What is the best unofficial name for a railway line?

[Purple Train]

Obviously there are lots of names given in anger by passengers to operators that have a certain reputation for delays and cancellations, most of which are as imaginative as beginning a book with the words, "Once upon a time..." The only one that seems particularly imaginative to me, and isn't merely an old joke re-used, shall be my contribution: Greater Angrier.

 

[Springs Branch]

In one of Adrian Vaughan's A Signalman's . . . . volumes, the former Midland & South Western Junction Railway line between Cheltenham and Andover via Swindon Town was variously described by its rival GWR stalwarts as:-

• The 'Milk & Soda Water (play on M&SW).
• Tiddley Dyke.
• P*ss & Vinegar

The last one allegedly a consequence of large numbers of servicemen from camps on Salisbury Plain using the trains for beery nights out in Swindon during WW2, leading to a characteristic smell in the carriages.

 

[AM9]

I just call it the Liz line

I think it will eventually be known as the Lizzie or Liz to Londoners, 'Elizabeth' is I bit naff for many.

 

[Mike99]

I think I read that 5&9 'The Brighton Line as a Bingo call', derived from the publicity attached to the Brighton Belle attributed with travelling from London Victoria to Brighton in 59 minutes after electrification. The Brighton Belle was operated by dedicated stock including meals being served on board. I faintly recall back in either the 70's and 80's there was a plan announced to axe the 23.59/00.00 from London Victoria but a huge campaign by theatre goers, MP's and actors etc whom managed to keep the train running. The Brighton Belle had Headcode 4

5&9 - Brighton Line?

 

[THC]

‘The Bumble Hole’. Branch line from Blowers Green on the Stourbridge-Dudley line to Old Hill on the Stourbridge-Snow Hill line.

Bumble Hole is also a lock on the nearby Staffs and Worcs Canal so the name is used for more than just the old branch line.

THC

 

[ChiefPlanner]

@ChiefPlanner or @Bald Rick will confirm but it's because in the pre-1965 station those platforms were made of wood.

Indeed - and pre rebuilt Euston had an area known as "The Field" ....

 

[Falcon1200]

Names used by railway staff in Scotland;
The Caley (Glasgow-Carlisle via Lockerbie), ex Caledonian Railway, and the GSW (Glasgow-Carlisle via Dumfries), ex Glasgow & South Western Railway; These two companies ceased to exist in 1923 !
The Carse; Perth-Dundee (as the line traverses the Carse of Gowrie)
The Joint; (Shields Jc-Paisley Gilmour St), ex Caledonian and G&SWR Joint line, again not since 1923....

And for a train service;
The Noddies (Springburn or Glasgow Queen St-Cumbernauld service), from the local pronunciation of Cumbernauld as Cumbernod.

 

[newtownmgr]

If we go down to individual tracks. Worcester depot as Crab,Vinegar & Veto with 2 new sidings behind Shrub Hill named after 2 former long serving shunters ‘Badger & Kipper’.

The vinegar Road used to be the start of Worcesters famous vinegar branch.

 

[Mikey C]

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

I remember it being called, soon after it became a separate line, the Hammersmith and Sh*tty, seeing that at the time it terminated at Whitechapel

 

[Whistler40145]

I've always called the Highland Mainline 'Up the Middle' and the Inverness to Aberdeen line as 'Over the Top'

 

[Jim Jehosofat]

I seem to remember Crown Point depot at Norwich being called Crown Paint. It was so named because advertisements for Crown Paint claimed that it didn't run.

Also in my time the trade union, TSSA (Transport Salaried Staff Association) stood for Total Surrender Saves Arguments.

 

[43096]

I seem to remember Crown Point depot at Norwich being called Crown Paint. It was so named because advertisements for Crown Paint claimed that it didn't run.

"Clown Point" was the more common name!

 

[PeterY]

I'm surprised no one has come up with something using the initials of AVANTI

 

[Western 52]

Back in the 1980s I was one of a group that travelled to work via the Rhymney line. We had various names for the trains, which were class 116 DMUs at the time. Rhymney Rattler, Bargoed Bouncer and Caerphilly Crawler are the ones I remember.

 

[Dai Corner]

Once Axminster gets included it’ll have to be the Quadrangle of something.

Paignton, Exmouth, Axminster, Okehampton and Barnstaple make 5

How about the Pentagon of Peril?

 

[Ashley Hill]

Paignton, Exmouth, Axminster, Okehampton and Barnstaple make 5

How about the Pentagon of Peril?

It might catch on

 

[John Luxton]

Once Axminster gets included it’ll have to be the Quadrangle of something.

Re ‘The Mule’ no I’m not sure where that comes from either but it does kind of suit it.

I suppose it could come from the fact that the Waterloo line is very general purpose serving smaller stations and the trains therefore are slower than the "thoroughbred" GWR route! Hence the equine connection? That is how it would seem to me as mules were quite sturdy beasts of burden just plodding along and doing their job rather than a racehorse giving shortlived energy burst!

 

[Dai Corner]

It might catch on

Remember you read it here first!

 

[Fyldeboy]

I'm surprised no one has come up with something using the initials of AVANTI

Anger Virtually Assured, Needs To Improve

 

[Wyrleybart]

I seem to remember Crown Point depot at Norwich being called Crown Paint. It was so named because advertisements for Crown Paint claimed that it didn't run.

Also in my time the trade union, TSSA (Transport Salaried Staff Association) stood for Total Surrender Saves Arguments.

Or Tea, Sugar & ****ty Arses way back then

 

[TrainTrackJack]

The three-letter station code for Poole is rather unfortunate...

Via Weeley and Looe

 

[Wyrleybart]

When I moved to Bescot in 1980 I have a whole vocabulary to learn.
Some were quite explanatory like the "Sutton Park", the "South Staffs" and the "Cannock" were the three directions you could go from Ryecroft Jn.

"Clog & Knocker" may have had more than one use but I remember it as the line from Wednesbury to Bloomfield past Ocker Hilll (Ocker Bonk)

The line from Galton Jn to Stourbridge was known as the Stourbridge extension, in a similar way to the line from Five Ways to Kings Norton which was "the West suburban"

 

[FtoE]

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 remember reading that The Deerstalker Express was initially pejorative and coined by a [famously right-wing] newspaper when there was discussion of how much it was subsidised and should it be included in the ‘socially necessary’ (or some such) service. The newspaper was trying to make out it was the plaything for the landed gentry visiting their estates and could be cut to save money.

 

[Calthrop]

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

I always like these "uncomplimentary initials parody" ones. A favourite -- that for the Stratford (on-Avon) & Midland Junction: Slow, Mouldy and Jolting. (That railway was also locally called the Drum and Monkey -- nobody seems to know why.) And Ireland's Sligo, Leitrim & Northern Counties: Slow, Late, and Never Coming.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Another historical one: 'Delph Donkey', the branch line from Uppermill to Delph.
Despite what parts of the internet seems to suggest, I'm not 100% sure this was the nickname of the line back in the day, although it certainly was that of the steam railmotor operating the branch service to/from Oldham.

The Delph Donkey went nowhere near to Uppermill. Uppermill was one of the four stations on the Micklehurst loop line.

Via Weeley and Looe

Not forgetting Bognor Regis.

 

[Western Gaffer]

The Innocent Railway:

The Innocent Railway | Historic Environment Scotland | History

A pioneering railway when it was first built, the Innocent Railway fell victim of steam power's progress, but its route and legacy lives on.

blog.historicenvironment.scot

 

[PeterY]

Anger Virtually Assured, Needs To Improve

Brilliant . I've been whacking my brains for something.

 

[Busaholic]

I think I read that 5&9 'The Brighton Line as a Bingo call', derived from the publicity attached to the Brighton Belle attributed with travelling from London Victoria to Brighton in 59 minutes after electrification. The Brighton Belle was operated by dedicated stock including meals being served on board. I faintly recall back in either the 70's and 80's there was a plan announced to axe the 23.59/00.00 from London Victoria but a huge campaign by theatre goers, MP's and actors etc whom managed to keep the train running. The Brighton Belle had Headcode 4

The campaign was led by the loveliest of luvvies, Sir Laurence Olivier, returning to his home in Brighton after his latest triumph at the National Theatre, no doubt. Once he got behind it, you knew it would continue for the time being at least. We had no such champion for our campaign to get a later, unrefreshed train out to Sittingbourne. Bob Geldorf never spoke out!!

 

[physics34]

I think it will eventually be known as the Lizzie or Liz to Londoners, 'Elizabeth' is I bit naff for many.

Yeh doesnt roll off the tongue lol

Some of my collegues talk of 'the winkle line', but ive heard it discribing the old West Croydon to Wimbledon line and the Sutton to Wimbledon line. Not sure what the definitive answer is .

 

[Dai Corner]

Yeh doesnt roll off the tongue lol

Lizbeth
Central
District
Northetn
Bakerloo
Victoria
Jubilee