Station name suffix

[Spartacus]

I have always liked the suffix 'Road', a reliable euphemism for "This station is at least two miles from the place it is named after"

Dewsbury Wellington Road is an interesting one, the furthest of three passenger stations from the town centre after Market Place and Central, but still only spitting distance away as the current station and a bit weirdly Market Place was the most central station, being right next to the town hall which was built after the station, and Central was right next to the market after the market relocated in 1904!

 

[edwin_m]

Barnsley was once Barnsley Exchange. There was also Hope Exchange not far from Wrexham. From Wikipedia:

Interesting that the sign has presumably been updated to say LNER instead of GC, but not LMS instead of L&NW!

 

[didcotdean]

I don't know Didcot but looking at the OS map the road access to the station doesn't look especially brilliant.

The A4310 road from the A34 as far as the roundabout where you would turn left for the car park was constructed in the 1970s along with the A34 dual carriageway itself. Originally it was national speed limit all the way to that point, but the subsequent expansion of Didcot westwards has dropped the limit to 40mph sometime before it, as well as adding the traffic lights.

Access from the east is along a road built around 2000 partially on the former DN&SR alignment, but the last part is on the original Station Road built by the GWR in the 1840s.

 

[DelW]

And Lyndhurst Road too, come to think of it

Another one, Llanbister Road on the Heart of Wales line, built by the Central Wales Railway backed by the LNWR, which is around 5 & 1/2 miles from Llanbister according to Google maps.

 

[30907]

And Lyndhurst Road too, come to think of it

LSWR: Chard Road at one time and South Molton Road.

Also Pontypool Road now Pontypool and New Inn to reflect it is closer to the latter then the former. How many streets are there ? Sole Street, Lime Street, James Street, Wood Street, New Street, Liverpool Street, Moor Street, Old Street.. are those that come to mind am sure there are more

Sole Street is named after its village - Street being a common designation of a settlement in the SE. St Kew Highway is an interesting one.

 

[randyrippley]

LSWR: Chard Road at one time and South Molton Road.

Sole Street is named after its village - Street being a common designation of a settlement in the SE. St Kew Highway is an interesting one.

Amusing that Chard Rd was actually in the village of Perry Street. Those Romans got everywhere ("Street" is an indicator of an ancient, usually Roman road, in this case the Fosse Way)
In Odcombe (also in Somerset) there's actually a road called Street Lane - again Roman

 

[xotGD]

Also Pontypool Road now Pontypool and New Inn to reflect it is closer to the latter then the former. How many streets are there ? Sole Street, Lime Street, James Street, Wood Street, New Street, Liverpool Street, Moor Street, Old Street.. are those that come to mind am sure there are more

Is Streethouse cheating?

Or Chester-le-Street?

 

[Welshman]

I always thought that the Exchange suffix referred o he ability to change between routes, as in I'm exchanging one train for another! It seems appropriate for Wrexham, at least, but I'm not sure about the others

And, with respect, I'd go a stage further and suggest in some cases it referred not only to the ability to change trains but also to change railway companies, and that these stations were in effect joint stations.
Wrexham Exchange - GW to GC and vv.
Manchester Exchange - LNW to L&Y and vv.
Bradford Exchange - L&Y to GN and vv.
Liverpool Exchange -L&Y to ELR & LC&SR.[Liverpool, Crosby and Southport Railway] and vv.
And, in later posts, Barnsley Exchange - L&Y to GC [via Court House to Penistone & Manchester] and vv.

 

[Mutant Lemming]

And, with respect, I'd go a stage further and suggest in some cases it referred not only to the ability to change trains but also to change railway companies, and that these stations were in effect joint stations.
Wrexham Exchange - GW to GC and vv.
Manchester Exchange - LNW to L&Y and vv.
Bradford Exchange - L&Y to GN and vv.
Liverpool Exchange -L&Y to ELR & LC&SR.[Liverpool, Crosby and Southport Railway] and vv.
And, in later posts, Barnsley Exchange - L&Y to GC [via Court House to Penistone & Manchester] and vv.

The quote from the Disused Stations site for Bradford Exchange states The original Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway terminus in Bradford was situated at Adolphus street, but the facilities were inadequate and inconveniently sited. The station was closed to passengers in 1867 and the line was extended into Exchange station situated closer to the city centre near to the wool exchange, after which it was named.

With regard to Liverpool it's proximity to the exchanges was they key factor in it's name - being a terminus for Northbound services it was never really an exchange btween services or companies.

 

[Taunton]

When it comes to station suffixes nobody can beat the French. On the Vivaris preserved line, for example, in the middle of remote hill country, there's a trivial wayside stop (hardly even a platform) "Colombier-le-Vieux/Saint-Barthélémy-le-Plain" - for what the GWR would have called Colombier Halt.

 

[Welshman]

The quote from the Disused Stations site for Bradford Exchange states The original Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway terminus in Bradford was situated at Adolphus street, but the facilities were inadequate and inconveniently sited. The station was closed to passengers in 1867 and the line was extended into Exchange station situated closer to the city centre near to the wool exchange, after which it was named.

Interesting.....

According to the Lost Railways in West Yorkshire site, the L&Y originally terminated at Drake St in 1850. This makes more sense, as approaching from the south-west, the line from Halifax would have had to make a circuitous journey around Bradford to reach Adolphus St.
It was the GNR, approaching from Leeds and the east, which opened its station at Adolphus St in 1854.
As you say, this site was inconvenient - too far out of Bradford and passengers from Leeds used the Midland Railway instead, so a deep cutting was constructed from Hammerton St to meet the L&Y at Mill Lane Junction [still used today], enabling the GNR to use Drake St.
Drake St was then jointly enlarged in 1867, and renamed "Exchange"

http://www.lostrailwayswestyorkshire.co.uk/Bradford.htm

The Bradford Wool Exchange was completed about the same time, so was the enlarged station renamed to reflect its joint L&Y & GNR ownership, or its proximity to the Wool Exchange? You pays your money and takes your pick....

 

[Dr_Paul]

Amusing that Chard Rd was actually in the village of Perry Street. Those Romans got everywhere ("Street" is an indicator of an ancient, usually Roman road, in this case the Fosse Way) In Odcombe (also in Somerset) there's actually a road called Street Lane - again Roman

Then we have Green Street Green in Kent, with the almost inevitable Green Street Green Road leading to it. It's a shame that there wasn't a station built somewhere along that road.

 

[quarella]

Wellington-Telford West seems incomplete now known as plain Wellington. Of course the suffix was was only added with the construction of the newtown of Telford.

 

[Monarch010]

Wellington-Telford West seems incomplete now known as plain Wellington. Of course the suffix was was only added with the construction of the newtown of Telford.

Using "West" as a suffix rather than a prefix has always seemed a bit odd to me.

 

[quarella]

Using "West" as a suffix rather than a prefix has always seemed a bit odd to me.

It is. I suppose it was just the name I was familiar wit.

 

[DelW]

Not unusual suffixes in themselves, but odd in their application, Canterbury East and Canterbury West, for stations which are almost exactly north and south of each other.

Then we have Green Street Green in Kent, with the almost inevitable Green Street Green Road leading to it.

Not a station, so a bit off-topic, but I always liked the apparent circularity of Junction Road Junction in north London.

 

[etr221]

Not a station, so a bit off-topic, but I always liked the apparent circularity of Junction Road Junction in north London.

... to go with Box Signal Box

 

[Helvellyn]

And Lyndhurst Road too, come to think of it

I had to use Google to find out that it is now Ashurst New Forest.

 

[xotGD]

Quite a few geometric shapes used as station name suffixes. We have Squares, Circuses and Crescents, but best of the bunch is Winnersh Triangle.

 

[edwin_m]

Quite a few geometric shapes used as station name suffixes. We have Squares, Circuses and Crescents, but best of the bunch is Winnersh Triangle.

Perhaps Hull Paragon was meant to be Polygon?

 

[Helvellyn]

Marine, Harbour, Quay, Docks and Pier have been used to indicate a station that had interchange with ferry services, for example:

• Newhaven Marine;
• Fishguard Harbour;
• Harwich Parkeston Quay (renamed Harwich International);
• Dover Western Docks (now closed but originally opened as Dover Marine); and
• Lymington Pier

As ever, there are exceptions. I believe Warrington Bank Quay was named after a Quay on the adjacent river Mersey.

 

[swt_passenger]

Not unusual suffixes in themselves, but odd in their application, Canterbury East and Canterbury West, for stations which are almost exactly north and south of each other.

Not a station, so a bit off-topic, but I always liked the apparent circularity of Junction Road Junction in north London.

For anyone wondering, it was apparently named after its proximity to Junction Road, which was there in 1813, well before the railway was built:

The answer can be found on the old OS maps website, it turns out that Junction Road was on the 1850 street plan, and actually pre-dates all the railways in the area.

I can't find where I read it at the moment, but I think the road dates from the very early 1800s, and was built as some sort of short cut to link two other roads. I'll see if I can have a better search...

This page on Hidden London dates it to 1813, built to connect Tufnell Park to Upper Holloway
https://www.railforums.co.uk/thread...in-electrification.111042/page-7#post-2588022

 

[Merciful Zeus!]

I have always liked the suffix 'Road', a reliable euphemism for "This station is at least two miles from the place it is named after"

Like "Beaulieu Road". Also "Lyndhurst Road", before it was renamed for the village that is actually adjacent to it!

 

[Calthrop]

Not unusual suffixes in themselves, but odd in their application, Canterbury East and Canterbury West, for stations which are almost exactly north and south of each other.

Just seen this -- is there a possible explanation: one of the two was presumably originally South Eastern Railway, the other London, Chatham & Dover; did these two rival systems consider themselves / each other on some basis, as more easterly / more westerly -- that, reflected in the stations' suffixes?

 

[Bookd]

Similarly to the 'road' suffix 'junction' was often the place where you would change trains to go to the named point. For example Clapham Junction is in Battersea and is quite a step from Clapham.

 

[Dr_Paul]

Quite a few geometric shapes used as station name suffixes. We have Squares, Circuses and Crescents, but best of the bunch is Winnersh Triangle.

Winnersh Triangle puzzled me, as it wasn't a triangular junction (or a junction at all), but I learnt that it's named after the Winnersh Triangle Industrial Estate. It's possible that it's called that because the site is vaguely triangular in shape, but that's just a guess.

 

[d9009alycidon]

The station name that always raised a smile with me was Fairlie High so named to distinguish itself from the Harbour station, it was for a while Fairlie Town and has dropped the suffix altogether. It was not the only "high", the other being at Falkirk, and there was also an "Upper" and "Lower" at Whifflet, and to access the Lower station the passenger had to enter the Upper station, walk the length of the platform then descend one of two flights of stairs to access the Lower Platforms

 

[30907]

Just seen this -- is there a possible explanation: one of the two was presumably originally South Eastern Railway, the other London, Chatham & Dover; did these two rival systems consider themselves / each other on some basis, as more easterly / more westerly -- that, reflected in the stations' suffixes?

They were only so named by the SECR after amalgamation - by which time there was already a Canterbury South on the Elham Valley Line.
I suppose East and North wouldn't have been so obviously on opposite lines? Or perhaps the analogy was with Maidstone? But this is all guesswork.

 

[edwin_m]

On the Tyne and Wear Metro West Jesmond is north of Jesmond. Moving up the line South Gosforth is the only station for Gosforth but it's north-east of where most people would consider the centre of Gosforth to be. I believe the reason is that the centres of both communities have migrated over time, in part at least due to the building of the stations! (as heavy rail, not the Metro conversion).

 

[EbbwJunction1]

Newport used to be Newport High Street, and was named as such to distinguish it from Newport Dock Street and Newport Mill Street.

However, whilst the latter two were on the streets after which they were named, High Street station isn't on High Street. It used to be at the junction of Station Approach and Cambrian Road and, due to road reconstruction, is now on Queensway. Because a new station building was built for the Ryder Cup in 2010 (it'll be nice when it's finished!), it's now further away from High Street than it was before!