Northern re-records 34 station name announcements with local pronunciation

[northwichcat]

though I have a feeling that the IDMS data feed name is Swinton (Manchester)

Some locals don't like Greater Manchester being shortened to Manchester. To be fair Swinton is in the Salford borough and Salford has its own city status.

I don't know why Swinton needs anything after it in this context. I can't imagine there's anyone arriving at Wigan Wallgate travelling to Swinton (South Yorkshire) who would think they've reached their destination so soon after leaving Wigan!

 

[Trackman]

Yes I once worked at Crown Paints in Darren - very amusing. Most locals called it Darren not Darwen.

Blimey I drove past that a long ago, it was on the left going into 'Darren'. Think it's not there any more.

Going back on topic, I met some people from the Walkden area (Salford- I think!) - the locals pronounce this station/area a different way, a bit like 'Darren'. Won't mention how they pronounce it though, and I'm certain Northern will not use it either.

 

[urbophile]

”Leeds” needs re-recording. It’s only got the two Es in there, the current announcer thinks there’s four.

they must be from Sheffieeeld.

 

[Starmill]

Some locals don't like Greater Manchester being shortened to Manchester. To be fair Swinton is in the Salford borough and Salford has its own city status.

I don't know why Swinton needs anything after it in this context. I can't imagine there's anyone arriving at Wigan Wallgate travelling to Swinton (South Yorkshire) who would think they've reached their destination so soon after leaving Wigan!

Swinton (Salford) would be equally correct but Swinton (Greater) is plain unhelpful. Some people are churlish about their local government structure (it's Kent not London etc) it's true but luckily those voices are almost always ignored. It needs to be disambiguated really because the other one is quite close by. Even if you don't want it in certain contexts how do you come up with a whole new set of logic to say when to add the context and when not?

 

[YorksLad12]

It's missing the prefix "Dirty, dirty..."

Honestly - if we could have special announcements for football Saturdays along the lines of "We are now arriving at Dirty Leeds", I'd be happy. But you just know someone would complain.

(Leeds 'til I die.)

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Going back on topic, I met some people from the Walkden area (Salford- I think!) - the locals pronounce this station/area a different way...

It's pronounced locally as...

Spoiler

Wog Den.

 

[skyhigh]

and the 333s have also kept the best voice of them all (Martin Oldfield).

Dan Strauss. I have no idea why everyone on here thinks it's someone else!

 

[snowball]

”Leeds” needs re-recording. It’s only got the two Es in there, the current announcer thinks there’s four.

Anyone remember the Flowerpot Men on ancient BBC children's TV? There was a character Little Weed - the only word she ever said was "Weeeeed".

 

[D6130]

Anyone remember the Flowerpot Men on ancient BBC children's TV? There was a character Little Weed - the only word she ever said was "Weeeeed".

I remember her well. I was in love with her when I was about three years old!

 

[matacaster]

Let's hope they get dodworth right this time. It's actually prom unced dodduth.

 

[trainophile]

Have read the whole thread and nobody seems to have queried Redcar. I wouldn’t have thought there was much scope for that one, except maybe no emphasis on the “car” syllable? More “ca”? Or possibly the emphasis IS on the “car” not the “Red”?

I’m going there tomorrow and don’t want to offend the locals!

 

[Gwr12345]

Have read the whole thread and nobody seems to have queried Redcar. I wouldn’t have thought there was much scope for that one, except maybe no emphasis on the “car” syllable? More “ca”? Or possibly the emphasis IS on the “car” not the “Red”?

I’m going there tomorrow and don’t want to offend the locals!

As far as I'm aware, the Sprinters in the North East haven't been updated with the new announcements. They certainly haven't on the trains I've been on recently.

 

[Trackman]

It's pronounced locally as...

Spoiler

Wog Den.

Correct!

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Have read the whole thread and nobody seems to have queried Redcar. I wouldn’t have thought there was much scope for that one, except maybe no emphasis on the “car” syllable? More “ca”? Or possibly the emphasis IS on the “car” not the “Red”?

I’m going there tomorrow and don’t want to offend the locals!

I always thought it was "Retka", though with a glottal stop in place of the 't' and no noticeable stress. The TPE announcements at Huddersfield and Dewsbury say "Red CAR".

 

[D6130]

I always thought it was "Retka",

What, like 'Bratfud' you mean?

 

[61653 HTAFC]

What, like 'Bratfud' you mean?

Pretty much!

 

[YorksLad12]

Having critiqued the earlier effort, I wish they'd kept bits of it. "Baaarnsley" had more a ring to it than the current "(hmph) Barnsli" - as if he's disgrunted that the first part of the announcement is now being done by someone else.

Yes, we all laughed at it on the train... but it honestly did sound more joined up.

 

[trainophile]

Just heard a young lady buy a ticket at Thornaby for “Red-k”. So that resolves that one!

Edit: so did the recorded announcement on the train.

 

[londonmidland]

I don’t know what Northern have done but they’ve seemed to somehow made the announcements sound even worse.

You now have it like this:

Female:

This is the Northern service to

Male:

(Destination)

The issue now is that it sounds so out of context and the speed of how places are announced is all over the place. There’s zero consistency.

Leeds is pronounced in such a dramatic way, as well as there being a long pause - LEEDS

Barnsley is pronounced extremely fast, with there being no spacing to the prior announcement - Barnsley

It all sounds very amateurish and a big downgrade from what it replaced. Especially when you’ve been on trains which are voiced by Julie Berry, for example.

It never fails to amuse passengers mind, with them smirking when they hear it

 

[stadler]

I don’t know what Northern have done but they’ve seemed to somehow made the announcements sound even worse.

You now have it like this:

Female:


Male:


The issue now is that it sounds so out of context and the speed of how places are announced is all over the place. There’s zero consistency.

Leeds is pronounced in such a dramatic way, as well as there being a long pause - LEEDS

Barnsley is pronounced extremely fast, with there being no spacing to the prior announcement - Barnsley

It all sounds very amateurish and a big downgrade from what it replaced. Especially when you’ve been on trains which are voiced by Julie Berry, for example.

It never fails to amuse passengers mind, with them smirking when they hear it

I think they should get Laura Palmer to do the main announcements and Peter Corley to do the safety announcements. This would be similar to before with a female voice doing the main announcements and a male voice doing the safety announcements. This would sound a lot better than mixing the two voices in the same announcement. Laura Palmer also has a more neutral accent compared to Peter Corley so might work better for the station names.

 

[trainophile]

Not Northern (forgive the digress) but has TfW 197s used Ruth Madoc for the on-train English recorded announcements? It's strikingly similar, I'm always expecting her to end with Hi de Hi .

 

[D6130]

Not Northern (forgive the digress) but has TfW 197s used Ruth Madoc for the on-train English recorded announcements? It's strikingly similar, I'm always expecting her to end with Hi de Hi

Sadly Ruth Madoc died nearly a year ago, so I very much doubt it!

 

[61653 HTAFC]

I'm not one to grumble about announcements in general, but while waiting for my XC service at Wakefield Westgate earlier I noticed an irritating thing about the (presumably) LNER announcements: namely the preposition "to". This should have a short vowel sound everywhere North of Scratchwood services, and pronounced "tuh". The announcements were saying "this train will stop in zone seven too (sic) nine", which sounded like "zone 729".

Learn to talk proper, y' Southern jessies!

 

[D6130]

Learn to talk proper, y' Southern jessies!

Talking of you 'Southern Jessies'....it should be pronounced 'tae'! However I can't convince my Yorkshire wife....except when she's singing on Burns Night!

 

[northwichcat]

The issue now is that it sounds so out of context and the speed of how places are announced is all over the place. There’s zero consistency.

It is strange they've using Laura for "This is the Northern service to" but not using her for "We will be calling at".

They should probably edit some of them to be slightly slower or faster for consistency. They don't need to re-record again, that can be done using basic editing software.

It never fails to amuse passengers mind, with them smirking when they hear it

I've used some Lancashire services, with the new announcements, in the past week. The only reaction I noticed was to the way Pete says Blackrod, like it's two separate words. Not that long ago there were passengers mocking and laughing at how Pete says "to" at almost every station.

I'm always expecting her to end with Hi de Hi .

Do you remember the 90s sitcom Oh, Doctor Beeching! using almost the same cast? I seem to remember there was an episode where a new station master raised concerns about Paul Shane's character shouting the announcements on the platform and not pronouncing certain letters. His solution was for Su Pollard's character (who was the booking office clerk) to do them over a PA and it created more problems than solutions.

EDIT: Just found it via Google - https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x82lhn7

 

[Trackman]

Not Northern (forgive the digress) but has TfW 197s used Ruth Madoc for the on-train English recorded announcements? It's strikingly similar, I'm always expecting her to end with Hi de Hi .

It does sound like her, but as posted previously it isn't.

 

[DerekC]

The best example of this I came across was in Copenhagen. The new metro trains had their station announcements pre-programmed (in English) in the Breda works by an Italian lady with a strong American accent. (Try "Kongens Nytorv"!). During the trial running the Danish operating staff all fell about laughing at every announcement. They were quietly re-recorded (in Danish and very good English English).

 

[urbophile]

I'm not one to grumble about announcements in general, but while waiting for my XC service at Wakefield Westgate earlier I noticed an irritating thing about the (presumably) LNER announcements: namely the preposition "to". This should have a short vowel sound everywhere North of Scratchwood services, and pronounced "tuh". The announcements were saying "this train will stop in zone seven too (sic) nine", which sounded like "zone 729".

Learn to talk proper, y' Southern jessies!

Southern Jessies would say 'ter' (silent R) surely. Like Boris Johnson. I agree 'tuh' is the proper pronunciation provided the U has the full northern sound.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Southern Jessies would say 'ter' (silent R) surely. Like Boris Johnson. I agree 'tuh' is the proper pronunciation provided the U has the full northern sound.

To be honest I'm surprised nobody has grumbled about my reference to Scratchwood Services. Apparently they're called "London Gateway" or something poncey like that nowadays.

 

[D6130]

Apparently they're called "London Gateway" or something poncey like that nowadays.

I thought that was a container terminal somewhere in Essex?