Line names that are no longer used.

[Pyewipecarshed]

There was a short-lived thing on Teesside from the mid-70s, I can't recall if it was Teeslink or Teesrail but it covered Darlington to Saltburn and the Middlesbrough to Nunthorpe part of the Whitby line.
Into the 2010s either Longbeck or Marske still had the logo under the BR arrow on the station sign at the entrance, IIRC it was green with interlinked pieces of chain on it in white.

And, after its 1930s 1500 V DC electrification, the workaday, suburban Manchester, South Junction & Altrincham Railway (MSJ&AR) line had "Many Short Journeys & Absolute Reliability". This was more a clunky advertising tagline dreamed up by some marketing bod than a common name ever adopted by the public - so a bit like Harlequin Line decades later.

Platforms 13 and 14 at Manchester Piccadilly are still referred to by crews as "the junction" today, they were originally built by the MSJA

 

[Rescars]

Also some tube line names have evolved - the Central London Raliway (Central Line) , City and South London Railway (Northern Line Bank Branch). Great Northern,Piccadilly and Brompton
(Piccadilly Line) etc.

Although the Inner Circle has become the Circle Line, sadly neither the Outer Circle nor Middle Circle have survived in their original forms, though bits and pieces have different names these days. Anyone fancy a through trip from Mansion House to Broad Street via Willesden?!

 

[Taunton]

The Great Western called the Oxford to Worcester, Kidderminster, etc. the West Midlands line.

That was, as described earlier, originally the Oxford, Worcester & Wolverhampton Railway, OW&W, which got an early nickname of the "Old Worse & Worse". It even predated the line from Oxford through Birmingham as the way to Wolverhampton. Long run in separate sections, with the northern end closed completely, and although it merged up in 1860, it's still an expression that turns up sometimes. When did the last train run from Paddington to Kidderminster etc, likely as a portion of a Hereford service? Probably early 1960s.

 

[Gloster]

That was, as described earlier, originally the Oxford, Worcester & Wolverhampton Railway, OW&W, which got an early nickname of the "Old Worse & Worse". It even predated the line from Oxford through Birmingham as the way to Wolverhampton. Long run in separate sections, with the northern end closed completely, and although it merged up in 1860, it's still an expression that turns up sometimes. When did the last train run from Paddington to Kidderminster etc, likely as a portion of a Hereford service? Probably early 1960s.

I always thought it was the ‘Old, Worse and Worser’.

 

[Uncle Buck]

Still? It has never been called that, outside of a very small group of (mostly older) rail enthusiasts from nowhere near Glasgow who have come up with this myth.

Many Glaswegians of a certain vintage tend to call it “the Underground” rather than “the Subway”. I certainly miss the big orange “U” symbols above the stations! And no, nobody has ever called it “the Clockwork Orange”- that is a useful numpty-detector!!

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Just sorted out a big batch of Eastern Region Pocket Tables for the late 1970s & 1980s ,

Here is a selection from the Airedale Line through to the Wolds Coast Line

I will try and get them all scanned up and listed on my site - Transport Past Times

It's no surprise that "Three Rivers Line" didn't catch on... and it would be a rather cruel twist if what is now called the Pontefract Line was still called "The Goole Line"!

I'm not aware of any attempts by WYPTE or anyone else to rebrand the Penistone Line, but I'm sure some will have tried!

 

[Mollington St]

Rescars mentioned the Picc- Vic - here is how it could have looked

 

[Davester50]

Rescars mentioned the Picc- Vic - here is how it could have looked

That's one version. Here's another that's not my image, of London Underground style rolling stock.

Happy smiling Mancunians - Picc-Vic tube line proposals by mikeyashworth, on Flickr

 

[Helvellyn]

That's one version. Here's another that's not my image, of London Underground style rolling stock.

Happy smiling Mancunians - Picc-Vic tube line proposals by mikeyashworth, on Flickr

You alost feel a London based artist in an ad agency got their Victorias and Piccadillys mixed up.

 

[D6975]

Down my way many years ago there was the Weston, Clevedon & Portishead Railway.
I'll leave it to you to guess what that was called.

ps I can't believe how many people haven't heard of the Desert and the Mule.
I'm 66 years old and have never called them anything else, so the names must have been around for a very long time.

 

[SCH117X]

Midlands Link was used briefly in the 1980s for Birmingham-Derby-Nottingham(-Lincoln) trains. Tannoy announcements at New Street were painful as its seemed nearly every service had a route name that given out initially. Walsall Line being another amiss the seemingly almost constant Cross City Line references.

 

[Pyewipecarshed]

Into the 2010s either Longbeck or Marske still had the logo under the BR arrow on the station sign at the entrance, IIRC it was green with interlinked pieces of chain on it in white.

Knew I had a photo of it somewhere!! The sign at Longbeck station in 2013;