People Mis-Naming Railway Station/Companies - Habit?

whhistle · 2 Sep 2019

Seen many people calling it:

"Hull Paragon"
"Loughborough Central"

Forgivable (slightly) is Derby Midland as the large sign above the entrance still says it.

Network Fail - yeah, not funny any more.

You still get people calling it British Rail, although I hear that term less and less every week these days.

Is it just habit or are some people forcibly calling them that for some unknown reason?

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Mag_seven · 2 Sep 2019

I still hear "Virgin Cross Country" a lot.

Bantamzen · 2 Sep 2019

I'm sure this has been done before, but Bradford Forster Square is almost always pronounced 'Foster Square' by the locals. However it really should be called 'Forster Square', as it was named after the long lost square of the same name, which in turn was named after William Edward Forster, a local industrialist and politician. Indeed his statue still resides in the city, relocated to one of the entrances to The Broadway from it's original position.

TrainBoy98 · 2 Sep 2019

Am I correct in thinking that Hull Paragon Interchange is actually the name though? Covers rail, bus and coach I thought.

2L70 · 2 Sep 2019

Well it’s on the sign outside the station so it must be...

talltim · 2 Sep 2019

What’s wrong with Loughborough Central?

Andrew S · 2 Sep 2019

Colchester North, or, within the town, simply "North station".

LowLevel · 2 Sep 2019

whhistle said:
Seen many people calling it:

"Hull Paragon"
"Loughborough Central"

Forgivable (slightly) is Derby Midland as the large sign above the entrance still says it.

Network Fail - yeah, not funny any more.

You still get people calling it British Rail, although I hear that term less and less every week these days.

Is it just habit or are some people forcibly calling them that for some unknown reason?

Hull Paragon is called Hull Paragon though. It comes up on the side of the 180s.

Historic names may have fallen out of regular parlance through rationalisation etc but it doesn't necessarily mean the building name had changed.

Derby still has Derby Midland on the outside for example.

ArchieWoodbine · 2 Sep 2019

St. Pancreas and Hol-burn are particular grievances of mine.

I've heard (probably the same) GWR guards announce our arrival into "Cardiff General" one or two times.

Interestingly, if you're alighting at Marylebone on the (Northbound?) Bakerloo line, there's a big tiled sign describing the station as "Great Central"; which is only 102 years out of date!

DPWH · 2 Sep 2019

Loughborough Central is no longer on the national network, and is part of the GCR heritage railway.

Loughborough Midland is still part of the national network.

Loughborough Derby Road is just closed.

RichT54 · 2 Sep 2019

Bantamzen said:
I'm sure this has been done before

Perhaps you were thinking of: Trivia: Place names that you're not sure how to pronounce

bramling · 2 Sep 2019

whhistle said:
Seen many people calling it:

"Hull Paragon"
"Loughborough Central"

Forgivable (slightly) is Derby Midland as the large sign above the entrance still says it.

Network Fail - yeah, not funny any more.

You still get people calling it British Rail, although I hear that term less and less every week these days.

Is it just habit or are some people forcibly calling them that for some unknown reason?

I suspect it’s partly like when women get married and people find it hard to relate to the change of surname.

The_Train · 2 Sep 2019

I think that sometimes it's just a case that people don't realise they are saying something wrong as no-one has ever corrected them, and even if they are corrected they find it difficult to actually move away from what they've always thought it to be.

It's a bit like song lyrics....we all have at least one song where we've been singing the wrong lyrics for years and years and even when corrected we struggle to sing the right lyrics. There is probably some psychology to it but I very much failed that particular subject :lol:

Bantamzen · 2 Sep 2019

RichT54 said:
Perhaps you were thinking of: Trivia: Place names that you're not sure how to pronounce

You could be right, I'm sure it came up in in there, which was what I was thinking of.

The_Train said:
It's a bit like song lyrics....we all have at least one song where we've been singing the wrong lyrics for years and years and even when corrected we struggle to sing the right lyrics. There is probably some psychology to it but I very much failed that particular subject

This always reminds me of a mate of mine who habitually gets lyrics wrong, and once complained (after a few pints) that the karaoke machine he was singing on was broken because it didn't match the lyrics he was trying, badly, to sing....

duffield · 2 Sep 2019

whhistle said:
Seen many people calling it:

"Hull Paragon"
"Loughborough Central"
...

Given that Loughborough Central exists as a heritage station, do you mean people are mistakenly referring to the Loughborough mainline station as Loughborough Central?

mpthomson · 2 Sep 2019

Bantamzen said:
I'm sure this has been done before, but Bradford Forster Square is almost always pronounced 'Foster Square' by the locals. However it really should be called 'Forster Square', as it was named after the long lost square of the same name, which in turn was named after William Edward Forster, a local industrialist and politician. Indeed his statue still resides in the city, relocated to one of the entrances to The Broadway from it's original position.

Either is acceptable pronunciation, although Foster would have been how the man himself promounced it. I went out with a Forster many moons ago and the whole family pronounced it as Foster. It's one of those British pronunciation peculiarities that crops up related to surnames.

krus_aragon · 2 Sep 2019

The_Train said:
I think that sometimes it's just a case that people don't realise they are saying something wrong as no-one has ever corrected them, and even if they are corrected they find it difficult to actually move away from what they've always thought it to be.

Yes.

A work colleague of mine in Cardiff told me that when the Mermaid Quays development was built, her husband assumed it was pronounced "kways" . She didn't correct him until years later, when their kids started to copy his pronunciation!

Ash Bridge · 2 Sep 2019

In these parts, people quite often still refer to Stockport as Edgeley Station and Manchester Piccadilly as London Road. They are though generally folk who are 70 plus years of age.

tomwills98 · 2 Sep 2019

some people still call us Arriva which is understandable as most of the trains haven't changed, but we have been called Aviva and Africa on the odd occasion.

AndyHA · 2 Sep 2019

After a career of around 45 years in Railway Ticket Offices etc . Nothing surprises me , the way people ( mis ) pronounce names etc .

I think my all time best , was a Chinese Gentleman at St Pancras wanting to get to Welwyn Garden City ..... It was something like Wigglygiggly !

Mojo · 2 Sep 2019

When I worked in Birmingham I had a customer asking for a train to Owen Street, which was the name of Tipton station some 40 years previous.

6Gman · 2 Sep 2019

Quite often see or hear references to a station named "Crewe Junction".

Which has never been its name.

Generally in whimsical articles - "memories of changing at Crewe Junction" sort of thing.

6Gman · 2 Sep 2019

Mojo said:
When I worked in Birmingham I had a customer asking for a train to Owen Street, which was the name of Tipton station some 40 years previous.

Class! Never knew that. Do people still use Oldbury for Sandwell & Dudley? S&D it must be said is a damned stupid name.

PeterC · 2 Sep 2019

Andrew S said:
Colchester North, or, within the town, simply "North station".

Its been a long time since I have been to Colchester but certainly then "North Station" was the name used in bus timetables and destination boards.

Laurence Coles · 2 Sep 2019

Dorking North, Ockley and Capel, Gomshall and Shere are still regularly used.

rs101 · 2 Sep 2019

PeterC said:
Its been a long time since I have been to Colchester but certainly then "North Station" was the name used in bus timetables and destination boards.

Yep, it's still used on bus timetables, etc. They've got 3 stations, but it's the only one which connects directly to anywhere useful!

krus_aragon · 2 Sep 2019

6Gman said:
Quite often see or hear references to a station named "Crewe Junction".

Which has never been its name.

Generally in whimsical articles - "memories of changing at Crewe Junction" sort of thing.

They're in fairly good company, though: a LNWR booklet A useful guide for travellers from 1911 says that the Crewe Arms Hotel

adjoins Crewe Junction Station, where trains connect with every part of Great Britain

(Others were using the term, correctly or not, as far back as the 1850s.)

Gwenllian2001 · 2 Sep 2019

Llandaff North although it was never named as such. Barry Town, another misnomer. Both are still in common use.

Ibex · 2 Sep 2019

I've heard "Aylesbury Town and Aylesbury Vale Parkway" announced by a driver on Chiltern before which makes sense I guess but I'm not sure the Town suffix was ever official. Wiki suggests BR referred to as Aylesbury Town between 1948 & 1960 but I don't think it was officially named that.

I've lost count of how many times I've been asked for Overground trains to "Willysden Junction" and "Clapton Junction" at work before.

Tomos y Tanc · 2 Sep 2019

Gwenllian2001 said:
Llandaff North although it was never named as such. Barry Town, another misnomer. Both are still in common use.

Not to mention the multiple ways L(l)andaf(f) is pronounced. To be fair Llandaf station is actually located in the seperate suburb of Llandaff North. Llandaff proper does have a station, of course - Danescourt!

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