What is the best unofficial name for a railway line?

[Welly]

Muddle and Get Nowhere for the Midland and Great Northern joint.

There's a pub in Grantham called that - it is sometimes used as a polling station!

 

[Doctor Fegg]

As someone mentioned a pre-grouping railway, there was also The Old Worse and Worse - the Oxford Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway.

OWW is still the Engineer's Line Reference for the line!

 

[physics34]

And one which is much wider known than just within the "rail" community

I quite like the "Purple Train" name for the Elizabeth Line, popularised by Geoff Marshall.

I just call it the Liz line

 

[Christmas]

The Clockwork Orange - Glasgow subway

I can assure you that no one from Glasgow has ever referred to the Subway as that. Sadly we have the tabloid journalists to thank for that.

 

[coppercapped]

Historically, my favourite is the Manchester, South Junction and Altrincham Railway (MSJ&AR) - Many Short Journeys & Absolute Reliability.

My other favourite from the same part of the world is the MS&L, the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway also known as the Money Sunk and Lost.

When it built its London Extension to become the Great Central it became the Gone Completely.

 

[Ashley Hill]

LB&SCR Ladies boots and shoes cleaned regularly.
ASLE & F. Associated Society of Leprechauns Elves and Fairies
The Primrose Line Brent-Kingsbridge (before the SDR used the name)

 

[daodao]

The Slow & Dirty, alias the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway.

The Knotty, alias the North Staffordshire Railway.

The Burma Road, alias the Waterford Limerick & Western Railway line from Limerick to Collooney Junction, later part of the Great Southern & Western Railway - so called apparently because of the large number of level crossings.

The Premier line (for good reason), alias the London & North Western Railway.

 

[Steddenm]

I can assure you that no one from Glasgow has ever referred to the Subway as that. Sadly we have the tabloid journalists to thank for that.

I've a lot of Glaswegian-born friends who do call it the Clockwork Orange, and most use it every day.

 

[Starmill]

'The Desert' - between Westbury and Taunton (or Fairwood Jn and Cogload Jn).

 

[Bletchleyite]

"Miseryrail", "Merseyfail", "Miseryfail" for a certain yellow operation up North?

 

[gallafent]

If this can extend to trains, I can't think of a lot more evocative than "The Deerstalker Express" for the FW Sleeper. I also quite like "The Master Cobbler" as very occasionally put on the side of a Euston to Northampton fast (aping the Master Cutler to Sheffield).

I'd add “The Highland Chieftain” and (of course!) “The Clansman” to those, fond memories of both!

 

[D6130]

The 'London Smashem and Turnover Railway' (aka London, Chatham and Dover), which in 1899 merged with the 'Slow Easy Railway (aka the South Eastern) to form the 'Slow Easy and Comfortable Railway (aka the South Eastern and Chatham).

 

[gallafent]

I just call it the Liz line

I still think that my completely original and unpublicised “Paddingpool” line (or at a push of course in particularly wet weather the paddling pool line , for the Elizabeth Line, deserves a greater audience, given that it follows a well-worn path … _Padding_ton to Liver_pool_ Street ... cf _Baker_ Street to Water_loo_, _Bed_ford to St. _Pan_cras, etc. (any more like that?).

Any takers?

 

[ELX378]

Obviously it was used very jokingly but for me it's somebody calling the Metropolitan Line the "Bow and Harrow Line"

 

[LAX54]

Muddle and Get Nowhere for the Midland and Great Northern joint.

If I recall...Norwich Thorpe to Norwich City "Round the World" (?)

 

[Dr_Paul]

When I worked in Shepherds Bush, the Hammersmith and City -- H & C -- Line was known as the Hot and Cold Line.

I believe that the Bakerloo Line was an unofficial contraction of Baker Street and Waterloo, which the company didn't like but was forced to adopt as it became very popular with passengers. It would be nice were the Goblin Line to became its official name because of popular usage.

 

[Western 52]

The Slow & Dirty, alias the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway.

The Knotty, alias the North Staffordshire Railway.

The Burma Road, alias the Waterford Limerick & Western Railway line from Limerick to Collooney Junction, later part of the Great Southern & Western Railway - so called apparently because of the large number of level crossings.

The Premier line (for good reason), alias the London & North Western Railway.

The S&D was also Swift and Delightful to those who liked it!

 

[Dryce]

I've a lot of Glaswegian-born friends who do call it the Clockwork Orange, and most use it every day.

Well I used to be a frequent user and I've never heard the term used locally - except when it comes up in discussion about it not being used locally.

 

[O L Leigh]

I still think that my completely original and unpublicised “Paddingpool” line (or at a push of course in particularly wet weather the paddling pool line , for the Elizabeth Line, deserves a greater audience, given that it follows a well-worn path … _Padding_ton to Liver_pool_ Street ... cf _Baker_ Street to Water_loo_, _Bed_ford to St. _Pan_cras, etc. (any more like that?).

Any takers?

I recall there being a competition to come up with route branding for the Euston DC lines under NSE. The winning suggestion was Harlequin Line formed from the names of some of the stations along the route, but I recall a journalist of some stripe suggesting that it take the example of BedPan and be called the EuWat (you what…?).

 

[John Luxton]

Then there was the Weston, Clevedon and Portishead - WC &

I have read a few times that a GWR passenger complained about the rudeness of one of a member of staff at the nearby GWR station who when asked directions was told go to the WC&P! How true it is I don't know but I have seen it mentioned in one or two books.

Here on Merseyside there was "The Dockers' Umbrella" the Liverpool Overhead Railway so named because it provided a convenient shelter for dockers as it ran along the dock road and sometimes within the perimeter of the docks.

 

[Future]

‘Notwork Fail’ — aka Network Rail. Although I feel that alias could be more fairly applied to Railtrack (*cough* subcontractors *cough*)

 

[peteb]

Dudley to Old Hill (Westmidlands) line used to be referred to as "the bumble hole"........ absolutely no idea what that referred to!

 

[Sheridan]

The steam railmotor on the Skelmersdale line was known as the ‘Skem Jazzer’. Granted that’s not the line itself, but it seems its use was certainly heavily associated with the line.

 

[matchmaker]

The Clockwork Orange - Glasgow subway

The thing is, hardly anyone from Glasgow calls it that! It's always been called the Subway, even when Glasgow Corporation tried to call it the Underground.

 

[SERA01UK]

I recall there being a competition to come up with route branding for the Euston DC lines under NSE. The winning suggestion was Harlequin Line formed from the names of some of the stations along the route, but I recall a journalist of some stripe suggesting that it take the example of BedPan and be called the EuWat (you what…?).

A better suggestion was the WatUse line…

 

[Bletchleyite]

A better suggestion was the WatUse line…

Reminds me - the "Wimbleware", the unofficial name of the Wimbledon to Edgware Road part of the District line.

 

[matchmaker]

The steam railmotor on the Skelmersdale line was known as the ‘Skem Jazzer’. Granted that’s not the line itself, but it seems its use was certainly heavily associated with the line.

Similarly, the railmotor used on the Catrine branch in Ayrshire was known as the "Catrine Caur".

 

[Ashley Hill]

Exeter-Waterloo “The Mule”. Never known why.

 

[Peter0124]

The thing is, hardly anyone from Glasgow calls it that! It's always been called the Subway, even when Glasgow Corporation tried to call it the Underground.

I suppose there could be confusion with LU if they called it 'The Underground'. Also how about the Subway vs the sandwich shop of the same name

 

[Maude673]

The thing is, hardly anyone from Glasgow calls it that! It's always been called the Subway, even when Glasgow Corporation tried to call it the Underground.

I suppose I remember it was used more when I was a small child in the late 80s when the orange trains were still relatively new and and the film/book also more culturally relevant