Station Names on Platform Lights

[satisnek]

I don't think that these names-on-lights were very common on the South Western Division of the Southern, or if they were then they were quickly displaced by 'corporate image' nameboards.

 

[MadMac]

“Plymouth” just visible on this 1975 picture. This style (with ScR blue lettering) was much in evidence in the Glasgow area, particularly the lines electrified in the early 1960s.

 

[nw1]

I don't think that these names-on-lights were very common on the South Western Division of the Southern, or if they were then they were quickly displaced by 'corporate image' nameboards.

Certainly seemed to have almost all gone by the early-mid 80s if they were there; as said above Eastleigh is the only example I can think of which, if I remember right, had this style of light - but I'm not sure if the station name was on the light.

Moving to the Central Division, I have a feeling Purley was another one.

 

[Beebman]

I don't think that these names-on-lights were very common on the South Western Division of the Southern, or if they were then they were quickly displaced by 'corporate image' nameboards.

I'm pretty sure that Twickenham had them but I haven't been able to find any photos of the station from the 1960s which should be confirmation of that.

 

[LowLevel]

The ones at Stamford (Rail Alphabet 70s ones) were removed when the canopy was refurbished a few years ago. East Midlands Trains specifically requested permission to remove them from the listed building as they felt they looked out of place with the newly refurbished station.

 

[Pinza-C55]

There was an LNER forerunner of these which had a rectangular metal frame and china or glass sides. The then disused (late 80s) platforms at Finsbury Park were a last holdout for them.

 

[nw1]

The Broad Street thread got me looking at that line for a while yesterday.

Looks like the now-gone Primrose Hill station in north London also had them, which was served only by peak hour trains from Broad Street (later Liverpool Street) to Watford.

bloodandcustard (very good site for 70s-90s Southern Region - and successor - photos of both stock and stations) suggests Gatwick Airport had them also. Very interesting photo on that site of 80s Gatwick with a CIG formation lazily pulling out on a line with plenty of spare paths - certainly suggests a lot more relaxed and less manic air than the Brighton line these days!

 

[Pinza-C55]

Apart from heritage railways, I wonder if there are still any of those Victorian gas-lamps (albeit converted to electricity) with a discreet station name at the top of the light box, probably in blue and white glass. I have childhood memories of country stations lit solely by oil lamps which had an even more primitive version of those. It was quite surprising how many stations, even quite major ones, had no electric lighting until the late 1950s or even 60s.

There are some of them on the Settle & Carlisle IIRC but they are reproductions. The original lamps are worth vast sums of money to collectors.

 

[yorksrob]

The Broad Street thread got me looking at that line for a while yesterday.

Looks like the now-gone Primrose Hill station in north London also had them, which was served only by peak hour trains from Broad Street (later Liverpool Street) to Watford.

bloodandcustard (very good site for 70s-90s Southern Region - and successor - photos of both stock and stations) suggests Gatwick Airport had them also. Very interesting photo on that site of 80s Gatwick with a CIG formation lazily pulling out on a line with plenty of spare paths - certainly suggests a lot more relaxed and less manic air than the Brighton line these days!

Well, the CIG's were top link at the time, so its unsurprising they were given top priority !

 

[randyrippley]

I last used it pre-covid, but I'm sure Lancaster has some reinstated "Lancaster Castle" lights with maroon lettering

 

[Trainfan2019]

I've seen photos of this type of station light online for Norton Bridge but seem to think they were the plain version. Can anyone confirm if they were plain and still there please? I can't remember from when I last went there.

 

[Davester50]

Good photo of Canning Town with these with the more modern font.
Canning Town on Wikipedia

 

[Clarence Yard]

There was an LNER forerunner of these which had a rectangular metal frame and china or glass sides. The then disused (late 80s) platforms at Finsbury Park were a last holdout for them.

LNER ‘Class B’ fittings, retained for the disused platform, which was used for crew changes. ER HQ wouldn’t come up with the cash for replacing them so the local ODM department had a bit of fun keeping them going. They had recovered a cache of spares when the rest of the station was re-lit.

The Class A was the fluorescent tube (with diffuser, mostly with the name on) mounted on a concrete column, which became a BR standard.

These earlier fluorescent fittings had cold cathode tubes and the last on the KX area were on the rarely used middle “fast” platforms at Hadley Wood, where the ER HQ wouldn’t cough for replacements. Again the local ODM team had some fun keeping them going, using old diffusers previously recovered from other stations, with the letters removed. Only problem was when the dirt got in, the old names became visible at night which led to confusion at times!

Electrification saw the end of the concrete columns in the KX area. Abacus (hinged) raise and lower columns with standard diffusers (later lamps) became the go to solution throughout the area. You used a wheeled spring jack (a different one for each size of column) to drop the column for repairs or to do the six monthly clean and inspection.

Sheringham station is now the best place to see this era of station lighting.

 

[Pinza-C55]

I worked at Kings Cross as a guard 1983-89 (DOO) and IIRC the concrete posts survived on the disused centre island platform at Hadley Wood and a couple of other places till 1986 when replaced by the NSE Red Menace lamp posts. I think the LNER concrete posts still exist at the remains of Filey Holiday Camp station.

 

[John Webb]

.....Sheringham station is now the best place to see this era of station lighting.

Here's a view of one light:
Sheringham station light

© Copyright Ashley Dace and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

 

[W-on-Sea]

I remember them at Barking (with examples both in all-caps and upper-and-lower case) in the very late 80s/early 90s, and, I think, elsewhere on the LTS lines too. Possibly at more stations than not, even. (I think there may have been more recent survivors at Southend East - I have a recollection of seeing some on the disused platform there on the south side of the station, maybe 10 years ago or so)

I'd not be surprised if those at Canning Town (as shown earlier in this thread) and other stations on what was refurbished as the "Crosstown Linkline" in 1979 (i.e. North Woolwich - Stratford - and onto the reopened line with stations at Hackney Wick and Hackney Central) might have been among the very last to have been installed.

 

[emoaconr]

Chester still has them on the non-public bay platform to the south of the station - they're mounted to the canopy

 

[Sprinter107]

Looking at some old photos, it seems Stourbridge Town had about 3 of these lights.

 

[Pinza-C55]

Some years ago the wooden compound at the north end of what is now Platform 9 at York was left open and the old 1950s lamps were stacked in there with the "YORK" name on them. They may even still be there.

 

[LowLevel]

Some years ago the wooden compound at the north end of what is now Platform 9 at York was left open and the old 1950s lamps were stacked in there with the "YORK" name on them. They may even still be there.

You'd imagine not at platform level, some canny person will usually have had them away, but then again I used to work at a large-ish station and it was insane what was still kicking about in abandoned rooms. I used to wander around the basement level and there was still stuff from the 30s dumped in there.

I also opened the roof space up at platform level for an NR guy to look at laying some cables out and was most surprised to find the crawl space was piled up with 1970s signage from the Divisional Manager's offices next to the station, why someone had dumped them in the platform roof space I have no idea!

 

[Ashley Hill]

Just watching Inside Glasgow Central and this vintage clip of Mount Florida appeared.

 

[30907]

I'm pretty sure that Twickenham had them but I haven't been able to find any photos of the station from the 1960s which should be confirmation of that.

That would make sense:
Twickenham had been significantly rebuilt (ditto Ashford and Gatwick, both mentioned already). already
Another example, local to me, was St Mary Cray, which again had been completely rebuilt in 1959. I would also guess at Folkestone Central (same reason) but I can't quickly find evidence.
The SR had rebuilt a lot of stations in the 30s with best Exmouth Junction concrete lampposts that didn't need replacing in the 50s - and by the time the Bournemouth electrification came along, we were into Rail Alphabet....

 

[Brissle Girl]

The illuminated running in boards at Bristol Temple Meads were plated over with conventional signs around five years ago. I think it may have been when Network Rail took over running the station, so was a rather unnecessary consequence of the rebranding of station signage that followed.

Immediately after it happened you could still see some light coming through the cracks around the edges - they hadn't bothered to turn off the lights!

I guess given there are so many onboard announcements these days as to which station a train is coming into, there's probably less need for the very visible illuminated lights than there used to be. But having said that, it is a shame that some of these features are dying out, when they do provide some assistance to passengers at night in identifying where they are.

 

[urpert]

Just spotted these at the NRM:

 

[The exile]

The illuminated running in boards at Bristol Temple Meads were plated over with conventional signs around five years ago. I think it may have been when Network Rail took over running the station, so was a rather unnecessary consequence of the rebranding of station signage that followed.

Immediately after it happened you could still see some light coming through the cracks around the edges - they hadn't bothered to turn off the lights!

I guess given there are so many onboard announcements these days as to which station a train is coming into, there's probably less need for the very visible illuminated lights than there used to be. But having said that, it is a shame that some of these features are dying out, when they do provide some assistance to passengers at night in identifying where they are.

Whereas automated onboard announcements are frequently wrong - it requires major sabotage to swap large illuminated running-in boards!

 

[KT550]

Knebworth appears to have one over the entrance door, though it looks more modern.....

 

[Robert Ambler]

Knebworth appears to have one over the entrance door, though it looks more modern.....

Yes the Knebworth one looks slightly more modern. It has also in recent years adopted a rakish angle as presumably one of the brackets has failed so its days might be numbered!

 

[32475]

I've just noticed there's a HARROW & WEALDSTONE example coming up in the next Talisman railwayana auction. I don't know the actual date in September but see their website. The example shown has maroon lettering.

 

[Beebman]

A photo of the Royal Train from 1959 just posted on Twitter by Adrian Pullen shows some examples at Weymouth:

https://twitter.com/adipullenLNER/status/1426169565910810625

 

[davetheguard]

The 2 outside of the Stratford-upon-Avon station were still there after the rebuild (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stratford-upon-Avon_railway_station ) for the picture on the right after the rebuild.
Will see if I can get closer up piccies over the weekend.

Edit: No idea if they're still illuminated.

Thanks for that picture; the station looks very smart now. Rather splendid that they've kept the two B.R. era-signs!

Yep, pretty much all the former Intercity routes still have stations with the internally illuminated boards. Some, as at Coventry, still have the old Intercity Swallow logo (or remnants thereof) on one of the pillars:

View attachment 99959

Like Watershed's picture at Coventry, I took this at Plymouth two days ago.