| uk.railway FAQ |
Class |
Class |
Reason |
| 01 | Breakwaters | Location |
| 03 | Mini grunt | Small shunter |
| Mini gronk | Small shunter | |
| Flower pot | Look at the chimney | |
| 03 - cut down | Go-go's | |
| 07 | Dockers | Location |
| 08 | Grunt | Sound |
| Gronk | Sound | |
| Box | Shape | |
| Norman (Hunter) | Cockney rhyming slang | |
| Billy (Bunter) | Cockney rhyming slang | |
| 350 | As in horsepower | |
| "Jocko" | ||
| 09 | Box | Shape |
| Super grunt | Souped up version of 08 | |
| Super gronk | Souped up version of 08 | |
| 13 | Double Gronk | Obviously! |
| Master & Slave | Obviously! | |
| 14 | Teddy bear | Shape |
| Iron lungs | Poor availabilty | |
| 17 | Clayton | Engine |
| 20 | Chopper | Helicopter sound (some say control gear, but chopper control did not exist when the 20s were built |
| H-Bomb | Shape seen from top?, plus smoke effects | |
| Razor blade | 'cos that's all they're fit for :-) | |
| Moose | Shape of nose | |
| Wheelchair | Lack of power. | |
| Whistling Wardrobes | On account of all those doors | |
| Skate / Roller Skate | Used in pairs | |
| Chibbles or "chibblius chibblius" | As in latin | |
| 21/2 | Baby Warship | Smaller engine version of 41 |
| 23 | Baby Deltic | Engine was effectively half a Deltic - 9 cyl in 3 banks of 3 |
| 24 | BTH | Electrical equipment |
| Rat | They silenced when built and these were completely removed due to fractures occurring or something giving a straight through exhaust and rateable thrash :-)) | |
| Fruit Machines | On account of the drivers desk complete with a thrash handle which slid for and aft | |
| 25 | Rat | Short for rattletrap |
| Rodentus mechanicus | Mechanical rat | |
| Bo | Wheel arrangement | |
| Rat | They silenced when built and these were completely removed due to fractures occurring or something giving a straight through exhaust and rateable thrash :-)) | |
| 25257+25322 | Rattus reinstatus | After Saltley put them on a Weston Super Mare - Grange Over Sands adex... only a day after Tyseley had bolted them back together (or so Nick Lawford assures me :-) ) |
| 25/0 | Fruit machine | Large switch in cab (similar to toffee apple for 31/0) |
| 25912 | Ice Cream Van | Paint scheme |
| 26 | MacRat | Scottish version of 25 (apparently only instigated by Trainspotter Fortnightly) |
| MacCromptons | lower-powered forerunners of Class 33 | |
| Teacup | Tecuptecuptecuptecup... etc | |
| Tipping sh*t | Old 37 bashers' joke :-) | |
| 27 | Rattus Fire Riskus | Rat with ability to catch fire :-) |
| MacRat | Scottish version of 25 (apparently only instigated by Trainspotter Fortnightly) | |
| MacCromptons | lower-powered forerunners of Class 33 | |
| TipTop | Tiptoptiptoptiptop... etc | |
| Tipping sh*t | Old 37 bashers' joke :-) | |
| Birmingham | Reference to BRCW | |
| 28 | Co-Bo | Wheel arrangement |
| Metro-Vic | Name of builders/design | |
| Breadloaf | Due to its shape was | |
| 31 | Goyle | Gargoyle - they were pretty hideous; also from gurgling noise when not on full power] |
| Garys | The Goyle nickname was sometimes pre-fixed with 'Gary' - ie. Gary Goyle instead of Gargoyle. Often just called "Garys". | |
| Skinhead (some) | Rounded cab roof | |
| Ped | Pedal car or pedestrian: their lack of power | |
| Brian | Because they were boring when they first appeared / after the snail in "The Magic Roundabout" kids programme. | |
| Bin | ? | |
| (Small) Brush | Manufacturer | |
| Soil | Rhymes with goyle and they were regarded as being like soil - dirt........ "Oh no! SOIL!" | |
| Kings Cross men used to refer to individual 31's by dropping the leading 3 - so 31119 would be called eleven nineteen. | ||
| 31/0 | Toffee Apple | Power handle shape |
| 33 | Crompton | Electrical equipment |
| Shredder | Exhaust sound - sounds like a paper shredder | |
| Bean can | ? rounded ends? | |
| ETHELs | Known as this by South Wales 37 men | |
| 33/0 | KA | Old SR CM&EE classification from the engineering drawing office |
| 33/1 | Bagpipe | Pushpull pipework at front |
| KB | Old SR CM&EE classification from the engineering drawing office | |
| 33/2 | Slim Jim | Narrow bodied version |
| KA | Old SR CM&EE classification from the engineering drawing office | |
| 35 | Hymek | Transmission - hydraulic, from Mekydro |
| Seventys | Pre-TOPS numbers | |
| 37 | Tractor | Sound |
| Growler | Sound | |
| Syphon | Nick Lawford says: "The best explanation I have heard is that long long ago when
37s first entered service on the WR there was a daily parcels train into Paddington which
was at that time the only 37 working that far east on the WR. The parcels train was formed
entirely of "Syphon G" parcels stock. Maybe a myth - but certainly the train did
run with a 37." Bill Buchanan writes: Syphon vans because of a supposed resemblance between the vans' vents and the 37's bodyside grills (the 3 central ones) |
|
| Sixty eights | Per-TOPS numbers (used by Western men). The early ones were D67xx but the first of the WR ones were D68xx) | |
| Plough | Variation on 'tractor' | |
| 37/7 | Heavyweight | |
| 37/9 | Slugs | They are slow to build up power. |
| 40 | Whistler | Sound |
| Whistling Wonder | Sound | |
| Bucket | {1} Dicey loos meant the driver used... a bucket??! (2) Shape of nose. | |
| Tat | (1) Rat-tat-tat sound - known as this by ex-steam men (2) Twos and Threes, based on D2xx and D3xx. | |
| 42 | Warship | Names |
| 43 | Tram | Because you never know which way it's going? frequency? |
| HST | Initials (High Speed Train) | |
| Flying banana | Shape & (original) colour scheme | |
| 125 | Original project name, branding & nominal top speed. Intercity 125 was carried on the original livery. | |
| Screamers | Sound when accelerating out of stations | |
| Zings | The sound heard when you travelled on one and passed another. | |
| 44 | Peak | Named after mountains, or because they previously were used on Trans-Pennine trains. |
| Wagon | Number of wheels | |
| One to tenner | Old number series D1 - D10 | |
| 45 | Peak | The named carried on through Classes 44/45/46 in the design and the original BR numbering (from D1 ?). Before the introduction of classes these were not obviously different classes. |
| Wagon | Number of wheels | |
| Fours | ||
| Crompton | Electrical equipment (West Midlands nickname - obviously they didn't have real Cromptons up there. | |
| Co | Wheel arrangement | |
| 46 | Peak | The named carried on through Classes 44/45/46 in the design and the original BR numbering (from D1 ?). Before the introduction of classes these were not obviously different classes. |
| Wagon | Number of wheels | |
| Crompton | Electrical equipment (West Midlands nickname - obviously they didn't have real Cromptons up there. | |
| Sulzers | By Western men. | |
| 47 | Duff | Because they were, & many still are :-) |
| Spoon | Distorted onomatapaeic word for the horn sound - try saying it with a high pitched voice | |
| (Big) Brush | Manufacturer | |
| Four-and-a-halves | Between Types 4 & 5 - relatively powerful compared with the 40s. Originally LMR nickname, still used by Saltley | |
| 47370/379 | Pinky and Perky | Specific to when fitted with multiple unit working with each other in the 1970s for a special diagram at Immingham. Could not mu with any other type of loco. |
| 47401-17 | Generator | Generator instead of alternator |
| 47401-20 | Westinghouse 47s | Due to different brake gear being fitted. |
| 47701-17 | Shove-Duffs | Push-Pull fitted. |
| 47/8 | Castle | ? one used to be named Windsor Castle? |
| Twank | Twin tank, and... well, anyway, work it out for yourself :-) | |
| 47/late | beacuse they often are :-) | |
| 50 | Hoover / Vac | (Original) sound (of Intertia Filtration equipment) |
| Log | (1) Refers to unfortunate habit of falling asleep, i.e. failing. (2) Reference to the long square-ish shape | |
| Warship | Names: never caught on! | |
| 50-50 | (North of Crewe) the odds of them making it to Glasgow without failing, also 50s north of Manchester were used in pairs to provide extra power. | |
| 'The Apparatus' | ||
| 50001 | Doughnut | Real name was Dreadnought |
| 52 | Western | Names |
| Wessie | Western | |
| Wizzo | ? | |
| Thousand | Pre-TOPS number series (West Country nickname) | |
| 53 | Falcon | Name of loco |
| 55 | Deltic | Engine shape, also name of prototype |
| The Boat | ||
| Bilious | ||
| 56 | Grid | Noise |
| Christmas tree | (Then) unusually large number of lights | |
| Jet | ||
| 58 | Eggtimer | Shape |
| Bone | Shape | |
| 59 | Leader | Some would say they bear a passing resemblance to Bullied's failed `steam loco in a box' design |
| Yeoman | Operator | |
| Mashed potato loco | Popular brand of 'instant' mashed potato (but I don't think that one has really caught on!) | |
| 60 | Doughnut | You can see right through them |
| 66 | Shed | |
| 70 | Hornby | As in Hornby Dublo Electric loco |
| 71 | Booster | Control equipment |
| HA | Old SR CM&EE classification from the engineering drawing office. | |
| 73 | ED | Electro-diesel |
| Weetabix box | Shape | |
| Shoebox | Shape, and fitted with shoegear | |
| 73/0 | JA | Old SR CM&EE classification from the engineering drawing office |
| 73/1 | JB | Old SR CM&EE classification from the engineering drawing office |
| 74 | Big ED | Because they were :-) |
| HB | Old SR CM&EE classification from the engineering drawing office | |
| Any AC | Spark | Because they do :-) |
| 76 | Tommy | After the prototype was lent to Holland: the Dutch named it after the traditional nickname for an British soldier |
| 81-85 | Growlers | After the noise from the rectifier |
| 81 | Roarer | Sound: originally applied to 81, then extended to 82-85 |
| Fish | Depot symbol for where they were based (GW) | |
| 85 | Growbag | ? |
| 86 | Can | ? |
| 87 | Van | ? |
| Laser | Sealed beam headlights | |
| 89 | Flying badger | Shape & colour |
| Ant-eater | Shape | |
| 90 | Skoda | Often fail / that they look like the Skoda Felicia car. |
| Lump of Lard | Often fail, so cannot move? | |
| 91 | Electra | Original project name |
| Super Skoda | Souped up 90 | |
| Stealths | They go very fast and you can't see them (with reference to their numbers) | |
| Dung Beetles | The Pantogragh being so high and far reaching apparently looking like the arms of a dung Beetle rolling a piece of S*** along. | |
| 92 | Eurotrash | Due to their crappyness, named after the program on Channel 4. |
| Doughnut | Tunnel ring symbol on side | |
| Caravans | Allways being towed around |
Class |
Class |
Reason |
| D5500 | Proto-ped | As in prototype ped(estrian) |
| 31111 | Sticks | |
| 40106 | Green Goddess | |
| 40122 | Moss Bucket | |
| 45135 | 3 cans o'beer | 3rd Carabinier |
| 45149 | Benson | It smoked big time |
| 46016 | Oscar | |
| 46026 | Lady | Leiectereshire And Derbyshire Yeomanry |
| 50001 | Dreadful (Dreadnought) | |
| 50001 | Doughnut | |
| 55022 | Koyli | King's Own...... |
| (D)259 | Caroline | Due the radio station of the same name being on that frequency |
Class |
Class |
Reason |
| 18000 | Kerosene Castle | The smell! |
Class |
Class |
Reason |
| Any first generation DMU | Bog Unit | ? |
| Bug | ? | |
| Rattle box | Because that what they are | |
| Slug | Look like a slug? crawl along? | |
| Heritage unit | Old age | |
| Real DMU | Because they are ;-) | |
| Slammer | Due to the slam door | |
| 121 | Bubble car | Single coach |
| 122 | Bubble car | Single coach |
| 127: | Scooby-doo | ? |
| 128 | Scooby-doo | ? |
| Any modern DMU | Plastic | Because they might as well have built them out of plastic |
| 140/1/2/3/4 | Pacer | Original project name |
| Bendy bus | ||
| Bouncy castle | Poor ride quality | |
| Nodding donkey | Poor ride quality | |
| Pogo Stick | Poor ride quality | |
| Jungle bus | Poor ride quality | |
| 150 | Sprinter | Original project name |
| Splinter | several newspapers misprinted the names at the launch. | |
| 153 | Super bubble | 2nd generation version single car |
| Runaway carriage | Leamington Spa... :-) | |
| Minicab | Small cab, and low capacity train | |
| Scuds | They are small and go very fast | |
| 155 | Super Sprinter | Original project name |
| 156 | Super Sprinter | Original project name |
| 158 / 9 | Express | Original project name |
| Formica Express | Internal styling | |
| Garden Sheds | because of the room (or lack of) inside. | |
| Scuds | because you never knew when they would leave and where they would end up! | |
| Flying Coffin | The shape of the front end. | |
| 165 / 6 | (Network / Thames / Chiltern) Turbo | Engine + NSE project name and branding applied to units. |
| T*rdo | Well, what did BR expect? :-)] | |
| Coke can | Built from extruded aluminium | |
| 166 | Turbo Express | NSE branding. |
| 2XX: | Thumper | Sound |
| Bogcart | Because you have to check which coach you were getting into :-) | |
| 206: | Tadpole | One end fatter than the other, owing to mismatch of Hastings & Hampshire stock |
| 207/1: | Maggot | Middle fatter, owing to use of CEP buffet coach with Hastings gauge driving coaches |
Class |
Class |
Reason |
| SL | LBSCR South London overhead stock (not fixed formation). Also used for SR rebuild to third rail of this stock. | |
| CP | LBSCR Crystal Palace overhead stock (not fixed formation) | |
| CW | LBSCR Coulsdon & Sutton overhead stock (not fixed formation) | |
| SUB | 405 | Suburban unit |
| LAV | Semi-fast unit with one corridor lavatory coach | |
| BIL | Semi-fast unit with both corridor lavatory coaches | |
| HAL | Semi-fast unit with one corridor lavatory coach (Paul Marshall reckons this should be Half Access Lavatory - only one half of the train could use it. Nick Lawford says it was just HAlf Lavatory. I have since seen confirmation of the latter.) | |
| NOL | Semi-fast unit with no lavatory facilities | |
| PUL | Corridor express unit with one Pullman car (no gangways at outer ends). | |
| PAN | Corridor express unit with pantry car (no gangways at outer ends) | |
| BEL | Brighton Belle unit all-Pullman unit (no gangways at outer ends) | |
| CIT | City Limited unit with higher proportion of first class and Pullman car (no gangways at outer ends) | |
| COR | Corridor express unit, gangwayed throughout | |
| RES | Corridor express unit, with restaurant car, gangwayed throughout | |
| BUF | Corridor express unit, with buffet car, gangwayed throughout | |
| GRI | Corridor express unit, with griddle car, gangwayed throughout | |
| TAV | Corridor express unit, with tavern car, gangwayed throughout | |
| WIM | The same, but for Wimbledon - West Croydon | |
| (The following all have electro-pneumatic braking) | ||
| EPB / NOP | 415 / 416 | Suburban unit |
| EPX | Otherwise totally standard EPBs whose motors were uprated to express gearing to run with VEPs and CEPs on the peak hour services from the Chatham line fast to Cannon Street via Chislehurst in the mid 1980s. Not an official name. | |
| DD | Suburban double-deck unit | |
| PEP | Suburban unit with sliding doors (1970s: prototype 508) | |
| HAP | 414 | Semi-fast unit with one corridor lavatory coach (Half-Lavatory) |
| SAP | Semi-fast unit with one lavatory coach, converted to second class only | |
| CAP | 413 | Coastway/Coupled HAP |
| RAP | Clive Feather thought there was one of these, with a HAP being a Half-RAP | |
| COM | EPB with compartment trailers only to be used in peak hours. Not an official name | |
| CEP | 411 | Corridor express unit, gangwayed throughout |
| BEP | 412 | Corridor express unit, with buffet car, gangwayed throughout |
| CIG | 421 | Corridor express unit, gangwayed throughout, for Brighton line (IG being the old LBSC telegraph shorthand code for Brighton, or from "Integrated/Intermediate Gangway/Guard". The latter invented by BR in the 1970s when the stock began to be used away from the Brighton lines) |
| BIG | 422 | Corridor express unit, with buffet car, gangwayed throughout, for Brighton line (IG being the old LBSC telegraph shorthand code for Brighton, or from "Integrated/Intermediate Gangway/Guard". The latter invented by BR in the 1970s when the stock began to be used away from the Brighton lines) |
| DIG | 422 | Corridor express unit, with buffet car, gangwayed. Formed from CIG+BIG, hence D
(double). Nick Lawford says the D is for "dedicated", since the units only
worked the Capital Coast Express, London-Brighton) MIG: IG with RMB. Nick Lawford again: "c.1982 two 8MIG sets ran 4CIG+RMB+3CIG The RMB being the two SR wired RMBs 1872 and 1873 - not to confused with todays CIG fleet unit numbers. Used while BIGs in works for asbestos stripping. If you are really as sad as me then you will no doubt foam at the gen that one half of one MIG ended up in one half of one DIG." |
| REP | 432 | Corridor express unit, double-powered for Bournemouth line, with restaurant car, gangwayed throughout (to work with TC units) |
| VEP | 423 | Semi-fast unit, open suburban type seating, with two lavatory coaches, gangwayed throughout (V for vestibuled) |
| PEP | Prototype Electro-Pneumatic(?) - although one local paper used the epithet "Pack 'Em in Perpendicular", referring to the lack of seating. | |
| VEG | As VEP but adapted for Victoria-Gatwick service, with extra luggage racks | |
| TC | 491 (later 438?) | Unpowered corridor express unit for Bournemouth line, gangwayed throughout (to work with REP or loco, push-pull) (Trailer Control) |
| MLV: | 419 | Motor luggage van |
| GLV | 489 | Gatwick Express motor luggage van |
| VEC | Ex-London Transport Underground unit for Isle of Wight (VECTIS, Latin name for Isle of Wight) | |
| TIS | Ex-London Transport Underground unit for Isle of Wight (VECTIS, Latin name for Isle of Wight) | |
| VAB | Unique unit 8001 made up of various VEP vehicles plus a Mk I loco-hauled buffet car to make up for shortage of REPs and TCs after the Bournemouth electrification. Ran from 1968 to 1975. Technically the buffet car was a restaurant car (RB), but the SR still called it a buffet car! | |
| Unit 900 | Unique unit officially classed as 7TC although it had no relationship with the TCs of the Bournemouth electrification. It was formed of surplus EMU vehicles, including at least one BIL motor car and several SUB compartment trailers, and ran as a loco-hauled set on the Oxted line. All the shoegear had been removed, and it was jumpered to be heated and lit from a loco. Existed from about 1963 to 1968. It was not push-pull. Also known as 701, but this may have been a paper renumbering only. | |
| Unit 601 | Officially classified 6TC, again nothing to do with the Bournemouth TCs. Made from PUL/PAN stock and was used for first testing of push-pull diesel working. Later reported ending up on the Clapham Kensington service but may have been loco hauled by then, not push-pull. | |
| EDL | 73 | Electro-Diesel Locomotive |
| NOG | No gangway | |
| BED | Class 319 | Bedford Units |
| PER | 455 | Prototype Electro-Rheostatic (Alternative name for PEP. Seems to have been used by mistake in some high profile SR HQ publicity bumpf. They meant to say PEP but having made the error covered themselves by inventing something for PER.) |
| TLV | 499 | Trailer Luggage Van (hauled stock wired for mulitple operation) |
| PAN | Parcels and Newspapers (2PAN, not the normal 6PANtry) | |
| HIT | Original SR designation for 455 (originally to have been 509; incidentally, 510 was supposed to have been a REP replacement when PIGs were just a twinkle in someone's eye...) | |
| WES | 442 | Wessex Express |
Class |
Class |
Reason |
| 304 | Dinosaur | Age |
| 303 | Blue Trains | Original livery |
| 309 | Clacton | Line on which they were used for the greater part of their life |
| 311 | Blue Trains | Original livery |
| 315 | Mickey Mouse | Front end design |
| 321 | Dusty bin | TV programme |
| 332 | Bumble Bee | Front end shape and colour scheme. |
| 421/5 | Greyhound | CIG with improved acceleration |
| 411/5 | CEP(R) | Semi official: to distinguish refurbished units when both types were runnning. |
| 442 | (Plastic) PIG | Gollowing on from SR policy (CIG/VIG etc), also shape |
| Wessex Electric | Original project name | |
| Wessie | Wessex Electric | |
| 51xx | 51s | To distinguish SR & BR design EPBs |
| 53xx | 53s | To distinguish SR & BR design EPBs |
| 455 | 4-slide-slide | Certain problems with leaves :-) Interestingly, the bell code 4-5-5 is "train running away on right line"... |
| Pack 'Em Perpendicular | Referring to PEP (SR code)] | |
| 465 / 6 | Networker | Original project name and NSE branding applied to the units. |
| Notworker | Well, what did NSE expect? | |
| 501 | Monkey cage | the old Euston DC line units all had window "cage" bars for limited clearance reasons. |
| 508 | NBG | For No Bl**dy Good |
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