Garden Railway Forum

Although my locos don't have name plates, they are all named. I choose topical names of what was going on at the time of the build.
My twin De Wintons are named after characters from the Harry Potter books I was reading to my eldest son.
The large De Winton was named after Jack White as I was a big fan of the White Stripes.
The steam diesel was named after Calvin Harris as I was getting into EDM.
My latest build copies the name arrangement of Jerry M; Donald J after the great man himself.

As my two favourite NG railways are the Southwold and the Welshpool and Llanfair, I've adopted their practices. My steam locos are named after villages and communities (hypothetically) served by the railway and my i/c locos are named after members of the family of the gentry who would have inhabited Peckforton Castle during the period when my railway is supposed to be set (ie 1932). However, I have now included members of my own family (including pets) in the latter category - in effect elevating them to the peerage.

Loco No. 1 - 0-4-0ST (freelance Peckett) - Peckforton
Loco No. 2 - 2-4-0T (ex Jersey Railway Barclay) - Beeston
Loco No. 3 - 0-4-0ST (freelance Hunslet) - Bickerton
Loco No. 4 - 0-6-2T (ex Southwold Manning Wardle) - Bulkeley
Loco No. 5 - 2-4-2T (ex Southwold Sharp Stewart) - Tarporley
Loco No. 6 - 0-6-0ST (ex Davington LR Manning Wardle) - Harthill
Loco No. 7 - 0-4-0DM (freelance Fowler) - Tollemache
Loco No. 8 - 0-4-0DM (freelance) - Wynford
Loco No. 9 - 0-4-0PM (freelance) - Lolly
Loco No. 10 - 0-4-0T (freelance Beyer Peacock) - Tiverton
Loco No. 11 - 0-4-2T (freelance Bagnall) - Bunbury
Loco No. 12 - 0-4-0ST (ex Kettering Furnaces Black Hawthorn) - Burwardsley
Loco No. 13a/13b - (Freelance Ford Railmotor) - Samantha / Josephine
Loco No. 14 - 0-4-0PM (Plate frame Simplex) - Emma
Loco No. 15 - 0-4-0DM (Freelance) - Linda

More info on the PLR's motive power (though this now needs updating) - http://riksrailway.blogspot.com/2015/05 ... pdate.html

Rik

My named locos use names from British Railways "Warship" diesel locos which were named after famous Royal Navy ships. These were built in the late 50s/early 60s and last until the early 70s. I have fond memories of them and with names like Thruster, Highflyer, Vanquisher and Intrepid there are plenty to choose from. Well, 69 actually as I'll skip Sir Brian Robertson [D800] and The Royal Naval Reserve 1859-1959 [D812]. Perhaps I should have started this message with "My named locos use names from famous Royal Navy ships...".

A friend of mine names his after his favourite French vineyards (Cos d´Estournel, Ducru-Beaucaillou, Gruaud Larose, Poyferré, Lynch-Bages, etc.).

As an agent for MDC, I see a lot of the name plate requests that they process. My absolute favourite one was this: "My wife has suggested that my new loco should be named after her, so please supply one pair of name plates with text to read 'THE WIFE'". I suppose it caters for any future eventualities!

Scan eBay, buy cheap.... easy! I'm not fussy about names although I do have names on all locos.

Brilliant story Tony!

Maybe SWMBO could be one as well.

TonyW wrote: ↑Sun Mar 04, 2018 11:08 am "My wife has suggested that my new loco should be named after her, so please supply one pair of name plates with text to read "THE WIFE'". I suppose it caters for any future eventualities!

I love this, Thanks, Tony.

I think that the name a locomotive carries is very important, it needs to very relevant to either the railway or more specifically, the modeller (owner) of the railway (loco).
I have seen some great loco names (and some appalling ones!)

My own preferences change as often as the weather, although I do try to stick with a name once given to a locomotive (not always successfully).


My Live Steamers were initially named after my close family -

Beryl - my mum (given to a loco my dad built)
Jacqueline - my wife
Christopher - my son (and late brother)
Princess - my daughters prefered name!


Other live steamer names just take after the original -

Mountaineer - FR loco


There are names that have appealed to me over the years, even being used on 009 engines back in the early 1980's -

Peppermint
Patience
Prudence
Dragonfly
Butterfly


Some are newer, that appeal to me now -

Pickle
Governor
Sir Francis (my middle name!)
Guardsman
Cavalryman

And some because of my proximity to Oxford City -

The Poet
The Scholar
The Academic

My naming scheme?

Whatever the loco is called normally! So my Millie is called 'Millie', Leader 'Leader', Excelsior 'Excelsior' etc

The only engines not named are my Battery Electric Battery Electrics because they would look weird named in my opinion.

Jon

My current build is called “Queen of the May” after my mother ( at least that’s what her brothers called her ) . The money for the DJB boiler came from her inheritance.
I once crewed on a sailboat called “ Follow Me “ have always fancied that as appropriate for a loco.
Tim

Well, in my case the only loco name at present is the one carried by my ancient SL3 and it's that of a childhood hamster...

The loco stable is currently two and I am vaguely envisaging it growing to four. I guess pets' names could be a theme

And since the railway's policy on anything is down to my whim, I'm toying with applying original broad gauge Great Western loco identity policy (no numbers, just names) to the carriages. Well, why not? Obviously inconsistencies abound: I want my locos to have name- and numberplates, and the loco number series will probably overlap the wagons...

Only got one steamer a, RH Billy and I have called her “Patricia Anne” after my partner funny enough called Anne

She is so supportive of me with my hobby, it is hers has well to some extent.

My Perfect World Tram is “Trixie 1” the others I don’t have names for.

I have two that are named after the wife to keep her happy (first and middle name). One named after my late father and several that have been named just because I like them. These have included:-
Tubal Cain who was the first artificer of metal.
Boaz Husband of Ruth and Great Grandfather of King David, the name also means strength and I chose to stick it on my smallest and least powerful loco. (Also my last sheet of suitable Letraset was running out of options)
Goliath II is in the worshop at the moment, this will be a bit of a monster.
I have amassed a collection of Triang Big Big Hunslets and I think these may end up as Marlon, Maisey, Boot and Wellington (I wonder if anyone will get that one)
There are others and I need to get around to etching more name plates and fitting the ones I already have made.

The 5" inch gauge gronk was already named "St. Illtyd" and it think that may stay.

Since my railway is modelled to a specific area in the Alpstein mountains in Switserland, I name the locomotives after the mountain hotels situated in that area.
The Roundhouse hf110c is named "Tierwis", the Beck locomotive has been renamed into "Meglisalp", the 3 axle diesel locomotive is called "Mesmer" and the little 2 axle diesel has the name "Schäfler"
The area I've situated the railway in is called the "Schwägalp" and the station is named after a group of summer houses of local farmers with a mountain hotel named "Aueli"

I choose this region because I've lived in a small village near to this place when I was young and the Alpstein mountains are one of my favourite hikingspots. So with my small garden railway and the names of the locomotives I keep a bit of a connection to this part of the world.

My Lady Anne is named after my Granddaughter, Kaitlan Grace. I now have a grandson so an excuse for a second loco?

Ian

I would say so Ian, surely that's the only way to keep things fair

Tom

Most definitely Ian.

Mind you when it comes to naming cars I have had quite a few that have been given names that start with "You....."

Done that Jim….it ends in R…..

Mine have carried names taken from the Lord of the Rings trilogy and Dicken's book Oliver Twist. Right now I roster 2 engines. An LGB/Aster that carries its as given name of Frank S. And I just got my old Roundhouse Bertie back. She currently carries the name of St Christopher. But the plates are to large and look out of place. I have a set with a red background for "Smaug" that I might use. Going to finish the engine to look similar to dougrail's Fennec, might even try to build a clone in 45mm gauge. Hope Doug doesn't mind. His work on Fennec is what got me to get a Bertie, and the desire to get it back once I had the funds. Mike the Aspie

Hello my first post on here so I probably shouldn't be commenting, but for my locomotives it is planned to use the forenames of my Grandparents who are no-longer here prefixed either "Sir" or "Lady" it'd just be a nice memory for myself.

I haven't decided if I will make a distinction between Diesel/Electric vs Steam locomotives as of yet. I might throw in a couple of Royal Navy Warships as well for good measure! :-D