Trivia: Stations where passengers headed for a completely different destination end up on a regular basis

[swt_passenger]

and owed her safe arrival there to people at Swanwick!

Yes of course, well spotted.

 

[geoffk]

I think I mentioned previously the letter from Dumbarton to nearby Alexandria which took about nine months to arrive having gone via Egypt. Come to think of it: Alexandria and Alexandra Parade?

Didn't some football fans heading for Cagliari, Sardinia, for a World Cup match once end up in Calgary, Canada?

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Didn't some football fans heading for Cagliari, Sardinia, for a World Cup match once end up in Calgary, Canada?

A few years ago there were two news stories relating to European football competitions in the same week: One of some fans from Liverpool who mistakenly went to Gent instead of Genk (or it may have been the other way round); and a Portuguese fan who ended up in Frankfurt (Oder) instead of Frankfurt (Main).

 

[mrd269697]

A colleague of mine who works at Conway Park Station in Birkenhead said there have been a few times people have turned up asking where the castle is. Her response is ‘about 60 miles away’

 

[Purple Train]

What about Dalton and Dalston, both on the Cumbrian Coast line?
Or Roose and Rhoose?

 

[Dr_Paul]

Hayes and Harlington is often referred to as just Hayes. That must have led to a few people getting put on the wrong train before now.

I'm surprised that the Hayes stations were not suffixed Kent and Middlesex, like the Ashford stations.

Perhaps at Norwich the PIS displays should just show Liverpool and London!

Yes, I think that should solve the problem. Would services from Norwich go to any London terminus other than Liverpool Street? Are there any stations other than Norwich where this confusion might arise?

 

[Purple Train]

In a similar vein to my contribution about Cyprus station on the DLR up-thread, I wonder how much confusion has arisen over East India station?

 

[AlbertBeale]

I'm surprised that the Hayes stations were not suffixed Kent and Middlesex, like the Ashford stations.

Is the Kent Ashford suffixed routinely in railway use? In the days of dialling code booklets everyone had by their phone, the west London Ashford was always shown as "Ashford (Middx)" [Middlesex being its postal as opposed to administrative address], whilst the one in Kent was just listed as "Ashford". (As a Londoner I thought this strange, since I imagined the one in Greater London must be "the main one"!)

My father always told me that if you sent a letter addressed to "Richmond" without saying Yorkshire or Surrey, it would, by convention, first go to the Yorkshire one - he used that example to impress on me the importance of addressing envelopes carefully. I don't know whether that story about Richmond was true a couple of generations ago (again, I always thought it strange it was that way round, given one was more or less in London).

Is there any history of the two Richmonds ever causing confusion with railway tickets?

 

[SargeNpton]

Yes, I think that should solve the problem. Would services from Norwich go to any London terminus other than Liverpool Street? Are there any stations other than Norwich where this confusion might arise?

For the Liverpool Street/Liverpool Lime Street confusion - Ely might have the same problem.

 

[Dr_Paul]

Do many people going to Edge Hill University (which is in Ormskirk) unintentionally travel to Edge Hill station (which is in Liverpool)?

A pal of mine who worked in Charing Cross Road was asked by someone for directions to Charing Cross Hospital. Fortunately my pal knew where it was, in Fulham Palace Road, and told him that the nearest Underground station was Hammersmith, which is a few hundreds yards away from the hospital. Just to confuse matters, Hammersmith Hospital is a couple of miles north of Hammersmith, and its nearest Underground station is East Acton.

 

[urbophile]

My father always told me that if you sent a letter addressed to "Richmond" without saying Yorkshire or Surrey, it would, by convention, first go to the Yorkshire one - he used that example to impress on me the importance of addressing envelopes carefully. I don't know whether that story about Richmond was true a couple of generations ago (again, I always thought it strange it was that way round, given one was more or less in London).

Is there any history of the two Richmonds ever causing confusion with railway tickets?

The London one was named after the Yorkshire one. But the latter has no longer got a station.

Similar confusion (though only one of them has ever had a station) with the two Hales. One used to be in Cheshire and is now Greater Manchester; the other used to be in Lancashire but is now in Cheshire!

 

[MadMac]

For the Liverpool Street/Liverpool Lime Street confusion - Ely might have the same problem.

I think Stansted had the same issue.

 

[vic-rijrode]

The London one was named after the Yorkshire one. But the latter has no longer got a station.

Slight correction - the Richmond (N. Yorkshire) does have a station - alas, it does not have a railway.

 

[vlad]

Is the Kent Ashford suffixed routinely in railway use? In the days of dialling code booklets everyone had by their phone, the west London Ashford was always shown as "Ashford (Middx)" [Middlesex being its postal as opposed to administrative address], whilst the one in Kent was just listed as "Ashford". (As a Londoner I thought this strange, since I imagined the one in Greater London must be "the main one"!)

My father always told me that if you sent a letter addressed to "Richmond" without saying Yorkshire or Surrey, it would, by convention, first go to the Yorkshire one - he used that example to impress on me the importance of addressing envelopes carefully. I don't know whether that story about Richmond was true a couple of generations ago (again, I always thought it strange it was that way round, given one was more or less in London).

That could be the GPO being deliberately awkward.

"This letter is addressed to Richmond but doesn't say which. It's more likely to be the one in Surrey but let's send it to Yorkshire instead just to remind sender and receiver that mail could well be delayed if poorly addressed."

 

[zwk500]

Is the Kent Ashford suffixed routinely in railway use? In the days of dialling code booklets everyone had by their phone, the west London Ashford was always shown as "Ashford (Middx)" [Middlesex being its postal as opposed to administrative address], whilst the one in Kent was just listed as "Ashford". (As a Londoner I thought this strange, since I imagined the one in Greater London must be "the main one"!)

Ashford International is now used in preference to Ashford (Kent), in my experience, to avoid some of the confusion. It's helped as well by (AFAIK) no station having direct services to both (Unless you're being awkward about Waterloo East/Waterloo).

My father always told me that if you sent a letter addressed to "Richmond" without saying Yorkshire or Surrey, it would, by convention, first go to the Yorkshire one - he used that example to impress on me the importance of addressing envelopes carefully. I don't know whether that story about Richmond was true a couple of generations ago (again, I always thought it strange it was that way round, given one was more or less in London).

Is the london one officially Richmond-Upon-Thames or is that something it's gained colloquially to distinguish it (either from the other Richmond or just to make it posher)?

 

[urbophile]

That could be the GPO being deliberately awkward.

"This letter is addressed to Richmond but doesn't say which. It's more likely to be the one in Surrey but let's send it to Yorkshire instead just to remind sender and receiver that mail could well be delayed if poorly addressed."

How would the GPO know that it is 'more likely' to be one rather than the other? Unless they employ mind readers.

 

[Deafdoggie]

That could be the GPO being deliberately awkward.

"This letter is addressed to Richmond but doesn't say which. It's more likely to be the one in Surrey but let's send it to Yorkshire instead just to remind sender and receiver that mail could well be delayed if poorly addressed."

Counties are never part of an official Royal Mail address.

 

[vlad]

How would the GPO know that it is 'more likely' to be one rather than the other? Unless they employ mind readers.

Richmond, Surrey, is bigger. Or am I wrong?

Counties are never part of an official Royal Mail address.

True - but I understood from the post I replied to that this was an anecdote from many years ago when counties were required as there was no such as a postcode. Hence why I mentioned the GPO, which hasn't existed for over 50 years.

 

[Rescars]

And there is Edge Hill near Banbury, site of a civil war battle 1642. Sometimes spelled Edgehill.

I think we have the same Edge Hill. The battle is rather more significant though than the spectacularly unsuccessful offshoot of Col Stephens' empire. I am unsure how close the railway was to the battlefield.

Speaking of battles, has there ever been any confusion arising from London Waterloo, Waterloo (International) and Waterloo (Belgium) - the last of which is accessible by a direct train from Brussels?

 

[Volvictof]

The section of the Durham coast line between Heworth and Sunderland has 2 stations at Heworth. One is for the T&W metro and one is for the Mainline, they are right next to each other, if you’re going to Sunderland you can use a ticket for either type of train on either train. Or even if going further you could for e.g use your ticket to Hartlepool to get you to Sunderland on the metro and transfer to a northern train for the rest of the way etc etc.

Anyway, quite a few customers end up at South Hylton confused as to why they aren’t in Hartlepool.

 

[zwk500]

Speaking of battles, has there ever been any confusion arising from London Waterloo, Waterloo (International) and Waterloo (Belgium) - the last of which is accessible by a direct train from Brussels?

Well 2 of those were the same station, so anybody looking for a train to Cobham turning up at the passport desk would be fairly quickly directed to the appropriate part of the station!

 

[Kite159]

For the Liverpool Street/Liverpool Lime Street confusion - Ely might have the same problem.

Only for 3 trains a day in the morning, all the other London trains from Ely go towards Kings Cross

 

[Springs Branch]

Do many people going to Edge Hill University (which is in Ormskirk) unintentionally travel to Edge Hill station (which is in Liverpool)?

If they did, and the hapless traveller emerged from the station and asked a passer-by "Which way to the university?", they could quite legitimately be directed down the hill towards the nearby Liverpool University.

I also wonder it any head-in-the-clouds overseas academic has flown into Luton Airport heading for a conference at Loughborough University, arrived at Luton Airport Parkway station and boarded a Thameslink train to Loughborough Junction?
Unlikely since there is only a handful of through trains from LTN to LGJ, either first thing in the morning or late evening.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Speaking of battles, has there ever been any confusion arising from London Waterloo, Waterloo (International) and Waterloo (Belgium) - the last of which is accessible by a direct train from Brussels?

I was under the impression that "Waterloo" was an anglicisation of the Flemish "Westerlo".

 

[Andyjs247]

Similar confusion (though only one of them has ever had a station) with the two Hales. One used to be in Cheshire and is now Greater Manchester; the other used to be in Lancashire but is now in Cheshire!

Hale, Cheshire might be confused with Hayle in Cornwall.

Another one not far away that got me once was confusing Irlam with Urmston. I needed the latter but got off at the former - at least I got to spend time at Irlam which was quite pleasant even if I got to my destination later than planned.

 

[dodecahedron67]

I'm surprised that the Hayes stations were not suffixed Kent and Middlesex, like the Ashford stations.

Hayes in south-east London is suffixed as Hayes (Kent) and Hayes & Harlington is the official name of the other

 

[BeijingDave]

Richmond, Surrey, is bigger. Or am I wrong?

Yes. But Richmond, Yorkshire is about 500 years older.

 

[Taunton]

Abbey Road (DLR) is where a lot of Beatles-obsessed tourists find themselves, if they don't go to Liverpool. I think Maida Vale is the nearest station to the famed Zebra crossing and studios.

As described above, the humorous signs were at the station on opening day, and the joke seems to have stuck; the puns on Beatles song names were devised by one of the DLR team. In fact I've never heard of anyone going there by mistake; it's an unstaffed station so there are no accounts by staff of having to redirect people. For those who haven't seen the signs, including instructions on how to get to St John's Wood for the 'other' Abbey Road, here's one :

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8a/Abbey_Road_DLR_Station_Beatles_Sign.jpg

 

[unlevel42]

On leaving Bangor(Gwynedd)in August 1974 sometime I got chatting to an academic from Tunisia who had attended the International Seaweed Symposium at UCNW. I've still got the commemorative postcard.
He was quite agitated and kept looking through his booklet of tickets and a BA map and kept asking if the train would get him to London and then Heathrow.
Eventually I looked at his book of tickets which showed that he had been booked a ticket through to Bangor(NI). His agitation was actually excitement at the prospect of crossing the Irish Sea in daylight as he had not seen it on the way to Bangor.
On the way to a Bangor he had been re-directed to make a connecting Manchester Airport to Belfast flight, an alert guard out of Euston had noticed this and had signed his coupon for travel to Bangor on the non-stop boat train in the dark from Crewe.

 

[Deafdoggie]

True - but I understood from the post I replied to that this was an anecdote from many years ago when counties were required as there was no such as a postcode. Hence why I mentioned the GPO, which hasn't existed for over 50 years.

You're just showing your age

Hale, Cheshire might be confused with Hayle in Cornwall.

They have been! I was stood on Hayle station ringing NRES who told me trains from Hale. They refused to believe there was another Hayle!