The end of an era..

[Temple Meads]

..at Exeter St Davids, as the faithful old green CRT departure screens on the concourse were taken down tonight, and the new flatscreen screens should be up as I type this.

Got to see the old screens on a trolley on the station concourse, these things are actually really big close up!!

 

[ainsworth74]

So they've taken them out then? It was something of a blast from the past when I was there a couple of weeks ago to see big CRT screens. I don't think I've seen them on a station for years!

EDIT: I've realized that this almost makes it sound like I went to St Davids to see the screens. I should point out I wasn't I just visited the station a few times to interchange whilst I was on my Freedom of Devon and Cornwall 3 in 7 Rover!

 

[MK Tom]

They still had them at Cheddington until pretty recently. I think they were replaced around five months ago but I'm open to correction.

Aren't there still a few of these at Aylesbury?

 

[Pumbaa]

I wonder how many stations are still entirely CRT fitted? Leuchars is the only one I can think of.

 

[David10]

Penzance still had them a few months ago.

 

[topydre]

Aberystwyth still has them; though I wouldn't bet on them surviving the station refurb

 

[ainsworth74]

Penzance still had them a few months ago.

It was all modern LED boards when I was there a couple of weeks ago. Though thinking about it there may have been one LCD board which was the main departure board. Certainly there weren't any CRT boards left.

 

[CC 72100]

..at Exeter St Davids, as the faithful old green CRT departure screens on the concourse were taken down tonight, and the new flatscreen screens should be up as I type this.

Got to see the old screens on a trolley on the station concourse, these things are actually really big close up!!

To be honest, I didn't pay much attention to it on the many occasions I've used EXD over the past year, but now you mention it EXD was one of very few stations with them left.

Has Phil & Celia gone too, or are they unaffected? (I read on here that automated announcements in FGW land ar all to be replaced)

 

[Michael.Y]

Llanelli.

 

[SprinterMan]

Most of the non-mainline stations in East Anglia still have them
Adam

 

[Temple Meads]

To be honest, I didn't pay much attention to it on the many occasions I've used EXD over the past year, but now you mention it EXD was one of very few stations with them left.

Has Phil & Celia gone too, or are they unaffected? (I read on here that automated announcements in FGW land ar all to be replaced)

Phil and Celia are still going strong, but new PA system speakers appear to have been installed, so I expect they'll be gone within a month at the most.

 

[ushawk]

Few Coastway stations still have them, although some stations have had them replaced with new flatscreen monitors - still show the same info though. Havent been replaced by the new LED boards (although some new style ones have recently popped up at a couple of stations).

 

[MidnightFlyer]

Blackburn has them too. They're starting to look bad now though, always flickering and almost unreadble.

There's a lot of Southern Region stations that still use TV screens, not CRTs though.

 

[PR1Berske]

Wow, blast from the past!


The 'flatscreens' are welcome but nothing quite beats seeing a whole-station departure screen in a Spectrum style typeface and Ceefax squares

 

[WestyAds]

Aberystwyth still has them; though I wouldn't bet on them surviving the station refurb

Probably for the best: the years of continually advertising the same train has led to a fair bit of screen burn. Although the Wales and Borders logo that pops up in the long gaps between services is rather quaint. It is slightly embarrassing that Dovey Junction has more advanced and modern departure screens, for the seven people who have cause to use them of an average year.

 

[ADRboy]

Airdrie still has them.

 

[Ivo]

Unless it's changed in the last couple of weeks, Bristol TM still has them. How can a station as prominent as that not have better display technology? :roll:

You would think that a station of its size and importance would have full-size displays akin to those found at London termini, as (for instance) Cardiff Central does.

 

[PR1Berske]

Screen burn is obviously a very serious issue, which is why they had to go. A new generation will live without having to decipher where a train is going through 3 layers of previous departure points

 

[charlee]

Yeah Plymouths went a few months ago (Jan/Feb).

I assume you will be getting the ones like we have. Its going to be weird next time looking at these at EXD. i remmeber squinting as was unable to see what one said ha. They should have been replaced ages ago i think

 

[topydre]

Probably for the best: the years of continually advertising the same train has led to a fair bit of screen burn. Although the Wales and Borders logo that pops up in the long gaps between services is rather quaint. It is slightly embarrassing that Dovey Junction has more advanced and modern departure screens, for the seven people who have cause to use them of an average year.

Agreed, they're a nightmare to try to decipher on a sunny day, for instance. But they somehow become special when there's not many left on the network. Will one go to the NRM, or at least to Borth Railway Museum?

 

[Temple Meads]

Yeah Plymouths went a few months ago (Jan/Feb).

I assume you will be getting the ones like we have. Its going to be weird next time looking at these at EXD. i remmeber squinting as was unable to see what one said ha. They should have been replaced ages ago i think

Yeah, it'll be the same ones I think, they're being rolled out across FGW land.

The ones at EXD were never that bad to look at, although they could have been a bit clearer.

Agreed, they're a nightmare to try to decipher on a sunny day, for instance. But they somehow become special when there's not many left on the network. Will one go to the NRM, or at least to Borth Railway Museum?

I was tempted to ask to ask if I could possibly have one of these, but then I realised even if they had said yes, I wouldn't have got it into a Rover 45 saloon

 

[MidnightFlyer]

I think some of the smaller ATW stations still have them (I know Llanelli and Aberystwyth have been mentioned) - Ludlow had them around about this time last year. Of course the larger stations have LED screens or similar.

 

[trentside]

Travelled from Southend Victoria today, other than Victoria and Southend Airport - most of the stations along the way still had CRT screens and red segment clocks. I was surprised that Romford retains its CRT screens too!

 

[CC 72100]

I was tempted to ask to ask if I could possibly have one of these, but then I realised even if they had said yes, I wouldn't have got it into a Rover 45 saloon

And then, you think to yourself "And what am I actually going to do with a redundant CRT screen?"

 

[Michael.Y]

I think some of the smaller ATW stations still have them (I know Llanelli and Aberystwyth have been mentioned) - Ludlow had them around about this time last year. Of course the larger stations have LED screens or similar.

Ludlow now has normal LED platform display boards I believe.

Holyhead has a couple at the end of platform 2.

 

[TEW]

Unless it's changed in the last couple of weeks, Bristol TM still has them. How can a station as prominent as that not have better display technology? :roll:

You would think that a station of its size and importance would have full-size displays akin to those found at London termini, as (for instance) Cardiff Central does.

Shouldn't be long until Bristol Temple Meads gets the new system. It's one of the last few stations left on the old FGW HSS CIS system, all the stations have been replaced slowly over the last year or so.

 

[Temple Meads]

And then, you think to yourself "And what am I actually going to do with a redundant CRT screen?"

Sell it on ebay for £100k in 50 years :P

But then there'd be the 50 years of storage

 

[W230]

Most of the non-mainline stations in East Anglia still have them

Pretty sure Brundall on the Wherry line has them. I'm not that sure when they were installed but they aren't that old. Although they're probably not CRT monitors in the true sense of the word - they just look similarly boxy and in dimension to them.

 

[WestCountry]

Cambridge had a full set of CRTs on the original platforms last time I looked - presumably 7 & 8 have more modern boards?

 

[lewisf]

Shoreham-by-Sea has CRTs as well, with NSE flashes!