Frighton (Brighton given a spooky temporary name by GTR)

[Watershed]

as someone who spent some time interrailing earlier in the year, I'll add a +1 for those who think it's silly and really unhelpful for those who may not be fluent English speakers or a reasonable knowledge of placenames

I'm perfectly at ease while travelling on the GB rail network of course, and "Frighton" wouldn't get a second glance from me, but when you are in another country and trying to work out what the various messages are then it certainly is not.

Seems like a bit of forced "fun" too. It'd be one thing if the station staff used their own initiative to dressed up the station with skeletons and pumpkins or whatever, but don't mess with the screens!

Agreed. It may elicit a couple of chuckles from those who are familiar with British geography, but PISs etc. are there to make the railway accessible to all, not just locals. Nonsense like this has no place on a railway that purports to care about accessibility and being tourist-friendly.

 

[43066]

Noticed it on the departure boards. What it actually looks like is that someone can’t spell, so once again making the rail industry appear dysfunctional in front of the general public. Nice one GTR.

I can’t stand Halloween at the best of times. The one consolation this year is that it doesn’t fall on a weekend (which tends to result in more trouble), and about the only positive of our current dire weather is it will probably keep people in as well.

My gym has done a load of stuff for Halloween, which has pretty much been a complete flop. TBH I can’t really see why anyone above teenage years would want to get into it.

Agreed. It isn’t funny, but does have the potential to mislead/confuse. If we’re being honest, most Halloween “celebrations” are puerile, juvenile stuff, especially for adults to be engaging in. More than one of my colleagues is sporting Halloween fancy dress today - I felt like saying (but didn’t) “for goodness sake, just save it for the kids”!

Who actually chuckles at this sort of thing?

I have no idea. Presumably people with less dark and cynical senses of humour than mine.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Seems like harmless fun to me...

And Brighton to Frighton isn't as drastic as Bond Street to Burberry Street.

Absolutely.

Some stations don't even need changing... Batley for example.

Or Todmorden, which in German means "Death Kill".

 

[Techniquest]

Noticed it on the departure boards. What it actually looks like is that someone can’t spell, so once again making the rail industry appear dysfunctional in front of the general public. Nice one GTR.

I can’t stand Halloween at the best of times. The one consolation this year is that it doesn’t fall on a weekend (which tends to result in more trouble), and about the only positive of our current dire weather is it will probably keep people in as well.

My gym has done a load of stuff for Halloween, which has pretty much been a complete flop. TBH I can’t really see why anyone above teenage years would want to get into it.

+1 from someone else who doesn't enjoy Halloween. What was a one day, or more particularly one night, thing when I was growing up has turned into at least a week of 'celebration' now.

Take for example Fireaway, who have been doing a Halloween-themed pizza since 24th October. Not to mention all the parties and people going on nights out in costumes since at least Friday, which is just ridiculous.

I know some of my colleagues have been out partying with Halloween as an excuse to get drunk, and they spent days planning what costume they were going to wear. One put paper cut-outs of spooky eyes on one of the main screens at work, which was just a bit silly.

I could understand if it was the younger colleagues, but this includes the older ones who haven't matured past the silly behaviour. To say I have no words is incorrect, as I have plenty, but I have very few polite words!

Here's hoping the epic downpours forecast for this evening arrive and stop all the nonsense happening! I for one will be very pleased!

Just be thankful TOCs don't loop Christmas songs all journey the way some shops do during the festive season...

Oh my can you imagine if that happened? It can feel like a long journey to Birmingham as it is, without suffering Mariah Carey singing!

As for my own view on this whole 'Frighton' thing, well if you hadn't guessed already I'm not a fan. It's just stupid, why any sensible adult would find it a good idea to make such immature changes I don't know.

In a similar fashion, I actually considered visiting my local Cafe Nero for the first time in years today. I soon changed my mind when I saw they'd put up Halloween stuff. That's one sure-fire way to encourage people not to visit somewhere!

 

[61653 HTAFC]

To leave this thread for the discussion of the rights and wrongs of this PR move, I've opened a trivia thread for the more light-hearted takes on the topic. Not sure how to link it from a mobile, sorry.

Also apologies if this seems like backseat moderation. That wasn't my intention!

 

[Class800]

Maybe Northern could rename 'Goole' station as 'Ghoul'.

Anywhere else? Must be a few!

I'd rather Goolies

Seriously, it is an accessibility issue

 

[RailAleFan]

.

 

[43066]

Absolutely.

Some stations don't even need changing... Batley for example.

Or Todmorden, which in German means "Death Kill".

Or Slade Green. A guaranteed horror show all year round.

 

[bramling]

Or Slade Green. A guaranteed horror show all year round.

Or Burnt Oak. Sounds so leafy, doesn’t it?!

 

[Javelin_55]

I've heard that 'Batwick Scareport' was rejected as an idea for Sussex's favourite airport out of concern for confused tourists, so some consideration was given.

 

[stuu]

If they had changed a few of the signs at Brighton with an "F" looking like it was done with blood or something over the B that would be fine, as it's obvious that it's done as a joke, and also no one is going to get lost. But doing it on actual screen which are miles away and it looks like a sensible word even to native UK inhabitants is just wrong. Especially when it is the destination for a lot of trains to the second airport in the country

 

[trebor79]

Who actually chuckles at this sort of thing?

5 year olds perhaps.
Stupid infantilism. Just makes me roll my eyes and puts me in a bad mood whenever I see this kind of rubbish. It'll be Santa Claus trackers in a couple of months, the only antidote to all that rubbish is to crack out the Bad Santa DVD.

 

[Busaholic]

When will this contagion end, or, like Covid, will it be with us forever?

 

[Thirteen]

I see the miserable sods are out in force, it's just a bit of fun for one day only. Honestly I think some people want everything to be serious.

 

[LCRTrainfan979]

Does anyone have any pictures from Billingshurst, which has apparently been renamed Chillingshurst?

 

[Bletchleyite]

This can go anywhere but the wayfinding in my view.

Agree.

Not least, Frighton and Frinton are too similar. This could actually genuinely confuse elderly people or those with e.g. dementia who won't necessarily have a good knowledge of railway geography.

I see the miserable sods are out in force, it's just a bit of fun for one day only. Honestly I think some people want everything to be serious.

I expect wayfinding signage to be accurate and correct at all times. Far too often it isn't by accident, let alone stuff like this. I don't mind a joke, but I do mind stuff that IS going to confuse people.

By all means cover it in fake cobwebs and stick pumpkins in the booking office window, but basic wayfinding and train information signage should not be fiddled with in this way.

 

[341o2]

Sounds a bit fishy to me.

Perhaps mull it over, after all, some want to have a whale of a time, was it done on porpoise?

 

[RichJF]

Brighton has always been a scary place...

Yes my date in the marina last night was a bit scary!

I do feel like the UK is increasingly trying to to embrace American culture though.

 

[Royal351]

Feel like all this could be solved with it just being this: Frighton (Brighton)

 

[ThameslinkUser]

Does anyone have any pictures from Billingshurst, which has apparently been renamed Chillingshurst?

Look at Tiger https://tiger.worldline.global/THBDGS/staff;scrollbar=true

 

[FrodshamJnct]

I see the miserable sods are out in force, it's just a bit of fun for one day only. Honestly I think some people want everything to be serious.

I hate puns in general, and this isn’t fun IMO. Just boring and pointless and potentially confusing.

 

[12C]

I see the miserable sods are out in force, it's just a bit of fun for one day only. Honestly I think some people want everything to be serious.

I don’t think everything should be serious, but I do expect information screens which passengers rely on regarding train running/destinations to be serious. Not everyone will ‘get it’ and it could easily cause misunderstandings.

There’s loads of other stuff TOCs could do for Halloween if they were so inclined. I saw Northern had a Halloween themed coach for kids last week with decorations, activities and staff in costume which looked good fun, a much better idea than childish station name alterations!

 

[OuterDistant]

In the event of any disruption today, expect the TOC's social media team to be dealing with questions like "how come you've got time to **** around with station names, rather than providing me with a train?"

Not worth the trouble, IMHO.

 

[Sun Chariot]

Some stations don't even need changing... Batley for example.

Or Todmorden, which in German means "Death Kill".

Cosham. The name isn't scary per se; but try walking around its town centre at night...

 

[Merle Haggard]

Yes my date in the marina last night was a bit scary!

I do feel like the UK is increasingly trying to to embrace American culture though.

Yes, Halloween (and 'Proms') are from U.S. American school culture. A cynic would say that the reason is they've been adopted here is that they can be monetised - I found out how much my neighbour had to cough up for a 'Prom' dress for his daughter. Popcorn, another U.S. import, has I understand, a very high profit margin - cost said to be 0.1% of price.

In my youth we managed without all of them - just an awareness of All Hallows' Day made one avoid walking past churchyards on the night.

 

[brad465]

During the 2018 World Cup on the day of the England semi-final, GWR had "It's coming home" on departure boards after station calls had scrolled across. Then of course TfL temporarily renamed Southgate tube station accordingly...

 

[Deepgreen]

The trend towards station renaming like this is beyond acceptable. It makes the railway look cheap and unprofessional. Halloween is a purely commercial import from the US, but it doesn't matter what the excuse is, please just stop this stupid stuff and concentrate on running the railway (and providing proper, accurate and useful passenger information!).

During the 2018 World Cup on the day of the England semi-final, GWR had "It's coming home" on departure boards after station calls had scrolled across. Then of course TfL temporarily renamed Southgate tube station accordingly...

As it didn't 'come home' it was inaccurate as well as everything else! SWR would no doubt have said it was "due".

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

I’m happy to grumble about this sort of stuff. My view is it just looks silly and childish, and makes the railway look unprofessional.

Not to mention how confusing this could be to passengers seeing this on destination boards, especially those who maybe visiting from abroad, don’t use English as the first language or could have learning difficulties/other disabilities and don’t get the joke.

The railway can be a confusing enough place for the public without daft ideas like this.

I absolutely hate it, and they’ll then wonder why people are lost or in the wrong place.

 

[Techniquest]

As it didn't 'come home' it was inaccurate as well as everything else! SWR would no doubt have said it was "due".

That sure made me laugh!

I forget when precisely I saw it on the screen at Southampton Central, but the insistence on it coming home was absolutely met with derision from me. Especially given the football team managed to bring no trophy with them!

Such a shame there was no screen showing it as a cancelled train, which would absolutely have made me smile!

 

[MidnightFlyer]

Didn't Virgin Trains, as was, relax peak ticketing restrictions one midweek evening in 2018 so people could get home to watch an England match?