Trivia: Station Names that differ by one letter (or near offer)

[AlbertBeale]

*checks wikipedia*

Oh yes

Though of course there are more stations which are Acton something or something Acton than there are with any other place name! (Leaving aside things like "London" in terminal station names.) So plenty of scope for confusion...

 

[K.o.R]

Sale and Hale.

 

[Ianno87]

Eccles and Beccles

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Barking and Barming.
Barnham and Farnham.
Beccles and Eccles.
Boston and Moston.

A handful more...

Cromford and Romford.
Bosham and Cosham.
Perth and Porth.
Newton and Newtown.
Otford and Oxford.

Oxford and Otford

Perth and Porth

Eccles and Beccles

Keep up at the back! Have had a few of these already!

 

[DelW]

A triple set that have been mentioned individually but not together:
Barnham -> Farnham -> Fareham -> Wareham.

 

[32475]

If we're allowed a closed station then Hayfield and Hadfield

 

[telstarbox]

Wye and Rye.

Eltham and Feltham.

Kearsley and Kearsney (can anyone say where these two are?)

 

[Ianno87]

Kearsley and Kearsney (can anyone say where these two are?)

One near Bolton, one in Kent

 

[The North Briton]

I don’t believe
Horsham and Hersham
have been mentioned yet..

 

[ValleyLines142]

Mottingham and Nottingham

And Cottingham!

 

[xotGD]

Heworth and Haworth (slight fudge)

Knottingley and Cottingley (a bit more of a fudge)

Darlington and (Hayes &) Harlington (total fudge)

 

[lxfe_mxtterz]

Heworth and Haworth (slight fudge)

Knottingley and Cottingley (a bit more of a fudge)

Darlington and (Hayes &) Harlington (total fudge)

Or you could just have Harlington (Beds)!

 

[PTR 444]

Shenfield and Sheffield

 

[Quakers Yard]

Norwich and Northwich

 

[tommy2215]

Chesterfield and Westerfield

 

[London Trains]

Luton and Sutton differ by 2 letters - and of course used to have trains to each other (these always terminate at St Albans now bar some late trains).

Anything with a West and an East station (e.g. Croydon) since they differ by one letter (albeit not in the exact right order).

 

[rower40]

I've looked through the list above (twice) and not yet found...
Bingham and Kingham
Wallington and Watlington

Three pages of the above just goes to show
1) how good people are at pattern-matching
2) how place names are based on some common groups of characters

My hat goes off to the people who found the really odd ones above, where the words are nothing like each other in mouth-shape, but differ by just one letter.

 

[colchesterken]

A bit off topic but two station names that could cause " confusion and delay! "
Hythe just up the road from me and
Stratford

 

[61653 HTAFC]

If we include non-NR stations Shepley (besides Shipley mentioned upthread) also has the nearby Shelley station on the Kirklees Light Railway.
Shepley station was known as "Shepley and Shelly" (note the spelling difference) in years gone by.

 

[gg1]

What's the longest chain anyone can think of? Best I can come up with is 8:

Dalston>Dalton>Walton>Alton>Olton>Bolton>Boston>Bogston

 

[Ianno87]

What's the longest chain anyone can think of? Best I can come up with is 8:

Dalston>Dalton>Walton>Alton>Olton>Bolton>Boston>Bogston

Add Malton in while you're at it.

 

[MadMac]

One that's been well-documented previously is the confusion that has arisen at Stansted with trains heading for both London Liverpool Street and Liverpool Lime Street.

 

[LSWR Cavalier]

One that's been well-documented previously is the confusion that has arisen at Stansted with trains heading for both London Liverpool Street and Liverpool Lime Street.

Perhaps one or both of the station names could be changed to avoid confusion
'London Anglia' maybe

 

[Ianno87]

Perhaps one or both of the station names could be changed to avoid confusion
'London Anglia' maybe

There are no Stansted-Liverpool trains any more.

Only stations where this is a "problem" (and a tiny one at that) is Norwich and Ely (and only for a couple of morning trains at the latter anyway)

 

[RyanOPlasty]

The predecessor to the current Whitley Bay station on the Metro was originally named only Whitley. It was renamed after confusion between Whitley and Whitby ( both on the NER ) led to a coffin being delivered to the wrong town.

 

[PTR 444]

Aldershot and Alderholt - if the station on the long lost Salisbury & Dorset Railway had taken the name of the village rather than its true name of Daggons Road. Like the Whitley example, I believe this was also done intentionally to avoid confusion.

 

[steamybrian]

In addition to Salford and Salfords can I add Shalford
(and the closed station of Alford)

 

[alangla]

What's the longest chain anyone can think of? Best I can come up with is 8:

Dalston>Dalton>Walton>Alton>Olton>Bolton>Boston>Bogston

After Dalton add: Darton Parton Marton Malton

 

[A Challenge]

Like the Whitley example, I believe this was also done intentionally to avoid confusion.

This (if off topic) was also done for Midgham, as it is actually in Woolhampton and this was seen as too similar to the then-GWR station at Wolverhampton.

 

[kieron]

One pair which hasn't been mentioned is Tywyn and Tygwyn (or Ty Gwyn, as Network Rail have it).