Fight to name Birmingham station recommences

[Geezertronic]

But Richard Hammond's from Solihull...

But despite what they think, Solihull still has a Birmingham postcode

 

[Cherry_Picker]

People from Solihull don't seem be mind being called brummies either which is in stark contrast to people from the Black Countraay.

 

[Eagle]

But despite what they think, Solihull still has a Birmingham postcode

No, it has a B postcode, but it is its own post town.

Tamworth, Redditch and Henley-in Arden all have B postcodes.

 

[Aictos]

Just call it Birmingham Airport with Change here for the NEC arena underneath - job done....

 

[Southwest]

People from Solihull don't seem be mind being called brummies either which is in stark contrast to people from the Black Countraay.

Are you for real?

People in Solihull hate to be referred to as Brummies. They are also from Warwickshire and not the West Midlands and woe betide if you get this one wrong.

 

[Eagle]

They are also from Warwickshire and not the West Midlands and woe betide if you get this one wrong.

I'm not sure what you're getting at here.

Both Birmingham and Solihull are in the traditional county of Warwickshire, and both are in the administrative county of the West Midlands.

 

[Cherry_Picker]

Are you for real?

People in Solihull hate to be referred to as Brummies. They are also from Warwickshire and not the West Midlands and woe betide if you get this one wrong.

Really? I've spent my entire life in the area. My dad was born in Solihull hospital. My grandparents were both from Solihull. Maybe I'm asking the wrong people or something.

 

[Southwest]

I've known quite a few people who have lived/still live in Solihull and they resent being called Brummies, pure and simple. Maybe I only know snobs!

 

[DarloRich]

what if the name was just changed to Birmingham International Airport Station - job done. Next, Middle East peace...........

 

[Eagle]

Because the airport is just called Birmingham Airport.

(Birmingham International Airport is in Alabama.)

 

[moggie]

Or just leave at it is and get the Airport authorities to wise up their customers. Judging by the car park at International railway station the airport is just a convenient addition to an already healthy rail passenger market.

 

[dvboy]

Doesn't seem to matter for University

Although on tickets it's called University Birm. It also serves the QE hospital. Personally I'd call that station Edgbaston.

I'm also not a fan of stations named solely after streets like Chester Road, Butlers Lane and Blake Street.

 

[DarloRich]

Because the airport is just called Birmingham Airport.

(Birmingham International Airport is in Alabama.)

OK - call it Birmingham (not International as that is in Alabama) Airport Station!

I admit that will be a long title to read out over the tanoy so lets shorten it to say, Birmingham International. Job done. Must I solve everything? Now, global warming you say?

 

[Eagle]

Although on tickets it's called University Birm. It also serves the QE hospital. Personally I'd call that station Edgbaston.

That's to distinguish it from University (NI), which is in Coleraine on the Portrush branch. You can get through tickets to there from GB.

Same goes for Bangor (Gwynedd) and Sydenham (London), both of which have namesakes in NI.

 

[southern442]

Or just leave at it is and get the Airport authorities to wise up their customers. Judging by the car park at International railway station the airport is just a convenient addition to an already healthy rail passenger market.

Or leave it to the passengers to wise up themselves

 

[fowler9]

At the end of the day some people are just dopes and unless you call the station "The big one in the middle of the city" they still won't get to the right place. Some people are worse than that, I read today in a paper about a woman who discovered two hours in to a 10 hour flight to Grenada in the Caribbean that she wasn't on a 2 hour flight to Granada in Spain. That was quite a nice story though and I felt sorry for her.

 

[Gwenllian2001]

Anomalies in station naming are probably as old as railways themselves and could, and still can, cause confusion. There are plenty of examples in Wales. There were two named Beddau, miles apart on different routes. The Rhymney valley was particularly interesting having Bargoed; Aberbargoed, Argoed and Gilfach Bargoed all within a stones throw of each other. The SWML had Llantrisant which was slap in the centre of Pontyclun. When a new station opened on the site it was correctly named Pontyclun. Barry had four stations incorporating the name of the town; Barry; Barry Docks; Barry Island and Barry Pier. If the latter were still open, it could be styled Barry International.

My favourite is Barmouth Junction. I still have fond memories of platform staff trying to get holidaymakers and their children and luggage back on to the train. Those innocent souls assumed that they had arrived at their destination thanks to the confusing name. BR quite properly put an end to that by renaming the station ‘Morfa Mawddach’ in the Fifties. Whether or not the English speaker could pronounce or read it correctly, it looked nothing like Barmouth and that is what really mattered.

 

[cjp]

Although on tickets it's called University Birm. It also serves the QE hospital. Personally I'd call that station Edgbaston.

I'm also not a fan of stations named solely after streets like Chester Road, Butlers Lane and Blake Street.

Have you a suggestion then for Syon Lane ?

 

[krus_aragon]

Barry had four stations incorporating the name of the town; Barry; Barry Docks; Barry Island and Barry Pier. If the latter were still open, it could be styled Barry International.

And let's not forget Barry Links, which is, er, nowhere near the Vale of Glamorgan!

 

[Peter Sarf]

Have you a suggestion then for Syon Lane ?

London Road in Brighton has fooled a few, but you would not expect a road name to be in the town it referred to anyway.

I still call Scratchwood Services "Scratchwood". Its new name of London Gateway does not define its location very well as London is a big place. Airports, stations etc should be named after where they are or thereabouts.

I use the Thameslink service - I dont give a damn that First group need to incorporate their identity into a mouthful of a name. People will still be using the guide books quoting the old name long after First has gone. I better not mention Thamslink2*** .

Oh yes I remember from an old map "Chatham Central" station. It was not in Chatham at all. It was slightly North of Rochester station by the river but in Rochester.

Oh and in terms of cost of renaming it gets worse. At East Croydon when looking at the departures indicator for trains to St Pancras International you better remember to look for it under the letter K because it used to be called Kings Cross. They have renamed the Thameslink route station but cannot afford to come to East Croydon to rearrange the next trains to indicator !. So my advice is, if renaming a station, make sure the first letters of the name don't change.

 

[Eagle]

London Road in Brighton has fooled a few, but you would not expect a road name to be in the town it referred to anyway.

Particularly those wanting to go to London Road in Guildford :P

 

[Peter Sarf]

Particularly those wanting to go to London Road in Guildford :P

Things like that would be safer if they were called Brighton London Road and Guildford London Road but I suppose its a bit late to change them now.

I also have helped foreigners with weak English on the phone. When they tell me where they are I get slowly Wel.... Wel.... That does not narrow it down much as more and more stations seem to have a name that starts with that. Who gives a damn whether the railway company or whatever want to welcome you, its a station NAME not a statement :-x. Please how can I go to "Welcome To..." er forgot the rest, will that do.

 

[AndyLandy]

Things like that would be safer if they were called Brighton London Road and Guildford London Road but I suppose its a bit late to change them now.

There's plenty of stuff like that out there. Like "Gillingham" in Dorset vs. "Gillingham" in Kent. Or "Hartford" in Cheshire vs. "Hertford" in Hertfordshire.

Oh, and as for airport naming, there's none finer than "London Luton Airport", because obviously Luton is in London, right?

 

[johnnychips]

Oh, and as for airport naming, there's none finer than "London Luton Airport", because obviously Luton is in London, right?

It's near enough, and not too difficult to get to the middle of London from.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

There's plenty of stuff like that out there. Like "Gillingham" in Dorset vs. "Gillingham" in Kent. Or "Hartford" in Cheshire vs. "Hertford" in Hertfordshire.

The first one is fine if you're speaking rather than reading of course. Manchester Piccadilly has services to Adlingtons in both Lancashire and Cheshire, too. I imagine there may have been services in the past that have called at both- perhaps someone will confirm/deny this?

 

[Peter Sarf]

T
Oh, and as for airport naming, there's none finer than "London Luton Airport", because obviously Luton is in London, right?

If they can justify prefixing an already meaningful name with London then I can justify calling it "Europe England London Luton INTERNATIONAL Airport". Could always make it shorter by dropping the word airport I suppose - no wait a minute.

 

[Eagle]

Things like that would be safer if they were called Brighton London Road and Guildford London Road but I suppose its a bit late to change them now.

Problem with those is it makes them sound like central stations, like other [placename] [streetname] combinations such as Birmingham New Street, Bradford Forster Square or Cardiff Queen Street.

Probably would be better (and easier) to drop the brackets and call them London Road Guildford and London Road Brighton.

 

[AndyLandy]

Problem with those is it makes them sound like central stations, like other [placename] [streetname] combinations such as Birmingham New Street, Bradford Forster Square or Cardiff Queen Street.

Probably would be better (and easier) to drop the brackets and call them London Road Guildford and London Road Brighton.

Oh, and there's another thing that really confused me for a very long time. Both Glasgow and Cardiff have both a Central and a Queen Street station.

 

[reb0118]

Brussels always used to get me a bit uneasy, as it is a bit like the old Manchester Exchange / Victoria situation........

True, I have always struggled to get between Bruxelles Midi & Brussel Zuid!

 

[alwaystouchout]

As others have said, I think there need to be more guidelines with regard to station names to give them a bit more clarity.

'International' is just so clumsy, seemingly used to simply lend a locale a greater proportion of recognition than it has. It doesn't necessarily mean a station has international rail services (ie. Stratford Intl), but means it could also be attached to an airport or in the case of Harwich has international ferry services.

Why is Ashford 'Ashford International' when there's no other station in Ashford to differentiate it from and Eurostar are doing everything they can to avoid stopping there?

Stratford International isn't too bad I guess as there's an existing Stratford station 500m away, and the alternative name could have been far worse. 'Lea Valley Parkway' or something like that.

Ebbsfleet International is just all-round appalling