Stations which should be renamed

[MidnightFlyer]

Although I can maybe see the point of it in the Milton Keynes and Telford cases (allowing for future expansion), I'd scrap suffixes for the only station in the town, such as Dover (Priory).

 

[IanD]

But where else in Milton Keynes are you going to put a station? There's not really room to the north before Wolverton and to the south before Bletchley. Fenny Stratford, Bow Brickhill and Woburn Sands already serve the Southern boundary. Perhaps Wolverton and Bletchley should be renamed to MK North and MK South respectively.

 

[PR1Berske]

From the thread which inspired this one:

Salford Central

cle
Member

Join Date: 17 Nov 2010
Posts: 491

It seems obvious and such a relatively easy win, especially with Spinningfields (and the new footbridge!) - a rebrand of the station (rename?) might help also.

snail
slowcoach
Member

Join Date: 16 Jun 2011
Location: t'North
Posts: 619

Originally Posted by cle
a rebrand of the station (rename?) might help also.

Salford is something of an oddity when it comes to finding its centre. Central station is I think so named because it is close to the former town hall in Bexley Square. It was plain 'Salford' until Salford Crescent was opened in the 1980s. Bexley Square was (and may still be for all I know) the measuring point for 'Salford' on road mileages.

The social centre migrated west to Pendleton in the mid-20th century so Salfordians of that vintage will see that area as the centre. A good example is the naming of Salford Crescent which, confusingly for outsiders, replaced Pendleton Broad Street station a few hundred yards away (which even more confusingly wasn't on Broad Street!). The civic centre, OTOH, moved out to Swinton with the 1974 reorganisation as they had a larger, much more suitable building in its own grounds.

Perhaps Swinton station should become Salford Central, with that station becoming Spinningfields?

 

[Eagle]

But where else in Milton Keynes are you going to put a station?

It's not that, it's that it's the most central of the several stations in Milton Keynes. Before MKC was built, probably the best station for MK was Bletchley, which had intercity services; this new station was named to highlight the fact it was a more central station for MK. (Of course it doesn't help that there's an area of MK called Central, which isn't where the station is.)

Telford Central is the same; before it was built Telford had two or three pre-existing stations; it needed a new central station and it was named thus.

 

[Lampshade]

Buckshaw Parkway to Runshaw Parkway (& Superstore)? Its location seems more fitting therefore.

What about people travelling to Buckshaw who don't know about Runshaw College?

If Preston gets a second station, rename the main one either Fishergate, Cannon Street, South, Broadgate, City Centre or Franklin. They'd all work in theory.

There has been a Fishergate Hill, but Cannon Street? There are so many things wrong with that idea I don't know where to begin hock:

 

[VTPreston_Tez]

What about people travelling to Buckshaw who don't know about Runshaw College?

Err...Runshaw Parkway for Buckshaw Village?

There has been a Fishergate Hill, but Cannon Street? There are so many things wrong with that idea I don't know where to begin hock:

Maybe it is a bit too far away but anything that makes Preston sound more...long. And cool.

 

[Eagle]

Maybe it is a bit too far away but anything that makes Preston sound more...long. And cool.

Preston's an unusual example of a large town where all the competing railway companies used the same passenger station, so there was never any need for disambiguating suffixes. (For goods yards, however, there were a few: West Lancs, Butler Street, Christian Road and Ribble Dock: the first two belonging to the LYR, the third to the LNWR and the last to the Corporation itself.)

 

[reb0118]

Preston's an unusual example of a large town where all the competing railway companies used the same passenger station, so there was never any need for disambiguating suffixes. (For goods yards, however, there were a few: West Lancs, Butler Street, Christian Road and Ribble Dock: the first two belonging to the LYR, the third to the LNWR and the last to the Corporation itself.)

I announce Preston as Preston Fishergate (but then I do have Victorian Sideburns and an old fashioned watch & whistle set - just looking for a decent waistcoat to complete the ensemble)

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How about Chorley ROF Halt (there's not enough Halts left) for Buckshaw?

 

[SprinterMan]

East Anglia
Shippea Hill to Mildenhall Road or Prickwillow Parkway :P
Lakenheath to Lakenheath Road or Lakenheath Nature Reserve
Derby Road to Ipswich East
Hythe (Colchester) to Colchester East
Wickham Market to Campsea Ashe
Audley End to Saffron Walden Parkway
Eccles Road to Snetterton
Harling Road to Roudham or Larling

The Rest Of England
Cosford to Cosford Parkway or West Midlands Parkway
Tees-side Airport to DO NOT ALIGHT HERE :P
Moorfields to Liverpool Moorfields or Liverpool Lemon Street :P

Wales
Gobowen to Gobowen & Oswestry Parkway
Shotton to Shotton & Connah's Quay
Bodorgan to Bethel

Adam

 

[Mintcake Maker]

If it weren't such an ingrained name I'd suggest Oxenholme become Kendal Junction.

Funny you should mention Oxenholme should change its name. Several years ago the then mayor-elect of Kendal suggested that the name be changed to somehow include Kendal, since this would (hopefully) increase tourist numbers arriving by rail and also help stop the problem whereby people have been known to get off at Oxenholme not realising it is in Kendal, waiting nearly an hour for the Windermere shuttle service to get to Kendal only to then have to get a taxi back to the south end of town to wherever they were going.

However as you have suggested Oxenholme is very engrained in the mind and the best some locals could come up with on the Westmorland Gazettes forum was: OXENHOLME – for Kendal and The Lakes which is even longer than the current full name.

Therefore I suggest Kendal Oxenholme Road (since the station is on Oxenholme Road and keeps Oxenholme in the name) and then Kendal either stays the same or changes to Kendal Town or Kendal Central

 

[MidnightFlyer]

I have an early 1990s edition of RAIL I picked up once from the East Lnancashire Railway, which stated (bear in mind this was 20 years ago) that it was likely Oxenholme would be renamed 'Kendal Mainline'!

 

[LE Greys]

Although I can maybe see the point of it in the Milton Keynes and Telford cases (allowing for future expansion), I'd scrap suffixes for the only station in the town, such as Dover (Priory).

That was BR policy for quite some time. Southampton lost its 'Central' for a few years before the airport opened, and we nearly ended up with stations called 'Birmingham', 'Bristol' and 'Edinburgh' - as reflected in their station codes.

In some cases though, I think it should go the other way to reflect history. I like the idea of Norwich Thorpe, Carlisle Citadel and Darlington Bank Top. It would be useful for tourism if nothing else if important stations have a suffix.

 

[Eagle]

...and we nearly ended up with stations called 'Birmingham', 'Bristol' and 'Edinburgh' - as reflected in their station codes.

According to National Rail Edinburgh is just Edinburgh.

Bristol I can kind of see the rationale for, being as the only other Bristol-named station is not actually in Bristol. Birmingham I guess would have been done if the plan to close Moor St ever happened (this was a real proposal in the late 70s or early 80s).

Station codes are a bit of a red herring as they came rather later, and even in places like Dorchester or Wakefield which have two central stations of roughly the same size, the one with longer-distance services seems to get the unsuffixed name.


When did Leeds City become Leeds? It must have been fairly recent as there are still some Network Rail-branded signs with the old name on.

 

[dvboy]

Cosford to Cosford Parkway or West Midlands Parkway

Cosford is fine as it is.

The problem with having any station called West Midlands Parkway is that it's only going to be useful for the area of the West Midlands it's near to. At Cosford that's no used to anyone over by Coventry way.

Contrast with East Midlands Parkway station which is situated roughly central to the three major urban areas of the East Midlands as most people think of it.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

According to National Rail Edinburgh is just Edinburgh.

Bristol I can kind of see the rationale for, being as the only other Bristol-named station is not actually in Bristol. Birmingham I guess would have been done if the plan to close Moor St ever happened (this was a real proposal in the late 70s or early 80s).

Station codes are a bit of a red herring as they came rather later, and even in places like Dorchester or Wakefield which have two central stations of roughly the same size, the one with longer-distance services seems to get the unsuffixed name.


When did Leeds City become Leeds? It must have been fairly recent as there are still some Network Rail-branded signs with the old name on.

Lincoln Central is just Lincoln on the platform indicators now, though it is announced and referred to in places as Lincoln Central still.

 

[Eagle]

Lincoln Central is just Lincoln on the platform indicators now, though it is announced and referred to in places as Lincoln Central still.

I notice the indicators at Durham not only refer to "Edinburgh Waverley", but also "Newcastle Central", which I've never seen used to refer to the NR station before (Newcastle is also suffixless due to being the only main station, although unlike Preston this is due to one company having a monopoly).

King's Cross's new ones also mention "Edinburgh Haymarket" which just looks wrong to me.

 

[LE Greys]

I notice the indicators at Durham not only refer to "Edinburgh Waverley", but also "Newcastle Central", which I've never seen used to refer to the NR station before (Newcastle is also suffixless due to being the only main station, although unlike Preston this is due to one company having a monopoly).

King's Cross's new ones also mention "Edinburgh Haymarket" which just looks wrong to me.

That may have been a result of the Metro persistantly calling their station underneath it 'Central Station'. I believe the orignal naming by the NER was simply advertising the fact that they had a central location, so it makes more sense than in Milton Keynes.

 

[Eagle]

I believe the orignal naming by the NER was simply advertising the fact that they had a central location...

Quite a few "Central"s are so-called because they were owned by the GCR (the only extant one I can think of is Wrexham Central).

There are a few other patterns. Probably the most specific is "General", which seems to have been used by the GWR to denote a station with another company's smaller station alongside:

Wrexham General — Wrexham Exchange (GCR)
Reading General — Reading Southern (SER/LSWR)
Leamington General — Leamington Avenue (LNWR)
Cardiff General — Cardiff Riverside (TVR)

In all these cases the pairs of stations have been amalgamated.

 

[LE Greys]

Quite a few "Central"s are so-called because they were owned by the GCR (the only extant one I can think of is Wrexham Central).

There are a few other patterns. Probably the most specific is "General", which seems to have been used by the GWR to denote a station with another company's smaller station alongside:

Wrexham General — Wrexham Exchange (GCR)
Reading General — Reading Southern (SER/LSWR)
Leamington General — Leamington Avenue (LNWR)
Cardiff General — Cardiff Riverside (TVR)

In all these cases the pairs of stations have been amalgamated.

Gainsborough Central, Rotherham Central and Warrington Central (although that only barely makes it because of the Cheshire Lines Committee IIRC) are the only ones I can think of off the top of my head.

 

[dvboy]

Wikipedia suggests Newcastle is also known as Newcastle Central. It is situated above Central station on the Tyne & Wear Metro, so makes sense.

There is also a Haymarket station on the TWM.

 

[Eagle]

Gainsborough Central, Rotherham Central and Warrington Central (although that only barely makes it because of the Cheshire Lines Committee IIRC) are the only ones I can think of off the top of my head.

Also Loughborough Central, if we're including heritage operations.

 

[Ivo]

Derby Road to Ipswich East

Ipswich itself would need to be renamed for that to work, and "East" would be so short on services in comparison to the main station that anyone expecting it to serve the eastern part of the town (which technically it does) would be in for a nasty surprise. The only sensible names would be suburban, such as California (imagine what an American would say to that!) and Warren Heath.

Hythe (Colchester) to Colchester East

As above. It would at least strengthen the case for Colchester to gain the suffix North on a permanent basis - but would North really fit such an important station? Perhaps (Main), as with Farnborough, would work? On the flip side, Hythe is too common a name in railway circles, even if it is the only station actually named Hythe, for it to be an easy name to use. Perhaps Greenstead would work better?

Audley End to Saffron Walden Parkway

Too much of a mouthful for a Parkway. Adding "for Saffron Walden" would be better.

Cosford to Cosford Parkway or West Midlands Parkway

West Midlands Parkway? An idiot would assume there's an airport nearby - and I don't mean the RAF plot either

Tees-side Airport to DO NOT ALIGHT HERE

This, I like.

Moorfields to Liverpool Moorfields or Liverpool Lemon Street

Lemon Street? But that's near Sandhills, not Moorfields! (evidence) Given it's on a local network, Moorfields is fine. If it was on a more substantial network and/or had links to locations elsewhere in the country, then fair enough - in which case Liverpool Moorfields (or Liverpool Exchange ) would be fine.

 

[Eagle]

Adding "for Saffron Walden" would be better.

Already been done when GA refurbed it the other week. It's in anticipation of a shuttlebus service which GA intend to develop.

(Although it's more like a "City Thameslink for St Paul's" or "Larbert for the Forth Valley Royal Hospital" unofficial name that only appears on station signs.)

 

[bb21]

Perhaps (Main),

Colchester (Main), in addition to Colchester Town? Will never work. If I am a newcomer, how would I know which is more central and/or important?

Maybe Colchester Mainline could resolve the issue if it really has to change from the status quo.

 

[Eagle]

Or just do what the local buses do and call it Colchester North.

 

[Ivo]

Colchester (Main), in addition to Colchester Town? Will never work. If I am a newcomer, how would I know which is more central and/or important?

Maybe Colchester Mainline could resolve the issue if it really has to change from the status quo.

A fair point. Colchester Main would work in relation to Town's former name of St Botolph's though.

Or just do what the local buses [and people] do and call it Colchester North.

But in relation to longer-distance services? North is almost always a better choice than Town - but anyone from further afield may expect Town to be the better choice (to be fair, it is certainly more central). But what do you do when it's not open? Unless you also plan to run a seven-day service - which it should already have in my opinion - and an improved service, probably complete with restored second platform?

Already been done when GA refurbed it the other week. It's in anticipation of a shuttlebus service which GA intend to develop.

(Although it's more like a "City Thameslink for St Paul's" or "Larbert for the Forth Valley Royal Hospital" unofficial name that only appears on station signs.)

I've never been to Audley End station (through it each way once, in 2010, and outside on a bus once, in 2011), so any such change is news to me. I knew a shuttle bus was expected though, so it does make sense, and good that they've done it.

A town such as Saffron Walden should have some kind of presence on the rail network, so this will restore that.

 

[PR1Berske]

I announce Preston as Preston Fishergate (but then I do have Victorian Sideburns and an old fashioned watch & whistle set - just looking for a decent waistcoat to complete the ensemble)

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How about Chorley ROF Halt (there's not enough Halts left) for Buckshaw?

I'm going to listen out for that, I quite like "Preston Fishergate"

 

[Eagle]

North is almost always a better choice than Town - but anyone from further afield may expect Town to be the better choice (to be fair, it is certainly more central).

You do realize you are exactly describing Bicester.

 

[Requeststop]

Dovey Junction should be changed to - "The Middle of Nowhere"

Menheniot to "Almost in Menheniot But not Quite"

Lympstone Commando to "Lympwrist Commando"

 

[158_Sprinter]

Wales
Gobowen to Gobowen & Oswestry Parkway


Adam

I didn't realise they had changed the England/Wales border since I moved from Shropshire! There will be a lot of people very surprised that they will no longer have to cross Chirk viaduct to enter Wales!

 

[HowMuch?]

Where did this "Parkway" means "Airport" thing come from? Until the Luton one came along I thought Parkway meant "In middle of nowhere - car-drivers only".

Salford Central should be "The Mark Addy, Black Lion, and New Oxford". Salford Crescent should be "The Crescent and that Student Pub". Sorry, getting obsessed with sorting out the North Manchester CAMRA booze-up, er Treasure Hunt.