Confusing stations or location

[Calthrop]

Heard a story many years ago, don't know if was true or not, about an old lady turning up at Oxford or somewhere wanting to go to Exeter. She had got on the wrong train because she had seen "Exeter" on the side of the locomotive (50044)

An old chestnut! Heard the same thing about an old lady at Portsmouth Harbour station, she had seen Boats labelled for Ryde, Sandown, Shanklin, and she was waiting for one labelled Newport, which was where she was going! (At one time Isle of Wight ferries carried local place names).

Brings to mind a really dreadful joke concerning the LBSCR: which mostly named locomotives after places on its system, or in the south of England generally; when southern-English venues started to run short, they turned to naming locos after places on the Continent. Hence anguished cry from passenger at Victoria, reading and misinterpreting the name of the loco heading his train: "But I haven't got money to Berne !"

 

[341o2]

In "The withered Arm" being reminiscences of the SR lines west of Exeter, the author, TWE Roche recalled a journey from Barnstaple to Exeter during wartime blackout. Despite posters warning that "Careless talk costs lives" and "Be like dad, keep mum" one could often work out where fellow passengers were heading.

Occupying the compartment were some soldiers. The train stopped at an intermediate station. and a member of staff cam along shouting "ford,...fordd". As one person, the soldiers left the train, as it departed they scrambled back on board admist a volley of oaths. Next stop, the same thing

Roche realised that they were bound for Plymouth and had been told to change at Yeoford and advised them it was the third stop from now. He could see suspicion, is this guy a German spy?

Came Yeoford and they sat tight. He advised them to change trains NOW, or you won't get back tonight

 

[Calthrop]

Altogether a World War 2 crazy business, that -- "obscuring where one was" -- including, taking away station nameboards. As things actually came about (with of course, no way of knowing ahead of time): must have inconvenienced respective "own people", very much more than putative invaders. I've read of similarly-bedevilled rail journeys in German-occupied France: inoffensive French civilians travelling in unfamilar parts, bewildered by all the stations having had their nameboards removed.

My favourite tale about this kind of stuff, is a humorous one: in late 1940, with everyone alarmed at the prospect of a German invasion of Britain, everything possible was done in the line of "obscuration" re station nameboards, signposts, whatever else. A zealous-but-pointless action of this kind, involved "doctoring" by the local authorities, of "you-are-entering" roadside signs: which came to read, ["blotted-out"] -- but, still there underneath in its full glory, "Birthplace of William Shakespeare". I gather that the funny side of this was seen, and it was featured on a cinema newsreel at the time -- the audiences fell about laughing.

 

[Taunton]

The GWR didn't blank names out on company equipment like painted brake van allocations, but just switched them round. All the staff got to know the code. Didcot became Moat Lane Junction.

 

[Calthrop]

The GWR didn't blank names out on company equipment like painted brake van allocations, but just switched them round. All the staff got to know the code. Didcot became Moat Lane Junction.

That would have flummoxed the Krauts good and proper ...

 

[MikeWh]

Two Abbey Woods, with the one on the DLR having a poster telling people looking for the Beatles studio they've come to the wrong place.

There are two Abbey Woods, but neither is on the DLR - that's Abbey Road which explains the Beatles reference. The Woods are in SE London and Filton, near Bristol.

 

[bb21]

Also there's Ashford (Int.) and Ashford (Surrey, formerly Mddx).

Quite a few tales of ambulances going astray due to following SatNav/operator error to the wrong Ashford.

 

[edwin_m]

There are two Abbey Woods, but neither is on the DLR - that's Abbey Road which explains the Beatles reference. The Woods are in SE London and Filton, near Bristol.

Well there you are ... I did say it was confusing!

 

[Busaholic]

Not train related I am afraid, but I was asked to order a book (I dabble in bookselling) on St Agnes by someone a few years ago and, when the person came to collect it they refused to buy it as it was a photographic history of the settlement on the Cornish coast near Redruth rather than one on the Scilly Isle so named! I might add that my shop lies halfway between the two, so I didn't query the original order.

 

[341o2]

Altogether a World War 2 crazy business, that -- "obscuring where one was" -- including, taking away station nameboards. As things actually came about (with of course, no way of knowing ahead of time): must have inconvenienced respective "own people", very much more than putative invaders. I've read of similarly-bedevilled rail journeys in German-occupied France: inoffensive French civilians travelling in unfamilar parts, bewildered by all the stations having had their nameboards removed.

My favourite tale about this kind of stuff, is a humorous one: in late 1940, with everyone alarmed at the prospect of a German invasion of Britain, everything possible was done in the line of "obscuration" re station nameboards, signposts, whatever else. A zealous-but-pointless action of this kind, involved "doctoring" by the local authorities, of "you-are-entering" roadside signs: which came to read, ["blotted-out"] -- but, still there underneath in its full glory, "Birthplace of William Shakespeare". I gather that the funny side of this was seen, and it was featured on a cinema newsreel at the time -- the audiences fell about laughing.

Due to its proximity to London, Reading's trolleybuses also had revised destination blinds in case of invasion. The one I remember is that "Tilehurst" was replaced by "Bear Inn".

Maybe an urban legend, but it was rumoured that Germans would be parachuted into England disgiused as nuns - it would be the boots which gave them away

 

[Cowley]

Maybe an urban legend, but it was rumoured that Germans would be parachuted into England disgiused as nuns - it would be the boots which gave them away

And possibly them using the gentlemans toilets by mistake? That would be a dead giveaway a nun standing at a urinal.

 

[edwin_m]

Maybe an urban legend, but it was rumoured that Germans would be parachuted into England disgiused as nuns - it would be the boots which gave them away

One episode of Dads Army certainly had some fun with that idea. I don't know if they originated it or it was something genuine from the War.

As a largely non-Catholic country I'd have thought nuns would be a poor choice of disguise for invading the UK.

 

[Calthrop]

One episode of Dads Army certainly had some fun with that idea. I don't know if they originated it or it was something genuine from the War.

As a largely non-Catholic country I'd have thought nuns would be a poor choice of disguise for invading the UK.

But we're very nice people -- we'd bend over backwards to give the benefit of the doubt to the supposed nuns, notwithstanding our theological disagreements with their beliefs -- maybe their wearing boots, and using gents' toilets, is all to do with their daft stuff about mortifying themselves in sundry ways? -- perhaps that's what the cunning Germans were thinking in their planning...

 

[Springs Branch]

Re-posted..... Originally posted in error on another thread.

In our family Great Aunt Mabel was known as a kindly old lady, but the sort of person for whom if anything could go wrong it would.

One dark December day back in the steam era (maybe late 1950s), she was on a journey from Yorkshire to Preston via Manchester.
As the train pulled into a station along the way, the Porter on the platform was shouting out "Low Moor! Low Moor!".

Aunt Mabel misinterpreted this as "No Moore" = "No More" in Yorkshire dialect = "All Change".
So she promptly got herself and her suitcase off the train - only to be faced with a long wait on the cold, damp platform for the next train to Manchester (which were not that frequent back in the day).

 

[edwin_m]

Mention of Yorkshire dialect reminds me of the roadsigns that said "Wait here while red light is showing", but in Yorkshire "while" can mean "until".

 

[341o2]

One episode of Dads Army certainly had some fun with that idea. I don't know if they originated it or it was something genuine from the War.

As a largely non-Catholic country I'd have thought nuns would be a poor choice of disguise for invading the UK.

My mother, who lived through WW2 told me that one. Urban legend maybe, but Dad's Army, like all good comedy has its roots in fact.

I'm adding an edit regarding the film "Nuns on the Run" Two robbers take refuge in a convent as nuns

Getting back to a transport theme, a dewirement on the Bradford trolleybus system was made worse by the city has both Five and Four Lane Ends.

Can't remember which but the driver reported the wrong one and the breakdown crew arrived to find no stranded trolleybus....