Trivia: Things that are used on the railway that have found their way to other completely unrelated industries.

[capitalconnect]

I am looking for some examples of things that are used on the railway that have now found their way to other completely unrelated industries.

Some examples i can think of are below.

Over in Russia one of their largest supermarket chains uses the well known British railway station automated announcement jingle as the jingle for whenever staff make an announcement over the PA system in any of their supermarket branches.

This is the one that has been used at rail stations in the UK which use the Amey/Datel/Ditra/Funkwerk/Ketech announcements systems which has been used at many stations in the UK from the 1990s until the late 2010s or so. There is both a three chime version and a four chime version. I think it may still be in place at a few stations now but not many as most TOCs have now switched to Atos instead. Obviously somebody at the supermarket chain has been to the UK and decided to start using the jingle. I am surprised though as i had thought that it was copyright. It certainly surprised me when i heard it when i visited Russia though.

Back in the UK in Surrey there is a private car park far away from any railway station that has four old Permit To Travel machines being used as car park machines there. These even still have the Permit To Travel label and all the railway regulations on them. Many of these AS88/AS89 machines (the type of machine that the Permit To Travel machines are) have been used in car parks all over the UK but this is the only example i know of that uses ones which were actually old Permit To Travel machines.

I believe that three of the most common railway keys (BR1 Key and Master Key and T Key) have all made their way to other industries despite originally being just for the railway. I know some other industries which use all three of these keys which have nothing to do with the railway.

I would be interested to hear of any other such examples that people can think of.

 

[Peter C]

Rail Alphabet was used by the NHS for a time I believe; it's not used now but older buildings have signs which use it.

-Peter

 

[Dai Corner]

Signals

 

[thenorthern]

Greenwich Mean Time.

 

[Sm5]

Brutes still in use at Gatwick Airport
Army use of Bardic lamps
Various hospitals using ex BR Diesel power units
Blackpool trams using engine bay lighting off class 37’s.

Isnt their a pier in the South East strengthened using Bulleid connecting rods ?
Jodrell bank used to use Castle class pony wheels
Farms using BR freight van bodies
Old coaches used as holiday homes

as an off topic, but plates off the nazi battleship turpitz today are still used for covering holes in roads during roadworks In Norway.

 

[XAM2175]

Rail Alphabet was used by the NHS for a time I believe; it's not used now but older buildings have signs which use it

And that signage style (right down to the use of Rail Alphabet) got a good few years of use in Australia too!

 

[Gloster]

The BR signage style was also used in Denmark by Danish State Railways and in many official buildings.

 

[Pigeon]

Technology now in use everywhere, but whose first major application was on the railways, where it was all over the place while still rare as hens' teeth anywhere else, and reached a considerable state of development at a time before a lot of people realise it even existed...? Artificial computational engines interlinked by wide-area networking.

Obviously somebody at the supermarket chain has been to the UK and decided to start using the jingle. I am surprised though as i had thought that it was copyright. It certainly surprised me when i heard it when i visited Russia though.

This is sort of the same thing the other way round: Once upon a time somebody from Russia came to the UK, saw Vauxhall station, and decided to start using the name, thinking it meant "station". So now "vokzal" is Russian for a railway station.

I believe that three of the most common railway keys (BR1 Key and Master Key and T Key) have all made their way to other industries despite originally being just for the railway. I know some other industries which use all three of these keys which have nothing to do with the railway.

Whichever one of those is the square-ended one is a standard size square section used in all sorts of things. For instance the square bar out of the middle of a door handle fits it.

 

[cjmillsnun]

The BR signage style was also used in Denmark by Danish State Railways and in many official buildings.

It was also used by BAA for airport signage.

 

[33101]

Retired wooden sleepers have found their way into many bits of ad-hoc construction.
I've seen lengths of old rail used in the same way.
Old carriages turned into sheds, or holiday homes.
Station buildings turned into homes.
Diesel power units find their way onto ships.

 

[Peter C]

And that signage style (right down to the use of Rail Alphabet) got a good few years of use in Australia too!

Oh wow -that's cool! Thanks for letting me know

-Peter

 

[XAM2175]

Oh wow -that's cool! Thanks for letting me know

This link should take you to a Google Street View image of such a sign in Melbourne in 2014:

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

goo.gl

 

[Ken H]

Surely the big one is the Underground map
There are copies for practically every urban railway worldwide. And bus maps. and on a project plan at work!
and even for Lake district walks!

and Metro. coined for the Chemin de fer Métropolitain, or the Paris Metro. Now used for many public transport networks, notably West Yorkshire, where 'Metro' is a trade mark of the PTE for bus and train networks.
I thought metrpolitan meant to do with a capital city, but when I looked up the etymology its something to do with bishops!

I think 'Express' meaning a fast service is also railway terminology, a term nicked by the bus industry.

 

[cool110]

When they refurbished Preston Bus Station they changed all the signs back to Rail Alphabet.

 

[Ken H]

When they refurbished Preston Bus Station they changed all the signs back to Rail Alphabet.

why not? it is easily readable. especially white on black.
Wasn't it made up by the BR design panel?

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Surely the big one is the Underground map
There are copies for practically every urban railway worldwide. And bus maps. and on a project plan at work!
and even for Lake district walks!

If you are referring to the "Tubular Fells" diagrammatic map of the various Lake District hilltops (see link below) it is marked as "not to be used for navigation". Still a nice piece of artwork, though!

Tubular Fells Map

Tubular Fells Map of the Lake District - 214 Wainwright Summits - A2-size (594mm 420mm) poster format - Heavyweight 200gsm paper - Dispatched rolled

www.stridingedge.com

 

[Ken H]

If you are referring to the "Tubular Fells" diagrammatic map of the various Lake District hilltops (see link below) it is marked as "not to be used for navigation". Still a nice piece of artwork, though!

Tubular Fells Map

Tubular Fells Map of the Lake District - 214 Wainwright Summits - A2-size (594mm 420mm) poster format - Heavyweight 200gsm paper - Dispatched rolled

www.stridingedge.com

I was. thanks for the linky.

 

[Peter C]

This link should take you to a Google Street View image of such a sign in Melbourne in 2014:

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

goo.gl

It's so weird to see something so closely-associated with the railways not only at a non-railway setting, but also on the other side of the world! Thanks for the link.

-Peter

 

[Railwaysceptic]

I am looking for some examples of things that are used on the railway that have now found their way to other completely unrelated industries.

British Rail's research department investigated which colours were most noticeable to the human eye from a distance. Yellow was found to be significantly more perceptible and it became the colour on the front of locomotives, DMUs and EMUs. It also became the colour of work clothes worn by staff working on the track. Now, yellow is the colour worn by people in many services where being seen easily from a distance is an important safety consideration.

 

[capitalconnect]

Thank you for all the replies so far. It is really interesting to hear. Another one that i can think of is the railway level crossing lights. These have now made their way to fire stations and river bridges as well.

 

[Dr Hoo]

I suppose that 'metal wheels' are worth a mention. They seem to be quite widely used on road vehicles across the world these days.

In historic times the wheels on wagons and carts were made of wood (by a wheelwright) and just had an iron ring shrunk onto them.

I believe that the waggons used on coal waggonways around Northumberland and Durham were the first to use relatively small pure metal wheels.

 

[Ediswan]

Thank you for all the replies so far. It is really interesting to hear. Another one that i can think of is the railway level crossing lights. These have now made their way to fire stations and river bridges as well.

I'm not so sure. I recently tried to find out when wig-wag lights were introduced, but failed. I did get the impression they were intended for all those uses from the outset.

(The closest I got was that wig-wags must have arrived before 1964, because that is when advance warning signs were added.)

 

[The exile]

Many years ago, a “musical anvil” was required for a school concert. Hire would have been way out of budget - bit of scrap rail cut to the right length and hung through the fishplate bolt-hole was deemed an improvement on the original!

 

[6Gman]

Surely the big one is the Underground map
There are copies for practically every urban railway worldwide. And bus maps. and on a project plan at work!
and even for Lake district walks!

and Metro. coined for the Chemin de fer Métropolitain, or the Paris Metro. Now used for many public transport networks, notably West Yorkshire, where 'Metro' is a trade mark of the PTE for bus and train networks.
I thought metrpolitan meant to do with a capital city, but when I looked up the etymology its something to do with bishops!

I think 'Express' meaning a fast service is also railway terminology, a term nicked by the bus industry.

Mr Dow jnr would, of course, point out that the Underground map was based on previous efforts by the "big railway" !

 

[mark-h]

the "Tubular Fells" diagrammatic map of the various Lake District hilltops (see link below) it is marked as "not to be used for navigation". Still a nice piece of artwork, though!

The same applies to the London Underground map- it would be a bad idea to use it to navigate when walking.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

The same applies to the London Underground map- it would be a bad idea to use it to navigate when walking.

The modern day (Harry Beck inspired) one, almost certainly not. Maybe might just have been possible with the pre 1930's versions (issued for Metropolitan Railway Company and Connections) in Central London.

 

[Highlandspring]

An obscure one - standard BR930 series railway relays are also used on the control systems of Rolls Royce pressurised water nuclear reactors on board Royal Navy submarines.

 

[randyrippley]

Firetube boilers
Without Rocket, boiler technology may have gone down a completely different route

 

[Berliner]

There are railway style semaphore signals on the Redcliffe Bascule Bridge in Bristol.

 

[Dai Corner]

The GWR was the first commercial user of the telegraph.