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Trivia: Easily confused station names

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Class800

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As a bit of light entertainment during a very busy week, I thought I would start this one. Any easily confused station names - preferably real life experiences not hypothetical ones. Probably most will date back to the days before online ticket sales were common!

  • Sunbury and Sudbury - Over 15 years ago, I asked for a day return at Woolwich Arsenal and said Sunbury but was issued a ticket to Sudbury (I thought it looked a bit expensive). I noticed when they gave me the ticket, and agreed to re-issue it (correctly). A case of not listening carefully! Or clarifying which county it was in.
  • Pollokshaws West and Pollokshields West - even confused by booking offices often according to a guard. At least 5 years ago, there was an unofficial easement to mutually accept tickets from Glasgow to these stations (we got Pollokshields West tickets and were going to Pollokshaws West!) - staff thought it was normal. Hopefully it persists but never official, just a staff agreement. Probably one should be West before the name and the other after!
 
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RailUK Forums

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As a bit of light entertainment during a very busy week, I thought I would start this one. Any easily confused station names - preferably real life experiences not hypothetical ones. Probably most will date back to the days before online ticket sales were common!

  • Sunbury and Sudbury - Over 15 years ago, I asked for a day return at Woolwich Arsenal and said Sunbury but was issued a ticket to Sudbury (I thought it looked a bit expensive). I noticed when they gave me the ticket, and agreed to re-issue it (correctly). A case of not listening carefully! Or clarifying which county it was in.
  • Pollokshaws West and Pollokshields West - even confused by booking offices often according to a guard. At least 5 years ago, there was an unofficial easement to mutually accept tickets from Glasgow to these stations (we got Pollokshields West tickets and were going to Pollokshaws West!) - staff thought it was normal. Hopefully it persists but never official, just a staff agreement. Probably one should be West before the name and the other after!
Pollokshaws East and Pollokshields East is obviously another similar one to the Pollokshaws West and Pollokshields West example you have given.
 

306024

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Clapton and Clacton are not good ones to get wrong, as one passenger found out as we were appraching Shenfield.
 

GrimsbyPacer

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Liverpool Lime Street and London Liverpool Street (both have trains from Norwich)
Charing Cross is in Glasgow and London.
Maybe Ely and Ealing could be verbally confused??
 

pdeaves

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There are various possible causes for confusion that 'the railway' has tried to eliminate (or reduce). For example, Swindon and Swinton. The former is now Swindon (Wilts) in booking systems (though not on signs or announcements).
 

Snow1964

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New Milton and New Malden, originally named Milton and Malden, but former gained New to distinguish it as they were on same line, but now both got New prefixes
 

Gloster

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Wasn’t there a story on this forum (I think) about a woman who went to a wedding in Gillingham and even followed instructions that got her from the station to a church. But it had the wrong name as she was in Kent, not Dorset.
 

kaiser62

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A good few years ago I need to go down to London (from Norfolk) and the TOC at the time were having issues with their website, so I was forced to use their call centre to order a ticket. I had a great deal of difficultly trying to convince the nice lady that Liverpool Street and Liverpool Lime Street were not the same, and in fact were not even close.
I wanted a ticket for the former and definitely didn't want to go to the latter. In frustration I gave up and bought a ticket at the station.
 

barbette165

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Kings Lynn and Kings Cross (both destinations from Cambridge)

Wilmcote and Wilnecote - curiously/conversely the next station after Wilnecote on the way from Birmingham is Tamworth and Wilmcote is two stations beyond Danzey, which has previously been called Danzey for Tanworth
 
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Have Clapham Junction and Clapham (North Yorks) ever been confused?
Back when the GTR Twitter use to be based in Northern Ireland (they have since moved to Three Bridges ROC) they would always get confused between Clapham (Yorkshire) and Clapham Junction stations. Whenever anybody asked about Clapham (obviously meaning Clapham Junction) the GTR Twitter people would start telling them about how to get to or from Clapham (Yorkshire). It happened on multiple occasions. The people in Northern Ireland had zero local knowledge of the GTR network.
 

Class800

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For some reason a guard was unsure if I wanted Llanfair PG or Llanfairfechan as a request stop! Not that similar
 

Iskra

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Chapeltown and Chapelton, I nearly made a ticket office staff members day in Exeter when he thought I said Chapelton instead of Chapeltown as it’s probably a rare sale.

Swinton and Swinton too, which could be further confused with Swindon.
 
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geoffk

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Walkden and Walsden, Accrington and Acklington, Althorpe and Althorne? Then there are two Adlingtons, both on Northern's network. Eccles and Eccles Road - hope no-one has made that mistake.

Years ago a friend told me he was travelling from the north-east to a wedding at Harvington, Worcestershire, not knowing there were two Harvingtons. He went by train to the one near Evesham, as it happened on the day before closure of the Redditch - Ashchurch line, but it was the wrong Harvington. He should have gone to the one near Kidderminster and missed the wedding, luckily not his own!
 
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Mikey C

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Not a railway incident, but I was genuinely stopped by a confused driver heading down Borough High Street, heading towards Kennington, who actually wanted to get to Kensington :D
 

Parallel

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Audley End and Alderley Edge.

Appley Bridge and Apperley Bridge.

Tonfanau and Talsarnau
 

birchesgreen

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A couple of weeks ago my return ticket to Chester Road confused the guard when checking it as they first thought i was on the wrong train to Chester.
 
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