Locomotive and Train Nicknames ( Australia/NZ)
Peter J. Vincent
I've compiled all the names submitted so far into this list.
So thanks to Bromage and and all the others who sent stuff.
Railway Nicknames for locomotives and trains
--------------------------------------------
South Australia ( AN/STA/SAR)
-----------------------------
Brill Railcars: Barwell Bulls
Stainless Steel railcars: Bluebirds
300/400 cars: Red Hens
Modified 'Red Hen": Super chook
???: Creamy Kate(?)
BL class: Brick ( as with G, 81 )
NJAB class: Coffee Pot
NRC
---
422 class: Barking Boxes ( Melbourne )
C class: Charlies, Cadillacs
GM class: Jimmies
Victoria
--------
Trams-W4 ( large wheels ): Fanny stretchers
Spirit of Progress "bus": Spirit of Bus (SOB)
The Overland: The 'Overdue'
Southern Aurora: The Silver Shagger ( crews ), Snorer
Adelaide - Melb : Jets ( bothways )
Ararat - Serviceton/Horsham: The Peanut
The Gippslander: "The Gippy"
Orbost-Westall timber train: "The Sirex" ( after the sirex wood wasp )
Swing door trains: Dogboxes
Tait trains: Red rattlers, Reds
Harris Trains: Blues
Hitachi suburbans: Silvers, Goldfishbowls ( crews )
AEC railmotor: Bug, Beetle
E class electrics: Electric Chairs, Black loco's, Butter Boxes
F class tank: Dolly
J class steam: Wheelbarrow
N D/E : Bone
Puffing Billy
-------------
0-4-0ST Peckett : "Peter Peckett"
NA class: Puffing Billy
G (2'6"): Puffing Billy's Big Brother
RM55-64: PERM's when Petrol, DERM's when Diesel
G class: Brick ( as with 81, BL )
Steam Crane 3: Polly
T (1st series): Flat Tops
Wagons
Bogie grain wagons : Goofies, Bullets ( GJF/VHGY/VHGF etc)
New South Wales
---------------
Lithgow - Sydney: "The Fish", "The Chips"
Silver City Comet: Gromet, Vomit ( when Candy colours )
Triple 48's: Elastic Band special
Single deck interurbans: UBoats
Suburban single deck: Red Rattlers (last years)
Interuban Double decks: Blue Gooses, Golden Gooses.
1200 Budd Railcars: Silver Slugs
CPH railmotors: Tin Hares
C35(?) class: Nanny
C36 class: Pigs
XPT: Tin Slug, Super Slug
442 class: Jumbo's
46 class: Beetles
81 class: Flying Brick
42220: 'Baby 81' ( when fitted with Super Series )
South Maitland Railway
----------------------
SMR 10: Bobtail T
Queensland
----------
2000 class railcars: Silver Bullets
AEC railcars: Red Freds
New Zealand
-----------
Kingston Flyer: "The Crawling Pussy(cat)"
Peter J. Vincent
p...@daemon.apana.org.au
http://daemon.apana.org.au/~pjv/
David Bromage
Railway logos have picked up some interesting names. Any double arrow logo
(British Rail, SRA "L7" logo, PTC) invariable gets nicknamed Arrows of
Indecision.
There were also the VicRail "teacup" and Met "flying arsehole" logos.
Check out http://www.com.au/railpage/pix/diesel/B68.jpg to see the teacup
logo.
Cheers
David
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
David Bromage dbro...@metz.une.edu.au
Department of Chemistry http://metz.une.edu.au/~dbromage
University of New England "On the Internet people who are normally
Armidale, NSW 2351 under rocks are out there and in your
Australia face" - Douglas Adams
Andrew Waugh
In article <4n490o$j...@ramus.apana.org.au> p...@daemon.apana.org.au (Peter J. Vincent) writes:
It would be useful to distinguish between who used the nicknames. Was
the nickname widely used by the public (e.g. 'red rattler'), the railfan
community (e.g. 'the peanut'), or railway employees (e.g. 'dolly').
The three groups often had considerably different nicknames!
A couple of others in Victoria:
Spirit of Progress : SOP
First Series T: Squashy T (Cramped conditions in cab)
andrew waugh
car...@silas.cc.monash.edu.au
In article <4n62eu$c...@weever.mel.dit.csiro.au> a...@conger.mel.dit.CSIRO.AU (Andrew Waugh) writes:
>In article <4n490o$j...@ramus.apana.org.au> p...@daemon.apana.org.au (Peter J. Vincent) writes:
>
>It would be useful to distinguish between who used the nicknames. Was
>the nickname widely used by the public (e.g. 'red rattler'), the railfan
>community (e.g. 'the peanut'), or railway employees (e.g. 'dolly').
>The three groups often had considerably different nicknames!
>
The 2000/2100 class railcars in Adelaide (ca 1978) were always known as "supertrains" to the
public but, I understand, "jumbos" to STA employees.
AFAIK, the later 3000/3100 series have never received a nickname from the public - one of the
reasons, I suspect, is that the 2000 series were (and still are) a really high class railcar
whereas the 3000 series are barely as good (but still cooler in summer than the old red hens).
On other points,
The model 55 Brill railmotors (1930s) were called "Barwell Bulls" after the Premier of SA at
the time.
Some model 75 railcars were refurbished with 3/4 height dividers (the originals had bus type seating)
and were known as "Milk Bars". (An aside - this is interesting because the corner store is never known
as a "milk bar" in Adelaide - it's a Deli)
There were a number of wooden country cars refurbished around 1936 and painted green and cream - they
were known as "Centenary Cars".
There were also country carriages known as "Long Tom" and "Short Tom" - a person older than me should
be able to give details.
Craig Haber
a...@conger.mel.dit.CSIRO.AU (Andrew Waugh) writes:
>A couple of others in Victoria:
> Spirit of Progress : SOP
I'm led to believe railwaymen called the Spirit "The Blue".
Gunzels called the Inter Capital Daylight the Inter Capital Delight
> First Series T: Squashy T (Cramped conditions in cab)
The second series T's are called "High Tops" by some...
Cya,
--
*Craig Haber, 4th year RMIT Manufacturing Systems Engineering. *
*s931...@minyos.its.rmit.edu.au *
*http://minyos.its.rmit.edu.au/~s9312577 *
*"I must not post after midnight!" *
MarBau
Of course we all forgot "Heavy Harry"
I believe the SAR Brills were called "Bardwell Bulls" with a D, not
Barwell bulls.
T 320 to 346 were sometimes called "squashboxes" as well as "flat tops".
The NSWGR "L7" logo was universally known as the Late Seven days a week
logo
Vicrails teacup was also known as the "spiked crossover" logo.
Mark.
The above thoughts are opinions, flame me for errors in fact but do not
flame me for having an opinion.
John Abraham Cleverdon
Peter J. Vincent (p...@daemon.apana.org.au) wrote:
:
: I've compiled all the names submitted so far into this list.
: So thanks to Bromage and and all the others who sent stuff.
Another nickname:
Victorian 3rd series T class (367-412) - The three "110's"
ie.
110 km/h
110 decibels
110 deg. Fahrenheit (sp?)
--
John Cleverdon Amateur astronomer (Astro. Soc. of Frankston) *
3rd year Cartography & Railway enthusiast |=|==========|=| * o
RMIT University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia |-| 8184 |-| .
E-mail: cl...@minyos.its.rmit.edu.au |/000------000\| *
David Bromage
car...@silas.cc.monash.edu.au wrote:
>There were also country carriages known as "Long Tom" and "Short Tom" - a
>person older than me should be able to give details.
The Long Tom and Short Tom were GB (?) brake vans with a central cupola. I
think the Long Tom was a 12 wheeler. The narrow gauge version was called a
Dolly Varden (sp?) for some reason.
David Bromage
I thought of a few more train names from earlier this century. I hope
you're keeping up with all this, Peter. :)
Ballarat - Bunninyong pass: The Bunny
Springurst - Wahgunyah mixed: Stringybark Express
Warrnambool - Dennington workmen's train: Dennington Flyer
Dandenong - Newmarket livestock trains: The Horn and Hoof
Any goods train which left in the evening and ran overnight was generally
known as The Darkie.
Leslie Brown
s931...@minyos.its.rmit.EDU.AU (Craig Haber) wrote:
>a...@conger.mel.dit.CSIRO.AU (Andrew Waugh) writes:
>
>>A couple of others in Victoria:
>
>> Spirit of Progress : SOP
>
>I'm led to believe railwaymen called the Spirit "The Blue".
>
>Gunzels called the Inter Capital Daylight the Inter Capital Delight
>
>> First Series T: Squashy T (Cramped conditions in cab)
>
>The second series T's are called "High Tops" by some...
>
Then there was the Wang-Whitfield rail motor/ganger's trolley, NK1
(R.I.P.), which was always called the "Spirit of Salts"
Les Brown.
Terry Burton
dbro...@metz.une.edu.au (David Bromage) wrote:
>car...@silas.cc.monash.edu.au wrote:
>>There were also country carriages known as "Long Tom" and "Short Tom" - a
>>person older than me should be able to give details.
>The Long Tom and Short Tom were GB (?) brake vans with a central cupola. I
>think the Long Tom was a 12 wheeler. The narrow gauge version was called a
>Dolly Varden (sp?) for some reason.
>Cheers
>David
No..... the Long Tom and Short Tom were nicknames for the
Narrow Gauge Passenger Cars.
There was a Dolly Varden Brake Van on the Narrow Gauge
(Pitchi Ritchi has one), and the Broad Gauge F class 4-6-2
Suburban Tank Loco's were sometimes called "Dollys".
Bye
--
Tell
Alice Springs NT
Terry Burton
Woops!!!!
Re my post on Long & Short Tom's.
Make that Pichi Richi, there is a Tourist Attraction in
Alice Springs called Pitchi Ritchi. No Trains though. :-((
BTW
The six wheel bogie Broad Gauge Vans built in 1910 were
simply called 12 wheel Brake vans.
The 4 wheel bogie Broad Gauge "Brake Vans" introduced during
the Webb era in 1925 were called Cabooses.
Both had cupola's which is interesting as the 12 wheeler was
in service well before WA Webb arrived in South Australia
and Americanised (Oooh! hate those "ised" words) the old
South Australian Railways.
The Railway Museum down the Port have both types.
Catch Yer
Peter Bramwell
Hello all,
What about the world-famous "Tea and Sugar" (Port Augusta to
Kalgoorlie supply goods and work train) ?
When I worked at AN (back in its glory days in the late '80s when it
could show that running at a profit was possible, and the place was
being run by people who looked as though they could make the possible
happen), the "Sugar" was a highlight of my job as I got to to ride it
regularly. The return train was called the "Bomber".
AN also ran the Iron Triangle Limited (Adelaide to Whyalla) and the
Silver City Limited (Adelaide to Broken Hill) operating Budd rail
cars.
Peter Bramwell
Brisbane, Australia
"ze gretter ze erds, ze gretter ze shallonge" (Inspector Clouseau)
David Bromage
Peter Bramwell (bram...@eis.net.au) wrote:
>What about the world-famous "Tea and Sugar" (Port Augusta to
>Kalgoorlie supply goods and work train) ?
>Silver City Limited (Adelaide to Broken Hill) operating Budd rail
>cars.
These were all official names, not nicknames.
John Abraham Cleverdon
Leslie Brown (l...@werple.mira.net.au) wrote:
: s931...@minyos.its.rmit.EDU.AU (Craig Haber) wrote:
: >a...@conger.mel.dit.CSIRO.AU (Andrew Waugh) writes:
: >
: >>A couple of others in Victoria:
: >
: >> Spirit of Progress : SOP
: >
: >I'm led to believe railwaymen called the Spirit "The Blue".
: Then there was the Wang-Whitfield rail motor/ganger's trolley, NK1
I'm sure I've also heard the SOP referred to as the "Spirit of Salts".
John
Bill Hough
bram...@eis.net.au (Peter Bramwell) wrote:]
PB>When I worked at AN (back in its glory days in the late '80s when it
PB>could show that running at a profit was possible, and the place was
PB>being run by people who looked as though they could make the possible
PB>happen), the "Sugar" was a highlight of my job as I got to to ride it
PB>regularly. The return train was called the "Bomber".
Where did "bomber" come from?