Great Western Coffee Shop

From the train window in South London.

The traveller might think that their train has arrived at one of the Croydon Stations. It's not - this is Norwood Junction. Surprised the railway is OK with this.

Mark

(https://i.postimg.cc/VkYkqjFg/this-is-croydon-not-1000.jpg)

That will totally confuse any football followers heading to Crystal Palace's stadium for the first time.

Classically awful, MarkA.  Crazy!

You find me musing about station names that don't reflect their location unless you know what's going on

Portsmouth Harbour, Poertsmoth and Southsea and Portsmouth Arms
Barry Island, Barry, Barry Docks and Barry Links
Warwick, Warwick Parkway and Warwick Road

But I risk moving what I would feel a major issues in south London toward the lighter side.

Don’t start me on London Oxford Airport.

Our local MP once put out a newsletter with a story focussing on the Worcestershire Parkway scheme, illustrated with a picture of a South West Trains service pulling into Worcester Park.  Good to know that our representatives know what they're talking about.

Or Newhaven, which is positively misleading. The foot passenger entrance is closest to the Town station, the Harbour station is conveniently sited only for a solid fence, and as for Marine ...

Was it a station (Victoria) on the Newquay branch that was renamed as it was producing confusion as it had the same name as one of the London terminuses?

Returning to that roundel, it's actually an annual thing, the borough of culture, launched by the mayor in 2017, very much with the involvement of TfL. There are still examples of branding to be found from previous years - see the photo from Sydenham station below, rather indicating it might be Lewisham, and indeed it might be in the borough of Lewisham as Sydenham's shared between three boroughs.

Perhaps this just shows that South London's railway network's travellers are only those who already know the system, with few passengers unfamiliar with it, and the station signage is largely ignored by people who see it every day. The problem with that is that the transport operator is then in the business of managed decline. (And that's put me in mind of ticket office closures, which is something for another thread entirely...)

Mark

(Photo from a train at 70mph is indistinct, that's Sydenham Station's up platform exit and footbridge - with a TFL roundel with the words "We are Lewisham" which is one step softer than 2023's thoroughly unhelpful 'This is Croydon' spattered about various destinations.)

(https://i.postimg.cc/zXLF5nKp/we-are-sydenham.jpg)

I took an American visitor to Victoria to catch a train. Sitting on the train opposite a compound for BRUTE  trollies. On reading the sign outside the window, he said "is this station called Trolley Park".

Could be. I was at Sydenham last month, and returned from that platform, entering via that little back entrance on the west side. But we'd never have found it unaided, as there are no signs to it from the road.   ... for local people.

It's not just South London and it's not just the railways - all over the place, things  are set up for regular knowing users and their extension to informing and welcoming new people is overlooked.  Sad really, and wasted opportunities - it may be just 1% of potential customers on the day who can't find what they need - but that 1% is potential new regular business and the seed of future growth.

I see examples every day. I was on duty at Melksham Spashpad yesterday and someone commented that the dog bark was locked and closed.  Well - news to me and my senior collagues would know better, but I walked down there.    The fenced area in which the public can let their dogs run offlead has three gates for historic reasons.   One gate is chained and locked.  The second gate has a bolt with a lock on it. The third gate is closed with a chain.  But that chain's purpose is to hold the gate closed, and it can lift off so that you can enter, to be replaced once you have passed though.   No obvious signage to that effect and I just wonder how many others apart from my commenter think it's shut.

....I think they were hoping to attract Ryanair

No, that would be London Dublin Airport!
 ;D

• Not in London
• Not in Oxford either
• Not a public airport, more a base for private planes and tuition

Bingo?