Station PIS - End of Dot Matrix Displays?

[dgl]

I believe that Infotec (who make the screens) are retiring the orange LED screens in favour of the newer models (such as those pictured).

This is implied by the 'Last time buy' page on Infotec's website
http://www.infotec.co.uk/2016/Last-Time-Buy

According to their website orange displays are still available the only difference is that they will not be making displays based on single lines of text, instead you will get a display area fully populated with LED's.
Only making one type of display cuts costs and with the way technology has evolved making just one panel full of LED's is probably cheaper than bundling in multiple smaller panels.

This also means that you can still do an old style display if you want but you have flexibility if you want to go fro something different that doesn't include all text, it also allows you to scale fonts so that you can have less needed information smaller so it doesn't use up as much space.

 

[jon0844]

I don't suppose they sell to individuals...

I'd love to have one in my hall to check before I leave for the station.

Would be a bit worrying when it told me to stand clear as the approaching train is not scheduled to stop though.

 

[Metroman62]

I'd love to have one in my hall to check before I leave for the station.

Would be a bit worrying when it told me to stand clear as the approaching train is not scheduled to stop though.

These are good fun, if you can afford them

http://54.148.129.10/raildepartures/website/

 

[Bletchleyite]

You could just have a PC with a full screen browser session linked to IRIS2?

E.g. http://iris2.rail.co.uk/tiger/rendercissod.asp?file=3046AA.xml


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Roast Veg]

I suppose I could buy another monitor and hook it up to my RPi, but I was looking for more of the dot matrix feel. Maybe I'll have to engineer something myself at some point.

 

[jon0844]

These are good fun, if you can afford them

http://54.148.129.10/raildepartures/website/

You could just have a PC with a full screen browser session linked to IRIS2?

E.g. http://iris2.rail.co.uk/tiger/rendercissod.asp?file=3046AA.xml

I do have a similar page that shows on an old tablet I've got on the wall (using velcro strips) which works well, although it's starting to burn in given tablets aren't really designed to be left on 24/7.

I do like the screen idea, but doubt the wife would appreciate the cost!

 

[D1009]

The new screens at Didcot posted above are the 2nd stage in a GWR trial of the same sort of equipment. They're not properly tied in to the system yet, but will be soon.

There's a screen towards the London end of platform 3 at Swindon which has a white display rather than the standard orange. Is this an earlier stage of the trial?

 

[causton]

I do have a similar page that shows on an old tablet I've got on the wall (using velcro strips) which works well, although it's starting to burn in given tablets aren't really designed to be left on 24/7.

I do like the screen idea, but doubt the wife would appreciate the cost!

I thought it was just me! I bought a cheap £20 tablet and have IRIS on next to my computer monitor 24/7

 

[maniacmartin]

I have a more modest affair at home made from a NodeMCU wifi chip and small 16x2 LCD. It shows the next London-bound train from each of the 2 stations closest to my flat, and their final destinations. Once a train will depart before I have a chance to walk there, it falls off the display and the next one is displayed.

The parts cost about £5 from ebay. It's 230 lines of Arduino C (including my shoddy NTP client and XML parser). There is no Arduino hardware needed, as the wifi chip itself has spare flash space. With the LCD backlit, it uses 0.07A at 5V. With the LCD not backlit its a mere 0.03A!

 

[JaJaWa]

I've noticed that some buses this way now use white LEDs instead of orange ones for the LED matrix for the destination displays so possibly the transport industry as a whole is starting to use them.

Will it be just larger stations that will use the "screen type" ****?

There was a paper trial of white vs yellow at Manchester Piccadilly, and there's a live trial of white vs yellow at West Hampstead Thameslink (see images attached).

 

[Starmill]

There was a white one at Swindo too.

 

[Roast Veg]

Actually I did see the West Hampstead one not long ago, and it didn't occur to me that the white one might be a trial. As it happens the text is much crisper on it.

 

[F Great Eastern]

Infotec are phasing out the Orange line based displays in favour of full higher resolution ones with a single panel not divided into lines in it's assembly. Effectively it means there is no gaps between the lines so it means variable height graphics and data can be shown.

See full in-depth details here (more detail than other link)
http://www.infotec.co.uk/product_transition

The TFT displays are also Infotec on THameslink.

Full Brochure here
http://www.infotec.co.uk/display-guide/

 

[jon0844]

Lots of potential with these new displays. I wonder if we'll see TOCs implementing many of the features, from weather forecasts to better conveyed messages about engineering work (rather than currently using the screens to pretty much direct you to a website in many cases).

 

[SpacePhoenix]

Lots of potential with these new displays. I wonder if we'll see TOCs implementing many of the features, from weather forecasts to better conveyed messages about engineering work (rather than currently using the screens to pretty much direct you to a website in many cases).

Perhaps even displaying a network/route map highlighting the location of an incident (engineering works/person hit by a train/broken down train, etc). Someone who doesn't know a route might not know if any disruption will affect their journey but if they see it on a map, they can get a rough idea of how much disruption to expect

 

[D365]

However do bear in mind that just because it's possible to cram loads of information onto one of these new displays, it doesn't mean that you should be doing that. Information overload is counter-productive, and it mean there is more to go wrong.

 

[Joe Paxton]

I have a more modest affair at home made from a NodeMCU wifi chip and small 16x2 LCD ...

I like it!

 

[Joe Paxton]

However do bear in mind that just because it's possible to cram loads of information onto one of these new displays, it doesn't mean that you should be doing that. Information overload is counter-productive, and it mean there is more to go wrong.

Agreed - no point in doing something just because it can be done.

However one thing I think would be helpful is if more information about the service pattern of subsequent (i.e. second and third) trains could be displayed - e.g. using "via", "stopping service" or indeed a list of the calling points (possibly only for the second train).

This would be especially handy during engineering works when the final destination can be different, but it'd be handy anyway for travellers who aren't regulars.

 

[jon0844]

However do bear in mind that just because it's possible to cram loads of information onto one of these new displays, it doesn't mean that you should be doing that. Information overload is counter-productive, and it mean there is more to go wrong.

I think it depends on how many screens there are, the frequency of services, the location of said screens etc.

Weather information could be useful on summary screens at rural stations, and less important at a London terminus concourse.

Information about other things, like other train services or even local buses, could be useful. St Albans has bus times in the ticket hall, so screens can provide information for those arriving at a station as well as for those leaving.

With dynamic displays, the benefit is that you can keep key information displayed. You could make sure the next train is always showing at the top, even if the lower part switches between different information. A TOC can pretty much do whatever they like.

I like the new screens at St Pancras (low level) but think there still needs to be some tweaking. Some scrolling information (like carriage length or first class location) should be fixed, for example. A diagram as shown on other Infotec screens (and seen at Euston) would make more sense here.

 

[Bungle965]

I think it depends on how many screens there are, the frequency of services, the location of said screens etc.

Weather information could be useful on summary screens at rural stations, and less important at a London terminus concourse.

Information about other things, like other train services or even local buses, could be useful. St Albans has bus times in the ticket hall, so screens can provide information for those arriving at a station as well as for those leaving.

With dynamic displays, the benefit is that you can keep key information displayed. You could make sure the next train is always showing at the top, even if the lower part switches between different information. A TOC can pretty much do whatever they like.

I like the new screens at St Pancras (low level) but think there still needs to be some tweaking. Some scrolling information (like carriage length or first class location) should be fixed, for example. A diagram as shown on other Infotec screens (and seen at Euston) would make more sense here.

When I was at St Pancras last week I'm sure the screens already said how many coaches the train was formed of. From it I could attempt to work out which one would be a 700.
As for first class it did not say anything about the location, which I agree would be better. However for one service it did mention that there was no first class, which is something at least.
Sam

 

[D365]

For combined bus/train times at a medium-sized interchange station, do you feel something like this would be suitable? The linked photo was taken at Neuperlach Süd in Munich, and shows all departures at the station.

 

[jon0844]

When I was at St Pancras last week I'm sure the screens already said how many coaches the train was formed of. From it I could attempt to work out which one would be a 700.
As for first class it did not say anything about the location, which I agree would be better. However for one service it did mention that there was no first class, which is something at least.
Sam

It does say, but on the (slow) scrolling text. This could be better conveyed visually through a picture of the train (and an icon to show where you are on the platform in relation to said coaches). I hope that's already the plan.

 

[JaJaWa]

It does say, but on the (slow) scrolling text. This could be better conveyed visually through a picture of the train (and an icon to show where you are on the platform in relation to said coaches). I hope that's already the plan.

In a couple of years when it's all 700s it will just be First class at the very front and I believe the stopping marks will be physically marked on the core platforms.