Thameslink 1988-1994

[StephenHunter]

I'm not confused. I just don't like it.

 

[Wolfie]

Y

I'm not confused. I just don't like it.

It is absolutely fine.

 

[Recessio]

Y

It is absolutely fine.

Ah right, that's that settled then.

 

[AM9]

I'm not confused. I just don't like it.

So it should be changed because you don't like it? There are far more important things that need attention that messing about with a long-established station name that has over 8 million entries and exits per year.

 

[Wolfie]

Ah right, that's that settled then.

It's certainly no more ridiculous my being quite happy with the status quo at a station that I've used off and on since it opened than you wanting the name changed for no better reason than you dislike it.

 

[Gareth]

I like it. It's quite fun to say.

 

[bramling]

If we're saying that naming it St Paul's Thameslink would cause confusion with St Paul's on the Central Line, then surely naming it anything with 'Holborn' in the name would cause exactly the same confusion?!

Holborn station itself is a slightly messy name, for if going by the street named Holborn then Chancery Lane station is more appropriately sited.

I just don't understand why some posters here can't cope with it's current name.

It is vague for sure, and the only reason it works is because it is almost exclusively a commuter station. Indeed the fact that it sees virtually no non-commuter use (as you’ll no doubt be aware the station can be extremely sleepy at off-peak times and especially weekends) might well suggest that the name isn’t ideal.

I’d agree that anything involving St Paul’s would introduce confusion.

City is a vague name, and whilst it is technically in the city I’d say it is at completely the opposite end and remote from what most people would regard as the focal point of the financial / banking district, which is more the bit around Liverpool Street - Moorgate - Bank.

Is it a major issue? Perhaps not really, but I can understand why some people could quite reasonably suggest it’s not an ideal name.

 

[Mikey C]

"Viaduct" wouldn't really be appropriate given that the station has more in common with a sub-surface station than a viaduct!

Holborn Viaduct might have meant something to the legions of toiling Victorian clerks (think Mr Pooter in "Diary of a Nobody" - a fine book) , but we are now in the 21st Century.

Holborn Viaduct station was named after the road it was on - the famous viaduct over Farringdon Street - and which the northern exit of City Thameslink is on, so the name would still be relevant, and well known. I assume it wasn't reused as people might not realise that there's also an entrance to the new station at Ludgate Hill as well.

I remember occasionally using Holborn Viaduct after Thameslink opened, back then the Dartford trains that go via Peckham Rye all/mainly went to Holborn Viaduct rather than Victoria as they do now, and the station didn't close until 1990. I can't remember what happened after City Thameslink opened, whether they terminated there instead, or at Blackfriars.

 

[NorthKent1989]

Holborn Viaduct station was named after the road it was on - the famous viaduct over Farringdon Street - and which the northern exit of City Thameslink is on, so the name would still be relevant, and well known. I assume it wasn't reused as people might not realise that there's also an entrance to the new station at Ludgate Hill as well.

I remember occasionally using Holborn Viaduct after Thameslink opened, back then the Dartford trains that go via Peckham Rye all/mainly went to Holborn Viaduct rather than Victoria as they do now, and the station didn't close until 1990. I can't remember what happened after City Thameslink opened, whether they terminated there instead, or at Blackfriars.

It was around the time City Thameslink opened they diverted the Dartford via Bexleyheath service to Victoria, to my knowledge they never terminated at Blackfriars after City opened

 

[ScottGallagher]

St Paul's Thameslink would be the logical name, after all there was Kings Cross Thameslink still two Edgware Roads, the mess that is Camden Town , Shepherds Bush so I can't see the issue just because St Paul's tube is nearby the distinction is clear enough.

It won't change now but I imagine city was used in part due to some influence by property developers, big business.

 

[station_road]

Some people seem to have forgotten that it was called St Paul's Thameslink when first opened, and people were actually getting confused between that and the Central line station so it was decided to change the name

https://www.flickr.com/photos/21602076@N05/5185199141 (photo showing original station name signs at St Paul's Thameslink station, credit to Tom Burnham on Flickr)

 

[Journeyman]

Can we please stop banging on about the name? It got boring ages ago.

 

[Sad Sprinter]

I'm not confused. I just don't like it.

Same, never had done. Ludgate Circus would be a much nicer name.

 

[Bald Rick]

Same, never had done. Ludgate Circus would be a much nicer name.

Which would be accurate for about 50% of the stations users.

 

[Sad Sprinter]

Which would be accurate for about 50% of the stations users.

I don't see why this would be a problem, as this will happen to all new doubled ended Crossrail station. Bond Street XR isn't exactly an accurate name for the Hanover Square entrance which is firmly in the Oxford Circus district, whilst TCR Crossrail 2 station's Shaftesbury Avenue entrace is a completely distinctive area to TCR itself.

 

[Taunton]

If I'm not mistaken, when First took the franchise over from Thameslink, there was a ruthless extermination on the first day of all Thameslink branding. Unfortunately this extended to City Thameslink station, until it was realised that was the formal station name. So it spent a little while just being "City".

Same thing happened at a technical college I knew that got upgraded to a university in the 1990s. On the morning of the announcement there was no work done while every trace of the words "technical college" was removed, all headed stationery shredded, etc (taking it home not allowed, it must be shredded). The principal was going round with a real scowl on his face at 10am at any obscure remnant still showing.

 

[Mikey C]

If I'm not mistaken, when First took the franchise over from Thameslink, there was a ruthless extermination on the first day of all Thameslink branding. Unfortunately this extended to City Thameslink station, until it was realised that was the formal station name. So it spent a little while just being "City".

Same thing happened at a technical college I knew that got upgraded to a university in the 1990s. On the morning of the announcement there was no work done while every trace of the words "technical college" was removed, all headed stationery shredded, etc (taking it home not allowed, it must be shredded). The principal was going round with a real scowl on his face at 10am at any obscure remnant still showing.

"First Capital Connect" was one of the more moronic branding decisions post privatisation!

 

[Ianno87]

If I'm not mistaken, when First took the franchise over from Thameslink, there was a ruthless extermination on the first day of all Thameslink branding. Unfortunately this extended to City Thameslink station, until it was realised that was the formal station name. So it spent a little while just being "City".

To be fair, the people doing it probably did *exactly* what they were told to do - "Delete anything that says Thameslink".

 

[Recessio]

"First Capital Connect" was one of the more moronic branding decisions post privatisation!

Fixed that for you!

Here's a question vaguely on topic: what happened in this sort of time period at Thameslink that led to the "Thameslink 2000" plan being *massively* delayed to ultimately take until 2020 instead?

 

[Wolfie]

Fixed that for you!

Here's a question vaguely on topic: what happened in this sort of time period at Thameslink that led to the "Thameslink 2000" plan being *massively* delayed to ultimately take until 2020 instead?

Thameslink Programme - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Rail privatisation, funding issues with HS1, a public inquiry or two, legal action.... You name it.....

 

[Bald Rick]

Fixed that for you!

Here's a question vaguely on topic: what happened in this sort of time period at Thameslink that led to the "Thameslink 2000" plan being *massively* delayed to ultimately take until 2020 instead?

Thameslink ‘2000’ and the Thameslink Programme were ultimately rather different things.