Wooden departure boards at the platform.

[dvdlcs]

Hello.

 

Was watching an old TV series when I saw something interesting/unusual in a station scene.

 

A porter appears to take down a wooden strip with the train details on it and replace it with another. This is transverse to the platform edge.

 

The two screen grabs attached show the porter reaching up to the first board and the second board that has replaced the first.

 

I was wondering how widespread this arrangement was and when it finally disappeared (presumably replaced by the computer screens with the red cases).

 

Originally I thought that the location was Waterloo (the characters were travelling up to London from the Isle of Wight) but a fragment of the sign suggests it might be Clapham Junction. Mind you, there are also images of Liverpool Street and Paddington in this sequence, so location fidelity was not a big concern. The EMU in the second grab I assume would be a Class 508 in its Southern days.

 

The show was a three-part drama called Annika, which aired in 1984.

 

Thanks for any forthcoming response,

 

 

David.

[John M Upton]

Very common practice on the Southern Region until late into Network SouthEast days when the glorified BBC Model B controlled television screens became the norm. The finger boards were usually kept in the box that you can see strapped to the canopy stancion on the left and in later years consisted of white transfer type lettering (usually amended with chalkk, gaffa tape or anything else handy!) on a black board that slotted into the slot as seen here. Many stations still have the slots in place and the finger boards were scattered to the four winds, some of which are in my hall cupboard!

 

The one in the picture seems to show the number 24 on it which was probably the headcode so you should be able to work out where the next train was going when that scene was filmed.

[Oldddudders]

24 was the Shepperton.

[JeffP]

Amazing...I'd forgotten all about those.

[Mallard60022]

Love the comment about 'old TV series' mate. 1984 - that's just yesterday.

They'd all be glued to their 'phones/pods/ fruit thingys if it was really modern (except for the woman in the white hat & the railworker).

Anyhow, I'd forgotten about those. Widespread across the 'regions' in earlier years; even collectable now (some very collectable of course).

Can't believe 'dudders knew the destination from that pic; bionic eyes or just past times experience?

P @ 36E

[Oldddudders]

John said it was 24 - and it just clicked. 16 Effingham, 17 Dorking/Horsham, 18 Chessie, 19 Epsom, 30 Hampton Court, 42 New Line etc etc etc. Anything with 8# was Portsmouth Direct, later when Bomo got juiced, they had 9# numbers. Lots of others I don't know, of course - but check out SEmG for the whole list.

[4630]

Anyhow, I'd forgotten about those. Widespread across the 'regions' in earlier years; even collectable now (some very collectable of course).

 

They crop up every now and then on EBay (other auction sites are available).

I've promised myself that if the ones from Brockenhurst ever crop and I have the money available I'd stick a bid in.

 

 

[dvdlcs]

Thank you for the various responses to the original query.

 

Presumably specific to the Southern region, which considering I was living in Scotland at the time would be why it was not known to me.

 

1984 may be just like yesterday to Mallard, but is nearly 30 years ago now. My memories of the time are hazy, but then I was just into double figures then :-)

[Gwiwer]

As John says these were known as "finger boards" as they resembled a finger pointing at the train in question. They were almost universal across the Southern Region until electronics took over but were seldom seen elsewhere.

 

Until the corporate blue era they were painted green with white lettering which weathered to cream (or in some cases cream paint was used) and featured upper case lettering. From the early 70s they were repainted in black and most then featured lower case lettering in the BR house style.

 

The extent of information shown varied. In locations where an ultimate destination was all that was required that was all that was shown. Where differing stopping patterns or destinations were served from the same platform then a selection of boards was kept in a rack and the one matching (or in some cases most closely matching) the next departure was then placed in the holder by platform staff. Headcodes were not normally included othe rthan at a few key locations such as Clapham Junction where their use aided train identification.

 

As an example the up side at Worthing (Central as it was) had boards for:- Brighton only (used only for the Plymouth / Exeter service), All Stations and Halts to Brighton, London Bridge, Victoria and several more Brighton boards with individual stops listed. With only one London train an hour it was felt unncessary to have separate boards for each unique stopping pattern. On the down side were : West Worthing Only, West Worthing, Durrington and Goring Only, West Worthing, Durrington, Goring, Angmering, Littlehampton (oddly not "All stations to ..."), Barnham, Chichester, Havant, Fratton, Portsmouth & Southsea and Portsmouth Harbour, All stations and halts to Portsmouth Harbour except Bedhampton and Hilsea and numerous other individual and seldom-used stopping pattern boards. Direct trains to Bognor Regis were seldom a feature of the timetable so "Bognor Regis" had to suffice for those while the inter-regional trains were indicated with Southampton, Salisbury, Exeter and Plymouth (later with "and Plymouth" simply painted out after the route closed) or plain Bristol Temple Meads, Cardiff General (as it then was) and Bournemouth & Poole for which there was a weekly summer Sunday direct train.

[Andy W]

In the steam era these boards were common across the UK, not just on the Southern Region, but they lasted there well after other parts of the country had abandoned them. One reason would be that they required station staff to change them, and staff reductions or total removal meant that nobody was available to do it. The Southern, with much heavier traffic and a lot of non-gangwayed emus to despatch, retained its platform staff a lot longer.

[flyingsignalman]

Rock Ferry station had a finger board (and it may have had a clock face to give the departure time too) until about 1976 when it was removed to a preservation centre (Bulmer's Hereford, I think).

[Pete 75C]

I worked briefly at Sutton (Surrey) station starting in 1983 straight from school. Each platform had a selection of these boards for common departures. I have heard them called finger boards, but the ones I remember were plain-ended, black with white font. There were no headcodes on Sutton's boards. We had a couple of "blanks" which could be chalked with any unusual destinations, but if this was the case, usually we wouldn't bother with a board and just announce the train. The supervisor's office was on platforms 2 and 3, and platform 1 was usually staffed, but quite often no-one could be bothered to walk over to platform 4 to change the board, so someone chalked "Please listen for announcements" on a blank and that was pretty much displayed permanently. I also remember red boards with the words "Please do not join this train".

I went back to Sutton station in the 90s and spotted that a "Holborn Viaduct via Wimbledon" board was being used as a shelf in the station supervisor's office. Just wide enough for half a dozen mugs and a jar of coffee. Another example of the Southern's waste not, want not ethic...

Pete.

[Pete 75C]

Found this image on the 'net - Hayes in 1973 rather than Sutton in the 80s but just as I remember them.

[John M Upton]

A few from my collection:

The bottom one in the first picture is of a much older 1960's style rather than the white Letraset type which came into use in the 1970's and remained in use until the finger board system's eventualy demise.

 

The stopping pattern on the obviously rarely used bottom one in the second picture is most odd, no Three Bridges on a Arun Valley train, a rare one indeed that was probably rarely used hence why it seems to be in much better condition than many others.

 

Also note the metal brackets at the ends of the lower two.  The Bognor Regis one did have them at some time but excessive use has seen them lost off one end and the other end has in fact completely broken off!!

 

The bracket where it once sat is still there and one day the two will meet again.

[Dagworth]

Found this image on the 'net - Hayes in 1973 rather than Sutton in the 80s but just as I remember them.

 

finger.jpg

Which would also have had a 24 headcode if all stations to the 'Cross. 34 if it missed out Lewisham-St Johns-New Cross...

 

Andi

[Oldddudders]

Which would also have had a 24 headcode if all stations to the 'Cross. 34 if it missed out Lewisham-St Johns-New Cross...

 

Andi

ISTR a supervisor at Waterloo East being unable to explain to his boss, when asked, what the difference was in those two numbers - he only knew they both went to Hayes! He had a footplate backgound (Leamington?), and they may have been pleased to pass him over to others, as I suspect he couldn't always remember which end of the shovel to hold!

[eastwestdivide]

The boards weren't necessarily used on every platform. Here, on a crop of Strood in 1985, with fingerboard on the down (all?) stations to Ramsgate, and electric flipover board on the up platform. There could have been a board in addition on the up side, but there wasn't an electric one on the down side at that time. Seem to recall a board on platform 3 that swapped between Maidstone West and Paddock Wood.

[Pete 75C]

Guessing (and from memory) that they're about a metre long and maybe 6 inches tall, I spy a little business idea... Anyone for 4mm scale depature boards in black plasticard with a couple of sheets of white Letraset? Actually that wouldn't work... >1mm high Letraset - I doubt it somehow. They'd need to be printed...

[eastwestdivide]

You're welcome to try it for size - these look about the right proportions:

Boards.pdf

[Pete 75C]

You're welcome to try it for size - these look about the right proportions:

Boards.pdf

Cool. But I'm thinking there would be no advantage to having the board printed. I couldn't read that on a strip of plastic 12mm long. I think a couple of horizontal white lines would do the trick. Can you imagine the "hand from the sky" changing the board after each departure! I really do like the idea though and it's stored away in the "things to do for the new layout" folder of my mind.

Pete.

[eastwestdivide]

Combing the photo collection for more examples, but nothing much useful. I preferred the open country. However, the metal receptacle into which the finger boards slotted is shown on this one, white with "Next Train" in black, here attached to one of the stanchions holding up the canopy, but also seen attached to station buildings. Strood 1984 again:

 

[griffgriff]

... not all detailed destinations.  I recall red 'do not board this train' boards too. 

[Gwiwer]

John's boards come from Barnham (top and third down), Littlehampton (second) and Fratton (lower).  The excessive use of the Bognor Regis one is accounted for by it being used several times each hour at Barnham and not necessarily at the same platform; if two Bognor trains were side by side as often happened at busy times the board was used to indicate the first departure.  The second one is an unusual example of upper case lettering on black as this style was usually on green boards so maybe this was repainted at the changeover.  Of interest is the fact that Fratton, along with Portsmouth & Southsea HL and Havant, had hook-over supplementary boards reading "and Hilsea" which accounted for the peaks-only service at that station for many years; it obviated the need to hold a complete second set of boards including the name for perhaps one train a day.  Waterloo had the same - remarkable perhaps for a London terminus but then the array of boards required at the barrier line there was huge already.

 

The upper case one also shows cut-outs at the left hand end for it to be slotted into the holder rather than squared ends which were more common; the metal corners were a later development in most cases and were fitted to those boards used most often but not to all.  It was obviously thought unnecessary to protect those boards which were seldom used from the ravages of frequent use and abuse and thus were a few shillings saved by the ever-thrifty Southern.

 

"Do not join this train" boards in red were common at suburban stations where some trains terminated but others ran through.  By contrast West Worthing merely left the holder empty when the crawler arrived (and the detached portion off the down Victoria trains in the days when they divided at Central) with station staff checking no-one remained aboard for an unauthorised excursion via the turnback road.  Terminal stations such as Brighton used red "Empty to Depot" boards to indicate that the train was not in service.  From memory those boards were also red back in the days when the others were green.  

[griffgriff]

"Do not join this train" boards in red were common at suburban stations where some trains terminated but others ran through.  By contrast West Worthing merely left the holder empty when the crawler arrived (and the detached portion off the down Victoria trains in the days when they divided at Central) with station staff checking no-one remained aboard for an unauthorised excursion via the turnback road.

 I remember them being used at Salisbury.  Before the resignalling (ie before bi directional platforms, although TBF this does not make a jot of difference to my point  but does affirm activities at the time) platform 3 was used by Portsmouth to Bristol through trains and terminating trains from the Basingstoke direction (Reading and Waterloo).  The boards were vital to prevent passengers substituting a trip up the Wylye valley for a short trip to platform 4 (best)  or the stabling siding behind the West box (worst)

[John M Upton]

There were a number of finger boards of the later type on display on the wall of the Platform 3 waiting room at Worthing (Central) until the recent refurbishment into what is now known in Southerm (Go-Via version) parlance as the 'Passenger Lounge'.  Some of them appeared to be from Hove judging by the destination list and there was a red 'Do not join this train' one as well.  Sadly they have disappeared and I have been unable to find out where.  Just hope they didn't wind up in a skip.