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The webmaster, Pat Cryer, as a child

Railway station platforms in 1940s and 1950s Britain

Getting on and off a railway station platform

1940s ticket collector checking and collecting passengers' train tickets at a large city rail terminus

Ticket collector checking or collecting passengers' train tickets at the beginning or bend of a journey. Above: at a large terminus. Below: at a small rural station. Enhanced details of screenshots from old films.

.1940s ticket collector checking and collecting passengers' train tickets at the end of a journey to a small rural station

To get onto and off a railway station platform, we had to show our travel tickets or platform tickets to a member of station staff who would be standing at the platform gate. There was usually one or more of them on duty - although this wasn't always the case. Sometimes the tickets were snipped to confirm that they had been seen. Automatic barriers were years away.

I never understood how tickets could be inspected properly when hoards of passengers streamed on and off a busy train, but some passengers certainly were called back, although there must have been cheating. (Tickets were not normally checked on the train although there were random inspections.)

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What to see on station platforms

Porters' luggage trolleys in the 1940s

Porters' trolleys. Photo taken in the Steam Museum at Swindon. The suit-cases were made of a fibre material that might once have looked like leather. Many cases, though, just looked as if they were made of thick cardboard fraying at the edges.

Railway porter 1940s and 1950s

Truck used by railway porters for passengers' luggage as well as for loading and unloading sacks of goods.

There were always porters on the platforms of the large stations, ready and waiting to earn a tip by carrying passengers luggage for them. They had special trucks and trolleys as shown in the photographs.

1940s or 1950s British railway station bench seat with a back, wooden

A railway station seat.

1940s or 1950s British railway station bench seat with a back, wooden and marked with its home station

A railway station bench seat with a back, labelled with its home station.

1940s or 1950s British railway station bench seat with no back, wooden

A basic railway station bench seat with no back.

Benches were provided for passengers who preferred not to stand while waiting for a train. Like so many other things at that time, these were made of wood, but not to a standard style. Being wood, they had the advantage of not feel cold to sit on, but they did of course need regular maintenance in the form of coats of varnish. The photos show some examples.

On the walls or fences of platforms were advertisements. These were typical of the time, in that they were enamel on metal. The enamel gave an attractive glossy finish and was relatively weatherproof. However, by the time that I remember them during the Second World War, they had invariably been chipped, letting the damp in and causing rust. I never saw any new ones after the war, probably because plastics were coming in.

Station platform on the Watercress (Heritage) Line showing old enamelised adverts on the fence

Above: Station platform on the Watercress (Heritage) Line showing the enamelled adverts. Below, a close-up of an enamelledadvert in the Milton Keynes Museum, showing the rust eating into the chipped parts..

.Old enamel on metal advert, showing the rust eating into the chipped parts







  
  
  
  
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This website Join me in the 1900s is also known as Join me in the 1900's and is © Pat Cryer.

The 1940s and 1950s are also written as the 1940's and 1950's.

MORE ON TRAVEL IN 1940s AND 1950s BRITAIN:

CARS

TRAINS

BUSES

If you can add anything to this page or provide a photo, I would be pleased to hear from you. Pat Cryer