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"Train Station"?

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PinzaC55

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I go back a long way now and I can remember when Railway Stations were called just that. But the term "Train Station" is everywhere now. It doesn't seem to be used much here so is it just used by grockles? It makes me want to scream.
 
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EM2

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What's wrong with it? It's where you'd find a train.
A bus station is where you'd find a bus. A police station is where you'd find the police. A petrol station is where you'd find petrol.
 

43167

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I know, but its just the way now for most people, bus station for buses, train station for trains. Though yet to hear plane station or boat station.

It doesnt help when the staff even say 'train station'.
 

Xenophon PCDGS

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I am trying to remember how many thread discussions over the last twelve months there have been concerning this matter and I will be surprised if anyone will make any comment on this new thread that was not discussed ad nauseum on those previous threads.
 

lyesbkz

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In fairness, "railway station" is quite a mouthful. Though admittedly I'm not keen on "train station" either.

I am trying to remember how many thread discussions over the last twelve months there have been concerning this matter and I will be surprised if anyone will make any comment on this new thread that was not discussed ad nauseum on those previous threads.

Whilst I hadn't noticed any, there is in fact one here, which is still open!
 

PinzaC55

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My bad. I don't visit this forum much so I missed it. No further replies necessary.
 

PaxVobiscum

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I go back a long way now and I can remember when Railway Stations were called just that. But the term "Train Station" is everywhere now. It doesn't seem to be used much here so is it just used by grockles? It makes me want to scream.

No doubt someone is going to point out that language is organic - living, changing and all that, but I too prefer railway stations to train stations.
I will concede that there is a degree of logic when most people are happy with the idea of a 'bus station' , but I will continue to refer to them as railway stations, along with 'lorry' rather than 'truck' and other old fashioned but in my view at least, more correct, terms.

And while we're at it, may I be permitted to have a mild rant against "different...to"? Thanks, I feel better now.
 

Mutant Lemming

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It was the thin end of the wedge when they shortened British Railways down to British Rail and moreso with the current Virgin- East Midlands Trains - First Great Western - "Gatwick Express" - Southern-CrossCountry - Greater Anglia - c2c - Chiltern Railways - Island Line - South West Trains -London Midland - London Overground -
South Eastern- First Capital Connect- Northern Rail-First Trans Pennine Express - First ScotRail - Arriva Trains Wales - Merseyrail - Network Rail etc etc etc...
 

tom1649

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"Train station" does seem to have crept into fashion in the last 10 years or so. I'm not that old, but I can remember a time when most people called them railway stations.
 

marks87

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Perhaps I'm missing something, but what's the big deal with "train station"?
 

Yew

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Its an accurate description, the trains are stationary. railway station could refer to any point where the rails are stationary.


I generally call big stations railway stations though....
 

Bungle73

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Its an accurate description, the trains are stationary. railway station could refer to any point where the rails are stationary.


I generally call big stations railway stations though....

It's nothing to do with being stationary. It's to do with being stationed. The railway is stationed there, and not the trains - hence "railway station"
 

lewisf

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Railway Station is the correct term. We are NOT yanks,

That is all.

Railway station is correct, but there's nothing incorrect about train station. To be honest I normally just say station, or when there's a need to differentiate, Surbiton station for example.

How does the OP feel about 'tube station'?
 

PinzaC55

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Railway station is correct, but there's nothing incorrect about train station. To be honest I normally just say station, or when there's a need to differentiate, Surbiton station for example.

How does the OP feel about 'tube station'?

I prefer "Underground Station" - which does , after all, describe it better than "tube station" - but tube station doesn't annoy me as much as "***** station". It's a matter of common usage.

If you cut a potato into rectangular strips and fry them in batter are they "chips" or "fries"?
 

lewisf

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I prefer "Underground Station" - which does , after all, describe it better than "tube station" - but tube station doesn't annoy me as much as "***** station". It's a matter of common usage.


What about stations such as Kew Gardens or Harrow on the Hill? They aren't underground but 'Tube' is a brand of TfL so Tube trains still call, even though it's actually sub surface stock.

Sorry, I'm being a massive pedant but I honestly can't see the problem with train station. It's just another name, but because it's from America that's somehow bad. At least they're not being called railroad stations!
 

Bungle73

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The term "Tube" has been around a very long time - from when the first Tube lines were opened in fact - and can refer to either the trains or the system itself; not only that it is a British term.
 

PinzaC55

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What about stations such as Kew Gardens or Harrow on the Hill? They aren't underground but 'Tube' is a brand of TfL so Tube trains still call, even though it's actually sub surface stock.

Sorry, I'm being a massive pedant but I honestly can't see the problem with train station. It's just another name, but because it's from America that's somehow bad. At least they're not being called railroad stations!

So what is "London Underground Limited"? And what does a "tube" have to do with a surface station?
 

supervc-10

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I don't think I've ever really used the term 'railway station'. 'Train station' seems to roll off the tongue better!
The bus station is where you go to catch a bus, the tube station is where you go to catch a tube, and the train station is where you go to catch a train.
A tube station would also be a railway station- after all, the tube runs on rails! And a bus station would be a 'road station'- which really doesn't work!

To be honest, if I say 'train station', people understand what I'm talking about, and likewise if people say 'railway station'.

The Americans also use the term 'Terminal'. As far as I'm concerned the terminal is something at an airport. The Americans also use the word terminal to describe any station where all the trains terminate.
 

LE Greys

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but don't those in the US call them Railroad stations though rather than train stations?

I've never heard that, not to say it doesn't happen though. "Station" used to be a mainly naval term before the railways. A ship would be "on station" when she was where she was supposed to be. There were also various "stations" around the world, meaning areas of interest (India, West Indies, Gibralter, etc), and it later adapted itself into such phrases as "action stations". The term may have passed through the canals (although I've never heard "canal station", "barge station" or "boat station" in such a context). Anyway, the railways got hold of it to mean "place where the train stops", and the non-nautical public would only have encountered the word "station" to do with railways. "Railway station" as a phrase only really became well-known when "power station", "petrol station" and "bus station" began to spread, so it's mainly 20th Century. Still, it's a dignified phrase, whereas "train station" is not.

Still, are companies such as South West Trains and Arriva Trains Wales not guilty of perpetrating the same thing? What happened to "South Western Railway" and "Arriva Welsh Railways"?
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
I don't think I've ever really used the term 'railway station'. 'Train station' seems to roll off the tongue better!
The bus station is where you go to catch a bus, the tube station is where you go to catch a tube, and the train station is where you go to catch a train.
A tube station would also be a railway station- after all, the tube runs on rails! And a bus station would be a 'road station'- which really doesn't work!

To be honest, if I say 'train station', people understand what I'm talking about, and likewise if people say 'railway station'.

The Americans also use the term 'Terminal'. As far as I'm concerned the terminal is something at an airport. The Americans also use the word terminal to describe any station where all the trains terminate.

Terminus, Americans should learn Latin.
 
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