New clock unveiled

[davews]

A single example of the new clock seen at Waterloo on one of the fancy departure boards. I quite like it and how you can guestimate the seconds if not exactly know them. Looks much better in the flesh than all the speeded up videos of it being pushed out. And at least for the moment the legionary Waterloo clock is still there for you to meet your friends under it.

 

[DelW]

A single example of the new clock seen at Waterloo on one of the fancy departure boards. I quite like it and how you can guestimate the seconds if not exactly know them. Looks much better in the flesh than all the speeded up videos of it being pushed out. And at least for the moment the legionary Waterloo clock is still there for you to meet your friends under it.

The Waterloo clock is beautiful, and I always look at it as I come up from the tube onto the concourse. But I'm sure that most people watching the boards while waiting for trains, will actually monitor the digital clocks in the middle of those boards, which I expect will be replaced by the new design.

 

[0161]

local station. (these ones, or something very similar:

)

Random question, but from where can you catch a train to both London Bridge and Rugby?

 

[AlterEgo]

Random question, but from where can you catch a train to both London Bridge and Rugby?

That's an old pic. Will be from the Connex days.

 

[Steddenm]

Random question, but from where can you catch a train to both London Bridge and Rugby?

East Croydon, Gatwick Airport back in the day

 

[JD2168]

I saw the new clock myself in Doncaster yesterday, looked smart & clear to read

 

[snail]

when were you last there? I'm sure it was restored and going when I saw it within the last couple of years, but maybe it has packed up again since then. That clock, that is. I imagine that the platform departure boards show the time.

Carnforth clock was removed 4 or 5 years ago because the brackets were unsafe. The clock's owner won't let it come back until issues with the Heritage Centre are resolved. There is a new group running the Trust so hopefully something positive will happen.
https://www.beyond.radio/news/local...tion-discuss-future-of-brief-encounter-clock/

 

[Amaroussi]

I think the new clock design is great, although I prefer the time with seconds due to many station platform and departure information boards in the capital using that time format (don't worry, I know that time format is available in Design Manual NR/GN/CIV/300/08).

 

[OscarH]

For those who are interested, I've put together a demo of the clock available to view on modern* web browsers:

Rail Clock

A reproduction of the Great British Railways clock

railclock.davwheat.dev

* Uses some features older, out-of-support, browsers will not support, so might not show correctly for some.

This clock is now available on a more memorable domain: https://greatbritishclock.com/ / https://gbclock.com/

(done with MrJeeves blessing of course)

 

[AndrewE]

This clock is now available on a more memorable domain: https://greatbritishclock.com/ / https://gbclock.com/

(done with MrJeeves blessing of course)

I still wish it would pause at the 60 secs point like the Swiss one does. On an analogue face with no graduations the fact that it is getting fractionally ahead is completely immaterial, and the slight pause gives extra emphasis to the "on the dot/on time" departure

 

[40875704]

The clock looks much better than the rubbish in the NR release. “Selected out of more than 100 entrants, Design Bridge and Partners’ winning piece was chosen as it works as a physical and digital timepiece, while reflecting the design and brand history of the railway and most importantly, make it easy to know what time it is in a busy railway station.” Peter Hendy seems to have become over excited: “As part of our Plan for Change, this Government will create an integrated railway network that’s more reliable, consistent, efficient and accountable, thus delivering growth, jobs and homes. Good design, like this brilliant, clever timepiece, is a fundamental part of achieving this.” Oh Dear!

New railway timepiece marks new beginning for Britain’s railway and celebrates 200 years of trains

Today, Network Rail and partners across the Government and railway industry marked the launch of the railway’s first national clock design for over 50 years*, at London Bridge station.

www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk

 

[skyhigh]

Clock is now also displayed on the new screens at York.

 

[MrJeeves]

I still wish it would pause at the 60 secs point like the Swiss one does.

You mean at the 58.5 seconds point, for 1.5 seconds?

 

[AndrewE]

You mean at the 58.5 seconds point, for 1.5 seconds?

If that is how it works, then yes. Why not? I didn't know the detail or how early it got to xx.00 - and miraculously (I can't claim wisely!) I didn't specify anything other than pausing at the top, the "60 second" point after getting there early...

 

[OscarH]

“As part of our Plan for Change, this Government will create an integrated railway network that’s more reliable, consistent, efficient and accountable, thus delivering growth, jobs and homes. Good design, like this brilliant, clever timepiece, is a fundamental part of achieving this.” Oh Dear!

I'm glad to hear the clock will help the trains run on time and improve their frequency

 

[Wynmills]

This clock is now available on a more memorable domain: https://greatbritishclock.com/ / https://gbclock.com/

(done with MrJeeves blessing of course)

Mr Jeeves did not design this clock. Why are you asking for his blessing? What has he done except copy someone else's design?

 

[OscarH]

Mr Jeeves did not design this clock. Why are you asking for his blessing? What has he done except copy someone else's design?

It is generally polite to ask someone before taking their code

 

[whoosh]

I first saw this new clock as I was driving a train into my local station - it was on the platform screens, and was the first I knew about it. I like it!

Watching the video of the clock, my head is filling in the clock music from ITV schools in Channel 4 from 1987 onwards.

(YouTube video of the break music from ITV schools).

Yes! I thought that as I was reading through this thread. I was going to mention it myself, but you got in first!

The clock looks much better than the rubbish in the NR release. “Selected out of more than 100 entrants, Design Bridge and Partners’ winning piece was chosen as it works as a physical and digital timepiece, while reflecting the design and brand history of the railway and most importantly, make it easy to know what time it is in a busy railway station.” Peter Hendy seems to have become over excited: “As part of our Plan for Change, this Government will create an integrated railway network that’s more reliable, consistent, efficient and accountable, thus delivering growth, jobs and homes. Good design, like this brilliant, clever timepiece, is a fundamental part of achieving this.” Oh Dear!

New railway timepiece marks new beginning for Britain’s railway and celebrates 200 years of trains

Today, Network Rail and partners across the Government and railway industry marked the launch of the railway’s first national clock design for over 50 years*, at London Bridge station.

www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk

Yes, a lot of waffle there, however I'd recommend that people read the article in Rail Express with Southeastern's Managing Director Steve White - interesting to see that work on the part in bold looks promising. Southeastern use London Bridge, so may be the reason it was chosen to host a new clock.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Yes, a lot of waffle there, however I'd recommend that people read the article in Rail Express with Southeastern's Managing Director Steve White - interesting to see that work on the part in bold looks promising. Southeastern use London Bridge, so may be the reason it was chosen to host a new clock.

That bit certainly looks promising, but I'm not sure basing it on the dowdy, drab, boring look of 1970s BR is the right way, and that's how it's been done so far with the signage schemes etc which to me just look absolutely and utterly awful, and this clock is, to be honest, just "meh" - not a design classic at all unlike the Swiss clock (a similar version of which is used in other countries such as Germany).

Do we really want Brutalism/minimalism back? I suppose it would be representative of a cost-cutting railway (in anything but fares of course) but really is that the image we want? TfW and ScotRail just do it so much better, with modern approaches that actually look good, TfW in particular.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 21 Oct 2025 ==

Clock is now also displayed on the new screens at York.

And looks terrible in my view compared to the old LNER analogue one which was fairly classic. And mind numbingly expensive if you want the standalone version, too!

I think the idea of having something protruding outside the round face anywhere other than the top or bottom is what makes it look odd to me.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 21 Oct 2025 ==

I still wish it would pause at the 60 secs point like the Swiss one does. On an analogue face with no graduations the fact that it is getting fractionally ahead is completely immaterial, and the slight pause gives extra emphasis to the "on the dot/on time" departure

I'd agree with that. You could do the animation that it does once every 12 hours on the top of every minute, or just have the BR logo flash or something.

 

[whoosh]

That bit certainly looks promising, but I'm not sure basing it on the dowdy, drab, boring look of 1970s BR is the right way, and that's how it's been done so far with the signage schemes etc which to me just look absolutely and utterly awful, and this clock is, to be honest, just "meh" - not a design classic at all unlike the Swiss clock (a similar version of which is used in other countries such as Germany).

Well, we'll have to agree to disagree over the clock. I understand why those who don't like it don't like it.
The signage 'Rail Alphabet 2' - the concept is a sound one, however I do not think it has been implemented very well in a lot of cases. Sometimes it looks like a temporary sign has been put up! Obviously very disappointing.
It was mentioned earlier in the thread about there sometimes being a mixture of signage, with new RA2 signs amongst old TOC ones. It seems there is a poor auditing process for signage then. Has the fragmentation of the industry contributed to this? Is this the reason that recreating a uniform look is being hampered?

I'd agree with that. You could do the animation that it does once every 12 hours on the top of every minute, or just have the BR logo flash or something.

A positive thing about new technology, is that this design can be tweaked, short term (special events) or long term.

 

[thelongestroad]

It's on my list -- current version (with optional date below the HH:mm) is in review with Google at the moment for WearOS.

Amazing! Thank you.

 

[rattyben]

The NR press release (linked in post #01) says that the new design is going to appear "in digital form on departure boards across the network". That means it's going to appear alongside departure information written in digital format. In that kind of situation, showing the time in the same format seems helpful. Whether it's an appropriate design for external clocks is another question - I'm trying to erase from my mind's eye an unwanted image of the Balmoral (ex-North British) Hotel above Waverley with four of these on its tower (even if adjusted to the traditional five minutes fast)...

For clarity, their video states it will only appear in Network Rail managed termini stations, their press release says it’s to reach every part of the network and an email from them states….

“For the time being, our focus has been on delivering the physical clock at London Bridge as a proof of concept (the location for the clock's unveiling being explained in the press release). Having done so, we'll now work with the wider industry to understand further requirements for physical clocks across the country.

We're also rolling out digital versions of the clocks at our managed stations, both in London and elsewhere.”

Network Rail and its usual disjointed communication at it again.

 

[Leyland Bus]

For clarity, their video states it will only appear in Network Rail managed termini stations, their press release says it’s to reach every part of the network and an email from them states….

“For the time being, our focus has been on delivering the physical clock at London Bridge as a proof of concept (the location for the clock's unveiling being explained in the press release). Having done so, we'll now work with the wider industry to understand further requirements for physical clocks across the country.

We're also rolling out digital versions of the clocks at our managed stations, both in London and elsewhere.”

Network Rail and its usual disjointed communication at it again.

Surely, given what is happening with the rail network, in a few years time all stations will be NR/GBR run so both things can be true if taken in context...

 

[tfw756rider]

Oh dear, what about the forum members who claim not to understand the 24 hour clock system? Didn't a thread a few months ago include a request to revert to am and pm in timetables?

I once saw a (bus, not train) timetable that had actually been published in AM and PM. I was utterly baffled by it, as public transport times never use the 12-hour clock (except in extremely rare odd cases like that). Thankfully, it did later go back to the correct 24-hour format.

 

[Silent]

Not showing seconds isn't very helpful.

Shows it every 30 seconds, maybe they should update it since it looks like a screen

 

[Bletchleyite]

I once saw a (bus, not train) timetable that had actually been published in AM and PM. I was utterly baffled by it, as public transport times never use the 12-hour clock (except in extremely rare odd cases like that). Thankfully, it did later go back to the correct 24-hour format.

Merseytravel used the 12 hour clock until the early 2000s for both bus and rail.

 

[Turtle]

Merseytravel used the 12 hour clock until the early 2000s for both bus and rail.

The 24 hour clock was late in coming to Northern Ireland as well.

 

[rattyben]

Surely, given what is happening with the rail network, in a few years time all stations will be NR/GBR run so both things can be true if taken in context...

We all live in hope.

 

[Leyland Bus]

We all live in hope.

Indeed we do!

 

[43096]

I once saw a (bus, not train) timetable that had actually been published in AM and PM. I was utterly baffled by it, as public transport times never use the 12-hour clock (except in extremely rare odd cases like that). Thankfully, it did later go back to the correct 24-hour format.

Try going to the USA, where they have no concept of a 24 hour clock.