Garden Railway Forum

Characters after my favourite comedies.

As I only have one loco technically this is just a prospective solution.

Currently Vyvyan (Young Ones) originally it was to be the girlfriend (Jemima) then she became the ex so...

But I have at least two more steam (outline) locos and tram and maybe a diesel in the works so I have a few names to pick from.

Bernard (Black Books)
Hackett (Father Ted)
Malcolm (The Thick of It)
Holly (Red Dwarf)

I also only have one loco. They're expensive, aren't they? However, I do have a naming protocol that will be put into use if I ever get another one. Since I live on the edge of the Canadian barrens, I thought it might be fun to do animal names in the Inuit language.

The locomotive I have is a "Billy", and its stumpy, powerful appearance along with the big squared-off dome mounted forward of centre on the boiler in my opinion lends it somewhat the air of the hardy, hump-backed Musk Ox, which also like "Billy" is much smaller than you would think. The Inuit word for this creature is "OMINGMAK" pronounced more or less how its spelled.

The only trouble is the name plates I had made are too long for the cab sides now that the coal-bunkers have been removed so the engine is simply "#1" until I work out how to fix the plates to the boiler side.

Other animal names I like and could name a locomotive are:

Ookpik- the Owl
Tuktu- the reindeer
Tiriganiaq- the fox
Nanuq -the polar bear
Amaruq- the wolf


I also like Amaqjuak- the strong one

and Elisapie- the Inuit version of "Elizabeth"

I realize this doesn't really fit in with the provenance of the loco or rolling-stock: It's all British narrow-gauge and that's all I am ever going to model- but it's my railway and I like the words.

Good for you Keith. It is your railway, so you can do what you like and name what you like....

I love those names