Strange names

The GWR had previously had a purge of names which might conceivably be mistaken for a destination which would rule out Lancaster and Halifax (and Wellington, Stirling etc.).

 

They're all from the early part of the war. Indeed the renaming was done by Jan 1941. Presumably the idea was dropped before they got any further. Typhoon and Tempest would have been rather in the Broad gauge naming tradition.

 

When it came to the batch of Big Lizzies sans streamiling, one of the Drawing Office staff drew the outline of the non-streamlined version, numbered it 6240 and named the unclothed article Lady Godiva. When 6240 was built - streamlined - it was actually and rather uncannily named City of Coventry.

He got into some trouble from the Powers That Be over it.

 

Only because they provided sponsorship somewhere along the line for its restoration.............
That was long before they became a nationally known/available "brand" and their beers were messed about with/ABVs reduced as well!

 

I think that those aircraft types were recognised for the part they played in the Battle of Britain. The renaming in 1941 tends to support my supposition.

 

That didn’t seem to worry the LB&SC or. LT&S..

 

GWR no. 1473 'Fair Rosamund'
A 517 class 0-4-2T, carried its name from 1896 when it worked a royal train over the Woodstock branch.

(Fair) Rosamund Clifford was a mistress to King Henry II, and their illicit liaisons took place at the royal palace at Woodstock.

An interesting choice of name for the Victorian age and a royal passenger!

 

1. I seem to remember a class 47 also being given that name too. Back to the Jubilees, their names are useful if you want to know if a country is in the commonwealth I have found. One or two were renamed to reflect political changes, Irish Free State was renamed Eire and Gold Coast became Ghana. Interestingly Palestine was never renamed after the state of Israel was established

 

Are we allowed to mention HST Power Car 43002 "Top of the Pops"? Now then, now then...

 

The 47 site suggests that there was a plan to name a loco after Jimmy Savile. But this was dropped.

BR did not do very well in the 1980s, having both Jimmy Savile and Gary Glitter front campaigns. I suppose we can only be thankful that Rolf Harris wasn't involved.

St Vincent isn't the place (in the Caribbean (part of Empire) or the Saint but the ship (St Vincent) but the ship is named after a person (John Jervis - Earl of St Vincent) who took their title from a battle of a different St Vincent (Cape of St Vincent in Portugal).

Jervis also had a Jubilee named after him, so perhaps the only person to have two locos named after him but using different names?

 

Wandering Willie wasn't a pacific but an NBR 4-4-0. Still, you're right to suggest that the LNER provides the richest crop of strange names - at least from the steam age. In the same class as Wandering Willie, there's also Cuddie Headrigg (62426) and Dumbledykes (62427) while two of the post-grouping built "Director"4-4-0s built for Scotland were called Baillie MacWheeble and Luckie Mucklebackit. "Hunt" 62757 was called The Burton which must have raised a few eyebrows when it want past, while among the B1s, the celebrated Bongo also had Puku, Gnu, Pallah, Umsek, Dibatag, Jairou and Pronghorn among others for company. Yes, we know that they are species of antelope but goodness knows what Joe Public must have thought when they first appeared.

 

Funnily enough, I was just reading an old issue of some magazine or another, an article about pacers. Apparently the 141s were launched by Stuart Hall :O

Here's a non-railway dodgy name. A few boats have been named after the inhabitants of the Greek island of Lesbos.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Lesbian

 

That sounds like a challenge. I could give you "Nelson", Howe" and "Hood", three early Beattie 2-4-0WT on the LSWR, and which resurfaced as "Lord Nelson", "Lord Howe" and "Lord Hood" in the 1920s under Maunsell. I'm sure someone else could do better...

Tom

 

I am not sure dodgy is the right word.

Sappho (the poetess) who lived on Lesbos, had a GWR broad gauge locomotive named after her.

St Vincent can also claim a Nelson as well

St Vincent, Howe, Hood can also claim a 50 as well.

 

Great Central: 1014 "Sir Alexander", 429 "Sir Alexander Henderson", 1169 "Lord Faringdon".

Any advance on three?

 

62427 should be spelled "Dumbiedykes". Although (like the others) it was the name of a Walter Scott character, he had stolen the name from a district of Edinburgh which was formerly the home of a school for the deaf.

 

Does 60034 also count?

Interestingly wiki claims that each time he was elevated in the ranks - they named an engine after him and removed the old name.

He can also claim a loco and class named after his estate 'Glenalmond'

 

Gnu, what a great name simply because it had to have the letters spaced out on the nameplate so it would fit on the smoke box!

 

And his son had another engine, "Butler-Henderson"

 

I think "Elaine" and "Maid of Astolat" were the same (mythical) person. As they were both King Arthurs and subsequently Standard Class 5's that's four locos for one person.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elaine_of_Astolat