Road Stations
Many stations are not located near the towns which they purport to serve. Some stations append the word "road" to their name, indicating that they are "on the road to" the given place.
In many instances these stations were constructed during the early years of railway development, and towns have since grown up either independently around the proximity of the station (notably Crewe), or increased in size to eventually include the station (e.g., Woking).
Some examples of current and former "road" stations in the United Kingdom:
- Andover Road (Now Micheldever)
- Attercliffe Road
- Builth Road
- Edlington for Balby Doncaster
- Green Road
- Green Swamp (New South Wales)
- Gwinear Road
- Lawrence Road (New South Wales)
- Quainton Road
- Stroud Road (New South Wales)
- Walcha Road (New South Wales)
- Albion Park Rail (New South Wales) as distinct from Albion Park
- Newick and Chailey located halfway between the two villages in purported to serve.
- Llanbister Road
However, care should be taken: some "road" stations are simply named after nearby roads. For example, Derby Road station in Ipswich is not anywhere near Derby.
Many small villages have grown up around "road" stations and have taken the name of the station such as Grampound Road in Cornwall and Llanbister Road in Powys. Alternatively, the village around the station may have become known as station name with the word "station" appended. Examples of this are Micheldever Station in Hampshire and Meopham Station in Kent. Similarly, the town of Llandudno Junction took its name from its station.
In Germany, stations are always named by the main place they were intended to serve. If the station is located out of town, then a small village/town area may have grown up around it, known as the town name with "Bahnhof" appended. The best examples are:
- Grafing Bahnhof, some 5 km from Grafing proper
- Wasserburg Bahnhof, actually located in Reitmehring, and a separate station from Wasserburg "Stadt"
This practice can also be found in Italy (e.g., Montepulciano Stazione) and in many other countries.
In Slovenia, for example, the railway station "Most na Soči" serving the town of the same name is located on the other bank of the river Soča, about a mile away from the town. A separate village Postaja (meaning "Station" in Slovene) has grown around the railway station.
In recent years in the UK, the designation "Parkway" has become popular for a station some distance from the town or city it serves, but which has a large car park attached. A notable example is Bristol Parkway.
In New South Wales, Australia, a few stations are named for the locality they are situated but are stations representing a larger nearby centre. Examples of such are Bomaderry, the station for Nowra (indicated on CityRail maps and timetables as "Bomaderry (Nowra)"), and Dunmore, the stations for Shellharbour (indicated as "Dunmore (Shellharbour)". This is sometimes used in the UK such as Ashchurch for Tewkesbury.
Read more about this topic: Railway Station Layout
Famous quotes containing the words road and/or stations:
“The road to hell is paved with works-in-progress.”
—Philip Roth (b. 1933)
“A reader who quarrels with postulates, who dislikes Hamlet because he does not believe that there are ghosts or that people speak in pentameters, clearly has no business in literature. He cannot distinguish fiction from fact, and belongs in the same category as the people who send cheques to radio stations for the relief of suffering heroines in soap operas.”
—Northrop Frye (b. 1912)