Headbolt Lane progress updates

[Starmill]

On iOS the station name does appear. The version history in the app says that, for version 9.6.4 released a month ago, support is added for new stations, one of which is Headbolt Lane.

Perhaps you need to force an update of the app?

I did consult Google Play when I spotted it, apparently my app is running 9.6.4 installed on 25.07.2023.

 

[Chester1]

It was never intended to be a terminus. It's hardly our fault that the British government have denied us the cash to complete the line. I don't see why we should contort ourselves to make up for their stance. No one in the Liverpool region is affected.

It may effect visitors to the Liverpool and I wouldn't bet that all locals pay enough attention to rail matters to know there is a new terminus. I agree it shouldn't have become a terminus but it is and a display that is more passenger friendly such as the photograph in #596 might be a good transition option to help passengers. "Headbolt Lane via Kirkby" prevents occasional users of the line not boarding because they don’t think the train is going to Kirkby.

 

[Farigiraf]

It may effect visitors to the Liverpool and I wouldn't bet that all locals pay enough attention to rail matters to know there is a new terminus. I agree it shouldn't have become a terminus but it is and a display that is more passenger friendly such as the photograph in #596 might be a good transition option to help passengers. "Headbolt Lane via Kirkby" prevents occasional users of the line not boarding because they don’t think the train is going to Kirkby.

Which does get you wondering, why did they not name the station Kirkby Tower Hill/East/North? Presumably they knew they would have to add Kirkby to signage to indicate that Hbolt lane is indeed in Kirkby?

 

[Starmill]

Which does get you wondering, why did they not name the station Kirkby Tower Hill/East/North? Presumably they knew they would have to add Kirkby to signage to indicate that Hbolt lane is indeed in Kirkby?

The last time we had this debate I think the most popular suggestion was Kirkby East, as it satisfied all the criteria of being geographically descriptive, not having to amend a name of an existing station, and not sounding too similar to anywhere else.

 

[Djgr]

The last time we had this debate I think the most popular suggestion was Kirkby East, as it satisfied all the criteria of being geographically descriptive, not having to amend a name of an existing station, and not sounding too similar to anywhere else.

And you recently had Maghull North rather than Goldcrest Road. The choice of name as Headbolt Lame is really poor. Someone somewhere did not do their job properly.

 

[urbophile]

The last time we had this debate I think the most popular suggestion was Kirkby East, as it satisfied all the criteria of being geographically descriptive, not having to amend a name of an existing station, and not sounding too similar to anywhere else.

Logically then you would rename the existing Kirkby station Kirkby West. Just not West Kir(k)by.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 12 Oct 2023 ==

And you recently had Maghull North rather than Goldcrest Road. The choice of name as Headbolt Lame is really poor. Someone somewhere did not do their job properly.

Did they do a survey? They did for Baltic.

 

[Starmill]

Logically then you would rename the existing Kirkby station Kirkby West. Just not West Kir(k)by.

That would be a certain logic yes. However, it'd be very unlikely to proceed, because it would definitely catch some people out initially. It'd also involve cost to change an existing station's name.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 12 Oct 2023 ==

And you recently had Maghull North rather than Goldcrest Road. The choice of name as Headbolt Lame is really poor. Someone somewhere did not do their job properly.

I do think it would have been poorer to call it Goldcrest Road than Maghull North, yes. Maghull North is pretty clear and descriptive, and there wasn't any cost of renaming it Maghull South (though that could be done if there were some evidence of a benefit to doing so).

 

[8A Rail]

And you recently had Maghull North rather than Goldcrest Road. The choice of name as Headbolt Lame is really poor. Someone somewhere did not do their job properly.

Do you think so? Where the station is located is on / by Headbolt Lane which is a long road that basically follows railway line east wards. One side of the line is an area called Tower Hill, the other side of the line is Northwood and the station is sort of stuck between the two. So in some ways, I understand how Headbolt Lane was arrived at for the station name, but I think the mistake was not including 'Kirkby' at the beginning of the existing name, still an opportunity to amend it thought.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

I understand how Headbolt Lane was arrived at for the station name, but I think the mistake was not including 'Kirkby' at the beginning of the existing name, still an opportunity to amend it thought.

Are there any other roads with the same name in that area that could be confused with the one which lent its name to the railway station?

 

[snowball]

Are there any other roads with the same name in that area that could be confused with the one which lent its name to the railway station?

According to Google Maps there is one other Headbolt Lane, just 12 miles away in Southport.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

How is the late Celia Drummond announcing “Headbolt Lane” at Northern stations?

 

[pokemonsuper9]

How is the late Celia Drummond announcing “Headbolt Lane” at Northern stations?

Announcements seem to just not be playing for trains to Headbolt Lane.
They have also been turned off on trains to Headbolt Lane since the station opened, with the guard sometimes doing them manually.
Even the older style display boards are turned off, with the new lower down smaller boards being the only info source, not very useful when there's only 1 per carriage and it's at the very end.

 

[childwallblues]

This is all getting a bit pathetic.The station is open, the trains are running and in a months time everybody will have forgotten bout any naming contraversy.

 

[YorkRailFan]

On train announcement for Headbolt Lane can be found here:https://x.com/HettingEwan/status/1712542966278139964?s=20

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 13 Oct 2023 ==

There appears to have been a train fault between Kirkby and Headbolt Lane, I wonder if a 777's battery has failed, disruption seems to have cleared now though.

 

[Bletchleyite]

On train announcement for Headbolt Lane can be found here:https://x.com/HettingEwan/status/1712542966278139964?s=20

I see they've still got the old woman reinstated temporarily but with Headbolt recorded by the bloke. Sounds really odd.

 

[urbophile]

It's not unheard of for stations to change their name soon after opening. But as people have pointed out it does involve extra expense. I just think to name a station after a not-particularly-well-known street is unhelpful. Especially one that runs parallel to the railway rather than crossing it.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 13 Oct 2023 ==

I see they've still got the old woman reinstated temporarily but with Headbolt recorded by the bloke. Sounds really odd.

Does he say Headbolt or 'Eadbolt? Geoff Marshall would like to know.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Does he say Headbolt or 'Eadbolt? Geoff Marshall would like to know.

It's linked above

Definitely a H there.

 

[YorkRailFan]

I see they've still got the old woman reinstated temporarily but with Headbolt recorded by the bloke. Sounds really odd.

It looks like a 150 (I didn't take the video) which still have the old announcements I believe.

 

[Djgr]

This is all getting a bit pathetic.The station is open, the trains are running and in a months time everybody will have forgotten bout any naming contraversy.

Yes, this one is done and dusted. This is now about lessons to be learnt.

(On a slight aside, Liverpool South Parkway was going to be known as Allerton Interchange until very late in the day or perhaps it should have been named Holly Farm Road?!)

 

[Starmill]

I see they've still got the old woman reinstated temporarily but with Headbolt recorded by the bloke. Sounds really odd.

It's just a case of that unit not yet having the new updates. It's had the Headbolt Lane codes added which had to be done in this awkward way, but eventually it'll move over to the same voice for the other stops.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Yes, this one is done and dusted. This is now about lessons to be learnt.

I'm not sure it would be a massive job just to change the data feeding Northern's station PIS to say "Headbolt Lane (Kirkby)" - that's very commonly done and doesn't require renaming the station.

The name is the one proposed in the 1970s Merseyrail plan. Baltic wasn't proposed back then (not surprising as it wasn't really a destination, rather a bit of a run down dump) so they had to come up with a name.

Here's the 1970s map:


Photo: 1970s Merseyrail proposal map from an Echo article, with headline under it "hovercraft could rocket Mersey into space age".

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Has there been any newspaper articles and readers comments in the local press concerning the actual name given to this railway station?


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Here's the 1970s map:
View attachment 144745

Photo: 1970s Merseyrail proposal map from an Echo article, with headline under it "hovercraft could rocket Mersey into space age".

Whatever was the matter stated that decided the then Passenger Transport Executive against the hovercraft project referred to in this newspaper report?

 

[Djgr]

I'm not sure it would be a massive job just to change the data feeding Northern's station PIS to say "Headbolt Lane (Kirkby)" - that's very commonly done and doesn't require renaming the station.

The name is the one proposed in the 1970s Merseyrail plan. Baltic wasn't proposed back then (not surprising as it wasn't really a destination, rather a bit of a run down dump) so they had to come up with a name.

Here's the 1970s map:
View attachment 144745

Photo: 1970s Merseyrail proposal map from an Echo article, with headline under it "hovercraft could rocket Mersey into space age".

Great map. I particularly like seeing Heswall as Heswall Hills, which is a great pub quiz question.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 13 Oct 2023 ==

Has there been any newspaper articles and readers comments in the local press concerning the actual name given to this railway station?


++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Whatever was the matter stated that decided the then Passenger Transport Executive against the hovercraft project referred to in this newspaper report?

If it is referring to reviving the shortlived Moreton to Rhyl service, the issue probably relates to addressing poor weather where there is no Plan B

 

[jamesst]

Has there been any newspaper articles and readers comments in the local press concerning the actual name given to this railway station?


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Whatever was the matter stated that decided the then Passenger Transport Executive against the hovercraft project referred to in this newspaper report?

No because no one in the real world really cares what the name is more that there's trains running to serve it .

 

[Skie]

Yes, the standard daytime frequency for all Merseyrail branches is 4tph, except Ellesmere Port which is 2. My suspicion would be that there aren't enough working 777s, and they don't want to pay for major overhauls for 50x going for scrap soon.

Would be a hell of an overhaul to get a 50x fitted with traction batteries

The reason is there are some battery 777s still accumulating route miles before being accepted so not enough to run a full service with a spare to rescue a stranded unit. Plus a bit of driver training is happening and that requires a battery unit, further reducing availability. Won’t be too long until it’s up to 4th though.

 

[childwallblues]

I had planned to travel from Manchester Victoria yesterday to Headbolt Lane at 1225. I boarded unit 150150 and noted that the scrolling PIS showed the destination as Kirkby whist the screen on the wall of the carriage was working perfectly showing all stations to Headbolt Lane. Unfortunately the train was cancelled at Wigan Wallgate due to animals on the line. I decided to wait an hour so retired to the Station Cafe over the road in Wallgate for a nice poached eggs on toast. The next train was 1403 and I boarded unit 150113 for the journey. The screen on the wall had the correct station times and a booked arrival time of 1431. The scrolling PIS on this unit correctly showed Headbolt Lane. However on arrival at Orrell the scrolling PIS got stuck on arriving at Orrell for the rest of the journey. Arrival at Headbolt Lane was at 1432 and I noted the departure time of 777142 booked as 1441, giving plenty of time to change trains.
I got off at Sandhills to pick up the 1506 to Liverpool South Parkway which produced 508136.

 

[Jack Hay]

The name is a bit confusing for passengers coming from other Merseyside stations, but worse for passengers on the Northern service which originates in far away towns like Rochdale or Todmorden or Blackburn. I don't think Headbolt Lane is a suitable name for the destination of services starting elsewhere on the network. It really gives no clue as to where the train is going. It might be different on Merseyside if you've been paying attention to recent public transport announcements but that's as good as it gets.

 

[Djgr]

The name is a bit confusing for passengers coming from other Merseyside stations, but worse for passengers on the Northern service which originates in far away towns like Rochdale or Todmorden or Blackburn. I don't think Headbolt Lane is a suitable name for the destination of services starting elsewhere on the network. It really gives no clue as to where the train is going. It might be different on Merseyside if you've been paying attention to recent public transport announcements but that's as good as it gets.

They should use it on an episode of Family Fortunes.

We asked a hundred people to name a well known road in Kirkby. Uh-uh.

But to be fair, many people on this forum don't see an issue at all

 

[Geeves]

You could call it Red and Green Jelly Avenue and it wouldn't upset 98 percent of the passengers, the majority use apps to direct them to their station and so long as they know the name and time it makes no difference and that is coming from someone working at Vic

Anyway its got its name now and they wont be changing it. Everyone will be used to it eventually even the 2 percent

 

[Djgr]

You could call it Red and Green Jelly Avenue and it wouldn't upset 98 percent of the passengers, the majority use apps to direct them to their station and so long as they know the name and time it makes no difference and that is coming from someone working at Vic

Anyway its got its name now and they wont be changing it. Everyone will be used to it eventually even the 2 percent

As I said before, what's done is done.

Let's hope that next time the self appointed expert name selecters spend more than five minutes on the task rather than choosing one which, at best, is just barely adequate.