I suspect the six names that got closest to being chosen were
- Jayaben
- Keskidee
- Malins
- Sisterwrite
- Althea
- Obaala
...because TfL went to the unusual effort of publishing a blog post about them in February last year, on the same day the actual six names were announced.
The Chartists line, a shame that didn’t get through to remind me of gcse history every time I traveled on.
Coleridge line is presumably after the poet? It’s a shame that artists/writers/designers aren’t reflected more in the actual names nor the rejected ones.
There’s an irritating recency bias even in the names they did choose, Lioness being the prime example. But the roots of Mildmay go far further back in time than the 19th century East End mission hospital of that name, to Elizabeth I’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir Walter Mildmay. He owned lands in what is now Hackney and Islington and is buried with his wife and a fine late 16th century memorial plaque in the church of St Bartholomew the Great in Smithfield
Wow, almost all of these really suck. Skate parks, community activists, fish and chip shops - what this implies about TfL and how it sees this city and its history is depressing. And that's even before we get to the bleak decision to rule out honouring exceptional non-royal Londoners in favour of "groups".
Justice for the Disco Line. Also, as someone lucky enough to have two overground lines at their local station re-naming them has been incredibly helpful. All I’ve heard is griping about it but from a practical POV it’s been a revelation
This whole rebranding exercise feels like a complete waste of taxpayers money to me. Instead of making things clearer, it’s only added to the confusion! The new names give no geographical sense of where these lines actually go, so planning a journey is even more of a headache. What was wrong with the existing system?
I find it much easier for getting around. My local station is on the Windrush line so when listening to the news in the morning it’s so much more helpful to know where delays are rather than a blanket “delays on the overground”. It’s also much easier for visitors to London to be able to differentiate between each arm of the line.
> Some of them were rejected because a decision was taken to celebrate groups rather than individuals, some because they were hard to hear clearly on announcements or could have been mistaken for safety-critical words, and some because there was a risk of the names being abbreviated or used as slurs.
Did TfL list reasons for the individual names, or were they just provided as generic example reasons? I'd be curious which were rejected for those reasons versus just not being chosen in the end.
Given that we already have the Weaver line (named after Sigourney) , it would have been nice to ride the Garbo, Swanson, Dietrich and Karloff lines as well.
Karloff did at least also have a London connection, born in Peckham.
The Winton line would have been awesome, and a welcome change from our habit of naming things like the Lizzie line after parasites descended from thugs.
I suspect the six names that got closest to being chosen were
- Jayaben
- Keskidee
- Malins
- Sisterwrite
- Althea
- Obaala
...because TfL went to the unusual effort of publishing a blog post about them in February last year, on the same day the actual six names were announced.
https://madeby.tfl.gov.uk/2024/02/15/overground_hidden_stories
The Chartists line, a shame that didn’t get through to remind me of gcse history every time I traveled on.
Coleridge line is presumably after the poet? It’s a shame that artists/writers/designers aren’t reflected more in the actual names nor the rejected ones.
Presumably the Appleton line was binned because it wouldn't stop at All Saints station...
"Welcome to the Appleton line, you know where it's at."
There’s an irritating recency bias even in the names they did choose, Lioness being the prime example. But the roots of Mildmay go far further back in time than the 19th century East End mission hospital of that name, to Elizabeth I’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir Walter Mildmay. He owned lands in what is now Hackney and Islington and is buried with his wife and a fine late 16th century memorial plaque in the church of St Bartholomew the Great in Smithfield
Quite surprised how rubbish most of these are tbh
Wow, almost all of these really suck. Skate parks, community activists, fish and chip shops - what this implies about TfL and how it sees this city and its history is depressing. And that's even before we get to the bleak decision to rule out honouring exceptional non-royal Londoners in favour of "groups".
I will die on the hill that the Windrush line should have been named the Brunel line.
Actually Barking <--> Gospel Oak was nicknamed Goblin for years, would have been a much better choice: https://apex.oracle.com/pls/apex/r/bgoline/bgorug105037/home?session=560438733255
Apparently there's an anti-Semitic slur which meant that goblin was never going to be chosen
Thanks. Looked this up, since one side of my family is Jewish. Looks like it's J K Rowling's version of goblins. 'Thank you' again JK.
Justice for the Disco Line. Also, as someone lucky enough to have two overground lines at their local station re-naming them has been incredibly helpful. All I’ve heard is griping about it but from a practical POV it’s been a revelation
This whole rebranding exercise feels like a complete waste of taxpayers money to me. Instead of making things clearer, it’s only added to the confusion! The new names give no geographical sense of where these lines actually go, so planning a journey is even more of a headache. What was wrong with the existing system?
I find it much easier for getting around. My local station is on the Windrush line so when listening to the news in the morning it’s so much more helpful to know where delays are rather than a blanket “delays on the overground”. It’s also much easier for visitors to London to be able to differentiate between each arm of the line.
> Some of them were rejected because a decision was taken to celebrate groups rather than individuals, some because they were hard to hear clearly on announcements or could have been mistaken for safety-critical words, and some because there was a risk of the names being abbreviated or used as slurs.
Did TfL list reasons for the individual names, or were they just provided as generic example reasons? I'd be curious which were rejected for those reasons versus just not being chosen in the end.
Every single one of these suggested names, and the chosen names, are woke.
Would love to see your breakdown of why each of these names is woke. Ripple ? Hops ? Disco?
It’s common knowledge that willow trees and skylarks were invented by woke activists in 2013. ;-)
Ripple - Galaxy Ripple is full of holes, any non-solid chocolate is Woke.
Hops - Hopping and Skipping? Well, that's obviously Woke girls stuff isn't it.
Disco - Come on guys, disco is music connected to black people, and if that isn't Woke then I don't know what is.
Curiously unremarked upon in this article I may say
"How'd you get here?" "Oww y'know just hopped on the Push and Pull line...". Deary me...
devastated to hear we never got the Disco line
Or the Moonshot line
Given that we already have the Weaver line (named after Sigourney) , it would have been nice to ride the Garbo, Swanson, Dietrich and Karloff lines as well.
Karloff did at least also have a London connection, born in Peckham.
Named after Jackie, surely?
The Winton line would have been awesome, and a welcome change from our habit of naming things like the Lizzie line after parasites descended from thugs.
Surprised Brunel wasn't even considered - it seemed a popular suggestion for what became the Windrush Line