Stations not known by their "official" names?

[plugwash]

Except that as far as I know you couldn't (until very recently) get a train to Clapham from Clapham Junction.

It seems that services from Clapham Junction to Clapham high street started in 2012, 12½ years ago.

 

[urbophile]

It seems that services from Clapham Junction to Clapham high street started in 2012, 12½ years ago.

That's very recently to an oldie like me.

 

[SargeNpton]

Wonder how many people still refer to Coulsdon Town as Smitham?

 

[D6130]

Wonder how many people still refer to Coulsdon Town as Smitham?

.....or Southampton Central as Bletchynden?

That's going back a lot further though....well before my time even!

 

[37069]

Whitehaven... the station and tunnel both known locally as just "Bransty".

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Whitehaven... the station and tunnel both known locally as just "Bransty".

Was officially 'Whitehaven Bransty' until May 1968. On older OS maps, it's just 'Bransty station'. As well as Corkickle station, there had been another (goods) station in the town, at Preston Street.

 

[styles]

I know in north east Flintshire, Shotton station is sometimes referred to merely by, "high level", or "low level".

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 1 Aug 2025 ==

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?

Also on this line, it's somewhat commonplace to ask for a ticket to "The Junction".

Similar with trains to Kyle of Lochalsh, "The Kyle."

 

[37069]

Was officially 'Whitehaven Bransty' until May 1968. On older OS maps, it's just 'Bransty station'. As well as Corkickle station, there had been another (goods) station in the town, at Preston Street.

The biggest mystery is, why persist with the name "Corkickle", given that it only relates to a single row of houses?

Despite what the internet will tell you, it's not the name of a suburb of the town in use with anyone locally. The Edwardian estate to the west side of the line is "The Gardens" and to the east stretching south towards Mirehouse is "The Valley".

 

[yorksrob]

The biggest mystery is, why persist with the name "Corkickle", given that it only relates to a single row of houses?

Despite what the internet will tell you, it's not the name of a suburb of the town in use with anyone locally. The Edwardian estate to the west side of the line is "The Gardens" and to the east stretching south towards Mirehouse is "The Valley".

It's more memorable and distinctive than the other two.

 

[37069]

It's more memorable and distinctive than the other two.

The estates in question came after the station anyway. My rhetorical question was more the insistence that the area is named after the station, when it isn't.

Given the influence of the Lowthers (under whose land the railway tunnels), it's more of a surprise that Corkickle wasn't named Whitehaven Castle station, after their nearby residence.

 

[Krokodil]

Also on this line, it's somewhat commonplace to ask for a ticket to "The Junction".

Which is fine because there's only one such station within 60 miles. Rather than two stations which are pretty close together

 

[yorksrob]

The estates in question came after the station anyway. My rhetorical question was more the insistence that the area is named after the station, when it isn't.

Given the influence of the Lowthers (under whose land the railway tunnels), it's more of a surprise that Corkickle wasn't named Whitehaven Castle station, after their nearby residence.

Or Lowther station (in the vein of Verney junction).

 

[Cheshire Scot]

Similar with trains to Kyle of Lochalsh, "The Kyle."

Or, if they are local, just Kyle.

 

[Acfb]

I assume the vast majority of people call Berwick-Upon-Tweed station 'Berwick' . Since it is nowhere near Berwick in Sussex, there is no room for confusion.

 

[zwk500]

I assume the vast majority of people call Berwick-Upon-Tweed station 'Berwick' . Since it is nowhere near Berwick in Sussex, there is no room for confusion.

It may not confuse many passengers, but people entering things in computer systems have almost certainly been caught out by just 'Berwick' defaulting to a station rather further south than they were expecting...

 

[Mcr Warrior]

It may not confuse many passengers, but people entering things in computer systems have almost certainly been caught out by just 'Berwick' defaulting to a station rather further south than they were expecting...

Doesn't it then show Berwick (Sussex)?

 

[zwk500]

Doesn't it then show Berwick (Sussex)?

Probably, but I've definitely seen reports about things in Northumberland showing on a pin in Sussex

 

[NorthOxonian]

I assume the vast majority of people call Berwick-Upon-Tweed station 'Berwick' . Since it is nowhere near Berwick in Sussex, there is no room for confusion.

Locally there is perhaps more scope for confusion with North Berwick, though the former is nearly always said in full (both in a railway context and more generally) so I'm not aware of any issues there.

 

[oldman]

Going back to Edinburgh, apart from historical sentimentality, there is a second city-centre station with long-distance trains - Haymarket - so there has to be a name for Waverley. 'If you're going to Holyrood, you should go through to Edinburgh' would sound strange - you go through to Waverley, whereas for Murrayfield you get off at Haymarket.

It's odd that if someone wants to go from Lancashire to Fife, the top-level advice may be to go via Edinburgh, but the itinerary tells you to change at Haymarket, wherever that is.

 

[kevjs]

To be honest it would be quite strange for people from and in Birmingham to call it Birmingham New Street and not just New Street.

In fact in most towns and cities most people probably don't call the station anything. If I was asked by somebody in the centre of Preston the way to Preston station I would think they were a bit strange. Nearly everybody would just ask for directions to the station or the railway / train station.

How the public refer to a station will depend entirely on context and the same person will probably refer to it differently depending on circumstances. If someone from Lancaster is travelling to Manchester Piccadilly they would almost certain ask platform staff at Lancaster if this is the train to Manchester or Manchester Piccadilly but once in Manchester and wanting to go home they would probably ask for directions to Piccadilly station.

Growing up in Preston I regularly heard, and used, "Train Station" for Preston station, and Piccadilly for Manchester Piccadilly. As we had a large (80 bay, 2nd largest in Western Europe) bus station the the word Station could be a tad ambiguous. Victoria was always Manchester Victoria or Victoria Train Station too (guessing we have/had regular coach services to London Victoria too?

Preston naturally being rather ambiguous in the town (as was) - e.g. when travelling by bus do you mean the Train Station, Market, or Bus Station?

 

[TAS]

Well up to a point Lord Copper. The road to the main station is named on 19th Century maps, as it is today, as 'North Station Road '

The first reference I can find to the station as "North Station" in newspaper archives is from the Essex Standard in September 1863 (which is before St Botolph's opened), probably not coincidentally a few months after the Hythe opened for passengers, suggesting that this was what caused the need for a distinction to be made.

Additionally, the first use I could find of the name "North Station Road" for the road leading to the station from the city centre is from 1878 (as the section closer to the station was being developed?) and the council formally resolved to rename the whole length of road as that in November 1892, replacing "North Street" which was the historic name.

 

[Millsy_2102]

There has been a similar case where this has happened here in Hastings. St Leonards Warrior Square is the real name, but to the locals, it is known simply as "Warrior Square" or sometimes "SLQ" as it's known among the rail staff.

 

[ThisIsSurbiton]

Ashford International will always be Ashford Kent to me.

Yes, and most of the "internationals", except Birmingham, seem pointless. Southeastern messes about with St Pancras (sometimes no "London") but keeps the International. And newer announcements have finally dropped the Main from Farnborough.

 

[Siemens Trains]

Going back to Edinburgh, apart from historical sentimentality, there is a second city-centre station with long-distance trains - Haymarket - so there has to be a name for Waverley. 'If you're going to Holyrood, you should go through to Edinburgh' would sound strange - you go through to Waverley, whereas for Murrayfield you get off at Haymarket.

It's odd that if someone wants to go from Lancashire to Fife, the top-level advice may be to go via Edinburgh, but the itinerary tells you to change at Haymarket, wherever that is.

I suppose so, but maybe that would be a case for using the name Edinburgh Haymarket to distinguish it from Waverley. And then ensuring that everyone always used the full length Edinburgh Waverley to avoid confusion. Not impossible, as Manchester went this way with Oxford Road. But probably not worth the effort as Haymarket is so much smaller than Waverley and doesn't really qualify as proper Edinburgh. Despite building platform 0, nothing really terminates at Haymarket.

Closing Princes St station (or Caley or whatever people called it) was a good opportunity to define a single Edinburgh station.

The furore when BR officially dropped “Waverley” was immense and the signage is basically bowing to public opinion. Now that there’s a “Park” and a “Gateway” as well, using the suffix is very sensible.

Recent introduction of the names Edinburgh Park and Edinburgh Gateway has always looked rather ill-advised to me.
It's just inviting trouble for a proportion of passengers who aren't familiar with local geography or don't have perfect speech/hearing. Given the existing confusion over Edinburgh, Waverley and Haymarket, deliberately introducing two more 'Edinburgh' options (especially one ending in ...y) seems crazy.

To be honest, at the local ticket office I'll request a return to Edinburgh, Waverley or Haymarket at random. Then get off or come back at whatever station turns out to be most convenient, with tickets always accepted regardless by the automatic barriers. Although I know this may not apply for long-distance journeys.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

It's odd that if someone wants to go from Lancashire to Fife, the top-level advice may be to go via Edinburgh, but the itinerary tells you to change at Haymarket, wherever that is.

Haymarket is a busy secondary station in the city, located a mile and a quarter or so to the West of Edinburgh Waverley. For most journeys from Lancashire to Fife, your train from England will first call at Haymarket before terminating at Edinburgh Waverley. You'll then need to change for another train, onward for Fife, which after departing Edinburgh Waverley, goes back the way you've just come, usually calling next stop at Haymarket before continuing on to Fife. Changing trains at Haymarket likely requires just a very short walk across the same island platform & can usually shave ten or more minutes off overall Lancashire->Fife journey times.

 

[apinnard]

Some locals still refer to Colchester Town as St Botolph’s.

 

[geoffk]

I don't think Dorking has been mentioned, as it has three stations all of which changed their names some years ago. I don't recall ever going there, apart from passing through on the North Downs line.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Some locals still refer to Colchester Town as St Botolph’s.

Station name change was back in 1991, so, compared with other changes, not so long ago. And should it now be 'Colchester City'?

 

[Cletus]

In Dover people quite often say The Priory for the station name.

As in “what time does the train leave The Priory?”, etc

 

[rmHawk765]

Letchworth Garden City is often referred to as simply Letchworth in station announcements.