Where do junctions get their names from?

[Whistler40145]

What's the oddest named Junction on the Network Rail system?

 

[IanXC]

One of my favorites is Waterworks Junction in York, its the junction where the double track from Scarborough becomes single and then back to double around about where the river bridge is. Annoyingly its just about far enough for my morning cup of coffee to have "taken effect". Thinking "we're at Waterworks Junction" can seem just as bad as hearing running water, if you see what I mean!

 

[Ploughman]

When Leeds 6 tracking was in progress.
We put together a proposal for naming some of the new junctions.
Sadly none got accepted.
I will see if I can dig the full list out but ones I can remember at the moment were Tetley Junction and Brick Man Junction after the proposal for the big brick statue that still has not been built.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Bricklayers Arms Jn is another good one, approaching London Bridge.
Sadly it doesn't go there any more.
And there's always Elephant & Castle.
Also the Atlantic Lines at Brixton (local road I think).

The signalboxes on the NW main line tell a story.
There used to be a Dundas Siding box on the North Wales main line near Queensferry.
It was named after the local landowner Admiral Dundas.
There are many locations named like that, long after the landowner has been forgotten or been merged into a later company.
Further west was Muspratts Siding, named after Muspratt & Huntley's leadworks (later Courtaulds).

At Warrington there's a "New Found Out Siding" (OOU).
No idea what that name means.

 

[edwin_m]

New Found Out siding is accessed via "The Hole". Which apparently is aptly named if you see it.

One that amuses me is North Pole Junction (another pub?). There was an article many years ago in Modern Railways on re-opening station on the WLL, which noted dryly that a station at North Pole woul be "in an unpromising area".

There are various lines named on the Quail map which I think are probably down to whatever military campaign was in the papers at the time. For example there is a Burma Road in Glasgow, ELR BRD.

 

[Whistler40145]

One odd named Junction I can come up with is Pouparts Junction, I wonder where that name originates from?


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[Eagle]

One odd named Junction I can come up with is Pouparts Junction, I wonder where that name originates from?

Name of a local landowner (Samuel Poupart) who the railway company bought the land from.

The North Pole is indeed a pub. I think we can safely say, if there's any junction with a non-geographical and non-personal name, then it's probably named after a pub.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

One that amuses me is North Pole Junction (another pub?). There was an article many years ago in Modern Railways on re-opening station on the WLL, which noted dryly that a station at North Pole woul be "in an unpromising area".

It's from North Pole Road in W10 which runs under the railway to the south.

One odd named Junction I can come up with is Pouparts Junction, I wonder where that name originates from?

It apparently used to be a farm in Battersea before the LSWR bought it. http://www.poupart.com/poupartstuff.html

 

[Eagle]

It's from North Pole Road in W10 which runs under the railway to the south.

The road is named after the pub.

 

[Bevan Price]

Same as at St Helens Junction (but there's no junction any more...).

.

Which actually serves Sutton Village, but they gave it a different name to avoid confusion with the numerous other "Suttons" in England, and the area near the station has become known as "The Junction" by many people.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Helens_Junction_railway_station

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sutton,_St_Helens

 

[Mojo]

The North Pole is indeed a pub. I think we can safely say, if there's any junction with a non-geographical and non-personal name, then it's probably named after a pub.

It /was/ a pub. FWIW, The North Pole pub shut down about a year and a half ago and is now a Tesco Express.

 

[LowLevel]

There's plenty of good names about. Some more obvious than others. Leicester Power Box siding for example has outlived the PSB it was named after (though obviously it still stands) and is still used for stabling cement wagons regularly at weekends. I would imagine it's quite unusual nowadays to have sidings named after such (comparatively) new signalboxes with their propensity to be built well away from the actual lines themselves.

 

[Bushy]

Throstle Nest Bridge was on the Bridgewater Canal in Old Trafford long before the railway turned up.
It's still there, with original iron nameplates, hidden in a cutting near Pomona Metrolink station.
Back in the 1760s it was quite possibly a rural retreat as part of the old Trafford Park estate.
In fact the one time Pomona Gardens were near there which rivalled Vauxhall in London, eventually being taken over for the MSC docks.

But it was an evocative railway name, like North Pole Jn and Gas Factory Jn.
Whitchurch Cambrian Jn was an iconic name too, as well as Three Cocks (pub).

Throstle Nest Bridge

Regards

Bushy



and Pomona Stop from the Canal



There is a Factory Junction on the Canal system but, AFAIK, no Gas Factory Junction

 

[CarltonA]

Slough boasts a Dolphin Junction named after the Godolphin family who were Dukes of Leeds and local landowners.
On a slightly different note, I believe there is no Clapham Junction other than the station as the junctions all have different names. Oh... and the station is actually in Battersea.

 

[edwin_m]

I think we can safely say, if there's any junction with a non-geographical and non-personal name, then it's probably named after a pub.

Crow Nest Junction is I believe named after a nearby farm.

 

[londiscape]

I'm slightly intrigued by Falcon Junction at Clapham Junction (at the "country" end where the Brighton & Windsor Lines diverge). There's also a pub near the subway entrance to the station called the Falcon (and a brilliant Good Beer Guide-listed one at that) but it's not beside the junction. Anyone know the origin of the name, and which came first, junction or pub?

From what I gather from various sources including English Heritage website, the pub was there first. There are references to the Falcon Inn, and Falcon Lane (now called Falcon Road) from before 1840. Clapham Junction station didn't open till 1863 according to Wikipedia.

------edit
and yes you are right Dave, the Falcon is an excellent pub with good real ale and food. Give it a miss between 5pm and 7pm though, it gets so crammed you won't get a seat!

 

[caliwag]

It was a junction at one point - there were lines towards Knaresborough and Malton/Kirbymoorside/Pickering as well as the main line

http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/t/tollerton/index.shtml (although the junction was a bit north of the station i think)

I would assume that Tollerton Junction was the junction near Alne for the Easingwold branch. The Helmsley line junctions were Bishophouse J and Sessay Wood J.
On the subject of weird names why were Klondyke sidings in goods yards so called?

 

[chappers]

I'm a big fan of Junction Road Junction - tells it as it is!

 

[Peter Mugridge]

There is a Bog Junction at Carlisle isn't there?

Presumably the name is relevant to local ground conditions prior to the area being developed rather than anything to do with any errr... facilities in the vicinity?

 

[merlodlliw]

The latest Junction to be erected is Wrexham North,which is actually at Gresford but within the County of Wrexham.
This of course depends on WG Government funding/ new Network Rail Plans etc which are clothed in secrecy.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Throstle Nest Bridge

Excellent photo.
Still throstle nest territory you'd think (despite the view in all other directions being concrete!).

 

[DaveNewcastle]

I would assume that Tollerton Junction was the junction near Alne for the Easingwold branch.

Yes, that's how I read the old maps, which still seems odd, as the junction was at Alne (where there was a station), one station further down the line, but Tollerton earned the title : 'Junction'.

 

[pitdiver]

I know this is slightly off thread but am I right in assuming that Berney Arms stn is named after the pub. If this is the case are there any more stations named after adjacent pubs.

 

[Eagle]

I know this is slightly off thread but am I right in assuming that Berney Arms stn is named after the pub. If this is the case are there any more stations named after adjacent pubs.

Elephant & Castle and Seven Sisters are the obvious ones.

 

[Andyjs247]

The name of Gavray Junction in Bicester (where the new chord currently under construction diverges from the EWR line towards Bletchley) derives from the village in Normandy, France - Gavray being the twin town of Launton, next former station after Bicester heading towards Bletchley. The nearby road where there is site access for construction is Gavray Drive; I suspect the junction is named indirectly after the road which in turn is named after the twin town rather than directly. Is there any other railway infrastructure named after a twin town?

Another interesting name is Proof House Junction in Birmingham - named after the nearby Birmingham Gun Barrel Proof House where firearms were certified; a throwback to Birmingham's manufacturing history as the city of a thousand trades.

 

[tsr]

Elephant & Castle and Seven Sisters are the obvious ones.

Others in the London/South-East area include Bat & Ball.

 

[hairyhandedfool]

Bricklayers Arms Jn is another good one, approaching London Bridge.
Sadly it doesn't go there any more....

The junction known today as Bricklayers Arms never went to Bricklayers Arms. It came into being as Corbetts Lane Junction in 1838, six years before the Bricklayers Arms branch was built, rather appropriate as it was next to Corbetts Lane. Bricklayers Arms Junction was parallel to Corbetts Lane Junction on the Bricklayers Arms branch. The Bricklayers Arms branch diverged from the North Kent line at Surrey Canal Junction. I'm not certain of the name of the junction on the Croydon line.

It was later, when colour light signals came in I think, that the junctions fell under the control of Bricklayers Arms Junction Signalbox.

 

[Eagle]

Others in the London/South-East area include Bat & Ball.

And Hinton Admiral.

The pub in question has since renamed itself the Hinton Admiral Station Bar, though.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Plenty of odd names in the Peak District:
Parsley Hay on the Cromford & High Peak, became a junction towards Ashbourne later. Probably a local field name.
Thorpe Cloud further on towards Ashbourne, named after a prominent nearby hill in Dovedale.
Thor's Cave on the Leek & Manifold.
All the stations have gone, but the trackbeds are now trails/roads.

 

[Welshman]

I was interested to learn recently that Sheet Stores Junction [near Long Eaton- at the beginning of the loop through Castle Donington to Stenson Junction], was originally nothing to do with neither beds nor sleeping coaches.

Rather, it marked the place where the Midland Railway used to have a large establishment which manufactured and repaired wagon sheets for their many freight trains [especially conveying beer from Burton-on-Trent to the undercroft at St Pancras station [now the Eurostar check-in]].