Ticket stamp ink

[GWVillager]

At the heritage railway I volunteer at, there are various GWR ticket stamps, however they have run out of ink. They use a non-standard ribbon, so is there anything I need to know before re-inking? I just want to make sure I’m not going to ruin it!

 

[Roger1973]

Not quite my line of country (I do have a few bus ticket machines) but -

re-inking a ribbon is usually not a good idea, as you'll never get the thin consistency of ink that a ribbon would have - finding an alternative source of new ribbons would probably be better and less messy. Too little ink is going to be a better mistake to make than too much if you do resort to it.

Alternatively, you might get somewhere re-winding the ribbon or it has been out of use for a while, just wind the ribbon on and you may find a bit that hasn't dried out yet.

Are we talking something akin to an Edmonson ticket dating stamp? Other heritage railways may be in a similar position unless this is something very non-standard.

Would an enquiry via Heritage Railway Association be an option? I'm aware the equivalent for transport / bus museums does a monthly circular for putting people in touch with each other to get supplies, or do bulk purchases and that sort of thing - HRA may do similar.

One thought if you are going to try re-inking something - if the machine you have got has metal / steel moving parts or type, then you do not want to use water based ink, as this will lead to rusting. Stamps Direct (Norwich) are one of the few suppliers I know for oil based inks (link here) - conversely, oil based ink and rubber stamps are not a good mix.

 

[AndyPJG]

Is respooling a ribbon of correct width onto your spools an option?

 

[GWVillager]

Not quite my line of country (I do have a few bus ticket machines) but -

re-inking a ribbon is usually not a good idea, as you'll never get the thin consistency of ink that a ribbon would have - finding an alternative source of new ribbons would probably be better and less messy. Too little ink is going to be a better mistake to make than too much if you do resort to it.

Alternatively, you might get somewhere re-winding the ribbon or it has been out of use for a while, just wind the ribbon on and you may find a bit that hasn't dried out yet.

Are we talking something akin to an Edmonson ticket dating stamp? Other heritage railways may be in a similar position unless this is something very non-standard.

Would an enquiry via Heritage Railway Association be an option? I'm aware the equivalent for transport / bus museums does a monthly circular for putting people in touch with each other to get supplies, or do bulk purchases and that sort of thing - HRA may do similar.

One thought if you are going to try re-inking something - if the machine you have got has metal / steel moving parts or type, then you do not want to use water based ink, as this will lead to rusting. Stamps Direct (Norwich) are one of the few suppliers I know for oil based inks (link here) - conversely, oil based ink and rubber stamps are not a good mix.

Thank you very much, that's helpful. It is indeed an Edmondson ticket stamp, in fact it appears to be exactly the same as the linked one. I can't seem to find any new rolls, though. Another station on the line faced the same problem as us a few months ago, and they've resorted to re-inking, so I doubt there could be any to be found.

Is respooling a ribbon of correct width onto your spools an option?

I'd not considered that - I'll look into it but the threading seems quite complex.

 

[randyrippley]

That Chris White site says "ribbons are available" but doesn't say where, but then in its list of contacts gives label printing specialists etmss at https://www.etmss.com/
May be a long shot, but have you tried them?

Alternatively have you tried asking other ticket printers - the West Somerset Railway, Great Western (SVR) Association, and Chris White all seem to do contract printing of the actual tickets, I would have thought one of them at least would have a source of the correct ribbons for overprinting them

 

[calopez]

I haven't used a date press since around 1987, when my booking office went over to APTIS, so my memory could be a bit defective, but I believe that the ribbons were impregnated with carbon, like a typewriter ribbon, rather than inked. I appreciate that's not much help to GWVillager, though.

I think that I liberated a box of ribbons from the stationery stores when the date presses were retired, and they might be still in the attic. Finding them, however...!

 

[GWVillager]

I haven't used a date press since around 1987, when my booking office went over to APTIS, so my memory could be a bit defective, but I believe that the ribbons were impregnated with carbon, like a typewriter ribbon, rather than inked. I appreciate that's not much help to GWVillager, though.

I do know that another ticket office has re-inked them successfully, so I presume it is ink, rather than carbon.

I think that I liberated a box of ribbons from the stationery stores when the date presses were retired, and they might be still in the attic. Finding them, however...!

Very interesting! Are these the ones in a brass casing, or are they literally just the ribbons? If it’s the latter I’m sure I could find some, and it suggests they could be rewound.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 4 Nov 2023 ==

That Chris White site says "ribbons are available" but doesn't say where, but then in its list of contacts gives label printing specialists etmss at https://www.etmss.com/
May be a long shot, but have you tried them?

I wrote them an email, and they responded that they don't have any, but linked me to this site: https://culhamticketoffice.co.uk/collection/railwayana/office.html, which states:

Every morning the ticket clerk would have to reset and ink the ribbon

 

[calopez]

I do know that another ticket office has re-inked them successfully, so I presume it is ink, rather than carbon.


Very interesting! Are these the ones in a brass casing, or are they literally just the ribbons? If it’s the latter I’m sure I could find some, and it suggests they could be rewound.

If I can find the ones in my attic I'll try to check whether they're ink or carbon!

Mine are just the ribbons, as supplied by the BR stationery stores. They are in foil or cellophane wrappers. We didn't need to change the ribbons very often, but, when we did, I don't recall it being a particularly difficult job. Of course, that might depend on the precise type of date press.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 4 Nov 2023 ==

Every morning the ticket clerk would have to reset and ink the ribbon

Certainly not! At a very busy station you would probably need to rewind the ribbon more often, but at my station that was not a frequent occurrence. And we never inked the ribbons, just replaced them when the print got faint; you could rewind and re-use a ribbon many times before that was necessary.

 

[Trackman]

There are some videos on you-tube about re-inking non-standard ribbons.
Looked at this ages ago connected to sometime ago, basic rule it but be treated (cleaned) before you re-ink it.