Most Bizarre Railway Neologism

[Gloster]

Which were the relevant old railway companies?

London & North Eastern Railway and Somerset & Dorset (Joint) Railway.

GWR was also Great Way Round before they built the cut-offs.

 

[norbitonflyer]

Which were the relevant old railway companies?

Late & Never Early - LNER - London & North Eastern
Slow & Dirty - S & D - Somerset & Dorset

The reinterpretation of initials seems to have started very early: the Oxford, Worcester & Wolverhampton Railway was already known as the "Old Worse & Worse" by 1860, when it ceased to exist, on merger into the West Midland Railway (itself later merged with the GWR) .
The GWR (Great Western Railway) itself was either God's Wonderful Railway or the Great Way Round, depending on loyalty. There was some truth in the latter nickname, when the only route to South Wales was via Gloucester and that to the West country was via Bristol

Midland & Great Northern - Muddle & Go Nowhere

Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire (MS&LR) to investors, Money Sunk & Lost: to passengers, Mucky, Slow and Late
later the Great Central - GC (now Gone Completely)

 

[172007]

OWW, Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway or, Old Worse and Worse. Route Id for structures through Droitwich all start OWW.

 

[43096]

Without (hopefully) dragging this particular thread too far off-topic, are there any other examples out there of old railway company "bacronyms", such as...

GWR (Great Western Railway) = "Goes when ready";

Stratford-upon-Avon & Midland Junction railway = "Slow, mouldy and jolting" (!)

Can do modern TOCs as well...
SWT - Slow Wobbly Trains
GWR - Goes Wrong Regularly
FGW - Forever Getting Worse
GNER - Garnett’s Non-Electric Railway (when the knitting was down, or when Garnett proposed de-electrification).

 

[507 001]

Which were the relevant old railway companies?

LNER and Somerset and Dorset

There was also the MSJ&A (Manchester South Junction & Altrincham) aka the Many Short Jerks and Away or the Many Short Journeys and Absolute Reliability.

 

[Mat17]

An older generation fellow I once knew always referred to an historical company as 'L of a MesS

 

[D6130]

In 1899 the 'Slow Easy Railway' merged with the 'London Smashem and Turnover Railway' to form the 'Slow Easy and Comfortable Railway'. I'm sure that those of you living in Kent will have heard that before!

 

[Mcr Warrior]

There was also the MSJ&A (Manchester South Junction & Altrincham) aka the Many Short Jerks and Away or the Many Short Journeys and Absolute Reliability.

That latter one I've heard before but couldn't quite recall.

Can almost imagine the tagline having been used on a publicity poster.

Any other examples out there?

 

[daveo]

In the medical arena ASD =
Autism Spectrum Disorder and
Arterial Septal Defect(a heart condition)

 

[Miles Bown]

Without (hopefully) dragging this particular thread too far off-topic, are there any other examples out there of old railway company "bacronyms", such as...

GWR (Great Western Railway) = "Goes when ready";

Stratford-upon-Avon & Midland Junction railway = "Slow, mouldy and jolting" (!)

The Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton were known as 'the Old Worse and Worse', partly because their line was so delayed in its opening. WAGN was also nicknamed We Are Going Nowhere!

 

[Tio Terry]

M&GN, Muddling & Getting Nowhere.

 

[Wallsendmag]

DORIS LNER’s onboard TIS

 

[ashkeba]

There are, of course, the Self Help Information Terminals installed on most platforms in the form of a round pill shaped thing on a post where you can ask for information and help.

You can ask. Answers are rarer. Useful answers even less so. At least at GA stations I have used.

 

[Tio Terry]

Self Help Information Terminals. ****'s

 

[Recessio]

An older generation fellow I once knew always referred to an historical company as 'L of a MesS

Indeed, I seem to remember that on Kenneth William's Desert Island Discs interview, he told a story about his father who once worked as a vanboy on the LMS calling it "LMS, 'el of a mess!" too

 

[PG]

DORIS LNER’s onboard TIS

I thought Doris was the York station goose...

LNER spokesperson said: “We are thrilled to see the return of the goose to York station.”

Although named Doris by local bus drivers – her male partner is Boris – LNER is requesting suggestions for names for Mother Goose through its social media channels…

 

[Domeyhead]

One that still gets my goat is in Bournemouth, where signs to the station are grandiosely style "Transport Interchange" - because the bus station is next door. to the railway station. Bournemouth has a reputation for language colleges so there are lot of non english speakers in the town and it helps if the signs say what is written in their phrase book. I have yet to find a phrase book that includes Transport Interchange as a thing. When I am in Europe it is helpful if stations are called stations, in the local language so I can find them easily. "Transport Interchange" was no doubt dreamt up by hubristic councillors trying to "big" up some small bit of regeneration a while ago, but please - if it's a bus station call it a bus station, and if it's more than one just call them stations and use the symbols!!

 

[Bletchleyite]

"Transport Interchange" was no doubt dreamt up by hubristic councillors trying to "big" up some small bit of regeneration a while ago, but please - if it's a bus station call it a bus station, and if it's more than one just call them stations and use the symbols!!

I don't agree. If it's that confusing call it a "bus and rail interchange", but using a name that states that it's designed to make interchange easy so as to promote that interchange sounds a really good idea to me. FWIW, this should be the default, though for some reason some people on here remain fixated with separate modes remaining separate.

On an OS map it will of course be shown with both symbols.

 

[CHAPS2034]

Somerset & Dorset (Joint) Railway.

S&DJR = Slow and Dirty Jerky Railway

 

[CEN60]

I have recently heard NR Employees refer to Scotrail as - "Scotsnail"!

 

[IanXC]

In my field, we had TLAs (Three Letter Acronyms). So TLA was a TLA. And later XTLAs, which likewise were XTLAs - eXtended Three Letter Acronyms. Couldn't have been FLAs, because FLA is not an FLA.

I'm aware of a company where derogatory reference to a scheme or initiative is indicated by the phrase "the SLA for TLAs is TBC".

 

[uww11x]

FART- Fast Action Response Team
MOP- Member Of Public

 

[InOban]

On airline forums passengers are SLF (self loading freight)!

 

[D6975]

Local to me, there used to be a small railway company called The Weston, Clevedon and Portishead Railway.
or WC&P
Who needs a back acronym for that one?

 

[och aye]

Not an official one as such, but a friend of mine was walking past the LNER 1st class lounge entrance beside newly opened Platforms 5 & 6 at Waverley and overheard one of the staff members telling some new recruit that these were their new Flagship platforms

 

[matchmaker]

An older generation fellow I once knew always referred to an historical company as 'L of a MesS

Long Miserable and Slow.

Also God's Wonderful Railway

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Moving away from "alternative acronyms", one neologism that has always bugged me is "station stop" as in "We will shortly be arriving at Dewsbury, our next station stop". Say "next station" or say "next stop": either makes sense, but using both is redundant.

Does this date back to the days of manual doors without locking, to ensure people didn't accidentally fall out while the train stood at a danger signal?

 

[pdeaves]

Does this date back to the days of manual doors without locking, to ensure people didn't accidentally fall out while the train stood at a danger signal?

I hae no documented proof but suspect the answer is 'no'. I think it dates from when people doing announcements became unnecessarily wordy.

 

[Fyldeboy]

Moving away from "alternative acronyms", one neologism that has always bugged me is "station stop" as in "We will shortly be arriving at Dewsbury, our next station stop". Say "next station" or say "next stop": either makes sense, but using both is redundant.

Does this date back to the days of manual doors without locking, to ensure people didn't accidentally fall out while the train stood at a danger signal?

"Next Station" could be somewhere the train doesn't stop at - wave to the platform staff as you fly by!
On the other hand, "Next Stop" could be a signal at danger - serious risk in the days of slam door stock but even now, potential risk of aggravating passengers when the 8:02 is running late and the doors won't open!

 

[father_jack]

CUBIC (Gateline system suppliers) C U B*****ds In Court !!!