Trivia: Most ridiculously named station in UK

[nicolaboo]

Or Alloa High and the other one which would be a reminder of a 1980s sitcom.

Keeping on the theme of Alloa Alloa, I wonder whether Rose Hill (Marple) is named after Edith's mother.

 

[37 418]

If we're "going foreign": the Szerencs -- Hidasnemeti branch line in Hungary -- running through pleasantly hilly country by Hungarian standards -- has intermediate stations called Mad; Gonc; and Golop. (I can't, here, do foreign accents on letters.)

I can so Szerencs - Hidasnémeti with intermediate stations Mád, Gönc and Golop

 

[vlad]

Leeds Wellington Station nothing to do with Wellington boots but Duke of Wellington.

Wellies were named after the 1st Duke of Wellington so you can argue they do have something to do with a station in Leeds.

To be honest, just about everything called Wellington is named after the Duke, with the exception of Wellington in Somerset which the Duke is named after, and Wellington in Shropshire which just coincidentally has the same name.

 

[Calthrop]

I can so Szerencs - Hidasnémeti with intermediate stations Mád, Gönc and Golop

(accent-less) -- koszonom, ur.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Palmovka is an area of Prague, served by both the trams and the Metro. That in itself isn't ridiculous, but creeping Anglicisation led to a local arts centre putting on an event with this name:

Which sort of has the wrong ring to it!

 

[lancastrian]

I am coming late to this debate but the two that always amuse me were Rose Grove & Cherry Tree on the East Lancashire Line. They are both so industrial, or where, and now mainly residential. I am sure that the only Rose's in Rose Grove & any cherry tree in Blackburn can only be in either peoples gardens or local parks.

 

[sprunt]

Formerly Degerloch Zahnradbahnhof - the line was extended to a new interchange with the U-bahn at Degerloch some years ago, but the old terminus wasn't closed.

Thanks - that explains it, even if it doesn't exactly make it any more sensible.

 

[johnnychips]

Erps-Kwerps in Belgium has to be the silliest name for a station, or indeed a place.

 

[DavidGrain]

Although not a station the Earl of Dudley's Pensnet Railway had two level crossings on Level Street, Brierley Hill. For those who don't know the Black Country, Level Street is an extremely steep hill although the gradient has been slightly eased by making a curve in the road instead of a straight run up the hill.

 

[JackTheLad]

I am aware that I may be splitting hairs slightly here, but with the exception of London Liverpool Street and London Fenchurch Street, none of the other mainline terminal stations that has the "London" prefix within Zone 1 of the London zonal system are in the City of London.

E.g. Victoria, Paddington, and Marylebone are in the City of Westminster. Euston, St Pancras, and Kings Cross are in the Borough of Camden (formerly Borough of St Pancras), etc.

London Liverpool Street and London Fenchurch Street aren't the only ones... London Blackfriars and London Cannon Street are also mainline terminal stations which have the "London" prefix and both are in the City of London

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Erps-Kwerps in Belgium has to be the silliest name for a station, or indeed a place.

The suburban station and tram terminus of Praha-Podbaba (in Prague, obviously) is amusing to Anglophones with a childish sense of humour. I'd rather it (or the tram part at least) be renamed Dukla as it's the closest stop for the Juliska Stadium, home of the eponymous football team. Slavia and Sparta have tram stops named after them so why not Dukla? Sparta (the stop) in particular was amusing, as on the more modern Skoda trams certain stops had English automated announcements, which bellowed "This is Sparta!" upon arrival!

Other vaguely amusing tram stops in Prague include Baterie (no gaps in the overheads there though) and Dvorce (which Billy Connolly wrote a song about).

 

[kieron]

For the purposes of parliamentary constituency naming, borough (or urban) seats get the compass point at the end (Glasgow East, Leicester South), while countr (or rural) seats have them at the front (North West Cambridgeshire).

I believe the "rule" is that a prefix is used where the rest of the name refers to a county area or local council, and a suffix where it is a population centre. Hence Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland.

I think they tend to use a suffix where it is both (as with, say, Barnsley East CC and Barnsley Central BC), and also use a suffix where it is neither (such as for Clwyd South and Clwyd West).

Really, though, this is a default assumption rather than a rule.

 

[DavidGrain]

I think that the only rule is that if a place has a known identity which includes a compass point then that is the name that is used, eg West Bromwich, East Grinstead. If the name is used used to distinguish one station from another in the same area then the compass point follows it. Smethwick Junction station was renamed West Smethwick as passenger trains ceased to use one of the lines into the the junction and West Smethwick has grown up with its own area identity. The station which replaced West Smethwick on the other side of the main road is called Smethwick Galton Bridge.

In the end however it all came down to the whim of the railway company and subsequently BR

 

[318266]

Just to note, the station was not West Smethwick, it was Smethwick West, unless I'm mistaken

 

[DavidGrain]

Just to note, the station was not West Smethwick, it was Smethwick West, unless I'm mistaken

Thanks for the correction. It was renamed Smethwick West in 1956 but I always asked for at ticket to West Smethwick when as a boy I spent an afternoon watching trains at Snow Hill. The area is however known as West Smethwick locally.