The Naming of Railway Locomotives in Britain as a Cultural Indicator, 1846–1954

Abstract

From the birth of railways in Britain in the early nineteenth century, it rapidly became usual (but not obligatory) for the classes of locomotive used on passenger trains to bear names. Before 1846 diverse practices were in play; after that the majority of the names bestowed were reapplications of pre-existing proper names, for example those of persons, celestial bodies, racehorses, geographical features or buildings. This paper contends that such practices were not random, but closely aligned to sociocultural preoccupations of the period covered, 1846 to 1954, which coincides with Britain’s peak as a world power. Evidence is presented that the major railway companies differed in detail in their practices, but that there was a common overarching unscripted policy regarding eponyms which responded to contemporary high culture, moral and political values and the underpinnings of Britain’s imperial project.