Jump to content
 

Tot-on or Toe-tun? - the toes have it.


Recommended Posts

  • RMweb Premium

The name of the vast east Midlands marshalling yard and engine shed / MPD / TMD is a word I first encountered in print; in my ignorance, I've presumed it to be pronounced Tot-on but earlier today I heard it pronounced Toe-tun. Are there differences between local and RP pronunciations of the name? Or have I been plain wrong all along?

 

There could be differences in local pronunciation, as there are for that tributary of the Trent that in Derbyshire is pronounced like the bird but in Staffordshire like the American past participle of the verb to dive.

 

825751279_DY9227TotonOldBankSidings.jpg.a7a78201a62511d584cedfca8b259651.jpg

 

NRM DY 9227, released under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0) licence.

Edited by Compound2632
Link to post
Share on other sites

I lived a few miles away from Toton for a couple of years. I always heard it pronounced Toe-t'n. (The missing vowel in the second syllable is intentional.)

Edited by pH
  • Like 1
  • Agree 7
  • Informative/Useful 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

I must admit I pronounce it as Toe-tun. But I could have been pronouncing it wrong all my life (and I can't see me changing now).

  • Informative/Useful 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

My mother, from Nottingham, called it toe-ton. The BBC record of Green All the way had it, in the first song (the day we ran away), as Tot-ton. It was written by a fireman from Sutton in Ashfield so I assume he knew the pronunciation. However, as pronouncing it Toe-ton woukld not scan properly in the song. 

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

Slightly off topic but when did Toton start declining as it’s now a shadow of its former self with yards either overgrown or lifted.  I’m sure I saw pictures of the yards at the end of steam with the yards full to bursting and loads of activity.

Link to post
Share on other sites

18 hours ago, jools1959 said:

Slightly off topic but when did Toton start declining as it’s now a shadow of its former self with yards either overgrown or lifted.  I’m sure I saw pictures of the yards at the end of steam with the yards full to bursting and loads of activity.

 

Just after those pictures!

It's days really ended when Mrs Thatcher and Mr Scargill  had their big falling out and between them closed down the industry which , in the main, Toton relied on for it's existence, coal mining.

To be fair though its days were numbered when freight of most sorts became either block trains or road bound with the "rationalising" of the railway system and the death of wagon load freight and there was no longer any need for marshalling yards.  

 

Phil T.

  • Like 1
  • Agree 3
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium
1 hour ago, Phil Traxson said:

 

It's days really ended when Mrs Thatcher and Mr Scargill  had their big falling out and between them closed down the industry which , in the main, Toton relied on for it's existence, coal mining.

 

 

It didn't seem like that at the time but in retrospect they may have done us a favour, triggering the move away from reliance of such a dirty, polluting, acid-rain and greenhouse-gas making fuel.

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium
8 minutes ago, Steamport Southport said:

Being a northerner I would pronounce it Tot-un.

 

But they all speak funny in the Midlands. ;)

 

 

Our first dissenter! But I'm glad you think that the various Midland accents are distinct from northern accents as my undiscriminating Wokey pupils accuse me of being from the North; I have to explain with great forbearance that I am not, but from Birmingham. They've no real concept of geography north of the river.

Link to post
Share on other sites

20 hours ago, jools1959 said:

Slightly off topic but when did Toton start declining as it’s now a shadow of its former self with yards either overgrown or lifted.  I’m sure I saw pictures of the yards at the end of steam with the yards full to bursting and loads of activity.

Back in the early 1970s, I had the good fortune to be sent on a week long BR-sponsored visit to the LMR, based at the old Webb Orphanage in Crewe. Apart from visiting lots of locations in the immediate vicinity, we were taken to watch operations at Toton, spending some time in the Up Hump Control Room. The place was abso;utely heaving; MGR hadn't entirely taken over the coal traffic, whilst Corby and Stanton generated lots of iron and steel traffic.

The decline started not long after. Firstly was the early 70s miners' strike, then the one in the steel industry, which was followed by 'rationalisation' of the steel industry, with most of Corby being shut. Then there was the general decline in wagon-load traffic, which had a brief revival under Speedlink..

In short, the decline started in the 1970s, continuing ever since.

  • Like 1
  • Agree 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Compound2632 said:

 

Our first dissenter! But I'm glad you think that the various Midland accents are distinct from northern accents as my undiscriminating Wokey pupils accuse me of being from the North; I have to explain with great forbearance that I am not, but from Birmingham. They've no real concept of geography north of the river.

 

I was always told that the North turns into the Midlands where the term of endearment changes from "love" to "duck". The first time I heard that in a pub was a bit confusing to say the least. :lol:

 

 

Jason

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium
7 hours ago, Steamport Southport said:

 

I was always told that the North turns into the Midlands where the term of endearment changes from "love" to "duck". The first time I heard that in a pub was a bit confusing to say the least. :lol:

Similarly then you start in the south with your bread roll or baps, travel up the M1 and you reach the kobs or split off up the M6 where they turn into barms. Now do you have a brew, char or a mash with that?

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, Davexoc said:

Similarly then you start in the south with your bread roll or baps, travel up the M1 and you reach the kobs or split off up the M6 where they turn into barms. Now do you have a brew, char or a mash with that?

Many years ago I ordered an egg-mayo bap in a bakers-come-deli in Yorkshire ..... got a funny look and was told they didn't have any baps but I could have my egg-mayo in a teacake - which I did - and it looked exactly like a bap to me ! ( My idea of a teacake is a sort of fruit bun that you can toast over the fire ! )

  • Agree 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

This is getting into serious pikelet territory. Having parents who grew up on the north side of Birmingham, pikelets are to me the item sold by supermarkets as crumpets but I understand that further north they are flatter or thinner. As for that other Midland delicacy, faggots... a word also used to describe bundles of sticks.

Edited by Compound2632
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold
On 28/05/2019 at 10:32, Wickham Green said:

( My idea of a teacake is a sort of fruit bun that you can toast over the fire ! )

That's a currant teacake where I come from. (Nelson, Lancs.)

Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...