Wednesday, March 26, 2025
Unchosen Overground line names
Jim Waterson at London Centric had an excellent scoop yesterday by publishing the longlist of names which were under consideration for the six Overground lines. I'm not sure how much much of the list is behind his Substack paywall so what follows is abbreviated from someone else's cut-and-pasting on Twitter. I've organised the names into my own entirely unofficial categories.
(if you don't like these names that's fine because they weren't chosen, so don't moan)
Rejected because TfL ultimately decided not to name lines after people
🎭 Althea Line - Celebrating Althea McNish, a pioneering designer of African-Caribbean descent [Suffragette]
⚽ Cother Line - Honouring Jack Cother, the UK’s first Asian professional footballer [Lioness]
📜 Derham Line - Recognising scientist and cleric William Derham, rector in Upminster and chaplain to George II [Liberty]
🥋 Garrud Line - Honouring Edith Garrud, a pioneering female martial arts instructor and suffragist [Mildmay]
✊ Huggett Line - Honouring Annie Huggett, a suffragist who championed working-class women in East London [Suffragette]
🏭 Jayaben Line - Recognising Jayaben Desai’s fight for fair pay and workers’ rights in Willesden [Lioness]
🩺 Kaushal Line - Recognising Dr Baldev Kaushal, who aided victims of the Bethnal Green Tube disaster [Weaver]
🚂 Winton Line - Remembering Nicholas Winton, who saved 669 mostly Jewish children via the Czech Kindertransport [Weaver]
Considered for Liberty line
🌿 Fanns Line - Named after the Land of the Fanns, a project protecting the Thames Estuary landscape
🍺 Hops Line - Celebrating botanist William Coys, who introduced hops and other plants to the UK
🛹 Rom Line - Referencing Romford, the River Rom, and the historic Rom skatepark, Europe’s first listed skatepark
Considered for Mildmay line
☘️ Galtymore Line - A tribute to Willesden Green’s Galtymore dance hall, a hub for London’s Irish community
🏛️ Keskidee Line - Named after the UK’s first Black arts centre, founded in 1971 near Caledonian Road
🏅 Paralympic Line - Honouring the origins of the Paralympic Games, from Stoke Mandeville to London 2012
📚 Sisterwrite Line - Remembering Sisterwrite, the UK’s first feminist bookshop and a hub for lesbian literature
Considered for Suffragette line
💧 Ripple Line - Highlighting the line’s links to water, from Hampstead Ponds to the Thames at Barking
🎶 Skylark Line - Celebrating the skylark, found in Walthamstow Wetlands and suburban London
Considered for Weaver line
🐟 Malins Line - Honouring Malin’s, the UK’s first fish and chip shop, and its cultural ties to migration and trade
🔥 Moonshot Line - Named after the UK’s first Black community centre, founded in 1981 in New Cross Gate
🎨 Obaala Line - Named after a Black art gallery in South Tottenham, promoting African heritage
🌳 Willow Line - Representing the willow trees along the River Lea, conservation, and local furniture-making
Considered for Windrush line
🚩 Cable Street Line - Remembering the 1936 anti-fascist Battle of Cable Street in Shadwell
🎶 Lovers Rock Line - Celebrating Lovers Rock, a reggae subgenre created by London’s Caribbean community
🌸 Saffron Line - Referencing Croydon’s name origins and its historical role in saffron cultivation
Also, somehow
💚 Green Carnation Line - Representing the green carnation, a historic LGBTQ+ symbol popularised by Oscar Wilde
🏳️🌈 Polari Line - Named after Polari, a secret language used by London’s gay community for safety
🌻 Sunflower Line - Symbolising non-visible disabilities, especially autism and neurodiversity, and the lanyard scheme
Six of these - Jayaben, Keskidee, Malins, Sisterwrite, Althea and Obaala - were given a full write-up on the TfL website last year under the title Discovering Hidden Stories Around the London Overground. This was published on the day the actual six names were announced, so I suspect this half-dozen got further through the process than most.
Jim says several names were discarded because they would have been hard to hear clearly on announcements or could have been mistaken for safety-critical words, and some because there was a risk of the names being abbreviated or used as slurs. He also has fifty further names which didn't make the longlist, and if you hated these you'll hate them too. But it doesn't ultimately matter, remember, because none of them were chosen.
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