• Our booking engine at tickets.railforums.co.uk (powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!

Competition to name one of the Class 150s on the Marston Vale Line announced

Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R

RailUK Forums

D365

D365

Veteran Member
Joined
29 Jun 2012
Messages
11,470
In honour of the infamous door treadplates, I would like to put forward ”BREL Trainmakers to the World”.
 
B

Bletchleyite

Veteran Member
Joined
20 Oct 2014
Messages
97,898
Location
"Marston Vale mafia"
Without a doubt Alan Turing, ideally with a Pride livery. Shall get it submitted.

Definitely Bletchley's most famous son. And someone I have more than a little bit in common with (though I'm nowhere near as clever as him!)

They should name all three, one for Turing, one for a famous Bedfordian (John Bunyan maybe?) but who for the third one, is there a famous connection to anywhere along the way?
 
43096

43096

On Moderation
Joined
23 Nov 2015
Messages
15,307
Bletchleyite said:
but who for the third one, is there a famous connection to anywhere along the way?
Click to expand...
Father Jack from “Father Ted” for his services to bricks… “I love my brick” … and the historic links with bricks at Stewartby,
 
I

Ibex

Member
Joined
23 Jan 2010
Messages
779
This competition ran for the 230s as well in 2019.

The winners were Alan Turing, Paula Radcliffe and Spirit of the Vale.

The naming then never happened presumably because C-19 came along and the line disappeared into oblivion!
 
43096

43096

On Moderation
Joined
23 Nov 2015
Messages
15,307
D365 said:
In honour of the infamous door treadplates, I would like to put forward ”BREL Trainmakers to the World”.
Click to expand...
If you want a local theme you could change it to “BREL Trainmakers to the Vale”!
 
Cach17

Cach17

Member
Joined
13 Jul 2023
Messages
18
Location
Kent
Seeing as though a few already went with Turing (and he might already have a unit named after him), I submitted Eddie "The Eagle" Edwards (apparently he's a Bedfordian).
 
TT-ONR-NRN

TT-ONR-NRN

Established Member
Joined
30 Dec 2016
Messages
10,481
Location
Farnham
Avanti and EMR did similar competitions and chose their staff members' entries, which makes me wonder why they open these to the public :lol:
 
FGW_DID

FGW_DID

Established Member
Joined
23 Jun 2011
Messages
2,729
Location
81E
wanderingriver said:
Just think it’d be funny ¯\_(ツ)_/¯


Still worth a shot :D
Click to expand...

Seriously! It was mildly amusing when first proposed in 2016, 8 years later and mentioned every time there’s a naming competition and then some, it’s now just tedious! :rolleyes:

en.m.wikipedia.org

Boaty McBoatface - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org en.m.wikipedia.org

TT-ONR-NRN said:
Avanti and EMR did similar competitions and chose their staff members' entries, which makes me wonder why they open these to the public :lol:
Click to expand...

After ”Boaty McBoatface” I quite often ask myself the same question!
 
Gaelan

Gaelan

Member
Joined
3 Apr 2023
Messages
809
Location
St Andrews
Bletchleyite said:
Without a doubt Alan Turing, ideally with a Pride livery. Shall get it submitted.
Click to expand...
GWR’s Pride train (800008) is named Alan Turing as well - though a Marston Vale train would be more fitting! Suppose there’s no reason there couldn’t be two.
 
7

70014IronDuke

Established Member
Joined
13 Jun 2015
Messages
3,699
Although not born in Bedford, John Howard is a largely forgotten, but great figure associated with the town/area. (Lived in Cardington.)

Having said that, I was talking to a Dutch diplomat last year, and mentioned him. She replied: "I did my Masters on the history of prison reform, so I do know the name and work of John Howard."

So I propose "John Howard", "R101" and "Stewartby Brickworks".
 
G

Gloster

Established Member
Joined
4 Sep 2020
Messages
8,442
Location
Up the creek
70014IronDuke said:
Although not born in Bedford, John Howard is a largely forgotten, but great figure associated with the town/area. (Lived in Cardington.)

Having said that, I was talking to a Dutch diplomat last year, and mentioned him. She replied: "I did my Masters on the history of prison reform, so I do know the name and work of John Howard."

So I propose "John Howard", "R101" and "Stewartby Brickworks".
Click to expand...

The R101 was hardly an outstanding success and came to an early end…so maybe not so inappropriate.
 
N

northwichcat

Established Member
Joined
4 Mar 2023
Messages
1,201
Location
Northwich
Naming a train that's already been in service for almost 40 years seems like a strange competition. Let's hope it's a reliable unit. A lot of us remember George Osborne unveiling a 'Northern Powerhouse' name for an ex-Thameslink train that frequently broke down.
 
PTR 444

PTR 444

Established Member
Joined
22 Aug 2019
Messages
2,284
Location
Wimborne
What about naming them after stations on the line, in the event that they close as a result of EWR. Fenny Stratford and Kempston Hardwick are pretty catchy names even if they weren’t settlements.
 
Travelmonkey

Travelmonkey

Member
Joined
16 Aug 2023
Messages
179
Location
The Midlands
Bletchleyite said:
Without a doubt Alan Turing, ideally with a Pride livery. Shall get it submitted.

Definitely Bletchley's most famous son. And someone I have more than a little bit in common with (though I'm nowhere near as clever as him!)

They should name all three, one for Turing, one for a famous Bedfordian (John Bunyan maybe?) but who for the third one, is there a famous connection to anywhere along the way?
Click to expand...
A bit cliché but Captain Tom Moore could be the 3rd. I do agree that LNWR needs a rainbow train though,
 
7

70014IronDuke

Established Member
Joined
13 Jun 2015
Messages
3,699
PTR 444 said:
What about naming them after stations on the line, in the event that they close as a result of EWR. Fenny Stratford and Kempston Hardwick are pretty catchy names even if they weren’t settlements.
Click to expand...
This might result in the "West Country" effect - or perhaps, better put, the "Reverse West Country" effect.

Not sure of your age or knowledge of steam traction - there was a class of passenger locos on the Southern named after West Country locations. It is said people got on the wrong trains at times "because it said on the locomotive the train was going to Salisbury*".

* Insert any name from about 55 locations.

In the case of the Marston Vale, it might leave people at Bedford "because the train was only going to Kempston Hardwick." :)
D6130 said:
How about naming the three units "Bletchleyite", "Darlo Rich" and "The Spare"? :lol:
Click to expand...
Like :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Top