Novelty ticket hole punchers

[Bevan Price]

Somewhere I read that, many years ago, some railways had a wide range of punch patterns, that were used to identify the station(s) where the ticket was punched.

 

[Parallel]

I have had my ticket stamped by a Christmas tree, but more frequently, a musical note!

 

[IanD]

Somewhere I read that, many years ago, some railways had a wide range of punch patterns, that were used to identify the station(s) where the ticket was punched.

Probably read that further up the thread :roll:

 

[RJ]

On EMT, I've had a star and crescent, a heart and a Cupid punched into my ticket.

As for pre-marked open returns, I almost never get questioned on them - I use them between Cuxton and various places in the Sheffield/Nottingham area - not only on EMT, but also to get around in South London, hence why they're sometimes marked before I board EMT services from St Pancras.

 

[Gwenllian2001]

Somewhere I read that, many years ago, some railways had a wide range of punch patterns, that were used to identify the station(s) where the ticket was punched.

Western Region stations certainly had a a code number on their ticket punches. I assume that the other regions had a similar arrangement.

 

[Fiyero]

On South West Trains I can't recall ever having a ticket stamped, usually just a glance or strikethrough with a pen. I think it would be great if different guards had different stamps (I suppose it is slower than a pen though)

 

[Starmill]

Is it true SET uses stamps on HS1 with an outline of a fat cat upon a pile of money?

How could you say that about the Intercity Express Programme!

 

[EbbwJunction1]

Has anyone ever got on a train and thought "Look at all the litter from ticket punching, what a mess"?

Okay, I guess not, but all I am saying is that it adds to the mess.

@Delayed_Again ?

You'll have to explain that one, I'm afraid!

So the best of both worlds would be a hole punch with a box to collect the chads. No ink and no litter.

Now, how do I design something like this, then?

Why are tickets punched ?

Because guards aren't allowed to punch the passenger.

Fair comments!

 

[Kentish Paul]

Very rarely had tickets punched. Last one was last week, a circular hole !
Previous one was a steam loco. All others were a biro scribble apart from the person who was about to scribble on my Ashford to Dorchester(via Barnham) return and did a double take when seeing the price. Handed it back unmarked.

 

[jon0844]

You'll have to explain that one, I'm afraid!

A Twitter user that regularly Tweets (or Re-Tweets) photos of every bit of dirt and dust on trains, and uses it as a reason to strip a company of its franchise.

He'd have a field day if he could show a photo of mess created by staff working for that operator!

 

[Bevan Price]

Probably read that further up the thread :roll:

No, sorry - missed that earlier post until after I had posted my message.

 

[IanD]

Now, how do I design something like this, then?

They had them on London buses over 60 years ago. They had someone to count the chads at the end of each day too.

http://www.britishpathe.com/video/ticket-clippie/query/buses

 

[TG]

i wonder who could be responsible for the novelty ticket stamps, i hear batman is really popular!!!!!!

 

[Hyphen]

i wonder who could be responsible for the novelty ticket stamps, i hear batman is really popular!!!!!!

I didn't realise you were on here!!

That might have been a little easier to explain upthread

 

[TG]

hahaha... i rarely login anymore but someone pointed out this thread to me!

 

[PermitToTravel]

Don't most hole-punchers catch the little circle anyway? I don't think I've ever seen any littered on a train...

 

[crehld]

As alluded to in the thread, there is (or at least there was) a meaning behind each symbol.

I have somewhere at home, although it would require a lot of digging, a full list as contained in one of the numerous appendices from a big BR binder dating from the mid-80's.

From memory 'Y' and a 'Four battlements' shape were both from York based guards, but differentiating between barrier line staff and on train staff; and there were a hefty amount of different shapes across the infrastructure.

If I get a chance, I'll see if I can find the manual and scan a brief selection.

The Dormy (Blue stampers) with BR Double Arrows symbol being stamped on the tickets were initially introduced to in the mid-80's, before wholesale introduction without the BR Double Arrows symbols in the late-80's.

Simply put these days, I doubt that there are hard and fast rules about the different shapes.

Here's a scan of a portion of one of the pages from that BR manual. In a correction to my post above, the 'Four battlements' shape is from the Manchester Division station barriers.

Thanks for digging that out - that's really interesting!