Name of the fastest line from London to Plymouth

[whole diary]

[plymothian]

It would be the Great Western Main Line via the B&H^▸ (Berks and Hants - railway line from Reading to Taunton via Westbury) [Berks & Hants] but in order to brand the line unfortunately, South Western have the South West Mainline and have branded it as the 'West of England line' meaning the 2 obvious choices are in use, so we're stuck with something like the "West Country Main Line".

[JayMac]

So, the overwhelming majority in the poll are in favour of a name that is already taken.

Perhaps "What could it be called", rather than "should".

The name "West of England Line" referring to the line from Basingstoke to Exeter has a history dating back to 1923 Grouping, It may have been in common use in LSWR^▸ (London South Western Railway) days too when, prior to the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) cutoffs being built, the LSWR was the shortest and and often quickest route to Exeter.

Somewhat silly to have two different lines with the same name. More confusion.

[grahame]

Spoiler alert.   If you have not yet voted, please do not read on.

So, the overwhelming majority in the poll are in favour of a name that is already taken.

Thank you for telling everyone how it's going, even if they have not voted yet. The poll is open until 3rd August, and was set up such that results could not be seen until after people have voted, as is the convention in elections and referendums.  Mind, I would agree that this is purely an unscienific poll, and on a scale of 0 to 100 in importance it scores a 1 or perhaps a 2, so it really dosn't matter.

Perhaps "What could it be called", rather than "should".

The name "West of England Line" referring to the line from Basingstoke to Exeter has a history dating back to 1923 Grouping, It may have been in common use in LSWR^▸ (London South Western Railway) days too when, prior to the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) cutoffs being built, the LSWR was the shortest and and often quickest route to Exeter.

Somewhat silly to have two different lines with the same name. More confusion.

Interestingly, the vote is for "West of England Main Line" not "West of England Line".  The two names are indeed similar - probably too similar for comfort - but there is a subtle difference. They are not the same.

The railways are steeped in tradition, and history is not to be cast aside lightly.  However, leaving things in place long after ceased to reflect the current situation, and indeed may imply something that is no longer really the case, is also not to be done lightly. I have no answer for you; the intent of this poll was to give people the opportunity to suggest how we should move forward.

Is there a precedent close to hand?  The name "Great Western Railway" was used for a company that owned trackwork and trains that  operated over a wide area from Weymouth to Birkenhead, and from London to Fishguard, up to the end of 1947. Today, that same name is used by a train operator which does not own the trackwork, nor more than a very few of its trains, and operates over  much narrower area.

[Southernman]

Class 159005 was named at Yeovil Railway Centre's Platform 3 on 23 June 2012 as  'West of England Line' so it must be true, and continuing the usage of the name by the 'Southern'.

Although it cannot claim (unfortunately) to be the primary route to the West Country at present, it is still regarded very much by its users as a main line with improving fortunes. Any other classification will be soundly ignored!

[paul7575]

It would be the Great Western Main Line via the B&H^▸ (Berks and Hants - railway line from Reading to Taunton via Westbury) [Berks & Hants] but in order to brand the line unfortunately, South Western have the South West Mainline and have branded it as the 'West of England line' meaning the 2 obvious choices are in use, so we're stuck with something like the "West Country Main Line".

The main line that is at the heart of the network SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) run over, from Waterloo to Weymouth, is officially the Bournemouth Main Line, BML.  Locally that’s the one usually referred to as the SWML^▸ (South Western Mail Line), common with the West of England line between Waterloo and Basingstoke.
However the letters BML are often used by rail fans to denote the Brighton Main Line.  This is known by the railway as the Victoria to Brighton line, VTB.

Paul

[Timmer]

If you ever get the chance to watch Exeter to Basingstoke Driver’s Eye View by Video 125*, you will see just how straight the line is, built for expresses unlike the curvy speed restricted cobbled together Berks and Hants.

In my view the West of England line is somewhat wasted being ideal to speed up the journey time from London down to Devon and Cornwall. This isn’t without its problems though with capacity at Waterloo and having to reverse at Exeter St David’s but two I can think of not to mention the vandalism of singling the line west of Salisbury carried out by BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) so far only partially redoubled.

*Other Driver’s Eye Views available.

[Southernman]

How about 'Great South West Line'.

Actually defines the line more precisely as West Country can also include Bristol and Gloucestershire (but not always!). Might still be confusion with the terms South Western Railway and South Western Main Line, hence inclusion of Great.

If anyone wishes to lose SWR^» (South Western Railway - about)'s 'West of England Line' as a designation should propose an acceptable alternative otherwise that would be a backwards step I consider!

[PhilWakely]

I'll go for a pub name theme................

"The Pad, Pew and Pen"

And before anybody mentions the fact that Penarth is not on this route, it is not intended as a play on the NLCs^▸ (National Location Code) 

[stuving]

How about 'Great South West Line'.

Actually defines the line more precisely as West Country can also include Bristol and Gloucestershire (but not always!). Might still be confusion with the terms South Western Railway and South Western Main Line, hence inclusion of Great.

If anyone wishes to lose SWR^» (South Western Railway - about)'s 'West of England Line' as a designation should propose an acceptable alternative otherwise that would be a backwards step I consider!

Ignoring any precedent, you'd expect the line with "south" in its name to be to the south. So if logic is allowed to overrule a little-known customary name, the South West (of England) (Main) Line is the LSWR^▸ (London South Western Railway) one. Since the South-west of England is basically the same place as the West of England, the same names without South are available for one a bit to the north. But that's probably an if not, so ...

Following another precedent, the Portsmouth Direct Line, what about the Plymouth Direct Line? If you think it's not exactly direct for the last bit that would be the Exeter Direct Line, which doesn't have the same ring to it. So maybe (for a bit of alliteration) the Devon Direct Line? You may say that it's not actually shorter than the one to the south, but at least it avoids such a blatant detour as the one through Axminster. In which case the Straight Line would fit.

[JayMac]

Thank you for telling everyone how it's going, even if they have not voted yet. The poll is open until 3rd August, and was set up such that results could not be seen until after people have voted, as is the convention in elections and referendums. 

Thank you for the passive aggressive response. Back to you in kind.

If it was of such concern that an unscientific poll should conform to the rigorous demands that are required of political voting, then the poll could have been set up to keep the result hidden until the end date. Just as in elections. Results are not known after you've voted. They are known after polls close.

Okay. Let's call the route under discussion the West of England Main Line. The difference between that and West of England Line is subtle but different you say. Sod the confusion it would cause. 

[LiskeardRich]

It’s the B&H^▸ (Berks and Hants - railway line from Reading to Taunton via Westbury)

[4064ReadingAbbey]

As seen from the western end of Reading's platforms in the 1950s, it was the West of England Main Line - and sometimes as the Berks and Hants.

We didn't know about the Southern in those days... 

[Geoff DC]

If its just the line to Plymouth then the 'Janner line'

If it crosses the border from England into Cornwall then the 'Anglo Cornish' 

Or if respecting the origins of the English The 'Deutsche Cornish' 

[The Grecian]

Neither option is there, but the Peninsular Direct, the Devon & Cornwall Direct or the Anglo-Cornish Mainline seem the best options to me. Any mention of 'Fast' is asking for trouble - I can't think of any route where fast is used for the whole route rather than a specific track e.g. down fast. Riviera line is already taken for the Paignton branch.

Whilst I won't deny being biased, the 'Plymouth Direct' hardly seems appropriate given that whilst it's certainly the largest place on the route, Exeter St Davids is used by more people than Plymouth, and Exeter Central isn't far behind. (To be fair, this is probably in no small part due to the fact it's far easier to commute into Exeter from multiple directions than Plymouth by rail, due to the lack of commuter options from the north and east such as Tavistock, Launceston, Plympton etc as much as London traffic might play a part.) I suspect the Cornish might have something to say about a line called the Plymouth Direct as well.

The Berks & Hants is the traditional name, despite the fact it never enters Hampshire. I believe bashers nicknamed it 'the Desert' due to the lack of points of interest between Taunton and Reading. It seems a little harsh - I once passed Athelney when it bore a strong resemblance to Poole Harbour. Although this was after the storms of early 2014.

The Waterloo-Exeter line is shown here as a principal route: http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/static/documents/content/OfficialNationalRailmapsmall.jpg

A BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) map included with the timetable book from 1991-92 shows Intercity routes (i.e. everything which was classified as Intercity) and Principal Express routes, the latter including the Waterloo-Exeter route together with Cardiff-Portsmouth, Cardiff-Nottingham, Transpennine routes etc. That's probably a fair description if you accept that routes generally average 45-60mph are express routes.

There was a train in the summer 1995 timetable leaving Waterloo at 1015 which arrived at Exeter Central at 1301, averaging over 60mph and calling only at Yeovil Junction, Axminster and Honiton west of Salisbury. However, any attempt to speed up most services over that line would inevitably involve worsening the service at some of the intermediate stations. Other than the suggestion which occasionally arises that GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) serve Axminster and pick up the stops at Feniton, Whimple and Pinhoe, allowing SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) to only call at Cranbrook between Honiton and Exeter, I doubt that will happen. There is a plan after the line reopens following works in September to strengthen the line's resilience to flooding that Templecombe and Whimple will only be served by buses for a few days due to speed restrictions, and I suspect that will prove controversial enough.

[martyjon]

Call it the Cornish Mainline and be done with it,

I've always known the line through Newbury as the Berks and Hants, wasn't this because the line ran through part of Hampshire but lost its Hampshire neighbourliness under the 1974 Local Government Act which saw Didcot transfer to Oxfordshire from Berkshire and the birth of Avon, now deceased of course.