Trivia: Station names that do not reflect where they are

[vic-rijrode]

As a matter of interest, which station would you use to find the iconic Abbey Rd zebra crossing, if indeed it still exists?

It certainly still exists in Abbey Road. The nearest station is St John's Wood to the NE on the Jubilee Line with Maida Vale on the Bakerloo Line slightly further away to the SW. The Abbey Road studios are marked on Google Maps and the crossing is just outside.

 

[adrock1976]

As a matter of interest, which station would you use to find the iconic Abbey Rd zebra crossing, if indeed it still exists?

I believe the closest stations are either Maida Vale, Kilburn Park (Bakerloo Line), Kilburn High Road (Watford DC) or St John's Wood (ex Met/Bakerloo Stanmore Branch, now the present day Jubilee Line).

 

[Gloster]

It certainly still exists in Abbey Road. The nearest station is St John's Wood to the NE on the Jubilee Line with Maida Vale on the Bakerloo Line slightly further away to the SW. The Abbey Road studios are marked on Google Maps and the crossing is just outside.

Although it has been said that the crossing has been moved a few yards since the Beetle appeared on the cover.

 

[johnnychips]

Although it has been said that the crossing has been moved a few yards since the Beetle appeared on the cover.

I bet your auto-correct has made it a car not John, Paul, George and Ringo

Thanks for all replies.

 

[Gloster]

I bet your auto-correct has made it a car not John, Paul, George and Ringo

Thanks for all replies.

No, WYSIWIT (what you saw is what I typed). Look at the sleeve.

 

[johnnychips]

Wow, you are absolutely right. Never noticed that before. I wonder if it was deliberate. I can’t post an image, but there is a white VW Beetle parked on the left-hand side of the zebra crossing that the Beatles are crossing. This has made my day - cheers @Gloster .

Oh, and to keep on topic, go to St John’s Wood to see it, not Abbey Rd DLR.

 

[Taunton]

That white VW Beetle became famous in its own right. Parked there by chance, the owner, who lived there, later got fed up with the numberplate being stolen and sold it. Nowadays it is in the Volkswagen museum in Germany.

In shot, further along the road on the opposite side is the black police van of the era which police officers had come out in to stop the traffic both ways for a minute or two while the photo was being taken.

The Abbey Road on the DLR, being unstaffed, has posters which not only tell you that you are at the wrong one, but to go to St Johns Wood and how to get there. They have been there since the station opened, when they featured extensively in the initial publicity. The poster text also contains various puns on Beatles song titles.

 

[johnnychips]

That white VW Beetle became famous in its own right. Parked there by chance, the owner, who lived there, later got fed up with the numberplate being stolen and sold it. Nowadays it is in the Volkswagen museum in Germany.
.

Blimey! Where is the VW museum in Germany, and is it near a station with a confusing name? (Desperately trying to keep OT). I’d like to see that.

 

[Mikey C]

I regularly go across the Abbey Road Zebra crossing on the 139 bus! A real sign of how Covid has affected things is the lack of foreign tourists crossing the road or hanging around the studios

A few DLR station names are more like bus stop names than tube stops, being purely functional based on the nearest main road. Abbey Road isn't an especially important road, but it's more important than the other roads in the immediate area around the DLR station.

 

[PaulMc7]

Yoker is another train station that you could make a case for a name change given its location. Known plenty of people that would call where it is Whitecrook or already just into Clydebank. Mosspark is the other obvious one that makes little sense. Even calling it Mosspark Drive would make more sense but it should really be Pollok or South Cardonald.

Could even add a reference to Knightswood or Blairdardie into Westerton station too given the location of that station.

Drumry is another like that given that Linnvale is one side of it too.

I've noticed a lot of the time with train stations they can be located heavily to one end of an area. There are probably hundreds of stations that could fit into this if you look far enough into it.

 

[Gloster]

I've noticed a lot of the time with train stations they can be located heavily to one end of an area. There are probably hundreds of stations that could fit into this if you look far enough into it.

One possible reason for this is that the stations were originally a mile or two from the place they took their name from. The town or village then grew along the connecting road to the station, or a separate settlement was established around the station and the two slowly grew together. In many cases the town centre remains where it always was.

 

[PaulMc7]

One possible reason for this is that the stations were originally a mile or two from the place they took their name from. The town or village then grew along the connecting road to the station, or a separate settlement was established around the station and the two slowly grew together. In many cases the town centre remains where it always was.

That's very true to be fair. It's a really interesting subject overall especially given how many stations exist in the UK.

 

[MadMac]

Yoker is another train station that you could make a case for a name change given its location. Known plenty of people that would call where it is Whitecrook or already just into Clydebank. Mosspark is the other obvious one that makes little sense. Even calling it Mosspark Drive would make more sense but it should really be Pollok or South Cardonald.

Could even add a reference to Knightswood or Blairdardie into Westerton station too given the location of that station.

Drumry is another like that given that Linnvale is one side of it too.

I've noticed a lot of the time with train stations they can be located heavily to one end of an area. There are probably hundreds of stations that could fit into this if you look far enough into it.

Yoker was, of course, Yoker High to distinguish it from Yoker Ferry. I think it was one of the seven stations in the Burgh of Clydebank.

Mosspark was Mosspark West, even though there was never, AFAIK, another Mosspark station: there’s a case to be made that Corkerhill should actually be called Mosspark.

 

[Gathursty]

Yoker is another train station that you could make a case for a name change given its location. Known plenty of people that would call where it is Whitecrook or already just into Clydebank. Mosspark is the other obvious one that makes little sense. Even calling it Mosspark Drive would make more sense but it should really be Pollok or South Cardonald.

Could even add a reference to Knightswood or Blairdardie into Westerton station too given the location of that station.

Drumry is another like that given that Linnvale is one side of it too.

I've noticed a lot of the time with train stations they can be located heavily to one end of an area. There are probably hundreds of stations that could fit into this if you look far enough into it.

When the Caledonian Sleeper made a connection at Westerton for Glasgow on the Deerstalker a few years ago, I thought Westerton was some intriguing remote junction on the edge of the Highlands. How wrong I was.

 

[PaulMc7]

When the Caledonian Sleeper made a connection at Westerton for Glasgow on the Deerstalker a few years ago, I thought Westerton was some intriguing remote junction on the edge of the Highlands. How wrong I was.

I've stayed a bit near to Westerton for a long time now and I barely knew it existed til recent years. It's a strange area that's just sandwiched within so many areas on the outside of it.