Trivia: Stations named after countries.

[Adlington]

In eastern Poland there is Ruskie Piaski (Russian Sands) station. BTW, "Ruski" is an old Polish word meaning "Russian", still used as a derogatory term.

 

[mailbyrail]

The station in the country of Belarus on the line from Minsk to Maladzyechna/Molodechno serving the village of Zaslawye is named Belarus

 

[capitalconnect]

The station in the country of Belarus on the line from Minsk to Maladzyechna/Molodechno serving the village of Zaslawye is named Belarus

I remember visiting that station. It is a very odd name. I have never understood why they decided to name some random suburban station "Belarus"! The area is not even called "Belarus"! It is just a minor small suburban station served by Elektrichka trains. There is nothing significant there. Does anyone know the story behind it? Why did they decide to name some random station in Belarus as "Belarus"?

 

[Calthrop]

Amtrak serves the station of Malta in the state of Montana, on the route from Chicago to Seattle.

A fair number of possibilities in the scope of this thread, can indeed be envisaged in the USA; particularly if one may count in this "game", places no longer served by passenger trains; or indeed, lying at one time on rail lines which are now defunct. The US would seem to have quite an abundance of settlements named after countries. One might advance -- for certain, rail-served at least at one time -- Cuba in western New York State, once on a short line called the Bradford, Eldred & Cuba; and in Colorado on the Denver & Rio Grande system: Trinidad (admittedly cheating a bit here -- the nation's proper name is Trinidad and Tobago). Other US "nation-named settlements", reckonable likely to have been rail-connected in the past even if no longer so today: there's another Malta, in Idaho; and elsewhere in the "Lower 48" one finds Brazil, Palestine, Peru, and Sudan.

 

[topydre]

If Llanrwst Town Council had been successful in their bid to join the United Nations (and thus gained nation state status), Llanrwst and North Llanrwst would have been possible

 

[steamybrian]

Has anyone mentioned.. New Holland (on the Humber)

 

[D6130]

I'm sure that many, many years ago in Edinburgh - before the opening of Waverley - there used to be a station called Scotland Street.

 

[Glenn1969]

Did Wales (near Rotherham) ever have a station?

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Did Wales (near Rotherham) ever have a station?

There was a Waleswood station near Rotherham, on the old Grand Central line between Sheffield Victoria and Worksop, closed 1955, and was located quite near to Wales village (a mile or so as the crow flies), but no Wales station, as such.

 

[Caboose Class]

There's a station called Jordan on one of the Hong Kong MTR lines.

And do these two count? CHADwell Heath and rOMAN Bridge?

 

[Calthrop]

Other US "nation-named settlements", reckonable likely to have been rail-connected in the past even if no longer so today: there's another Malta, in Idaho; and elsewhere in the "Lower 48" one finds Brazil, Palestine, Peru, and Sudan.

And, I find, there are "Mexico" 's in Maine, New York State, and Missouri !

 

[duncanp]

There are settlements called Belgium in Wisconsin, New York, Illinois and West Virginia.

The Union Pacific Railroad operates a freight only line through Belgium, Wisconsin, and the official railroad map for Wisconsin in 1900 (available online) shows that there was a station at Belgium.

​

 

[oldman]

In eastern Poland there is Ruskie Piaski (Russian Sands) station. BTW, "Ruski" is an old Polish word meaning "Russian", still used as a derogatory term.

Ruski also means Ruthenian. There was once many Ruthenians/Ukrainians in the area and villages called Something Rusk*. After WW2 (the Jewish population having been murdered by this time) there was ethnic cleansing across the new border and internally within Poland. In 1977 a lot of once Ruthenian villages in SE Poland were given more Polish names, but this was reversed in 1981.

(Extreme Russian nationalists would argue that all east Slavs - Ukrainians, Belarusians, Ruthenians, Rusyns, Lemkos etc. - are really Russians. Ukrainian nationalists claim Ruthenians, Rusyns, Lemkos etc. are really Ukrainian. And so on. Ethnography can get political.)

Why did they decide to name some random station in Belarus as "Belarus"?

In the interwar period it was the first station on the Belarusian (Soviet) side of the then border with Poland. It was renamed in 1926, presumably as a patriotic gesture. Reston is going to be officially called Scotland East, I believe.

 

[67thave]

And, I find, there are "Mexico" 's in Maine, New York State, and Missouri !

You could theoretically travel a large part of the world without leaving New York State. Off the top of my head, we have towns called Warsaw, Leicester, Riga, Cuba, Rome, Amsterdam, Potsdam, Interlaken, Dresden, Dundee, Athens, Cairo, Bohemia, Rye, Southampton, Islip, Brentwood, Waterford, Greece, Corfu, Savona, Dunkirk, and Salamanca.

 

[Calthrop]

There are settlements called Belgium in Wisconsin, New York, Illinois and West Virginia.

The Union Pacific Railroad operates a freight only line through Belgium, Wisconsin, and the official railroad map for Wisconsin in 1900 (available online) shows that there was a station at Belgium.

It keeps getting better ! And "Holland" has been mentioned in the thread -- posts #20, #36 -- Being a pedant, I'm chary of this one: strictly, the proper name of the country concerned, being the Netherlands: Holland properly, just one small coastal segment thereof; but I see that there is a Holland in New York State, and another in Michigan.

Ruski also means Ruthenian. There was once many Ruthenians/Ukrainians in the area and villages called Something Rusk*. After WW2 (the Jewish population having been murdered by this time) there was ethnic cleansing across the new border and internally within Poland. In 1977 a lot of once Ruthenian villages in SE Poland were given more Polish names, but this was reversed in 1981.

(Extreme Russian nationalists would argue that all east Slavs - Ukrainians, Belarusians, Ruthenians, Rusyns, Lemkos etc. - are really Russians. Ukrainian nationalists claim Ruthenians, Rusyns, Lemkos etc. are really Ukrainian. And so on. Ethnography can get political.)


In the interwar period it was the first station on the Belarusian (Soviet) side of the then border with Poland. It was renamed in 1926, presumably as a patriotic gesture. Reston is going to be officially called Scotland East, I believe.

Eastern Europe altogether, often has me thinking -- in tune with poor Rodney King: why can't we all just get along ?

You could theoretically travel a large part of the world without leaving New York State. Off the top of my head, we have towns called Warsaw, Leicester, Riga, Cuba, Rome, Amsterdam, Potsdam, Interlaken, Dresden, Dundee, Athens, Cairo, Bohemia, Rye, Southampton, Islip, Brentwood, Waterford, Greece, Corfu, Savona, Dunkirk, and Salamanca.

Hey ! Countries-wise -- from the above: score as new, Greece and maybe Bohemia. No disrespect meant here; but New York State-ers seem to have drawn very heavily on Europe, for place-names. Couldn't they have done more borrowing of Native American names? -- or are the local tribes' languages big on length and tongue-twisting? as with that lake somewhere in New England, with a name which makes our Llanfair PG look brief and highly pronounceable: name meaning "We'll fish on our side, you fish on your side, nobody fishes in the middle"?

 

[DanielB]

You could theoretically travel a large part of the world without leaving New York State. Off the top of my head, we have towns called Warsaw, Leicester, Riga, Cuba, Rome, Amsterdam, Potsdam, Interlaken, Dresden, Dundee, Athens, Cairo, Bohemia, Rye, Southampton, Islip, Brentwood, Waterford, Greece, Corfu, Savona, Dunkirk, and Salamanca.

Even without leaving New York City, as several parts of New York still have names that are Anglified versions of Dutch towns. A remainder of the former Dutch colony over there.

For example there's Brooklyn (named after Breukelen) and Harlem (Haarlem). So probably there might also be some stations named after foreign towns.

 

[TravelDream]

A few weeks ago I discovered that St Petersburg in Russia has a station called Finland Station. Are there any other examples of railway or metro stations named after countries, either in the UK or abroad?

I have put this in the International Transport section as my guess is that most examples will be outside the UK.

It's common for Russian/ Soviet train stations to be named by the main destination in that direction.
That's why St Petersburg has a Moscow Station and Moscow has a Leningrad station (name not changed when the city did).
In St Petersburg, there is also a Baltic Station with all three Baltic states now being independent.

To be fair on it being a different country, Finland Station was actually built by Finnish state railways as the destination for the Finland-St Petersburg railway. It was operated by them until the Russian Revolution.

Moscow has a Belarus Station and a Kiev Station. Both in different countries now, but part of the Russian Empire when built.

 

[duncanp]

Even without leaving New York City, as several parts of New York still have names that are Anglified versions of Dutch towns. A remainder of the former Dutch colony over there.

For example there's Brooklyn (named after Breukelen) and Harlem (Haarlem). So probably there might also be some stations named after foreign towns.

And Staten Island, which was originally called Staaten Eylandt when it was settled by Dutch colonists in the 17th century.

 

[Calthrop]

Also Gramercy Park -- nothing to do with archaic English version of "thank you"; but a corruption of Dutch de kromme zee = "the crooked lake".

 

[spyinthesky]

Grateley station is close to Palestine

 

[Caboose Class]

Also in the USA, there's a station called GEORGIA STATE near Atlanta and one called TRINIDAD in Colorado.

 

[67thave]

Hey ! Countries-wise -- from the above: score as new, Greece and maybe Bohemia. No disrespect meant here; but New York State-ers seem to have drawn very heavily on Europe, for place-names. Couldn't they have done more borrowing of Native American names? -- or are the local tribes' languages big on length and tongue-twisting? as with that lake somewhere in New England, with a name which makes our Llanfair PG look brief and highly pronounceable: name meaning "We'll fish on our side, you fish on your side, nobody fishes in the middle"?

There is a lot of native borrowing as well. We don't have a ton of tongue-twisting ones, however. If you want to see a state which has very few native place names, check out Massachusetts. The vast majority of towns there trace their names to places in the British Isles, though sometimes with spelling modifications (for instance, Attleborough lost its last three letters somewhere along the line and became Attleboro, and Framlingham somehow lost the L and became Framingham).

 

[DanielB]

And Staten Island, which was originally called Staaten Eylandt when it was settled by Dutch colonists in the 17th century.

That might be an Anglified Dutch name, but it's not named after a Dutch town.
Just looking I found that Hempstead, which also appears to be a station in New York, is the Anglified version of Heemstede.

 

[67thave]

That might be an Anglified Dutch name, but it's not named after a Dutch town.
Just looking I found that Hempstead, which also appears to be a station in New York, is the Anglified version of Heemstede.

There's actually some controversy over if the name comes from Heemstede.
The consensus is that its name actually comes from Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire, since the town was settled by the British (even though the territory was Dutch when Hempstead was founded).

 

[Calthrop]

There is a lot of native borrowing as well. We don't have a ton of tongue-twisting ones, however. If you want to see a state which has very few native place names, check out Massachusetts. The vast majority of towns there trace their names to places in the British Isles, though sometimes with spelling modifications (for instance, Attleborough lost its last three letters somewhere along the line and became Attleboro, and Framlingham somehow lost the L and became Framingham).

Didn't all "-borough" and "-burgh" settlements in the US, become at one point, "-boro" by government fiat -- except for Pittsburgh, which flat-out defied the ordinance? (I have that information via Bill Bryson, whom I don't regard as totally reliable -- he is in my opinion, a bit inclined to prioritising sensation / getting a laugh, over the facts.)

Modifications -- likewise Barnstable and Billerica (Massachusetts), and Biddeford (Maine) -- well, some "drift" is inevitable !

 

[Glenn1969]

Has anyone mentioned Canada Water yet?

 

[TXMISTA]

Jamaica in Mexico City and New York City

 

[Austriantrain]

Schwedenplatz (Sweden Square) on the Vienna U-bahn network

Then I‘ll add Schottentor (Scots Gate), also an important Vienna transport interchange.

Not directly named after Scotland. But the church and convent it is named after does derive its name from Irish and Scottish (I doubt anybody in Austria knew the difference back then..) monks who came to Vienna.

 

[317666]

The original Leipzig Bayerischer Bahnhof - it opened in 1842, when Bavaria was still an independent kingdom.

 

[AndyNLondon]

SCNF has the Pyrenean station of Andorre-L'Hospitalet, which is not only named after Andorra, it is the station that (via a bus link) serves Andorra