TRIVIA - Things you saw travelling on BR that you don't see today

[Indigo Soup]

I like the fourth picture along. Bit of a safety issue if there are giraffes inside though.

One would imagine that exploding rolling stock is a safety issue regardless of the presence of giraffes. Or indeed other livestock.

 

[krus_aragon]

There was a Triang model of one I believe.

Here it is.

 

[Pigeon]

One would imagine that exploding rolling stock is a safety issue regardless of the presence of giraffes. Or indeed other livestock.

They had all sorts of things like that. There was a whole "military" section in the catalogue which included the exploding wagon, and a wagon which launched a helicopter, and one which fired missiles, and goodness knows what else. All looked mightily impressive on the page but I can't help suspecting that it all worked really badly and would have been a huge disappointment to actually own.

 

[Ken H]

ladies only compartments. That was on the non corridor stock on the Euston-Watford New Line trains - Class 501
putting old pennies on the rail and getting a very large one back when a train had gone over it!
Lincoln Travellers fare station buffet with a handpump and real beer. that got in the CAMRA good beer guide!
stickers in carriage windows with 4 character headcodes - Why?
Passenger coaches on the Huddersfield - Whitehaven travelling post office.
Paytrains
Filthy train toilets. Funny press down taps.
riding a class 304 with young family from Nuneaton to Tamworth, and is all bouncing up and down on the spring seats. It stopped at Polesworth. I also got the Rugby-Manchester early morning stopper a few times as I had to go to Manchester for work.
Centreline buses in manchester between Picc and Vic stations
Unloading bitumen tanks by Skipton South signalbox.
But signal boxes. From Leeds there was:-
Kirkstall, Newlay, Appley bridge, Thackley, Shipley Leeds jct, Shipley Bingley Jct, Bingley, Keighley, Connonley and Skipton South. All gone.

 

[Meerkat]

Mainly everything being a bit dirty and run down, including the clouds of dust if you sat down too quick on the bouncy seats.
Slam door trains being almost empty by the time they actually stopped (compared to staring at a platform waiting for the guard to eventually release the doors......)
Slam door trains being noisy, draughty with windows that were freezing cold and covered in condensation.
If there was a group of you on a busy train you would find the guards van and sit around in a circle on the floor.
BRUTES everywhere. Diesel locos everywhere, even in third rail land.

 

[DelW]

They had all sorts of things like that. There was a whole "military" section in the catalogue which included the exploding wagon, and a wagon which launched a helicopter, and one which fired missiles, and goodness knows what else. All looked mightily impressive on the page but I can't help suspecting that it all worked really badly and would have been a huge disappointment to actually own.

I had one of the 'exploding' wagons in the late 1960s, together with a missile and rubber-band-powered launcher to go with it (not the wagon-mounted one though). IIRC the sides and roof of the wagon were held together with rubber bands, which could be dislodged by anything pushing the correct side of the wagon inwards. It did work if you managed to hit it with the missile (i.e. not that often!), but not as spectacularly as the artwork suggests. The other problem was that it was based on an American box car at a time when bogie freight wagons were very unusual over here, so it didn't really fit in with the rest of the layout.

 

[krus_aragon]

So ironically, it was "something you didn't see travelling on BR, but you do today".

 

[DelW]

Indeed it was!

 

[AY1975]

Still exist in the Deepest South, on the Portsmouth Direct Line at least. There are stations where the Ladies Lavatory is accessed via a smaller, separate, Ladies Waiting Room. To keep things simple the Waiting Room and Lavatory are collectively labelled 'Ladies'.

Milford is a classic in this regard. It has a civilised Ladies Waiting Room and Toilets in the main building. The Gents are wedged in a narrow gap between the Station Building and what looks like an old Lamp Hut (now a rather rustic Coffee Shop that also does things like early morning Porridge). The Gents urinals look like they were originally open to the sky and its Water Tank is a bitumen covered lashup on its roof. - the whole Gents setup looks like it hasn't been touched since 1940.

In the 1980s and '90s you often used to find stations with toilets for people of one sex only - more often a Gents but no Ladies, but occasionally the other way round. This was quite common at smaller stations on the London suburban network, especially on the Southern Region. There may still be a few stations where this is the case, but I haven't come across any for quite a while.

Probably until about the 1970s BR (and its predecessors) believed that it had a duty to provide toilets at almost every station except for unstaffed halts. After that their condition gradually deteriorated, partly because of falling levels of station staffing, until BR felt it had no choice but to pull the plug (or should I say pull the chain?). Presumably if the toilet for one sex became heavily vandalised or due major repairs, then it would be permanently closed while the one for the other sex would be kept open as long as it remained in working order. Often the Gents would only have a urinal (which was probably easier and cheaper to maintain and less easy to vandalise than a WC) with the WC cubicles padlocked out of use.

Sometimes BR would even demolish the main part of the platform building that used to house the waiting room etc, but leave the gents' toilet block standing and in use. I remember that being the case at West Dulwich and at least one station on the Faversham-Dover line (Selling, I think).

Where a toilet had recently been closed, you would often see the Ladies or Gentlemen sign covered up with a piece of paper, cardboard, parcel tape, or a black refuse sack. Sometimes you would also see "toilet no more" or something similar written on it (which could have been done by officialdom or by a graffiti artist).

These days it's more common for small stations to only have a disabled toilet (which can only be accessed with a RADAR key).

 

[Taunton]

All looked mightily impressive on the page but I can't help suspecting that it all worked really badly and would have been a huge disappointment to actually own.

Meanwhile Hornby did a TPO lineside mailbag exchange unit, with little scale mailbags and the coach with an extending "net" (actually solid plastic) which was extended and retracted by a tapered guide along the special piece of track, which engaged with a pin on the underside of the TPO coach.

Good idea but it rarely worked as designed, and the little mailbags were generally left in a scatter at the trackside. There seems to have been a very narrow optimum speed for it to work. Now on several occasions on a pleasant summer evening I saw the real thing take place trackside in Somerset, and that never failed to work flawlessly.

 

[yorksrob]

In the 1980s and '90s you often used to find stations with toilets for people of one sex only - more often a Gents but no Ladies, but occasionally the other way round. This was quite common at smaller stations on the London suburban network, especially on the Southern Region. There may still be a few stations where this is the case, but I haven't come across any for quite a while.

Probably until about the 1970s BR (and its predecessors) believed that it had a duty to provide toilets at almost every station except for unstaffed halts. After that their condition gradually deteriorated, partly because of falling levels of station staffing, until BR felt it had no choice but to pull the plug (or should I say pull the chain?). Presumably if the toilet for one sex became heavily vandalised or due major repairs, then it would be permanently closed while the one for the other sex would be kept open as long as it remained in working order. Often the Gents would only have a urinal (which was probably easier and cheaper to maintain and less easy to vandalise than a WC) with the WC cubicles padlocked out of use.

Sometimes BR would even demolish the main part of the platform building that used to house the waiting room etc, but leave the gents' toilet block standing and in use. I remember that being the case at West Dulwich and at least one station on the Faversham-Dover line (Selling, I think).

Where a toilet had recently been closed, you would often see the Ladies or Gentlemen sign covered up with a piece of paper, cardboard, parcel tape, or a black refuse sack. Sometimes you would also see "toilet no more" or something similar written on it (which could have been done by officialdom or by a graffiti artist).

These days it's more common for small stations to only have a disabled toilet (which can only be accessed with a RADAR key).

So we've gone from toilet facilities being available for one sex (pot luck which one) to neither sex.

Apparently this is "progress".

 

[trebor79]

Hornby still make that TPO set. It does work, but the mail bags are very fiddly and the ramps don't seem to fit the track very well, unless I just need to RTFM.

 

[Pigeon]

That's a different design - I've got one of those and it does indeed work pretty reliably; the movement of the "net" as it opens has a sort of mild flick to it which makes the mailbags land in the same place with a consistency reasonably independent of speed. There are two sort of curved fingers underneath the TPO coach which are pushed up when they slide over the ramps to open the "nets".

Taunton is talking about the older design which has a different actuation mechanism, which doesn't open the "nets" with a flick, and is also more troubled by friction hindering its movement. That one is a bit disappointing and I would guess that's partly why they redesigned it.

Does anyone do a functioning tablet exchange apparatus? I've got some vague idea someone might but I also think I'm probably misremembering a catalogue listing for a non-functioning one.

Where a toilet had recently been closed, you would often see the Ladies or Gentlemen sign covered up with a piece of paper, cardboard, parcel tape, or a black refuse sack. Sometimes you would also see "toilet no more" or something similar written on it (which could have been done by officialdom or by a graffiti artist).

"Loo napoo"

 

[Journeyman]

So we've gone from toilet facilities being available for one sex (pot luck which one) to neither sex.

Apparently this is "progress".

Oh, come on. The proportion of trains with gangways and access to toilets is far higher than it was in the past.

 

[52290]

Travelling back from Euston to Preston in the 1970's I would make sure that I was standing by a door as we approached Leyland,where I live, just in case the signals were at red, as they often were, so that I could jump out and save myself a bus ride back from Preston. If there was a ticket collector about I just showed my ticket and walked off, nobody ever reprimanded me for this.

 

[yorksrob]

Oh, come on. The proportion of trains with gangways and access to toilets is far higher than it was in the past.

Not in South West London it isn't. And don't get me started on Crossrail trains and their lack of toilets !

 

[Pigeon]

Mk 1 compartments with cosily dim lighting, or no lighting at all if you took the bulbs out or they just didn't work in the first place. Wonderful at night. I'm quite happy to sit in the dark if I'm not trying to read (which I still could do with the lights on if I wanted), and it is not true to consider that there's "nothing to see outside" at night. There's just as much to see as there is in the daytime if you're not blinded by interior lighting, only you get to enjoy the night-time atmosphere of it as well. Or you could just follow the inclination natural to night-time and snooze in comfort without being disturbed by glare. I hate the inescapable daylight brightness of modern train interiors at night.

 

[yorksrob]

Mk 1 compartments with cosily dim lighting, or no lighting at all if you took the bulbs out or they just didn't work in the first place. Wonderful at night. I'm quite happy to sit in the dark if I'm not trying to read (which I still could do with the lights on if I wanted), and it is not true to consider that there's "nothing to see outside" at night. There's just as much to see as there is in the daytime if you're not blinded by interior lighting, only you get to enjoy the night-time atmosphere of it as well. Or you could just follow the inclination natural to night-time and snooze in comfort without being disturbed by glare. I hate the inescapable daylight brightness of modern train interiors at night.

Yes, there's something warm and comforting about the combination of tungsten lighting, pastel formica pannelling and trojan moquette.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Mk 1 compartments with cosily dim lighting, or no lighting at all if you took the bulbs out or they just didn't work in the first place. Wonderful at night. I'm quite happy to sit in the dark if I'm not trying to read (which I still could do with the lights on if I wanted), and it is not true to consider that there's "nothing to see outside" at night. There's just as much to see as there is in the daytime if you're not blinded by interior lighting, only you get to enjoy the night-time atmosphere of it as well. Or you could just follow the inclination natural to night-time and snooze in comfort without being disturbed by glare. I hate the inescapable daylight brightness of modern train interiors at night.

I agree - working late turn at Leominster South box and getting a class 25 steam heated train with a solo compartment (rather dusty) was a superb experience - the ultimate in cosiness and comfort. Much missed. (even though the service was very light compared to today's offerings) ......

 

[co-tr-paul]

Add snow and moon outside, frost on the inside but roasting feet, Sulzer sound....... .

 

[ChiefPlanner]

In very cold weather - the MK1 toilets often froze , so you had a can of water in the WC to assist with flushing ..(forgotten about that till now) - course the hot water worked after a fashion.

Who remembers the little soap bars , marked "BR" -not bad soap actually , certainly better than what you got abroad at the time .....(stuff in a tube that looked and acted like the very cheapest washing powder)

 

[yorksrob]

In very cold weather - the MK1 toilets often froze , so you had a can of water in the WC to assist with flushing ..(forgotten about that till now) - course the hot water worked after a fashion.

Who remembers the little soap bars , marked "BR" -not bad soap actually , certainly better than what you got abroad at the time .....(stuff in a tube that looked and acted like the very cheapest washing powder)

Was doing up a mk1 that hadn't been touched since around 95, and found those bars of soap. Still ready to go after twenty years !

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Was doing up a mk1 that hadn't been touched since around 95, and found those bars of soap. Still ready to go after twenty years !

Save me a couple please .....( I found a tin of BR Wood polish sometime ago - excellent stuff - after about 30 years - eked it out)

 

[Cowley]

Was doing up a mk1 that hadn't been touched since around 95, and found those bars of soap. Still ready to go after twenty years !

Were they the green ones?

 

[yorksrob]

Save me a couple please .....( I found a tin of BR Wood polish sometime ago - excellent stuff - after about 30 years - eked it out)

The gaffers got them as an historical artifact !

 

[yorksrob]

Were they the green ones?

I honestly can't remember. Been a couple of years since I've been in the toilet compartment.

Was as withdrawn though, with soap, bog roll etc.

 

[Cowley]

I honestly can't remember. Been a couple of years since I've been in the toilet compartment.

Was as withdrawn though, with soap, bog roll etc.

Excellent. I went to a GCR diesel gala a few years ago and they’d managed to find BR soap and toilet rolls for all the toilets.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Excellent. I went to a GCR diesel gala a few years ago and they’d managed to find BR soap and toilet rolls for all the toilets.

My very good friend who is a trustee of the GNR inspection saloon on the Bluebell Railway , and who saved it from scrapping in the 1960's - has a stash of genuine LNER toilet paper (which came it with , along with all the crockery and cutlery etc) , assures me it is in safe hands. Not even used for filming events. I dare say it would go for a good price on EBAY ...!

 

[ChiefPlanner]

The gaffers got them as an historical artifact !

Rightly so , - wonder if there is a hidden supply at Slade Green Depot of that very distinctive "SR" floor cleaner they used to use on the EPB sets....(I say this to wind you up...) - one never knows.

 

[GusB]

Who remembers the little soap bars , marked "BR" -not bad soap actually , certainly better than what you got abroad at the time .....(stuff in a tube that looked and acted like the very cheapest washing powder)

Were they the green ones?

They were small and green, and if I remember correctly, they were Palmolive soap bars, still available today.