Naming the LO lines

That announcement for changing for Windrush services to Clapham Junction at Canonbury isn't particularly helpful as it's only a limited service from Highbury & Islington and Canonbury to Clapham Junction via that route.

I am now going to have to update the London Overground page on my website.

citytransport.info/Overground.htm

For now I will act like TfL and only make partial changes, however whilst TfL's 'inactions' are for financial reasons mine will partly be temporal and partly to see what happens. I still remember the name Harlequin being quietly dropped.

I think that its no secret that I dislike some of the name changes. Lets see how Londoners react....

Maps are changing over and the engineering work posters now have the new line names on them.

TfL site has changed over. As has Citymapper.

It's been interesting observing the TfL homepage status update displays over the past couple of days. I did a comparison and note Central and Windrush to be the exact shade of red, and Metropolitan and Weaver to be the exact shade of plum. I wonder what would happen on a day where those are the only lines with issues and are side by side - you would need to focus in on the name and not just look at the colour... and certainly don't tell any tourist "take the red line to X" etc!

The Mildmay line, while closer in shade to the Victoria than Piccadilly, is at least distinct. All three lines in question were having issues this evening, so was easy to compare!

On the other hand, the status update display boards at stations do show the Overground lines as parallel lines (i.e. with white gap between) and there is an Overground roundel placed next to the line name.

I will using "Liberty line" myself.

Certainly we need to be aware of them, not least because signage at stations is being changed and the London Transport Museum Shop is now selling off redundant Overground signage. I receive their emails...

news.ltmuseumshop.co.uk/u/gm.php?prm=4OEdsPjroF_568212386_14643062_82246&_esuh=_11_2b737cd3b60bf42cafb56331e77d5833824d2a034799b206951330fbc1d437ac


Regarding actual usage, I'm in no hurry. But if I was speaking with someone wanting travel advice I probably would make them aware of the new line name - especially if they needed to catch a train and finding the platform relied on information as exists 'on the day'.

For my webpage I am adding the new line names without removing the old. eg: a reference to the North London Line has been changed to North London / Mildmay line, or Goblin / Saffragette line .. etc. This way it will be easier to reverse changes or re-edit them if any line names prove to unsuccessful and are withdrawn - or the present Mayor of London does not win the next Mayoral election and the new incumbent makes changes.

For me the group of services we call Overground have always been more than just that. Long before the Overground name existed as a transport service marketing name I thought of the lines by compass point names, etc. Even today the North London line (for example) still exists as a name of a railway line - erm no-one will be talking about goods / freight trains using the Mildmay line.

My understanding:

These are National Rail services which TfL controls instead of a TOC (train operating company - such as Avanti, Northern, GWR, Greater Anglia, etc).

They mostly travel over infrastructure which is owned by Network Rail - the only exception is the East London line where (for historic reasons) part of the route is actually owned by TfL.

What has happened is that TfL (etc) decided to mimic the Underground and give the various Overground services uniquely identifiable names.
Its like the Elizabeth line - for the public the service is known as 'Elizabeth line' even though part of the route travels over sections of railway used by other services known as the Great Eastern Main Line and Great Western Main Line

It still is London Overground, that's the name of the mode and what the roundels still say.

However in terms of the line names, I've already started using them. It's just much easier to explain a route.

"Get on the Windrush and change to the Jubilee at Canada Water or Elizabeth at Whitechapel".