Giving each overground line a separate name and colour

[whole diary]

[JayMac]

Here's YouTuber Jago Hazzard's take on the matter.

https://youtu.be/gKBkb3H3Abk

[JayMac]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Six London Overground lines will be named by the end of next year, Transport for London (TfL^» (Transport for London - about)) says.

Routes to be named include Euston to Watford Junction, Romford to Upminster and Gospel Oak to Barking, already affectionately dubbed the Goblin line.

TfL believes the move will increase confidence and offer clearer service disruption information.

London Overground, with its orange roundel, will remain as the umbrella brand, according to transport bosses.

TfL says it will consult local groups and transport historians and "is working with the Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm to establish broad themes we'll use to guide the community engagement".

It added: "The approach is centred around hearing from the many different communities that live close to the London Overground and how we can represent them through the line names."

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said: "Naming the lines will not only help educate visitors about our amazing city and incredible history but will also make it easier for people who live, work or visit London to more easily navigate the city."

Possibly coincidence but two recent videos from Geoff Marshall and Jago Hazzard both suggested it was time that TfL named the Overground lines.

Suggestions?

[Surrey 455]

This topic has come up recently at
http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=27318.0

[JayMac]

This topic has come up recently at
http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=27318.0

Aha. Missed that. Despite my contribution to the earlier thread. Now merged.

[stuving]

New names now announced. From TfL^» (Transport for London - about):

London Overground’s new look
We'll introduce new names and line colours across the London Overground network by the end of 2024.

Each of the 6 routes that make up the London Overground will be given its own colour.

    Lioness (currently known as Watford Junction to Euston) - yellow
    Mildmay (currently known as Richmond and Clapham Junction to Stratford) -  blue
    Windrush (currently known as Highbury & Islington to New Cross, Clapham Junction, Crystal Palace and West Croydon) - red
    Weaver (currently known as Liverpool Street to Enfield Town, Cheshunt and Chingford) - maroon
    Suffragette (currently known as Gospel Oak to Barking Riverside) - green
    Liberty (currently known as Romford to Upminster) - grey

And there's a map of just the Overground lines:


The full tube map's a bit too big to show in a post.

[grahame]

Colours make sense; names explained at https://madeby.tfl.gov.uk/2024/02/15/overground_line_names/?intcmp=75213 - not sure they are what I would have chosen but you're not going to please everyone (and I know I can be difficult to please  )

Edit - full map mirrored for members at http://www.passenger.chat/mirror/tube-map-with-the-new-lo-names.pdf

[stuving]

All new names sound and feel odd, because they lack the association with the thing they now name, which will build up later. I'm sure Bakerloo felt a bit silly too at first. It appears in a headline on the opening day; I'm sure sub-editors liked it as they had always struggled to get the full names of railways to fit in. It then appears as "Baker-loo" and then "Bakerloo" (with the quotes) within days. And people soon got used to it, partly because it just works as a name.

These new Overground names do seem to have an air of woke virtue-signalling about them. Of course elsewhere in Europe this kind of rather political naming of things has been more common. And remember that the last line named by TfL^» (Transport for London - about) was the Elizabeth Line - an example of a much older custom: deferential virtue-signalling. 

[Noggin]

It's a nice gesture, however operationally it's got got the potential for a lot of confusion, particularly for tourists and the elderly. Anchoring them in geography would arguably have been much better from a usability perspective.

It's also got the potential to attract a huge amount of ridicule both domestically and internationally.

[ChrisB]

There are now TWO green lines passing through Barking....confusion? I reckon. Badly planned.

[TaplowGreen]

It's a nice gesture, however operationally it's got got the potential for a lot of confusion, particularly for tourists and the elderly. Anchoring them in geography would arguably have been much better from a usability perspective.

It's also got the potential to attract a huge amount of ridicule both domestically and internationally.

Agreed, geography would be better, although if "Windrush" passed through Tower Hamlets it could usefully be used as a pointer to the curryhouses of Brick Lane?

[Electric train]

Maybe we should adopt the German method of a letter and numbers eg S1 U1

The London Overground would be O1, O2, O3 etc,

 

[ChrisB]

Just as well it wouldn't be "Take the O2 to get to the O2" then....

[TonyK]

There are now TWO green lines passing through Barking....confusion? I reckon. Badly planned.

Barking mad.

London Overground’s new look
We'll introduce new names and line colours across the London Overground network by the end of 2024.

Each of the 6 routes that make up the London Overground will be given its own colour.

    Lioness (currently known as Watford Junction to Euston) - yellow
    Mildmay (currently known as Richmond and Clapham Junction to Stratford) -  blue
    Windrush (currently known as Highbury & Islington to New Cross, Clapham Junction, Crystal Palace and West Croydon) - red
    Weaver (currently known as Liverpool Street to Enfield Town, Cheshunt and Chingford) - maroon
    Suffragette (currently known as Gospel Oak to Barking Riverside) - green
    Liberty (currently known as Romford to Upminster) - grey

I can see unofficial nicknames creeping in if things don't go quite to plan. Liomess, Weaver train hopefully, and the Diabolical Liberty Line spring to mind, but hopefully all will go well forever and there'll be no need for that.