please empty your brain below
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The caption to one of the photos:
"..... showing a female passenger using the experimental AFC turnstile/ticket barriers."
(Why state the obvious? and what relevance was it that the passenger had two X-chromosomes?
And of course all the tests on the gates in the film were carried out using female passengers: men could be trusted with machinery, but would the ladies be able to cope?
Truly the 1960s was a different world.
timbo | 05.01.14 - 12:38 a.m. | #
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I do like the almost wrap-around 1/4 turn barriers, which clearly wouldn't work with body shapes today!
Andrew-R | 05.01.14 - 1:26 a.m. | #
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timbo - I suspect it is to assist with searching. Image libraries often have odd captions.
Kirk | 05.01.14 - 11:24 a.m. | #
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@kirk
That may be so - but the captioning is not very consistent: four of the five images show the turnstiles in use - (three of them by the same woman, the fourth by another woman) - so why is only that one captioned so?
timbo | 05.01.14 - 12:01 p.m. | #
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I have a feeling I've seen those original automated gates and ticket machines preserved somewhere - perhaps at the Transport Museum Depot in Acton? Maybe someone who knows the collection better can confirm?
Joe Taylor | 05.01.14 - 12:31 p.m. | #
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Nice to see a bit of history about something I was heavily involved with in later years. I was the client for expanding LU ticket gates outside Zone 1 and then almost network wide. I also brokered the deal to put the first gates on National Rail at Barking. Happy days, unless you were a fare dodger.
I remember the looks of consternation on the day when we switched the gates on at Brixton. I recall one chap taking a running jump on to the gate, stepping over the display pod and then jumping down the other side. Some of the locals weren't happy even when we were doing site visits to work out where to install them. When the wooden boxes were put over the plinths and all became obvious we were not very popular people. Nowadays gates pop up at all sorts of stations and no one really bats an eyelid.
PC | 05.01.14 - 1:19 p.m. | #
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In the Pathe film two ladies and one man test the gate. The man has a case yet the two women don't even have a handbag - how realistic was that! All three are filmed multiple times - and all experience a glitch before 'they' get it right.
B | 05.01.14 - 1:58 p.m. | #
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There's not quite a "uniform barrier system" as there are at least 3 types of ticket gates on LU depending on the year of installation. Perhaps PC (of Walthamstow) can elaborate.
KR | 05.01.14 - 2:02 p.m. | #
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And London Transport made their own film to train passengers in the arcane arts of using ticket machines and barriers a few years later - http://www.ltmcollection.org/films/film/film.html?IXfilm=FLO.0007
marek | 05.01.14 - 3:52 p.m. | #
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That is a splendid film, marek, thanks.
(1969 vintage)
diamond geezer | Homepage | 05.01.14 - 4:18 p.m. | #
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KR - It's like most things. Started off with custom barriers, now they're a standard unit that's the same across the world. (Little or much)
The film is interesting - they seemed desperate at that time to do the closing behind you two part thing, as with the tripod turnstiles, or the 4 part ones in the Pathe video. Nowadays, of course, they just use very forceful plates, and it's a much better design to use as a passenger.
Kirk | 05.01.14 - 4:21 p.m. | #
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PC - Why were people upset? Was it the "Rise of the machines", concerns for staff jobs, or just fare dodging was so prevalent that people resented having to pay?
Kirk | 05.01.14 - 4:26 p.m. | #
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It all depends, on how users used to cross the ticket line before. If they all had to queue slowly for a human ticket inspector, then the new system was a improvement. I suspect though at peak the tide of commuters just flashed bits of ticket in the general direction of the ticket inspector and streamed past.
The new barriers were probably seen as way to slow passengers down with officious checking and control, because of course they had the correct ticket, so why should they be held up!
Rational Plan | 05.01.14 - 5:04 p.m. | #
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In the Pathe film there is the 1963 tube map with the square symbol for British Rail interchanges!
A History of the London Tube Maps - 1963
Briantist | Homepage | 05.01.14 - 5:12 p.m. | #
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How funny, I was at Stamford Brook on Saturday - first time ever. Had no idea of its history, of course.
Simon | 06.01.14 - 10:45 a.m. | #
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@ KR - the first generation UTS gates use compressed air, from the signal main, to move the paddles. The second generation of gates use electricity to move the paddles but more importantly the stanchion is narrower. Many stations outside of Z1 are fairly small so a more space efficient design was needed to provide sufficient throughput capacity without having to undertake building works. I wasn't involved when the final electric gate design was brought forth but I assume this was a supplier development to improve the design and make it a more universal product given the increase in gating by train companies.
@ Kirk - my view of the reaction at Brixton (and Stockwell) was that the fare dodgers knew their time was up. Those two stations had the highest evasion levels which is why they were the first stations done outside Z1 using spare gates left over from the main UTS project. To be fair there were also people at both stations giving us the "thumbs up" because they knew people would have to pay for their travel.
PC | 06.01.14 - 11:31 a.m. | #
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PC - It upsets me there were so many of the former, to be honest!
Kirk | 06.01.14 - 5:32 p.m. | #
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