Trivia: Settlements where rail infrastructure is more well known than its namesake

[Class800]

Isn't Watford Gap best known for motorway services?

 

[DelW]

Hardly anyone would know of Evercreech beyond the immediate area, were it not for Evercreech Junction (albeit it was south of the village).

Similarly Halwill / Halwill Junction (separate locations a mile apart), the latter well-known when the LSWR then Southern served the north Devon and Cornwall coasts.

 

[SargeNpton]

Isn't Watford Gap best known for motorway services?

Only since around 1959.

Prior to that it was a notable geographical feature that was made use of by the railway builders, the canal builders and (way back) by the Romans when they constructed the Watling Street.

 

[Class800]

This reveals the interesting difference between what a place is known for and what it was known for in the past

 

[gg1]

Isn't Watford Gap best known for motorway services?

That could be a whole other thread, 'settlements primarily know for the road infrastructure which bears it's name', you could probably include half the motorway service stations in the country.

 

[Mikey C]

Some underground stations named after specific roads have made the place well-known where the road itself isn't of much significance otherwise, even locally. For instance Rayners Lane - it's now seen as a kind of district in one corner of Harrow, though it only has that name and status because of the underground station on the road of that name. Similarly Goldhawk Road, Hanger Lane, and others.

Hangar Lane is most (in)famous as a road junction!

Street name > station > Road junction

 

[RH Liner]

Flying off at a tangent, I wonder if the LNER paid Waddington's to use its four London termini on the Monopoly board!

Wasn’t Fenchurch Street LMS?

 

[Strathclyder]

Wasn’t Fenchurch Street LMS?

If I'm not mistaken, Fenchurch Street was shared by both the LNER and the LMS post-grouping.

 

[Western Lord]

If I'm not mistaken, Fenchurch Street was shared by both the LNER and the LMS post-grouping.

Owned by the LNER, but most services provided by the LMS through the Midland's takeover of the London, Tilbury and Southend in 1912.

 

[Strathclyder]

Owned by the LNER, but most services provided by the LMS through the Midland's takeover of the London, Tilbury and Southend in 1912.

Not my area of expertise by any stretch of the imagination, so cheers for that.

 

[mrcheek]

There are a few places in Cornwall which I would never have heard of if not for the railway.

Par has been mentioned. St Erth is another, along with Lostwithiel, St Germans, and Gunnislake.

Also, Camborne, which is probably most famous for a Jethro joke. Similar to Cockfosters mentioned above, which is best remembered for a Max Miller joke!

 

[WestAnglian]

Adlestrop? People know of the station from the poem but most know nothing of the village.

 

[John Luxton]

There are a few places in Cornwall which I would never have heard of if not for the railway.

Par has been mentioned. St Erth is another, along with Lostwithiel, St Germans, and Gunnislake.

Also, Camborne, which is probably most famous for a Jethro joke. Similar to Cockfosters mentioned above, which is best remembered for a Max Miller joke!

Camborne is quite famous - even has its own song "Going Up Camborne Hill" a rugby, male voice choir and folk song favourite.

Commemorates the running of Trevithick's Road Locomotive in 1801.

Camborne Hill - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

It is also very well know for its mining history.

Lostwithiel is also famous for its castle.

ST Germans and Gunnislake I agree are a bit more obscure!

 

[AlbertBeale]

There are a few places in Cornwall which I would never have heard of if not for the railway.

Par has been mentioned. St Erth is another, along with Lostwithiel, St Germans, and Gunnislake.

Also, Camborne, which is probably most famous for a Jethro joke. Similar to Cockfosters mentioned above, which is best remembered for a Max Miller joke!

I always get Lostwithiel confused with Luxulyan - on the branch line a few miles away; the latter made the headlines decades ago when there was a campaign to stop a nuclear power station in that part of Cornwall. In the case of Lostwithiel, it's surely only the fact of the railway station that means non-locals have heard of it.

 

[The exile]

In the case of Lostwithiel, it's surely only the fact of the railway station that means non-locals have heard of it.

To be fair, that will apply to lots of smaller stations, particularly those which for operating convenience ( or whatever) get served by long distance services.

 

[urbophile]

Lostwithiel is also famous for its castle.

I visualise Lostwithiel as a remote moorland station surrounded by mist. Descending from the London train in the early morning, the sole passengers are Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson, the latter rubbing sleep from his eyes and looking around him in bewilderment. Don't tell me it's not like that.

 

[Deepgreen]

Box Hill, between Chippenham and Bath Spa on the Great Western Railway.

Not to be confused with Box Hill near Dorking, which has its own station.

 

[Dr_Paul]

Some underground stations named after specific roads have made the place well-known where the road itself isn't of much significance otherwise, even locally. For instance Rayners Lane - it's now seen as a kind of district in one corner of Harrow, though it only has that name and status because of the underground station on the road of that name. Similarly Goldhawk Road, Hanger Lane, and others. As for main line stations in London - yes, Victoria station has given its name to the district, though the district is surely itself well-known now*; but Kings Cross isn't such a clear-cut case. And the St Pancras area doesn't get its name from the station - it's the other way round; the St P name, in that part of London at least, isn't seen as synonymous with the station.
*And hence perhaps doesn't fit the criteria, since the topic is what's known by the name, not which came first.

I think that King's Cross as an area was called Battle Bridge before the station was built.

 

[xotGD]

Newton Heath

Best known for the football club.

Manchester United, as they are now called.

 

[6Gman]

On the West Coast Main Line: Hanslope Junction, Watford Gap and Kilsby Tunnel. All far better known than the villages they take their names from.

I would add Norton Bridge to that list.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

On the West Coast Main Line: Hanslope Junction, Watford Gap and Kilsby Tunnel. All far better known than the villages they take their names from.

Where is Hanslope / Hanslope Junction?

Maybe not all that well known, perhaps?!

 

[snowball]

I visualise Lostwithiel as a remote moorland station surrounded by mist. Descending from the London train in the early morning, the sole passengers are Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson, the latter rubbing sleep from his eyes and looking around him in bewilderment. Don't tell me it's not like that.

I imagine much the same. I also imagine Lostwithiel as midway between Lowestoft and Listowel.

 

[Fireless]

The first thing that came to my mind was Maschen in Germany (just south of Hamburg) being a small town (population of about 9000) with a large (in fact the largest in europe and second largest in the world) marshalling yard.

Healey, Tinsley and Toton all follow a similar pattern.

 

[snowball]

Hangar Lane is most (in)famous as a road junction!

Street name > station > Road junction

HangEr Lane. As in a wood clinging to a hillside. Nothing to do with aircraft.

 

[LOL The Irony]

Best known for the football club.

Manchester United, as they are now called.

A name that came from the depot, which is why I included it.

 

[D365]

There are several stations named after villages/suburbs which also serve larger nearby settlements where the station is more known than the place it's named after.

Some examples include Seamer, Thornaby, Hordon, Hartford, Longport and Markinch.

Barnetby is a good example for those familiar with Cleethorpes trains (South Transpennine).

Stenson is better known in railway circles for its junction, and in canal circles for its "bubble", than the nearby hamlet.

Is that the Stenson south of Derby?

 

[BeijingDave]

Crewe and Swindon are the two many people will think of but if the railway had not chosen the location for large scale workshops which other places would probably be far smaller now?
My first thoughts are Darlington and Eastleigh.

Crewe yes, but in the case of Swindon I think the first two things most people would think of are the 'Magic Roundabout' and the Honda factory, so possibly more famous (nowadays) for non-railway infrastructure!

 

[DA1]

Shenfield - Famous for being the Eastern terminus of Crossrail of course.

 

[Western Sunset]

The Island of Sodor.

 

[BeijingDave]

I visualise Lostwithiel as a remote moorland station surrounded by mist. Descending from the London train in the early morning, the sole passengers are Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson, the latter rubbing sleep from his eyes and looking around him in bewilderment. Don't tell me it's not like that.

Lostwithiel is also known in electronic music circles for 'The Road to Lostwithiel' on the groundbreaking/seminal BT album 'ESCM'

A beautiful, evocative track, but probably one which would not soundtrack the scene you describe there.