Why "train station" and not "train stop"?

[M7R]

following on from the why platform numbers and not letters, I was asked why is it always a train station? (Lets not get into railway vs train...) even if it’s a simple station on a single or double line or a major junction with multiple platforms it’s always station.

For buses it’s a station if it’s an interchange or tirminus with multiple buses at any one time, but the place where you get on the bus mid route is a bus stop, so why aren’t they called train stations for the major places and train stops for the little places where it’s one line in and out?

I had no answer to this and apparently “just because” doesn’t cut it so I have been told to ask on here.... anyone have a better answer?

 

[Bletchleyite]

Probably because it is a stationment of the company, with staff and facilities etc, rather than just a bare place where something stops.

 

[edwin_m]

Trams generally have stops not stations. I guess the distinction is that stations historically had buildings and stops didn't, except perhaps a small shelter. Which suggests that many railway/train stations these days should actually be stops because they don't have much more than a bus stop. But if language was like that then we'd all be using portable phones not mobile phones.

 

[route:oxford]

following on from the why platform numbers and not letters, I was asked why is it always a train station? (Lets not get into railway vs train...) even if it’s a simple station on a single or double line or a major junction with multiple platforms it’s always station.

For buses it’s a station if it’s an interchange or tirminus with multiple buses at any one time, but the place where you get on the bus mid route is a bus stop, so why aren’t they called train stations for the major places and train stops for the little places where it’s one line in and out?

I had no answer to this and apparently “just because” doesn’t cut it so I have been told to ask on here.... anyone have a better answer?

Station, stop and halt all come down to the same meaning. It's where something stops moving.

 

[Dr Hoo]

Because a train becomes ‘stationary’, so that people can get on and off.

 

[Western Lord]

The use of the word "station" is the in same sense as in the armed forces. The RAF has stations, troops are stationed at a certain location etc. A railway station was a station on the railway where the company based people to conduct its business. Places where trains stopped which did not have staff were called halts.

 

[Mojo]

Probably because it is a stationment of the company, with staff and facilities etc, rather than just a bare place where something stops.

Indeed; this is also why it is called "railway station" and not "train station," as in this country we (historically) had railway companies and at such locations you find agents of the railway located (stationed) with the facilities of the railway open for use.

 

[some bloke]

why aren’t they called train stations for the major places and train stops for the little places where it’s one line in and out?

Places where trains stopped which did not have staff were called halts.

Is the answer that railway companies and/or BR later decided to call halts stations, and if so is anyone aware of the reasoning?

 

[Edders23]

Is the answer that railway companies and/or BR later decided to call halts stations, and if so is anyone aware of the reasoning?

marketing department I think BR made lots of changes like that at the marketing departments behest

 

[some bloke]

I found the replies above interesting, for the use of language to mean where people were stationed.

There's a thread on "halts" here:
https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/station-halt.50952/

marketing department I think BR made lots of changes like that at the marketing departments behest

Any other interesting examples?

For some reason I'm reminded of a misnomer I like - "rail replacement bus".

 

[yorksrob]

A train can "stop" anywhere on the line. That doesn't necessarily mean that there's a station there !

 

[Esker-pades]

Both. Certainly according to the vast majority of announcements I have heard over the years: "<Location> is our next station stop".

 

[AndrewE]

It's not a train station!... "Railway station" please! Train station is a USA term, I think.

 

[Pigeon]

"<Location> is our next station stop".

They also like "$STATION which is our final destination". But they're both wrong, and whoever is responsible should be made to write out "I must not perpetrate tautologies in announcements" 100 times.

 

[johnw]

Train Station is wrong, it’s a Railway Station.

“Are next Station Stop” “Your next.Station Stop” sounds like a local radio DJ, “The next station stop” sounds much better.

 

[route:oxford]

It's not a train station!... "Railway station" please! Train station is a USA term, I think.

Don't they call them "depots"?

Where you queue to board at "track XX"

 

[big all]

a bus stop is the exact point you need to stand to board the bus so accuracy
a train needs a platform as there are several possible boarding point so approximation

 

[Mordac]

Since the discussion has inevitably devolved into the argument about whether "Train Station" is wrong, or "an American term," it's finally time for me to post the smoking gun I've been looking for an opportunity to post for a while.



There you go. Official usage of "Train Station" in the UK. Your move!

 

[edwin_m]

Both. Certainly according to the vast majority of announcements I have heard over the years: "<Location> is our next station stop".

I think "station stop" is because some pedant will complain if the train stops at a signal on the approach, and using that term also makes it slightly less likely that people will worry about whether they have reached the station or not. "Stop stop" would be a bit silly!

 

[Surreytraveller]

Since the discussion has inevitably devolved into the argument about whether "Train Station" is wrong, or "an American term," it's finally time for me to post the smoking gun I've been looking for an opportunity to post for a while.



There you go. Official usage of "Train Station" in the UK. Your move!

'Train Station' is an American and Northern Irish term. I don't know why the Northern Irish use it, but they do. The Great British term is 'Railway Station'

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

It's not a train station!... "Railway station" please! Train station is a USA term, I think.

I don't disagree, but even Network Rail uses the term "train station" in some of its PR stuff aimed at the general public.
Buses increasingly use the term Train Station for railway station bus stops, and travel guides have it on maps.
I'm afraid it has crept into the English language.

 

[THC]

There you go. Official usage of "Train Station" in the UK. Your move!

That's a humdinger. It also contains the only word in the English language with six silent letters.

THC

 

[HORNIMANS]

RAILWAY STATION

 

[Surreytraveller]

RAILWAY STATION

Yes. You'd think enthusiasts that come on this website would know the correct terminology. Joe Bloggs off the street you can understand their ignorance.

 

[Mag_seven]

We seem to have ignored the OP's original request:

(Lets not get into railway vs train...)

 

[Surreytraveller]

We seem to have ignored the OP's original request:

Red rag to a bull

 

[Flyingsprinter]

A small place where a train stops is called a halt. Hence they is not need for the word stop to be used. Station is used for a larger place that is staffed. Not many halts exist now as they got closed due to low usage and once staffed stations are now unstaffed and there’s no point in changing their name now after nearly 200 years, therefore they are still known as stations when really they are halts.

 

[xotGD]

Can't we all agree that the correct term is 'Shack'?

 

[och aye]

'Train Station' is an American and Northern Irish term. I don't know why the Northern Irish use it, but they do. The Great British term is 'Railway Station'

Stobart Rail clearly didn't get that memo then.

 

[Pigeon]

That's a humdinger. It also contains the only word in the English language with six silent letters.

THC

'Course, Gaelic knows all about silent letters