Named Locomotives

[mhurley87f]

Over in the UK, we've had locomotives named after Kings and Queens, Playwrights and Poets, Stately Homes and Castles, famous battles and military campaigns, warships, warplanes and Regiments, Admirals and Generals, Railway Engineers and Railway Company Directors,etc., etc.,etc. and lastly, and arguably the best, to reinforce the image of speed, Game Birds and Classic Horse Race winners.

Other than the PRR President Class, how many other classes of locomotive (steam or diesel) were named in the US and Canada?

[tree68]

I don't recall of any "classes" named, however individual railroads have named individual locomotives, or series of locomotives. Seem like one of the Maine RRs once named some locos for Revolutionary War heros.

Oh, yeah - I think Metra has names of cities on their line on their engines.

[dknelson]

I believe the President Class was B&O 4-6-2s, not PRR.
Dave Nelson

[Overmod]

There were many, many named locomotives in the USA. I won't attempt to come up with a full list, but:

B&O had 5600, the "George H. Emerson", and the Lord and Lady Baltimore (in addition to the Presidents). All four of the D&H high-pressure Consolidations were named, although there was no common 'class' name for them. B&M had a competition (I think for school children) to name some of their Pacifics, surviving locomotive #3713 among them -- again, no common name for the class, as all the names were rather wildly different. IIRC, Southern named some of its E8s on the post-Amtrak-inception Southern Crescent, and D&H had a name on at least one of the PAs. We shouldn't forget the RF&P Governor class.

[bobwilcox]

The Frisco named their passenger diesels after race horses.

[Anonymous]

The last issue of TRAINS had a great story about a locomotive engineer whose locomotive was named after him.

Back in the early days of railroading naming the locomotive was common practice over here... for example, the "Jupiter", the "Texas", and the "General".

Erik

[daveklepper]

The B&O President Class were their best Pacifics. Don't forget the one streamlined Burlington Pacific, the Aeolus (stainless steel like a Zephyr diesel locomotive). In Great Britain I did have the opportunity to photograph A-4 Pacific :Kingfisher" and then ride behind it from Aberdeen to Dundee, much of the way at 100 mph. 1962, I believe.

[DPD1]

I believe the Tennessee, Alabama & Georgia use to name theirs. There was also a line in New England, but for some reason the name escapes me. Maybe it was MC? Not sure.

Dave

-DPD Productions - Home of the TrainTenna RR Monitoring Antenna-
http://eje.railfan.net/dpdp/

[Randy Stahl]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Overmod

There were many, many named locomotives in the USA. I won't attempt to come up with a full list, but:

B&O had 5600, the "George H. Emerson", and the Lord and Lady Baltimore (in addition to the Presidents). All four of the D&H high-pressure Consolidations were named, although there was no common 'class' name for them. B&M had a competition (I think for school children) to name some of their Pacifics, surviving locomotive #3713 among them -- again, no common name for the class, as all the names were rather wildly different. IIRC, Southern named some of its E8s on the post-Amtrak-inception Southern Crescent, and D&H had a name on at least one of the PAs. We shouldn't forget the RF&P Governor class.

Weren't the D&H high pressure engines all a one off thing anyhow? If so the would leave them in a class of their own.
Randy

[tatans]

Do you mean the actual name painted on the engine itself?? I can't think of any in Canada, but they seemed to all have "names", Selkirk- Mountain-Jubilee-Pacific etc. etc.

[Anonymous]

In the early days many if not most US locomotives were named.

In the 1960s the Reading named their two C-430 locomotives after two of the very early steam locos. They became Catawissa-II and Ironside-II.

[csxengineer98]

csx has named several of its locomotives...and some of the crews have named a few of thier own..... csx has the spirit of waycross...the spirit of***berland...the spirit of west virgina....the spirit grorga...i think thier are a few more out thier..but i dont remember....and i have seen one that showed up at the yard i work at that was hand painted by a crew someplace called the spirit of landsdale.....
csx engineer

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by tatans

Do you mean the actual name painted on the engine itself?? I can't think of any in Canada, but they seemed to all have "names", Selkirk- Mountain-Jubilee-Pacific etc. etc.

Don't forget the Hudsons and the Royal Hudsons.

Those are all named for their wheel arrangements, though, I do believe.

[chad thomas]

Cal-trains, the SF bay area commuter line, used to name there locomotives after on line towns. as far as I know they still do.

[SALfan]

IIRC, the RF&P named its 4-8-4's after Confederate generals, the "General William Mahone" being one of them.

[espeefoamer]

The Rock Island named a series of GPs in the blue paint.I think one was named "The American Railfan".

[garr]

The Georgia Railroad had a GP38-2 delivered new in the Family Lines paint scheme named for Atlanta historian and former Coca-Cola employee Franklin Garrett.

I believe theTAG unit was a GP38 named John Chambliss.

Jay

[passengerfan]

Dont forget the EMD E5A and E5B diesels built for the CB&Q, C&S and FW&D. All received names when built and one still operates today in a museum with its original name.

[eolafan]

Many of the F40 units on Metra here in Chicago are named after community leaders and some are named after towns served by Metra.

[tatans]

A lot of British locomotives had names on the side of the engine, is this what we are talking about, names like "Flying Scotsman" "Winston Churchill" etc.etc. or do you mean name classification? used for identification???? Lets see some photos with actual names on the engines.

[mhurley87f]

Thanks for the replies, and yes, thanks for correcting me on the President class !

Naming the a locomotive "Flying Scotsman" and later naming a London King's Cross - Edinburgh Waverley service "The Flying Scotsman" has caused no end of problems for journalists, who invariably get the whole thing wrong. Did anything similar occur in the US?

Incidentally, our former LNER was keen on names of Racehorses for their entgines, as their area included such top class courses as Newmarket, Doncaster and York, and yeas, there a few names that didn't suggest a locomotive, Spearmint, Brown Jack, Salmon Trout, etc. Back in the thirties there was a horse called "The ***" but he didn't have a chance, did he. And only recently, a mischievous owner named his horse "Hoof Hearted" which brought a lot of joy to race goers listening to the 'course announcer!!

[tatans]

This will be question number three: again: Can anyone respond to the "naming engines" Do you mean actually painting or putting a sign with a name on the side of an engine,such as "City Of New Orleans" in big white letters. OR are you speaking of simply referring to locomotives by "given" names for some type of indentification or classification. I can't seem to put this question in any simpler terms.

[morseman]

i believe the initial entry in this forum was about
naming individual locomotives.

I have often thought of what names Amtrak would give to
its engines cities, locations, animals, heavenly bodies
greek gods politicians, presidents

Presidents ??? How ludicrous it would be if a loccomive
was given the name "George W. Bush" and George would
be at the official ceremonies for an engine bearing his name.

Re the Royal Hudsons...... These trains were named Royal Hudsons
after the tour of the King & Queen of England across Canada,
I believe in 1939. & every Hudson of that type carried a crown
on each side.

[CSXrules4eva]

QUOTE: Originally posted by csxengineer98

csx has named several of its locomotives...and some of the crews have named a few of thier own..... csx has the spirit of waycross...the spirit of***berland...the spirit of west virgina....the spirit grorga...i think thier are a few more out thier..but i dont remember....and i have seen one that showed up at the yard i work at that was hand painted by a crew someplace called the spirit of landsdale.....
csx engineer

What?/?? I've never head or have seen The Spririt of Lansdale. That's real interesting. I live only live 15 mins from Lansdale and I occasionaly go railfaning there. I live in Wyndmoor, PA right outside of Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia. I have to keep a sharp look out for that one.!!!!

Asides from this I know of many steam locomotives that have names like the Allegheny, Hudsion (spelling), Challlenger,. . .. . .. . . . . . . . .so on so forth. I don't know personally of any diesels that have been given names other than that with two or four letters and some numbers in between.

[tree68]

QUOTE: Originally posted by tatans

This will be question number three: again: Can anyone respond to the "naming engines" Do you mean actually painting or putting a sign with a name on the side of an engine,such as "City Of New Orleans" in big white letters. OR are you speaking of simply referring to locomotives by "given" names for some type of indentification or classification. I can't seem to put this question in any simpler terms.

Both, actually. I believe the British practice was to have a class of locomotives be all named in the same vein. Thus the "game bird" class might have individual locomotives named (often on a cast plate bolted to the engine) things like "Grouse," "Pheasant," etc. (Disclaimer - don't know what the actual names for that class were and didn't look them up...)

Someone more familiar with the practice can certainly expand on that, but that should answer your question.

[Anonymous]

The Kankakee Beaverville & Southern has 6 GP38-2M's, #701-706 which are named for it's current engineers and conductors. I thinkthis was reported a while back in one of the magazines.

[BR60103]

In Ontario, the shortline Goderich and Exeter named its first locos (previously owned diesels) after characters from Shakespeare because their main yard was in Stratford. These locos went elsewhere in the conglomerate (Cape Breton, I think) and the current locos have neither names nor roadnames nor a common paint scheme.
Don't forget the Great Western's Bear class (one loco, their only Pacific).

[csxengineer98]

QUOTE: Originally posted by CSXrules4eva

QUOTE: Originally posted by csxengineer98

csx has named several of its locomotives...and some of the crews have named a few of thier own..... csx has the spirit of waycross...the spirit of***berland...the spirit of west virgina....the spirit grorga...i think thier are a few more out thier..but i dont remember....and i have seen one that showed up at the yard i work at that was hand painted by a crew someplace called the spirit of landsdale.....
csx engineer

What?/?? I've never head or have seen The Spririt of Lansdale. That's real interesting. I live only live 15 mins from Lansdale and I occasionaly go railfaning there. I live in Wyndmoor, PA right outside of Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia. I have to keep a sharp look out for that one.!!!!

Asides from this I know of many steam locomotives that have names like the Allegheny, Hudsion (spelling), Challlenger,. . .. . .. . . . . . . . .so on so forth. I don't know personally of any diesels that have been given names other than that with two or four letters and some numbers in between.

yep realy... i did a google surch on it..and turns out its csx engin number 2680 and i found a pic....http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=7886
injoy
csx engineer