GWR station nameboards, how many on a platform ?

[muddys-blues]

Hello I am just planning my station for my layout, it is an ex GWR station set in BR 1970, would it be possible that the old style GWR station name boards would still be around by 1970 ? & how many where there on a platform ? on most pictures I have come across it is 1 per platform, placed near to either the station building or shelter.

 

Kingham station board courtesy of - copyright Hondawanderer's excellent site.

 

Thanks in advance

Craig.

 

[TheSignalEngineer]

There was one of the big ones on each side at Hall Green until at least the late 1990s.  I'm not sure when they were replaced.

[Fat Controller]

I recollect that the proper name for these is 'running-in boards', which might give a clue, if the platform's not bi-directional.

[The Stationmaster]

On the Western there usually seem to have been running-in boards towards each end of a station platform (however many lines there were) - passengers of course sat at both sides of a train so could potentially need to see a board on either side.  There were definitely still a few older still boards around in the 1970s and some stations even had a mixture of styles.

Edited May 16, 2018 by The Stationmaster

[dibber25]

On the Western there usually seem to have been running-in boards towards each end of a station platform (however many lines there were) - passengers of course sat at both sides of a train so could potentially need to see a board on either side.  There were definitely still a few older still boards around in the 1970s and some stations even had a mixture of styles.

 

Aren't there still some on the Berks & Hants? I seem to recall being told by someone on the WR who was responsible for such things (Brian Minks?) that some of the old cast iron boards on rail posts were left in place because they defied all reasonable efforts to dig them up. Replicas have also appeared at some places (the new down platform at Charlbury, for instance). Noticeable that most branch termini only had one, despite the fact that a single coach train would end up stopping miles past it (I'm thinking Staines West, St.Ives, Fairford etc.) (CJL)

[Compound2632]

Noticeable that most branch termini only had one, despite the fact that a single coach train would end up stopping miles past it (I'm thinking Staines West, St.Ives, Fairford etc.) (CJL)

 

Presumably at the end of the line it was less important to know where you were in a hurry.

[The Johnster]

'Running in' as you arrive, and a similar large board at the departure end of the platforms of larger stations.  These larger stations tended to be the ones that had the original GW boards more quickly replaced by BR enamel signs in WR brown/cream.  BR's 'sausage' signs repeated the name on lamp posts and under canopies, but I am less sure of what the GW did in this respect.

 

One must remember that this was still relatively recent to the Second World War, when the fear of German Spies led to the removal of station nameboards across the country, a move which probably confused more of ours than theirs.  In my own time in the job, the early 70s, passengers of that sort of age, and there were still a lot of them then, continually asked where they were and how to get where they were going, repeating the questions to every railway uniform they encountered, I assume a hangover from those times; they just didn't believe the signs or what anyone else had told them 5 seconds earlier...

 

People of this generation were used to porters announcing the names of stations as well, and of course any troublesome Teuton with nastiness in mind would have only had to ask and he would have been politely directed (perhaps not if he'd done it in a comic book German accent, 'donner unt bltzen, excusen me mein Herr, vat ischt zee vay to zer kabeen der zignallink ver I must planten zis bomba, bitte?' though).

 

In Cardiff, the bus stop signs were also removed during the war, and the stops, previously opposite each other, staggered.  The odd shelter was a bit of a give away, of course, and the open platform buses were frequently slow enough to get on an off in an ad hoc sort of way anyway.

 

It is easy for us to laugh at the invasion paranoia, and the fear of parachutists dropping out of Junkers tri-motors dressed as nuns (the paratroopers not the tri-motors, I mean; that would have been silly...).  But the fear was genuine, ridiculous though it now looks, and, even if measures such as removing running in boards from stations were a bit pointless in terms of dealing with nasty nazi spies, they no doubt re-assured the populace as a whole that at least somebody had thought about the problems and something had been done.  Keep calm and carry on.  Looked at from the point of view of late Summer 1940, when Europe had fallen and the invasion barges were massing in the French and Belgian channel ports, it becomes a lot more scary and less of a laughing matter.

 

Of course, the names of major stations in the South East of England, more or less the front line then,  had been painted on the roofs in large letters to assist Imperial Airways pilots who needed to find Croydon; these were removed very sensibly to prevent them being of any use to the Luftwaffe.  Navigation in the air is not as easy as it looks, and Pembrey in West Wales recieved a visit from a Luftwaffe pilot who had been on a patrol over the western English Channel and got himself sufficiently disorientated as to believe he had landed at his home base in Brittany, one bit of land and water looking much like any other from about 12,000 feet.  He was very welcome, as his Focke-Wulf 120 was brand new and largely unknown to the Britiish.  The removal of town names on station roofs was a very proper thing to do!

Edited May 16, 2018 by The Johnster

[eastglosmog]

I believe many of the GWR signs on the minor country stations on the OWW were in place until the mid 60s at least.

The one on the "Running in" side of Charlbury Up platform is where it has always been and  certainly looks like the original. It is no longer at the top of the ramp because the platform was extended towards Moreton some time ago.  The one on the "running out" end is in the same style - I always understood it was the old down platform sign relocated when the down platform was closed and demolished and the old Up platform extended into the old goods yard area, but have no proof of that.  Prior to the extension of this platform, there was only one sign per platform.

The famous sign at Adlestrop was still in place in 1966 when the station closed and is now at the village bus shelter.  Not sure which platform it came from, but again there was only one sign per platform.

Edited to add: Just been down to check in case my memory was playing up and the new Charlbury down platform replica sign (there are two enamel type signs as well) is not entirely convincing, probably because it has three posts (not two as the originals) and does not have the right type of finials on top of the posts.

Edited May 16, 2018 by eastglosmog

[The Stationmaster]

Aren't there still some on the Berks & Hants? I seem to recall being told by someone on the WR who was responsible for such things (Brian Minks?) that some of the old cast iron boards on rail posts were left in place because they defied all reasonable efforts to dig them up. Replicas have also appeared at some places (the new down platform at Charlbury, for instance). Noticeable that most branch termini only had one, despite the fact that a single coach train would end up stopping miles past it (I'm thinking Staines West, St.Ives, Fairford etc.) (CJL)

 

I think most (if not all) of the B&H ones have gone by now Chris although there was at least one at Midgham until not too many years ago and there was one at Tilehurst until well in the 1970s (not B&H I appreciate).  Regrettably Mortimer hasn't retained its either.  I suspect most were swept away in the NSE era.

 

Mention of Brian Minks takes me back a long way - to the late 1960s in fact.

[Rugd1022]

Henley-in-Arden on the North Warks line still has its running in boards.

[Dan Randall]

I think most (if not all) of the B&H ones have gone by now Chris although there was at least one at Midgham until not too many years ago and there was one at Tilehurst until well in the 1970s (not B&H I appreciate).  Regrettably Mortimer hasn't retained its either.  I suspect most were swept away in the NSE era.

 

Mention of Brian Minks takes me back a long way - to the late 1960s in fact.

 

Pewsey still has a GWR running-in board on each of its two platforms, as witnessed at 08:10 this morning....

 

 

 

Please excuse the quality of the first picture, which was taken through the window of a Paignton-bound HST, as it was err, running in to the station!

 

 

 

Regards

 

Dan

[The Stationmaster]

Pewsey still has a GWR running-in board on each of its two platforms, as witnessed at 08:10 this morning....

 

20180523_080935.jpg

 

20180523_081105.jpg

 

Please excuse the quality of the first picture, which was taken through the window of a Paignton-bound HST, as it was err, running in to the station!

 

 

 

Regards

 

Dan

 

Hmm,  I normally go there too fast to notice but nice to know they're there.

 

(Although on a note of pedantry Pewsey is not technically on the Berks & Hants as the Berks & Hants Railway terminated at Hungerford.  A separate company, the Berks and Hants Extension Railway subsequently obtained powers to build a line between Hungerford and Devizes, where it made an end-on junction with the Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth's Devizes branch.  Oddly the B&H Extension Railway didn't formally become part of the GWR until nearly 40 years after the GWR had amalgamated with the B&H.  The GWR and WR solved the problem by calling the whole lot the Westbury Line.)

[LBRJ]

There is still a fine example to been seen on the upside at Lostwithiel.

Edited May 23, 2018 by LBRJ

[dibber25]

I could never understand why the cast iron ones were removed. They will outlast any of the modern stuff that's put up and they are easy to repaint into anyone's current corporate colours. I suspect it was just something to keep the bulldozer boys occupied when they'd knocked down everything else. I was at Kintbury the other day - what a pathetic little example of the 'modern' railway! Must be really depressing on a wet day. (CJL)

[Dan Randall]

I could never understand why the cast iron ones were removed. They will outlast any of the modern stuff that's put up and they are easy to repaint into anyone's current corporate colours. I suspect it was just something to keep the bulldozer boys occupied when they'd knocked down everything else. I was at Kintbury the other day - what a pathetic little example of the 'modern' railway! Must be really depressing on a wet day. (CJL)

It's awful whatever the weather, day or night, but even more so for the new Reading Station!

 

The GW electrification has depressed me big style, with many fine bridges and station buildings being demolished. I couldn't believe the beautiful 1884 vintage Taplow footbridge had become a fairly recent victim and now the one at Newbury is being dismantled, having been usurped by an ugly modern version at the opposite end of the station!

 

Platforms are being extended with no attempt being made to harmonise with the existing ones and they just look so brutal without ramps at the end. The modern railway is a depressing scene, but I don't suppose today's passengers even notice, as they're too busy looking at their mobile phones. I expect windowless carriages won't be far off, especially as many current seats don't line up with one anyway....

 

Thank heavens we have our models to transport us back in time and how fortunate you are Chris, to have witnessed and recorded the transition from steam to diesel & electric and to have travelled over branch lines that were swept away in the 1960s.

 

 

 

Regards

 

Dan

[dibber25]

It's awful whatever the weather, day or night, but even more so for the new Reading Station!

 

The GW electrification has depressed me big style, with many fine bridges and station buildings being demolished. I couldn't believe the beautiful 1884 vintage Taplow footbridge had become a fairly recent victim and now the one at Newbury is being dismantled, having been usurped by an ugly modern version at the opposite end of the station!

 

Platforms are being extended with no attempt being made to harmonise with the existing ones and they just look so brutal without ramps at the end. The modern railway is a depressing scene, but I don't suppose today's passengers even notice, as they're too busy looking at their mobile phones. I expect windowless carriages won't be far off, especially as many current seats don't line up with one anyway....

 

Thank heavens we have our models to transport us back in time and how fortunate you are Chris, to have witnessed and recorded the transition from steam to diesel & electric and to have travelled over branch lines that were swept away in the 1960s.

 

 

 

Regards

 

Dan

 

Yes, but I still wish I'd been older and been able to travel on a lot more before they got closed. I cannot understand the endless staring at mobile phones when beautiful countryside is passing by the window. But then reading while I was travelling always made me travel-sick. Sadly, where once I went looking for surviving stations or, at least, the odd surviving original building, now there are virtually none left. I found myself photographing blue-painted GWR spear fencing at Kintbury. It was the only vestige of GWR left standing, and even then, the gate had been torched off! (CJL)

[Nick Holliday]

I recollect that the proper name for these is 'running-in boards', which might give a clue, if the platform's not bi-directional.

Going slightly off-topic, as the terminology may be specific to the GWR, but is 'running-in boards' the company's term, or one adopted by enthusiasts? There has been some discussion about this with the Brighton Circle, which was a bit inconclusive because the wording seems deeply entrenched in enthusiasts' minds, but, for example, the Southern Railway appears, from the content of Southern Nouveau, to refer to them prosaically as 'station nameboards', as does Midland Style, although the Midland did have a splendid angled board design worthy of a special title.

On another line, the Metroplitan, I have noticed in a recently purchased book by Bill Simpson that contains station plans from 1900, that they used the letters TAB to denote the boards, which incidentally numbered two per platform at even the smallest through station. Can anyone suggest what the letters might mean?

[The Stationmaster]

Going slightly off-topic, as the terminology may be specific to the GWR, but is 'running-in boards' the company's term, or one adopted by enthusiasts? There has been some discussion about this with the Brighton Circle, which was a bit inconclusive because the wording seems deeply entrenched in enthusiasts' minds, but, for example, the Southern Railway appears, from the content of Southern Nouveau, to refer to them prosaically as 'station nameboards', as does Midland Style, although the Midland did have a splendid angled board design worthy of a special title.

On another line, the Metroplitan, I have noticed in a recently purchased book by Bill Simpson that contains station plans from 1900, that they used the letters TAB to denote the boards, which incidentally numbered two per platform at even the smallest through station. Can anyone suggest what the letters might mean?

 

At work on the WR  (but when I started it was only 18 years after the GWR had ceased to exist so terminology definitely lingered) they were referred to as 'running-in boards' by the more erudite folk who seemed to know what they were talking about and the term was used to distinguish them from the various smaller station nameboards such as the totem style ones.  And I certainly saw the term used in official correspondence.

[Compound2632]

 

refer to them prosaically as 'station nameboards', as does Midland Style, 

 

I would take George Dow as an authoritative source; he was a professional railwayman through and through. V.R. Anderson and H.N. Twells, LMS Lineside Part 1 (WSP, 2007) use the term "station nameboards", this seems to be the only term used in the official documents and drawings they cite or reproduce. Their chapter on the topic is, of necessity, mostly a review of the late pre-Grouping practice of the LMS constituent companies, which was very varied. As a general indication of practice, they state "generally there were two main nameboards to each platform, placed approximately 15-20 yards from the platform end ramps, with others provided depending on the length of the platforms".

 

From a space-starved modeller's perspective, it's worth remembering that 15-20 yards is pretty much a whole coach length.

[HillsideDepot]

They are certainly called "running-in-boards" by the GWR people and council officers on the Heart of Wessex Community Rail Partnership, and I'd suggest the name was more likely to have come to them through official rather than enthusiast channels. 

[Tim V]

Late survivors here!

Saunderton 25/6/79

Seer Green  10/78

 

[LBRJ]

I thought that running in boards were the often large ones at the outer ends of platforms (IE when the train was running into the station) and the others nearer to the buildings etc were just name boards.

 

 

I have just noticed that Mr V's post above mine has had a second picture added that shows just what I am on about

Edited June 8, 2018 by LBRJ

[Rugd1022]

Another one here - photo c/o Stanley Tout who's also in the shot...

 

 

 

[The Stationmaster]

Another one here - photo c/o Stanley Tout who's also in the shot...

 

FB HOLT JCN Stanley Tout.jpg

 

Proving that Stan was once a young man and hasn't always had his excellent set of whiskers - great bloke and a long time railway modeller.

[muddys-blues]

Many thanks to all the contributors, it’s been a great and interesting response, one last question, by 1970 what would have been the general colours of the boards and lettering, I have seen a good number on the web from the late 1960’s showing white lettering on black boards, was this the general condition by 1970 ?

 

Thanks in advance

Craig