The rejected London Overground line names

Exclusive: Want to catch the Saffron down to Croydon, then hop on the Galtymore up to Willesden via the Polari?

On Monday I went on James O’Brien’s LBC show to talk about London Centric’s investigation into the sewer misconnection scandal plaguing the capital’s waterways, which also attracted the attention of musician-turned-river-campaigner Fergal Sharkey.

That story has shocked everyone who read it. A subscriber who lives in one of the flats affected got in touch to say he had no idea his property had been leaking waste into a nearby stream until he opened the newsletter. O’Brien described it as “absolutely gross” and said he wanted to feature it on his show so he “could get in early on this” before other news outlets.

London Centric has another agenda-setting scoop coming up later this week for paid subscribers. But today, please enjoy an exclusive reveal of the London Overground line names that almost made it onto Transport for London’s map as part of last year’s rebrand.

Scroll down to read that story.

---

London Centric’s journalism is only possible with your support. Rather than churn out dozens of clickbait articles a day we aim to investigate news that really matters and uncovers new things about the capital. If you haven’t already, please consider becoming a subscriber for 25% off and receive exclusive members-only investigations.

---

Winton, Lovers Rock, and Moonshot: The London Overground lines that almost existed.

The renaming of the Overground lines at the end of last year made good on one of Sadiq Khan’s 2021 manifesto promises to give distinctive identities to each arm of Transport for London’s suburban rail network. The process also explicitly set out to redress an imbalance in terms of the background, race and class of the people who are commemorated in the names of the capital’s infrastructure.

The rebranding process that led to the introduction of the Liberty, Lioness, Mildmay, Suffragette, Weaver, and Windrush lines took years of work, research, and the mass replacement of signs. Depending on your point of view it was a celebration of London’s diversity, an act purpose-designed to provoke the then-Conservative government, a waste of £6m — or possibly all three.

But what about the names that didn’t quite make the cut? London Centric has been trying to find this out since last November when we were sifting through a batch of documents and noticed a curious line from some internal minutes. At the end of 2023 TfL staff went to present their suggested names for the six separate lines to Sadiq Khan and his deputies. According to the minutes, he embraced three of them but asked TfL to “review the other half of the names and come back with more options”.

The London Overground line names and colours that were eventually chosen.

In November we filed a freedom of information request asking for the three discarded names. This was rejected on the unusual grounds that the information would be published imminently and needed to be presented in “context” to “ensure the information is provided accurately and in an accessible manner”.

Four months later TfL has finally sent us a curated document setting out the long list of the names of the lines that were under consideration. Some of them were rejected because a decision was taken to celebrate groups rather than individuals, some because they were 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.

The document doesn’t answer the question of which lines were set to be used prior to the last-minute intervention of Sadiq Khan and his team, or why they disliked them. But it’s a helpful reminder of how the all iconic names that we use for parts of London’s infrastructure were ultimately chosen by individuals and reflected the era in which they lived.

The short-lived Victorian memorial at a road junction didn’t have to give its name to King’s Cross, the under-construction “Fleet line” didn’t have be renamed as the “Jubilee” in the 1970s, and Boris Johnson could have stuck with “Crossrail” (or the “Churchill line”) rather than naming London’s new underground railway after Queen Elizabeth II. In each case, someone in power at a crucial moment decided who or what should be honoured.

These, then, are the names that nearly made the cut as London Overground lines in 2024 and could, in an alternate universe, have been features on the capital’s transport maps for decades to come.

London Centric has added links to each entry, enabling you to benefit from a virtual tour of London’s history. Some of TfL’s in-house descriptions make it clear which geographic line they would have potentially been applied to — and some require a bit more guesswork:

• Sunflower line: “Showcasing the sunflower, which is a symbol used by those with non-visible disabilities, especially autism and other forms of neurodiversity.”

• Willow line: “Recognising the willow trees that run along the banks of the River Lea, representing conservation and the furniture making industry that is prevalent in this area of London.”

• Malins line: “Opened in 1860, Malin’s is recorded as the first fish and chip shop in the UK. As well as the country's national dish, fish and chips encapsulate how migration and trade have shaped our culture, with fried fish being introduced by Sephardic Jewish immigrants and chips being made by potatoes that originally come from the Americas.”

• Fanns line: “The Land of the Fanns is a 50-year ecological project protecting the landscape of the Thames Estuary. The work aims to reunify the landscape, strengthen the attachment and create a sense of enjoyment for local people and visitors.”

• Skylark line: “A well-loved bird, which can be found at the Walthamstow Wetlands. Their habitats are largely concentrated in the suburbs, almost forming a ring around the capital like the London Overground.”

• Derham line: “Cleric and scientist William Derham (1657-1735) was a rector in Upminster from 1689 until 1735. He became chaplain to the Prince of Wales, the future George II, and was also made a canon of Windsor.”

• Huggett line: “Annie Huggett was the longest surviving suffragist, who lived until she was 103. She worked with working-class suffragettes in the East End, running meetings in The Three Lamps, Barking, which was a favoured spot for trade unionists and suffragettes.”

• Winton line: “Nicholas Winton organised the rescue of 669 children, mostly Jewish, from Czechoslovakia on the eve of the Second World War. This operation, later known as the Czech Kindertransport, saw the children arrive into Liverpool Street station.”

• Hops line: "Plantsman William Coys' (1560-1627) work at Stubbers Garden in Upminster was a precursor to the first botanical gardens. He grew the first tomatoes, Jerusalem artichokes and hops in the UK, and studied the art of beer brewing."

• Obaala line: "Named after a Black art gallery in South Tottenham, which was created by the Organisation for Black Art Advancement and Leisure Activities (OBAALA). The organisation aimed to showcase the work of artists who were proud of their African ancestry."

• Cother line: "Honouring Jack Cother, the first Asian professional footballer in the UK who played for Watford FC from 1897. The club's Vicarage Road stadium at the end of the line has a small plaque in his honour. Cother's father was originally from Mumbai, India and this story recognises the important South Asian communities along this line, particularly at Wembley, at a time when racism in football continues to be an important issue."

• Saffron line: "The word Croydon comes from the Anglo-Saxon words for crocus and valley, indicating that it was a centre for the cultivation of saffron, which is a spice, dye and perfume ingredient that originates from the Middle East and South Asia, and is popular in cooking, fashion and fragrances from as far as Spain and India."

• Althea line: "Althea McNish is considered to be the first designer of African-Caribbean descent to achieve international recognition. Her designs depict English flora in vibrant colours. She moved from Trinidad to London when she was 27."

• Jayaben line: "Recognising the work and fighting spirit of Jayaben Desai, who led strikes against working conditions, pay inequality and institutional racism within the Grunwick Plant in Willesden."

• Polari line: "A form of language, Polari originated in the London's fish markets, theatres, fairgrounds and circuses. It was adopted by the gay subculture at a time when being homosexual was illegal, to disguise gay men from hostile outsiders and undercover police officers."

• Galtymore line: "A tribute to an Irish club near Willesden Green, which ran for 56 years. The Galtymore dance hall and community centre opened in 1952 and became famous as an oasis of Irishness in an often hostile city."

• Paralympic line: "In 1948, coinciding with the opening of the Olympic games in London, the first competition for wheelchair athletes took place at Stoke Mandeville with 16 injured service men and women taking part. More than 70 years later, the London 2012 Paralympic Games were held in Stratford."

• Ripple line: "Capturing the line's strong association with water, taking in Hampstead Ponds, Walthamstow Wetlands and Hackney Marshes through to the Thames at Barking and the Ripple Nature Reserve."

• Cable Street line: "Remembering the Battle of Cable Street at Shadwell in 1936, an anti-fascist demonstration by a collective uprising of local trade unionists, communists and British Jews, supported in particular by Irish workers and socialist groups."

• Lovers Rock line: "Celebrating a subgenre of reggae music that emerged in the 1970s. The Eve Studios in Brockley helped establish the sound. Created by London's Caribbean community, it is known for its romantic sound and content, and aimed to show the humanity of Black Britons."

• Keskidee line: "Founded in 1971, the Keskidee Arts Centre was Britain's first arts centre for the Black community. Located near Caledonian Road & Barnsbury station, the project was initiated by Guyanese architect and cultural activist Oscar Abrams to provide cultural activities for the West Indian community."

• Garrud line: "Edith Garrud was the first British female jujitsu teacher and one of the first female martial arts instructors in the western world. She was a supporter of women's suffrage and joined the Women's Freedom League in 1906, where she set up a self-defence club. Garrud trained the Women's Social and Political Union in self-defence techniques to protect its leaders from violence."

• Sisterwrite line: "Opened in 1978, Sisterwrite was Britain's first feminist bookshop. It ran as a collective and safe space for female writers and readers, and was notable for its lesbian literature section, becoming an early hub for London's lesbian community. The Islington-based bookshop, which closed in 1993, is an example of the many small independent businesses that serve as community assets across London."

• Kaushal line: "Born in 1906 in Punjab, Baldev Kaushal trained at the Middlesex Hospital before setting up a medical practice near Cambridge Heath. It was here that he helped victims of the Bethnal Green Tube station disaster of 1943."

• Moonshot line: "The Moonshot was opened in 1981 as the first purpose-built community centre for Black people in the UK. The centre was built on the site of an old mission hall in New Cross Gate, which was burned down in an arson attack by National Front members. The club's founder, Sybil Phoenix became the first Black woman to be awarded an MBE."

• Green carnation line: "Commonly worn by gay men in the Victorian era, green carnations were a covert symbol of their sexuality. It was popularised by Oscar Wilde and has since be readopted by the LGBTQ+ community as a symbol of positivity."

• Rom line: "As well as giving a geographical nod to the town of Romford and the river Rom, the name is also associated with the Rom skatepark. Since opening in 1978, the skatepark has earned Grade-II listed status, the first in Europe to achieve this and only the second in the world."

There’s also an even longer list of potential line names that don’t seem to have progressed to the full scoping-out stage but were considered as part of the process.

London Centric can work out what many of them refer to but it’s more fun to let you guess in the comments section. So how many can you get?

Alms, Anionwu, Appleton, April, Baldock, Banba, Beacon, Beam, Bower, Bridgetower, Chartist, Chronometer, Coleridge, Colossus, Constantine, Desai, Disco, Eakes, Fairkytes, Garden, Grunwick, Harlequin, Havering, Hilltop, Ingrebourne, Lisicki, Lovett, Maroons, Marson, Matchgirls, Maughan, Maurice, Nebulae, Odeje, Pell, Pendulum, Phoenix, Pilot, Ponds, Push and Pull, Ring, Rominster, Ruby, Seacole, Sound, Tagore, Tipping, Tull, Wilde, Willowbrook, Windmill.

---

Did you enjoy this edition of London Centric? Please forward it to a friend, post it on social media, get in touch via email or WhatsApp, or leave a comment.