EXCLUSIVE!!!! – Class 70 Naming List

A Genuine Exclusive for the Wombledon Park Picture Page!!

 

Thanks to Roger Smith at Freightliners NEN (Non-Existent Naming) Committee, I can exclusively reveal the proposed names for the new Class 70 locomotives, the first two of which are now on test in the UK. Ordinarily I wouldn’t have any truck with such vile oil-burning contraptions but since they are numbered in the 70xxx series, that brings them into my purview; 70xxx was the series reserved for proper manly DC locomotives.

 

So – over to the email:

 

"Given that the Class 70 represents a quantum leap in technology over previous designs entering the UK market, Freightliner intends to name their locomotives after great icons of 1970’s Britain. The 70’s saw the growth of the Freightliner brand across the UK and as such we feel that it would be a fitting tribute to a great period for our locomotives to carry names and slogans from a decade that sowed the seeds of our current success.

 

70 001 ‘Tony Blackburn’

70 002 ‘Dave Lee Travis’

70 003 ‘Three Day Week’

70 004 ‘Red Robbo’

70 005 ‘British Leyland’

70 006 ‘Joe Gormley’

70 007 ‘National Coal Board’

70 008 ‘Everybody Out’

70 009 ‘Ted Heath’

70 010 ‘The Sweeney/ D.C.I Hunt’

70 011 ‘On The Buses’

70 012 ‘I’m Backing Britain’

70 013 ‘Dick Emery’

70 014 ‘Benny Hill’

70 015 ‘Rod Hull & EMU’

70 016 ‘Fanny Craddock’

70 017 ‘Galloping Gormet’

70 018 ‘Watneys Red Barrel Party Seven’

70 019 ‘Double Diamond’

70 020 ‘Slade’

70 021 ‘Status Quo’

70 022 ‘Demis Russos’

70 023 ‘Sid Vicious’

70 024 ‘Debbie Harry’

70 026 ‘Grunwick’

70 027 ‘Jim Callaghan’

70 028 ‘Crisis? What crisis?’,

70 029 ‘Winter of Discontent’, and

70 030 ‘Margaret Thatcher’.

 

In the tradition of the British Rail ‘Britannia’-class steam locomotives, 70025 will remained unnamed for the time being, since we have been advised by our legal team that naming a locomotive ‘Gary Glitter’ is likely to be unpopular. Research is ongoing as to whether ‘Michael Jackson’ would be an acceptable substitute."

 

Remember folks – you heard it here first!!