There is an association with 'Birmingham Z', but there also seemed to be 'Sutton Z' on signs when we visited the site. Is this indication of increasing localisation?
Getting a bit specific now. Was there a standard typeface used on the stamps/first day covers in the mid-20th century? This could be one way (along with a colour palette) of getting that aesthetic threaded in.
The site has a trajectory and it is the various historical events that knock it 'off course'. A patch of land's beautiful parabola was pushed one way by the railway, then another by matters postal and then another by the proposed future development. Switches. Aren't railway points sometimes referred to as switches? We switch between times to create contrasts or suggest possibilities.
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Indeed, there are many differing words between the American 'railroad' and the UK 'railway' jargon. Your question about points and switches is a classic SYNECDOCHE where a part is made to represent the whole. Points are components of the American 'switch' although in the UK switches are called points. Where an Englishman might refer to 'shunting', an American would refer to 'switching', which contains interesting suggestions between what the two consider to be the main actions associated with the practise of moving wagons (UK) or cars (US) around the railroad/railway yard. The list goes on... I like the connotations carried within 'point' and 'switch' and how they apply to both the railway activities and the postal services at the same time.
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