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Nicknames of the railway companies.


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On 19/08/2021 at 23:58, Nearholmer said:

I strongly suspect that some of them are either railway enthusiast confections, or originated in Punch, or similar satire, while the LNWR one has the ring of an hubristic publicity slogan, rather than a genuine nickname.

 

No hubris involved. The LNWR was simply the largest of the pre-grouping companies, with the most extensive geographical reach (by way of through workings etc.) - though the Midland ran it close there; those two were the only companies to own (or jointly own) lines in all the countries of the United Kingdom (as was). The LNWR had the greatest capital investment of any and could reasonably claim to be the "oldest established firm in the railway passenger business" and of course its constituents, the London & Birmingham and Grand Junction", formed the first trunk line in the country. It claimed to have the permanent way of its main lines maintained to the very highest standards, boasting of its "dustless tracks" (whatever that was supposed to mean". From a locomotive enthusiast's point of view, Crewe Premium Apprentices went on to become some of the best-known names - including young Herbert, of course. 

 

But "The Premier Line" was a long-established advertising slogan. Other such were the Midland's "The Best Way", the L&Y's "The Business Line" (mentioned above), and the Caledonian's "The True Line".

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3 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

But "The Premier Line" was a long-established advertising slogan.

 

Hasn’t it occasionally been reused a lot more recently (possibly late BR/early privatisation) to refer to WCML intercity services? I’m sure I remember seeing it on a modern poster somewhere.

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8 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

advertising slogan. 

 

The MSLR's change of name to Great Central was in itself an advertising slogan - creating a "Central" brand drawing on the existing Liverpool Central and Manchester Central station names - extending the principle to Leicester - though with Victoria as a sub-brand - the name change was in Victoria's Diamond Jubilee year (which was also the company's golden jubilee).

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On 20/08/2021 at 00:12, Andy Kirkham said:

 

When I lived in Glasgow, I noted that Glaswegians loved to assert that the Underground was known as the Clockwork Orange, but seldom actually referred to it as such in ordinary speech..

That was of course after the Subway was closed for rebuilding and when it reopened the new stock was painted orange, the name coming of course from the film.

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12 hours ago, Michael Hodgson said:

That was of course after the Subway was closed for rebuilding and when it reopened the new stock was painted orange, the name coming of course from the film.

 

More likely the book.

 

ISTR the film was withdrawn soon after release and wasn't shown in the UK for a very long time.

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1 hour ago, Steamport Southport said:

 

See the OP....

 

:prankster:

 

More authentically, the Great Way Round - at least before the opening of the various 20th century cut-offs. That  326½ milepost at Penzance says it all. 

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6 hours ago, phil gollin said:

Seems to be a spotter's nickname =  "God's Wonderful Railway"

 

'God's Wonderful' pre-dates spotters by many years, and was in occasional use by railwaymen when I worked on the railway in the 70s, usually in a sarcastic way.  Never heard 'Great Way Round', which I suspect may be an invention of Ahrons or possibly Nock; it is certainly apt to describe the pre-cut off GW.

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2 minutes ago, The Johnster said:

Never heard 'Great Way Round', which I suspect may be an invention of Ahrons or possibly Nock; it is certainly apt to describe the pre-cut off GW.

 

Perhaps before your time? Not Ahrons though, he was a Swindon apprentice in the 1880s so, on the whole, loyal to the Great Western.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Stafford and Uttoxeter Railway: The Clog and Knocker (something to do with the Stafford shoe industry I suspect)

Stamford and Essendine Railway [Sibson Extension]: The Bread and Onion line

Edited by Hando
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"Dog" or "Yellow  Dog" for the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Railroad. This nickname is immortalised in the story about the 'Father of the Blues' W.C. Handy first hearing blues music while waiting for a train on Tutwiler station in Mississipi in 1903.

 

http://msbluestrail.org/blues-trail-markers/w-c-handy

 

Handy wrote in his autobiography, “A lean, loose-jointed had commenced plunking a guitar beside me while I slept. His clothes were rags; his feet peeped out of his shoes. His face had on it some of the sadness of the ages. As he played, he pressed a knife on the strings of a guitar in a manner popularized by Hawaiian guitarists who used steel bars. The effect was unforgettable. His song, too, struck me instantly. ‘Goin’ where the Southern cross’ the Dog.’ The singer repeated the line three times, accompanying himself on the guitar with the weirdest music I ever heard.”

 

It usually assumed that it refers to a railway crossing of the Southern and Yazoo & Mississippi Valley railroads in Moorhead to the south of Tutwiler. As I like railways, blues music and slide guitar I have always found this story irresistible.

 

WC_Handy-MBT-Tutwiler-MississippiBluesTravellers-P5011065-1662x1247.jpg

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15 minutes ago, fezza said:

In later days GWR men around London used to refer to the Southern as "the tramway". It wasn't a compliment...

 

I thought that went back to Sir Felix Pole's reported remark after being introduced to Sir Herbert Walker: "How interesting to meet a tramway manager."

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  • 2 years later...

A few more from the US. Mostly narrow gauge lines.

Denver & Rio Grande Western = Dangerous & Rapidly Getting Worse.

Nevada County Narrow Gauge RR = Never Come, Never Go.

Denver, Boulder & Western = Drink Beer & Wine.

Twin Mountain & Potomac = Two Mules and a Pony. A reference to their loco roster, a pair of ten wheelers and a small 0-4-0.

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In the late 1950's/early 1960's there were quite a few ex GWR employees in Cornwall. One was an uncle of mine who was a Ganger in the Camborne/Redruth area and another a ticket collector at Truro who I got to know quite well as he realised, despite my young age, I was interested in the railway, not just the locomotives. Both of them always referred to the GWR as "The Company" and were firmly convinced that the BR management were a bunch of amateurs.

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