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Trivia: Easily confused station names

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richard1976

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Not *quite* sure if this one counts but
The Lakes mostly shows in journey planners nowadays as The Lakes (Warks). There's stories from older conductors of American tourists asking for a ticket to "The Lakes", expecting the lake district and ending up in the midlands!
There is also Lake station on the Isle of Wight
 

daodao

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Whitchurch (South Glam) and Whitchurch (Shropshire). When asking for a single ticket to Whitchurch at Cardiff Central station many years ago, the booking clerk tried to sell me a ticket to the latter station at many times the price I expected to pay. There is also Whitchurch (Hants), and there was yet another Whitchurch station (or rather halt) a few miles south of Bristol on the line to Radstock.
 
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Class800

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You're dead right with Slaithwaite and Slough. If you go to a booking office in London and ask for a ticket to Slaithwaite, saying it properly i.e. like the station of Slough with IT on the end, you'll almost certainly be sold one to Slough. Unless online booking, you'd have to mispronounce it as it looks!
 

Ianno87

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Not *quite* sure if this one counts but
The Lakes mostly shows in journey planners nowadays as The Lakes (Warks). There's stories from older conductors of American tourists asking for a ticket to "The Lakes", expecting the lake district and ending up in the midlands!

Similarly, tourists in London heading to South Bank (Middlesbrough edition...)
 

steamybrian

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I understand that many foreign tourists visiting London and wanting to visit Stratford-upon- Avon have arrived at Stratford in East London..
Another one in East London which catches tourists is "Abbey Road" on the Docklands Light Railway however the famous recording studios is in North West London. I understand that signs have been erected at Abbey Road DLR station stating that they are at the wrong station..!
Many years ago when I was at a London Underground tube station ticket office and overheard a tourist say she wanted to go to Borough Green and was directed to Borough station on the Northern Line. I believe she wanted Borough Green in Kent but because I was in a queue behind several other passengers I did not interfere.
 

adc82140

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Historically Alderholt in Dorset was renamed to Daggons Road, after many instances of confused troops wandering round the village looking for the barracks in Aldershot. Sadly these days Alderholt/Daggons Road is no more than a barely recognisable hump in the road.
 

norbitonflyer

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Ashford - my best-beloved bought a ticket at Waterloo to one, and travelled to the other. Similar problems can arise at Waterloo if you don't pronounce "Gillingham" the right way

London Liverpool Street and Liverpool Lime Street is a well known source of confusion, especially at Norwich and Ely which have trains to both. (The proposed split of the Norwich-Liverpool service at Nottingham seems to be a rather drastic solution to this problem)

Hatfield, Hatfield Peverell, and Stainforth & Hatfield?

Morden - if you go to the wrong ticket office at Kings Cross you can find yourself in Cambridgeshire when you wanted to go to south London.

It seems to be a peculiarly American habit to eschew the words "Road", "Square" etc, resulting in tickets (or even journeys) to Leicester, Gloucester, Liverpool, Oxford or Edgware instead of somewhere in Zone 1.

St Margarets - a few years ago a "local information` poster was put up at the Greater Anglia station, giving details of facilities in East Twickenham. Modern Railways' report on this further confused the issue by placing the respective stations in Essex and Surrey
 

Localet44

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A few years back I was returning home after work and the man next to me was talking on the phone to the person he was going to see and arranging to be picked up at the station.
I was on a peak hour train from Victoria to Ramsgate with a first stop at Chatham [50 minutes] and I was going to the next stop at Gillingham (Kent).
During his call he mentioned that he had caught a train from the north and barrier staff at King's Cross had directed him across London to continue his journey to Gillingham - but using the Dorset pronounciation. He ended the call with 'see you in a couple of hours'.
I then asked him where he was going to and he said Gillingham (Dorset pronounciation) and I told him he was on the wrong train and he was going to Gillingham (Kent pronounciation). He showed me his ticket which was for the Dorest location.
He had to get off at Chatham (still some 35 minutes away), return to Victoria (50 minutes back), travel to Clapham Junction or Waterloo to catch the train to Gillingham (Dorset) (2 hours). The see you in 2 hours had now become a 3 to 4 hours journey.
 

mrd269697

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Conwy and Conway Park spring to mind. As do Nottingham, Mottingham and Cottingham!
I was speaking to a colleague who works at Conway Park, and she said that it’s genuinely happened before people have turned up looking for the Castle. Had to tell them it’s about 60 miles to the west and in another country.
 

SargeNpton

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Witton/Whitton
Earlswood (Surrey)/Earlswood (West Midlands)
Burnside/Burneside
Bootle (Cumbria)/Bootle New Strand/Bootle Oriel Road
Pensarn/Abergele & Pensarn
Newport (South Wales)/Newport (Essex)

(apologies if some of these have already been mentioned).

Plenty more cases where a non-rail location shares a name with a rail-served location. After the death of Princess Diana there was a number of instances where people took the train to Althorpe in Lincolnshire when they really wanted to get to Althorp House near Northampton.
 
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61653 HTAFC

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You're dead right with Slaithwaite and Slough. If you go to a booking office in London and ask for a ticket to Slaithwaite, saying it properly i.e. like the station of Slough with IT on the end, you'll almost certainly be sold one to Slough. Unless online booking, you'd have to mispronounce it as it looks!
I did only include that one tongue-in-cheek, hence the smiley... if I was booking a long distance journey to Slaithwaite I'd probably pronounce it "Slathwaite" (first syllable rhyming with "path") which is also accepted local to the area... if the ticket-office staff were still struggling, I'd use the code "SWT".

Another one I've been reminded of from another thread would be Moreton (Dorset) and Moreton (Wirral).
 

duncanp

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  • There is a Dalton and Dalston in Cumbria, the latter of which might get confused with Dalston Kingsland and Dalston Junction in London.
  • Derby Road and Derby
  • Chester Road and Chester
  • Dent and Denton
  • Eccles and Eccles Road
  • Forest Gate and Forest Hill
  • Charing Cross (London) and Charing Cross (Glasgow)
  • Salfords and Salford (Central or Crescent)
If you look at systems other than National Rail, you have

  • West Street (Sheffield Supertram & Glasgow Subway)
  • Monument (London Underground & Tyne and Wear Metro)
  • Haymarket (Scotrail & Tyne and Wear Metro)
  • Blackhorse Road (London Underground) & Blackhorse Lane (Croydon Tramlink)
  • Woodside Park (London Underground) & Woodside (Croydon Tramlink)
  • Hyde Park (Sheffield Supertram) and Hyde Park Corner (London Underground)
There are probably loads more.
 

Taunton

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I recently needed to travel in the Glasgow suburbs to Carmyle, and with my non-Scottish accent felt it wise to be expanatory to the booking clerk that it was not Carlisle that I wanted.

Burnham in Somerset, Burnham near Slough, and Burnham-on-Crouch in Essex, all used to get parcels for each other.
 

Djgr

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Chichester (Sussex) and Chichester (pronounced Ch-eye) Metro station, near South Shields
 

Parallel

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Sudbury & Harrow Road and Sudbury Hill Harrow. Fortunately not far from each other if you make a mistake!
 

Calthrop

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Burnham in Somerset, Burnham near Slough, and Burnham-on-Crouch in Essex, all used to get parcels for each other.

And until 1952 for passenger, and a decade-odd later for freight, Burnham Market (Norfolk) was also in the mix :smile:.
 

61653 HTAFC

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Going back in time, Lockwood (still open) and Longwood & Milnsbridge (closed under the Beeching report) were two potential causes for confusion, both being the first stop out of Huddersfield on their respective routes. Even further back, there was Kirkheaton and Kirkburton- both on the former Midland Railway Kirkburton branch.
 

Ken H

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I have heard of people who live in Settle getting delayed letters that have been to Seattle!
 

MadMac

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I have heard of people who live in Settle getting delayed letters that have been to Seattle!
There was a reported instance of a letter from Dumbarton to nearby Alexandria getting there some nine months after posting, having been to Egypt. Also, a distribution warehouse I worked in near Glasgow regularly got packages for Prestwich: the Manchester area branch regularly got ones for Prestwick.
 

Gloster

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When he was in Sweden a friend sent a letter to his mother in Lincolnshire: as is common on the continent, he wrote the sender’s address on the back, but he did it in the same style as you write the destinee’s address. When it arrived at his mother’s, she noticed that it had first gone to Swindon.
 
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