Suffixes added to station names on grouping or nationalisation

[Ken H]

This is to widen the discussion on the Newark Northgate thread - https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/newark-north-gate-or-newark-northgate.207536/
It has been stated that before nationalisation, the suffixes would have been the owning company, and the Castle and North Gate bit came in at nationalisation.

Are there other places with 2 stations where suffixes were added to differentiate? Either at grouping or nationalisation.

 

[The exile]

This is to widen the discussion on the Newark Northgate thread - https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/newark-north-gate-or-newark-northgate.207536/
It has been stated that before nationalisation, the suffixes would have been the owning company, and the Castle and North Gate bit came in at nationalisation.

Are there other places with 2 stations where suffixes were added to differentiate? Either at grouping or nationalisation.

Bath - where the suffix has stuck, despite the fact that there’s only been one station for over 50 years

 

[mailbyrail]

Just about every town which had two or more stations used the company name to distinguish between them - not all but most.
Of course that didn't work if the same company owned more than one station - eg Burscough Bridge & Junction both on the Lancashire & Yorkshire were so named in 1855 after the second opened (Bridge)
Some quite small towns and villages had two stations which only acquired distinctive names after the Grouping if they ended up in the same company (eg Dewsbury), or even only after Nationalisation when they were under the same ownership (eg Neston [in Wirral].
One of the few which has survived with the original company suffix must be Wigan North Western even though most people wouldn't recognise why it's so called

 

[Skie]

Well you have Warterloo (Mersey) and London Waterloo.

Both opened around the same time, too!

 

[Tomos y Tanc]

There are plenty of examples. Cardiff for instance had Cardiff (GWR) and Cardiff (TVR) and Cardiff Crockherbtown (Rhymney Railway) which became "Cardiff General"and later still "Cardiff Central", "Cardiff Queen Street" and Cardiff Parade.

 

[SargeNpton]

The Midland Railway station in Northampton (served by trains from Bedford) was re-named as St John's Street in 1924 by the LMS; to differentiate from the ex-LNWR Bridge Street and Castle stations.

 

[Deepgreen]

Well you have Warterloo (Mersey) and London Waterloo.

Both opened around the same time, too!

One's a suffix and one's a prefix. There are so many examples of suffices that it may be pointless to list all.

 

[SargeNpton]

Skie said:
Well you have Warterloo (Mersey) and London Waterloo.

Both opened around the same time, too!

One's a suffix and one's a prefix. There are so many examples of suffices that it may be pointless to list all.

But London Waterloo was just Waterloo until sometime in the 80s/90s. Similarly, up until that point none of the London termini used the London prefix.

 

[John Webb]

Before Grouping, neither of the two St Albans stations were differentiated as they were worked separately by the LNWR and by the Midland. When they both became part of the LMS, the LNWR branch terminus was given the suffix 'Abbey' and the Midland mainline station was given the suffix 'City'.

 

[30907]

London Waterloo was just Waterloo until sometime in the 80s/90s. Similarly, up until that point none of the London termini used the London prefix.

On the platform signage, yes, but in timetables it was standard practice on some regions to to use the London prefix from well before then. There is a 1947 LMS book on the Timetableworld site which does (I don't have my timetable shelf handy so I cheated), and the WR fell jnto line by 1965. However, that's not a suffix so I'm OT. (Slaps wrist firmly!)

Back on topic: I suspect the earliest examples are on the SE&CR lines around 1900 (Bromley N and S, Maidstone E and W for example) and it carried on in 1923 and 1948.
Interestingly, there is one example where the process was reversed: at some stage the two Sevenoaks stations (SER/LCDR) became Tubs Hill and Bat & Ball - but in SR days Tubs Hill lost its suffix and Bat & Ball lost Sevenoaks!

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Chester had a Northgate station (CLC) - the street nearby is also Northgate and I don't ever remember either being shown as two words.
The other "gates" were Eastgate and Watergate, the fourth direction being Bridge St.

I don't know the area but one place has always baffled me: Rotherham Masborough.
I think Masborough (or Masbrough/Masbro') was a originally separate place to Rotherham, but it was the main station for the area.
To confuse, it's closed today, leaving the former Rotherham Central (MS&L/GC) as the only station in the town.

Some stations only had a suffix for a few years under BR, before one or more were closed in the 1950/60s cut-backs.
Many stations were just known by the owner of the line rather than the district they were located in.
Adding "Midland" or "Central" just formalised how they were known by the general public.
But plenty of "Centrals" were not at all central...
Wigan North Western is about the only surviving reference to the LNWR (distinguishing it from the L&Y's Wallgate and the GC's Central).

 

[AndyW33]

Wigan North Western is about the only surviving reference to the LNWR (distinguishing it from the L&Y's Wallgate and the GC's Central).

And of course the LNW suffered the ultimate insult when BR added "Midland" to Rugby....

 

[midland1]

Rugby "Midland" was a lot more central than Rugby central!

 

[midland1]

Looking at it again a bit farther north up the GC nether Loughborough Midland or Loughborough Central are anywhere near the centre of Loughborough!

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Was there ever any systematic process to add suffixes to similarly named stations located in different parts of the country, for example Brampton in Cumberland / Cumbria, and Brampton in Suffolk or was this mostly done on an 'ad hoc' basis?

 

[MadMac]

Was there ever any systematic process to add suffixes to similarly named stations located in different parts of the country, for example Brampton in Cumberland / Cumbria, and Brampton in Suffolk or was this mostly done on an 'ad hoc' basis?

Newton near Glasgow is known in the ticketing system as Newton (Lanarks) (to distinguish it from Newton-on-Ayr?) but has never been publicly named as such. I think something similar applies with Clapham (Yorks).

 

[marsker]

Was there ever any systematic process to add suffixes to similarly named stations located in different parts of the country, for example Brampton in Cumberland / Cumbria, and Brampton in Suffolk or was this mostly done on an 'ad hoc' basis?

Back in the 1960s, Brampton (Cumbria) was known as Brampton Junction. The Brampton Fell railway used to run south to Lambley on the Alston branch, it served some small mines, not sure whether it ever had a passenger service, it closed in 1953. There was also a short branch which did have a passenger service, to Brampton village/town which closed in 1923.

 

[Mikey C]

The current Gravesend (SER) station was renamed Gravesend Central and the LCDR station renamed Gravesend West when the companies merged

 

[Nidger]

Tyndrum Upper and Tyndrum Lower. Is this the smallest area of population to have 2 stations?

 

[SargeNpton]

Tyndrum Upper and Tyndrum Lower. Is this the smallest area of population to have 2 stations?

Tyndrum Upper is Upper Tyndrum.

As to the question, with a population of 167 I think that's a good guess.

 

[Beebman]

The ex-MR/LMS station at Kirkby Stephen became Kirkby Stephen West while the ex-NER/LNER one became Kirkby Stephen East until its closure in 1962.

 

[adrock1976]

One in my original neck of the woods in the West Midlands is Wellington (Shropshire) that was renamed Wellington Telford West at some point during the BR years.

This was on the original London Paddington - Birkenhead Woodside Great Western Railway route, and being as the ex Shrewsbury & Birmingham section had been severed between Wolverhampton and Birmingham Snow Hill, I think that this may have tied in with when the InterCity sector had extensions of the London Euston - Wolverhampton trains to Shrewsbury.

The calling points as I remember it on the Solari clapperboard at Birmingham New Street had the calling points of Sandwell & Dudley, Wolverhampton, Telford Central, Wellington Telford West, and Shrewsbury.

The ex GWR station at Wolverhampton was refereed to as the low level, with the present day ex LNWR station referred to as the high level station.

 

[Paul Kelly]

One of the few which has survived with the original company suffix

Similarly there is also Lichfield Trent Valley and Rugeley Trent Valley.

 

[Ken H]

Tyndrum Upper is Upper Tyndrum.

As to the question, with a population of 167 I think that's a good guess.

didnt that happen when they brought in radio signalling. To make the 2 stations sound very different over the radio?

 

[SargeNpton]

didnt that happen when they brought in radio signalling. To make the 2 stations sound very different over the radio?

According to wikipedia, that is the reason.

 

[mailbyrail]

Similarly there is also Lichfield Trent Valley and Rugeley Trent Valley.

But they are both geographical, even though applied from the beginning - although Rugeley lost it from 1968 until 1992 when Town station was closed.
Are there any other stations like Wigan NW that continue to use the name of the original company?
New Mills Central sprang to mind based on its GC roots, but no, that's a BR addition from 1952

 

[6026KingJohn]

But they are both geographical, even though applied from the beginning - although Rugeley lost it from 1968 until 1992 when Town station was closed.
Are there any other stations like Wigan NW that continue to use the name of the original company?
New Mills Central sprang to mind based on its GC roots, but no, that's a BR addition from 1952

The line through the trent valley was originally the Trent Valley Railway (1845) but while the line was still under construction the TVR was bought by the London & Birmingham Railway who then merged with the Grand Junction Railway to form the L&NWR. So, technically, named after the first railway company.

 

[mailbyrail]

The line through the trent valley was originally the Trent Valley Railway (1845) but while the line was still under construction the TVR was bought by the London & Birmingham Railway who then merged with the Grand Junction Railway to form the L&NWR. So, technically, named after the first railway company.

Well researched, I didn't know that!

 

[MadMac]

didnt that happen when they brought in radio signalling. To make the 2 stations sound very different over the radio?

Not so much for the audio, but concern over a cab display being corrupted to the degree that it was unclear which one was displayed.

 

[Gwenllian2001]

There are plenty of examples. Cardiff for instance had Cardiff (GWR) and Cardiff (TVR) and Cardiff Crockherbtown (Rhymney Railway) which became "Cardiff General"and later still "Cardiff Central", "Cardiff Queen Street" and Cardiff Parade.

Well into the 1950s Cardiff Corporation buses could be seen with 'GWR Station' on their destination blinds.