Trivia: Settlements where rail infrastructure is more well known than its namesake

[gg1]

Marylebone is a smart area of inner London and includes Marylebone High Street, one of the best High Streets in London. The idea that Marylebone is known only for its railway station is wrong.

That's an extremely London centric view, most people from other parts of the country will neither know nor care which areas of London are 'smarter' than others or have 'the best High Streets'.

Marylebone Station has a little extra fame over many other London stations on account of being one of the 4 listed on the Monopoly board, which for the majority of people will be the closest they've ever been to visiting either the station or the area.

 

[Railwaysceptic]

In your opinion. I think it is mainly known outside London for its station. Unless we have survey results, we can't find the exact truth.

Obviously in my opinion. I don't post in an Internet forum in order to express someone else's opinion!

Your point is fatuous. Clearly to railway enthusiasts, a station name signifies a railway location when it's somewhere they've never been, just as the name of a famous football stadium three hundred miles away will be known to a football fanatic who has never been there. To go further and suggest that even people who live locally know of an area only because of a station is absurd. Marylebone is a famous area in London, like Soho and Mayfair neither of which has stations bearing those names.

 

[nw12398]

Crewe and Swindon are the two many people will think of but if the railway had not chosen the location for large scale workshops which other places would probably be far smaller now?
My first thoughts are Darlington and Eastleigh.

The town has rapidly expanded in recent years as it is barely out of Southampton proper, which has very little room to expand itself. I guess perhaps Romsey or Totton could have been bigger instead, but Eastleigh also 'benefits' from the M3 and Southampton Airport, neither of which would be elsewhere if Eastleigh had been much smaller, in my opinion.

Ivybridge
Totnes
Tiverton

And well known freight yards but little known towns / areas;

Toton
Hoo
Margam
St Blazey

Definitely not Totnes - its very real alternative style is well known nationwide, and it has plenty of tourists in the summer. I don't think I would agree with Ivybridge although it is rather small and not that interesting in itself, and the railway station was, until very recently, the only one where you could walk on to Dartmoor in minutes from. Again, I'm not sure I agree with Tiverton although I do realise that the proportion of trains that stop there is way higher than expected based solely on the town's size and importance.

 

[urbophile]

Kings Cross is a little notorious in it's own right inside London, at least. I'd think Paddington is actually more well known for the bear these days... but I guess the station is better known than the district.

The districts of Kings Cross and Waterloo are arguably named after the stations rather than the other way about. Waterloo was originally 'Waterloo Bridge', but the bridge itself isn't in Waterloo. Paddington used to be a borough so the station was named after it. And the bear was named after the station!
I'm not sure if anyone calls the area surrounding Euston station 'Euston', but if so that would be an example of the station coming first. Victoria similarly.
Many suburban tube stations were built before the surrounding area was built up or had a definite name; several projected names never caught on and the name eventually given to the station became the name of the district.

York - is a difficult one to tell, it depends on people's interests but if you ask people to say that they associate with York they will likely say one of the railway museum, Yorvik centre or the minster.

York may be well known for its railway connections and museum, but there is no way that they are more well known than the city itself. It does go back to at least a thousand years before the railway was even dreamt of.

 

[gg1]

York may be well known for its railway connections and museum, but there is no way that they are more well known than the city itself. It does go back to at least a thousand years before the railway was even dreamt of.

Closer to 2000 years, the city was originally founded by the romans.

 

[adrock1976]

I am unsure if Chippenham is more famous for the railway or not, but one thing it is well known for amongst the senior demographic is Chippenham was the scene of the road traffic accident that killed Eddie Cochran and injured Gene Vincent back in 1960.

One of the Wiltshire Constabulary's road traffic policemen that attended was David John Harman, who became a professional musician and was the frontman for the band Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick, and Tich who had a UK Number 1 in 1968 with "The Legend of Xanadu".

 

[chiltern trev]

Llandudno Junction

 

[Irascible]

Again, I'm not sure I agree with Tiverton although I do realise that the proportion of trains that stop there is way higher than expected based solely on the town's size and importance.

I lived in Tiverton for some years as a lad, lucky me - it was a bit of a hub for mid Devon, being a market town, and also had some fame as a place with a castle & the history of the lace-making industry. I don't think anyone local really connects the station with the place, to be honest - on a day to day basis it's useless for the town who mostly want to go south, by the time you've got there you'd be halfway to Exeter anyway, I suspect it's only named for the town because they shut the other station named for the town to build it.

Whether that makes the infrastructure more famous than the town, I'm not really sure. As a gateway station I guess so, I also despite thankfully being gone from there for years don't really connect it with the town...

 

[Class800]

I;d agree with Tiverton Parkway being not close to Tiverton and quite separate - it's near Sampford Peverell and the M5

 

[gg1]

The first half of Sandwell and Dudley.

Even the majority of people who live in Sandwell don't use the word to describe where they live, I suspect the station name is the only time many people have ever heard the name mentioned.

 

[Western Sunset]

Toton.

 

[JohnRegular]

I think important interchanges in relatively small towns are the winners here. Crewe, Westbury, Par, and Eastleigh come to mind as places you might well only know exist because you had to change there once.

 

[LOL The Irony]

Newton Heath
Cornbrook
Dutton (where the WCML crosses the Weaver)

 

[Irascible]

I;d agree with Tiverton Parkway being not close to Tiverton and quite separate - it's near Sampford Peverell and the M5

It's actually on top of Sampford Peverell station anyway. I'm a bit surprised they didn't call it Atlantis Parkway or something ridiculous ( given the newness of the link road at the time ) but I guess there's still a chance to do that

 

[Gloster]

Saltash.

 

[dciuk]

Penzance as it is the destination of many long distance trains. Someone has already said Par, which I was also going to suggest as other than being a junction where you change for Newquay, I have very rarely come across any mention of the town. Pwllheli would be another one where it is probably most known as being a terminus railway station. I will also say Mallaig for the same reason

Okehampton would be a recent addition following its re-opening.

 

[weepingwillowb]

Stalybridge, because of the buffet bar at the station.

 

[jopsuk]

Although this idea emanated from a discussion about the Dartford Crossing, this lead me to thinking about examples of towns where the railway is more well-known than the town. My first thought was Folkstone (Eurotunnel terminal), but I imagine that there are more - and probably better-known - examples.

Folkestone was a well known port long before the tunnel- indeed, the tunnel helped kill off the port

For bits of Infrastructure rather than simply stations- what about places such as Haughley Junction?

 

[D365]

Folkestone was a well known port long before the tunnel- indeed, the tunnel helped kill off the port

Very true. However, being that I was born in the late 90s, I would not know of Folkestone if it wasn't for Eurotunnel.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Pwllheli would be another one where it is probably most known as being a terminus railway station.

Nah. Far better known for its one time Butlin's holiday camp, I would suggest.

 

[dciuk]

Nah. Far better known for its one time Butlin's holiday camp, I would suggest.

Personally I do not associate Pwllheli with Butlins. The camp closed years ago and Pwllheli was not the station that served the camp.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Personally I do not associate Pwllheli with Butlins. The camp closed years ago and Pwllheli was not the station that served the camp.

That's your opinion and you're quite entitled to it. Still reckon many folk would disagree with you, if asked what they associated the place name Pwllheli with.

 

[Gathursty]

Carstairs
Verney Junction

 

[Eskimo]

Tring - if it’s not already been posted!

 

[thenorthern]

Weedon seems to get a lot of mention especially during diversions much more than the village itself.

Norton Bridge because of the junction gets a lot of mention.

Shap although overall that gets more mention because of the M6.

In Northern Ireland Dhu Varren (an area of Portrush), Botanic, Sydenham, Adelaide and Balmoral (all areas of Belfast) seem to be better known for their station than the actual area.

 

[aleggatta]

I’ve been mulling over this reply, not sure exactly how to say it, and I think you will understand why.

Railways pass through many locations, and sometimes accidents occur, bringing attention to that location that has previously been relatively ‘unknown’ to the majority of the country. The one that comes to mind for me is Barns Green (level crossing), which I for one, whilst being relatively up the road from me, I knew nothing about until that unfortunate day that made it newsworthy. I had a VERY small part to play in the recovery following that incident, but it is now a location that will always remind me of that sad day when passing by it.

Not sure if that is exactly what OP was expecting, but I’m sure there are other locations that fit this niche. I’m not sure that I would want to encourage replies for these sorts of locations, but just to bring an awareness to them

 

[Mikey C]

I'm not sure many mainline stations are actually more well known than the town in question, though there are London Underground stations which probably have that status, e.g.

Cockfosters for the smutty sounding name that's at the other end of the "line to Heathrow", and is far more known than the minor place it's named after
Mornington Crescent, due to I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue

 

[Ken H]

How about Blea Moor. Many have heard of it. But there is nothing there.
And Batty Moss. Only a viaduct there (proper old name for Ribblehead Viaduct is Batty Moss Viaduct)
And a short distance south of ribblehead Stn is a set of 4 Midland Railway cottages, Salt Lake, named after the construction camp that was close by. But the land around is known as Gauber.

 

[numtot12345]

Warrington (Bank Quay) - only springs to mind, and aware if this place, because of interchanging on wcml services

 

[mrcheek]

Penzance as it is the destination of many long distance trains. Someone has already said Par, which I was also going to suggest as other than being a junction where you change for Newquay, I have very rarely come across any mention of the town. Pwllheli would be another one where it is probably most known as being a terminus railway station. I will also say Mallaig for the same reason

Okehampton would be a recent addition following its re-opening.

I would agree with all of these except Pwllheli. Famous for a rugby team, the birthplace of Plaid Cymru, and for being unpronouncable!