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Edinburgh but not Waverley

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GrimShady

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The E&G service is was on a few weeks ago stated "Edinburgh Waverly" on the PIS both visual and audio.
 
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ian1944

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What Edinburgh locals call something can't be the definitive answer as there's so much variety. It's 25 years since Lothian Regional Council went its unlamented way, but there are still those who refer to Lothian Buses as LRT. And 28 years after the name change, the big hotel is still called the North British by some.
 

Joe Paxton

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I've a feeling that KX is sometimes referred to as the Cross.

I think some railway folk still refer to the Cross, as do London cabbies (e.g. the Cross to the Bone / the Loo / the Gas Works etc).
 

47271

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What Edinburgh locals call something can't be the definitive answer as there's so much variety. It's 25 years since Lothian Regional Council went its unlamented way, but there are still those who refer to Lothian Buses as LRT. And 28 years after the name change, the big hotel is still called the North British by some.
I don't think that anyone's suggesting that 'The Waverley' is the definitive answer. It's just a funny old fashioned local quirk, like LRT buses or the North British, or calling the Portobello Ford dealers Laidlaws.

From my point of view, the definitive answer is that if you're in the city then you call the station 'Waverley' and if you're elsewhere then it's 'Edinburgh'.
 

AlbertBeale

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I don't think that anyone's suggesting that 'The Waverley' is the definitive answer. It's just a funny old fashioned local quirk, like LRT buses or the North British, or calling the Portobello Ford dealers Laidlaws.

From my point of view, the definitive answer is that if you're in the city then you call the station 'Waverley' and if you're elsewhere then it's 'Edinburgh'.

Hence (so everyone knows what's meant) railway literature and timetables should call it Edinburgh Waverley! Like the call the station I call Euston, and people in Manchester probably call London (when referring to where they're going by train) is called London Euston in railway publicity.
 

Clansman

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I don't think that anyone's suggesting that 'The Waverley' is the definitive answer. It's just a funny old fashioned local quirk, like LRT buses or the North British, or calling the Portobello Ford dealers Laidlaws.

From my point of view, the definitive answer is that if you're in the city then you call the station 'Waverley' and if you're elsewhere then it's 'Edinburgh'.

It's a bit like Glasgow in the sense that many people, including myself, refer to them simply as 'Central', 'Queen Street', and 'Waverley'. Don't know if it's a central belt thing or just an Edinburgh/Glasgow thing as I've heard these terms being banded about from all over.
 

cb a1

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Indeed, the official name no longer uses "Waverley".
Just had a shuftie at the NR Edinburgh Waverley Masterplan page.

First Edinburgh Waverley, then just Waverley.

I think that's how I refer to it. First usage in a conversation would be Edinburgh Waverley, thereafter referring to it as Waverley.
 

takno

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Just had a shuftie at the NR Edinburgh Waverley Masterplan page.

First Edinburgh Waverley, then just Waverley.

I think that's how I refer to it. First usage in a conversation would be Edinburgh Waverley, thereafter referring to it as Waverley.
Edinburgh New Street might be a better name once they've finished masterplanning it to death.
 

JamboCommuter

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I'm over 60 but as a wee laddie my late parents used to always refer to 'the Waverley' or 'the Caley' when distinguishing the 2 main stations at either end of Princes Street. The Caledonian (Princes Street Station) has of course long since gone.

Haymarket has always been just 'Haymarket' although I can understand the reason to include Edinburgh in the name.
 
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I'm over 60 but as a wee laddie my late parents used to always refer to 'the Waverley' or 'the Caley' when distinguishing the 2 main stations at either end of Princes Street. The Caledonian (Princes Street Station) has of course long since gone.

Haymarket has always been just 'Haymarket' although I can understand the reason to include Edinburgh in the name.
I must admit I was rather doubtful about anyone putting 'the' in front of a station name, as I'd couldn't remember hearing it for Waverley or any others I could think of.... until you mentioned The Caley! I suppose as a contraction it's also a bit like The Cross or The Bone.
London termini were known only by their original name. There was none of this London Kings Cross or London Waterloo waffle. It was Kings Cross, Waterloo, Paddington etc.
Yes, never any confusion about Bridge Station - don't know why a city prefix was necessary.
 

InOban

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I'm over 60 but as a wee laddie my late parents used to always refer to 'the Waverley' or 'the Caley' when distinguishing the 2 main stations at either end of Princes Street. The Caledonian (Princes Street Station) has of course long since gone.

Haymarket has always been just 'Haymarket' although I can understand the reason to include Edinburgh in the name.
I suppose it was because it was the Caledonian Railway Co's Princes Street Station, with the Caledonian Hotel.
 

ian1944

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I like the tradition of full station names, and while in the city or nearby I'd say just "Waverley", it's a shame if "Edinburgh Waverley" is officially no more. I still think of, for example, Dundee Tay Bridge, Lancaster Castle, Carlisle Citadel, Bolton Trinity Street, Leeds City and Hull Paragon.
 

Railwaysceptic

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I'm over 60 but as a wee laddie my late parents used to always refer to 'the Waverley' or 'the Caley' when distinguishing the 2 main stations at either end of Princes Street. The Caledonian (Princes Street Station) has of course long since gone.
In London people living near Caledonian Road often call it "The Caley."
 
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Google maps has it as Edinburgh Waverley. Just saying....
The signs outside the station say Edinburgh Waverley. The signs outside Haymarket Station say Haymarket. Pretty sure signs outside the Caley, and ye olde Google parchment maps of the day, would have said Princes St. None of these are necessarily definitive in reflecting exactly what people say or what is printed on your ticket or the on-train announcement or info screens.
Unlike the original poster I don't think there's a attempt from any operating company or Network Rail going on just now to force station name changes.
It's just that people sometimes call the stations by different names and the announcements aren't consistent. Even for the same name you'll still get different pronunciations. Like Stow.
 
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My bringing up 'The Waverley' was mainly in jest, but it's definitely a thing. Taxi drivers often take you to 'The Waverley'.

I've no idea why some people call it that out of habit, but it isn't at all pompous. I don't believe that I've heard it in relation to any other station anywhere. You'd never hear 'The Haymarket' for example.

It's just a funny local thing.

It happens with other kinds of locational names, too. In Co Durham there was a pit village named Hobson (now demolished), but always known as 'The Hobson'; in the 19th century Felling, on Tyneside, was often referred to as 'The Felling'. As late as the 1940s you get references to 'the Tyneside' and 'the Clydeside'.
 

xotGD

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It happens with other kinds of locational names, too. In Co Durham there was a pit village named Hobson (now demolished), but always known as 'The Hobson'; in the 19th century Felling, on Tyneside, was often referred to as 'The Felling'. As late as the 1940s you get references to 'the Tyneside' and 'the Clydeside'.
Sticking to Tyneside, Teams is usually referred to as The Teams and Low Fell is sometimes called The Fell.

And of course trains call at The Central Station.
 

oldman

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Moving away from Tyneside, an elderly neighbour of mine comes from near Forth, a onetime pit village in Lanarkshire. He always refers to it as 'The Forth'.
 

leightonbd

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The signs outside the station say Edinburgh Waverley. The signs outside Haymarket Station say Haymarket. Pretty sure signs outside the Caley, and ye olde Google parchment maps of the day, would have said Princes St.
Unlike the original poster I don't think there's a attempt from any operating company or Network Rail going on just now to force station name changes.
It's just that people sometimes call the stations by different names .

https://images.app.goo.gl/odXd8yyPGFWxW6rX9
Nice old image which shows Edinburgh Princes St, presumably in its latter days.

Though I think the poster was referring to Caledonian Rd tube station in London? Partly OT - how many people still say ‘the Tube’?


I think the last sentence of your post is absolutely right. Many people in Edinburgh (certainly my cab company and virtually all the drivers) say The Waverley.
 

AlbertBeale

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https://images.app.goo.gl/odXd8yyPGFWxW6rX9
Nice old image which shows Edinburgh Princes St, presumably in its latter days.

Though I think the poster was referring to Caledonian Rd tube station in London? Partly OT - how many people still say ‘the Tube’?

If you mean in connection with discussion, earlier, about "the Cally", I must say I've never heard of the Caledonian Road tube station being called "the Cally": it's the road itself - and I've worked (etc) on that road for many many years (albeit at the other end from that underground station).

Lots of people in London - both Londoners and visitors - refer to "the tube". I'd say it's still pretty standard parlance ... despite pedants pointing out that not all of the tube is really the tube, It's only because of my pedantry that I often bother to refer to "the underground" [yes, even though lots of it isn't underground...], but I still slip into standard-speak and say "the tube" a lot of the time.
 

Taunton

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When I lived in Edinburgh in the 1970s the large sign at the top of the approach road incline just stated Waverley Station. I think it's common that where the name is distinctive, like Temple Meads, that is good enough. Where it's generic, like Glasgow Central, it's more commonly the complete name, though within the city just the suffix is the norm.

From those times, although Princes Street station had closed by then the adjacent Caledonian Hotel and the Caledonian Cinema opposite were always known as "The Caley" where it was apparent you were speaking about hotels or cinemas.

Putting "the" on the front of names and even elsewhere is a Scottish feature, hence "I'm taking the girlfriend to the Caley the night" (or even "... the noo").
 

AlbertBeale

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When I lived in Edinburgh in the 1970s the large sign at the top of the approach road incline just stated Waverley Station. I think it's common that where the name is distinctive, like Temple Meads, that is good enough. Where it's generic, like Glasgow Central, it's more commonly the complete name, though within the city just the suffix is the norm.

From those times, although Princes Street station had closed by then the adjacent Caledonian Hotel and the Caledonian Cinema opposite were always known as "The Caley" where it was apparent you were speaking about hotels or cinemas.

Putting "the" on the front of names and even elsewhere is a Scottish feature, hence "I'm taking the girlfriend to the Caley the night" (or even "... the noo").

Not only Scottish - eg traditional old-fashioned usage down here (and still common in some circles), phrases like "I'm off to meet the wife...", rather than a possessive pronoun. (Of course it's the standard construction in some languages.)
 

STEVIEBOY1

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There is now only one station in Dover, but it is still called Dover Priory.
 
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