Odd railroad or passenger train names?

[Modelcar]

...PennsylvaniaRailroad: That's a neat "logo" at your signiture.

[agentatascadero]

How about sports names for trains? There were, of course, numerous Chiefs, The 49er, numerous Flyers, a fleet of Eagles, The Steeler, The Viking, The Senator,The Laker, The (Yankee) Clipper, The Padre, a fleet of Rockets, The Varsity, I'm sure there are many more.

[morseman]

Attn: HUGH JAMPTON Re: Newfie Bullet

This is jst an aside re Newfie Bullet

Before Joey Smallwood became premier of Newfoundland, he was a union organizer
He walked all 547 miles of the railroad visition all stations and shops to organize
a RR union & was successful of course.

He owned quite a large pig farm and when he became premier, and any visiting dignataries came to visit, whether they were presidents, kings, princes, premiers etc. He would always take delight in showing off his pig farm.

You can add the above to your book of useless information.

[ZephyrOverland]

This is my kind of topic!

I've been researching and collecting passenger train names since high school and I've found a number of them which were more creative or unique than the usual "Chicago Express" type names. The majority of names I have come across make sense because of the context in which the passenger run operated, but some names stand out. Examples:

"11 Come 7" - A Colorado Midland Denver-Cripple Creek run.

Airliner - A NYC Toledo-Chicago run which celebrated a more direct line between those two cities than acknowledge another form of transportation.

Big Five (RI), Chicago 23/Cincinnati 24 (PRR). Katy "Eight" (MKT), Santa Fe Eight (ATSF) - for a time railroads would utilize the train number as part of the run name.

Coast to Coast Limited - No, this was not applied to a true transcontinental train. This was used by the Seaboard for a Tampa-West Palm Beach run.

Cuban Special - This Chicago/St. Louis - New Orleans Illinois Central train existed briefly around 1906 to counter the Havana Limited, an also short lived Alton/Mobile & Ohio Chicago-Mobile train.

Dixieana - C&EI/L&N/NC&StL/ACL/FEC - Chicago-Miami - Ran only 6 trips before it was canceled because of WWII.

Excelsior Express - Erie/Big 4 - New York-St. Louis.

Hook and Eye Local - L&N - Atlanta-Knoxville.

Industrial - South Shore - Chicago-South Bend.

Legislative Limited - Big 4 - Cincinnati-Columbus.

Grand Central - NYC - New York-Chicago - What other railroad sported a train named after a station?

Mudlavia and Brazil Express - C&EI - Chicago-Terre Haute and Caribbean Mail - FEC -
Jacksonville - Miami - Two exotic sounding runs.

Newsboy - SP Oakland-Sacramento.

Pleasure Limited - Galveston-Houston Electric - Galveston-Houston.

Progress Limited - PRR - Pittsburgh-Chicago - An ironic name used in the midst of the Depression in trying to put on a positive face during bleak times.

Quickstep - St. Louis-Nashville - L&N and others.

The "Ra" - PRSL - Cape May-Philadelphia - This must be the shortest train name ever.

Red Head - CB&Q - Houston-Dallas.

Scarlet Wings - Cincinnati and Lake Erie - Cincinnati-Dayton.

Second Empire - NYC - New York-Buffalo - An unusal way to name a service that augmented the Empire State Express.

Sing Sing Special - NYC - New York-Sing Sing - Business must have been good to Sing Sing during the existence of this train.

Sunchaser - IC/Central of Georgia/ACL/FEC - Chicago-Miami - One of the more colorful Florida train names.

Texan Hustler - Frisco - St. Louis-Dallas.

Texas Sunshine/California Sunshine - MP-TP - St. Louis-Texas points - An alternate nameing convention of the westbound Sunshine Special in the Mid 1930's.

Twilight Annex - CNW - Spooner-Ashland - Another way to name supplimental service.

Ute - Colorado Midland - Denver-Grand Junction.

Velvet Train - Monon/Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton - Chicago-Cincinnati.

Worlds Fairliner - NYC - Chicago-New York.

Year Round Limited - A New York-Tampa Seaboard train that stood apart from its seasonal siblings.

Zipper - C&EI - Chicago-St. Louis

[eolafan]

QUOTE: Originally posted by gbrewer

One of the more curious sounding names that comes to mind is the Ak-Sar-Ben Zephyr (CB&Q).

Yep, indeed, when this train was westbound from Chicago to Omaha it was called the NEBRASKA Zephyr, then eastbound from Omaha to Chicago it was called (you guessed it) the AKSARBEN Zephyr....catchy heh?

[bobwilcox]

QUOTE: Originally posted by eolafan

QUOTE: Originally posted by gbrewer

One of the more curious sounding names that comes to mind is the Ak-Sar-Ben Zephyr (CB&Q).

Yep, indeed, when this train was westbound from Chicago to Omaha it was called the NEBRASKA Zephyr, then eastbound from Omaha to Chicago it was called (you guessed it) the AKSARBEN Zephyr....catchy heh?

AKSARBEN backwards is ?

[eolafan]

In contemprary times, and while not a passenger train, I kinda like the BNSF daily train from Chicago (Belt Railway of Chicago yard) to Galesburg...symbol freight BRCGAL...which is known to local BNSF workers and to the dispatchers as simply the "Brickgal" and that's how they call them on the radio...really.

[eolafan]

QUOTE: Originally posted by bobwilcox

QUOTE: Originally posted by eolafan

QUOTE: Originally posted by gbrewer

One of the more curious sounding names that comes to mind is the Ak-Sar-Ben Zephyr (CB&Q).

Yep, indeed, when this train was westbound from Chicago to Omaha it was called the NEBRASKA Zephyr, then eastbound from Omaha to Chicago it was called (you guessed it) the AKSARBEN Zephyr....catchy heh?

AKSARBEN backwards is ?

Bob, AKSARBEN backwards is NEBRASKA

[Anonymous]

Acela Express! It took me forever to figure out how to say Acela before I found that it was a combination of "acceleration" and "excellence," according to Amtrak anyway. It was rather obvious after that.

[espeefoamer]

At one time, an eastern railroad,(I think NYC) had a piggyback train called the Flying Saucer.

[coborn35]

Not a passenger train but........... The Duluth,Missabe and Iron Range used to call their ore trains that came down from the mine near Forbes (I believe its Forbes) Thunderbirds!

[Anonymous]

I have a genealogy question, does anyone know where the Fruitland Express ran?
Here is the query I am trying to answer;
Seeking information on a branch of the Union Pacific Railroad that was
> called the Fruitland Express that would have run from Eastern Oregon to or
> through Reith, OR in the 1940s.

The best I could figure is that it is the following;
Not sure about this "Fruitland Express" thing, I would swear I have heard
> chatter on the subject in my Model Railroader Magazines, but online only
> reference I can find is a web site listing the railroads abbreviation for
> that line; PFEZ.
>
> I have to speculate that the meaning of the name is because it was a major
> rail carrier to the Fruit growing portion of Southeastern Washington. In
> case you aren't aware of it, Reith is just west of Pendleton and there
> appears to be an interchange either in Pendleton or Reith between the
> Burlington Norther and Union Pacific, BN seems to be headed for Spokane.

[ZephyrOverland]

The Fruitland Express may be a nickname for the freight trains that carried fruit out of that region you mentioned. PFEZ may refer to the Pacific Fruit Express service, a joint Union Pacific/Southern Pacific operation. But from I can tell there was never a passenger train with that name.

[Anonymous]

The Savannah and Atlanta was called, by the folks in Richmond, Burke, Screven, Effingham and Chatham Counties Georgia, Dark and Dusty. The Atlanta Birmingham and Coast had a nickname known only to the builders as "Mr. Shepperd's Road"

[SALfan]

I don't consider this an odd name, just a very pretty one - Orange Blossom Special, IIRC an SAL passenger train.

[BaltACD]

QUOTE: Originally posted by JOdom

I don't consider this an odd name, just a very pretty one - Orange Blossom Special, IIRC an SAL passenger train.

You recall correctly, it was also used by CSX as a name for a prefered Intermodal service the company offered in the late 80's between Florida and the Northeast.

[garr]

I can't remember if it was officially called this, but the Georgia Railroad had a passenger train called the "Goober".

Jay

[ZephyrOverland]

QUOTE: Originally posted by johnwbaie

Here's some more:

IC's Irvin S. Cobb, PA's Nellie Bly, NH's Gilt Edge, C&EI's Zipper.
I also recall the Furlough and the Nightcap but don't remember the railroads (NH or PA?).

The Furlough was a PRR Philadephia-Cape Charles train and the NH Night Cap was used on a NY-Stamford run. Amtrak also had a Night Cap between New York and Washington.

[Anonymous]

The NY, NH, &H R.R. had passenger trains with names like "Naugatuck,the
Night Cap, & the Bankers.

[tpatrick]

And the Jamestown, Westfield and Northwestern (JW & NW) was sometimes called the "Jesus Wept and No Wonder."

[Anonymous]

No one can say railroads have no sense of humor.
My dad rode a local into New Haven that was a single BUDD RDC. The timetable name was "The Rocket"; the regular riders aboard that mighty example of American transportation dubbed it "The Rattler" because of the interesting condition of the NY,NH,&H RR's roadbed at the time (1966-68).

My wife remembers riding the "Nancy Hanks" on the Southern- who was Nancy Hanks?

Erik

[martin.knoepfel]

A newspaper recommended odd names for publicly financed trains to Sacramente CA.

IIRC the proposal was "The lobbyist" and "The sting"

[ZephyrOverland]

QUOTE: Originally posted by erikthered

No one can say railroads have no sense of humor.
My dad rode a local into New Haven that was a single BUDD RDC. The timetable name was "The Rocket"; the regular riders aboard that mighty example of American transportation dubbed it "The Rattler" because of the interesting condition of the NY,NH,&H RR's roadbed at the time (1966-68).

My wife remembers riding the "Nancy Hanks" on the Southern- who was Nancy Hanks?

Erik

The Nancy Hanks was a famous racehorse of the mid 1890's. The original Nancy Hanks was operated by the Central of Georgia in the late 1890's while the Nancy Hanks II was the post WWII version, again on the Central of Georgia. Both trains operated between Atlanta and Savannah.

[K. P. Harrier]

There was a certain irony to a Union Pacific eastbound train to Chicago called “The City of Los Angeles.”

[ZephyrOverland]

QUOTE: Originally posted by K. P. Harrier

There was a certain irony to a Union Pacific eastbound train to Chicago called “The City of Los Angeles.”

Not necessarily - could you imagine the number of "City of Chicago's" that would need to exist if the various lines were absolute in their naming conventions? As it were, only the Nickel Plate Road was pure in its city train name convention with the "City of Cleveland" and "City of Chicago", despite the fact that the names were applied to a Chicago-Buffalo run.

[vsmith]

QUOTE: Originally posted by wrwatkins

How about some take offs on railroad names? How about these?

Nevada-California-Oregon, aka NCO, called Narrow, crooked, and ornery
B&O called Beano (take off on the medication for flatulance)

Or a name for the Pacific Electric red cars in their waning days when maintenance was lacking--The Red Rattler

Or the short line in Cimmaron NM. I forget its name but its logo was the swastica before it took on bad connotations. They called it The Swastica Line. In the late '30s they changed their slogan and signage.

My personal favorite was the nickname given to the Nevada County Narrow Gauge RR,

NCNG, Never Comes, Never Goes [:D]

[vsmith]

SP had a cross country freight special hauling lettuce called the "Salad Bowl Express"

[espeefoamer]

There was once a railroad called the Dan Patch Line.It was named after a race horse.This eventually became the Minniapolis,Northfield&Southern.

[Anonymous]

How about the Union Pacific "Hotshot Intermodal" ?