Train names

[NW Mailing List]

Date: Thu, 25 Jan 2007 11:01:13 -0500 
From: "Maxine Silverman" <meiramax2 at gmail.com>
To: "Frank Scheer" <f_scheer at yahoo.com>, "John Pirog"
<jfpirog at comcast.net> 
Subject: X-men poem 
    
Dear Dr. Scheer and Mr. Pirog, You were both so
helpful in my research on X-men and the railway postal
service.  I am grateful, and hope you
won't mind one other question.  After reading the
issue of "Classic Trains" devoted to the RPO, I became
interested in the names given to trains and wonder if
you'd share some of the ones you remember or
actually worked on.  In my poem, since I grew up in
Sedalia, MO, I've used the MoPac Eagle, but would be
interested to know more.

Also, were trains referred to as "she"  by their crews
or is that only ships at sea?  Thanks again,

Maxine Silverman


January 25, 2007

Hello, Maxine:

I've heard locomotives referred to as feminine gender
but not so often for trains.  There have been many,
many train names over the years.  Prior to the 1950s,
the Association of American Railroads published a
booklet including all named passenger trains.  A few
freight trains were also named, such as the Apollo and
Fast Fords on the Norfolk & Western, other the Blue
Streak manifests on the St. Louis-Southwestern
"Cottonbelt." 

If you can find an older Official Guide of the
Railways (OG), that's a good way to find the formal
names associated with trains.  A few trains had
informal names, such as the Huckleberry on the N&W
that ran between Christiansburg and Blacksburg. 
Others, such as the Blue & Gray Clipper on the RF&P
may not appear in the OG, but most others do.

Good luck and best wishes,

Frank Scheer
f_scheer at yahoo.com