Line names that are no longer used.

[stadler]

Harlequin Line was used as a name for the London Euston to Watford Junction line in the 80s and 90s and even made it in to the early 00s a bit. NSE launched it as a new line name. Some trains allocated to the route had Harlequin Line stickers by the doors and it was also present at stations on the station signage and some station name boards. It was used on timetable leaflets too. At the time the name was quite widespread. It was introduced and used by NSE and also used by Silverlink in their early days. I seem to remember that the name was made up by a commuter (a combination of Harlesden and Queens Park stations) in a competition that NSE ran. Sadly this name is no longer used (which is a shame as it is miles better than the new Lioness Line name) and has been completely forgotten about by most people.

This had me wondering if there were any other line names that are no longer used and have been forgotten about? I presume there must be other ones like the Harlequin Line that just stopped being used and were forgotten about?

If anyone can think of any other similar ones i would be interested to hear? This can be line names from BR and NSE days or even line names that were used in more recent early privatisation times?

 

[Rescars]

Not sure if this is quite what stapler has in mind, but today's somewhat unimaginative "Borders Railway" was once part of the rather more romantically named "Waverley Route".

 

[Mcr Warrior]

I seem to remember that the name was made up by a commuter (a combination of Harlesden and Queens Park stations) in a competition that NSE ran.

The winner of this March 1988 BR competition was a Mr. Simon Gurevitz, from Harrow. Apparently, 'Harlequin' line was actually a combination of three of the line's stations' names, namely Hatch End, Harlesden and Queen's Park. Mr. Gurevitz won a weekend 'Golden Break for two' for his efforts and a number of TV / radio personalities (including the "Saint and Greavsie") were there at the publicity / naming ceremony at Wembley Central station in June.

Having said that, does the renaming of Crossrail as the 'Elizabeth Line' in 2016 count for the purposes of continuing this thread?

 

[stadler]

Not sure if this is quite what stapler has in mind, but today's somewhat unimaginative "Borders Railway" was once part of the rather more romantically named "Waverley Route".

It is a shame that Scotrail did not call it the "Waverley Line" or the "Waverley Route" as it does sound like a better and more interesting name. I seem to remember that there is still a very small Heritage Railway in the borders region using that name.

The winner of this March 1988 BR competition was a Mr. Simon Gurevitz, from Harrow. Apparently, 'Harlequin' line was actually a combination of three of the line's stations' names, namely Hatch End, Harlesden and Queen's Park. Mr. Gurevitz won a weekend 'Golden Break for two' for his efforts and a number of TV / radio personalities (including the "Saint and Greavsie") were there at the publicity / naming ceremony at Wembley Central station in June.

Having said that, does the renaming of Crossrail as the 'Elizabeth Line' in 2016 count for the purposes of continuing this thread?

Thank you for information. I remember hearing about the line name and reading it in the newspaper and one of the railway magazines at the time but i could not remember the full details. It was such a clever name. Especially as it runs alongside the Bakerloo Line which got its name in a similar way. So it fits in really well. Getting rid of the Harlequin Line name was such a big mistake.

Do you or anyone else still have any press articles about the renaming amd the associated publicity event that happened? Also does anyone have any photos of the Harlequin Line logo and branding as it has been years since i have seen it and i am struggling to find old photos online?

I suppose Crossrail could count. It was never used while the line was open but it did get commonly used until the Elizabeth Line name was invented. You rarely hear anyone say Crossrail nowadays. So yes i think we could probably add that to the list of line names that are no longer used.

 

[Springs Branch]

No longer in existence as a route, but BR used Crosstown Linkline to promote its new Camden Road to North Woolwich DMU service in the early 1980s.


I'm not sure if the service was then rebranded as North London Link for a time once the main North London Line became Richmond - North Woolwich as part of the run-down of Broad Street / when class 313s appeared in place of the 2-EPBs.

See image in this link.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Do you or anyone else still have any press articles about the renaming amd the associated publicity event that happened? Also does anyone have any photos of the Harlequin Line logo and branding as it has been years since i have seen it and i am struggling to find old photos online?

Most detailed I could find was this retrospective story in the "Watford Observer" in March 2015 (which, in turn, refers to an earlier, contemporary, June 1988 article). Sorry, couldn't find any associated pics, and neither, it seems, could the story's writer.

BR launches Operation Sparkle

Readers' letters and comments on, among other things, the Harlequin Line and Cassiobury Park Gates.

www.watfordobserver.co.uk

Extract(s)...

I went back to the archive to see if the Watford Observer covered it. We did – with a small piece buried inside the edition of June 24, 1988. Headed “Railway line gets a new image” it reads:

“Away days to London should be more fun for Watford people with the launch of the new Harlequin line.

“TV soccer pundits Saint and Greavsie and veteran DJ Ed “Stewpot” Stewart were among the star names at Wembley Central station on Saturday [June 18, 1988] for the Watford to Euston line’s renaming at a gala day launch.

 

[Snow1964]

The stations on Kingston loop had signs next to the BR logo which said Overground network (in orange with stylised o n where n ended in arrow point) for a few years back about 20 years ago. They were also on some other SouthLondon suburban stations with service at least every 15 minutes

They got removed to avoid confusion when TfL started using overground as a name

EDIT found a picture of logo and route map at Woolwich

Overground Network - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[The exile]

“AvonLink” for Severn Beach Line services and “Severn-Solent Line” for Cardiff - Portsmouth. “Marches Line” is AFAIK no longer used for the North & West line - at least not officially.

 

[daodao]

Several unofficial names for surviving lines have been replaced by new ones, e.g. the North and West line by the Marches line, and the Central Wales line by the Heart of Wales line.

 

[WestAnglian]

Harlequin Line was used as a name for the London Euston to Watford Junction line in the 80s and 90s and even made it in to the early 00s a bit. NSE launched it as a new line name. Some trains allocated to the route had Harlequin Line stickers by the doors and it was also present at stations on the station signage and some station name boards. It was used on timetable leaflets too. At the time the name was quite widespread. It was introduced and used by NSE and also used by Silverlink in their early days. I seem to remember that the name was made up by a commuter (a combination of Harlesden and Queens Park stations) in a competition that NSE ran. Sadly this name is no longer used (which is a shame as it is miles better than the new Lioness Line name) and has been completely forgotten about by most people.

This had me wondering if there were any other line names that are no longer used and have been forgotten about? I presume there must be other ones like the Harlequin Line that just stopped being used and were forgotten about?

If anyone can think of any other similar ones i would be interested to hear? This can be line names from BR and NSE days or even line names that were used in more recent early privatisation times?

At the same time the West Anglia route as the Heron Line, with pictures of herons on the trains.

 

[hermit]

At some point what is now Island Line was branded as Ryde Rail.

 

[Helvellyn]

The Arun Valley Line was originally just the mid-Sussex Line. I think the name change came with the diversion of fast London services to serve Gatwick, so the rename probably better reflected the promotion of the local market.

Solent Link was used for the Southampton/Eastleigh-Portsmouth lines by Network SouthEast (NSE) when operated by DEMUs and i think there was a large sign at Fareham commerating Solent Link electrification with branding included.

 

[MP33]

Two historic ones.

The Somerset & Dorset, was called Slow & Dirty
The Oxford, Worcester & Wolverhampton, the Old Worse & Worse.

 

[Bletchleyite]

One thing I'm intrigued about the Harlequin Line is whether the Watford shopping centre visible from the line (now called Atria) or the railway had the name first - there does appear to be a nominal connection.

Another one, the Ormskirk/Blackpool South/Colne "triangle" was once promoted as "Lancashire Lines", but this was never applied to any liveries, just promotional materials.

 

[Taunton]

The stations on Kingston loop had signs next to the BR logo which said Overground network (in orange with stylised o n where n ended in arrow point) for a few years back about 20 years ago. They were also on some other SouthLondon suburban stations with service at least every 15 minutes

They got removed to avoid confusion when TfL started using overground as a name.

"Overground" has a long usage in London. In the 1960s general expression at Wembley Central on the local service there was "Underground" for the Bakerloo trains, and "Overground" for the Euston trains - on a line also known semi-officially as "The DC Line", which also seems to have fallen away.

I was amused more recently by older Glaswegians referring to their local electric service as "The Blue Trains", which were branded as such initially but only novel for a few years before everything became blue, and by this time colours were changed again, there was an orange scheme, then red and cream. I presume the name has now gone although the trains are back to blue again.

 

[Ashley Hill]

on a line also known semi-officially as "The DC Line", which also seems to have fallen away.

Being a bit old fashioned I still refer to it as the Watford DC Lines. Was this name ever used outside of the industry ? For me the Harlequin Line meant very little unless you knew its meaning,a bit like Lioness.
Is Swanline still a thing for stopping trains to/from Swansea?

 

[Taunton]

One still used currently is "The Joint Line" for the loop off the ECML between Peterborough and Doncaster, through Spalding and Lincoln. In the last year I have seen, written up on a public whiteboard notice at Kings Cross "trains diverted via the Joint Line". Now you really have to know your history for that one, the name became irrelevant over 100 years ago.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

One thing I'm intrigued about the Harlequin Line is whether the Watford shopping centre visible from the line (now called Atria) or the railway had the name first - there does appear to be a nominal connection.

Believe the Watford shopping centre opened in June 1992. Originally named 'Harlequin", then 'intu', and now 'Atria'. Since that date was a few years after the railway line renaming contest, it's possible that the afore-mentioned Mr. Gurevitz of Harrow, if still hopefully alive and well, is well overdue another paid-for holiday.

 

[75A]

Two historic ones.

The Somerset & Dorset, was called Slow & Dirty
The Oxford, Worcester & Wolverhampton, the Old Worse & Worse.

The GWR was known as the Great Way Round by Brighton men.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Do historic unofficial line names, which quite often are essentially "witty" bacronyms utilising the exact same abbreviation as the line's actual name, still count for the purposes of this thread?

 

[Rescars]

Do historic unofficial line names, which quite often are essentially "witty" bacronyms utilising the exact same abbreviation as the line's actual name, still count for the purposes of this thread?

Sadly, many of those lines with poetic acronyms are now known, to the Ordnance Survey at least, as "dismantled railway"!

 

[The exile]

Two historic ones.

The Somerset & Dorset, was called Slow & Dirty

Or Serene and Delightful!

 

[Rescars]

Well, it was said that the Manchester Sheffield and Lincolnshire was Money Sunk and Lost, but when it became the Great Central, the money had Gone Completely. The same could be said of much of its network as a result of the good doctor's Axe!

 

[steamybrian]

I am not sure if "The Wall of Death" is still used for the Sutton-Wimbledon line

 

[61653 HTAFC]

During the 1980s and 1990s the line from Leeds to Manchester Victoria via Bradford Interchange, Halifax and Hebden Bridge was known as the "Caldervale Line" on PTE publicity. This was eventually changed to the more historical and less contrived-sounding (IMO) "Calder Valley Line" before the PTE mostly dropped the "tube style" marketing materials along with line names and colours. Oddly, to this day no single passenger services actually cover the historic Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway's "Calder Valley Line" in its entirety.

 

[matchmaker]

"Via The Coast" - the route from Aberdeen to Inverness along the Moray Firth, rather than the route via Huntly and Inverurie. It left at Cairnie Junction and rejoined at Elgin.

 

[steamybrian]

Unsure if these names are still used.
East London Line between Shoreditch- New Cross/New Cross Gate
South London Line between London Bridge/Peckham Rye- Battersea Park/Victoria
Widened Lines between Farringdon- Kings Cross

 

[Taunton]

Is the London to Dartford line via Sidcup still called the Dartford Loop?

 

[stadler]

One thing I'm intrigued about the Harlequin Line is whether the Watford shopping centre visible from the line (now called Atria) or the railway had the name first - there does appear to be a nominal connection.

Another one, the Ormskirk/Blackpool South/Colne "triangle" was once promoted as "Lancashire Lines", but this was never applied to any liveries, just promotional materials.

It was the Harlequin Centre that was named after the Harlequin Line train route. They opened the Harlequin Centre four years after the Harlequin Line was named. I am almost certain that i remember reading or hearing somewhere that the shopping centre management had liked the name of the Harlequin Line and decided to use the same name for the shopping centre. So the shopping centre got its name from the railway line.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

It was the Harlequin Centre that was named after the Harlequin Line train route. They opened the Harlequin Centre four years after the Harlequin Line was named. I am almost certain that i remember reading or hearing somewhere that the shopping centre management had liked the name of the Harlequin Line and decided to use the same name for the shopping centre. So the shopping centre got its name from the railway line.

That's also my general understanding also, although I now think that the initial phase of the Harlequin Centre may have opened a little earlier, in August 1990, in that name, and then fully so, in June 1992. Will have to have a look at still available contemporary newspaper reports dating from the late 1980s / early 1990s.