Stations not known by their "official" names?

[ejstubbs]

Somewhat off the exact topic of this thread but... My sister in law used to live near Penge East station, and used to refer to it jokingly as "Ponge Est", pronouncing Penge as a French person might say it. The first time me & Mrs Stubbs went to visit her there, Mrs S asked the lady in the ticket office for "Two to Ponge Est, please", leading to much confusion until I realised what she'd done and was able to intervene and clarify the request. She had actually believed that that was what the station was called! My, how we laughed.

 

[Haywain]

And for one more, is it Cark and Cartmel, Cark in Cartmel or just Cark? Nobody seems to know...

The station is Cark and Cartmel, the village is Cark, or Cark in Cartmel but Cartmel is a separate village better known for its racecourse.

 

[The exile]

Deutsche Bahn does exactly that on stations that have long distance trains rather than just S-Bahn.

In the VRR area they all do (presumably to make it clear what tariff zone a station is in). The one exception was (is?) Wattenscheid, which has resolutely resisted all attempts to rechristen it Bochum-Wattenscheid.
Think RMV does the same…

 

[6Gman]

I sometimes have people asking for tickets to "Llanfair" when on a train which stops at both Llanfairpwll and Llanfairfechan. Which one do you want?

I suspect local Welsh speakers would be unlikely to ask for Blaenau Ffestiniog, but for either Blaenau or 'Stiniog.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

The station is Cark and Cartmel...

Indeed, although the station name boards just say 'Cark'.

 

[midland1]

In the 70's I once heard a gent in Wigston Leic. ask for a bus ticket to the LMS station, meaning Leicester

 

[Krokodil]

I suspect local Welsh speakers would be unlikely to ask for Blaenau Ffestiniog, but for either Blaenau or 'Stiniog.

Always "Blaenau"

 

[Bletchleyite]

Indeed, although the station name boards just say 'Cark'.

And on board announcements have said all three. Forget what it is now.

 

[londiscape]

The same situation as Pembrey & Burry Port but in a different area.

Conversely Haddenham and Thame Parkway just gets called "Haddenham station" by some locals, and is actually in Haddenham (or a darn sight closer to it than it is to Thame in any case).

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On a visit to Canterbury I heard almost all locals refer to their two stations as "West station" and "East station".

Not sure why they got called Canterbury West and East in the first place as they seem to be more on a north/south axis on the map.

 

[urbophile]

To be fair "X Junction" normally means "the junction where you change for X" - in most cases it's not in the actual place or is only on the edge of it.

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Except that as far as I know you couldn't (until very recently) get a train to Clapham from Clapham Junction. It is a bit of a quibble though because it's not really that far from Clapham Common to the Junction, and the gentrification of the whole area means that there isn't the same contrast between 'up the Junction' and what was much posher Clapham. Not that all of Clapham is or ever was posh.

 

[tfw756rider]

Conversely Haddenham and Thame Parkway just gets called "Haddenham station" by some locals, and is actually in Haddenham (or a darn sight closer to it than it is to Thame in any case).

Yeah. The thing with Pembrey and Burry Port is, although it's in Burry Port, the community (and council) of the area including the town of Burry Port and the village of Pembrey is actually called 'Pembrey and Burry Port".

I'm guessing (without checking) that it may be a similar reason in the case of Tutbury and Hatton, in Hatton.

 

[A S Leib]

On a visit to Canterbury I heard almost all locals refer to their two stations as "West station" and "East station".

Not sure why they got called Canterbury West and East in the first place as they seem to be more on a north/south axis on the map

Some stations ended up with Central as a suffix, regardless of distance from the town or city centre, due to having been built by the Great Central Railway. So, of course, the station built by the South Eastern Railway is Canterbury West, whilst Canterbury East's first operator eschewed cardinal directions in its name.

 

[Killingworth]

Except that as far as I know you couldn't (until very recently) get a train to Clapham from Clapham Junction. It is a bit of a quibble though because it's not really that far from Clapham Common to the Junction, and the gentrification of the whole area means that there isn't the same contrast between 'up the Junction' and what was much posher Clapham. Not that all of Clapham is or ever was posh.

Clapham from Clapham Junction, about 4 hours 40 minutes, 3 changes, £86.30. Quite a contrasting Britain that trip would make. I can recommend a nice b&b we stayed at a few years ago. A good spot for fresh air and walks.

 

[Rail Ranger]

Yeah. The thing with Pembrey and Burry Port is, although it's in Burry Port, the community (and council) of the area including the town of Burry Port and the village of Pembrey is actually called 'Pembrey and Burry Port".

I'm guessing (without checking) that it may be a similar reason in the case of Tutbury and Hatton, in Hatton.

Tutbury and Hatton are in different counties. Tutbury is in Staffordshire and Hatton is in Derbyshire.

 

[duffield]

Always "Blaenau"

Makes me think of a Cockney visitor arriving, seeing the local "moonscape" and then exclaiming "Cor Blaenau!".

 

[Barnsley]

Hatfield and Stainforth is another one, swapped round in the 1990s, locals and staff still call it Stainforth, its on train crew diagrams as Stainforth, and the station is in Stainforth!

 

[urbophile]

Clapham from Clapham Junction, about 4 hours 40 minutes, 3 changes, £86.30. Quite a contrasting Britain that trip would make. I can recommend a nice b&b we stayed at a few years ago. A good spot for fresh air and walks.

I forgot about that Clapham! However, the station now known as Clapham High Street is now served by London Overground in two stops from Junction. Before it was renamed, it was just Clapham and you'd have had to travel into Victoria and back. Or you could hop on a bus and be there in about ten minutes.

 

[sheff1]

Last time I was there the station officially called Barrow-in-Furness had platform name boards showing just Barrow. The full name seems to be used on departure screens elsewhere and in automated announcements.

 

[Haywain]

Last time I was there the station officially called Barrow-in-Furness had platform name boards showing just Barrow. The full name seems to be used on departure screens elsewhere and in automated announcements.

Once you've arrived there is less need to distinguish it from Barrow Haven and Barrow upon Soar.

 

[MadMac]

Friend who lives in Paisley always refers to Paisley Canal as 'Canal Street station'.

Railway staff, but probably not the public, sometimes shorten longer names, eg Bishopbriggs became 'the Briggs' and Cambuslang 'the Lang'.

The Paisley Canal/Kilmacolm line was always somewhat bizarre in terms of naming: Corkerhill, Mosspark and Crookston are arguably not in any of the places they’re named for, Mosspark was known as Mosspark (West) right up until closure despite there never having been any other Mosspark station, and Houston & Crosslee was actually in Brookfield!

 

[Jrocks]

Suppirsed Exeter hasn't popped up!

With Exeter - 'St Davids', 'St Thomas' and 'Central' are all very commonly used. A lot of people use these aswell, not just locals which is surprising at times. Locals also shorten Polsloe Bridge to 'Polsloe', Digby and Sowton to 'Digby' and we often get Lympstone Commando shortened to just 'Commando'.

A fair few in the Exeter area if you think of it!

 

[Falcon1200]

The Paisley Canal/Kilmacolm line was always somewhat bizarre in terms of naming: Corkerhill

Indeed, and things were made even more confusing with Cardonald College being not near Cardonald station but Corkerhill!

 

[Henffordd]

How about Llandod? Local name (and used elsewhere on this site in HoWL threads) for Llandrindod, station for town called Llandrindod Wells.

 

[pitdiver]

It was also known as Mansfield Town in 1952, to distinguish itself from the GCR's former Mansfield Central and Mansfield Woodhouse stations. It may have been a nod to the fact that it's in the town, rather than nowhere near as mentioned in the former station name Alfreton & Mansfield Parkway. It also is probably used to distinguish itself from nearby Mansfield Woodhouse, which is a separate place with its own station

To us locals Mansfield Woodhouse is pronounced Woodus without the Mansfield prefix

 

[dcbwhaley]

Some years ago there was a Conductor at Manchester Piccadilly who, as his train headed towards Buxton, had abbreviated names for all of the calls between Disley and Buxton as follows: 'Newtown', 'Furness', 'Whaley', 'Chapel', 'Dove' and Buxton - for those not familiar with the route these being New Mills Newtown, Furness Vale, Whaley Bridge, Chapel en le Frith, Dove Holes.

Those are generally the names that the locals, me included, use.

 

[Pyewipecarshed]

Liverpool South Parkway is described as such on trains and platforms; locals (and bus destination blinds) will call it South Parkway or just Parkway.

I've also heard staff and passengers refer to it as either Allerton or Garston, which were the two stations joined together to create it.

More oddly, the bus station used to be called Leeds Central, then Leeds City, now mostly just Leeds. It's about Ikm away from Leeds City/Central rail stations, on the other side of the city centre...

It was to differentiate it from the other bus stations at Wellington Street and Vicar Lane, which closed late-80s and 1990 respectively. The rebuilt Central bus station was renamed City when it opened, but the suffix has largely fallen into disuse.

Hatfield and Stainforth is another one, swapped round in the 1990s, locals and staff still call it Stainforth, its on train crew diagrams as Stainforth, and the station is in Stainforth!

Or "Stainy" in the case of some of the locals!!

 

[pitdiver]

There was a habit on the Underground to short station names or give them an alternative name, Oxford Circus was OXO, Tottenham Court Rd was known as TCR. I'm sure there were/are others but none come too mind at the moment. bluegoblin7 could probably come up with some more. Of course mustn't forget Ricky for Rickmansworth.

 

[DelW]

How about Llandod? Local name (and used elsewhere on this site in HoWL threads) for Llandrindod, station for town called Llandrindod Wells.

Used by (at least some) HoW conductors when making on-train announcements as well.
Many of the passengers are locals, and even those that aren't should be able to deduce its meaning from the context without difficulty.

 

[Leight]

Well that's an enthusiastic response...

To be honest, I was looking more for cases where even official Network Rail/operator signage doesn't reflect the "official" name like at Waverley; though of course the way old names from defunct operators still hold on in the present day is really interesting!

There was a habit on the Underground to short station names or give them an alternative name, Oxford Circus was OXO, Tottenham Court Rd was known as TCR. I'm sure there were/are others but none come too mind at the moment. bluegoblin7 could probably come up with some more. Of course mustn't forget Ricky for Rickmansworth.

That's just to save space isn't it? Pretty sure all Northern line displays say "Charing X", and National Rail displays tend to say "Clapham" for the junction.

 

[Purple Train]

Not quite in the spirit of the thread, but both Windsor & Eton Central and Windsor & Eton Riverside are, for understandable reasons, never referred to by their full names by locals. It's always "Central" or "Riverside" in Windsor itself (not sure about Eton as I don't move in those circles); those in Slough or environs often refer to plain "Windsor", or "Windsor Central" if a distinction is required. Quite a few people I know (i.e. it's not just me!) also use "TCR" instead of Tottenham Court Road.