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GWR Loco Names - Why not Houses?


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They named them after Abbeys, Castles, Courts, Granges, Halls and Manors. There might also have been some Cathedrals had things turned out rather differently.

 

But did the GWR ever consider naming locos after Houses? There were plenty in their sphere of operation and they were often grander than manors and granges, eg Lanhydrock and Longleat to name but two.

 

Just wondering really.....

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What - like "Bungalow" and "Semi-Detached"?  I've always thought 7915's name showed the risks of following a naming theme to the extreme.

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15 minutes ago, Peter Kazmierczak said:

They named them after Abbeys, Castles, Courts, Granges, Halls and Manors. There might also have been some Cathedrals had things turned out rather differently.

 

But did the GWR ever consider naming locos after Houses? There were plenty in their sphere of operation and they were often grander than manors and granges, eg Lanhydrock and Longleat to name but two.

 

Just wondering really.....

 

Gryffendor? In the spirit of Hogwarts Castle...

 

Too much standardisation - not enough classes to name - how about Colleges and Palaces - enough of those in Great Western territory?

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In a Christmas spoof article in Model Railway Constructor, Alan Williams once suggested a 'Cottage' class of Pannier tanks. Had it happened, I guess the 16xx that went to the Dornoch branch could have been named 'Dunroamin' on its return. Maybe the one that worked the vinegar branch in Worcester should have been Outhouse. (CJL)

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There's a radio telescope array in South Africa - the Karoo Array Telescope - that was extended some years ago. The Afrikaans for "more" or "bigger" is of course "meer", so it became... Meerkat. It's due to be incorporated into the Square Kilometre Array, which will extend over a very large region of the Southern Hemisphere.

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2 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

Indeed not all Halls were residences, with three being Oxford colleges - Lady Margaret Hall, Saint Benets Hall and Saint Edmund Hall - the latter two perhaps acknowleding the class' origins.

 

And my alma mater, Trinity Hall.

 

Being better.

 

Because it is in Cambridge!

Edited by Edwardian
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14 minutes ago, Edwardian said:

 

And my alma mater, Trinity Hall.

 

Being better.

 

Because it is in Cambridge!

 

12 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

 

Yes but that's a Cambridge college - they must have been scraping the name barrel...

 

I wonder which GWR director of the time had attended Trinity Hall...  Equally, which SR directors had been at the equally massively out of region Shrewsbury and Repton!

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I don't suppose we'll ever know. Its a frustration going thro GW loco committee minutes at Kew that they record what decisions were made, but almost never why. Some background information would be in the "guard books" for the minutes, but many are missing.

 

In the absence of any real information I think many writers have tended to speculate. Without wanting to nock anyone in particular I've found on more than one occasion that I can form a completely logical explanation for something, only to find some evidence turn up that means it's clearly nonsense.

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On 13/04/2019 at 21:28, Peter Kazmierczak said:

 

But did the GWR ever consider naming locos after Houses? There were plenty in their sphere of operation and they were often grander than manors and granges, eg Lanhydrock and Longleat to name but two.

 

You could always have a "Rowton House"

They were big, imposing buildings..........:huh:

 

1280px-ParagonHotelBirmingham_(2).JPG

 

Following the change of use it could be renamed "Paragon Hotel":yes:

Edited by melmerby
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Given that a Grange is a rebuild of a 5'8" Churchward loco and is a farm attached to a large ecclesiastical property,  I reckon that the West Somerset Railway's 9351, a rebuild of a 5'8" Collett loco should also be named after a farm attached to a large secular property. I give you 9351 "Bradford Barton!"

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