Weird & interesting station names

[viesturs]

Your nearest station has a weird name and you've always wanted to show it to many people?
In this thread you can share the most interesting station names from you country! :hehe:

I'll start - in my country there are several interesting station names:
There is a station Skaista which means Beautiful
And there's a station Meitene which means Girl
So it's possible to make a train route Beautiful-Girl

One station is named Ogre!

While another is Lāčplēsis or Bear-slayer (more precisely: Bear-ripper-in-half)

Many stations are named after foods but the surprising one is Zālīte - a word which most commonly means Weed
And one station is named Malta - like the country and island in the Mediterranean sea. Interestingly there are 2 Maltas in Latvia, an Egypt, also Louisiana and Florida

Fun fact: During first half of the 20th century we had stations Edinburga 1 and 2 (Edinburgh 1 and 2)

 

[stagecoach]

Sorry not a station but is still weird http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snJj1bivym4

 

[edh6]

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch
A station in Anglesey, Wales. Means: [St.] Mary's Church (Llanfair) [in] the hollow (pwll) of the white hazel (gwyngyll) near (goger) the rapid whirlpool (y chwyrndrobwll) [and] the church of [St.] Tysilio (llantysilio) with a red cave ([a]g ogo goch).

 

[kws4000]

There was a rr out of Detroit that numbered its stations because there was no town there at that time. Eventually, they grew up with real names except one. That was station number 6. It became Novi, after its station board, "No.VI".

Welcome to Michigan. Everything else is old Indian terminology, Kalamazoo, Muskegon (smelly swamp lake), Paw Paw, Pontiac, Mackinaw, or direct from European language, ie Vogel (bird) Center, Frankenmuth (both German), Sioux St Marie, St Ignace (Ignorance?), Baraga, L'Anse (all 4 French), etc.

 

[cascaderailroad]

BNSF: Bellefonte NantyGlo Snowshoe Fallentimber Rwy: (all places near Altoona)

I am working on: BMGSGDB RR: Black Moshannon Grassflat Snowshoe Gumstump Drainlick Bellefonte RR

Other strange names in Pa:
SNPJ: Borough of: Slovenska Narodna Podporna Jednota-(population:19 permanent residents)<----(I think they have annual Polish festivals here, do ya think ?)
Allequipa, Allegripus, Allegheny, Altoona-(Kittatining indian clan: "High Land of Great Worth", Wopsononock-"White Mans Rock land"), Aspenwald, Arsenal, Bland, Conemaugh, Chestnut Flats, Duncannon, Monongahella, Manayunk, Sinnamohoning, Susquehanna, Schuylkill, Nockamixon, Kittanning, Kishacoquillas, Tuscarora, Towanda, Taidaghton, Tulpehocken, Ohiopyle, Pitcairn, Paxtang, Jersey Shore, Lock Haven, Port Perry, Horseshoe, Muleshoe, Lilly, Slate Lick, Oceola Mills, Frugality, Renovo, Ringing Rocks, Beaver, Idlewilde, Kennywood, Bennington, Blue Knob, Blue Bell, Blue Ball, Intercourse-(near Lancaster), Prince Gallitzin, Gifford Pinchot, DuBois, Windber-(formerly: Berwind), Narberth-(formerly Elm), Wynnewood, Ivyside, BalaCynwd, Cynwd, Kingsessing-(Turtle indian clan: "A Place In a Medow), Juniata, Wyomissing, Wingohocking, Zenopolis, Zoo Junc

 

[mezzoprezzo]

Not in the open air as the name might imply, but buried in the London Underground transport system.

 

[robd]

Here's one from UK: Besses o' th' Barn, Greater Manchester.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Besses_o'_th'_Barn_Metrolink_station

 

[JCitron]

We have Wyoming and Swampscott near me.

 

[RRSignal]

While not actually a station as planned, there was a proposed area in Philly where a SEPTA passenger line, the ex-PRR Chestnut Hill West, would join with another passenger line, the ex-RDG Norristown Line, allowing a portion of the CHW operating over the Northeast Corridor to be abandoned. This was known as the Swampoodle Connection, for the neighborhood of that name.

 

[viesturs]

SNPJ: Borough of: Slovenska Narodna Podporna Jednota-(population:19 permanent residents)<----(I think they have annual Polish festivals here, do ya think ?)

I'd say Slovenian..
In Latvia there is a railway stop Silciems where half of all passenger trains stop, but, except for a small industrial site 700m from it (by the much more convenient highway), there are absolutely no buildings withing a 1,5 - 2 km radius around it
Some 20 years ago there was a daily train service calling at a station Menta where there are just 8 households withing a 5 km radius around it. And absolutely no state owned road or any paved road
And it's not some Siberian tundra

 

[JCitron]

I'd say Slovenian..
In Latvia there is a railway stop Silciems where half of all passenger trains stop, but, except for a small industrial site 700m from it (by the much more convenient highway), there are absolutely no buildings withing a 1,5 - 2 km radius around it
Some 20 years ago there was a daily train service calling at a station Menta where there are just 8 households withing a 5 km radius around it. And absolutely no state owned road or any paved road
And it's not some Siberian tundra

There are lots of those around here too like there are also freeway off rams with big interchanges to tiny back roads in some areas. The reason is some bigwig wealthy influencer had control of the money and wanted his own private interchange and in your case a train station. Today it doesn't matter any longer, but back in the olden days, it's was a big deal.

John

 

[opus722]

This one near me isn't really station in the traditional sense of servicing freight or passengers, but it is labeled as one for NS's control system. It's right next door to a cemetery.

http://www.railpictures.net/images/d1/2/4/5/9245.1357512720.jpg

 

[Enkidoh]

There used to be a rail siding in the south western region of Western Australia called 'Crooked Brook' - that still brings a smile to my face everytime I remember it.

There's also 'Upper Swan' (although that's not a station but more just a locality point along a line - it refers to the upper reaches of Perth's Swan River, but the double risque meaning is pretty obvious ).

Actually we have a few place names here in Western Australia named directly after railways, like 'Clackline' (from the traditional 'clickety clack' of train wheels), and 'Yarloop' (a contraction of 'Yard Loop' as it was a junction on the government mainline with a private timber line).

 

[uracco]

Closed in 1953 but how about the slightly rude Cocking in Sussex! :hehe:

 

[JCitron]

Not weird, but interesting...

In Boston and in Cambridge MA, which is a city across the river from Boston, the streets are named after cities that the railroads ran through. There are streets such as Albany, Hanover, Windsor, Hanover, Plymouth, Bristol, Arlington, and Dartmouth to name a few.

John

 

[rjhowie]

In the Glasgow Subrban network there are 2 (electric) routes passing parallel roughly 10 minutes walk apart through Clydebank. One is Clydebank Central and fair enough but the other is Singer. The Singer name goes back actual decades when there was a massive Singer sewing machine factory next the station but obviously long gone yet the name persists. To me it seems a bit pointless having a station name for some long forgotten run-of-the-mill factory. After all they changed another city suburban station name from Finnieston to Exhibition (Centre). If you were to ask a lot of folk why the station is called Singer you would get a blank look.

 

[JCitron]

There's a section in Lowell, MA called Spaghettiville. This is because of the old Prince Spaghetti factory that used to be there. The plant closed about 10 years ago and the works moved to Ayer, MA. There was no active station there but the name lives on. This happens a lot when an area is named after a big employer. We see that a lot in the US. Towns such as Packerton in Packerton, PA was named after the owner and founder of a zinc mining company. Another town that comes to mind is Mahanoy City. It's no city, but is named after the Mahanoy family that owned a big hunk of land where the city is built. This family also owned many coal mines and other related industries.

John

 

[uracco]

Not weird, but interesting...

In Boston and in Cambridge MA, which is a city across the river from Boston, the streets are named after cities that the railroads ran through. There are streets such as Albany, Hanover, Windsor, Hanover, Plymouth, Bristol, Arlington, and Dartmouth to name a few.

John

They also all seem to be named after British and German places as well

 

[JCitron]

They also all seem to be named after British and German places as well

Yup and lots of them. This is because of the people that settled here back in the Colonial times and later when they came over to work in the textiles and shoe factories and the mines.

Where I live, the cities are mostly British, Scottish, Welsh, and Irish - i.e. Londonderry, Derry, Manchester, Gloucester, Cambridge Carlisle, Chelmsford, Andover, Dunstable, Bangor, etc. If you head west to the Capitol Region in New York State, you then have Dutch and German as well as English names. If you head to Pennsylvania, you have German, Welsh, native American, Irish, Scott, and English names with places such as Nesquehoning, Penn Wynn, Yardley, Wernersville, Womelsdorf, Hamburg, Reading (we have a Reading too), Carlisle, etc.

And so it goes across the country.

John

 

[jjanmarine3]

An interesting story

Jack the Signalman

by Pieter du Plessis ©[TABLE="width: 70%"]
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When the Cape Government Railways opened the first railway line to Port Elizabeth from Cape Town during the later part of the 1800’s the town Uitenhage was established. The railway station became world renown when the local railway guard James Edwin Wide had a working baboon Jack the Signalman that assisted him in his daily tasks.
James Wide, better known amongst the locals and friends as Jumper Wide due to his habit to jump from one railway truck to the other and sometimes also swinging from truck to truck. Sadly one day while working as a guard whilst jumping from one truck he slipped on the canvas and lost his balance and fell underneath the moving train. As a result of this accident Jumper Wide lost both legs at the knees and in the process nearly also lost his life. As a result of this accident Jumper could no longer work as a guard for the Cape Railway Government and became unemployed for a while. He begged and pleaded for the authorities to employ him but to no avail. His determination and his perseverance forced him to make his own pegged-legs from a piece of wood that was strapped onto his lower half of his body. He then proceeded to make himself a trolley with an intricate hand apparatus that made himself a little more mobile.
Jack was again employed for the railway company as a signalman and one Saturday morning while visiting the Uitenhage market place, a popular meeting place of coffee dealers, merchants, transport drivers and hunters he noticed a oxwagon being led into the market by a young baboon that acted as "voorloper" (Oxen leader). Jumper Wide pushed himself closer and introduced himself to the owner of the baboon and after some demonstrations Wide was convinced that this intelligent animal could serve him in a useful capacity. Having pleaded with the owner and partially because of the sympathetic feeling towards the cripple man the owner reluctantly parted with his favourite pet and thus started one of the most amazingly friendships between animal and man.
As Jumper Wide’s cottage was about half a mile from the station, and found the walk and the moving of the trolley so difficult he started to train Jack to push him on the track. Jack learned quickly how to push his master to work in the morning and again at 5pm from work to his cottage. Jack would push the trolley uphill and when the trolley made up speed downhill he would jump on under great excitement and get a free ride. Jack also learned how to lift the trolley on and off the track and also "manhandled" the old condemned railway sleepers as he tumbled them over and over from the dump yard to the kitchen door where it will be used as fire wood. Jumper were warned by the previous owner that Jack were given every night a tot of good Cape brandy and should you for some reason fail to remember he would sulk the next day and refuse to have anything to do with you. No doubt Wide remembered this very well when on one occasion Jack refused to assist his master to get to work
At the signal-box at the station Jumper kept an important key that unlocked the points to enabled the locomotive drivers to reach the coalsheds. Whenever a locomotive driver needed to load coal he gave four blasts on his whistle and then Jumper Wide would totter out on his crutches and stumps and hold up the key. Jack watched this performance for a couple of days and then one day when the locomotive driver blasted the familiar four blasts Jack rushed to the signal box and grab the key and went outside where he hold the key up for the driver to collect.
As the days, weeks and months progressed Wide and Jack’s friendship and understanding grew together. Jumper started to train Jack to change the signals on the various blasts from the locomotive drivers. When finally Wide were convinced that Jack could now be able to change the signals and also various other tasks he put the baboon to test. Each time one of the drivers would give a signal Jack would change the signal without once making an error.
Much to the amazement of locals and passengers who stood in awe marvelling the spectacle of a boon working at a station. The inevitable happened one day when a prominent lady on route to Port Elizabeth were horrified when she saw that the signals at the station were changed by a baboon. Fearing for her safety and fellow passengers the incident were reported to the authorities in Cape Town who at first could not believe her story. The system manager and a delegation that consisted of an inspectorate visited the station and Jumper Wide and Jack were dismissed from duty. Again Wide pleaded and fortunately or maybe a case of curiosity forced the system manager to test the ability of Jack. A locomotive driver were given secret instructions and all present waited to see if Jack will past this strenuous test. Each time that the driver blasted a different signal Jack would change the correct signal and points without fail. Jack even looked around in the direction of the oncoming train to make sure that the correct lever and signal were changed. Jack has passed his test with flying colours and were duly employed by the authorities and from that day became known as Jack the Signalman. Bot not only did he get his monthly rations from the government but he also received an employment number.
Around Jumpers cottage Jack also learned to perform other tasks such as removing rubbish and sweeping the kitchen floor and other smaller tasks. He turned out to be also a very good watchman and any intruder were greeted by a fierce guard who could frighten the wits out of every person.
During 1890 Jack got sick and contracted tuberculosis and died, Wide was inconsolable to the loss of his friend as they were inseparable. Jack’s skull is on display in the Albany Museum in Grahamstown and a photographic museum were established at the old Uitenhage station that can be visited on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays only.[/TD]
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