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Trivia: Easily confused station names

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urbophile

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Spent many a happy wait listening to the Sutton Loop announcemeant as “Sutton, Surrey, calling at… Wimbledon, Wimbledon Chase, South Merton, Morden South, St Helier, Sutton Common, West Sutton and Sutton”

Sutton Greater London surely?
 
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Six Bells

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A colleague of mine from the West Midlands was in Milton Keynes a few weeks back, he approached the booking hall and asked for "a single to Wolves please"

He wanted Wolverhampton, not Wolverton...
 
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I imagine that Charing and London Charing Cross (most commonly simply referred to as Charing Cross by most people) must get confused quite a lot especially as they are both Southeastern stations. If you start typing in Charing Cross (meaning London Charing Cross) on a ticket machine then Charing is the first result that will come up so i imagine many people may think Charing means Charing Cross in London and actually purchase a ticket to Charing instead. I am sure that this must have happened many times.
 

HST274

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Worcestershire Parkway and Worcester Park? Especially as a few people I know refer to it as Worcester Parkway, which is even closer.
 

MadMac

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Nottingham and Mottingham

Spent many a happy wait listening to the Sutton Loop announcement as “Sutton, Surrey, calling at… Wimbledon, Wimbledon Chase, South Merton, Morden South, St Helier, Sutton Common, West Sutton and Sutton”

Sutton and Sutton-in-Ashfield
That brings up an interesting possibility: has anyone trying to get to Jersey ended up there?
 

Ken H

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So what happens if the ticket office person or a guard issues a ticket to the wrong place and the passenger spots the mistake. Is it a right rigmarole to cancel it? And refund the card if necessary?
 

JRT

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A couple of times I've almost been sold a ticket to the former when going to the latter. One reason I usually used the ticket machine.

Now I commute to Cottingley rather than Knottingley. So another potential cause of confusion. Plus of course there is another Cottingley in West Yorkshire, but I would have to catch a bus rather than a train to get there. Some people do look puzzled when I say I catch a train to Cottingley, mind.
I have actually had a customer with a railway ticket for Cottingley going to the village near Bingley.
 

adrock1976

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What's it called? It's called Cumbernauld
Another two in Scotland:

Barnhill and Barrhill (both in the SPT area - the former was one of my local stations in Springburn, the latter is in Ayrshire past Girvan on the way to Stranraer).

Also before the Tyne & Wear Metro was a thing, did anybody ever get muddled up with Monkseaton and Monkwearmouth (the former formerly in Northumberland, and the latter formerly in County Durham)?
 

61653 HTAFC

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Did Netherton (Liverpool) ever have a station? If so, this could have been confused with both Nethertown (Cumbria) and Netherton (on the former Meltham branch from Huddersfield).

Speaking of the latter, West Yorkshire PTE used to have alphabetical lists of places in Huddersfield bus station directing people to the correct bus. Netherton had two entries, one for the village near Meltham and one for the village near Wakefield.
 

Scouseinmanc

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Did Netherton (Liverpool) ever have a station? If so, this could have been confused with both Nethertown (Cumbria) and Netherton (on the former Meltham branch from Huddersfield).

Speaking of the latter, West Yorkshire PTE used to have alphabetical lists of places in Huddersfield bus station directing people to the correct bus. Netherton had two entries, one for the village near Meltham and one for the village near Wakefield.
No, I don’t think it did. Nearest was probably Linacre Road (long since closed). Although Aintree is quite close
 

A Challenge

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I asked for a ticket to Hertford Stations once (from the opposite side of London), and almost got issued a ticket to Hartford in Cheshire, luckily I noticed the price was a bit high.
 

Scouseinmanc

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Just thought of some more

Mutley & muthill
Keyham & keynsham
Otley & Botley
Liscard @ Liskeard
Winsford & Wansford
Kingston on Thames & Kingston on Hull
Winchester & winchelsea
Heathrow & Hounslow?
Seven sisters & seven kings
Berwick & Borwick
St Ives (Cambs) & st Ives (Cornwall)
Stoke mandeville & Stoke on Trent
Caernarfon & Carmarthen
Beeston & Beeston Castle
 

507020

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Did Netherton (Liverpool) ever have a station? If so, this could have been confused with both Nethertown (Cumbria) and Netherton (on the former Meltham branch from Huddersfield).

Speaking of the latter, West Yorkshire PTE used to have alphabetical lists of places in Huddersfield bus station directing people to the correct bus. Netherton had two entries, one for the village near Meltham and one for the village near Wakefield.
It did, but it was called Captain’s Lane and later renamed Ford.

On the topic of buses, at Leigh bus station (the largest town in the north west with no railway station, but could be confused with Leigh, Kent) you can get a 34 run by Arriva to St Helens or a 34 run by Stagecoach to Manchester, which is 22 minutes slower than the V1 run by First. I can’t imagine the amount of people who are told just to get the 34 who end up going in the wrong direction.
 

DunsBus

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Just thought of some more

Mutley & muthill
Keyham & keynsham
Otley & Botley
Liscard @ Liskeard
Winsford & Wansford
Kingston on Thames & Kingston on Hull
Winchester & winchelsea
Heathrow & Hounslow?
Seven sisters & seven kings
Berwick & Borwick
St Ives (Cambs) & st Ives (Cornwall)
Stoke mandeville & Stoke on Trent
Caernarfon & Carmarthen
Beeston & Beeston Castle
You could also have Corbridge and Gorebridge.
 

leytongabriel

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Stratford ( East London) and Stratford ( upon Avon)
Acton Town and Acton Central sound like they are in the same place.
Enfield Chase and Enfield Lock
Manor Park and Manor House
 

61653 HTAFC

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Another planet...
Depending on how you say it, Bury and Berry Brow... though there was only a c.3 year spell when both were part of the national network.
 

Mcr Warrior

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Dalston (Cumbria) and Dalton. Both on the Cumbrian Coast line between Carlisle and Lancaster.

P.S. Mentioned already by @richard1976 upthread! :oops:
 

oddiesjack

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If preserved lines are allowed, what about Ripley and Ropley?

In addition, the two railway locations (though not stations) that I never remember which is which are Tapton and Tupton on opposite sides of Chesterfielld station.
 

roadierway77

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Howwood and How Wood. The former is in Renfrewshire, the latter in Hertfordshire. Quite far apart if you make a mistake.
 

Kilopylae

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Forest Hill and Forest Gate.
I have done this, unfortunately. I'm still not sure which one is which - I had been aiming at the one near Stratford and ended up in south London.

As a related aside, on that same day just an hour or so later, when I tried to take the bus back into central London I mixed up Camberwell Green (where I intended to change) with Clerkenwell Green (which I put into the journey planner).

My brother was once sold a ticket for Newcourt when he wanted Newton Abbot—given that he always calls it just "Newton" I can see how the mix up happened. And in an instance that was more annoying than a real problem, my friend left the train at Winnersh Triangle (assuming that the word "Triangle" was just lexical white noise) and ended up with a quarter of an hour's walk to meet the person waiting to pick him up in the car at Winnersh.

It's why the destination boards and announcements now state the latter as (the non-existent) Clacton-on-Sea.
I think the station was renamed.
 
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