Class 08 - Where Did The Nickname Gronk Come From?

I would like to know where this nickname Gronk for Class 08 comes from.

(Fun fact about me: When I heard this name for the first time, I had to laugh because one of the greatest German Youtubers is called Gronkh)

 

I don’t know where Gronk come from, but I know the 08 was ‘Diesel’ in Thomas the tank engine. He was a sly piece of work.

 

After a bit of research I found someone saying “The class were nicknamed 'Gronks' due to their small but powerful design and being a general purpose workhorse for BR”. Not a full reason for the name but I hope it helps in some way.

 

From the noise it makes when starting up.

 

Whith Whistlers, Gronks and Tractors the British do have a thing for nicknaming locos after their sounds.

 

Class 20 - Chopper because it sounds like a helicopter, Class 50's were known as Hoovers because they sounded like vacuum cleaners.

 

Very entertaining (and enlightening, of course) thread -- thanks all!

 

Don't forget the class 66, known as "ying-yings" - due to the turbocharged EMD engines......ying ying ying ying ying ying ying ying ying ying ying........

 

The Class 57s (effectively upgraded/re-engined Class 47s) have the wonderful nickname of 'Bodysnatcher'

 

I've heard Class 66's referred to as Grey Squirrels as they came from America and killed off the indigenous population.

 

As well as Gronk, (etymology unknown), we used to call them Billys, as in Billy Bunter = Shunter. I knew them as Billys first, Gronks later.
My favourite nickname is for the Class 31 - 'Ped', as in "if it goes any slower, it'll be a Pedestrian!"

 

Weren't the first series of class 31's also referred to as 'skinheads' due to a lacking headcode box? That is a name that is... uh... interesting.

 

Yes Jonas, a 31 without a headcode box was a Skinhead. (The first 20, ie the 31/0s were also called Toffee Apples after the shape and colour of their power controller.) It must have been a name given after the Headcode box variety appeared in numbers.
I think nicknames were sometimes regional as well - 37s were called Tractors, Syphons or Growlers, possibly depending on where you were from.

 

I know that the class 45 and 47s were known as Peaks. Named after mountain ranges or something like that.

 

Class 45 and 46 were known as peaks, not 47s.

 

Although it was the Class 44's which were named after Peaks, but the name stuck to 45's and 46s too.

 

I suspect that is due to the similar looks and duties undertaken by all three classes.

 

At a guess, a nickname carried over from steam shunters, as in
"Down by the station, early in the morning
See the little puffer-billys standing in a row"

 

Another nickname the 20s had up until the 1980s was "Bombs" due to their shape resembling old style WW1 hand grenades. It's possible some still call them that but I've not heard it much anywhere since then.

 

I've never heard them called that, Sheds is the most common one.

 

I have heard both however when they first appeared Grey Squirrels was what I heard but now calling them Sheds seems to be what I hear more.

 

I'm from Leicester and I don't recall ever hearing it here hence my ignorance lol. I've heard them called a few other things over the decades that I can't repeat here haha.

 

Yeah same here!!!

 

When journeys were completed, carriages were hauled away again, by a shunter. Shunters were ubiquitous and there commonness made them somewhat despised by spotters. But things change and as the numbers diminished the good old English Electric shunter (by now officially a class 08) got a nickname. They became gronks.

 

They did have their own fans though, especially haulage banshers