Station names on the UK rail network that you would change

[Bletchleyite]

And there's a persistent worry on this forum (even on this thread) about people coming from Blackburn and so on whose train terminates at Headbolt Lane: presumably they could also continue their journey and arrive in Liverpool at Central. If they can't cope with 'Headbolt Lane' are we really being responsible suggesting changing the name of Liverpool Central - how could they possibly cope?

Liverpool Central is of course prefixed. The problem with Headbolt Lane is mostly that it isn't called Kirkby Headbolt Lane. Ironically for the first few months it *was* shown as that on the 777s but not on the displays at Manchester Victoria where that might be useful!

 

[bramling]

Liverpool Central is of course prefixed. The problem with Headbolt Lane is mostly that it isn't called Kirkby Headbolt Lane. Ironically for the first few months it *was* shown as that on the 777s but not on the displays at Manchester Victoria where that might be useful!

I don’t see the issue with Headbolt Lane. It’s only ever going to be a station used by locals, so everyone who needs to know will know. The only reason it’s a bit jarring is because it’s a terminus, and if hopefully at some point the service gets extended eastwards then that won’t be an issue anyway.

 

[Djgr]

And there's a persistent worry on this forum (even on this thread) about people coming from Blackburn and so on whose train terminates at Headbolt Lane: presumably they could also continue their journey and arrive in Liverpool at Central. If they can't cope with 'Headbolt Lane' are we really being responsible suggesting changing the name of Liverpool Central - how could they possibly cope?

Headbolt Lane is a shocker of a name.

99% of people have never heard of it, and that's in Kirkby!

What a waste of an opportunity to highlight investment and regeneration in a thoroughly left behind town.

Given that it has been in preparation for fifty years, it is inconceivable that something else could not have thought up. Simply Kirkby Headbolt Lane would have been better.

Maghull North was not named after some random road. Presumably it would have been called Goldcrest Road? And nor did it lead to Maghull station needing to be renamed.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I don’t see the issue with Headbolt Lane. It’s only ever going to be a station used by locals, so everyone who needs to know will know.

Except people at Manchester Victoria used to taking the Kirkby train. Stations named after roads make sense within metro systems, but not as termini of medium distance (admittedly stopping) services.

That's not a bit jarring, it's sloppy and confusing.

 

[Mr. SW]

Lime St would definitely be the Hbf.

Kalkstraße

 

[Ashley Hill]

I don't think the names in Exeter really cause much confusion, do they? Even if you alight at the wrong Saint then you're still in the right city, and long distance IC services only really call at St Davids so those less likely to be familiar with it aren't going to be able to arrive at the wrong station.

St David’s station is actually in what was known as Red Cow Village, hence Red Cow crossing. St David’s as I understand it is the area at the top of St David’s Hill.
Exeter Central makes perfect sense being the city centre, and far better than its previous Queen Street name.

 

[Mr. SW]

Battersea Power Station Station. Ugh! I've been thinking that it could have been call Gilbert Scott to create a new area/zone a bit like Queensbury in north London or Rayner's Lane, perhaps.

 

[Palmerston]

Kalkstraße

Lindenstraße?

 

[Gloster]

Lindenstraße?

No. Kalkstrasse would be correct as the name Lime Street derives from lime kilns. Although you might call it Der dritte Mann Strasse if you were being obtuse.

 

[Palmerston]

No. Kalkstrasse would be correct as the name Lime Street derives from lime kilns. Although you might call it Der dritte Mann Strasse if you were being obtuse.

Fair enough!

 

[stuu]

Battersea Power Station Station. Ugh! I've been thinking that it could have been call Gilbert Scott to create a new area/zone a bit like Queensbury in north London or Rayner's Lane, perhaps.

No. Battersea Power Station is named after an object, like Bank or London Bridge. Even if it is a tautology, everyone knows where it is and what is there. It’s the names which don’t help people which should be changed

 

[Bletchleyite]

No. Kalkstrasse would be correct as the name Lime Street derives from lime kilns. Although you might call it Der dritte Mann Strasse if you were being obtuse.

Sorry, I don't quite get that?

 

[William3000]

While it probably doesn't merit changing again, if anything it should've been renamed Sawston Parkway, given that (along with adjacent Pampisford) it's a much larger settlement roughly the same distance from the station as Whittlesford itself. It's also the closest station to Duxford IWM which is next to the motorway - I wonder if this deserves a mention on the station nameboards à la 'Audley End for Saffron Walden'.

My understanding is that the station was originally called Whittlesford - presumably because it was in that parish - there is a river
separating the station from Sawston. About 18 years ago when the station changed its name it increased in importance. Previously only slow trains stopped there but when it became a Parkway station, semi-fast and fast trains started to stop there and now all but the long distance cross country services stop there

 

[bramling]

Except people at Manchester Victoria used to taking the Kirkby train. Stations named after roads make sense within metro systems, but not as termini of medium distance (admittedly stopping) services.

That's not a bit jarring, it's sloppy and confusing.

I really, really, don’t see the issue. Okay so for many years people will have taken the Kirkby train, albeit not many of them given how sparse the Northern service to Kirkby has been for many years. It might have smoothed the transition if they had to adapt from taking the “Kirkby train” to taking the “Kirkby Headbolt Lane train”, albeit that’s a bit of a mouthful, but once people got used to the change I really don’t see where the issue arises.

Headbolt Lane is just a housing estate, it’s in no way anywhere near the focal point of Kirkby. Perhaps Kirkby East or North might have been better, but I can’t really see what practical difference it makes with a local station primarily used by local people.

Surely those passengers at Manchester Victoria could get just as confused if the service pattern got changed at a timetable re-write and they now needed to get a Southport train instead of the Kirkby one?

Perhaps this is all a good reason to extend Merseyrail to Wigan or Skelmersdale, then there’s no reason for anyone to be unhappy with the Headbolt Lane name!

 

[zwk500]

I really, really, don’t see the issue. Okay so for many years people will have taken the Kirkby train, albeit not many of them given how sparse the Northern service to Kirkby has been for many years. It might have smoothed the transition if they had to adapt from taking the “Kirkby train” to taking the “Kirkby Headbolt Lane train”, albeit that’s a bit of a mouthful, but once people got used to the change I really don’t see where the issue arises.

Surely if the name was Kirkby Headbolt Lane then locals would have continued referring to 'getting the Kirkby train'?
Its interesting how these odds and ends come about because Burnley Manchester Road has kept its town's name.

Headbolt Lane is just a housing estate, it’s in no way anywhere near the focal point of Kirkby. Perhaps Kirkby East or North might have been better, but I can’t really see what practical difference it makes with a local station primarily used by local people.

Agree

 

[mike57]

One which no one has mentioned is Seamer, which is about 3 miles outside Scarborough. Seamer is about 1.5 miles away from the station and the station is actually in a settlement called Crossgates with open country between the two, the reason Seamer was named as it is, there is another Crossgates just outside Leeds, and potentially trains will call at both stations.

I am not sure what you would call it however, Scarborough, Crossgates maybe.

 

[The exile]

Kalkstraße

Or Unter den Linden!

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It's the busiest, but it's not what Germany would call the Hauptbahnhof; it's an "S-Bahn" station. The Hbf isn't necessarily the busiest one, it's the best connected one,

Even in logical Germany you get oddities. A reallocation of the Hbf moniker in Kassel with the current one becoming Kassel Stadt is obviously a step too far although matching Wilhelmshoehe’s status as the mainline station.

 

[Djgr]

Battersea Power Station Station. Ugh! I've been thinking that it could have been call Gilbert Scott to create a new area/zone a bit like Queensbury in north London or Rayner's Lane, perhaps.

Battersea Power Station Station. So good they named it twice. This was a BoJo project wasn't it? And a Zone 1 scam if I recall.

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I really, really, don’t see the issue.

once people got used to the change I really don’t see where the issue arises.

Headbolt Lane is just a housing estate

Except it's not. That might make sense but the housing estate has a different name.

Let's be clear we could call a new station anything.

We could call it Blobb Junction and people would get used to it in time.

But we really should be able to do better than saying, "Oh let's just name it after a nearby road. It'll do".

 

[bramling]

Battersea Power Station Station. So good they named it twice. This was a BoJo project wasn't it? And a Zone 1 scam if I recall.

Agree it grates.

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Except it's not. That might make sense but the housing estate has a different name.

Let's be clear we could call a new station anything.

We could call it Blobb Junction and people would get used to it in time.

But we really should be able to do better than saying, "Oh let's just name it after a nearby road. It'll do".

Okay I don’t disagree with the above in principle, however (IMO) no one has really proposed a better name. So AIUI the area is locally known as Tower Hill, that’s every bit as vague as Headbolt Lane, in fact it’s probably worse. Kirkby East or Kirkby North is also pretty vague. At least Headbolt Lane is a bit distinctive and doesn’t have any scope for confusion.

I think this is one of those issues that’s notable for people on here, but probably isn’t so much of a problem on the ground.

Headbolt does at least have some pedigree given that it’s been proposed under than name for very many years, wasn’t it even on the old blinds on the 507/508s? So anyone local who’s in tune with developments will have had plenty of time to get ready for using the name. For anyone further afield, it’s just a name like any other.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Okay I don’t disagree with the above in principle, however (IMO) no one has really proposed a better name. So AIUI the area is locally known as Tower Hill, that’s every bit as vague as Headbolt Lane, in fact it’s probably worse. Kirkby East or Kirkby North is also pretty vague. At least Headbolt Lane is a bit distinctive and doesn’t have any scope for confusion.

Kirkby Headbolt Lane. The issue is just that it doesn't have Kirkby in it. It is a similar issue to "University", but that doesn't have a train an hour from miles away terminating there.

Headbolt does at least have some pedigree given that it’s been proposed under than name for very many years, wasn’t it even on the old blinds on the 507/508s? So anyone local who’s in tune with developments will have had plenty of time to get ready for using the name. For anyone further afield, it’s just a name like any other.

It was on the original 1970s Merseyrail proposals under that name. No idea if it was on the blinds but it may well have been, possibly also on the Solari displays which had also stuff like Ormskirk via Ford (the current route was shown as "Ormskirk via Orrell Park"), Wigan Wallgate and the likes.

 

[Mikey C]

Battersea Power Station station might be an amusing name, but it entirely makes sense, as the tube station serving the Battersea Power Station development. That's effectively the name of the area now.

 

[bramling]

Kirkby Headbolt Lane. The issue is just that it doesn't have Kirkby in it. It is a similar issue to "University", but that doesn't have a train an hour from miles away terminating there.

University is a different issue as there’s numerous universities round the country. Headbolt Lane is fully distinctive.

I still really don’t comprehend this thing about people from the east finding it a problem. Regular passengers will adapt in no time, most irregular passengers use an app so it makes no difference what the destination is, as long as it’s distinctive. Kirkby Headbolt Lane just makes it a mouthful for locals using it, which will be the vast majority of users.

Thinking aloud, are there other cases of a terminus station that’s named after a road and doesn’t have a prefix before it? This used to be the case for most London termini. Fenchurch Street is often heard on its own. Any others?

It was on the original 1970s Merseyrail proposals under that name. No idea if it was on the blinds but it may well have been, possibly also on the Solari displays which had also stuff like Ormskirk via Ford (the current route was shown as "Ormskirk via Orrell Park"), Wigan Wallgate and the likes.

That’s what I thought. The name goes back a *long* way. I’m not saying it’s ideal, just that I don’t think it’s the big thing that some people seem to be making of it. And in time hopefully and problem will go away if and when it becomes a through station.

 

[bleeder4]

What about Bat & Ball station in Sevenoaks? I passed through it this week, which is what made me think of it. It was originally named after a nearby pub, which has been gone for years now.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Thinking aloud, are there other cases of a terminus station that’s named after a road and doesn’t have a prefix before it? This used to be the case for most London termini. Fenchurch Street is often heard on its own. Any others?

I do think it downright stupid that "Euston" is often used as a destination on its own on anything other than London Overground. If you were going to use a single word "London" would make more sense unless on the Southern where there's more than one option.

Most of the other "X Road" stations are old fashioned Parkway stations where X is the nearest town (e.g. Clarbeston Road is near-ish Clarbeston). I can't think of any other termini that are literally just named after a street with no prefix and no indication of which town they are in or near to.

 

[zwk500]

I do think it downright stupid that "Euston" is often used as a destination on its own on anything other than London Overground. If you were going to use a single word "London" would make more sense.

Most of the other "X Road" stations are old fashioned Parkway stations where X is the nearest town (e.g. Clarbeston Road is near-ish Clarbeston). I can't think of any other termini that are literally just named after a street with no prefix and no indication of which town they are in or near to.

Is Euston not named for the country house, rather than the street which shares the same etymology?

 

[Bletchleyite]

Is Euston not named for the country house, rather than the street which shares the same etymology?

The station is called "London Euston" and it really grates when that full name is not used on the CIS/PIS because that is unnecessarily confusing to tourists etc. The only place where it is justified not to use the London prefix is London Overground.

 

[Trainlog]

Sandling to Sandling (for Hythe) and add a bus link, might reduce traffic going between Hythe and Folkestone and make the railway more attractive for Hythe residents.

100% agree. It used to be called that at one point aswell.

Hythe is walkable from Sandling station, though its a steep walk on the way back up. To what extent more locals would use the rail link is questionable, however, it would certainly be a good way to advertise the town of Hythe and the RHDR from Sandling station itself, and would invite tourists/ramblers to try out the walk.

 

[zwk500]

The station is called "London Euston" and it really grates when that full name is not used on the CIS/PIS because that is unnecessarily confusing to tourists etc. The only place where it is justified not to use the London prefix is London Overground.

Sorry if I wasn't clear that I was responding to the 'x road' point.

I agree London terminals should have 'London' on the front.

 

[brad465]

100% agree. It used to be called that at one point aswell.

Hythe is walkable from Sandling station, though its a steep walk on the way back up. To what extent more locals would use the rail link is questionable, however, it would certainly be a good way to advertise the town of Hythe and the RHDR from Sandling station itself, and would invite tourists/ramblers to try out the walk.

What's the old rail link trackbed between Sandling and Hythe like? If this could be converted into a dedicated shared path that would encourage Hythe passengers to Sandling better and strengthen the renaming case (if the tunnel can be re-used that would take the steep hill out the equation as well).

 

[Trainlog]

What's the old rail link trackbed between Sandling and Hythe like? If this could be converted into a dedicated shared path that would encourage Hythe passengers to Sandling better and strengthen the renaming case (if the tunnel can be re-used that would take the steep hill out the equation as well).

So I have mainly walked the main footpath from Sandling station down to Hythe which is fairly easy to follow. Its at least all fully tarmacked pathwise, which is the main thing, and is relatively peaceful to walk. I think the only thing to bear in mind is how steep the hill is in reverse from Hythe up to Sandling, it's certainly doable and the pavement helps, but it's not great for those who don't enjoy walking much.

Hythe is currently one of my favourite towns in Kent to visit, and it has a decent model shop along with many other small independent shops.

As for the old rail trackbed, I had a look into it. I certainly walked a bit of it towards the old Hythe railway tunnel (the last good cameo of the line apart from the small bay platform left at Sandling), but that was about it as I was there to trainspot Scots Guardsman last year.