Glossary of United Kingdom railway terminology

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.

For general railway terminology, see Rail terminology For terminology specific to the types of lines used for passenger trains, see passenger rail terminology For terminology specific to North America, see Glossary of North American railroad terminology For terminology specific to New Zealand, see Glossary of New Zealand railway terminology For terminology specific to Australia, see Glossary of Australian railway terminology

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

This transport-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

B

• Baby Deltic: D5900 class Bo-Bo diesel-electric 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 diesel engine coupled to a hydraulic transmission, making them effectively half a D600 Warship or D800 Warship, each of which had two engines.^[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a name used for the service that used to operate between Bedford and London St. Pancras; this service has subsequently been replaced by cross-London service on the Thameslink route. It is sometimes used when referring to the line from Bedford to St Pancras, and not any service in particular.^[4][5]

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

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

• Bodysnatcher: British Rail Class 57 diesel-electric locomotives – made by transplanting a General Motors reconditioned power unit and alternator into a Class 47 bodyshell.^[8]

• Boiler ticket: the safety certificate issued for a steam (locomotive) boiler on passing a thorough formal inspection and generally covering a period of ten years. The formal inspection usually requires the removal of the boiler from the locomotive and renewal of some parts such as the tubes. Additional annual safety inspections must also be undertaken, which may result in the locomotive being withdrawn from service until any faults are rectified. When the boiler ticket "expires" the locomotive cannot be used until the boiler has been reinspected and a new ticket obtained.^[9]

• Bone: British Rail Class 58 diesel-electric locomotive – 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.^[10]

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

• Bubble car:^[11] British Rail Class 121^[12] or 122^[13] single railcar

C

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

• Cess: The area either side of the railway immediately off the ballast shoulder. This usually provides a safe area for workers to stand when trains approach.

• Chopper: British Rail Class 20 diesel-electric locomotive^[15]

• Clag: Originally used to describe the exhaust of steam locomotives, "clag" is a term describing the often spectacular (particularly 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 steam locomotives^[17]

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

D

• Deltics: British Rail Class 55 diesel-electric locomotives (the "Deltics"), which use twin Napier Deltic power units.
• Doodlebug: Waggon und Maschinenbau railbuses E79960-64, introduced 1958.^[19]
• Dusty Bin: British Rail Class 321, from the game show 3-2-1, featuring the animated character "Dusty Bin".^[20]
• Dutch: The livery of British Rail Civil Engineers department rolling stock, due to the resemblance of Nederlandse Spoorwegen's corporate livery.^[21]

E

• Egg Timer: British Rail Class 58 diesel-electric locomotive.^[10]

F

• Fag packet livery: the original livery of the First Great Western HSTs – a basically green colour scheme, fading to ivory, with shiny gold stripe, below the windows^[22][23], so called because it resembles the packaging of a brand of cigarettes ('fags').

• Ferret and Dartboard: The second British Railways emblem introduced in 1956, featuring a lion rampant holding a wheel. From a distance the wheel has a passing resemblance to a dartboard.^[24]

• Flying Banana: the first design of GWR diesel railcars, introduced in 1932.^[25] This has since been adopted for the Network Rail New Measurement Train, due to its all-over yellow livery.^[26]

G

• Goyle: British Rail Class 31 diesel-electric locomotive – from "gargoyle" (after the somewhat ungainly headcode boxes above the driving cabs).^[27]

• 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.^[28]

• Grid,^[29] Grid iron: British Rail Class 56 diesel-electric locomotive, from the large grilles.

• Gronk: British Rail Class 08 shunter^[30]

• Growler:^[31] British Rail Class 37 diesel-electric locomotive – (from the engine sound) or nickname for the 20 Metropolitan-Vickers electric locomotives used on London's Metropolitan underground railway between Liverpool Street and Rickmansworth. The name derived from the noise these locomotives made.^[32]

H

• Hoover: British Rail Class 50 diesel-electric locomotive – from the sound of the engine cooling fans being similar to a vacuum cleaner, prior to the refurbishment which removed this characteristic; (also vacs).^[33]

• Hymek: D7000 class locomotive using a V16 Maybach diesel engine coupled to a Mekydro hydraulic transmission.^[34]

• Happy Train: British Rail Class 365 because their revised front end gives a happy face style.^[35]

K

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.^[36]

M

• Metrovick: Locomotives constructed by Metropolitan-Vickers, especially the British Rail Class 28 (D5700 class) Co-Bo.^[37]

• Mickey Mouse Ivatt 2MT class 2-6-0 steam locomotive.^[38]

• MTVal An High Speed Train consisting of one MTU engined power car, and one Valenta engined power car in the formation.

N

• Normal: A non-enthusiast.^[39]

P

• Peak: British Rail Class 44, Class 45 or Class 46 diesel-electric locomotives – so named because the earliest of these loco types, the ten Class 44s, were named after mountains.^[40]

• Plastics/Pigs: British Rail Class 442, "Wessex Electrics" (electric multiple units): so-named for being mostly made out of plastics in construction.^[41]

R

• Rat: British Rail Class 25 diesel-electric locomotives – and related classes – reputedly originating from a term used on the LMR of British Rail in the 1960s where 25s were as common as "rats";^[42] the Scottish-based Class 26 and 27 were sometimes known as "MacRats".^[43]

• Roarer: Early British Rail 25 kV 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 of them.^[44]

S

• Shed: A Canadian-built Class 66 diesel-electric locomotive (from the roof shape and also the corrugated bodysides).^[45]

• Silver bullet: China Clay slurry wagons ^[46]

• Skipper: Class 142 DMUs ^[47]

• Slim Jim: Narrow-bodied version of the British Rail Class 33 diesel-electric locomotive (identified as sub-class 33/2) – built for the confined loading gauge on the Hastings line. (Also see Crompton and Hastings Unit).^[18]

• Stop and examine: A former British Railways rule which is now defunct,^[48] this required train crew to stop the train and examine the cause of an unexpected noise, vibration, etc. Section TW of the Network Rail rulebook covers the requirements when working a modern train.

T

• Tadpole: 3R DEMUs. Named due to having two vehicles 8 ft 2½ in wide and one vehicle 9 ft 3 in wide.^[49]

• Teddy Bear: British Rail Class 14 diesel-hydraulic locomotives for shunting and trip-working.^[45] Coined by Swindon Works' foreman George Cole who quipped "We've built the Great Bear, now we're going to build a Teddy Bear!".^[50]

• Thousands: Class 52 diesel-hydraulic locomotives (the "Westerns") given the number range beginning with D1000.^[51]

• 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.^[52]

• Thunderbird: a locomotive kept on standby at a strategic location, ready to rescue a failed train. (From Thunderbirds)^[53]

• Tractor: British Rail Class 37 diesel-electric locomotive, possibly from the engine sound, also because they could be found hauling almost anything as a mixed-traffic design.^[54]

U

• U-Boat: Southern Railway U class 2-6-0 steam locomotives.^[55]

W

• Warship: D600 or D800 class diesel-hydraulic locomotives, most of which were named after Royal Navy vessels.^[56]

• Wessie: British Rail Class 442 electric multiple unit – from the "Wessex Electric" brand name used at launch.^[57]

• Western: British Rail Class 52 - diesel hydraulic type 4 locomotive, 74 of which ran on BR between 1961 and 1977. All were named in a series beginning "Western...". Seven of the class have been preserved.^[58]

• Whistler: British Rail Class 40 diesel-electric locomotive, from the turbocharger sound; this nickname is also occasionally applied to British Rail Class 20 locomotives.^[59]

• Wizzo: British Rail Class 52 - diesel-hydraulic type 4 locomotive, 74 of which ran on BR between 1961 and 1977.^[60]

• Woolworth: South Eastern and Chatham Railway N class 2-6-0 steam locomotives, built at Woolwich Arsenal.^[61]

• 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.^[62]

Y

• Yeoman: Early name for a Class 59 diesel-electric 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.^[63]

See also

• Rail terminology
• Passenger rail terminology
• Glossary of New Zealand railway terminology
• Glossary of North American railroad terminology

References

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'