please empty your brain below
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Interesting. I’ve tended to think of “place” compass point to be the compass point end of one place, whereas compass point “place” to be a different place. Hence the four Action compass points are different places - ie I would say, if I were going to Wormwood Scrubs, “I’m going to East Acton rather the than the east of Acton.”
A more rural example would be East Grinstead and West Grinstead. They are two separate places. But Penge East and Penge West are both in Penge, just different ends of it.
I’m sure there are examples to disprove this, but thought it worth a comment.
Robert Butlin | 06.08.23 - 7:15 a.m. | #
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I suspect the residents wouldn't be too happy if you relocated the station there though, not least because the rail line doesn't run through it.
martin | 06.08.23 - 7:15 a.m. | #
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Acton is unusual in its compass point stations, in that only East Acton was originally a separate place (and is in LB Hammersmith unlike Acton proper which is in LB Ealing
However, Acton Central, whilst not on the High Street, is indubitable the closest station to it.
Timbo | 06.08.23 - 7:48 a.m. | #
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(as previously blogged)
diamond geezer | Homepage | 06.08.23 - 7:50 a.m. | #
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Contrast Canterbury. A line between Canterbury East and Canterbury West stations runs pretty close to North-South.
A different calculation would weight the coordinates by annual numbers of station entries and exits.
Malcolm of Kent | 06.08.23 - 8:14 a.m. | #
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... but most station exits are fixed structures which don't vary over time.....
dg writes: Acton Main Line is a significant exception.
Ian | 06.08.23 - 8:25 a.m. | #
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I put the co-ords in a website that tells me the "best meeting point" is at the dead end of an alley, two streets east of Maldon Road. I was hoping for a travel time midpoint website, but that may not exist. I suspect it is a little south west of your point.
Toby | 06.08.23 - 8:28 a.m. | #
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I have been intrigued about this ever since the long-gone days when I commuted weekly to the remote outpost of "Acton Town". I suppose what is highlighted here is that what most of us call a town "centre" is unlikely to be at its geographical mid point. I would be interested to know where "central London" is, under today's more rigorous definition.
cau1khead | 06.08.23 - 9:06 a.m. | #
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As a former Acton resident I loved this post, dg. I lived within a stone’s throw of Acton Main Line and I appreciated its infrequent but direct Paddington service. In those days, (late 1990s) it did not feel like a middle-class bolthole (or indeed a middle-class anything!), though I already noticed in (the glorious TV show) Motherhood how gentrified Acton is portrayed.
Dan | 06.08.23 - 9:30 a.m. | #
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So Acton Central is actually the closest station to the centre of Acton?
dg writes: (as previously blogged)
If you average only the compass point stations, the centre moves North East, to the back garden of 13 Grasmere Avenue
Ian | 06.08.23 - 9:42 a.m. | #
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As a child in the 60s I was fascinated by unusual house names both carved and in leaded glass windows. I was told that it became used as a marketing device by housebuilders. At one point it was fashionable to name after a favourite holiday or beauty spot (Blencathra, Loch Lomond in Blackpool). The Victorians began making-up names mixing say a plant and place name (Ferndale, Elmfield and Rosedale). Somewhere Leyton way there is a 1930s house named using a blend word trend popular at the time. 'Mayvic'; first owned by my Aunt and Uncle, May and Victor.
Rod | 06.08.23 - 9:44 a.m. | #
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Very Betjeman-esque.
("No temporary platform in the west among the Actons and Easlings, where we had not once alighted").
Malcolm of Kent: There was once also a Canterbury South station.
Man of Kent | 06.08.23 - 10:35 a.m. | #
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And to [mis-] quote the great Sir John again
"And quite where Acton Central is
Does only Acton know"
Crispy | 06.08.23 - 12:18 p.m. | #
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Does 'Acton Town; really count, as it was originally 'Mill Hill Park'? Several roads and greenery nearby still reflect a 'Mill Hill' name.
Joel | 06.08.23 - 1:23 p.m. | #
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Maybe the mathematical centre of Acton needs to be adjusted to reflect the frequency of the train services at each of our stations. Despite estate agent promises of ‘a few minutes to the West End, Heathrow and Canary Wharf’ to promote the new blocks of flats near Acton Main Line, the eventual Elizabeth Crossrail provision is something of a let down - until we get ‘fast connections’ to the nearby Old Oak HS2 terminus. .
The real transformation here has been the Overground service through South Acton and Acton Central which replaced the dowdy Silverlink and earlier threats to close the old North London Line.
And to think we could also have had a modern tram service through the middle of Acton had not the car lobby had its way. Meanwhile, in Nottingham…!
ActonMan | 06.08.23 - 2:35 p.m. | #
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Croydon would be an interesting one, i.e. where would a hypothetical 'Croydon Central' station be located, and would it make sense to build a station there (for all the reasons people build stations)? Only thing is you'd be missing a 'Croydon North'. Perhaps Selhurst would be a good substitute.
And before anyone points it out, I know there once was a Croydon Central, and I know there have been proposals to rename EC 'Croydon Central'
Haenow | 06.08.23 - 2:56 p.m. | #
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No, there's never been a Croydon Central: it was (to match the rest of the borough's stations) Central Croydon. And, as site of the Town Hall, as central as they come.
The relationship between station names (chosen by the railway based on its view of geography) and the associated places (and their names) is always interesting - sometimes the place has come to be where the station is.
Getting back to Acton, Acton Main Line has only been that since 1949, previously being plain Acton, and getting its distinguishing suffix by being on the Main Line.
And then of course there is Acton Bridge, somewhere else entirely.
JeremyGH | 06.08.23 - 5:37 p.m. | #
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Obscure non-geographic Acton fact (and ultimate proof of gentrification): almost all the burrata sold in the UK is made in Acton!
James Webber | 06.08.23 - 6:39 p.m. | #
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Acton Town & Acton Main Lane would be more memorable if named Bollo Lane & Horn Lane.
scrogghill | 06.08.23 - 8:27 p.m. | #
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Acton is quite greedy having all those stations. Maybe North Acton should be renamed Park Royal East to remove one :-)
Mikey C | 07.08.23 - 12:48 a.m. | #
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I think my favourite part of this post is you preempting comments with the last paragraph
E | 07.08.23 - 12:57 p.m. | #
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Look forward to the Harrow piece (Harrow also appears in seven station names)
David B | 07.08.23 - 4:10 p.m. | #
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