Great Western Coffee Shop

Since I started the "Station Comparator" a few years ago ... 234 station official ORR names (around 9%) have changed, though there three letter code have remained the same.   A pedant's charter!  I will look to update databased when I have a month at home. (Oh - I think I have a month at home!)

ACB renamed from Acton Bridge to Acton Bridge (Cheshire)
ACT renamed from Ascot to Ascot (Berks)
AFS renamed from Ashford (Middlesex) to Ashford (Surrey)
AHS renamed from Ashurst to Ashurst (Kent)
ALN renamed from Althorne to Althorne (Essex)
ALR renamed from Alresford to Alresford (Essex)
ALW renamed from Allen's West to Allens West
APD renamed from Appledore to Appledore (Kent)
ASC renamed from Ashchurch to Ashchurch for Tewkesbury
BBS renamed from Birmingham Bordesley to Bordesley
BDM renamed from Bedford Midland to Bedford
BFR renamed from Blackfriars to London Blackfriars
BIP renamed from Bishopstone to Bishopstone (Sussex)
BIT renamed from Bicester Town to Bicester Village
BMC renamed from Bromley Cross to Bromley Cross (Lancs)
BNM renamed from Burnham to Burnham (Buckinghamshire)
BPK renamed from Brookman's Park to Brookmans Park
BPT renamed from Bishopton to Bishopton (Renfrewshire)
BSE renamed from Bury St.Edmunds to Bury St Edmunds
BSJ renamed from Bedford St.Johns to Bedford St Johns
BTD renamed from Bolton-On-Dearne to Bolton-Upon-Dearne
BTY renamed from Bentley to Bentley (Hampshire)
BUD renamed from Burneside to Burneside (Cumbria)
BUI renamed from Burnside to Burnside (South Lanarkshire)
BXW renamed from Boxhill & Westhumble to Box Hill & Westhumble
BYK renamed from Bentley (S. Yorks) to Bentley (South Yorkshire)
CAS renamed from Castleton to Castleton (Manchester)
CEL renamed from Chelford to Chelford (Cheshire)
CES renamed from Cressing to Cressing (Essex)
CFH renamed from Chafford Hundred to Chafford Hundred Lakeside
CHG renamed from Charing to Charing (Kent)
CHH renamed from Christ's Hospital to Christs Hospital
CHX renamed from Charing Cross to London Charing Cross
CKH renamed from Corkerhill Glasgow to Corkerhill
CKT renamed from Crookston Glasgow to Crookston
CLI renamed from Clifton to Clifton (Manchester)
CLN renamed from Chapeltown to Chapeltown (South Yorkshire)
CLT renamed from Clacton to Clacton-on-Sea
CME renamed from Combe to Combe (Oxon)
COE renamed from Coombe to Coombe Junction Halt
CPN renamed from Chapelton to Chapelton (Devon)
CST renamed from Cannon Street to London Cannon Street
CWD renamed from Creswell (Derbys) to Creswell
CWN renamed from Cowden to Cowden (Kent)
DBG renamed from Dunbridge to Mottisfont & Dunbridge
DBR renamed from Derby Road to Derby Road (Ipswich)
DEN renamed from Dean to Dean (Wilts)
DFE renamed from Dunfermline Queen Margaret to Dunfermline Town
DFL renamed from Dunfermline to Dunfermline Queen Margaret
DIG renamed from Digby and Sowton to Digby & Sowton
DKG renamed from Dorking to Dorking (Main)
DLK renamed from Dalston (Kingsland) to Dalston Kingsland
DLS renamed from Dalston to Dalston (Cumbria)
DLT renamed from Dalton to Dalton (Cumbria)
DMG renamed from Dinas (Mid Glamorgan) to Dinas (Rhondda)
DOC renamed from Dockyard to Dockyard (Devonport)
DOR renamed from Dore to Dore & Totley
DPD renamed from Deepdene to Dorking (Deepdene)
EBB renamed from Ebbsfleet International to Ebbw Vale Town
EBR renamed from Edenbridge to Edenbridge(Kent)
ECC renamed from Eccles to Eccles (Manchester)
EPS renamed from Epsom to Epsom (Surrey)
ESM renamed from Elsenham to Elsenham (Essex)
EUS renamed from Euston to London Euston
EXD renamed from Exeter St. David's to Exeter St David's
EXG renamed from Exhibition Centre Glasgow to Exhibition Centre (Glasgow)
EXT renamed from Exeter St. Thomas to Exeter St Thomas
FRI renamed from Frinton to Frinton-on-Sea
FSB renamed from Fishbourne to Fishbourne (Sussex)
FST renamed from Fenchurch Street to London Fenchurch Street
GMG renamed from Garth (Mid-Glamorgan) to Garth (Bridgend County)
GNH renamed from Greenhithe to Greenhithe for Bluewater
GTN renamed from Grangetown (South Glamorgan) to Grangetown (Cardiff)
HAL renamed from Hale to Hale (Manchester)
HAT renamed from Hatfield to Hatfield (Herts)
HHB renamed from Heysham Harbour to Heysham Port
HID renamed from Hall I' Th' Wood to Hall-I'-Th'-Wood
HIR renamed from Horton In Ribblesdale to Horton-In-Ribblesdale
HLN renamed from Harlington to Harlington (Bedfordshire)
HMD renamed from Hampden Park to Hampden Park (Sussex)
HMP renamed from Hampton to Hampton (London)
HND renamed from Handborough to Hanborough
HNK renamed from Hinckley to Hinckley (Leics)
HNX renamed from Hunt's Cross to Hunts Cross
HOH renamed from Harrow-on-the-Hill to Harrow-On-The-Hill
HOZ renamed from Howwood to Howwood (Renfrewshire)
HPE renamed from Hope (Clwyd) to Hope (Flintshire)
HSD renamed from Hamstead to Hamstead (Birmingham)
HST renamed from High Street to High Street (Glasgow)
HTF renamed from Hartford to Hartford (Cheshire)
HYH renamed from Hythe to Hythe (Essex)
INC renamed from Ince to Ince (Manchester)
INE renamed from Ince & Elton to Ince & Elton (Cheshire)
JHN renamed from Johnstone to Johnstone (Renfrewshire)
JOH renamed from Johnston (Dyfed) to Johnston (Pembs)
KGL renamed from King's Langley to Kings Langley
KGN renamed from King's Nympton to Kings Nympton
KGP renamed from King's Park to Kings Park
KGS renamed from King's Sutton to Kings Sutton
KGX renamed from King's Cross to London Kings Cross
KKB renamed from Kirkby in Ashfield to Kirkby-in-Ashfield
KLN renamed from King's Lynn to Kings Lynn
KMP renamed from Kempton Park to Kempton Park Racecourse
KNN renamed from King's Norton to Kings Norton
KSL renamed from Kearsley to Kearsley (Manchester)
KSN renamed from Kearsney to Kearsney (Kent)
LAG renamed from Langwith to Langwith-Whaley Thorns
LAY renamed from Layton to Layton (Lancs)
LCN renamed from Lincoln Central to Lincoln
LEE renamed from Lee to Lee (London)
LET renamed from Letchworth to Letchworth Garden City
LEU renamed from Leuchars to Leuchars (For St. Andrews)
LNY renamed from Langley to Langley (Berks)
LOT renamed from Lostock Parkway to Lostock
LRB renamed from London Road Brighton to London Road (Brighton)
LST renamed from Liverpool Street to London Liverpool Street
LVT renamed from Lisvane and Thornhill to Lisvane & Thornhill
LYE renamed from Lye to Lye (West Midlands)
MBK renamed from Millbrook (Hampshire) to Millbrook (Hants)
MES renamed from Melton to Melton (Suffolk)
MFT renamed from Mansfield Town to Mansfield
MIH renamed from Mills Hill to Mills Hill (Manchester)
MLH renamed from Mill Hill (Lancashire) to Mill Hill (Lancs)
MRN renamed from Marden to Marden (Kent)
MSL renamed from Mossley (Greater Manchester) to Mossley (Manchester)
MSN renamed from Marsden to Marsden (Yorks)
MTV renamed from Mt. Vernon to Mount Vernon
MUF renamed from Manchester Utd Football Gd to Manchester United Football Ground
MYB renamed from Marylebone to London Marylebone
NRD renamed from North Road to North Road (Darlington)
NTC renamed from Newton St.Cyres to Newton St Cyres
NTN renamed from Newton to Newton (Lanark)
NWP renamed from Newport (Gwent) to Newport (South Wales)
NWT renamed from Newtown to Newtown (Powys)
PAD renamed from Paddington to London Paddington
PES renamed from Pensarn to Pensarn (Gwynedd)
PKS renamed from Parkstone to Parkstone (Dorset)
PNR renamed from Penrith to Penrith (North Lakes)
PNY renamed from Pen-Y-Bont to Pen-Y-Bont (Mid Wales)
PPL renamed from Pontypool and New Inn to Pontypool & New Inn
PRA renamed from Prestwick Internat'nl Airport to Prestwick International Airport
PRE renamed from Preston to Preston (Lancs)
PTW renamed from Prestwick to Prestwick Town
PYJ renamed from Paisley St.James to Paisley St James
PYN renamed from Penryn to Penryn (Cornwall)
QPK renamed from Queen's Park (Glasgow) to Queens Park (Glasgow)
QPW renamed from Queen's Park (Gt London) to Queens Park (London)
QRP renamed from Queen's Road Peckham to Queens Road (Peckham)
QUI renamed from Quintrel Downs to Quintrell Downs
QYD renamed from Quaker's Yard to Quakers Yard
RAN renamed from Rannoch For Kinloch Rannoch to Rannoch
RAV renamed from Ravenglass to Ravenglass for Eskdale
RBS renamed from British Steel Redcar to Redcar British Steel
RCA renamed from Risca and Pontymister to Risca & Pontymister
RHM renamed from Reedham (Greater London) to Reedham (London)
RIA renamed from Rhoose (Cardiff Int Airpt) to Rhoose Cardiff International Airport
RLN renamed from Rowland's Castle to Rowlands Castle
RMD renamed from Richmond to Richmond (London)
RSH renamed from Rose Hill (Marple) to Rose Hill Marple
RYE renamed from Rye to Rye (Sussex)
RYR renamed from Ryde St.John's Road to Ryde St Johns Road
SAA renamed from St.Albans Abbey to St Albans Abbey
SAC renamed from St.Albans City to St Albans City
SAF renamed from Salfords to Salfords (Surrey)
SAJ renamed from St.John's to St Johns (London)
SAR renamed from St.Andrew's Road to St Andrews Road
SAS renamed from St.Annes-On-The-Sea to St Annes-On-The-Sea
SAU renamed from St.Austell to St Austell
SBF renamed from St.Budeaux Ferry Road to St Budeaux Ferry Road
SBS renamed from St.Bees to St Bees
SBV renamed from St.Budeaux Victoria Road to St Budeaux Victoria Road
SCR renamed from St.Columb Road to St Columb Road
SDN renamed from St.Denys to St Denys
SED renamed from Shelford to Shelford (Cambs)
SEF renamed from Seaford to Seaford (Sussex)
SER renamed from St.Erth to St Erth
SFD renamed from Salford to Salford Central
SFR renamed from Shalford to Shalford (Surrey)
SGM renamed from St.Germans to St Germans
SHB renamed from Shirebrook (Derbys) to Shirebrook
SHJ renamed from St.Helens Junction to St Helens Junction
SHY renamed from Shipley to Shipley (Yorks)
SIH renamed from St.Helier to St Helier (London)
SIV renamed from St.Ives to St Ives (Cornwall)
SJP renamed from St.James' Park to St James Park (Exeter)
SJS renamed from St.James' Street to St James Street (Walthamstow)
SKN renamed from St.Keyne to St Keyne Wishing Well Halt
SLQ renamed from St.Leonards Warrior Square to St Leonards Warrior Square
SMD renamed from Stamford to Stamford (Lincs)
SMG renamed from St.Margaret's (Greater London) to St Margarets (London)
SMT renamed from St.Margaret's (Hertfordshire) to St Margarets (Herts)
SMY renamed from St.Mary Cray to St Mary Cray
SNA renamed from Sandal And Agbrigg to Sandal & Agbrigg
SND renamed from Sandhurst to Sandhurst (Berks)
SNE renamed from Stone to Stone (Staffs)
SNH renamed from St.Helens Central to St Helens Central
SNN renamed from Swinton (Greater Manchester) to Swinton (Manchester)
SNO renamed from St.Neots to St Neots
SOA renamed from Southampton Airport (Parkway) to Southampton Airport Parkway
SOO renamed from Strood to Strood (Kent)
SPB renamed from Shepherds Bush to Shepherd's Bush
SPH renamed from Shepherd's Well to Shepherds Well
SRA renamed from Stratford to Stratford (London)
STD renamed from Stroud to Stroud (Gloucs)
STE renamed from Streatham to Streatham (Greater London)
STM renamed from St.Michaels to St Michaels
STP renamed from St.Pancras to London St Pancras International
SUO renamed from Sutton (Surrey) to Sutton (London)
SUY renamed from Sudbury to Sudbury (Suffolk)
SWI renamed from Swindon to Swindon (Wilts)
SWN renamed from Swinton (South Yorkshire) to Swinton (South Yorks)
SYD renamed from Sydenham to Sydenham (London)
TAM renamed from Tamworth Low Level to Tamworth
TEA renamed from Tees-Side Airport to Teesside Airport
TLK renamed from The Lakes to The Lakes (Warks)
UNI renamed from University to University (Birmingham)
UPT renamed from Upton to Upton (Merseyside)
VIC renamed from Victoria to London Victoria
WAE renamed from Waterloo (East) to London Waterloo East
WAR renamed from Ware to Ware (Herts)
WAT renamed from Waterloo to London Waterloo
WHE renamed from Whalley to Whalley (Lancashire)
WHT renamed from Whitchurch (South Glamorgan) to Whitchurch (Cardiff)
WLF renamed from Whittlesford to Whittlesford Parkway
WLN renamed from Wellington to Wellington (Shropshire)
WMW renamed from Walthamstow Queens Road to Walthamstow Queen's Road
WNE renamed from Wilnecote to Wilnecote (Staffs)
WON renamed from Walton-On-Naze to Walton-on-the-Naze
WRM renamed from Wareham to Wareham (Dorset)
WTC renamed from Whitchurch (Salop) to Whitchurch (Shropshire)
WTE renamed from Whitlock's End to Whitlocks End
WTN renamed from Whitton to Whitton (London)
WTT renamed from Witton to Witton (West Midlands)
WWL renamed from Whitwell (Derbys) to Whitwell (Derbyshire)

Interesting that all the main London terminus stations are renamed as 'London'... except London Bridge and Cannon Street. The first I can understand, but why not Cannon St?

Interesting they have removed the apostrophe from these....


but added it to this one...


And then there are these two...

A pedant joins the party: "234 stations whose names have changed." Now carry on partying folks, I've got some apostrophes to dust.  ;)

And when did Ebbsfleet become Ebbw Vale Town?

Coupled with some other changes which are purely stylistic, such as:
and
as well as
in addition to
and finally
(though that's not an exhaustive list)
makes me think that perhaps some of these changes might be down to the list being compiled by different people in different regions.

It isn't just the railways - this is from the latest postcode update issued last week

I think Ebbsfleet was EBB and is now EBD but I might have got that wrong.

If there were multiple changes during the time between the two data sets, I suspect my list will have shown funnies.  Dunfermline looks like a swap between two names, but I can't imagine that ...

Not sure, but it makes it extremely convenient for travel between the valleys and France.

Not as long ago as 1965, surely?

I think in my professional life at TfL we only altered the name in the fairly recent past, certainly many years after the local government changes. Not sure if it was in response to a change by ATOC/RSP or a much belated catch-up.

...and as a regular visitor to SAF I was quite relieved when it became Salfords (Surrey) as it gave an easy way to avoid the sometimes painful exchanges at Victoria ticket office. Before that even when I carefully sounded the final "s" I was almost invariably asked if I wanted a ticket to a station in the Manchester area so would patiently(-ish) have to explain that it was the one on the Brighton line while wanting to point out that if I was going to Salford I'd have bought the ticket at Euston instead!

Now, how about dropping a few misleading "International"s?

Like "Thornford" ?...

I noticed that Burnside and Burneside have been clarified too!


There are - what - eleven of them?  Two or three may have crept in here in error
Ashford International
Birmingham International
Ebbsfleet International
Gretna International
Berwick upon Tweed International
Harwich International
London St Pancras International
Prestwick International Airport
Rhoose Cardiff International Airport
Stratford International
Thornford International
I was typing while you were, Lee, honest!

I'm curious as to why so many stations have had the county name added. It makes sense if there is a town / village of the same name elsewhere in the UK but I can only find one Epsom on Google Maps and Bing Maps so why rename to Epsom (Surrey). Is it anything to do with Oystercard acceptance?

There is a West Drayton in London, another in Notts, so why did West Drayton station not get renamed?

In a lot of cases it's about confusibility, so not identicality. For example:
CEL renamed from Chelford to Chelford (Cheshire)
SED renamed from Shelford to Shelford (Cambs)
SFR renamed from Shalford to Shalford (Surrey)

Where all places have stations that's clear enough, as all are in the list. Where one place has no station then in some cases they appear to have lost their county qualifier (presumably the station was lost ages ago). However, in some cases I think another town may be considered a possible confusible where it's big enough someone might think they can get a ticket to there.

That makes it all a guessing game - what did the naming people (is that Network Rail's job?) think the public might think it might be? All very open-ended and subjective - rather like the only exam I ever failed outright: a Use of English paper. We were given some badly worded sentences supposed to be by other candidates and asked what was meant. That meant guessing what examiners thought teenagers would have meant if they wrote them, but we knew what we would have meant and that was not the always same. There was a big complaint from schools and it was reset and resat.

When my parents were moving from Kent to Gloucestershire there was frequent confusion between Strood and Stroud. I wasn't confused but then I was way too small to need a ticket.  ;D

Urrgh! The intent is decent but it's really badly thought out.

Playing with "Soundex" ... which I suspect is working on first syllable ... not really any more than four for thought

S416 Salford Central
S416 Salford Crescent
S416 Salfords (Surrey)
S416 Shalford (Surrey)
S416 Shelford (Cambs)
S416 Silver Street
S416 Silverdale
S416 Sleaford

S363 Strood (Kent)
S363 Stroud (Gloucs)

E125 Epsom (Surrey)
E125 Epsom Downs
E125 Evesham

Some other obvious groups

D151 Davenport
D151 Devonport

C351 Cooden Beach
C351 Cowdenbeath

H350 Hatton
H350 Hooton
H350 Howden
H350 Huyton

H625 Harwich International
H625 Hersham
H625 Horsham

K525 Kings Norton
K525 Kings Nympton

L563 Llanwrda
L563 Llanwrtyd

M325 Midgham
M325 Mitcham Eastfields
M325 Mitcham Junction

M353 Maiden Newton
M353 Maidenhead

M531 Montpelier
M531 Mount Florida
M531 Mount Vernon

P400 Poole
P400 Pyle

.... I could waste hours on this ...

One I nearly got caught out on when staying in South wales was Caernarfon and Carmarthen, quite a diferent ticket price I would think, even Wikipedia has a warning about this.

Just as well Prince Charles bought the right return ticket in July 1969.

Wood Green main line station was renamed about 1980, It is nowhere near Wood Green underground on the Piccadilly line. Now called Alexandra palace, which better describes its location.

For a time it was “Wood Green for Alexandra Palace”.

Incidentally, über-pedant correction of the thread heading...