Trivia: Most ridiculously named station in UK

[Calthrop]

(non-rail-related but another one that gets up my nose is "St Paul's Cathedral")

Sorry if I'm being dense, but why? Because there are other cathedrals in Britain dedicated to St. Paul, besides the renowned one in the city of London? -- or is this a matter of nomenclature preferred / non-preferred, by a particular brand of Christianity?

 

[edwin_m]

Stratford WrongoneforShakespeare

 

[backontrack]

This train will call at Canterbury West; which is not particularly West at all, but should really be called Canterbury North.

A later train will serve Canterbury East; which is only a mere fraction east of Canterbury West, but is a lot further south so should really be called Canterbury South. We haven't renamed it, however, because the old station at Canterbury South is closed.

 

[Wirewiper]

This train will call at Canterbury West; which is not particularly West at all, but should really be called Canterbury North.

A later train will serve Canterbury East; which is only a mere fraction east of Canterbury West, but is a lot further south so should really be called Canterbury South. We haven't renamed it, however, because the old station at Canterbury South is closed.

How about Canterbury Westgate and Canterbury Castle instead?

 

[backontrack]

How about Canterbury Westgate and Canterbury Castle instead?

Hmm. Canterbury Castle is a bit of a ruin really - not a visitor attraction and it's currently fenced off one one side - but it has a nice ring to it, all the same. Those are rather nice names for the two stations.

 

[DavidGrain]

A friend and I were travelling in Germany a few years ago. We were on a train to Werigerode and as neither of us spoke German we just heard the announcement for Wernigerode Elmowerk so got off then realised that it was just a small halt and not the central station. However there was no hardship as we knew that there was a steam train behind us so we were able to stay and watch and photograph that as it went past. Also we saw the carriage sheds for the Harz railway there. We then walked into Wernigerode about a mile and saw the crowds of enthusiasts in the central station and realised we would have had difficulty in getting a good view of the steamer.

 

[DavidGrain]

Here is one in the making.

The HS2 terminal in Birmingham is referred as Curzon Street. When I first heard that I though, I am never going all across the city to get there especially as I will be much older when it opens. At an HS2 exhibition in my local church hall. I also heard an old lady (well she looked older than me) say that will be no use to us. When all the maps became available on line, I studied it and realised that no, the station will not be in Curzon Street. It will be right next door to Birmingham Moor Street Station. In fact there is a footbridge shown on the plans linking the concourse of Moor Street to the concourse of Curzon Street Station. Curzon Street itself by the way is about 1/4 miles away. So really HS2 will be coming into Moor Street Station with the new platforms at right angles to the existing platforms.

So why is it called Curzon Street? Because Andrew Adonis, the then Transport Secretary, is a railway buff (He has been called a trainspotter in another thread on this forum, I don't think it was a compliment) and knew the very first station in Birmingham was at Curzon Street. The HS2 station was originally called Fazeley Street which was slightly more logical before Adonis changed it.

I went to a lecture at Birmingham University by the chief engineer of HS2 who said trains would still be doing 80mph as they enter the station. That would be the speed that they would passing the old Curzon Street station building. As high speed platforms have to be 400 metres long that will be a long walk for those who enter the station at the Curzon Street end of the platform.

I went to a public meeting last year where the candidates for the office of mayor for the new West Midlands Combined Authority were talking about their plans for transport in the area. Someone in the audience pointed out that New Street Station, Moor Street Station and Curzon Street Station were all in a straight line, why could they not be connected? Someone mentioned that the trams would connect New Street to Curzon Street. I intervened to point out that yes the trams would connect the two but you would have to change at Bull Street, two stops from New Street. I also pointed out that the station would be next door to Moor Street which came as a shock to most people in the audience.

 

[DarloRich]

Here is one in the making.

The HS2 terminal in Birmingham is referred as Curzon Street. When I first heard that I though, I am never going all across the city to get there especially as I will be much older when it opens. At an HS2 exhibition in my local church hall. I also heard an old lady (well she looked older than me) say that will be no use to us. When all the maps became available on line, I studied it and realised that no, the station will not be in Curzon Street. It will be right next door to Birmingham Moor Street Station. In fact there is a footbridge shown on the plans linking the concourse of Moor Street to the concourse of Curzon Street Station. Curzon Street itself by the way is about 1/4 miles away. So really HS2 will be coming into Moor Street Station with the new platforms at right angles to the existing platforms.

So why is it called Curzon Street? Because Andrew Adonis, the then Transport Secretary, is a railway buff (He has been called a trainspotter in another thread on this forum, I don't think it was a compliment) and knew the very first station in Birmingham was at Curzon Street. The HS2 station was originally called Fazeley Street which was slightly more logical before Adonis changed it.

I went to a lecture at Birmingham University by the chief engineer of HS2 who said trains would still be doing 80mph as they enter the station. That would be the speed that they would passing the old Curzon Street station building. As high speed platforms have to be 400 metres long that will be a long walk for those who enter the station at the Curzon Street end of the platform.

I went to a public meeting last year where the candidates for the office of mayor for the new West Midlands Combined Authority were talking about their plans for transport in the area. Someone in the audience pointed out that New Street Station, Moor Street Station and Curzon Street Station were all in a straight line, why could they not be connected? Someone mentioned that the trams would connect New Street to Curzon Street. I intervened to point out that yes the trams would connect the two but you would have to change at Bull Street, two stops from New Street. I also pointed out that the station would be next door to Moor Street which came as a shock to most people in the audience.

it is proposed as a MASSIVE 3 level station station - yes it butts up to Moor street but it runs along the length of Curzon Street as far as the end of the university building. The existing Curzon Street station building is about 3/4 of the way down planned the platform. There are set to be entrances on several streets. There is a useful paper here: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploa...e/593140/H01_-_Curzon_Street_Station_v1.4.pdf

it is hardly worth the froth set out above!

 

[DavidGrain]

I see that someone else has mentioned that Birmingham New Street Station was not in New Street. It has only been since the 1960s rebuild of the station that there was an entrance through the shopping centre above the station from New Street.

When the Queen 're-opened' New Street station 2 or 3 years ago (none of us knew that it had been closed!) there were many people in Birmingham who were under the impression that the station had been re-named 'Grand Central'. The tram stop outside New Street Station is called Grand Central and that is what is displayed on the tram destination boards. Announcements on the trams now say Grand Central for trains from New Street Station. I was on a train into New Street Station one day when the guard announced that the next station stop would be Birmingham New Street. A young lady in front of me said to her companions 'It's now Grand Central' in that sneering tone that I have not heard since junior school when girls think that they have caught somebody out in an error. In fact Grand Central is the name of the new shopping centre above the rebuilt New Street Station.

Whilst speaking off tram stops in Birmingham. A year ago they renamed the Snow Hill stop St Chad's after the nearby Roman Catholic cathedral. Not for any religious reasons but because people were getting off there in the mistaken belief that it was the stop for Snow Hill station. After all the tram was along side the platforms for the station. However there was no access to the platforms without a long walk to the front of the station. The tram stop name was geographically correct in that it was by the road called Snow Hill. It is only in recent months that the lift and stairs to Snow Hill (the road) have been built.

 

[edwin_m]

I went to a lecture at Birmingham University by the chief engineer of HS2 who said trains would still be doing 80mph as they enter the station.

That sounds very high. 80km/h perhaps? HS2 tends to work in metric units.

 

[edwin_m]

I see that someone else has mentioned that Birmingham New Street Station was not in New Street. It has only been since the 1960s rebuild of the station that there was an entrance through the shopping centre above the station from New Street.

When the Queen 're-opened' New Street station 2 or 3 years ago (none of us knew that it had been closed!) there were many people in Birmingham who were under the impression that the station had been re-named 'Grand Central'. The tram stop outside New Street Station is called Grand Central and that is what is displayed on the tram destination boards. Announcements on the trams now say Grand Central for trains from New Street Station. I was on a train into New Street Station one day when the guard announced that the next station stop would be Birmingham New Street. A young lady in front of me said to her companions 'It's now Grand Central' in that sneering tone that I have not heard since junior school when girls think that they have caught somebody out in an error. In fact Grand Central is the name of the new shopping centre above the rebuilt New Street Station.

I guess the tram terminus couldn't be named New Street because it isn't in New Street. However there may be another railway buff or trainspotter at work here, since New Street station was originally Grand Central when it first opened!

 

[DavidGrain]

That sounds very high. 80km/h perhaps? HS2 tends to work in metric units.

I am speaking from memory so I can't be sure. My experience is that people are already standing on the existing trains as we pass Curzon Street station so I hope the braking is smooth!

 

[theageofthetra]

That sounds very high. 80km/h perhaps? HS2 tends to work in metric units.

Commuter trains on many lines around Tokyo enter platforms at 100km/h-thats through platforms though, only went to one small terminus station but that had a level crossing just before so the train was running slowly anyway.

 

[DarloRich]

this thread is manna from heaven for pedants

 

[Abpj17]

(non-rail-related but another one that gets up my nose is "St Paul's Cathedral")

Umm, why and how?

 

[backontrack]

this thread is manna from heaven for pedants

Just as well no-one's called it 'Darlington 1883' yet

Why is it Braintree Freeport, anyway?

 

[DarloRich]

Just as well no-one's called it 'Darlington 1883' yet

Correct that would be ridiculous as the current station dates from 1887 with the original on the site dating from 1841

Why is it Braintree Freeport, anyway?

because it serves an adjacent shopping area of the same name......................

 

[DavidGrain]

OK not a station but what about Junction Road Junction? The junction is named after a road which was named after......?

 

[backontrack]

Correct that would be ridiculous as the current station dates from 1887 with the original on the site dating from 1841

It was a reference to pedantry surrounding the name of the football team

Here's a little historical piece of info.

The Sheppey Light Railway ran from Queenborough to Leysdown-on-Sea, with stations at Sheerness East, East Minster, Minster-on-Sea, Brambledown Halt, Eastchurch, Harty Road Halt and Leysdown.

The problem was that East Minster was actually to the west of Minster. It was called 'East Minster' so that passengers wouldn't confuse it with the City of Westminster. Possibly the most ridiculously-named station ever built in the UK.

(There's no explanation as to why they couldn't just call it Minster West.)

 

[DarloRich]

It was a reference to pedantry surrounding the name of the football team

The word you seek is inaccuracy. One club. One name. One History.

 

[backontrack]

OK not a station but what about Junction Road Junction? The junction is named after a road which was named after......?

Perhaps it comes from Road Junctions? Kirkwall has a Junction Road and there's never been a sniff of a railway there.

 

[507021]

I think Conway Park is a poor choice of name for that station, Europa Boulevard would have been far more suitable in my opinion.

 

[Ianno87]

Perhaps it comes from Road Junctions? Kirkwall has a Junction Road and there's never been a sniff of a railway there.

I *think* a new road was built leading up to a new junction, so was called Junction Road.

Then the railway placed a railway junction by this road, and named it "Junction Road Junction".

 

[DavidGrain]

this thread is manna from heaven for pedants

Why not? Pedants are people too. I know, I am one of them

 

[thenorthern]

New Pudsey I think should be renamed Pudsey as there is no longer a need for the New part.

 

[xotGD]

New Pudsey I think should be renamed Pudsey as there is no longer a need for the New part.

Why do we have so many stations named after bears?

What next? Yogi Parkway?

 

[181]

Surely the stations in London have always been shown in the timetable as London Paddington, London Euston, etc. And tickets have always said the same.

In the facsimile reprint of the July 1938 'Bradshaw', Paddington and the Southern termini appear (based on a quick flick through) to be listed without 'London' (apart from London Bridge, of course), and the LMS and LNER ones as 'London (Euston)' and so on, although there may be exceptions. The April 1910 one has more variety; the LSWR's own summer 1914 timetable has 'London (Waterloo)' even though the company only had one London terminus.

I don't know what was done in the early BR era, but I think they were all 'London xxx' by the time I started looking at timetables in the early 1980s.

I have the impression that when I was younger station announcements to the south-west of London usually used to refer to 'Waterloo' and that it's now usually 'London Waterloo', but I've never thought about it much, so I could be wrong about either or both parts of that.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

New Pudsey I think should be renamed Pudsey as there is no longer a need for the New part.

As has been pointed out in this thread at least twice, it's also not in Pudsey! Any other stations with two-word names where neither word is accurate?

 

[Dr_Paul]

I remember a few years back, I travelled from Reading to London Waterloo on the SouthWest Trains service, and one of the stations we called at was Martin's Heron. I wouldn't say it was a ridiculously named station, more of an intriguingly named station

I mentioned this station in an earlier post, it does sound a bit odd. Martin's Heron was a big house near the railway (see this map) and is now a district of Bracknell. The nearest old settlement is Bullbrook.

One in North London I would nominate is Turkey Street, simply as it does sound a bit silly! The road is named after the Turkey Creek which runs next to it, whose name has nothing to do with the bird we enjoy on Christmas Day

Turkey Street has long been one of my favourite station names on account of its delightful daftness. It's a shame that the nearby station Enfield Lock wasn't called Freezy Water, the name of a local village, that too would have been a delightfully daft name.

Surely the stations in London have always been shown in the timetable as London Paddington, London Euston, etc. And tickets have always said the same.

I can remember when the only London stations to have a 'London' in timetables and announcements were those where it was part of the name: London Bridge and London Fields come to mind. If we were going up to London when I was kid in the 1960s, we'd buy tickets to Waterloo. I don't when the 'London' prefix came in. Even today, long after BR and the ensuing the rail companies insisted on calling it 'London Waterloo', it's always referred to as just Waterloo by everyone I know; likewise with the other London termini, it's Euston, Paddington, St Pancras, not 'London Euston', etc.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

How about Canterbury Westgate?

Wouldn't that cause confusion with Westgate on Sea being not a huge distance away...?