Trivia: Stations with non-geographical names

[WesternBiker]

Bournville is named after a bar of chocolate.

Ah, but was the chocolate named after the model village, or the village after the chocolate...?

 

[AlterEgo]

Woolwich Dockyard hasn't served a dockyard for over 150 years.

 

[uvarvu]

Clock House at Clock House is long gone too.

 

[Roger1973]

Victoria station is actually named after the nearby Victoria Street and not the Queen. So it is more geographic than one might think!

I didn't realise that - thought the station came first.

London Waterloo and quite a few railway and metro stations in Paris (Austerlitz, Iéna, Solferino, or even Magenta) are named after actual places; but these names do not relate directly in any way to the areas where the stations are located. We could call that Napoleonic naming.

In the case of London Waterloo, I think Waterloo Bridge came first and the station was named after the bridge.

Being just down the line from Old Oak Common, I doubt if North Pole International has even been visited by a polar bear

Was the 'North Pole' pub there before the junction or the pub named after the junction? I have heard the theory that it was regarded as the 'north pole' by train crews from south of the river, but this may be anecdotal...

 

[Western Sunset]

Being just down the line from Old Oak Common, I doubt if North Pole International has even been visited by a polar bear

The Great Bear was often seen at OOC though. Sorry for going OT.

 

[Rescars]

I didn't realise that - thought the station came first.



In the case of London Waterloo, I think Waterloo Bridge came first and the station was named after the bridge.



Was the 'North Pole' pub there before the junction or the pub named after the junction? I have heard the theory that it was regarded as the 'north pole' by train crews from south of the river, but this may be anecdotal...

Re North Pole, I don't know which came first, the railway or the pub. I love the anecdote about drivers from the south. North Pole is even south of Watford.

As other examples, Belmont was originally called California, named after the local very historic inn. I think Bay Horse station was named after the pub, the hamlet followed later.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Was the 'North Pole' pub there before the junction or the pub named after the junction? I have heard the theory that it was regarded as the 'north pole' by train crews from south of the river, but this may be anecdotal...

The pub in the area was built in c. 1839 but was apparently originally called "The Globe".

North Pole Road was then subsequently developed in the years following, and when the pub was re-built in c. 1872, it was then re-named as The North Pole Hotel.

The former pub building is now a 'Tesco Express', since 2020, I believe.

So, if not the pub, which came first, the 'North Pole' road name or the railway infrastructure? Or maybe it's got something to do with the nearby Grand Union Canal?

 

[pdeaves]

I doubt if North Pole International has even been visited by a polar bear

It has apparently been visited by Santa, though (see Realtime Trains each December 24)

 

[Mcr Warrior]

It has apparently been visited by Santa, though (see Realtime Trains each December 24)

So does almost everywhere else on the network, to be fair!

 

[swt_passenger]

In the case of London Waterloo, I think Waterloo Bridge came first and the station was named after the bridge.

The Wiki article supports that order of events, but the 1848-51 OS town plan, (on the ever useful National Library of Scotland map site), labels it Waterloo Road Railway Station. That would possibly place it a further step away from the battle site:

Side by side georeferenced maps viewer - Map images - National Library of Scotland

 

[SHD]

But whether the bridge or the station or the road was named "Waterloo" first does not really change the fact that the name has nowt to do with actual geographical/physical features of this particular place near a Thames curve... does it?

A funny coincidence though as in Paris, the Austerlitz bridge was named much earlier than the station - the bridge was built and named after Austerlitz while Napoleon was still Emperor!

 

[FtoE]

Pomona is also the name of Orkney Mainland (just to confuse things further!)

 

[Sheridan]

The North Wales entry into the competition: Roman Bridge, Valley and (this one may be controversial) Llandudno Junction.

As someone else has said, the area was known as Valley before the railway station was built so I would say that is geographical. Tŷ Croes, on the other hand translates as ‘Crossing House’, and whilst the area around it is now also known as Tŷ Croes, presumably the railway came first.

 

[BeijingDave]

There was a station called Park, in the Newton Heath/Phillips Park area, east side of Manchester.

Yes, it always bewildered me how that ever got named, or wasn't renamed the less confusing Philip's Park (it was one 'l') or Clayton Vale or Newton Heath, which was the 'Park', and broader area, it was actually situated at.

 

[Ex-controller]

High Street - could refer to loads of locations but in this case refers to the High Street in Glasgow

So it is geographical then as it refers to the street in which the station is located.

Exhibition Centre

Was renamed to serve the SECC, so could argue that is is geographic because it refers to an adjacent landmark/attraction.

 

[Maude673]

Edinburgh Gateway - although technically serving Edinburgh, isn’t a place or a Gateway.

 

[barbette165]

As well as Wigan Wallgate being further north and west tha Wigan North Western, both are located on Wallgate.

 

[SteveyBee131]

As well as Wigan Wallgate being further north and west tha Wigan North Western, both are located on Wallgate.

As mentioned earlier, Wigan North Western was so named after the company who ran it way back when, the London & North Western Railway. It's ironic that if the practice were adopted today, it's name could be Wigan West Coast, even less geographic!
(though there is a "Wigan Pier" but let's not go down that off topic rabbit warren!)

 

[Rescars]

Can anyone explain Tram Inn in Herefordshire? Presumably some sort of railway must have been there initially for the pub to get its name, after which the station was named when the railway was built! All a bit confusing!

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Can anyone explain Tram Inn in Herefordshire? Presumably some sort of railway must have been there initially for the pub to get its name, after which the station was named when the railway was built! All a bit confusing!

Some sources claim that The Tram Inn in Herefordshire (once a station, now a level crossing?) reflects that it was once alongside an old horse-drawn tramway, which reached Hereford in 1829. The adjacent pub with the name is now closed.

Railway line is the one from Hereford to Abergavenny, about 6.5 miles (11km) South West from Hereford.

 

[Rescars]

Some sources claim that The Tram Inn in Herefordshire (once a station, now a level crossing?) reflects that it was once alongside an old horse-drawn tramway, which reached Hereford in 1829. The adjacent pub with the name is now closed.

Railway line is the one from Hereford to Abergavenny, about 6.5 miles (11km) South West from Hereford.

Many thanks for the explanation. It does make sense of the apparent "chicken and egg" conundrum. I wonder why the tramway was built. Connecting to a quarry perhaps?

 

[Bryson]

Meadowhall? If it was geographical surely it'd be called Tinsley?

I'm not sure about this one. The Meadowhall name has a long history.

The present station is named after the Shopping centre which opened in 1990, however the shopping centre is named after the Meadow Hall Iron works which opened in 1870 on the same site (This was later replaced by Hadfield's Hecla East steel works).

It is the second railway station in this area to carry the name. The first one opened in 1868 (before the Iron works!) and was named Meadow Hall. It was renamed Meadow Hall and Wincobank in 1899 and closed in 1953. The station building is still standing on Blackburn Road, just a little to the north of the present line to Chapeltown and Barnsley.

Maps from the 1840 show an area named Meadow Hall very close to where the original station was built 28 years later. It would considered to be part of Wincobank now.

(I'm not sure if the removal of the space between the words Meadow and Hall was a mistake or deliberate when naming the shopping centre)

 

[Mcr Warrior]

I wonder why the tramway was built. Connecting to a quarry perhaps?

Believe the tramway was primarily used for bringing coal over from South Wales. Commenced in Abergavenny in 1814 and eventually (in three stages) reached Hereford in September 1829.

The tramway was seemingly only open for a few decades before the three companies that operated it were bought out so that its path/course could then be re-used by the "new fangled" railway in the early 1850s.

 

[DelW]

Ah, but was the chocolate named after the model village, or the village after the chocolate...?

On the earliest map I've found on the NLS site, Bournville is shown as a place name for a hamlet with a station, but a "cocoa factory", presumably the forerunner of Cadbury's, had already been already established. Several placenames in the area derive from a stream called Bourn Brook (a bourne usually being a stream that flows only in winter). That is now called The Bourn, possibly to distinguish it from another Bourn Brook a little further north, which has an adjacent suburb named after it.

Link to the map: https://maps.nls.uk/view/101585935

 

[rower40]

Junction Road Junction; which came first, the Junction or the Road?

 

[swt_passenger]

Junction Road Junction; which came first, the Junction or the Road?

The road. It predates the railway, it opened in 1813.

Junction Road | Hidden London

A brief history of Junction Road,a down-at-heel but improving street connecting Tufnell Park with Upper Holloway (Archway), with a map and a photo.

hidden-london.com

 

[michael74]

Warren, with no other distinction - was the stop before New Brighton

The area is historically known as the Warren, Warren Drive is close by and the golf course is called the Warren.

 

[Rescars]

Believe the tramway was primarily used for bringing coal over from South Wales. Commenced in Abergavenny in 1814 and eventually (in three stages) reached Hereford in September 1829.

The tramway was seemingly only open for a few decades before the three companies that operated it were bought out so that its path/course could then be re-used by the "new fangled" railway in the early 1850s.

40 miles is quite a journey on a tramway! Understandable that the railway would want to take it over. Perhaps the deal was done over a glass of something in the Tram Inn itself!

 

[MadMac]

I’ve mentioned before the long-closed Houston & Crosslee which wasn’t actually in either place.

 

[SteveyBee131]

New Clee is geographically inaccurate as there is no area known as New Clee. A more accurate geographic name would be East Marsh, or even Grimsby Docks, as it's nearer the Docks than the actual Grimsby Docks station! In which case that one could instead be called East Marsh as it's also in the same general area.