Trivia: Similar sounding stations

[mlambeuk]

Dalston and Dalton both on the cumbrian coast line.

 

[swt_passenger]

Is Beaulieu Rd anywhere near Beauly?

 

[rower40]

Kemble
(Little) Kimble.

And two that I confuse, but aren't really similar-sounding:
Shotts
Stepps
Because they're both made from doubling the fourth letter of a real (plural) word, they both lie on E-W lines in Scotland's Central Belt named after them, and they both start with S.

 

[Surreytraveller]

Eridge and Harwich

 

[broadgage]

Nunhead and Nuneaton don't really sound that similar to me, but have been confused more than once.
I was stranded at Kings Cross thameslink once, wishing to travel to Nunhead but unable to do so due to a breakdown.
The station supervisor booked me a taxi to Nuneaton ! Fortunately I soon realised that we were headed in the wrong direction.
Someone new to the UK could well have ended up in Nuneaton.

An Indian looking gent alighted from a train at Taunton and asked a cab driver to take him to "the heath" After considerable speculation about hotels or new housing developments that might be called "the heath" It became clear that the gent wanted Thornton Heath in London.

 

[GrimsbyPacer]

Derby Road and Derby.

 

[306024]

Clapton and Clacton.

Dover and Dovercourt. Had a car driver in Harwich once ask where the ferry to France was. The sat nav had taken him well adrift.

 

[eddp]

Leigh (Tonbridge Line)
Lee (Dartford Loop Line)

Is Leigh not pronounced to rhyme with Lye (West Mids) rather than Lee (South London)?

 

[59CosG95]

Farnham and Farncombe as well...

 

[adrock1976]

Ifield and Ilford
Charing (Kent) and Charing Cross (both London and Glasgow)

Also, how about the various London Road stations, such as Brighton, Guildford, Bicester (whatever capitalist branding it has these days), Leicester (Midland Railway), and Manchester (the present day Piccadilly)?

 

[snowball]

Is Leigh not pronounced to rhyme with Lye (West Mids) rather than Lee (South London)?

Leigh (Greater Manchester) is pronounced just like Lee.
Thurleigh (Beds) is pronounced Thur-lye.
I assume the many other place names containing Leigh are Lee, but I don't know.

 

[pemma]

Leigh (Greater Manchester) is pronounced just like Lee.

To add some confusion Leighton in Cheshire is pronounced Lay-ton not Lee-ton.

 

[plastictaffy]

I've had people get confused between Wolverton and Wolverhampton before.

 

[341o2]

Ford (Devon) Ford (Sussex)
Tower Hill (Padstow branch) Tower Hill (LUL)
Knighton and Kington (Powys)

 

[Ediswan]

Woking and Wokingham.

For those who don't know the latter, the 'ham' bit is often pronounced as a very modest 'm'. More like Woking and Wokingm. Cue one disgruntled 1980s ticket office clerk who had to repeat the whole process of looking up and issuing a hand written ticket.

 

[Mag_seven]

To add some confusion Leighton in Cheshire is pronounced Lay-ton not Lee-ton.

Therefore we have:

Leighton (Cheshire)
Layton (Blackpool)
Leyton (London)

 

[EM2]

I had a colleague try to direct a customer to a Nottingham train, and change there for Snaresbrook. When I politely corrected him, he realised he was sending the customer to Shirebrook!

 

[Michael.Y]

Or Strood
Stroud

Yes but there are no trains to Strood from Paddington.

Whereas there are trains to both Slough and Stroud, which can be misheard over the tannoy.

 

[ValleyLines142]

London Kings Cross and Kings Lynn is another one.

But as mentioned Cottingham, Nottingham and Mottingham is a confusing one!

 

[Bookd]

Gillingham (Dorset) and Gilllingham (Kent)
Ashford (Middlesex) and Ashford (Kent)

 

[Mugby]

Goole and Poole?

 

[bunnahabhain]

Attenborough and Attleborough, there used to be a Derby-Norwich all shacks that called at both of those.

 

[thirdriding]

Strangely a couple of the station announcers at Doncaster seem to pronounce 'Goole' and 'Hull' the same.

 

[neilmc]

I went to Mossley from Manchester Victoria recently, fortunately I realised I'd been sold a ticket to Moston before boarding the train.

 

[steevp]

I used to work as a conductor guard and came across all the following genuine confusions:
Newbury/Norbury
Strood/Stroud (he had a ticket to Strood, wanted Stroud, but had apparently been travelling every week with the wrong ticket)
Mottingham/Nottingham
Gillingham KEN/Gillingham DOR
Clapham SRY/Clapham YRK
Southbourne SSX/Southbourne nr Bournemouth (in fairness to the ticket clerk there is only a station at one of them)

 

[backontrack]

Lostock, Lostock Hall, Lostock Gralam...

Also, I get Wilmcote and Willington mixed up occasionally.

Longport and Longton, Bramley and, erm, Bramley, and the famous mix-up between Liverpool Lime Street and London Liverpool Street.

 

[BurtonM]

Stalybridge
Smithy Bridge
Sowerby Bridge

Morden
New Malden

Hellifield
Sellafield

 

[Ash Bridge]

Adwick & Ardwick, both served by Northern.

 

[backontrack]

Snowdown and Snodland.

 

[BurtonM]

Dent, Denton and Dinting...