Glossary of UK railway terminology

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This page contains a list of jargon used to varying degrees by railway enthusiasts / railfans and trainspotters in the United Kingdom, including nicknames for various locomotives and multiple units. Although not exhaustive, many of the entries in this list appear from time to time in specialist, rail-related publications. Inclusion of a term in this list does not necessarily imply its universal adoption by all railfans and enthusiasts, and there may be significant regional variation in usage.

Words in italics indicate terms defined elsewhere in this list.

Contents: Top - 0–9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

[edit] B

• Baby Deltic: D5900 class Bo-Bo locomotives constructed by the English Electric company. They used a single Napier Deltic engine/generator combination, as opposed to the two engines/generators layout and Co-Co wheel arrangement of the much longer Deltic locomotives from the same manufacturer, to which they bore a very strong family resemblance.^[1]

• Baby Warship: North British D6300 class locomotives which used one engine coupled to a hydraulic transmission, making them effectively half a D600 Warship or NBL D800 Warship.^[2]

• Barbie: Livery of First Group's bus and rail companies up until Feb 2006 – the name comes from the purple and pink packaging of Barbie dolls. First Group are now favouring Neon schemes ^[3]

• Bed pan: a name used for the service that used to operate between Bedford and London St. Pancras; this service has subsequently been replaced by cross-London service on the Thameslink route.^[4][5]

• Black Five: LMS Stanier Class 5 4-6-0. One of the largest classes of steam locomotives built in the UK, named from their black 'mixed-traffic' livery and 'Class 5' power rating.^[6]

• Blood and Custard: Name applied to the Carmine and Cream livery used on BR's coaches during the 1950s and 60s ^[7]

• Bodysnatcher: Class 57 locos – made by transplanting a General Motors reconditioned power unit and alternator into a Class 47 bodyshell. Term used especially by Brush bashers who have not come to terms with their favourite locos being treated in this way.^[8]

• Bone: British Rail Class 58 – from the shape: the body is narrow with wide cabs. (Also called egg timer.). Ironically one of the final workings of this class was a railfan special called the Bone Breaker which ended in a bufferstop collision and a passenger breaking his leg. ^[9]

• Brush: British Rail Class 47, also known as the "Brush Type 4". Followers of this type are often known as "Brush bashers".

• Bubble car^[10]: British Rail Class 121^[11] or 122^[12] single railcar

[edit] C

• Cab: To get an unofficial ride in the cab of a loco or unit.^[13]

• Cattle: Passengers (particularly commuters, who often complain that they are treated "like cattle")^[14]

• Chopper: Class 20 locomotive^[15]

• Clag: Originally used to describe the exhaust of steam locomotives. Clag is a term describing the often spectacular(especially blackened, as in Class 37 or whitesmoked, as in Class 55) exhaust emissions of many older British diesel locomotives, especially Classes 52 and 55.^[16]

• Coffee pot : Applied to the shape of Bulleid class Q1 locomotives^[17]

• Crompton: British Rail Class 33 locomotive (fitted with Crompton Parkinson electrical equipment). (Also see Hastings Unit and Slim Jim).^[18]

[edit] D

• Dutch: The livery of British Rail Civil Engineers, due to the resemblance of Nederlandse Spoorwegen's corporate livery.^[19]

[edit] E

• Egg Timer: Class 58 locomotive.^[9]

[edit] F

• Ferret and Dartboard: The second British Rail emblem introduced in 1956 featuring a lion rampant holding a wheel. From a distance the wheel has a passing resemblance to a dartboard.^[20]

• Flying Banana: Originally used to describe the first design of GWR diesel railcars, introduced in 1932. ^[21] More recently, the term referred to the large areas of yellow on the original HST livery, particularly on the Western Region. Current use is to describe the New Measurement Train (a bright yellow converted HST).^{[citation needed]}

• Froth: (or Foam) The actions of rail fans who get over excited about irrelevant detail such as liveries or numbers, the dictionary definition of froth can be found by starting a thread on an internet forum suggesting that a preserved loco is to be given an non-authentic livery scheme and renumbered.^[13]

[edit] G

• Goyles: A British Rail Class 31; from "gargoyle" (the somewhat ungainly headcode boxes above the driving cabs).^[22]

• Gricer: - an old fashioned name for a rail enthusiast. The derivation is much disputed; one theory is that it comes from Richard Grice, a trainspotter who became legendary for having travelled the entire British Rail network.^[23]

• Grid^[24], Grid iron: A British Rail Class 56, from the large grilles.^{[citation needed]}

• Gronk: A Class 08 Shunter^[25]

• Growler^[26]: A Class 37 (from the engine sound)^{[citation needed]}

[edit] H

• Hastings Gauge: the narrower than standard loading gauge used on the Hastings Line. Also applied to the narrow-bodied rolling stock specially built for the same line.^[27]

• Hastings unit: Visibly thinner versions (6S, 6L, 6B) of the DEMU sets that were built to a special loading gauge to cope with particularly narrow tunnels on the Hastings Line.^[27]

• Hoover: British Rail Class 50 (Sound of the engine cooling fans being similar to a vacuum cleaner, prior to refurbishment which removed this characteristic; also vacs).^[28]

• Hymek: D7000 class locomotive using a V16 Maybach engine coupled to a Mekydro hydraulic transmission.^[29]

[edit] J

• Javelin British Rail Class 395^[30]

[edit] L

• Large Logo livery: one of the first new British Rail locomotive liveries applied after many years of all-over rail blue. For this livery, the loco cabs were entirely 'warning yellow', with black window surrounds (the yellow usually wrapping round behind the cab doors); the main bodysides were still rail blue but featured very large running numbers with a large white British Rail 'double arrow' logo in the middle, the full height of the body. It was applied to refurbished Class 50 locomotives, among others.^[31]

[edit] M

• Metrovick: Locomotives constructed by Metropolitan-Vikers, especially the British Rail Class 28 (D5700 class) Co-Bo.^[32]

• Mickey Mouse Ivatt 2MT class steam locomotive.^[33]

[edit] N

• Nodding Donkey: The Pacer family of DMUs (from outside a moving Pacer has a bobbing motion, like a nodding donkey)

[edit] P

• Peak: British Rail Class 44, Class 45 or Class 46, so named because the earliest of these loco types, the ten Class 44s, were named after mountains.^[34]

[edit] R

• Rat: A British Rail Class 25 or related classes, reputedly originating from a term used on the LMR of British Rail in the 1960's where 25's were as common as "rats";^[35] the Scottish-based Class 26 and 27 were sometimes known as "MacRats". ^[36]

• Roarer: Early British Rail 25kV AC electric locomotive of types 'AL1'–'AL5' (later Classes 81, 82, 83, 84, 85), due to the loud whine made by the traction motor cooling fans when the locomotive is at rest. The name originated with the AL3 type. Although the other types exhibit a less noticeable noise, the name is applied equally to any them.^[37]

[edit] S

• Shed: A Canadian built Class 66 locomotive (from the roof shape and also the corrugated bodysides).^[38]

• Silver bullet: China Clay slurry wagons ^[39]

• Skipper: class 142 DMUs ^[40]

• Slamron: Term used to refer to a normal in their presence without them being aware that they are held in such disregard, from the backwards spelling of normals.^[41]

• Slim Jim: Narrow-bodied version of the British Rail Class 33 – built for the confined loading gauge on the Hastings line. (Also see Crompton and Hastings Unit).^[18]

[edit] T

• Tadpole: 3R DEMUs. Named due to having two vehicles 8 ft 2½ in wide and one vehicle 9 ft 3 in wide.^[42]

• Teddy Bear: Class 14 diesel-hydraulic locomotives for shunting and trip-working.^[43] Coined by Swindon Works' foreman George Cole who quipped "We've built the Great Bear, now we're going to build a Teddy Bear!".^[44]

• Thousands: Class 52 diesel-hydraulic locomotives (the "Westerns") given the number range beginning with D1000.^[45]

• Thumper: Southern DEMU (BR Classes 201 – 207) – unlike conventional DMUs these used a single, comparatively large diesel engine and electric generator mounted immediately behind one driving cab. The power units made a distinctive "thumping" noise when working hard.^{[46][citation needed]}

• Thunderbird: a locomotive kept on standby at a strategic location, ready to rescue a failed train. (From Thunderbirds)^[47]

• Tractor: A British Rail Class 37, possibly from the engine sound, also because they could be found hauling almost anything as a mixed-traffic design.^[48]

[edit] W

• Warship: D600 or D800 class locomotives, most of which were named after Royal Navy vessels.^[49]

• Wessie: Class 442 – from the "Wessex Electric" brand name used at launch ^[50]

• Western: British Rail Class 52 - diesel hydraulic type 4, 74 of which which ran on BR between 1961 and 1977. All were named in a series beginning "Western...". Seven of the class have been preserved.^[51]

• Whistler: British Rail Class 40, from the turbocharger sound; this nickname is also occasionally applied to British Rail Class 20 locomotives^[52]

• Wizzo: British Rail Class 52 - diesel hydraulic type 4, 74 of which which ran on BR between 1961 and 1977.^[53]

• Worst or WorstGroup: derogatory nickname for FirstGroup, especially on First Great Western ('Worst Late Western'^[14]) because they are often lambasted for their poor performance, delays, overcrowding and cancellations.^[54]

[edit] Y

• Yeoman: Early name for a Class 59 locomotive, the first privately-owned (by Foster Yeoman) locomotives to operate on British Rail, owing to their name being "Yeoman -----" such as 59 001 Yeoman Endeavour. ^[55]

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• Glossary of New Zealand railway terminology
• Glossary of North American railroad terminology

[edit] External links

• uk.railway newsgroup FAQ – 'Basher speak'
• uk.railway newsgroup FAQ – loco nicknames (with origins)
• Extensive rail enthusiast's jargon glossary at 'dreadful.org.uk'