Nicknames for specific engines or types of engine

[Harvester]

Also known as "Lawnmowers" by some enthusiasts. Presumably from the sound they make.

Strumbox
Strummer
Joe Strummer
Joseph
Sir Keith Joseph
Spoon

Or maybe something else?

I was thinking of the “something else”

 

[Benters]

I've heard the first-generation DMUs described as 'Fart Carts' - a name derived from the loud, rasping exhaust note of the engines, especially when accelerating hard from a standstill.

 

[D6130]

I was thinking of the “something else”

Do you mean 'Duff' by any chance?

 

[Gloster]

Bubble cars was one of the few that were used by railwaymen.

 

[Harvester]

Do you mean 'Duff' by any chance?

I was reluctant to use the word…but yes!

 

[E27007]

Class 24 locos without headcode boxes were known as "Skinhead Sulzers"

 

[xotGD]

141/142/143/144: Bouncy Castles or Nodding Donkeys

Also: Bendy-buses or just Bendy

 

[Richard Scott]

Do you mean 'Duff' by any chance?

With a 47/7 being a shove duff.
47/8s used to have a rude nickname, just combine twin and tank and you may get close!

 

[Ashley Hill]

Also Shredder for 33s and Brian’s for 31s after the snail on the Magic Roundabout.

 

[xotGD]

Air conditioned coaching stock referred to as Coffins.

Much better to travel in a set of Vacs (vacuum braked Mark 1s).

 

[Rescars]

In Scotland and the North of England the small 0-4-0 saddle tank locos used for shunting at collieries, docks, etc. were known as 'Pugs'....presumably because their squat, flat-faced appearance was similar to that of the eponymous breed of dog. In some parts of Scotland the name was also applied to any type of tank engine used for shunting in depots and yards.

Apparently the GSWR 4-6-4 express Baltic tanks were known as "Big Pugs".

Have we had "Big Bertha", the Lickey banker noted in this thread yet?

 

[D6130]

IIRC, the ex-LNER V2 class 2-6-2 mixed traffic locos were nicknamed 'Green Arrows' after the first of the class.

....and the ex-LMS 'Patriot' class 4-6-0s were called 'Baby Scots'.

 

[Harvester]

IIRC, the ex-LNER V2 class 2-6-2 mixed traffic locos were nicknamed 'Green Arrows' after the first of the class.

Wasn’t this the ‘official name‘ given to the class by the LNER after 4471 had been named, rather than a nickname! When I was a lad we always called them V2s.

 

[52290]

IIRC, the ex-LNER V2 class 2-6-2 mixed traffic locos were nicknamed 'Green Arrows' after the first of the class.

....and the ex-LMS 'Patriot' class 4-6-0s were called 'Baby Scots'.

Amongst the trainspotting community Patriots were called Pats, at least in the North West. Jubilees were called Jubs, to rhyme with pubs. I remember a visiting spotter from down south who called them Joobs, to rhyme with boobs
How we all laughed.

 

[m79900]

The mk3 DVTs were ‘Skoda estates’ as they looked like the 90s but with a blunt back.

 

[Enthusiast]

Has anybody mentioned Class 14 diesels -the "Teddy Bears"?

I don't believe any survived to take a TOPS number and they were D95xx

 

[Dr_Paul]

Black Motors -- ex-LSWR class 700 0-6-0 freight locos.

That's one of the more puzzling names, because nobody seems to know why they were called that.

 

[D6975]

03​	Noddy
08​	Gronk
09​	Gronk
13​	Master and Slave
14​	Teddy Bear
20​	Chopper/Bomb/Wardrobe
23​	Baby Deltic
24​	Skinhead Sulzer (non-headcode)
25​	Rat/Spinner
26​	McRat
27​	McRat/Fire Engine
28​	CoBo
31​	Goyle/Pedal Car/Gary
33/0​	Crompton/Shredder
33/1​	Bagpipes
33/2​	Slim Jim
35​	Hymek
37​	Tractor/Siphon/Growler
40​	Whistler/Big D/Bucket
41​	Warship
42​	Warship
43​	Warship
43​	Zing/Tram
44​	Peak/Wagon
45​	Peak/Wagon
46​	Peak/Wagon
47​	Spoon/Duff
50​	Hoover/DubDub/Fifty-Fifty
52​	Western/Whizzo
55​	Deltic/Speedboat
56​	Grid
57​	Bodysnatcher
58​	Bone/Eggtimer
59​	Spaceship
60​	Scud/Doughnut/Tug
66​	Shed/Fred/Bluebird
67​	Skip
68​	Cat
70​	Ugly
76​	Tommy
77​	?
81​	Roarer
82​	Roarer
83​	Roarer
84​	Roarer
85​	Roarer
86​	Spark Plug
87​	Seven
88​	?
89​	Anteater
90​	Skoda
91​	Lada

 

[Western Sunset]

Westerns were also known as Thousands.

 

[m79900]

70s are 'Bone mk2s' aswell, and 73s are shoeboxes.

 

[Ashley Hill]

I also understand the electro-diesels were known as :-
71 Little Edwards
73 Edwards
74 Big Edwards

Also
09 Super Gronk
13 Mega Gronk
22 Baby Warship

 

[Richard Scott]

Mate of mine used to refer to 40s as TATS, came from D number series, Two And Three hundreds.

 

[D6130]

IIRC, there was a batch of South Eastern & Chatham Railway L class 4-4-0s built in the early 1920s by Borsig in Berlin. Unsurprisingly, they soon gained the nickname 'Germans'. Somewhere in my collection I have a facsimile edition of the original 1942 Ian Allan ABC of Southern Railway Locomotives and ISTR that it has a table giving the nicknames of all the classes of locomotive listed therein.

The original class 70s - the Southern Railway Co-Co third rail electric locos 20001-3 - were known by traincrews as 'Hornbys'....because the whirring sound made by their flywheel-operated booster generators sounded like the spring on a clockwork model winding down.