History of ticket machines and automatic gates

[GodAtum]

When was the first ticket machine put into service in the UK? How about the first automatic ticket gates?

 

[A60K]

When was the first ticket machine put into service in the UK? How about the first automatic ticket gates?

Machines were used in the Underground a long time ago. The first automatic barriers werein the 60s on the Underground, although that was only at Victoria line stations (and at a few experimental stations prior).

In modern time the first barriers of the current design were at Regents Park in 1987/88, and on National Rail around 1995/96 - I think on the LTS line.

 

[trentside]

Machines were used in the Underground a long time ago. The first automatic barriers werein the 60s on the Underground, although that was only at Victoria line stations (and at a few experimental stations prior).

In modern time the first barriers of the current design were at Regents Park in 1987/88, and on National Rail around 1995/96 - I think on the LTS line.

I've been trying to find a date for when the first ticket machines came into use on the Underground. The earliest references I can find are the Morden extension and the rebuilding of Piccadilly Circus station.

 

[John Webb]

According to "The Oxford Companion to British Railway History" mechanical coin-operated ticket machines came into use from 1904 onwards on heavily used surburban routes starting with the Underground. In 1921 ticket offices started to be equipped with machines to speed up ticket issuing and recording.

 

[exile]

Travelling in the 60s it was very rare not to have to pass through a barrier of some kind - and at small stations with no barrier there was usually someone to collect tickets.

 

[announcements]

They referred to the concept of automatic gates as "Automatic Fare Collection" (AFC) for a very long time on London Underground. For those like trentside who are trying to find key dates, try searching for this term instead.

The first automatic barriers werein the 60s on the Underground, although that was only at Victoria line stations (and at a few experimental stations prior).

Some of the other stations (non-Victoria line) included Hammersmith and Uxbridge. John R. Day and John Reed's book entitled 'The Story of London's Underground' discusses the automatic gates at Hammersmith, installed in mid-1967. John Glover's book entitled 'London's Underground' shows a picture of the old-style automatic gates at Uxbridge in 1983.

 

[W-on-Sea]

I seem to recall Stamford Brook and Dagenham Heathway being among the other experimental stations that had gates (some of which remained in place for quite a while afterwards - certainly into the 1980s). These gates (not sure if they were identical to those on the Victoria line) only took "yellow tickets" (only singles, not returns - which, at least in my neck of the woods at the east end of the District line - were green cardboard and had to be torn in half - or seasons), so they were intended to compliment, rather than replace, the manual barrier/ticket check.

I do remember the large number of automated ticket machines in some central London stations, each of which only issued tickets of one value (this is before zonal fares) - I think tickets issued by these machines were encoded to go through the gates. (They had a brown back, presumably with some magnetic coding - sure I've used similar tickets on the Glasgow Underground, as it was called at the time, sometime between the mid-80s and mid-90s)

 

[John55]

Suggest you read the following article by Mike Horne which gives a comprehensive history of the story on the Underground.

http://www.metadyne.co.uk/AFC.html

 

[announcements]

Interesting article; thanks for linking this John55.

Some of you may also be interested in a really old AFC video which demonstrates how to use the earlier systems: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmkGqGk0O2A

 

[W-on-Sea]

Thanks from me too, John55. Very interesting, and comprehensive too!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
And a great video that is too! With more sense of humour than one tends to associate with LTE official material too...

 

[announcements]

London Underground Annual Report 1985/6:

London Underground Annual Report 1982:

 

[rail-britain]

Does anyone have a photo of the yellow ticket gates at Glasgow Central?
I don't remember seeing any of these in the early 1980s (didn't travel into Glasgow by train sadly) and by the time I do remember it was the beginning of open station

 

[Schnellzug]

Isn't it funny how easy to comprehend and user friendly that clunking old technology with its so hoplessly out of date nice big buttons was than modern, sophisticated user friendly touch screen technology?

 

[GodAtum]

Thanks for the pics. Why did LUL choose these type of barriers as opposed to turnstiles?