Old bits of kit

Around Golders Green, theres some old wooden Mile Markers... theres one about 20 metres north of G2, sb side...

Station Signs. - - -The overlapping 'W' was I think the earliest form of Johnson lettering and was replaced by the normal V V later in the 1920s.

LCC Switch boxes - - - Some of these seem to have been recycled by LPTB after the closure of the Tram Lines and were used elsewhere. I read somewhere of one of them in use alongside a Met.Line.

Up until a couple of years ago (and possibly it's still there, covered by vegetation) there was an old "Kew Bridge" nameboard on the disused platform on the spur leading in the direction Chiswick - South Acton. Been closed for years. And there are still a few old trolleybus poles around, in faded green.

The TARDIS is still at Earl's Court.

www.lurs.org.uk/un/tardis.htm

Helps to have a good memory sometimes.


Also:

Time proves no barrier as 'Dr Who' police box returns to street
By Sean O'Neill


THE POLICE box returned to the streets of London yesterday, 27 years after it was phased out because it was obsolete. [This wou;d be Thursday 18th April 1996 as mention in UN].

While the Metropolitan Police found no use for the box after 1969, it became immortalised as the Tardis, Dr Who's time machine, in the BBC science fiction series.

The new police box, unveiled at Earl's Court, west London, bristles with the kind of technology that would make a Time Lord feel at home.

Instead of a blue lamp on the roof, there is a closed circuit television camera which scans the surrounding area. There is digital inmaging equipment and the public can use its 24-hour help point with a direct link to the police switchboard. All users will be photographed to deter vandalism.

The box will accommodate two officers and there is also a kettle point to allow the weary beat officer to make a cup of tea.

The restoration of the box is an initiative by Scotland Yard's crime prevention officer Pc John Hodges. He said: I hope it will be a reassuring symbol for residents and visitors." If its operation is successful, other boxes will be installed across the capital.


Dr Who digest

Until I come along and get it removed (guess where I was last night?)...

...sorry folks.

Can we list where there are still lightboxes apart from Earl's Court please? I think I need to take some photos before our colleague removes them all!

most of the east end of the district still have the old style light t/d boxes,cannon st,tower hill,gloucester road,barons ct,acton town only ones i can think off top of head

I'm led to believe the Earls Court ones are an English Heritage isssue and that they are, in the future, to work in tandem with more 'modern' indicators at the outer ends of the platform.

More indicators are badly needed, especially at the west end of the platforms now that the MIP lifts block the view of both sides simultaneously.

One of the problems with having 'proper modern' indicators is that the signal operators can (and do) vary the platform workings - and if trains are diverted, then more often that not, it's done once the train arrives in the platform.

This makes it difficult / pointless trying to predict the correct information for the next three trains - unless of course the train service is running according to the booked timtable...

Trouble is, most customers do not understand the complexities of running the railway (well the District through Earls Court anyway) - they demand, and are entitled to expect, information regarding the next train to their destination.

And it should be provided in this age of present technology.

The plan as I understand it is to have dot matrix indicators (DMI's) for each individual platform - but this creates a problem. You basically have two approaches to Earls Court in each direction. The program machine may route a Wimbledon train from Gloucester Road (for example) into platform 3. The signalman may decide to alter this and route it into platform 4. Then he may realise that a train is coming from High Street and change his mind, routing the train back to platform 3. It's possible that this happens currently, without anyone noticing - but if the new DMI's show trains for 5 minutes prior to arrival (again, for example), you can imagine........it'd be 'musical platforms'!! ;D


I suppose, in essence, I am a very big supporter of retaining the current boards at Earls Court - perhaps with similar mini boards at each end of the platform. Either that or have DMI's for each direction, but only put the platform numbers up just prior to arrival.

Why not put up a DMI on each platform with a central display which shows next three trains and their expected arrival times as usual but wait until the route is set before showing, with an arrow and a number next to the first train, which platform - there's only two to choose from.

Just found this on ebay

cgi.ebay.co.uk/Duplex-guage-off-a-1959-underground-train-rare-find_W0QQitemZ190082129555QQihZ009QQcategoryZ415

Ealing Broadway has original roundalls (solid red with blue, as at Covent garden)