SWT Valentine's Day

[Thisisajm]

South West Trains have "renamed" some of their stations.

London Waterlove, Wonderful Woking etc.

http://t.co/o1UMsmP5VB
http://t.co/pui0boJrlU

Anyone know if voice announcements are still the same?

 

[richa2002]

I know this might be a thoroughly miserable view to take but isn't this all rather wet?

 

[Juniper Driver]

Oh yeah I heard about this.

I think the passengers are confused enough already.

Scott Lyon ‏@TotallySLyon 36m36 minutes ago

@GabriellaAnnie @SW_Trains Ahahaha the poor tourists getting confused as to where Waterloo is

Suzanne Bant ‏@Suzb41 3h3 hours ago

@mediafran @SW_Trains concentrate on sending those trains out on time!

Reading some of the comments reminds me why I do use either Facebook or Twitter.

 

[richa2002]

Just seeing more photos:
https://twitter.com/Natti82/status/566549224104665090
https://twitter.com/PanaceaK/status/566546354068291584

To me this just represents a decline in professionalism and could easily cause confusion, especially for those who quickly need to find information on a train.

Oh for the days of miserable, mustached, 60 year old men in a wood-paneled room running the railways and not t-shirt wearing pip squeaks fresh out of university.

 

[Searle]

Just seeing more photos:
https://twitter.com/Natti82/status/566549224104665090
https://twitter.com/PanaceaK/status/566546354068291584

To me this just represents a decline in professionalism and could easily cause confusion, especially for those who quickly need to find information on a train.

Oh for the days of miserable, mustached, 60 year old men in a wood-paneled room running the railways and not t-shirt wearing pip squeaks fresh out of university.

Wow, what a joy your life must be if even a small cute thing like this fails to amuse you :roll:

 

[richa2002]

Very pleased with my life thank you very much :P. Just the increasing wetness and feminisation of society occasionally makes me want to be sick. Whatever happened to the emotionally reserved Englishman with a stiff upper lip?

 

[NLC1072]

I can't see this going down well, good PR stunt though!

 

[Baggypants]

Very pleased with my life thank you very much :P. Just the increasing wetness and feminisation of society occasionally makes me want to be sick. Whatever happened to the emotionally reserved Englishman with a stiff upper lip?

That's outmoded and gone. It's no use crying about it, you have put up with it and carry on.

 

[yorksrob]

Whatever one's view of Woking (and since my knowledge of the place is confined to the railway and the fact that popular beat combo "The Jam" hail from there, I don't feel qualified to hold an opinion one way or another), what has how wonderful it might or might not be, got to do with romantic love?

 

[Juniper Driver]

Wow, what a joy your life must be if even a small cute thing like this fails to amuse you :roll:

What worries me is how much this would confuse the punters I mean aren't they confused enough already?

Very pleased with my life thank you very much :P. Just the increasing wetness and manifestation of society occasionally makes me want to be sick. Whatever happened to the emotionally reserved Englishman with a stiff upper lip?

 

[JaJaWa]

Here are some station name translations for anyone attempting to travel with South West Trains today

English > South West Trains
Ascot: Love Ascotly
Basingstoke: Beautiful Basingstoke
Chessington South??? Kissington South - I don’t even know if that’s what this one is meant to be!
Clapham Junction: Cupid Junction
Dorking: Darling Dorking
Eastleigh: Truly Madly Eastleigh
Fleet: Fleeting Romance
Guildford: Gorgeous Guildford
Hook??? Lips Hooked
Hounslow: Hounslove
London Waterloo: London Waterlove
Richmond: Rich (in Love) mond
Romsey: Romsey and Juliet
Salisbury: When Harry met Salisbury
Strawberry Hill: Strawberries & Champagne Hill
Teddington: Lost in Teddington
Twickenham: Breakfast at Twickenham
Woking: Wonderful Woking
Four Weddings???
Passionfield??

Well it's confused me!

 

[Juniper Driver]

Oh my god.I guess im just not the romantic type.

 

[fandroid]

I just hope that there are some covering announcements with the real names! 'Cupid Junction' sounds like a definite possible confusion creator. I detect some serious irony in some of those names. I live in Basingstoke and like it, but I would never claim it to be beautiful!

Those Twitter feeds that have been linked to contain some terminally grumpy folk, like the one who claims the photographer had specially picked a rare on-time train. As a regular SWT user, I know that the majority of trains run on time. Some are a few minutes late, but life's too short to feel that a few lost minutes is some sort of disaster. Just try airlines (or even driving) for a real comparison.

 

[JaJaWa]

My favourite response has been someone asking how SWT were able to lose a train in Teddington!

 

[Bigfoot]

Full list!

Darling Dorking Dorking
London Waterlove London Waterloo
Lovealming Godalming
Roses are Redbridge Redbridge
Breakfast at Twickenham Twickenham
Eat Sway Love Sway
Pretty Woolston Woolston
Kissington South Chessington South
Kissington North Chessington North
Beaulieu and The Beast Beaulieu Road
Hinton Admirer Hinton Admiral
Love Ascotly Ascot
My Fareham Lady Fareham
Truly Madly Eastleigh Eastleigh
Notting Hilsea Hilsea
West Byfleet Story Byfleet
Moreton a Woman Moreton
Flirtwell Fulwell
Upwey Girl Upwey
Kiss Liss
The Apple of my Isleworth Isleworth
Cupid Junction Clapham Junction
Cute Bridge Kew Bridge
Ash Valentine Ash Vale
Mots-purr Park Motspur Park
Lips-Hooked Liphook
Fleet-ing Romance Fleet
Gorgeous Guildford Guildford
Sweet Surbiton Surbiton
Wonderful Woking Woking
Lovers Road Guildford London Road Guildford
Hounslove Hounslow
Loverton Overton
Passionfield Petersfield
Strawberries & Champagne Hill Strawberry Hill
Breakfast in Bed-hampton Bedhampton
Too Hot To Hamble Hamble
Hook, Line and Sinker Hook
Admirestone Addlestone
Thames Smitten Thames Ditton
Hampton Courting Hampton Court
Phwoar-plesdon Worplesdon
His and Hers-ham Hersham
Rich (in love) mond Richmond
Sleepless in Sholing Sholing
When Harry Met Salisbury Salisbury
Lost in Teddington Teddington
Legally Barnes Barnes
Romsey and Juliet Romsey
Four weddings and Farnborough Farnborough
The Botley guard Botley
North by North Sheen North Sheen
The Reading Singer Reading
Wokingham Heights Wokingham
Lady Bracknell Bracknell
Pride and Portchester Portchester
(Torvil and) Dean Dean
Beautiful Basingstoke Basingstoke

 

[Juniper Driver]

Did someone spend all day sitting in an office thinking those up?

Bye Fleet and New Whore.
Admirestone Addlestone -> I know a few drivers who have an alternative name for this one,but I won't say it.

 

[JaJaWa]

Did someone spend all day sitting in an office thinking those up?

They're peoples suggestions from Twitter last week!

 

[Matt Taylor]

Regardless of some utterly cheerless armchair TOC managers here the travelling public has received it very well, a quick glance at the Twiitter feed shows plenty of positive responses.

Whatever a TOC does there will always be some who are not happy.

 

[Juniper Driver]

They're peoples suggestions from Twitter last week!

Thank god and as a non Twitter user I apologise.

Regardless of some utterly cheerless armchair TOC managers here the travelling public has received it very well, a quick glance at the Twiitter feed shows plenty of positive responses.

Whatever a TOC does there will always be some who are not happy.

Im sorry I just can't help it.

 

[SPADTrap]

the travelling public has received it very well, a quick glance at the Twiitter feed shows plenty of positive responses.

What does that say about the travelling public?

 

[hassaanhc]

Hounslow's one is ****
:P

The scrolling list of calling points underneath show the correct names

 

[Juniper Driver]

Hounslow's one is ****
:P

The scrolling list of calling points underneath show the correct names

This is turning into a great thread.

 

[GatwickDepress]

Very pleased with my life thank you very much :P. Just the increasing wetness and feminisation of society occasionally makes me want to be sick. Whatever happened to the emotionally reserved Englishman with a stiff upper lip?

You made me laugh more than GrimsbyPacer's post in the Political Compass thread!

 

[hassaanhc]

This is turning into a great thread.

Hounslow itself is not a bad area at all, but that name was so unimaginative! Although can't think of anything better

 

[JaJaWa]

Hounslow's one is ****
:P

The scrolling list of calling points underneath show the correct names

The square CIS screens are showing the calling list with the modified names meaning the correct names are not visible.

 

[Fincra5]

I think its a nice idea. I know the railway is supposed to be professional but if doubt you ask a member of staff as to where you need to go.

 

[Saint66]

What does that say about the travelling public?

That they're not miserable so and so's posting on a rail forum?

 

[Thisisajm]

Is Hedge End the same?

 

[CC 72100]

Has made BBC news now: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-31469515

South West Trains gives passengers a romantic send-off
South West Trains Valentine's Day messages on departure boards
All the departure boards have a romantic theme for Valentine's Day

Rail passengers are being given a "Valentine's Day send-off" with romantic departure board messages.

The Waterloo to Salisbury service has been renamed "When Harry met Salisbury" and Liphook became "Lips-Hooked".

South West Trains said suggestions came from both passengers and staff.

A spokeswoman for the South West Trains-Network Rail Alliance said: "We hope those travelling with us today enjoy their journeys and have a lovely Valentine's Day."

South West Trains operates services in Hampshire, Surrey, Dorset, Wiltshire, Berkshire, Devon, Somerset, and Greater London.



Commuters have been tweeting pictures of the changed departure board signs

The signs have been changed for one day only
Customers and employees were asked to suggest "quirky, romance-themed" alternative station names "in the spirit of Valentine's Day", the spokeswoman said.

"We got some great suggestions, many of which we are displaying on customer information screens across the network for today only."

Rail passenger Alex Dowding tweeted: "Bit of harmless romantic fun is never a bad thing surely? Sure the rugby crowd are loving it too."

Many passengers have welcomed the temporary sign change, describing the move as "spreading the love".

Commuter Sabrina Vitello, who was travelling from Walton-on-Thames to London Waterloo, said: "It's refreshing, made me smile all day."

The news report does fall into a bit of a trap of calling passengers 'commuters' though - a) we're not all commuters, there are many reasons why people make journeys, b) how many commuters are there on a saturday?!

 

[67018]

Very pleased with my life thank you very much :P. Just the increasing wetness and feminisation of society occasionally makes me want to be sick. Whatever happened to the emotionally reserved Englishman with a stiff upper lip?

Sadly, went out of fashion circa 1968. Terrible shame old boy, I blame those young whipper-snappers like the Rolling Stones and the Beatles for corrupting young people. Chin up, we'll just have to grin and bear it.