Railway Station or Train Station?

[Westwoodho]

I've always used the term - Railway Station but there is an increasing tendency to say Train Station, which should it be?

[sddsddean]

Definately Railway.
A Railway station is a place on a railway. A train station is a place on a train.

[THECORBYLOON]

The Chambers online dictionary defines station as "noun 1 a place where trains or buses regularly stop so that people can get off and on, goods can be loaded and unloaded, refuelling can be done, tickets bought, etc. 2 a a local headquarters or depot, eg of a police force, etc; b in compounds � fire station. 3 in compounds a building equipped for some particular purpose � power station � petrol station."

You can argue it should be train station since trains stop there while a railway doesn't but you can also argue it is a building equipped for some particular purpose so railway station is correct.

sddsddean what do you call a bus station?

[VillageVicar]

'Train Station' is a 'brought over' from the americans.

so if you want further proliferation...go for it...

When my daughter was small she just said 'Choo Choo.'

Fr Bill

[dot.hawkes]

a bus station: a cold damp decepid shell with no facilities and more importantly very few buses

[VillageVicar]

Dot, you could easily be describing Heathrow's terminal 3 right now!

Fr Bill

[JonnyBoy12]

Strictly speaking I suppose it should really be called a Railway station, but either term distinguishes it from a bus station, which is all I need to hear. I am a bus driver in Shropshire, and when people ask for the station I always assume, despite being a bus driver they mean the Train station. After stopping there, which takes me out of my way, they then tell me they did not mean that and they meant the bus station all along. I then have to pull out against heavy traffic after my pointless stop. So from my own rather biased view either term is good for me, as it differentiates from the bus station.

[stewey]

'Railroad station' is the most often used North American term. However, in both 'languages' it sort of indicates where you can embark or disembark a choo-choo.

[VillageVicar]

Stewey: Whilst I agree that the 'railroad' companies were all called railroads...never in my life have I heard anyone say they're going to the railroad station.

But you are right, all those names of the past, New York Central, Union Pacific, Burlington Northern, Sante Fe, Southern, Chessapeake & Ohio, Atlantic Coastline - all of those were 'railroads.' But as I say, whether it was the terminal station company, union station company , or other, I've never heard it called railroad station...

Crum, considering how Americans are so determined to modify, shorten, colloquialise, expurgate and delineate words, turning places like Atlanta into L�aana and phrases such as �are you going to take that with you� to Y�a gwine ta dat wichoo,� the thought of our fellow �English� speakers saying railroad station sounds highly suspect.

But I never cease to be amazed :-)

[football21]

Train station would differentiate trains from funicular railway stations. Secondly, maybe it woud help people like Jonathan Ross; Whale way station & Twaynes.

[New Judge]

This is one of the idiosyncrasies that make English so quaint.

Trains stop at railway stations (not train stations) whereas buses stop at bus stations (not road stations). That is all there is to it. Further argument or debate is futile.

�Train station� was a term almost unheard in Britain until about four or five years ago. Wherever the phrase came from, those that want to hear about train stations (and similarly inane drivel) can listen to Radio Five Live. Those who want to hear about railway stations can listen to Radio Four.

[New Judge]

Oh, and I forgot, footbal21, I don't recall there being a vast proliferation of funicular railways in Britain. I think there are about 15 in England (excluding those in museums and theme parks) three in Wales and one in Scotland.

Most of these are in towns or at locations not served by conventional rail services anyway, so I don't think much confusion is likley!

[ojread2]

I say train station because it is easier

johnnyboy, why would you stop if a)no one is standing or b) no one rang the bell??

[New Judge]

Presumably because JonnyBoy's bus company (unusually) has told its drivers to stop at "compulsory" bus stops regardless. (I would imagine a railway station would be a compulsory stop).

This used to be the case almost everywhere but now it seems all bus stops are regarded as "request" stops by bus drivers

[jno]

more than a milion of them here, Vicar.

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=%22railroad%2 0station%22&gbv=2&ndsp=20&svnum=10&hl=en&oe=UT F-8&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=iw

The answer as usual is that its name is whatever people call it. Train station, though comparatively new and uncommon in the UK, is clear and unmistakable, and shorter than railway or railroad station. Part of the genius of the English language is the way it makes things simpler (eg no genders for nouns, minimal endings on nouns and verbs - unlike French or German), so you could say this is all part of the way the language develops. Of course there's also a strain of the language which prefers to make things longer and more complicated and harder to understand, so you may prefer to think outside the box going forward...

[VillageVicar]

Football...but americans can't spell funicular !

[VillageVicar]

New Judge: Excellent�and I�ve been sussed�Radio 4 indeed!

And jno that�s great, thank you. Very interesting�

Finally, about French�I lived in Nice for a year and despite my working ever-so-hard to speak fluently, I constantly found myself stumbling on the issue of genders� On one particular day, when I clearly messed up the genders whilst chatting with some friends, much to their amusement. My daughter did one of those �Oh Daddy� sighs, that only your children can do and with just the slightest hint of frustration in her voice explained to me � Daddy, it�s SO easy�anything that has to do with work and cleaning, such as a mop, or broom, or bucket is feminine, If it�s a magnificent piece of art or a great accomplishment of some sort, then it�s masculine!

Isn�t it frustrating when your children can so easily put life into perspective!

Be well

Fr Bill

[JonnyBoy12]

Good point ojread. The reason why I sometime stop at stops if noone has rang the bus if because they have told me "the Station" which I took to mean the Railway station. If I do not stop there they treat me like an idiot, saying very curtly "I told you to stop at the station, can't you remember anything" clearly forgetting that there are not the only person in the world. I apologise for those many who do not expect bus drivers to remember every single person they have ever seen, but if you are using a bus it is up to you to remember your own stop, not the driver. We have enough to remember without thinking for you passengers too.

Also if I did not stop anyway then by the time they had rang the bell it would be imossible to move lanes to get to the station stop, as it is on the wrong side of the road. Going off the point here, but most people on buses anyway say Train Station, and I know exactly what they mean.

[Westwoodho]

Well I never!! When I posted this question I didn't think that it would cause such debate. I'm glad to see that there are others that prefer to keep the "eccentricities" of the English language and people alive.
Oh and by the way New Judge I'm a Radio 2 listener - what does that imply?

[Gromit]

'Train station' has been in common usage for more than four or five years. It is North American in origin, and the British using it probably started when we started watching imported television programmes in the 60s.

"When you hear the tootin of the whistle
It's Casey at the throttle of the Cannonball Exprees.."

To save you young uns having to google it, here's a link

Choo Choo

[stewey]

I still say that the term 'Railroad Station' is a common North American term. I also say that some of the other terms mention are used, but not as commonly. Here is one list of railroad stations:
http://www.viarail.ca/planner/en_plan_gare.htm l