Railway station versus train station
 

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Railway station versus train station

When did we started saying train station instead of railway station.
"I'm sitting in the railway station," sang Paul Simon, inspired, some say by Widnes. Others say he was waiting at the now disused Ditton station, on the Cheshire-Lancashire border.

And if it comes to that, the photograph for the sleeve for Some Might Say, Oasis's first No 1, was taken at Cromford railway station, Derbyshire.


But this is not quite the point at issue. On train station versus railway station, a friendly internet dictionary [http://www.wordreference.com] gives railway station as the English for gare, but also gives train stop. It gives estacion de ferrocarril for both railway station and railroad station.

Railroad station used to be common in Britain, as anyone who has read Trollope knows. It is never used now in British English, but train station is definitely becoming the preferred form over railway station.

Why should this be? British Railways was the name of the network after nationalisation in 1948. In 1968 the name was changed to British Rail. The arrowed logo was retained for National Rail (the brand name of the Association of Train Operating Companies) after privatisation in 1993. The tracks were run first by Railtrack, which was effectively confiscated from its shareholders by the Government in 2002,

All these names seem to privilege rail above train. But if you want to look up in the book the telephone number for timetable enquiries, you'll find it under "Train Times". I suspect that train station is reinforced by the parallel form bus station. Some towns have even got the idea of building one near the other for ease of travel. Others still reject this arrangement in favour of a character-building walk.

A complicating factor is onboard announcements of the next station stop. Bookshops suffer a perennial confusion over Robert Byron's book about monastic life in Greece called The Station. It is often shelved under transport.

I can remember the days when you only had to say "station" and everyone knew what you meant. There was no need to say railway or train. Only places like fire stations, bus stations and coastguard stations required a description :)

From a personal point of view it has always been a Railway Station and I have never used train station, railroad station or train stop. This could well be because it was always a Railway Station back in Rhodesia and I'm just an Old Git who refuses to change, but I will not call it anything other than a Railway Station unless of cause it is a Halt or Junction.

Wot no police?:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Fancy forgetting that one.......It just goes to show how law abiding I am....it just never crossed my mind;)

When I say station, I always mean it as being the Railway Station and nothing else, unless specified.

In my work as a professional editor, I always amend "train station" to "railway station" in any work where I come across it. But then I'm a bit of an old git myself.

I am in favour of railway station as a term, though if you are talking about travel most people you know are going to know if you mean bus, coach or railway station. Train station is american i think!
Richard

Play station?:rolleyes: ;)

When we can afford it we catch the Train at a Station on the Railway. Trying to work out how to get a station on a train unless it is the Bar.
John (G)

I'm afraid "train station" is referred to more and more on news bulletins etc and it really grates with me. Some of the recent reports about the plane crash at Colwich Junction have even referred to "train lines" and that's upset me too.

It is probably an age thing but it just doesn't sound right to me.

We have no bus station in Loughborough, Nottingham has two(was three)

If anyone asked me directions to the nearest station I would assume they meant the nearest railway station. I would not ask what type of station they were looking for.

I reckon train station v railway station is a bit of an age thing. Those of us long accustomed to or finding pleasure in travelling by train tend to call it a railway station. Those more accustomed to road transport and the bus tend to call it a train station. Train station grates with me and sounds very functional. Railway station has more dignity and suggests something more special. However there is more logic to train station. One goes to a bus station to board a bus, therefore logically one boards a train at a train station - I don't think one boards a railway. However, I shall always prefer railway station and if someone merely asks for directions to the station, they shall be directed by me to the railway station and it will never occur to me that they might want directed to a bus station.

I must go now as wish to listen to some music, which I enjoy on both my wireless and my gramophone!

Mike

Picked up the latest leaflet for "Plusbus" yesterday - it refers to "Train Station" - Ugh ! :eek: Official publications should know better !:rolleyes:

Just to confuse things a little more,
We are soon to have the Guided Busway in Cambridgeshire rather than the Railway it has obliterated. Thousands of tons of concrete beams to steer off road buses. Seems to be a retrograde step using 'L' shaped 'Rails' to guide a vehicle, sort of going back to early horse drawn trams. So far I have read of 'Stations', 'Guided Bus Stations' and White Elephants mentioned in the local press.
Wonder if I can use my Geriatric Bus Pass (if I bother to get one that is) on this disaster for the rail line.
John (G)

That's an interesting question - I know they aren't valid on Trams ...

You are right about them not being valid on trams which I believe is causing financial problems for the Blackpool Tramway -the geriatrics preferring a free ride on the bus rather than paying a tram fare.

But I would have thought no problem with the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway. They are still buses after all..........whatever they may be running on.

RAILWAY STATION every time!!

I quite like Railway Station over Train Station, in the same way I prefer Railway Line (or just Railway) over Train Track.
I tend to use Station for convenience though! Since I refuse to take buses, everyone knows what I mean by station! Haha!

"I'm sitting in the railway station,
Got a ticket for my desination, ..........."

Paul Simon knew!!!!!

Best wishes,

John

An Americanism which has crept in over the years. They always refer to stations as train stations. It was quite nice for Simon and Garfunkel to sing about a "railway station" as opposed to "railroad" as they were in the UK at the time.
Another term which has crept in is the Forth Rail Bridge. The rail bridge was always referred to as plain Forth Bridge and the Forth Road Bridge was-well, the road bridge.

Same here, I can't stand buses. I just take my bike instead of taking a bus. And as for taking a bus or a tram, well there's no contest is there?

The BBC must have a lot of American born program and news producers; almost all of the broadcast content seems to have a bias towards the American form and useage of language and words. This is slowly absorbed into everyday use in the UK. Bring back Macdonald Hobley and Sylvia Peters! To me (an old git), station means Railway Station; every other type of station has a qualifying word attached.

I don't think they even necessarily have to be American born. It's probably because they are young and therefore more likely to have been influenced by all things American.
A similar thing shows up in soaps that have been written by younger scriptwriters when they have the elderly characters saying "cool", "big ask" and "no brainer" etc. etc.:)

I seem to remember an old BR advert which suggested that we let the train take the strain.Perhaps this was the start of refering to the Railway as the train.

Just to complicate the matter further a correspondent on the Radio 3 forum told me yesterday that he heard a chap on his mobile phone on Stoke-on-Trent station say that he was 'at the train place.' Yep. We even get to talking railway matters on a music forum!

Ian J

Its Health & Safety in a politically correct sort of world.
Your sit or stand in a train you dont sit or stand on a railway.
Simples
meerkat.com and all that!

But what is the train on?

The train is running on mild steel rails supported in the main on rubber pads atop concrete sleepers and 38mm of ballast material for drainage set out on sharp sand and natural - probably a railroad!

Ah, I see. You're from Chelmsford, Massachusetts:)

Logged on to the National Railway Museum site the other day and was mortified to see that they include directions to York TRAIN Station!

If an august body can't get it right what chance have others got.

I give up!

Agreed...........and they even called it Piccadilly TRAIN station in "Coronation Street" last night !!;)

Being a Widnes resident, I think this article puts it right about Widnes Railway Station and Paul Simon. The original station building is still in use.
http://www.cc-publishing.co.uk/Archives/paulsimon.html

Now I am confused, just went to Wiki and found this

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ditton_railway_station

But, not all articles in Wiki are verified, for instance it states 2 railway stations in Widnes, but there was also Hough Green which looks similar to Widnes (Farnworth) Station.

Yes I agree Liliput.
It says in the article that Paul Simon's next gig was in Hull so it would make more sense if he was waiting on Widnes (North/Farnworth) station.