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Post by happybunny on Feb 4, 2008 19:31:42 GMT
At Acton town EB platforms, there are train destination screens, the light box type.
There are lots of little rectangles within these screens I assume each one carry a different destination. However all I have seen is the following:
Fast platform. Cockfosters, Arnos Grove, Not stopping at, Chiswick Park, Turnham Green, Stamford Brook, Ravenscourt Park.
Local platform. Earls Court, Tower Hill, Upminster Line, Piccadilly Line Train.
Does anyone else know what else these screens are capable of describing? As this leaves lots of spare boxes.
I think on the fast platform, there is even two arrows included in the describer. Does anyone know what these are for?
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Oracle
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Post by Oracle on Feb 4, 2008 19:55:06 GMT
I sued to look at these boxes when I travelled almost every day on the Underground and try and work out what the options were by studying them closely. New displays were put in at Hounslow West EB when the Hatton X extension opened and you could just make out the options. Last time we used the station the boxes had been altered and were not working.
I would imagine that the Acton Fast platform indicators had all or some of these:
STOPS HERE HAMMERSMITH WEST KENSINGTON HYDE PARK CORNER KINGS CROSS WOOD GREEN ARNOS GROVE OAKWOOD COCKFOSTERS SPECIAL
I don't know if they ever said DISTRICT LINE TRAIN? As to the arrows, were they able to show first train out for when a Picc was in the EB Local?
As to the District (EB Local) did they have WEST KENSINGTON? EARLS COURT, VICTORIA, EMBANKMENT*, MANSION HOUSE, TOWER HILL, ALDGATE EAST all come to mind. I query if the subsequent reversing points such as Plaistow, East Ham, Barking, were listed?
* I have had a brainwave that they said CHARING +.
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Post by happybunny on Feb 4, 2008 20:15:17 GMT
I think anything past Tower Hill just comes up as Upminster Line. I know certainly Barking and Dagenham does. HSK comes up as Earls Court. It's a shame the Picc line arrows don't still work!
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Post by Deleted on Feb 4, 2008 21:59:40 GMT
It can show Dagenham East (I brought train 122 out on Friday).
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Post by metman on Feb 4, 2008 23:30:58 GMT
Don't forget 'BOUNDS GREEN' on the picc board!
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Post by Colin on Feb 5, 2008 2:52:41 GMT
The Picc (fast platform) has a bigger box, the simple reason is [AFAIK] because it used to show stations where trains did not stop (ie, Turnham Green, Ravenscourt Park, etc).
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Post by c5 on Feb 5, 2008 8:43:49 GMT
There is no Train Description for Embankment (nowadays).
There is also no way of changing the light box to show a stopping service [from the signalling system]. Do the Local platforms show the same Picc destinations?
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Post by Oracle on Feb 5, 2008 14:36:54 GMT
I am certain, which means that I must be wrong, that the local EB says PICCADILLY LINE TRAIN. What the WB Local says is an interesting thought:
EALING BDY EALING COMMON SOUTH HARROW RAYNERS LANE RUSILIP HILLINGDON UXBRIDGE NORTHFIELDS HOUNSLOW CENTRAL (never certain that ever was such a destination) HOUNSLOW WEST then HATTON CROSS then HEATHROW CENTRAL then HEATHROW T123 HEATHROW T4 SPECIAL STOPS HERE DISTRICT DAVE MYSTERY TOUR
Was NORTH EALING ever a destination pre-1973ish??
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Post by metman on Feb 5, 2008 15:25:12 GMT
I'm surprised at some of those destinations! Did North Ealing have a crossover? When did trains terminate at Ickenham? There is nowhere to reverse there? Unless a wrong road reversal is possible to the transplant siding/crossing, but it's quite a long way back! Hillingdon should be there too!
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Post by railtechnician on Feb 5, 2008 15:38:14 GMT
AFAIK there is no Bounds Green description on the EB TD at Acton, why would there be as it is not a reversing point, Wood Green and Arnos Grove are the choices there? Of course Hounslow Central must've have been a description at one time, it remains a reversing site with automatic reversing facility just as Hatton Cross does. As for the arrows not working this is probably more a case of the bulbs being blown. I can't now recall which platforms have bulbs and which have tubes but the TD platform signs could all do with replacing as the wiring is now quite old especially in the signs housing ES bulbholders.
An Earls Court signal operator should be able to say exactly what descriptions can be punched up on each platform. I used to put them up myself in the control room when colleagues were replacing the lamps and the vandalised glass at night! I can say from experience that changing the glass in one type of sign, multiple sections, is almost impossible as the heads on all the brass screws securing the strips have worn away and on the other type of sign with a single glass per side it is a dangerous occupation even with a platform scaffold as the signs are free to swing and the glass is extremely heavy. The last one I changed was on the WB fast at Acton four or five years ago now.
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Post by Oracle on Feb 5, 2008 16:38:23 GMT
AFAIK there is no Bounds Green Thank goodness I am not going nuts! I was sure that there was no facility there yet there was a #-over wasn't there..York Road perhaps, that was removed? It is interesting to think that there might have been a Hounslow Central destination. I can't recall seeing it in any light box, but the ones we are talking of are very difficult or were, to see what was in the unilluminated areas. HATTON + as against HATTON CROSS was a destination which replaced HOUNSLOW WEST, but I thought that they were changed to HEATHROW CENTRAL again without allocating a new box. That was however from memory from the 1970s!
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Post by District Dave on Feb 5, 2008 17:00:35 GMT
I am certain, which means that I must be wrong, that the local EB says PICCADILLY LINE TRAIN. What the WB Local says is an interesting thought: EALING BDY EALING COMMON SOUTH HARROW RAYNERS LANE RUSILIP ICKENHAM UXBRIDGE NORTHFIELDS HOUNSLOW CENTRAL (never certain that ever was such a destinaation) HOUNSLOW WEST then HATTON CROSS then HEATHROW CENTRAL then HEATHROW T123 HEATHROW T4 SPECIAL STOPS HERE DISTRICT DAVE MYSTERY TOUR Was NORTH EALING ever a destination pre-1973ish?? Yes - the e/b fast platform most certainly shows PICCADILLY LINE TRAIN. From my time on the platforms there I recall Cockfosters, Arnos Grove, Wood Green, Hammersmith (I'm fairly sure) and STOPS HERE. Can't think of any others. The w/b - I have to say I don't recall too well the destinations down the Heathrow branch (other than the obvious ones); the Uxbridge branch is as you quote apart from Ickenham; that hasn't been a reversing move for many years so far as I'm aware. They deleted the MYSTERY TOUR option some years ago
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Post by metman on Feb 5, 2008 17:10:02 GMT
Now I swear there were reversing facilities at Bounds Grn! I remember years ago seeing a train for Bounds Green and thinking-oh, ok!
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Post by happybunny on Feb 5, 2008 17:34:48 GMT
I am sure I saw a Picc train with Hounslow Central on the front recently... and I observed the EB Fast platform with a picc train in it today, it just said Piccadilly Line Train at the top, then along the left hand side top to bottom it said "Not stopping at, Chiswick Park, Turnham Green, Stamford Group, Ravenscourt Park" it did not show the ultimate destination! Odd
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Post by Oracle on Feb 5, 2008 17:52:26 GMT
Double-D sorry, it was of course HILLINGDON. Trains terminated there when going directly to Uxbridge Sidings, as I remember!
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Post by 21146 on Feb 5, 2008 18:51:26 GMT
The old "sectioned" 1930s describers at Hammersmith(D) WB Local only showed "HOUNSLOW" for Piccadilly Line Heathrow Central trains.
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Post by superteacher on Feb 5, 2008 19:24:22 GMT
There never have been reversing facilities at Bounds Green.
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Post by Oracle on Feb 5, 2008 22:25:40 GMT
I am sure now that HOUNSLOW was meant to cover West and Central and that there never was in my memory going back 30 years, a H/Central destination.
Aren't there are also light boxes at Northfields, EB Fast at least?
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Post by 21146 on Feb 5, 2008 22:34:57 GMT
The Northfields ones EB were similar to the Acton Town and Hammersmith EB design and designed for both District and Piccadilly destinations from both platforms. All gone at Northfields or disused I believe.
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Post by c5 on Feb 6, 2008 8:28:33 GMT
There are now DMIs at Northfields and on the Heathrow branch. These (except Northfields) are meant to be wired up to the new Train Following System used by Service Control.
Until Boston Manor WB, the only TDs are Northfields Depot, Northfields Siding, Heathrow (now T5) and Heathrow Loop (now T4).
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Post by railtechnician on Feb 6, 2008 21:29:02 GMT
I am sure now that HOUNSLOW was meant to cover West and Central and that there never was in my memory going back 30 years, a H/Central destination. Aren't there are also light boxes at Northfields, EB Fast at least? Yes but please they are not called light boxes, they are TD Signs!
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Post by railtechnician on Feb 6, 2008 21:31:45 GMT
The Northfields ones EB were similar to the Acton Town and Hammersmith EB design and designed for both District and Piccadilly destinations from both platforms. All gone at Northfields or disused I believe. I'm surprised if they are gone, just about everything at Northfields is listed, in fact I thought most western Picc stations were listed nowadays.
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Post by Oracle on Feb 6, 2008 21:56:00 GMT
Yes but please they are not called light boxes, they are TD Signs! I'm showing my age as that's what we called them in the Seventies! I really must repro the Underground slang complete as I wonder if it might prove nostalgic if not a snapshot of past, outdated descriptions. And the TD sign at Northfields EB Fast was there when I went through towards the end of last year.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 6, 2008 22:36:28 GMT
It can show Dagenham East (I brought train 122 out on Friday). Are you sure ? I also have always found Dagenham and Barking trains shown as "Upminster Line"
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Post by railtechnician on Feb 8, 2008 1:01:10 GMT
Yes but please they are not called light boxes, they are TD Signs! I'm showing my age as that's what we called them in the Seventies! I really must repro the Underground slang complete as I wonder if it might prove nostalgic if not a snapshot of past, outdated descriptions. And the TD sign at Northfields EB Fast was there when I went through towards the end of last year. Perhaps you called them light boxes then but they were TD signs even then, I started with LT in the 70s, and otherwise simply known as 'describers'! Until this thread I have never known them to be called light boxes. I can't help wondering now what you might've called the illuminated platform signage as it is of a very similar construction, the difference being that all of the lighting is switched on continuously. Having come to LT from the PO telephone industry I would've called both describers and illuminated signage simply 'lanterns' as a lantern is a box full of stencils backit as required behind coloured filters. Of course the LT filter is uniformly either opaque or smoked glass in each type of describer. Believe it or not LT also used lanterns once upon a time, usually in offices.
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Post by c5 on Feb 8, 2008 7:38:13 GMT
The Northfields ones EB were similar to the Acton Town and Hammersmith EB design and designed for both District and Piccadilly destinations from both platforms. All gone at Northfields or disused I believe. I'm surprised if they are gone, just about everything at Northfields is listed, in fact I thought most western Picc stations were listed nowadays. I'm sure Northfields has the new DMIs that are linked up to the new Train Following System.
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Post by Oracle on Feb 8, 2008 7:44:02 GMT
Thanks RT. We also talked of 'describers' as a generic term. 'TD' is evidently what they were and what should be used from now on. I rathe imagine we called the LT roundel with arrow signs 'platform signs'. However the indicator for the first train out at Hounslow West, initialy for the three then two platforms was probably 'the next train out indicator'. Ahem!
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Post by Deleted on Feb 9, 2008 1:45:35 GMT
It can show Dagenham East (I brought train 122 out on Friday). Are you sure ? I also have always found Dagenham and Barking trains shown as "Upminster Line" Yes, I'm sure!
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Post by Deleted on Feb 14, 2008 18:21:51 GMT
and I suspect your right !!! Upon reflection none of the duties we have leave Ealing with a booked termination at Dagenham or Barking !! So it's very rare that I'd see anything other than Tower Hill, Mansion House or Upminster Line !! .....Which raises the question why "Upminster Line" Today I was covering a bit of a Barking duty which was a booked Ealing - Barking and it did indeed show "BARKING" on the light box. ... (sorry TD Indicator ;D )
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Post by c5 on Feb 15, 2008 0:30:26 GMT
There are trains to Dagenham that leave Acton East Local.
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