Diesel/Electric loco nicknames

Thumpers they were locally and almost NEVER Hastings units and (referring to an earlier post) they certainly were Slugs in my locality. Mind you that locality WAS Reading and we are talking 40 years ago

 

Back in my day during the late 70s/80s in Yorkshire we called them:

08s - gronks, rods
20s - moose
25s - rats
26s/27s - mcrats
31s - goyles
33s - cromptons
33/2s- slim jims
37s - syphons
40s - whistlers
44s/45s/46s - peaks
47s - duffs
47/7s - shove duffs
50s - hoovers, vacs, bleeps (originally by Preston men since they were fitted with a bleeping DSD from new)
55s - boats
56s - grids
58s - bones
81s-85s - roarers

 

Skoda was a nickname used by many staff to describe 90s. It all came to ahead when Inter City sent a memo out to all staff to tell them to stop using the term. When first introduced the locos and the DVTs were not the must reliable!

There are some errors on the link. For example 50s are called logs as the nickname started in the SW as 'Dog Logs' as they were as useful as dog muck!

Cheers,

 

Maybe in your locality of Reading, not on the Hastings line, which is where I was 40 years ago...

 

I know it's a Unit, but i've heard 444's referred to as Doodlebugs, because you point them in the direction of London and hope they get there!.

 

growing up on 3rd rail sw div we called 74s shovels, because of the front shape, the only thing we called bogs were the many veps that we had already got the numbers of, bog meaning common , the 4 cors were known as nelsons, 33,s were always called cromptons except for the push- pull fitted members which we always called pushers ,and never bag pipes other than that we used to call stuff by their class names , ie cig, vep, 73,

 

how about 37 growlers and 92 dysons

 

and class 20 choppers and 58 egg timers