What are some of your favorite odd sounding or strange named railroads or passenger trains.
The Kansas City Mule by Amtrak. What does this name mean?
How about the Phoebe Snow?
…Pennsylvania’s Red Arrow passenger train.
How about IC’s Iowa Division “Land O’ Corn”.
Here are just a few odd train names from the past. Rip Van Winkle, Rockingham Racer, Whitelight Limited,Tuxedo, Shinecock Express, Red Knight, Eaglet, Overnight Denverite, DelphinFurniture City SpecialCannonball, Chickasaw, Bat and Buffalo Bill.
Dang, i remember a pic in the mag a few years ago and rememeber laughing out loud about it. Something like Ramblin somethin or other. There was rebuilt lownose Geep on the point.
Adrianspeeder
Anyone remember the SAL “Boll Weevil”?
The Mule is the official animal of Missouri. I remember on the inaugural run eons ago they even brought the “official” mule to Kirkwood to meet the first train.
I’m a non-smoker but always liked the name “Winston-Salem Southbound”.
If you include names of freight trains,the Erie’s fastest freight was called the Flying Saucer.
The Newfie Bullet!!!
Don’t know if that was the real name of the train or just a nickname.
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.
I believe Beano came from a shortening of the pronuciation of “B and O” to “BanO” and predated the medicine. It has also been rendered as “BandO”.
Did that RR have Gas or something?
The “Nite Diamond”, an IC overnight between Chicago and St. Louis.
The “Ann Rutledge”, past and present. Named after a pioneer woman believed to have been one of Abraham Lincoln’s first love interests. She died at age 22 in 1835, and became a debated part of Lincoln’s ledgend. Wether they were engaged or not is an open question. In fact, it’s been questioned as to wether they were “involved” at all.
The Alton Route and the GM&O ran a pair of Chicago - St. Louis trains (through the heart of Lincoln’s old stomping grounds) and named them after Abe & Ann. The Ann Rutledge didn’t make it to Amtrak, but Amtrak went back and picked up the name after it took over.
Then came a cutback and they took off the Abraham Lincoln and left Ann running. Why they kept the Ann Rutledge name and dropped the Lincoln name is unknown to me. But the Ann Rutledge runs today, named after an obscure Illinois pioneer woman whoes only claim to fame is that she caught young Abe’s eye 170 years ago.
My favorite is the “Pony Express” which ran on the PRR and the PRSL from Philadelphia to two different race tracks in New Jersey
Generally that name was applied to the Caribou, the trans-island passenger train from St. John’s to the ferry terminal at Port aux Basques, a distance of 547 miles.
The Newfoundland Railway had a lot of tight curvature and stiff grades, and it was said that on certain stretches of this particular train’s trans-island trip - especially in the Topsail mountains, I think - a fleet-footed passenger could debark, pick a pail of blueberries trackside, then catch up to the train and re-embark. Quite probably an exaggeration, but the name stuck.
Burlington Route’s AK-SAR-BEN Zephyr (ya, I know it is Nebraska spelled backword). What a mouthful.
Regards,
Burlington John
From the deep South came Nancy Hanks II but also Little Nancy and yes the Boll Weavel was actually another name for a train that ran the local run from Birmingham to Raleigh (I think) on the old SAL. Any help for a 53 year olds memory will be Appreaciated
The Broker and the the Wall Street. The first a PRR Jersey shore train to the Jersey City Ferry terminal, one of the very last K4 passenger trains. The Wall Street was the companion to the Reading’s Crusader in Phila - Jersey City service. I think both names survived throught the conversion to RDC’s, and the Crusader survived the Aldene plan and the move to Newark as the northern end point.