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Place name differences: the railway calls it by this name, but everyone else calls it by that name!

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SteveyBee131

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Here in Grimsby, one of the level crossings (the second one heading West from Grimsby Town) is known by the railway as Friargate crossing. But said crossing is on Cartergate, and locals all know it as Cartergate crossing. In fact, if you say Friargate crossing to most, they look at you funny!

I know this is probably a long term thing, as I've seen pictures from when the crossing had it's own signalbox (1989 I believe?) , and it was known in railway terms at least, as Friargate back then. But does anybody on here know why the name difference exists?

Are there any other places on the network (past or present) that the railway calls by a different name to everyone else?

I seem to remember hearing somewhere about some of the Cornish china clay works/terminals/mines going by different names on the railway compared to the china clay company terminology! Can anyone on here tell us more?
 
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Cakestall

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It may be more suited to a stations named after places other than where they actually are thread, but Weeton Station on the Harrogate line is in the middle of Huby village.
 

Dentonian

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It may be more suited to a stations named after places other than where they actually are thread, but Weeton Station on the Harrogate line is in the middle of Huby village.

Or M60 Junction 24 station.....confusingly known as Denton.
 

Mutant Lemming

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Most drop the Elstree bit from Borehamwood seeing as the station is actually in the town of Borehamwood and the village of Elstree is a good mile or so away.
 

Lockwood

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I'm surprised that when "The Hard" became "Gunwharf Quays" that Portsmouth Harbour didn't change, or become "Portsmouth Harbour for Gunwharf Quays"
 

700007

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Locals call Letchworth Garden City and Welwyn Garden City as Letchworth and Welwyn but I think that one was an obvious one to be fair.

In a lot of places where there is a major train station for the town / city that has the ending as Central or City station, locals tend to just refer to it as that. i.e. Southampton Central is just referred to as Central station, or St Albans. City as City station. Even in London I've heard locals around the Walthamstow area refer to their local station as 'Central' station without the Walthamstow prefix.
 

mikeg

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Aycliffe business Park is referred to as Heighington by the railway.

Middleton St George has a station called Dinsdale.

Seamer Station is actually in the village of Cross gates, though naming a station in a village for somewhere else nearby isn't too unusual.
 

DaveNewcastle

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Alnmouth Station is in the small town of Bilton, next to the larger town of Lesbury. Its about a mile further to Alnmouth.

And Tring Station ? It is near an old cana,l and a forest, and a golf course, and a phone box. . . . . . And only half a mile from Aldbury village.
 

Bletchleyite

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Watford North - everyone seemingly knows as North Watford

Milton Keynes Central railway station is located in the area called "Central Milton Keynes".

Even worse, VT just call it "Milton Keynes" half the time, which grates almost as much as using just "Euston" as a destination. Very sloppy.
 

AlterEgo

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Alnmouth Station is in the small town of Bilton, next to the larger town of Lesbury. Its about a mile further to Alnmouth.

And Tring Station ? It is near an old cana,l and a forest, and a golf course, and a phone box. . . . . . And only half a mile from Aldbury village.

Tring station is in the (disputed status) settlement of Tring Station, possibly making it the *most* sport named station in Britain.
 

Bletchleyite

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Tring station is in the (disputed status) settlement of Tring Station, possibly making it the *most* sport named station in Britain.

There's a similar one called Widdrington Station on the Chathill run. I know someone who grew up there.

Of course these are so named because the settlement grew around the station which was a bit distant from the actual town/village.

Another one is Rainford Junction (settlement), the station however is now just called Rainford now it isn't a junction any more.
 

AlterEgo

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There's a similar one called Widdrington Station on the Chathill run. I know someone who grew up there.

Of course these are so named because the settlement grew around the station which was a bit distant from the actual town/village.

Another one is Rainford Junction (settlement), the station however is now just called Rainford now it isn't a junction any more.

Verney Junction is another example, currently devoid of railway though.
 

Busaholic

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Well, not everyone, these days anyway, but for the old locals Clapham Junction was Battersea ( more 'up the Rise' than 'up the Junction'!)
 

bramling

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Locals call Letchworth Garden City and Welwyn Garden City as Letchworth and Welwyn but I think that one was an obvious one to be fair.

There's a slight difference between Letchworth and Welwyn, in that Welwyn comprises Welwyn (village) and Welwyn Garden City which are very much separate places. It's quite common locally to hear "Welwyn Garden" to refer to WGC. By contrast, hardly anyone refers to Letchworth by anything other than plain Letchworth, the renaming of the station was largely done for political reasons.

On a related note, there are still people of a certain age who still say "Stevenage New Town", with some derogatory inference.
 

alxndr

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I can think of countless railway names which might not tally up with any name that the locals would recognise or be found on a map. Just the other day we discovered somewhere we always knew as X Road turns out to in fact be Y Road, and there are places known as "City Bridge" without a city in sight. That's not to mention the fact that even the railway can't even agree on the name of some places.
 

randyrippley

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Morecambe.........the historic name is Poulton-le-Sands but when the railways came and wanted to develop it as a Victorian "new town" beach resort they decided to name the station(s) as Morecambe. Later when the villages of Poulton, Torrisholme and Bare (Bare beach, don't snigger) were amalgamated, the burghers of the new Town Council followed the railway lead.

But really all of the Morecambe stations have been in Poulton (not to be confused with Poulton-le-Fylde).
 

61653 HTAFC

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Dodworth near Barnsley is pronounced by locals as "Dodduth", matching nearby Cudworth (Cudduth). However the robot-woman (unlike some, I'm not on first-name terms with any of them I'm afraid ;)) at Huddersfield says it as it's written.

This contrasts with Slaithwaite, which had the pronunciation by robo-lady corrected after a campaign by villagers.
 

BestWestern

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Portsmouth Harbour=Gunwharf.

And Portsmouth & Southsea, which whilst certainly being slap bang in the middle of Portsmouth, is most definitely not in Southsea. It's also known by the locals simply as "the town station". P&S is a bit a bit of a mouthful, to be fair!
 

Carlisle

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Another one is Rainford Junction (settlement), the station however is now just called Rainford now it isn't a junction any more.
The Same applies at Carstairs Junction, (settlement), the actual Carstairs village itself is at least half a mile away
 

LowLevel

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Rauceby station is nearish the villages of South and North Rauceby but is situated in Greylees.

Thorpe Culvert station is somewhere vaguely near the hamlet of Thorpe St Peter which itself is basically a couple of farms but apart from the old station house and the signalbox is particularly isolated.

Shippea Hill settlement doesn't exist at all. It's in an area called Burnt Fen and is slightly above sea level. It used to serve Mildenhall military camp before road transport became widespread and I presume was another station that did more trade in goods than passengers.
 

Peter Mugridge

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Long Eaton to the railways, Old Sawley to locals

Just to get it clear to me - is this the current Long Eaton station?

Is the long closed - but mainly intact - old Long Eaton Town station on the Erewash Valley line actually in Long Eaton itself?
 

StoneRoad

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Newcastle Central Station is often just Central Station to both mainline and metro users.

For convenience, I think most locals refer to Penrhyndeudreath as plain Penrhyn; the Cambrian Coast line station (properly named as the full monty) is almost at sea level and the Ffestiniong's is very much higher up the hill (which tempts some wits to unofficially rename it as Penrhyn Uchaf ie Penryhn upper or higher : nor is this an interchange, unlike the next station, Minffordd).
 

Wirewiper

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On a related note, there are still people of a certain age who still say "Stevenage New Town", with some derogatory inference.

They are probably not so far off the mark, as Stevenage Station was re-sited in the early 1970s (1973?) to be adjacent to the centre of the New Town. The old Station was close to the Old Town part of Stevenage.

When plans for the proposed New Town were first unveiled in 1946, some of its opponents dubbed it "Silkingrad" after the Minister responsible for the proposals, a name with definite overtones of Stalinist Russia at a time when the Cold War was a very real threat. On one occasion when Mr Silkin attended a meeting in the (old!) town some local activists had changed some of the station signs.
 
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Altnabreac

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There's a similar one called Widdrington Station on the Chathill run. I know someone who grew up there.

Of course these are so named because the settlement grew around the station which was a bit distant from the actual town/village.

Another one is Rainford Junction (settlement), the station however is now just called Rainford now it isn't a junction any more.

Uphall Station in West Lothian is another one with the station called Uphall being in the separate settlement of Uphall Station.
 
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