TRIVIA: The first stations with passenger-operated lifts

[AY1975]

Not sure whether this belongs in Infrastructure & Stations or Railway History & Nostalgia, but can anyone remember which stations were the first to have lifts that passengers could use independently without staff escort? Did any stations already have them in the BR era? These days more and more stations are having them installed, and they are increasingly being regarded as a basic must-have except at single platform stations where access is step-free anyway.

As I recall under BR, and in the early days of privatisation, the norm was for disabled passengers (and others who could not use the stairs, e.g. those with prams or heavy luggage) to have to be escorted by a member of staff via the staff/goods lift if there was one or, if not, via the barrow crossing. Hence in those days many stations had signs saying "Lifts are available for passengers unable to use the stairs, please ask staff" or simply "For wheelchair access please ask staff." A few stations still had those signs in situ until fairly recently even after they had become obsolete (somewhere there is a thread on obsolete signage on the railway).

 

[Dr Hoo]

To kick this off I’ll mention that the newly constructed Merseyrail Loop and Link stations had passenger operated lifts from the start, in 1977. (In no way am I claiming that these were the first.)

 

[birchesgreen]

Waterloo and City?

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Didn't the City and South London Railway, now part of the Northern Line, have some sort of passenger lifts as long ago as its opening in late 1890? So, Stockwell, perhaps?

 

[Basil Jet]

Didn't the City and South London Railway, now part of the Northern Line, have some sort of passenger lifts as long ago as its opening in late 1890? So, Stockwell, perhaps?

They were probably staffed, I think the lift at Aldwych was manned right up to closure in 1992. Even the trains had staff at every door on the early tubes.

Another candidate would be the GN&C at Essex Road etc.

 

[swt_passenger]

Didn't the City and South London Railway, now part of the Northern Line, have some sort of passenger lifts as long ago as its opening in late 1890? So, Stockwell, perhaps?

The key point here I think is “passenger operated”. In the 70s it was still reasonably commonplace to have lift operators in older department stores, never mind in the underground or on the wider railway. I suspect earlier lift controls and safety features werent as bulletproof as they are now, and you really did need a trained operator.

Giving passengers sole control of lifts in public situations generally, rather than say blocks of flats, was a later 20th century thing. There may have been a change over a couple of decades, it’s not something I was really aware of at the time.

 

[birchesgreen]

The key point here I think is “passenger operated”. In the 70s it was still reasonably commonplace to have lift operators in older department stores, never mind in the underground or on the wider railway. I suspect earlier lift controls and safety features werent as bulletproof as they are now, and you really did need a trained operator.

Giving passengers sole control of lifts in public situations generally, rather than say blocks of flats, was a later 20th century thing. There may have been a change over a couple of decades, it’s not something I was really aware of at the time.

Indeed early lifts (and this is well into the first half of the 20th century) often didn't have buttons for each floor, instead the lift operator had an electrical switch to go (and stop) and had to know how long to operate the lift for each floor (kind of like vertical route knowledge).

 

[W-on-Sea]

Maybe Essex Road, when it was re-opened under BR tutelage in 1976? (I don't know how the station operated then, but in terms of a station being placed under a new system of operation, the date might fit)

 

[AY1975]

They were probably staffed, I think the lift at Aldwych was manned right up to closure in 1992.

1994 actually.

To kick this off I’ll mention that the newly constructed Merseyrail Loop and Link stations had passenger operated lifts from the start, in 1977. (In no way am I claiming that these were the first.)

Maybe Essex Road, when it was re-opened under BR tutelage in 1976? (I don't know how the station operated then, but in terms of a station being placed under a new system of operation, the date might fit)

Not quite as old as Essex Road or the Merseyrail Loop and Link stations, but I believe that most if not all Tyne & Wear Metro stations (except maybe those where the platforms were at street level anyway) had passenger operated lifts from the start. The first bits of the T&W Metro opened in 1980, and the system was designed to be fully wheelchair accessible from when it first opened so back then it was ahead of its time.

 

[edwin_m]

1994 actually.


Not quite as old as Essex Road or the Merseyrail Loop and Link stations, but I believe that most if not all Tyne & Wear Metro stations (except maybe those where the platforms were at street level anyway) had passenger operated lifts from the start. The first bits of the T&W Metro opened in 1980, and the system was designed to be fully wheelchair accessible from when it first opened so back then it was ahead of its time.

The Metro was indeed fully accessible with level boarding. All the underground stations had lifts, as did the "sub-surface" interchange stations, but most or all of the other surface stations relied on ramps.

On the Underground the lift operator would often also check tickets, so there was less incentive to automate them.