1980s/90s Computer based Arrival/Departure boards, pictures?

flibble · 11 Jun 2019

I'm a bit of a retro computer fan, and the following picture shows a departure board having a bit of a bad day.

It's showing an Acorn BBC Master computer failing to load its programme from disc. I was wondering if anyone has any photos of the system running? I own a BBC Master (and emulator of one) and thought it would be quite fun to recreate the visual style of the boards in my own programme.

A quick search on google doesn't show any obvious images, as it seems people in the 80s/90s were saving their film for more interesting topics

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Bletchleyite · 11 Jun 2019

Here's one - a bit small due to the digital camera tech of the day!

I'm not sure the one attached was BBC Master based, though. The only one I saw that obviously was was the one used at Sheffield which was obviously a "Mode 7" display using Teletext block characters.

Not sure why Euston was abbreviated at the top but not in the station list!

If anyone cares about being that specific, it's on Platform 4 at Preston.

If there was a delay, it flashed up on the dividing line between the destination and stopping points (I think).

Tio Terry · 11 Jun 2019

A long while ago, in BR days, there was a BBC based display at Salisbury if I recall correctly.

dgl · 11 Jun 2019

I'm guessing it was either using a prestel or ceefax variant?

Along the bay · 11 Jun 2019

Were there examples of these at Birmingham New street around 2007 ?

MikePJ · 11 Jun 2019

I remember a lot of these around the network. Guildford certainly had them. The BBC computers lived on as industrial motherboards (you could even buy them from RS Components) long after they stopped being sold retail. There was also an industrial board based on the Acorn Archimedes A310, which could also generate the same teletext display (but through software emulation) - so some of those may have ended up on the railways too.

dgl · 11 Jun 2019

MikePJ said:
I remember a lot of these around the network. Guildford certainly had them. The BBC computers lived on as industrial motherboards (you could even buy them from RS Components) long after they stopped being sold retail. There was also an industrial board based on the Acorn Archimedes A310, which could also generate the same teletext display (but through software emulation) - so some of those may have ended up on the railways too.

Not surprised, the Acorn machines were very reliable, even being used by the BBC for on screen displays, games and playout until they switched to HD (being RISC PC's in the end).
mikeselectricstuff has a video of his custom BBC which is quite interesting.

mallard · 12 Jun 2019

There do seem to be a very small number of CRT-based departure screens around (or there was at least one in early 2018, see this tweet by Geoff Marshall). I wonder what powers those?

The general appearance and font look a bit more "teletext-ish" (of course, the font used for teletext display was actually stored in the device displaying it and therefore designed/chosen by the manufacturer) and quite different from the more modern LCD type screens (example).

Bletchleyite · 12 Jun 2019

mallard said:
There do seem to be a very small number of CRT-based departure screens around (or there was at least one in early 2018, see this tweet by Geoff Marshall). I wonder what powers those?

The general appearance and font look a bit more "teletext-ish" (of course, the font used for teletext display was actually stored in the device displaying it and therefore designed/chosen by the manufacturer) and quite different from the more modern LCD type screens (example).

I think the latter is a replication of the former (because the layout is familiar, so why not?) using HTML etc.

superjohn · 12 Jun 2019

I was surprised to see a CRT screen still in action at Mistley station a couple of weeks ago. Many Greater Anglia stations are now on their second generation of replacements (first orange dot LED screens, then the smaller LCD displays) so it really was an unexpected survivor.

flibble · 12 Jun 2019

Thanks for the information folks. There's definitely 'generations' of display, ones that look beeblike, ones that look to have teletext resolutions but with smoother fonts, and finally ones that have the same style as earlier but with variable width fonts.

Here are a couple of mockups I made on the BBC emulator, including Bletchleyite's

They are making me feel quite nostalgic

Highlandspring · 12 Jun 2019

Out of interest what system drove these displays? Can anyone share any details?

flibble · 12 Jun 2019

There's a few details on this Acorn computer forum, discussing the Beeb version, a single board computer system and some of the newer stuff. Plus a traditional anti-pacer rant or two.

https://stardot.org.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=9217

JaJaWa · 13 Jun 2019

Interesting that some of the TfL Rail (East) and Met stations use CRT-style input on modern LCD displays.

Bletchleyite · 13 Jun 2019

Crikey, they could at least have fitted it straight.

1980s/90s Computer based Arrival/Departure boards, pictures?

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