Trivia: Easily confused station names

[1955LR]

Hertford and Hereford , although I note Hertford East is the station.

 

[snowball]

Littlehampton and Littlehaven

(surprising not mentioned before as there's a current thread about Littlehaven)

 

[Scott W]

Davenport and Devonport...

 

[D6130]

Hopton Heath and Holton Heath.

 

[alistairlees]

Olton and Alton.

 

[D6130]

Alton and Allerton.

 

[swt_passenger]

Unsure if both of these locations ever had a railway station or not, but how about Newbiggin (County Durham), and Newbiggin (Northumberland)?

If I have interpreted railway geography right, both of those would have eventually became part of the North Eastern Railway.

Perhaps somebody who knows that region better than I do could comment further?

I don’t see that Newbiggin in Teasdale had a station, (looking at old maps anyway), and the place on the Blyth and Tyne was shown on OS maps as Newbiggin by the Sea (even if the station wasn’t). But there was a Newbiggin or New Biggin station in Cumberland back then.

 

[ServerHoster]

Hertford and Hereford , although I note Hertford East is the station.

And Hartford with an A

 

[Ianno87]

Moor Road and Barlow Moor Road on the Metrolink Airport line.

 

[prod_pep]

Seaford and Sleaford.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Bosham and Cosham.

Hale and Hayle.

 

[Parham Wood]

Oxford and Oxford Circus. Once was on a train from Paddington to Oxford when guard checked tickets of Americans (who else) who were going to Oxford Circus from Paddington. It was the days of open platforms at Paddington.

 

[4-SUB 4732]

Many of these are a stretch.

Swinton is so effective at confusing people that a driver of a ballast drop once took the road (don’t ask how) all the way to the wrong one.

Ashford International sometimes get folks who need to be near Feltham.

Gillingham is luckily less common due to the fact that the NRE and such offer up Dorset and Kent as options. If you think Kent is next to Salisbury; or Dorset is near London then there’s no hope!

London Road a definite contender, and not regions apart.

Sometimes it’s the simple ones that do it...

 

[52290]

Layton and Leyton
Leyland and Lelant

 

[D6130]

Brigg and Drigg.

 

[Flange Squeal]

Are there any locations such as Bedford, Luton / Airport, or even St. Pancras, where there's a risk of someone wanting to go to Loughborough buying a ticket or boarding a train heading for Loughborough Junction?

Possibly at Norwich or Ely, a quick glance at the departure boards showing London Liverpool Street and Liverpool Lime Street?

 

[hermit]

I once asked at Waterloo for a ticket to Sandown and was offered one to Esher ( for Sandown Park racecourse).

 

[trebor79]

Attleborough and Attenborough.
I once tried to buy Attleborough to Spalding tickets at Birmingham International (they were for later in the week and I had 20 minutes to spare), but none of the options the clerk offered had the prices I was used to, so I left it. Realised later he had been offering Attenborough to Spalding tickets!

 

[D6130]

Hebden Bridge and Haydon Bridge....or Haydon Bridge and Haydon's Road.

 

[Dr_Paul]

I've read somewhere that Aldersgate was renamed Barbican because people confused it with Aldgate.

Not quite fitting the topic of this thread, but perhaps of interest, a pal who was walking near Charing Cross station was asked by a man where Charing Cross Hospital was, and the latter was more confused when my pal told him he'd have to catch an Underground train to Hammersmith, the nearest station to it. Just to add to the fun, the nearest station to Hammersmith Hospital is East Acton, which has no direct route to Hammersmith.

 

[sk688]

I've read somewhere that Aldersgate was renamed Barbican because people confused it with Aldgate.

Not quite fitting the topic of this thread, but perhaps of interest, a pal who was walking near Charing Cross station was asked by a man where Charing Cross Hospital was, and the latter was more confused when my pal told him he'd have to catch an Underground train to Hammersmith, the nearest station to it. Just to add to the fun, the nearest station to Hammersmith Hospital is East Acton, which has no direct route to Hammersmith.

could have taken the 72 directly there , no ?

 

[AlbertBeale]

I've read somewhere that Aldersgate was renamed Barbican because people confused it with Aldgate.

Not quite fitting the topic of this thread, but perhaps of interest, a pal who was walking near Charing Cross station was asked by a man where Charing Cross Hospital was, and the latter was more confused when my pal told him he'd have to catch an Underground train to Hammersmith, the nearest station to it. Just to add to the fun, the nearest station to Hammersmith Hospital is East Acton, which has no direct route to Hammersmith.

Yes - they were confused by non-locals for very many years. But I'd always understood that the change of name to Barbican was because of the major development there (homes, arts centre, etc), which "put the area on the map"; the ending of the confusion (along with the - sad to some - ending of the historical resonance of the name) was a by-product.

 

[WestRiding]

Glasgow and Plymouth. Gets me every time.

 

[Falcon1200]

See also Queens Park and Queens Park (One in London, the other in Glasgow)

Indeed, and when diversions are in force around Glasgow it is quite possible for Euston/Glasgow services to pass both Queens Parks ! Hopefully however no-one has ever confused the nearby (to the Scottish Queens Park) Mount Florida with the US state......

Barnhill and Barrhill (both in the SPT area - the former was one of my local stations in Springburn, the latter is in Ayrshire past Girvan on the way to Stranraer).

Another Barnhill in Scotland near Perth, although as this is just a signalbox rather than a station the confusion possibility is restricted to railway staff.

As a booking clerk at Reading many years ago a passenger asked how to get to Tavistock, the answer being train to Plymouth and bus forward. He was rather surprised by the train fare, then we found he actually wanted Tavistock Place in London.

 

[Neo9320]

Glasgow and Plymouth. Gets me every time.

This caused more laughter than it should have done

 

[Kingston Dan]

When my dad did his national service in the very early 60s in the RAF he was stationed in various places in East Anglia - Mildenhall etc. A colleague went to a nearby railway station to go to Ely (think he was going to RAF Mepal or other nearby base) and was offered a ticket to Elie on the then Fife coast line.

 

[52290]

Once when I was in Germany I bought a ticket from Bamberg to Amberg. I was relieved when I checked my ticket to see that it wasn't to Hamburg.

 

[Scouseinmanc]

Ely & Ely Mainline

 

[norbitonflyer]

Stratford and Stratford International, as demonstrated by the current issue of RAIL (page 9) which has an article headlined ""£2m to ease Stratford International congestion" and repeats the "I" word three times in the article, which informs us that the station is "the busiest in London outside the main termini" and is an "interchange between the Central and Jubilee Lines, the Overground, the DLR, Greater Anglia main line services and TfL Rail"

The same issue of RAIL, (page 24) has "A peek at new [Nexus] Metro trains". The photograph to which that is the caption is doubtless of Stadler's factory at St Margrethen where the Nexus trains are to be built, but the only trains visible are two FLIRTs, (one in Greater Anglia colours and another in a livery I don't recognise, complete with diesel powerpack and built to continental loading gauge so evidently not intended for Tyneside!), and what looks like a Swiss RABe 501"Giruno" (which Stadler market under the "SMILE" acronym - Schneller Mehrsystemfähiger Innovativer Leichter Expresszug (“Speedy Multi-system Innovative Lightweight Express")

We also see a photo of "Euston" Underground station with a train of "S" stock in the platform, which would be a tight squeeze to say the least!.

 

[urbophile]

Euston and Euston Square. Edgware Road, Edgware Road, and Edgware. When we lived by the Wimbledon branch of the District Line, a visiting friend was confused by the instruction, go from Euston Square and change at Edgware Road. Instead she went from Euston and attempted to change at Edgware. (This was before mobile phones!)