork prior to repainting... I still have one of the plates that was made up for the very brief time it wore them!

20190129_134024

• twpsaesneg
• 29 Jan 2019

Isopon Nameplate

(Picture of Isopon nameplate)

 

[DarloRich]

Who remembers the South West Trains unit named "Mum in a Million 1997 Doreen Scanlon"? I am sure Ms Scanlon is a lovely lady but it's not a suitable name for a train (in my opinion, of course). Just the lady's name without the title would have been better.

why? - it is clearly a competition prize and a good bit of PR for the railway. The name of some random without the context of why is also just as pointless.

Racehorses, regiments, battleships/warships, societies, former drivers, towns/cities, publications, famous figures are all examples of where many names come from.

I believe there may well be 'naming' committees or something along those lines yes, hopefully someone with a bit more knowledge will be along to confirm/refute that.

there is no formal naming committee. There may be some approval process but i suspect it is down to someone having a good idea. The days of worthy names that you suggest are gone. Today a name is more likely to reflect a PR opportunity to commercial tie up.

390 148 "Flying Scouseman"!

another completion winner.

Who decides what is a suitable name? I suspect many here would only be happy with names taken from the big book of railway names 1932 edition. Perhaps we should just stick to naming trains after the obscure board members of the TOC's. Afterall the LNER named an A4 after their chief legal counsel Miles Beevor so perhaps we could have a Pendolino named after the current chief finance officer of Virgin trains!

 

[HaggisBotherer]

Going back a bit, I always thought that the LNER's* use of racehorse names led to some oddities.

Naming locos "Gay Crusader" and "Call Boy" might raise a few eyebrows these days

I've always thought that Trimbush is probably rather more appropriate these days than it was 70 years ago

 

[xotGD]

Request to LNER:

Please name your new fleet of plastic tat after previous winners of the St Ledger.

- The racehorse theme is reborn
- They are based in Doncaster, so an apt set of nags

 

[DarloRich]

Request to LNER:

Please name your new fleet of plastic tat after previous winners of the St Ledger.

- The racehorse theme is reborn
- They are based in Doncaster, so an apt set of nags

And does the general public relate to the st ledger in the same way they did in the 1920's and 30's?

This kind of shows my point.

 

[DanDaDriver]

37425 - CONCRETE BOB

 

[Merthyr Imp]

B1 no. 61005 - Bongo (the LNER again)

 

[swt class 450]

I believe that South West Trains named one of their class 444 trains "The Fab 444" quite a few years ago. Certainly not the usual sort of name to go on a train. I wonder who came up with the idea for this train name.

 

[Chris217]

47639 industry year 1986

Wonder why there hasn't been any other industry years?

 

[J-Rod]

47639 industry year 1986

Wonder why there hasn't been any other industry years?

If there was a prize for boring, that would probably win.

 

[DarloRich]

47639 industry year 1986

Wonder why there hasn't been any other industry years?

It seems this was a one off attempt to showcase British industry and try to reverse the decline in said industry. It was clearly a government sponsored scheme that I suspect involved British Rail. There is some information here: https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1985/dec/13/industry-year-1986:

That this House welcomes the initiative of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce in declaring 1986 Industry Year

If there was a prize for boring, that would probably win.

clearly it is a corporate tie up / publicity event which is what many names these days are all about.

 

[J-Rod]

clearly it is a corporate tie up / publicity event which is what many names these days are all about.

Yeah, I get that... just hardly seems worth mentioning, does it?

Industry DECADE on the other hand, well, now we're talking...

 

[DarloRich]

Yeah, I get that... just hardly seems worth mentioning, does it?

Industry DECADE on the other hand, well, now we're talking...

There wasn't much Industry left at the end of that decade