londonmidland
Established Member
I thought Lancaster was pronounced the same everywhere? If not, then the Southerners have been pronouncing it wrong all this time
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Farewell B.R 'circus horn' and Emma Hignett
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Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
In the North you always use short As, you would never pronounce "a" as "ah" unless it was followed by an H or R, in the south long ones are the norm though not otherwise ("Lahncahster" would sound weird, but Northerners definitely pronounce both As short whereas most Southerners would lengthen the one in "caster").
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
The "circus horn" (which was a fast ascending "toot-toot-toot-toooooot" type sound using the same tones as BR used, designed to convey urgency to stand clear when a train was passing through - a great piece of design) was only used on the system installed by Connex in their area (now Southern/Southeastern) - it was never used elsewhere that I recall.
Ashley Hill
Established Member
I was expecting "Hello Campers" after that chime!
Strathclyder
Established Member
The first really clear recording of this I've ever heard. Contrary to most, that was a wave of nostalgia right in the gut for me. When exactly did Central lose this chime? I seem to remember it lasted long enough to see the introduction of the 380s in 2010-2011, but that is likely a false memory. It was long gone by 2015 though, that much I know for certain.
There are videos of Central dating from when it was in use where you can hear it as part of the general background noise, as in the attached video below (at 0:40) and it's obviously not nearly as loud as it is in the above, mostly clean and standalone recording. Sounds exactly like I remember, hearing it all the way from the Ayrshire/Inverclyde platforms.
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When I saw this, I thought it was the three tone circus horn at some Hampshire stations and possibly West Sussex. Stations that I remember in NSE days were Chichester, Havant and think Southampton. The tone was pretty awful and the voice itself was same as many other NSE stations like Clapham.
The Circus horn is played through the Amey system not the Connex screens as you can hear it at 18:12 at Easy Croydon dated 2016 and they all have Infotec screens.
Seems like it doesn't like the link I shared, if you go to Railways BD16 by Agdenyer and then jump to 18:12 you'll see it. Apologies for the issue with the link I posted.
Those screens at East Croydon are Daktronics screens. It is playing through the screens. They are not Infotec screens. East Croydon in 2016 had Daktronics screens. The screens are the newer type so they look a bit more similar to Infotec screens but they are definitely Daktronics screens.
It sounds much faster there than I remember
It does sound faster than the original one might have been played through the speakers or the Infotec CIS screen.
This one at East Croydon was a newer version of the Daktronics horn that only played on the newer models of Daktronics screens. It was still playing through the Daktronics screens. It was not from the main speakers or any Infotec boards. It was indeed a different jinhle to what the older boards used at most other SN and SE and LO stations had. I have attached both for comparison.
greaterwest
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I would just like to clarify that the screens at East Croydon are Infotec screens with a circus horn sound added to them. They are not Daktronics screens and they replaced the original yellow Connex screens. East Croydon never had the newer Daktronics screens.
Ah i did not realise that. I always thought the screens at East Croydon were the newer Daktronics type like what LO stations got to replace the original Connex era screens. The current ones at LO stations that played the trumpet are definitely Daktronics screens and i always thought these were the same ones. But maybe not. It has been a while since i used East Croydon so i shall have to compare photos. If these are Infotec screens then that certainly explains why they made a different jingle sound. But i have never known Infotec screens to play sounds before.
greaterwest
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East Croydon was the only station I knew of that had both Infotec screens and the fast trumpet jingle. Never heard that anywhere else and the LO stations are definitely Daktronics boards.
I was going to say all the screens at East Croydon are Infotec that were installed since 2013 when canopy works and installation of the new footbridge was being built. The yellow ones were taken down in early 2014 right before Only Woman was installed.
The boards referred to as "Connex" are simply the original Daktronics boards (or Data Display as they were called back then) but were not made by Connex themselves.
This is the most common large type of Connex era Daktronics board (which played the trumpet):
This is the less common smaller type of Connex era Daktronics board (which played the trumpet):
This is the new style Daktronics board with yellow casing (which played the trumpet):
This is the new style Daktronics board without yellow casing (which played the trumpet):
This the Infotec boards at East Croydon which we were were talking about (which plays that newer flute sound):
Infotec however have a huge amount of boards used across the SN and SE and LO (and other TOCs too) networks which are all illustrated in this PDF document which i have attached.
There are also other manufacturers like Ferrograph (used on the SWR network) and Blackbox (used on the GA network) as well.
TT-ONR-NRN
Established Member
Many on the Southern network use these:
Image shows Infotech Tetrus displays.
I think a number of South coast ones now have these, but definitely some on SN Metro too. Does anyone know which Southern stations were fitted with New Daktronics and which were fitted with these?
Image shows Infotech Tetrus displays.
I think a number of South coast ones now have these, but definitely some on SN Metro too. Does anyone know which Southern stations were fitted with New Daktronics and which were fitted with these?
I would say around 95% of Southern stations have new Infotec boards installed. Probably only around 5% use the newer Daktronics boards.
The newer Daktronics boards are definitely currently installed at these stations as i have seen them at all these recently:
• Buxted
• Durrington On Sea
• Edenbridge
• Edenbridge Town
• Preston Park
• Uckfield
This is not a complete list and there are probably a dozen or so others i have missed out. But there are certainly very few Southern stations with these.
I have found this document which should show which Southern stations have which. It is a very big list so i have not read all of it yet but i am just going through it now to see if there are any others i have missed. The ones marked "Data Display" are the Daktronics boards. That was their old name.