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Station clocks

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I was was on a train today and I thought to myself where are all the station clocks synced from, is it somewhere like the control centres or a big main centre or the one computers sync to. Does anyone know?
 
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p123

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Not sure if they are. A few times I've seen the clocks at Dalmuir showing slightly different times (like, within 40 seconds of each other) on different platforms. The problem lasted a few days, but hasn't re-emerged after having been rectified.
 

edwin_m

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The early IECC signalling systems (and I'm talking circa 1990 here) had a special module that received radio signals from the then master clock at Rugby and sent out digital time signals to the rest of the system. I think both the clock and the modules are probably now history but it's pretty straightforward to get an accurate time from GPS for example.
 

dcsprior

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Not sure if they are. A few times I've seen the clocks at Dalmuir showing slightly different times (like, within 40 seconds of each other) on different platforms. The problem lasted a few days, but hasn't re-emerged after having been rectified.

Indeed - saw this last week on two screens right next to one another on the screens you pass under to get to the gates for platforms 16-19 at London Victoria.

Bit of a shame really, as syncing different computers' clocks can be done with standard tools (assuming you're only talking about the resolution that a human would notice, and you're all in one place so don't really need to worry about network latency)
 

Old Hill Bank

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The early IECC signalling systems (and I'm talking circa 1990 here) had a special module that received radio signals from the then master clock at Rugby and sent out digital time signals to the rest of the system. I think both the clock and the modules are probably now history but it's pretty straightforward to get an accurate time from GPS for example.

The "Rugby" clock signal still exists but the transmitter was moved several years ago to Althone in Cumbria. Many station clock systems over the years have used a master clock with an antenna to receive this signal. The signal is taken off line periodically for maintenance at which times either the master clock or the "slave" displays will run free until the signal is restored.
 

Eagle

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Many station clock systems over the years have used a master clock with an antenna to receive this signal.

I've always wondered why a big antenna is needed to receive the NPL time signal, being as my kitchen clock can do it and its workings are contained within an 8 cm square box.

(Also it's Anthorn, not Athlone which is in Ireland.)
 

DaveNewcastle

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I'd just like to put in a word for those station clocks which are widely known to be consistently wrong.

In Edinburgh, the clock above Waverley on the Balmoral Hotel (a.k.a. North British Hotel) runs a few minutes fast, by tradition. The expectation is that this assists passengers in arriving in time for their train. The clock is large enough to be read from almost a mile away. (Strictly, the clock is not on railway property. By the time any passenger has negotiated the out-of action escalators or the barred ramps, and additional minutes are lost anyway).

In Newcastle, the clocks above the entrance to the portico runs a few minutes slow. This has been the case since GNER days though appeared to have been corrected over recent months. I spoke to the Properties Manager at one time about it and although I can't recall the conversation, it was not something that was going to be rectified for some time (and it wasn't). It doesn't appear to be the cause of passengers arriving late at the station.
 

Parham Wood

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In earlier times and certainly at many places into the 70s many station clocks of the clock face type were of the waiting train type. They ran free for a minute or half a minute until the second hand reached the 12 o'clock or 6 o'clock point. Then the second hand stopped moving and waited for a pulse from the local central master clock. On receiving the pulse the second hand started moving again and of course the minute hand moved on as well. This ensured they were correct to the minute or half minute.
 

Welshman

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I remember as a child looking at the big face of the old station clock at Halifax station and wondering who "Joyce Whitchurch" was.
 
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