TOCs with Unfortunate Nicknames

[AgeoftheTrain7]

There was a thread on the bus section of this forum a while ago entitled 'Bus Companies with Unfortunate Nicknames' - couldn't seem to find one for Train Operating Companies, but some were rather funny.
Anyone heard anything mentioned?

I'll start off with... TransPennine Distress
Or a blast from the past... Arriva Trains Fails

(no disrespect at all to railway staff or TOCs, they do a good job - although some commuters may disagree, hence the nicknames!)

 

[Peter0124]

Northern Fail (with a sad face on the 'n' logo)

 

[D6130]

Northern Fail

Worst Group - pick your associated TOC!

ScotFail

 

[Islineclear3_1]

(No)Go-via Thameslink Railway...?

 

[zwk500]

(No)Go-via Thameslink Railway...?

I very rarely hear it called Govia Thameslink, it's usually either Thameslink or Southern Rail/Fail

The general Rail -> Fail transition means most train companies will have the obvious nickname.

 

[DelayRepay]

(No)Go-via Thameslink Railway...?

Their predecessor had a better nickname: Worst C*apital Connect.

 

[AlterEgo]

Vermin Trains. Worst Late Western.

 

[Huntergreed]

(Very)CrossCountry
Avanti Worst Coast
Worst Midlands Trains
Worst/Last Transpennine Express
MerseyFail
Network Fail
East Midlands Failway
Great Western Failway

 

[LA50041]

Worst Great Western - replaced by Late Western Railway
Miserey Rail
Notwork Rail

 

[SargeNpton]

Not really a new thing though is it?

Ell Of A Mess
Late and Never Early
Slow & Dirty
Go When Ready

 

[Bletchleyite]

Their predecessor had a better nickname: Worst C*apital Connect.

And it's pinky-purply cousin, Worst Late Western.

"Miseryfail" is a common Merseyrail one, combining the two above.

Not heard one for LNR, though I guess you could do Worst Midlands Trains/Railway.

Chiltern seems to avoid it despite being pretty mediocre since Arriva got its grubby mitts on it.

Make-you-very-CrossCountry?

ScotRail would I guess have an obvious switching of "Scot" for a swear word.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 12 Jul 2022 ==

(No)Go-via Thameslink Railway...?

Thamestink.

 

[duncanp]

Not really a new thing though is it?

Ell Of A Mess
Late and Never Early
Slow & Dirty
Go When Ready

Slightly off topic, but it reminds me of B.O.A.C. (British Overseas Airways Corporation), a predecessor of today's British Airways, which was known as Better On A Camel

The London Chatham & Dover railway was known as the London Smashem & Turnover due to it's high accident rate.

And if you were to remove the second letter O from Cross Country Trains, I think it would reflect many people's views on being stuck on a short formed overcrowded train for hours. (how can a service from Nottingham to Cardiff be two carriages?)

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

Not a TOC, but I’ve seen many an immature post deliberately referring to Hitachi AT300 UK stock as Super Hitachi Intercity Train, and it’s unfortunate acronym.

South Western Failway is what we get down here, not very imaginative but somewhat accurate.

 

[FormerBritInMe]

Even more off topic, here in the US we like to apply it to train names.
For example the New York/Boston to Chicago Lake Shore Limited is generally referred to as the Late for Sure Limited. It usually lives up to its name.

Wasn't there a tradition of calling the worst line in the system the Misery Line? I remember at one time the LT&S was that until it got modernized with the class 357s etc. Then some other line became the Misery Line. Not sure who hold the title these days.

 

[Galvanize]

LOROL (2007-2015 or whenever it became Arriva Rail London)=LOOROLL

 

[nr758123]

TransPennine Distress

Also known as Trans Pantomime Express

 

[32475]

Slightly off topic, but it reminds me of B.O.A.C. (British Overseas Airways Corporation), a predecessor of today's British Airways, which was known as Better On A Camel

The London Chatham & Dover railway was known as the London Smashem & Turnover due to it's high accident rate.

And if you were to remove the second letter O from Cross Country Trains, I think it would reflect many people's views on being stuck on a short formed overcrowded train for hours. (how can a service from Nottingham to Cardiff be two carriages?)

The old LNER was known as the Late Never Early Railway

 

[duncanp]

Even more off topic, here in the US we like to apply it to train names.
For example the New York/Boston to Chicago Lake Shore Limited is generally referred to as the Late for Sure Limited. It usually lives up to its name.

Wasn't there a tradition of calling the worst line in the system the Misery Line? I remember at one time the LT&S was that until it got modernized with the class 357s etc. Then some other line became the Misery Line. Not sure who hold the title these days.

I have head Amtrak referred to as Amtrash

And over the border in Canada, the old Canadian National Railway was known as Certainly No Rush

 

[class 9]

Back in GNER days, after a period of repeated OHL problems, I heard the phrase.... Going Nowhere Electric Railway

 

[43096]

Back in GNER days, after a period of repeated OHL problems, I heard the phrase.... Going Nowhere Electric Railway

When the same operator proposed de-electrification, the name Garnett’s Non-Electric Railway was coined.

 

[Western Sunset]

If we're into historical ones:
Man, Sheff & Lincs = Money sunk and lost
Great Cent = Gone completely

 

[Bletchleyite]

LOROL (2007-2015 or whenever it became Arriva Rail London)=LOOROLL

I more saw that one staying as LOROL as meaning something about rolling around laughing, like a portmanteau of LOL and ROFL.

 

[Class800]

And it's pinky-purply cousin, Worst Late Western.

"Miseryfail" is a common Merseyrail one, combining the two above.

Not heard one for LNR, though I guess you could do Worst Midlands Trains/Railway.

Chiltern seems to avoid it despite being pretty mediocre since Arriva got its grubby mitts on it.

Make-you-very-CrossCountry?

ScotRail would I guess have an obvious switching of "Scot" for a swear word.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 12 Jul 2022 ==



Thamestink.

snot?

 

[Dunfanaghy Rd]

Not a TOC, but I’ve seen many an immature post deliberately referring to Hitachi AT300 UK stock as Super Hitachi Intercity Train, and it’s unfortunate acronym.

South Western Failway is what we get down here, not very imaginative but somewhat accurate.

Successor to Slow Wobbly Trains.
Pat

 

[E16 Cyclist]

Back in GNER days, after a period of repeated OHL problems, I heard the phrase.... Going Nowhere Electric Railway

Reminds me of WAGN aka we are going nowhere

 

[43066]

I very rarely hear it called Govia Thameslink, it's usually either Thameslink or Southern Rail/Fail

“God’s Terrible Railway” I’ve heard a few times…

 

[DelW]

Not really a new thing though is it?

Ell Of A Mess
Late and Never Early
Slow & Dirty
Go When Ready

The original Great Western was also called the Great Way Round before the Berks and Hants route to Taunton opened. Earlier it had absorbed the Old Worse and Worse (Oxford Worcester and Wolverhampton).

 

[Jan Mayen]

Slightly off topic, but it reminds me of B.O.A.C. (British Overseas Airways Corporation), a predecessor of today's British Airways, which was known as Better On A Camel

The London Chatham & Dover railway was known as the London Smashem & Turnover due to it's high accident rate.

And if you were to remove the second letter O from Cross Country Trains, I think it would reflect many people's views on being stuck on a short formed overcrowded train for hours. (how can a service from Nottingham to Cardiff be two carriages?)

During the Profumo affair, I'm told that B.O.A.C was know as Bend Over Again Christine...

 

[AgeoftheTrain7]

Their predecessor had a better nickname: Worst C*apital Connect.

...but surely you mean Worst C*apital Disconnect!!

 

[Edsmith]

Worst Capital Neglect and Worst Late Western I hear regularly.