Trivia:Obsolete stations names

[AY1975]

St Albans Abbey. The abbey was converted to a cathedral several hundred years ago.

It's still officially known as St Albans Abbey, though (as are several other former abbey churches).

 

[Merle Haggard]

Was there ever a flowery field at Flowery Field? There isn't now!

Rose Grove, not too far away, is a similar disappointment...

Dudley Port?

The old meaning of 'Port' was a place where goods were traded, not necessarily involving boats. Many inland towns/villages have 'port' in their name.

 

[cadder toad]

Like Connel Ferry there are no ferries at Brought Ferry, or either of North Queensferry or South Queensferry. Is there a fort at Fort Matilda? I think the one time fort at Fort William is long gone.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Is there a fort at Fort Matilda?

Was once. Coastal battery originally built in Napoleonic times. Demolished in the 1930s, I believe.

 

[Railsigns]

Like Connel Ferry there are no ferries at Brought Ferry, or either of North Queensferry or South Queensferry.

But unlike Connel Ferry, Broughty Ferry and North Queensferry stations share their names with the places they serve (there's no station named South Queensferry). Connel Ferry station is in Connel.

 

[BeijingDave]

Believe it was 'Leicester London Road' until 1969, so, yes.

Yes, my mistake

 

[Crossover]

The three letter code for Heysham Port is HHB, I believe a hangover of the time it was known as Heysham Harbour

 

[RH Liner]

Newark North Gate is not on North Gate. And which is correct, Borehamwood (as in Elstree and...) or Boreham Wood (as in the football club)?

 

[John Luxton]

Bootle New Strand

The shopping centre adjacent to the station dropped the new when it revamped about 20 Years ago and is just The Strand.

Wonder why the station does not revert back to Strand Road as it was originally until the shopping centre opened in the 1960s.

It was actually Strand Road and Marsh Lane as I think the station did have two entrances at one point and each end of the platforms.

 

[Lloyds siding]

Sandhills (Liverpool).
There were some, but it was a long time ago.

 

[Haywain]

Berney Arms as the pub that gave it its name is now closed.

The settlement is known by that name, not just the pub. The station also serves Berney Arms Windmill although, ironically, that is also currently closed! There are suggestions that the pub may re-open.

New Pudsey isn't really new these days, though that is what the "New" in the name refers to, as in "the new station for Pudsey".

A former colleague used to say "It isn't new and it isn't in Pudsey".

Newark North Gate is not on North Gate.

And, as the local management are wont to tell me, is called Northgate (all one word).

And which is correct, Borehamwood (as in Elstree and...) or Boreham Wood (as in the football club)?

The town name is one word, the football club is two words. Don't ask me why! Worth noting that there are plenty of examples of the railway station having a slightly different name to the place it serves.

 

[matchmaker]

Like Connel Ferry there are no ferries at Brought Ferry, or either of North Queensferry or South Queensferry. Is there a fort at Fort Matilda? I think the one time fort at Fort William is long gone.

Ironically, the fort in Fort William was partly demolished by the West Highland Railway!

 

[d9009alycidon]

Singer - the factory closed in 1980 and the site obliterated

 

[AndyW33]

Birmingham New Street isn’t on New Street

Not so much an obsolete station name, though - the station has never ever been on New Street.

 

[SargeNpton]

Ironically, the fort in Fort William was partly demolished by the West Highland Railway!

Similarly the remains of Northampton Castle by the LNWR when it built Castle station.

 

[John Luxton]

Sandhills (Liverpool).
There were some, but it was a long time ago.

Takes its name from the former Sandhills Estate. Much of the land of which was sold to create Liverpool Docks.

 

[eldomtom2]

King's Cross' name was obsolete when it was built - I doubt the area would have kept that name without the station.

 

[Sean Emmett]

Was there ever a belle vue from Belle Vue?

 

[thenorthern]

Ninian Park is one as the stadium itself is long gone, same with White Hart Lane.

 

[Dr_Paul]

Severn Beach is pushing it as well.

So is Strawberry Hill. But then in that part of Middlesex, anything over 10 feet above the surrounding river-plain is known as a hill (Hampton Hill, Felthamhill).

 

[BeijingDave]

And which is correct, Borehamwood (as in Elstree and...) or Boreham Wood (as in the football club)?

There are many examples of this up and down the country. Haringey (the local council) and Harringay (the railway station). Styvechale/Stivichall (a suburb of Coventry where both spellings are frequently seen)...

 

[SargeNpton]

Ninian Park is one as the stadium itself is long gone, same with White Hart Lane.

But was either station named after the respective sports stadiums? Ninian Park, as a piece of parkland is still there, and White Hart Lane is still a street - just that the station is not on that street.

 

[Haywain]

White Hart Lane is still a street - just that the station is not on that street.

The Spurs football ground isn't (and wasn't) on that street but the station is very adjacent to it.

 

[weepingwillowb]

Appleby. The town's name was changed to Appleby-in-Westmorland in the mid-1970s.

 

[Lucan]

I’m willing to be there’s no longer a wishing well at St Keyne

Maybe there is a well, but I bet the wishes don't work.

There haven’t been any meads in not-quite-central Bristol for many years

Nor fields at Southfields, deer hunts around Wimbledon Chase, nor likewise the fatuous names of new housing estates like "The Orchard", and most other idyllically named places in suburbia.

 

[WesternBiker]

Always known in Bristol as Severn Mud.

Indeed. Quite how they thought it was a suitable place for a seaside resort is beyond me, but I understand at one point it even had a swimming pool, funfair and boating lake.

 

[thenorthern]

But was either station named after the respective sports stadiums? Ninian Park, as a piece of parkland is still there, and White Hart Lane is still a street - just that the station is not on that street.

Ninian Park station was named after the Football Ground.

 

[Taunton]

Indeed. Quite how they thought it was a suitable place for a seaside resort is beyond me, but I understand at one point it even had a swimming pool, funfair and boating lake.

Even better, for one of youthful years, it had a miniature railway to ride on.

I still regret returning to the station one afternoon, possibly mud-strewn, probably summer 1962, and finding two 3-car Derby suburban dmus about to depart in opposite directions for Bristol TM. We had come out via Avonmouth, the porter said why not go back the opposite route. But we had passed, at St Andrews Road, a fascinating aerial ropeway with buckets conveying chemical raw material from the docks to the ICI factory, right overhead the railway, which I had never seen before and wanted to see again. So we went back the same way. Disappointingly, it had now stopped for the day.

 

[weepingwillowb]

But we had passed, at St Andrews Road, a fascinating aerial ropeway with buckets conveying chemical raw material from the docks to the ICI factory, right overhead the railway, which I had never seen before and wanted to see again. So we went back the same way. Disappointingly, it had now stopped for the day.

Heritage Locations

National Transport Trust is the hub of the transport preservation movement in the UK, supporting and promoting the restoration and preservation of all parts of our transport heritage.

www.nationaltransporttrust.org.uk

 

[AC47461]

I guess the names are not necessarily obsolete but you see plenty of instances where a station is a bit of a way from the settlement it serves and then a new settlement grows next to the station, sometimes with an entirely different name and occasionally growing bigger than the one the station is named after. Moreton in Dorset being one example, about 1.5miles from the station, pop approx 373, while Crossways, which has grown next to the station has now hit 2300.

Another one is Carstairs (a bit less than a mile from the Station), where the village of Carstairs Junction has grown round the station and isn't far short of the same size as Carstairs village itself.