Stations Names

[Waverley125]

what do you think about the trend towards name simplifcation at some stations? In some cases i can understand it, but in others i object.

E.g. Stamford is not Stamford Town (as opposed to Stamford East)
Peterborough is not Peterbrough North (as opposed to peterborough east)

but

Leeds IS Leeds City (and hopefully will again be, if parkway is built)
Carlisle IS Carlisle Citadel
Lincoln IS Lincoln Central
Newcastle IS Newcastle Central
Hull IS Hull Paragon

 

[43021HST]

In some ways I agree with it and it was cause less confusion, but in some places like carlisle its station name has been around so long it would cause more confusion if it was removed.

 

[Tom B]

"Lincoln Central" is always what I've heard announced.

Conversely, I've never heard "Gainsborough Lea Road" - always "Gainsborough, Saxilby, Lincoln Central".

 

[Max]

Even though Hull isn't Hull Paragon on signs or timetables, it is sometimes announced as Hull Paragon, and officially the station is known as 'Hull Paragon Interchange'. See here.

 

[Mintona]

Hereford used to be called Hereford Barrs Court. It would be nice to be called that again, but I doubt it will be. There's no need.

 

[EM2]

I think when there is only one mainline station in a town (e.g. Nottingham) then calling it just by the town name makes sense.
However, some station names aren't descriptive enough! e.g St james Street, Walthamstow Central and Wood Street are all in Walthamstow, but only one of them tells you that.

 

[me123]

Edinburgh annoys me. The station is called "Edinburgh Waverley", and thankfully this is usually called Edinburgh Waverley. But I hate when companies (mostly National Express) announce a train bound for Edinburgh Haymarket. There is no such station as Edinburgh Haymarket. It is simply called Haymarket.

 

[flymo]

At Darlington, trains going to Newcastle are shown as "Newcastle Central" on displays. I saw this a couple of weeks ago, It is the first time I think i have ever seen it descibed as such.

 

[John @ home]

Edinburgh annoys me. The station is called "Edinburgh Waverley", and thankfully this is usually called Edinburgh Waverley. But I hate when companies (mostly National Express) announce a train bound for Edinburgh Haymarket. There is no such station as Edinburgh Haymarket. It is simply called Haymarket.

This used to be the case, but names do change and I don't think it's quite as simple as that any more.

When I was growing up near Edinburgh in the 1960s the two main stations were Edinburgh Waverley and Edinburgh Princes Street. And me123 is right: at that time Haymarket was simply called Haymarket.

A few years after the closure of Princes Street station, the British Railways Board decided that Edinburgh had only one main station and dropped the description Waverley. The name changed on tickets, timetables and station signs. But locally the station and the area around it were still called Waverley. And Haymarket was still simply called Haymarket.

Then came privatisation and the loss of central control, and some station names changed for some purposes but not for others. Edinburgh regained its Waverley on the station signs. But it remains plain Edinburgh on tickets and timetables. Some time later, Haymarket became Edinburgh Haymarket on some internet booking engines, but is still simply Haymarket on tickets, timetables and station signs. Entering Edinburgh into one of the booking engines based on thetrainline brings up a screen with the choice of Edinburgh Haymarket, Edinburgh Park, Edinburgh Waverley or Edinburgh+Bus. And Edinburgh Haymarket is the default - perhaps because it's first alphabetically.

One reason for NXEC to use Edinburgh Haymarket may be to avoid confusion with the station 1.029km north of Newcastle (Central) station on the Tyne & Wear Metro, which is simply Haymarket.

Edinburgh may not be the only Scottish city with stations losing their identity. me123 may be appalled to learn that a couple of weeks ago I used tickets issued by Superbreak which were printed "From ANY NXEC STATION to GLASGOW".

John

 

[Death]

what do you think about the trend towards name simplifcation at some stations? In some cases i can understand it, but in others i object.

E.g. Stamford is not Stamford Town (as opposed to Stamford East)
Peterborough is not Peterbrough North (as opposed to peterborough east)

Living in Farnborough - Which has a "Main" and a "North" station (Both on seperate lines, but in the same interchange group) - I find the distinction between Main and North to be useful whenever trying to hunt cheaper, route/line specific fares and advising people with enquiries who don't know the area well.

However, the signs, timetables and announcements that SWT have provided refer to Farnborough Main (It's full name) as simply "Farnborough" - Which is ambiguous enough for anyone who isn't local to this area, but could also lead to mix-ups with the other Farnborough over in Middlesex. To be honest, I can't understand why SWT don't refer to Farnborough Main as exactly that, rather than using the ambiguous contraction. Furthermore, entering "Farnborough Main" (FNB) into Avantix won't yield any valid fares information either...Insted, one has to use "Farnborough Stns" (0260) insted. :roll:

On another note, I'm only aware of there being one station in the vicinity of St. Leonards which could presumably be referred to by the town name as mentioned above...Yet I would be extremely peeved if they ever actually did that, simply because "St. Leonards Warrior Square" sounds a darn sight better and much more pleasing to my ear than just "St. Leonards"...

 

[merlodlliw]

Interesting read this thread.

Of the old GWR joint stations up here, at least Wrexham General retains its
name, long gone Chester General.

There was thought in South Wales to drop General when and
if they got rid of Central Stn on the Bidston line during redevelopment and merge it with General, however as happens in Wrexham the huge public outcry and excellent work of the then A.M Dr John Marick, stopped this,
John Marick was once Wrexham M.P supported by the RMT. Then became
Assembley member for Wrexham and deputy speaker.
If the guy was still in the Assembley,doubling the line to Chester would not
be on the back burner, now we have Ieuan Wyn Jones in charge of railways
in Wales, "wheres Wrexham, Oh I thought it was in Crewe".

my opinion

 

[37401]

alot of the stations used to have midland after them

Derby Midland
Notingham Midland
Rugby Midland

and so on...

 

[MCR247]

I think on the departure boards at Nottingham, it says Bedford Midland, but everywhere else just says Bedford, I am aware of Bedford St Johns, but before I went on the Marston vale line, i thought bedford had one station, purely because it is announced as Bedford, it says Bedford on the meridian screens. Simalar to St Albans, I thought it was just that, not St Albans city!

 

[dan_atki]

However, the signs, timetables and announcements that SWT have provided refer to Farnborough Main (It's full name) as simply "Farnborough" - Which is ambiguous enough for anyone who isn't local to this area, but could also lead to mix-ups with the other Farnborough over in Middlesex. To be honest, I can't understand why SWT don't refer to Farnborough Main as exactly that, rather than using the ambiguous contraction. Furthermore, entering "Farnborough Main" (FNB) into Avantix won't yield any valid fares information either...Insted, one has to use "Farnborough Stns" (0260) insted. :roll:

Farnborough's an odd one from a CIS point of view. Ditra station announcements always refer to them as 'Farnborough Main' and 'Farnborough North', however Desiro announcements and station departure boards always contract 'Farnborough Main' to 'Farnborough'... SWT evidently expect you to be aware that none of their services go to Farnborough North by the time you're on the train.

Farnborough Stns is a group made for fares purposes. Except for some local journeys (? don't know if that's the case in Farnborough) all tickets will say 'Farnborough Stns' on them rather than a specific station.

If you think that's bad enough try figuring out which of Bedford and Bedford Stations to use for a ticket type to a number of destinations with direct services. Then try Bedford to London...

On another note, I'm only aware of there being one station in the vicinity of St. Leonards which could presumably be referred to by the town name as mentioned above...

There is also West St Leonards, served by Southeastern on London to Hastings services via Tunbridge Wells .

 

[merlodlliw]

Lympstone Commando, on the Exmouth line is my favourite,what a name for a station.

 

[O L Leigh]

However, some station names aren't descriptive enough! e.g St james Street, Walthamstow Central and Wood Street are all in Walthamstow, but only one of them tells you that.

I beg to differ.

If anything, station names like Wood Street and St James Street a extremely descriptive, as these are the roads that the stations themselves are on. If anything Walthamstow Central is the vague one, although I will concede that it is the station closest to the main shopping area. But then this is something fairly unique to very large cities like London and entirely appropriate as a result.

However, I would agree with the general sentiments about towns now with only one station. The current station in Norwich is Norwich Thorpe, but with the closure of Norwich Victoria the distinction is now redundant. Even when there were other stations within the bounds of the city (e.g. Trowse) there was no need to qualify precisely where these stations were (e.g. Norwich Trowse).

But then my nostalgic side laments the loss of some of these quirks of the railway. Hull Paragon has already been mentioned, as has Carlisle Citadel. Just what made Hull's main station a Paragon and why is Carlisle's a Citadel? There surely must be some reason for it.

O L Leigh

 

[spoony]

What about stations thats names are now incorrect. Im thinking of Teeside Airport here

 

[EM2]

I beg to differ.

If anything, station names like Wood Street and St James Street a extremely descriptive, as these are the roads that the stations themselves are on. If anything Walthamstow Central is the vague one, although I will concede that it is the station closest to the main shopping area. But then this is something fairly unique to very large cities like London and entirely appropriate as a result.

But that only helps if you know where those roads are. Even though I hear the announcements every day, I have not a clue where Rectory Road or Turkey Street are.
And Central used to be called Hoe Street...

But then my nostalgic side laments the loss of some of these quirks of the railway. Hull Paragon has already been mentioned, as has Carlisle Citadel. Just what made Hull's main station a Paragon and why is Carlisle's a Citadel? There surely must be some reason for it.

I think most of it was just 'bigging themselves up' to make that company's station sound better and more important than their competitor's

 

[The North Briton]

Can anyone explain why Stainforth & Hatfield needed to be renamed Hatfield & Stainforth? It is now more likely to be confused with Hatfield in Hertfordshire.

 

[Waverley125]

I think the 'edinburgh' in front of haymarket does need to be brought back in to use. Several times going north on Aberdeen services, I've heard 'calling at...Berwick upon Tweed, Dunbar, Edinburgh, Haymarket...'

This can lead to confusion, and should be announced 'edinburgh Waverley, Edinburgh Haymarket'. Also including the 'edinburgh' as has been said to avoid confusion with Haymarket in Newcastle.

Interesting point, and one to get up londoners. 'Charing Cross' station isn't in london, it's in Glasgow. The station in London is 'London Charing Cross'. Just noticed that. heh.

 

[me123]

I do think it should be called "Edinburgh Waverley", but Haymarket should remain Haymarket. You wouldn't get on a train calling at "London Finsbury Park", would you?

 

[Mojo]

What about stations thats names are now incorrect. Im thinking of Teeside Airport here

Or even ones that were never correct - eg: Clapham Junction is more Battersea (or even Wansdworth). Interestingly enough, perhaps a testament to the power of the railways, the name Clapham Junction is often used to describe the area around the station - indeed, Google Maps have marked Clapham as the area around Junction station (whereas OS have put it in the vicinity of High Street station), having never been to either locations, I given the name I would assume that OS is correct based on what the name High Street traditionally means.

 

[Max]

But then my nostalgic side laments the loss of some of these quirks of the railway. Hull Paragon has already been mentioned, as has Carlisle Citadel. Just what made Hull's main station a Paragon and why is Carlisle's a Citadel? There surely must be some reason for it.

This is because there used to be two fairly major stations in Hull - Cannon Street, which was the terminus for the Hull and Barnsley Railway, and Paragon, built by the York and North Midland Railway (and later rebuilt in 1904 by the NER). Paragon is named thus because it is located on Paragon Square.

 

[moonrakerz]

When the MoD built its new HQ in Bristol, it was named Abbey Wood. It has its own railway station, called Filton Abbey Wood - because there was already a station called Abbey Wood.
I often wonder how many people end up in Kent asking the bemused locals where the MoD HQ is !

 

[Geezertronic]

Birmingham International is only named so because of the airport not because of international railway links (yet hopefully )

 

[BlythPower]

Birmingham International is only named so because of the airport not because of international railway links (yet hopefully )

And that's despite it being in Solihull Metropolitan Borough and not Birmingham!

 

[Geezertronic]

And that's despite it being in Solihull Metropolitan Borough and not Birmingham!

It sounds better than Solihull International, or even Elmdon International

 

[Mojo]

Bristol Parkway isn't in Bristol either - I'm sure there are probably other examples too where they take the name of the largest urban area rather than the place it is actually in.

 

[flymo]

Because so many airports are out of town there are not many that are actually in the town they purport to serve. Newcastle, London Gatwick, London Stansted, {Heathrow is marginal} to name but a few. Manchester, Leeds/Bradford (by definition it cannot be in both), etc the list goes on.

 

[BlythPower]

It sounds better than Solihull International, or even Elmdon International

I like the sound of that one, but I'm sticking with Bickenhill Flyway :grin: