please empty your brain below

How about naming them after Rev Awdry’s Railway Engines: Thomas, James, Daisy, Percy etc with Bertie on call for those annoying weekend closures.

It got me thinking of when British Rail named lines. I remember Network South East giving sets of lines generic lines - South London lines: the short-lived Harlequin; Kent Link; Kent Coast etc - but how on earth did people cope before then? ;)

Hmmm something tells me this one will be kicked into the long grass like the Bakerloo extension.
I really, really, really want there to be a Sharon Line.
I always thought the Harlequin line was a good name for the Watford DC line. Shame Silverlink changed it.
I would just designate the Romford-Upminster shuttle as a branch of the District line or Crossrail, like Chesham, Mill Hill East, Olympia, etc.
Friends and I call Richmond-Stratford the 'Diversity Line' and Highbury-Crystal Palace the 'Hipster Line'
Always liked the old 'Harlequin' identity for the Euston - Watford line.

The issue with the North London and East London is the branches, so they ought to be separated out as North London for Stratford - Richmond, West London for Stratford - Clapham Junction, East London for Highbury & Islington - Crystal Palace/ New Cross/West Croydon and South London for Dalston Junction - Clapham Junction.

As for the lines out of Liverpool Street, the Chingford service does its own thing, so perhaps 'Forest Line' seeing as it passes through so much of the Waltham Forest borough, and 'Lea Valley Loop' or 'Lea Loop' for the services via Edmonton, leaving Lea Valley identity available for the main line via Waltham Cross.
I am totally with your (GM) suggestion. The weakness is if, as has happened to the earlier West London line, routes are changed. Given in the royal family, it is always the females, excepting the Queen, who seem to do the hard yards but get overlooked eg Anne, I would not be averse to a Charlotte line, as she is likely to be around for the next century and is definitely the cutest of the lot. Whatever, definitely not a Meghan line, tho', or worse. a Randy Andy Rail!
I initially read that as “semi curtsy”, in which case I semi doff my cap back at you ... 😃
I chuckled at the suggested Runt Line. I can just imagine it, "I'm just off for a trip on the Runt" !
I like "Watson" (my own tongue-in-cheek suggestion was "Wat-Eus")

I fear the name "North London Line", although it has history, is too similar to "Northern Line". How about "Regent Line", as it follows the Regents Canal for much of its length?

The "Lea valley" name is historically the third (non-Overground) line out of Liverpool Street, via Meridian Water

As for your last (sponsorship) suggestion, at least one of Sadiq's rivals is proposing just that, as you yourself noted on Tuesday.
Bird named railway lines has precedent (and hence also confusion), e.g. Bittern (North Norfolk NRW-SHM).

Harlequin: pity the shopping mall of the same name in Watford is not doing so well (lost/losing a number of major stores).
Some people won't be happy unless like every other line in London in living memory it has a royal connection, and others unless it doesn't, so maybe a compromise would be the Virginia Giuffre line.
I always think it best to keep away from people's names: no matter how worthy, there is always the risk past or present, real or perceived that there are negative connotations. We seem, in this country to be far less versed to naming things after people (despite a recent transport transgression) compared to, say, the Americas (think of South America where Simon Bolivar is the root name to countless airports, motorways currencies etc, and motorways in the US get named after politicians). When they fall out of favour...
Letters and numbers may work ok in central Paris but actually it's more complicated than than. The lettered RER lines can have many branches / options , a bit like the Stratford - Richmond/Clapham Jct problem.

Get to CDG Airport and want a fast train to Paris then yes it's Line B but then you have to find the correct 4 letter route code. Eg KALE,KALI, KAPE,JAMI,JANO. Some even start with a U. Other codes mean slow train.
I can't see why Sadiq is bothering with this distraction, given that he has a walkover. But it is of course necessary, A random mixture of historic names, portmanteaux and place names passed through seemms to work well enough for the Underground (Northern, Bakerloo, Piccadilly). So something like Geoff's idea really. The only dead cert in my book is Emerson.
I like to think that we ride horses and cycles, but Overground lines are for travelling on or maybe just using.
This is a politician so he will want something that people will remember him by, and as he has a diversity/progressive/woke agenda, he won't want something as dull as "East London Line". There are no political benefits in retaining the traditional names so why would he bother renaming to those.
Naming the Clapham - Willesden Junctions bit as the North London line is nearly as insulting as, well, the Northern Line.
If we have the Emerson line, will we also need Lake and Palmer lines?
I laughed out loud at the animal and fruit names - brilliant!

My suggestion for Romford-Upminster would be Rump.
Your fellow Londonder District Dave has a thread on his forum that on the same subject that kicked off in 2015 and has recently woken up again.
I always think Harry Beck deserves a line named after him.
I look forward excitedly to using the proposed Deliveroo line, where health and safety, signalling and rolling stock maintenance will be the legal responsibility of the passenger and not the company. Free wrench, broom and garlic bread mini-bites with every ticket purchased.
“Jazz” is the obvious historical name for the Chingford and Enfield lines.
And in a few comments, therein lies the challenge. The Paris system may be bland, but adding new lines, as is happening now, simply requires additional letters and numbers. Headcodes denoting fast, semi-fast and slow tend to be used by those in the know, leaving everyone else to use the normal departure screens. Giving any name to a line can also presents challenges to non-English speakers. So, bland they may be, but when a transit system starts to grow, I would suggest that numbers and letters are, generally, better and easier to understand.
These names are rather amusing, but will confuse everyone. DId anyone suggest Boris, Sadiq and Red Ken lines? Numbers will suffice.
I'm pretty much with Stuart. We've inherited names for the various Underground lines, most of which wouldn't get chosen now as they make little sense though I wouldn't suggest we drop them.

...and I do hope any name for the line to Enfield Town doesn't involve the nearby river. There are two spellings of the river's name and two railway lines up the same river valley. Then again, perhaps one line could be the Lea Valley line and the other the Lee Valley line to avoid confusion...
East London Line is probably the best option given that's what most of it was historically, but I did like a suggestion I saw somewhere of calling it the Brunel line.
I'm against naming lines after people. They may make sense at the time, but future generations would be left scratching their heads as to why we have, say, a Marcus Rashford line!

Royal lines such as the Victoria & Jubilee work as they are events/eras/districts etc. The Elizabeth line less so, as the Elizabethan era had nothing to do with the invention of railways! Why not just leave it as Crossrail, like it says on the tin!

Yours and GM's suggestions are the best options as I can visualise which general part of the city they serve - with the exception of Emerson - I'd have no idea where that was going to/from!
Just an idea - instead of a snazzname, a great service, with wonderful equipment.?
Michael, we essentially have that already. The Overground is a tremendous improvement on what went before.
Although I like the name East London Line as that's what it used to be, I do think that Brunel Line would be much better as it now serves much more than just east London. Other names I like are Emerson Line (since you can't really avoid Emerson Park when travelling on it), Forest Line for the Chingford branch and Harlequin Line (Harlesden + Queen's Park), although I do like the ring of Watson Line. Either way, a portmanteau name would be appropriate for the line that shares track with the Bakerloo.
NorthWest Circle
SouthEast Circle
Harlequin Line
Barking Line
Lea Valley Line
Upford Line
Should call the ELL the Wombles Line, because it has been both Underground and Overground ;)

(On the other hand perhaps best not else people might catch it expecting to visit Wimbledon ;) )
Avoid handing over the names of London transport lines to the highest bidder? I realise it's not quite the same but "Uber Boat by Thames Clippers" is remarkably close. There is a hole in the finances. I am not sure we're too far away from the Rightmove North London Line.

Did somebody say Just Eat East London Line?
And I suggested Philip :(
O1 and upwards. Numbers and letters work perfectly well elsewhere.
The 'diversity' options (below) sound as they should be areas from the shipping forecast on Radio 4.

• Seacole
• Turing
• Equiano
• Lawrence
• Desai
• Merrick
The incumbent Prime Minister has several names. We could name some of the lines after him (and any lines left over after his relatives).

Having short, easily-remembered names for lines is very handy when things go wrong: eg "Yet more Boris breakdowns" "de Pfeffle kerfuffle" "Alexander the Atrocious" etc etc. No doubt other readers could think of better suggestions along these lines.
Goblin Line, Hobgoblin Line, Elf Line, Pixie Line, Sprite Line, Gnome Line.
My fiancée would go for
  • East London
  • 2
  • Goblin
  • Banana
  • Charlotte
  • F
That would clearly please everybody.
I think punctuation marks could have their time to shine. Hashtag is out but what about the 'Tilde Line'?

Others of note;
Interrobang
Asterism
Caret
Guillemets
Pilcrow

To be fair, the Obelisk and Diesis is already used in TFL notation, so it is broadly on theme.
Hobgoblin Line
Doom Bar Line
Proper Job Line
Bass Line
London Pride Line
...

or for the monarchists:

Aethelwulf / Aethelbald / Aethelbert / Aethelred / Athelstan / Egbert / Alfred
Romford-Upminster has been called 'the push-and-pull' by anyone that uses it, forever.
People think numbers would be bland, but my experience in places like Munich and New York suggests very much otherwise ... or as anyone who is familiar with our bus routes would attest.
I love the way the Munich u-bahn is labelled. I've never gotten lost on it!
Romford - Upminster collapses delightfully to Rompminster.
Why does he have to be re-elected to do this? What was wrong with the last five years or right now?
There was a hope that by the end of 2022 the Northern City Line and up to Stevenage would be taken over by London Overground so that would be a seventh line.
Surprised it's not Marx, Engels, Lenin etc, knowing that shower.
Thanks to all for their posted comments, and of course DG for the original posting. All contributed to cheering up my morning.

The suggestion from Still Anon would get my vote for Forest Line, plus the suggestions re Lea Valley Loop, and Lea Valley. The marshes and reservoirs form a significant barrier between Chingford, Edmonton, Enfield, with few crossing places.

I am biased of course: I live in Chingford, overlooking the Girling reservoir, ie over the east side. I use the station at what we call 'north' Chingford = 30 min walk or a bus ride from here.

Epping Forest is just 5 mins from Chingford Station, about 10 from Highams Park and about the same from Wood Street, all on that 'Forest Line'.
I love your idea of the Seacole/Turing/Equiano/Lawrence/Desai/Merrick lines
Diversity? Banjo, Craske, Kiely etc?










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