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No crossed lines at King's Cross
http://www.networkrail.co.uk/aspx/6538.aspx
says... ---quote--- Telephones There are no public telephones at the station. The nearest ones are over the road in the entrance to King's Cross St Pancras Underground. ---/quote--- I appreciate that public payphones are rather 20th century, but I'm still a tad surprised by this. On a related note, are there any subterranean payphones (i.e. deep platform level) on the London Underground network still in existence? If not, when did the last one go? (And apologies for the slightly laboured subject line!) |
No crossed lines at King's Cross
On 09/02/2013 13:27, Mizter T wrote:
http://www.networkrail.co.uk/aspx/6538.aspx says... ---quote--- Telephones There are no public telephones at the station. The nearest ones are over the road in the entrance to King's Cross St Pancras Underground. ---/quote--- I appreciate that public payphones are rather 20th century, but I'm still a tad surprised by this. On a related note, are there any subterranean payphones (i.e. deep platform level) on the London Underground network still in existence? If not, when did the last one go? (And apologies for the slightly laboured subject line!) When did the Cadbury vending machines also go? |
No crossed lines at King's Cross
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No crossed lines at King's Cross
In message , at 13:27:37 on Sat, 9 Feb 2013,
Mizter T remarked: On a related note, are there any subterranean payphones (i.e. deep platform level) on the London Underground network still in existence? If not, when did the last one go? I think they may have been removed when Rabbit covered the LUL network (in the early 90's). Not that it lasted long, but it did work while it lasted. -- Roland Perry |
No crossed lines at King's Cross
On 09/02/2013 14:51, Roland Perry wrote: In message , at 13:27:37 on Sat, 9 Feb 2013, Mizter T remarked: On a related note, are there any subterranean payphones (i.e. deep platform level) on the London Underground network still in existence? If not, when did the last one go? I think they may have been removed when Rabbit covered the LUL network (in the early 90's). Not that it lasted long, but it did work while it lasted. Nope, there were BT payphones around on the LU network far more recently than that (Rabbit ceased service in December 1993). |
No crossed lines at King's Cross
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No crossed lines at King's Cross
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No crossed lines at King's Cross
When did the last Payne's Poppets machine go?
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No crossed lines at King's Cross
Like the also-gone photo machines I think they were more trouble than they were worth. At the end the machines were in fact very reliable, but any complainers still went to staff - ranting in their diabetic stupors.
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No crossed lines at King's Cross
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No crossed lines at King's Cross
On Sun, 10 Feb 2013 01:00:03 +0000, "
wrote: On 09/02/2013 23:11, Charles Ellson wrote: On Sat, 9 Feb 2013 16:39:09 +0000, (A.Lee) wrote: wrote: On 09/02/2013 14:11, Mizter T wrote: When there was some concern about them potentially catching fire, IIRC. Not something LU takes any chances about these days (quite rightly). Please explain. Vending machines are strictly controlled on LU (TfL?), by having to meet strict rules on flammability and control of any fires. I used to supply (well, not me, but the Co. I worked for) various equipment for LU, all of these had extra fire proof material compared to our normal stuff, as well as extra sfatey features inside - e.g. faster breaking CBs and a fire extinguisher if a fire did occur. Maybe the chocolate machine suppliers couldnt meet these rules? There are also the elements which have killed off unattended vending machines in general - vandalism and theft. The few times that I purchased any sweets from them, I found that they would dispense more than one of what I bought. I wonder if that was a factor? You must have come along just after I got damn all out of them. :-( |
No crossed lines at King's Cross
In message , at 15:16:34 on Sat, 9 Feb 2013,
Mizter T remarked: On a related note, are there any subterranean payphones (i.e. deep platform level) on the London Underground network still in existence? If not, when did the last one go? I think they may have been removed when Rabbit covered the LUL network (in the early 90's). Not that it lasted long, but it did work while it lasted. Nope, there were BT payphones around on the LU network far more recently than that (Rabbit ceased service in December 1993). My Rabbit gear was swapped for an Orange phone [which I still have stored somewhere] when the latter launched in April 1994. Whereabouts were the BT phones? I can't picture them at all. The concourse at Baker St is the sort of place I might have looked, but not down on the tube platforms. -- Roland Perry |
No crossed lines at King's Cross
In article ,
(Charles Ellson) wrote: On Sun, 10 Feb 2013 01:00:03 +0000, " wrote: On 09/02/2013 23:11, Charles Ellson wrote: On Sat, 9 Feb 2013 16:39:09 +0000, (A.Lee) wrote: wrote: On 09/02/2013 14:11, Mizter T wrote: When there was some concern about them potentially catching fire, IIRC. Not something LU takes any chances about these days (quite rightly). Please explain. Vending machines are strictly controlled on LU (TfL?), by having to meet strict rules on flammability and control of any fires. I used to supply (well, not me, but the Co. I worked for) various equipment for LU, all of these had extra fire proof material compared to our normal stuff, as well as extra sfatey features inside - e.g. faster breaking CBs and a fire extinguisher if a fire did occur. Maybe the chocolate machine suppliers couldnt meet these rules? There are also the elements which have killed off unattended vending machines in general - vandalism and theft. The few times that I purchased any sweets from them, I found that they would dispense more than one of what I bought. I wonder if that was a factor? You must have come along just after I got damn all out of them. :-( You and me both! They kept diddling me so I gave up using them. -- Colin Rosenstiel |
No crossed lines at King's Cross
wrote in message ...
On 09/02/2013 13:27, Mizter T wrote: http://www.networkrail.co.uk/aspx/6538.aspx says... ---quote--- Telephones There are no public telephones at the station. The nearest ones are over the road in the entrance to King's Cross St Pancras Underground. ---/quote--- I appreciate that public payphones are rather 20th century, but I'm still a tad surprised by this. On a related note, are there any subterranean payphones (i.e. deep platform level) on the London Underground network still in existence? If not, when did the last one go? (And apologies for the slightly laboured subject line!) When did the Cadbury vending machines also go? Definitely there in 1998 give or take a year either side. I remember being very annoyed when one (Paddington, circle line towards Liverpool Street) gave me a packet of mints rather than dairy milk. I was rather hard up at the time (studying) and couldn't spare the cash to try again! To return to the subject - the phones on platform 1 at Paddington were a nightmare - if there was a train in, you couldn't actually hear anything! I used to shout my time of arrival down the phone and hope for the best - invariably someone seemed to meet me! James |
Station machines [was: No crossed lines at King's Cross]
"Offramp" wrote in message ... When did the last Payne's Poppets machine go? Deviating and changing the thread name, when was the machine at Liverpool Street with which you could make metal name plates removed? Its case was a huge metal casting, and one swung a massive pointer round a clock face-type dial to the appropriate letter or symbol and thumped something to impress the chosen item onto a strip of white metal. At the end of the process, it emerged with conveniently rounded ends that had pinholes in so that you could easily nail it to ... something. I hade several of these strips for many years but they seem to have all been lost in my last house move. -- Brian "Fight like the Devil, die like a gentleman." |
Station machines [was: No crossed lines at King's Cross]
On Mon, 11 Feb 2013 07:39:46 -0000, "Brian Watson"
wrote: "Offramp" wrote in message ... When did the last Payne's Poppets machine go? Deviating and changing the thread name, when was the machine at Liverpool Street with which you could make metal name plates removed? Its case was a huge metal casting, and one swung a massive pointer round a clock face-type dial to the appropriate letter or symbol and thumped something to impress the chosen item onto a strip of white metal. At the end of the process, it emerged with conveniently rounded ends that had pinholes in so that you could easily nail it to ... something. I hade several of these strips for many years but they seem to have all been lost in my last house move. There's still one of those machines (or was a few years ago) at the NRM in York. -- Frank |
No crossed lines at King's Cross
When did the Cadbury vending machines also go? When there was some concern about them potentially catching fire, IIRC. Not something LU takes any chances about these days (quite rightly). I am not sure that is correct. The Cadburys machines were installed long after the fire regulations applied to LU stations. The machines would have had to have been compliant or else have approved waivers based on a risk assessment. I believe the Cadburys contract was terminated as part of a move to reduce clutter on stations and platforms. I think the LU MD decided that stations looked very cluttered and messy and that a preponderance of machines also caused congestion on the busiest / narrowest platforms. It also added cost to station refurbs and mods with machines having to be removed and then reinstalled thus incurring extra cost. Happy to be corrected but I'm sure that was the line I heard at the time. I believe (from vague and fading memory...) sometime around Jul/Aug/Sep 2007 ... I think that several factors came together at that time, IIRC one of the servicing Contractors went bust, profitability was marginal, grief was high, there were security concerns (because of recent events) over platform "clutter" and LU was attempting to smarten things up a bit before the Olympics ... Cadbury (who had held the Master Contract since 2001) threw in the towel ... Chris |
Station machines [was: No crossed lines at King's Cross]
On 11/02/2013 08:22, Frank Erskine wrote:
On Mon, 11 Feb 2013 07:39:46 -0000, "Brian Watson" wrote: "Offramp" wrote in message ... When did the last Payne's Poppets machine go? Deviating and changing the thread name, when was the machine at Liverpool Street with which you could make metal name plates removed? Its case was a huge metal casting, and one swung a massive pointer round a clock face-type dial to the appropriate letter or symbol and thumped something to impress the chosen item onto a strip of white metal. There's still one of those machines (or was a few years ago) at the NRM in York. I've found a reference to it from a couple of years ago. If you have a few thousand knocking about you could get your own. http://www.gcrauctions.com/sale127/lot118.html -- Phil Cook |
No crossed lines at King's Cross
Mizter T wrote in :
On 09/02/2013 14:02, wrote: On 09/02/2013 13:27, Mizter T wrote: http://www.networkrail.co.uk/aspx/6538.aspx says... ---quote--- Telephones There are no public telephones at the station. The nearest ones are over the road in the entrance to King's Cross St Pancras Underground. ---/quote--- I appreciate that public payphones are rather 20th century, but I'm still a tad surprised by this. On a related note, are there any subterranean payphones (i.e. deep platform level) on the London Underground network still in existence? If not, when did the last one go? (And apologies for the slightly laboured subject line!) When did the Cadbury vending machines also go? When there was some concern about them potentially catching fire, IIRC. Not something LU takes any chances about these days (quite rightly). I believe one of them actually did catch fire, or at least started to emit smoke, whereupon they were all summarily and rapidly removed. Peter -- || Peter CS ~ Epsom ~ UK | pjcs02 [at] gmail.com | |
No crossed lines at King's Cross
On 12/02/2013 12:09, Peter CS wrote:
Mizter T wrote in : On 09/02/2013 14:02, wrote: On 09/02/2013 13:27, Mizter T wrote: http://www.networkrail.co.uk/aspx/6538.aspx says... ---quote--- Telephones There are no public telephones at the station. The nearest ones are over the road in the entrance to King's Cross St Pancras Underground. ---/quote--- I appreciate that public payphones are rather 20th century, but I'm still a tad surprised by this. On a related note, are there any subterranean payphones (i.e. deep platform level) on the London Underground network still in existence? If not, when did the last one go? (And apologies for the slightly laboured subject line!) When did the Cadbury vending machines also go? When there was some concern about them potentially catching fire, IIRC. Not something LU takes any chances about these days (quite rightly). I believe one of them actually did catch fire, or at least started to emit smoke, whereupon they were all summarily and rapidly removed. Obviously not the Cadbury vending machines I remember which were purely mechanical. -- Graeme Wall This account not read, substitute trains for rail. Railway Miscellany at http://www.greywall.demon.co.uk/rail |
No crossed lines at King's Cross
Roland Perry wrote in
: Whereabouts were the BT phones? I can't picture them at all. The concourse at Baker St is the sort of place I might have looked, but not down on the tube platforms. They were mounted on a panel, usually together with a chocolate machine. The phones where the ones that took a green phonecard, and that system went out a good number of years ago. They were quite widespread for a time on the platforms, at least in central London. I don't think they were used a lot, partly because there was no acoustic shielding and the noise level on a tube platform makes converstion hard, but they were quite useful for the 'I'll be home in 40 minutes' calls before we all had mobiles. Peter -- || Peter CS ~ Epsom ~ UK | pjcs02 [at] gmail.com | |
No crossed lines at King's Cross
In message , at 13:25:24 on Tue, 12
Feb 2013, Peter CS remarked: Whereabouts were the BT phones? I can't picture them at all. The concourse at Baker St is the sort of place I might have looked, but not down on the tube platforms. They were mounted on a panel, usually together with a chocolate machine. The phones where the ones that took a green phonecard, and that system went out a good number of years ago. They were quite widespread for a time on the platforms, at least in central London. I don't think they were used a lot, partly because there was no acoustic shielding and the noise level on a tube platform makes converstion hard, but they were quite useful for the 'I'll be home in 40 minutes' calls before we all had mobiles. Not that mobiles work on tube platforms... but making calls like that on Rabbit was one of the attractions. -- Roland Perry |
No crossed lines at King's Cross
"Roland Perry" wrote in message ... Not that mobiles work on tube platforms... but making calls like that on Rabbit was one of the attractions. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Smartphones with Virgin, EE, and Vodafone can be used on well over 100 LUL platforms Ian |
No crossed lines at King's Cross
In message , at 13:58:58 on Tue, 12 Feb
2013, ian remarked: Not that mobiles work on tube platforms... but making calls like that on Rabbit was one of the attractions. Smartphones with Virgin, EE, and Vodafone can be used on well over 100 LUL platforms Used for calls as well as Wifi? Many LUL platforms have always had signal, but have they put microcells on tube platforms? -- Roland Perry |
No crossed lines at King's Cross
On Tue, 12 Feb 2013 13:58:58 -0000
"ian" wrote: "Roland Perry" wrote in message ... Not that mobiles work on tube platforms... but making calls like that on Rabbit was one of the attractions. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- Smartphones with Virgin, EE, and Vodafone can be used on well over 100 LUL platforms How many of those are above ground? B2003 |
No crossed lines at King's Cross
wrote in message ... Smartphones with Virgin, EE, and Vodafone can be used on well over 100 LUL platforms How many of those are above ground? --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Its wifi on the platform see http://www.techweekeurope.co.uk/news...in-media-99818 Then you use the App http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-...ll-app-1110267 Ian |
No crossed lines at King's Cross
In message , at 15:25:50 on Tue, 12 Feb
2013, ian remarked: Its wifi on the platform see http://www.techweekeurope.co.uk/news...-virgin-media- 99818 Then you use the App http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-...gin-media-anno unces-free-calls-over-wi-fi-with-smartcall-app-1110267 Assuming you can ever connect to the wifi - which I haven't despite many tries. -- Roland Perry |
No crossed lines at King's Cross
On 12/02/2013 13:58, ian wrote:
"Roland Perry" wrote in message ... Not that mobiles work on tube platforms... but making calls like that on Rabbit was one of the attractions. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Smartphones with Virgin, EE, and Vodafone can be used on well over 100 LUL platforms Ian With Skype, you mean? |
No crossed lines at King's Cross
On 12/02/2013 12:37, Graeme Wall wrote:
On 12/02/2013 12:09, Peter CS wrote: Mizter T wrote in : On 09/02/2013 14:02, wrote: On 09/02/2013 13:27, Mizter T wrote: http://www.networkrail.co.uk/aspx/6538.aspx says... ---quote--- Telephones There are no public telephones at the station. The nearest ones are over the road in the entrance to King's Cross St Pancras Underground. ---/quote--- I appreciate that public payphones are rather 20th century, but I'm still a tad surprised by this. On a related note, are there any subterranean payphones (i.e. deep platform level) on the London Underground network still in existence? If not, when did the last one go? (And apologies for the slightly laboured subject line!) When did the Cadbury vending machines also go? When there was some concern about them potentially catching fire, IIRC. Not something LU takes any chances about these days (quite rightly). I believe one of them actually did catch fire, or at least started to emit smoke, whereupon they were all summarily and rapidly removed. Obviously not the Cadbury vending machines I remember which were purely mechanical. Wires get crossed and can short circuit, however. |
No crossed lines at King's Cross
On 12/02/2013 20:07, wrote:
On 12/02/2013 12:37, Graeme Wall wrote: On 12/02/2013 12:09, Peter CS wrote: Mizter T wrote in : On 09/02/2013 14:02, wrote: On 09/02/2013 13:27, Mizter T wrote: http://www.networkrail.co.uk/aspx/6538.aspx says... ---quote--- Telephones There are no public telephones at the station. The nearest ones are over the road in the entrance to King's Cross St Pancras Underground. ---/quote--- I appreciate that public payphones are rather 20th century, but I'm still a tad surprised by this. On a related note, are there any subterranean payphones (i.e. deep platform level) on the London Underground network still in existence? If not, when did the last one go? (And apologies for the slightly laboured subject line!) When did the Cadbury vending machines also go? When there was some concern about them potentially catching fire, IIRC. Not something LU takes any chances about these days (quite rightly). I believe one of them actually did catch fire, or at least started to emit smoke, whereupon they were all summarily and rapidly removed. Obviously not the Cadbury vending machines I remember which were purely mechanical. Wires get crossed and can short circuit, however. Agreed but I was thinking of the older generation of machines that dispensed a large bar[1] of Dairy Milk by purely mechanical means for a florin. [1] Or two if you had the knack and dexterity[2] [2] Alledgedly -- Graeme Wall This account not read, substitute trains for rail. Railway Miscellany at http://www.greywall.demon.co.uk/rail |
No crossed lines at King's Cross
On 12/02/2013 14:22, Roland Perry wrote: In message , at 13:58:58 on Tue, 12 Feb 2013, ian remarked: Not that mobiles work on tube platforms... but making calls like that on Rabbit was one of the attractions. Smartphones with Virgin, EE, and Vodafone can be used on well over 100 LUL platforms Used for calls as well as Wifi? Many LUL platforms have always had signal, but have they put microcells on tube platforms? No microcells - ian's referring to making calls via wifi. |
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