London Underground train describers ; westbound platform at St. James' Park station, c.1925
An 'official' Underground Group photo and a print that has found its way into my 'work' collection; it is backstamped "London Passenger Transport Board" so must have been printed off the plate between 1933 and 1948. It shows a typical District Railway train description board that first appeared in the years after c.1905 and that were 'driven' by a series of codes from the signalling system. The range of destinations here include the various 'non-stop' trains and these plates were fitted after about 1912 when a more rigorous system of attempting to run trains that 'skip-stopped' various quieter stations was more generally instituted.
To be fair they were not that much of a success; even on longer headways they had a tendancy to 'catch up' up with the train in front and with limited places to pass a 'stopper' they must have run fairly languidly. For passengers there was always the issue of telling them which stations a train did and did not call at and as can be seen here, not much of a clue given on the destination plates! The stopping pattern was shown on a series of enamel plates on the train sides that you had to consult and that staff had to set up for each trip. Over time, especially as headways improved with greater train frequency 'non-stopping' became too difficult to reliably operate and it was stopped.
The plates show the range of destinations avaiable from St. James' Park westbound; the services include many destinations still served and some that are no longer part of the District line. These include Uxbridge and Hounslow, both of which were effectively transferred to Piccadilly line services following the extension of that line's services west over District Railway tracks after 1932/33. This happened rapidly for the Uxbridge branch but Hounslow services survived until 1964. The 'Inner Circle' now the Circle line is shown and as shown here this would have been the third train at the time the photograph was taken. There is also the 'when no through train is indicated' plate below. Most of the enamel plates are in an early 'typefaces'; one, that for Northfields is a later addition and is in the later Company typeface, Johnston. The (West Ealing) is a bit of a puzzle to me. On the side of the destination describer is a 'coffee pot' repeater signal - amazingly such features have not long been removed as part of the latest signalling upgrade and can still be found around the system, very few now in 'working' order.
The station is shown with its original overall iron and glass roof, common to most stations on the original sections of the Metropolitan District Railway and most of which have been lost over time. This, at St. James' Park was dismantled in 1927 to allow the construction of the block of offices above the station known as "Wing over Station" when I worked at 55 Broadway. This must date the image to around 1925? This latter building, at the east end of the station 'box' was constructed in 1929 and completed the now subterreanean nature of the platforms here. The kiosk is busy - perhaps people are buying copies of "Punch" magazine that is advertised. As well as the roundel nameplate there is an enamel Underground map with a header plate showing the UndergrounD wording; a Nestle's chocolate vending machine makes up the scene.
I suspect that the photographer, to take this shot, was simply up a ladder - not so many HSE implications back in the day!
London Underground train describers ; westbound platform at St. James' Park station, c.1925
An 'official' Underground Group photo and a print that has found its way into my 'work' collection; it is backstamped "London Passenger Transport Board" so must have been printed off the plate between 1933 and 1948. It shows a typical District Railway train description board that first appeared in the years after c.1905 and that were 'driven' by a series of codes from the signalling system. The range of destinations here include the various 'non-stop' trains and these plates were fitted after about 1912 when a more rigorous system of attempting to run trains that 'skip-stopped' various quieter stations was more generally instituted.
To be fair they were not that much of a success; even on longer headways they had a tendancy to 'catch up' up with the train in front and with limited places to pass a 'stopper' they must have run fairly languidly. For passengers there was always the issue of telling them which stations a train did and did not call at and as can be seen here, not much of a clue given on the destination plates! The stopping pattern was shown on a series of enamel plates on the train sides that you had to consult and that staff had to set up for each trip. Over time, especially as headways improved with greater train frequency 'non-stopping' became too difficult to reliably operate and it was stopped.
The plates show the range of destinations avaiable from St. James' Park westbound; the services include many destinations still served and some that are no longer part of the District line. These include Uxbridge and Hounslow, both of which were effectively transferred to Piccadilly line services following the extension of that line's services west over District Railway tracks after 1932/33. This happened rapidly for the Uxbridge branch but Hounslow services survived until 1964. The 'Inner Circle' now the Circle line is shown and as shown here this would have been the third train at the time the photograph was taken. There is also the 'when no through train is indicated' plate below. Most of the enamel plates are in an early 'typefaces'; one, that for Northfields is a later addition and is in the later Company typeface, Johnston. The (West Ealing) is a bit of a puzzle to me. On the side of the destination describer is a 'coffee pot' repeater signal - amazingly such features have not long been removed as part of the latest signalling upgrade and can still be found around the system, very few now in 'working' order.
The station is shown with its original overall iron and glass roof, common to most stations on the original sections of the Metropolitan District Railway and most of which have been lost over time. This, at St. James' Park was dismantled in 1927 to allow the construction of the block of offices above the station known as "Wing over Station" when I worked at 55 Broadway. This must date the image to around 1925? This latter building, at the east end of the station 'box' was constructed in 1929 and completed the now subterreanean nature of the platforms here. The kiosk is busy - perhaps people are buying copies of "Punch" magazine that is advertised. As well as the roundel nameplate there is an enamel Underground map with a header plate showing the UndergrounD wording; a Nestle's chocolate vending machine makes up the scene.
I suspect that the photographer, to take this shot, was simply up a ladder - not so many HSE implications back in the day!