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People Mis-Naming Railway Station/Companies - Habit?

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LNW-GW Joint

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So why did the rail system scrap the name Waverley for official purposes, if it's what everyone called/calls it?

A station suffix arguably wasn't needed in Edinburgh after BR closed the alternative Princes St station.
But now Haymarket is an important city station it is needed again, I think.
But there seems to be resistance to calling Haymarket as Edinburgh Haymarket.

There's still some reference to the old "General" station monikers, which were mostly on the GW but all gone now except Wrexham I think.
Sheffield finds it hard to lose its Midland suffix, despite Victoria being long closed.
Many of the suffixes (Midland, Central etc) were only added by BR after nationalisation in 1948.
Before that, most stations were simply known by the town and their company name.
Distinguishing names were only really needed if the same company had more than one station in a town.
 
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SN1 19-5

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My last year at school was in St. Helens. Half way through this, I moved to Ashton in Makerfield.

The local station for Ashton is Bryn. One of the lads from school told me that that is pronounced

Brian!
 

bobbyrail

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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.

Indeed i work with a gent who has the surname "Forster" and he told many colleagues repeatedly when he started that its pronounced "Foster" and not "For-ster"
 

Tomos y Tanc

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I've always found it quirky that both ATW and TfW (rightly imo) use the Welsh names for stations they manage in England in station announcements made in Wales while the signage in those stations is (again rightly imo) in English only. It means you can get on a train to Yr Amwythig or Caer and get off in Shrewsbury or Chester.
 
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3141

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The use of former names is partly a matter of habit. In the 1930s my wife's mother regularly used Mark Lane Underground station, renamed Tower Hill in 1946. In 1971 she was in London and wanted to get a train to Southend from Fenchurch Street. At an Underground ticket office she asked for Mark Lane. The clerk said: "It's a good job I've been around as long as you have, lady. It's Tower Hill."

I still think of the Bakerloo Line station now called Charing Cross as Trafalgar Square, and I have to remind myself that the District Line station at the bottom of Villiers Street isn't Charing Cross any more.

The habit probably arises if you used to use the previous name regularly. "Virgin Cross Country" is quite natural if you got used to that name, especially since the current franchise also has the words "Cross Country" in it. But something artificial like First Capital Connect would fall out of use pretty quickly.
 

Tomos y Tanc

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The habit probably arises if you used to use the previous name regularly. "Virgin Cross Country" is quite natural if you got used to that name, especially since the current franchise also has the words "Cross Country" in it. But something artificial like First Capital Connect would fall out of use pretty quickly.

It also depends, I think, on how long a previous name was used for. I'm always struck by how many people in the north west of England still refer to ITV as 'Granada'. I don't think anyone refers to ITV as 'Carlton', 'Meridian' or other such short-lived names.
 

thenorthern

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As other have said age and popularity of a previous name are a big thing when misnaming happens.

When East Midlands Airport was re-named Nottingham East Midlands Airport in 2003 people from Derby still referred to it as East Midlands Airport and would become very defensive if someone was to use its proper name. When the airport reverted to East Midlands in 2006 it was still common for people in Nottingham to call it Nottingham East Midlands Airport for several years after.
 

TrainBoy98

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It also depends, I think, on how long a previous name was used for. I'm always struck by how many people in the north west of England still refer to ITV as 'Granada'. I don't think anyone refers to ITV as 'Carlton', 'Meridian' or other such short-lived names.

Oddly, I refer to it as Meridian, and I'm only 20 (no idea when it was in or out of use...).
 

krus_aragon

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I've always found it quirky that both ATW and TfW (rightly imo) use the Welsh names for stations they manage in England in station announcements made in Wales while the signage in those stations is (again rightly imo) in English only. It means you can get on a train to Yr Amwythig or Caer and get off in Shrewsbury or Chester.
I suppose it has parallels to the way you can find such names as Caer and Llundain in Welsh on road signs in Wales, but they become monolingual once you cross the border.
 

wimbledonpete

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I know someone in his 40s who refers to Tooting as Tooting Junction - he's not a train fan so it's possible it's still known as that to the locals. (Became just Tooting in 1938 according to Wiki.)
 

6Gman

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I've always found it quirky that both ATW and TfW (rightly imo) use the Welsh names for stations they manage in England in station announcements made in Wales while the signage in those stations is (again rightly imo) in English only. It means you can get on a train to Yr Amwythig or Caer and get off in Shrewsbury or Chester.

I suppose it's that while in Wales they're in an (officially) bilingual country. Once the border is crossed however ...

Incidentally, I get the impression that Whitchurch (Salop) had bilingual signage instaled, but the Welsh form has now been covered up.
 

6Gman

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It also depends, I think, on how long a previous name was used for. I'm always struck by how many people in the north west of England still refer to ITV as 'Granada'.

You mean it isn't anymore?

;)
 

RichT54

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Oddly, I refer to it as Meridian, and I'm only 20 (no idea when it was in or out of use...).

I think Meridian is still currently in use. I continue to think of it as Southern Television, which was the licence holder for the region from 1958 to 1981!
 

vlad

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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.

If the sign just south of the station (here) can refer to it as Edgeley station then people can too!
 

Ash Bridge

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If the sign just south of the station (here) can refer to it as Edgeley station then people can too!

Indeed! Totally forgot that was still in situ, put in I think when the former tunnel was opened out for electrification of the route during the late fifties.
 

507021

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I still hear Northern being called "Northern Rail" even though they've not had the franchise for nearly 3 1/2 years.
 

FtoE

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A station suffix arguably wasn't needed in Edinburgh after BR closed the alternative Princes St station.
But now Haymarket is an important city station it is needed again, I think.
But there seems to be resistance to calling Haymarket as Edinburgh Haymarket.

There's still some reference to the old "General" station monikers, which were mostly on the GW but all gone now except Wrexham I think.
Sheffield finds it hard to lose its Midland suffix, despite Victoria being long closed.
Many of the suffixes (Midland, Central etc) were only added by BR after nationalisation in 1948.
Before that, most stations were simply known by the town and their company name.
Distinguishing names were only really needed if the same company had more than one station in a town.

Funny enough I was on a Stirling train on Saturday from Waverley and noticed the train announcements called it Edinburgh Haymarket. I’ve never heard that before.

And yes, I’m afraid no-one in Fort William calls it Fort Bill. I’d never even considered it an option until after I’d left!

Mallaig is pronounced ‘MAL-ig’ not ‘’ma-LAIG’ and Corrour rhymes with ‘our’ not ‘poor’.
 

prod_pep

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Mallaig is pronounced ‘MAL-ig’ not ‘’ma-LAIG’ and Corrour rhymes with ‘our’ not ‘poor’.

Thanks for that: I'd been wondering about the correct pronunciation of Corrour. I think the 'aig' ending of a placename is usually pronounced 'ig' in Scotland, so the likes of Arisaig and Inverkirkaig, etc. are pronounced 'ARRIS-ig' and 'Inver-KIRK-ig' respectively.

Definitely Edinburgh Waverley for me, or Waverley for short.
 

Parallel

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It also depends, I think, on how long a previous name was used for. I'm always struck by how many people in the north west of England still refer to ITV as 'Granada'. I don't think anyone refers to ITV as 'Carlton', 'Meridian' or other such short-lived names.

Another oddity is some Welsh station names on station signs and Welsh announcements are different. If you board a train to Valley, it's announced as 'Y Fali' in Welsh at stations, but when you alight the train there, it's 'Y Dyffryn' on the station name plates.
 

smsm1

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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.
I'm pretty sure there's signage in the town saying "North Station" on the roads, so no wonder it's called North station by locals.

In a similar vein with the opening of Cambridge North station, how should I make clear it's the main station I'm talking about and not the north station. If Cambridge South happens, that'll add to the potential confusion. I sometimes use Cambridge Main. I'm not sure Central works as it's not near enough the city centre of Cambridge.
 

jtuk

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It also depends, I think, on how long a previous name was used for. I'm always struck by how many people in the north west of England still refer to ITV as 'Granada'. I don't think anyone refers to ITV as 'Carlton', 'Meridian' or other such short-lived names.

Difference is it was Granada for decades before I was born and I still remember only having four channels

It is an interesting thread - plenty of us round here will refer to the hell hole that is Manchester Airport as Ringway, and it's routine to still refer to whatever they call the big venues as the G-Mex and Nynex. Don't get me started on football grounds
 

xotGD

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Plenty of stations are commonly referred to by abbreviated versions of their names, in particular among enthusiasts, such as:

Man Pic
Man Vic
Darlo
Donny
Shef
The Cross or The Blocks
Pad
Wolves
and of course Fort Bill
 

Merthyr Imp

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Living in Nottingham I still used to refer to 'the Midland station' for years after the establishment at Victoria was closed.
 

centraltrains

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"Birmingham Grand Central" - Drives me absolutely mad, in my opinion, a successful plot of a commercial shopping centre to confuse people into naming the station by their entity mistakenly.
I was speaking to someone about it once, who called it Grand Central. I challenged them on it, they said they thought New Street was the old name and they were being cautious because they knew I was into trains.
I do wonder if ticket offices/guards get people asking for tickets to Grand Central.

What doesn't help is the inappropriately named tram stop. It is on the same level as the station concourse.... Just call it New Street.

(Yes, New Street isn't really on New Street, but it is it's official name...)
 

adrock1976

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What's it called? It's called Cumbernauld
The only person I've ever met from Colchester referred to the "Town" station and the "Mainline" station. "Main Line" being a suffix unique to Acton Main Line (which isn't that useful if you actually want to visit Acton!)

Probably because all 4 compass points, Town and Central are already in use :lol:

They could have followed the convention of Wigan North Western or Sheffield Midland, and called it Acton Great Western... but that would be confusing now the service is provided by TfL Rail. "Acton Elizabeth Line" anyone? :lol:

Regarding Acton Main Line station, being as trains normally use the Relief Line platforms when calling there, perhaps it could be renamed to Acton Relief Line?
 
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