Regonality

[Phoenix]

Okay before anyone says I made the title word up. (REGIONALITY)

But I was thinking about the various regions of our railways and the very rich and colourful past and does anyone think that we still have individuality between each region so like...........

Southern
Western
the former LMS
and the East Coast (former LNER metals)

Personally I feel if didn't have all the historic recordings of the regions we would be able to tell them apart well apart from the companies and traction but then again thats all starting to mold togther.


So yeah give us your thoughts.

 

[P156KWJ]

The names of various privatised companies seem to give the names well: Great North Eastern Railway, London Midland, East Midlands Trains, ScotRail, First Great Eastern / Western, South Eastern, and so on

 

[thefab444]

Most of them are good enough, although on announcements NXEA/NXEC are always refered to just as National Express. And NXEA isn't that great a name, only really takes in the "Anglia" part of the old franchise. National Express Essex & Anglia would be better I think. c2c is totally pointless, city 2 coast, crap 2 crap or whatever it is supposed to mean if anything. Silverlink also... aren't all those Natex companies anyway?

 

[class 313]

c2c is totally pointless, city 2 coast, crap 2 crap or whatever it is supposed to mean if anything. Silverlink also... aren't all those Natex companies anyway?

Silverlink doesn't exist any more anyway. London Midland does however. Which is good enough.

Midland Mainline which was a good name was a Natex group as well as Central Trains which also was a good name. So what's your point?

 

[P156KWJ]

'one' was a joke. that was natex

although Gatwick Express is... and that's a very good name! But I agree c2c and silverlink were odd names

 

[class 313]

First Capital Connect is a bit odd though it does suggest its connecting places to the Capital.

 

[eezypeazy]

Because most of our railway network is more than 150 years old, your eyes tend to tell you which part of the UK railway network you're in. The Newcastle & Carlisle Railway was the first line to be completely architect-designed, and could well claim to be the railway that gave us "lineside style" - overbridges, underbridges, signal boxes, as well as stations, all displaying a unified style. Then there's NER style in the surviving stations of the North Tyne Loop and other places in their patch. Not to mention John & Benjamin Green's stations of the ECML through Northumberland...

I'll let a GWR enthusiast tell us about Brunel's style...

Sixty years after nationalisation, there's still so many traces of PRE-GROUPING companies and railways!

And long may it continue!

 

[P156KWJ]

First Capital Connect is a bit odd though it does suggest its connecting places to the Capital.

well it connects Bedford and the like to it doesn't it, with a railway?

 

[class 313]

well it connects Bedford and the like to it doesn't it, with a railway?

That's what I said.

 

[Mintona]

'one' was a joke. that was natex

although Gatwick Express is... and that's a very good name! But I agree c2c and silverlink were odd names

Bloody expensive joke. I don't think they decided to form a company, rebrand a whole fleet of trains, paint stations in rainbow colours and issued hundreds of new uniforms "for a laugh", did they?

 

[Phoenix]

I think that eezypeazy get's exactly what I mean of course the names are important but I mean the themes such as the traction the buildings and even the different practises.

 

[P156KWJ]

Bloody expensive joke. I don't think they decided to form a company, rebrand a whole fleet of trains, paint stations in rainbow colours and issued hundreds of new uniforms "for a laugh", did they?

no they didn't. i was merely saying it was a stupid name

 

[87015]

I think that eezypeazy get's exactly what I mean of course the names are important but I mean the themes such as the traction the buildings and even the different practises.

A lot of the signalling is still 'regionalised' - although slowly but surely being replaced

 

[Death]

Hail All!
When it comes to company names, I'd say that South West Trains and Southern are another two that are good at defining their service area. First TransPennine is also worth a mention in this list, though it is well known for often being last...

C2C is possibly the worst name that a train company could ever wish for IMO, especially for people like me who detest the use of SMS English. Everytime I even hear the name (Not that ye could exactly call it a name, mind!) I just start thinking of more bacronyms to translate it into...And I think my best and most relevant one so far was "C***s to [the] Crapital". :roll:

One is certainly another oddball name, although unlike "C2C" it at least means something right away. Personally I much preferred the former franchise name WAGN as it was a little more specific an abbreviation and could easily be read as "wagon" if ye didn't know what it stood for...So at least it didn't come across as total gibberish, unlike "C2C" does.
One amusing consequence of One's branding reared it's head a while ago when I was travelling to Stansted Airport along with a friend. He noticed the pin badges (Bearing One's "rainbow" colours) that all the on-board staff were wearing, and simply asked me the question: Is it me, or do "One" have a policy of exclusively recruiting homosexual members of staff? 8)

Oh...Talking of old bits of railwayana that are still about today: I can't remember which platform it's on (9, maybe?), but one of the SWT main-line platforms at Clapham Jct. still has an old L&SWR mileage marker affixed to the brickwork...However, ye have to be on the opposite platform to see it. 8)

Farewell...
>> Death <<