Last year, the six routes on London’s TfL-owned suburban railways were given distinct identities.
But before the Mayor settled on Liberty, Lioness, Mildmay, Suffragette, Weaver and Windrush, dozens of names were suggested for each Overground route.
TfL has said that some were discarded because they could be easily mistaken or misheard for existing Tube lines, others because they might have had “negative connotations”, and a few were considered to be too long to be practical.
In a new document released by TfL, they set out some of the names from the longlist which were considered “viable options”.
The names are not explicitly identified with a specific line, although some of them are easy to work out because of the people or locations to which they refer.
Havering is served by the Liberty line, which celebrates the “truly unique independence” of the area, as well as its historical status as a royal liberty.
The line runs from between Romford and Upminster via Emerson Park.
Here are some of the names that were considered but rejected that we can safely assume relate to the Liberty line.
- Derham – 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
- Hops – 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
- Rom – 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
