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Which stations did Red Star serve?

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Rover

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I'm sure Sheffield station had a Red Star office before the station front was all redeveloped.
It certainly did, I was the depot manager there in the 90s.
I can’t find a list of which stations it was available from though. Was it literally anywhere that had a booking office? Or just larger stations? Does anyone have a list? Or can people contribute to a list?
If there was a booking office it most likely also had a parcels office. I have a book from 1987 which lists all stations with a red star office but (from memory) there were over 600 so I can't list them all right now. Parcels offices also dealt with other railway matters like left luggage, overweight luggage, lost property, weighing scales etc.

The Red Star services were:
Station to Station same day - TCF (to be called for) the same day
Station to Station next day - TCF the following day
Red Star Plus - Station to door, delivered the same day, there was also a door to door same day service as well.
Night Star (later became Red Star Overnight) - station to door delivered the following day
Red Star Overnight 0900 - station to door delivered by 0900 the following day
Red Star Worldwide - started in 1987 to many countries around the world, I think this was done in association with DHL.
Eurail - in my head I've got "Eurostar" but maybe I'm confusing it with the trains through the channel tunnel! This was for parcels by air to Europe and was a faster service to TCX described below.
There were also contract deliveries for regular business customers door to door, they had specially negotiated rates.

There were also other services, some of which have been mentioned, they all had separate coloured consignment notes.
Rail Express Parcels - blue consignment notes. This was a station to station service identical to red star station to station but wasn't guaranteed to be there next day. It was £1 cheaper than Red Star, not many customers knew about it and it wasn't advertised. Officially parcels would be conveyed as and when space was available on trains but in reality the parcels went on exactly the same services as red star.
Livestock - green consignment notes. Most common would probably be "lost" pigeons, they had special boxes they had to be transported in so that they couldn't turn round. Also dogs, cats, rabbits etc.
Newspapers - black consignment notes. These were for non-contract newspapers.
Magstar - for magazines, I think these were contract services as I never dealt with them.
Dangerous Goods - red consignment notes. Railway detonators were sent around the country and radio active substances for hospitals, these were strictly regulated. Guards had to be advised of their presence and were to be separated in the guards van.
TCX - can't remember what it stands for now, possibly TransContinentalExpress? This was a slower and cheaper service that existed before Eurail and parcels went by rail to Dover (I think) then by ferry (no tunnel in those days) then by rail across Europe.
LIA - Luggage in Advance. Has been mentioned, it was cheaper to send luggage LIA than Red Star.

I'm sure there were some brown consignment notes but I can't think what they were for now - it was 30 years ago!

I worked in 9 different parcels offices over the years and have a few anecdotes but I've probably bored the pants off you by now!
 

Rover

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I didn't get a discount despite being BR staff but I seem to remember the price wasn't unreasonable.
You should have got a discount, BR staff were entitled to 50% discount on next day delivery and 75% discount on next day station to station.
 

duffield

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You should have got a discount, BR staff were entitled to 50% discount on next day delivery and 75% discount on next day station to station.
It being a long time ago my memories are hazy, I'm guessing that it never occurred to me that there might be a discount so I guess I didn't ask.
 

wellhouse

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I started work in Film & TV in the mid 70's. Before the introduction of lightweight videotape formats, film was the medium, and if at all possible, each day's rushes were sent to a Film Laboratory for overnight processing.

Almost all the labs were in and around London, but across much of the country, it was possible to get the rushes to a station by about 6:00 pm (slightly earlier if there was no direct London service) to make that night's bath. All the labs sent vans round the London Termini (and West End collection points) around 11:00 pm.
 

lyndhurst25

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When the new Rotherham Central station opened in 1987 there were two adjacent glass windows into the station office: one selling passenger tickets, and the other for parcels. When the parcels business closed down, the second window was converted into a second ticket selling point.
 

LAX54

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Colchester, Ipswich, Norwich, Yarmouth all had Red Star :)
 

rf_ioliver

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I distinctly remember a Red Star sign at Pontypridd in the early 80s. No idea if anywhere else on the Valley Lines had that service

t.

Ian
 

robertclark125

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Kirkcaldy had a red star office, on the northbound platform. After closure, the office remained extant for a number of years, before, in 2010, becoming the platform access to the new passenger lift to the subway below! The front entrance of the office was bricked up, and stone chippings put on it.

I've also seen a photo of Lairg station somewhere, I think it was in the early 1980s. This was before RETB was introduced, and stations destaffed. One of the photos clearly had a poster reading "This is a red star station." which, I think, meant that although it wasn't a red star office per se, it did handle Red Star.

I remember the one at Hastings, during a holiday in 2000. By this time, it was closed, but it was basically like a post office counter or ticket office. It wasn't a walk in office for the public, but a desk with glass. The office, as I say, was closed, and cardboard put over the inside of the windows! The BR style "Parcels Point" sign was still present, but since the station was rebuilt, I imagine this has all gone.

My model railway layout, "Clydebridge Station", is set in 1990, and it has a Parcels point. The signage for it was purchased online from Sankey Scenics.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BuygYMSH5f_/
 

lincolnshire

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Barnetby Station was a Red Star parcel point. One Christmas there was a pile of dead Pheasants all been sent away and all to be individually labeled up and sent to various destinations around the country as a Christmas gift from the Earl of Yarborough and shot on his estate. The lady clerk at Barnetby station had the all to deal with all the dead birds good job she wasn,t squeamish about handling them as they was just a pair of birds tied together and a label attached and sent off as they were no packing etc at all.
Back in Red Star days all Ratners Jewellers shops stock was sent by Red Star just in a large plastic box with the lid secured by just cable ties and addressed to be collected by a person from the shop ( no mention of Ratners on the boxes ). Some of the many things sent by Red Star.
 

datdad

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I worked in the Musics Business during the 1980s on tours. Red Star was used from time to time to get wacky baccy from London , allegedly. Ahh fond days.
 

pieguyrob

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Blacpool North had a Red Star Parcels office, it was also the left luggage counter, between the former back exit to the station and the toilets.
 

packermac

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Found Red Star to be quite a good service. Back in the 1980's my wife worked for a market research company that did weekly shopper analysis for the food industry. She was the biggest Datapost user (remember them) in the country, but at his time the Royal Mail was quite prone to strikes, so various alternative forms of hand collections were made and either collected by car from a local hub or by Red Star to a London Station. I spent many an evening driving around the mainline terminals collecting the parcels. Seem to remember the offices were often out of the way with limited parking. For some reason St. Pancras was the one that sticks in my mind.
Sometimes it was quite a challenge for them to locate the parcel you wanted.
 

tom73

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Rover

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Sometimes it was quite a challenge for them to locate the parcel you wanted.
I sympathise, I worked in the parcels office at Euston in the late 80s and the procedure was that a customer requested a parcel and gave you the consignee's name, you then looked for a postcard size card with the consignee's name on and placed it on a table through a door behind you. You then had to wait for a railman to pick it up and go and search for it among the racks, being clercial officer grades we weren't supposed to fetch the parcels ourselves, it wasn't our job, so we just had to wait for it to appear. It just seems so outdated these days.
 

Trainfan2019

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It certainly did, I was the depot manager there in the 90s.

If there was a booking office it most likely also had a parcels office. I have a book from 1987 which lists all stations with a red star office but (from memory) there were over 600 so I can't list them all right now. Parcels offices also dealt with other railway matters like left luggage, overweight luggage, lost property, weighing scales etc.

The Red Star services were:
Station to Station same day - TCF (to be called for) the same day
Station to Station next day - TCF the following day
Red Star Plus - Station to door, delivered the same day, there was also a door to door same day service as well.
Night Star (later became Red Star Overnight) - station to door delivered the following day
Red Star Overnight 0900 - station to door delivered by 0900 the following day
Red Star Worldwide - started in 1987 to many countries around the world, I think this was done in association with DHL.
Eurail - in my head I've got "Eurostar" but maybe I'm confusing it with the trains through the channel tunnel! This was for parcels by air to Europe and was a faster service to TCX described below.
There were also contract deliveries for regular business customers door to door, they had specially negotiated rates.

There were also other services, some of which have been mentioned, they all had separate coloured consignment notes.
Rail Express Parcels - blue consignment notes. This was a station to station service identical to red star station to station but wasn't guaranteed to be there next day. It was £1 cheaper than Red Star, not many customers knew about it and it wasn't advertised. Officially parcels would be conveyed as and when space was available on trains but in reality the parcels went on exactly the same services as red star.
Livestock - green consignment notes. Most common would probably be "lost" pigeons, they had special boxes they had to be transported in so that they couldn't turn round. Also dogs, cats, rabbits etc.
Newspapers - black consignment notes. These were for non-contract newspapers.
Magstar - for magazines, I think these were contract services as I never dealt with them.
Dangerous Goods - red consignment notes. Railway detonators were sent around the country and radio active substances for hospitals, these were strictly regulated. Guards had to be advised of their presence and were to be separated in the guards van.
TCX - can't remember what it stands for now, possibly TransContinentalExpress? This was a slower and cheaper service that existed before Eurail and parcels went by rail to Dover (I think) then by ferry (no tunnel in those days) then by rail across Europe.
LIA - Luggage in Advance. Has been mentioned, it was cheaper to send luggage LIA than Red Star.

I'm sure there were some brown consignment notes but I can't think what they were for now - it was 30 years ago!

I worked in 9 different parcels offices over the years and have a few anecdotes but I've probably bored the pants off you by now!

That's a fascinating read into the old red star history. Thanks for posting.
 

Scouseinmanc

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Just been looking at Google Streetview for up to date images of HS2 prep at Euston. Noted that the car park above the station still retains the Red Star banner (as was taken in April this year) - viewed from Hampstead Road
 

alistairlees

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Just been looking at Google Streetview for up to date images of HS2 prep at Euston. Noted that the car park above the station still retains the Red Star banner (as was taken in April this year) - viewed from Hampstead Road
Yes, I keep meaning to add a picture. Thanks for the reminder! I will try and add one tonight.
 

Jona26

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Blacpool North had a Red Star Parcels office, it was also the left luggage counter, between the former back exit to the station and the toilets.

I also remember their dual use as left luggage offices. I'm sure on family holidays to Tenby in the late 70s/early 80s we would be turned out of the B&B early on a Saturday morning, leave the luggage in the Red Star office and have the morning on the beach before the direct train back to Paddington in the early afternoon.

I also have a hazy memory of the same at Broadstairs but could be wrong.
 

Rover

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I also remember their dual use as left luggage offices. I'm sure on family holidays to Tenby in the late 70s/early 80s we would be turned out of the B&B early on a Saturday morning, leave the luggage in the Red Star office and have the morning on the beach before the direct train back to Paddington in the early afternoon.

I also have a hazy memory of the same at Broadstairs but could be wrong.
You'd be correct. Most parcels offices also dealt with left luggage, the exceptions were the large stations like Euston.
 

GrimShady

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Glasgow QS and Central
Oban (The lovely old station, not the junk of today)
Fort William
Stirling
Edinburgh Waverly
Perth
Inverness
Aberdeen

All definitely had Red Star parcel office.

Anyone remember an office at Dundee or the Kyle?
 
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Rover

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Anyone remember an office at Dundee or the Kyle?
Yes. Up to the late 80s fresh fish would arrive at Euston overnight from Kyle of Lochalsh, langoustines, smoked salmon etc. for London restaurants. They would be carried in polystyrene boxes, the langoustines would stil be alive I recall.
 
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Nothing like a fresh plate of scampi!

Red star was at all stations on the network as I recall. if the train had a guard and a man at the booking office then they could take a parcel.

Some stations like Liverpool Lime street had dedicated buildings for it, the black glass building that used to stand between platforms 7 and 8 was for red star parcels.
The next station that had a dedicated Red Star office would have been Crewe, but every station along the way could collect parcels and drop them off to either Lime street or Crewe for sorting etc.

I know beyond a doubt that Allerton station did not have a Red Star office, however I also know beyond a doubt that my mother dropped a parcel into Allerton station for delivery to her sister. She used them because it was just coming up to Christmas and it was a present for somebody and Red star was sure to get it there and the station was closer than the post office.
 
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