GWSR Broadway Developments

Oh interesting I hadn't realized the shop at Toddington was originally two rooms. I took some photos of the interiors of the GCR stations at the recent gala so I will paste here so you see what they have done. It definitely adds to the whole travelling back in time feeling.

 

This is in stark contrast to our visitor experience, in our one original station at Toddington:


This is the southern end of the shop at Toddington, showing the fireplace of the former booking hall. The surround is still there.



This is the northern or ticket office end, with the door to it and the stationmaster's office on the far right.
The fireplace in the middle is the one that was stripped out about 5 years ago. The beam across the ceiling marks the wall which had the ticket hatches, the cameraman standing in the former booking hall.

Note the strip lights. A similar strip light has just been fitted to the Broadway ticket office :-(

 

A few years ago I looked into having the extension to my house tiled like this (large room, smaller room and hallway), as I specced underfloor heating and have always loved the Victorian style of tiled flooring. Unfortunately the cost of the tiles added a couple of thousand pounds plus to the cost, which pushed it beyond the available budget. Lovely to see it done so well at Broadway.

I can understand the need to have shops well illuminated, but surely we've moved on beyond fluorescent tubes now? That just beggars belief.

Yeah, but apart from the finest mosaic floors and conspicuous expenditure, what have the Romans ever done for us?

 

The GCR really have made wonderful use of their available spaces. I particularly love those Arts and Crafts fireplaces, and it just goes to show what can be done with some imagination and determination.
I've said this before on other threads, but I strongly believe in the railway as Theatre. Wherever possible we should be gifting our visitors with time travel, and offering them a truly immersive experience. That is the future of our business. It is about far more than a train ride. More could and should be made of costume, theme days and role play. Our visitors should come away feeling that they have been to another place and time. That will stick in their memory.
What has already been done at Broadway goes a long way towards fulfilling this aim.
However as Breva and others have already shown, there is a lot to do in other places.
Jobs for the future, and goals for future generations.

 

Strip lights. Wow. I had no idea the Edwardians were so advanced.
Dear God alive!- that beautiful tiled floor illuminated by a bloody fluorescent strip light. Talk about going from the sublime to the ridiculous. I'm hoping you're going to tell us that is just a purely temporary measure?

 

I take it Oil lamps hanging from the ceiling casting a dingy pool of light should be the item of choice?

 

It's the ticket office that has a strip light - different people taking over their domains. We recommended 'Coolicon' Chinese hat type lamps, but you can only take a horse to water...

The booking hall will have a suspended Hinks oil lamp - made in Brummingham, locally . Found it at a railwayana auction.
http://www.oldcopper.org/makers/joseph_hinks.php
We've converted it with a discrete LED light instead of the flame. Should look great!

 

phew! That's a relief.

 

Bearing in mind the stationmaster's office won't be seen by the public, and will contain a computer, printer, card reading machines and modern kettle in all likelihood, plus plenty of another anachronisms, I think of all the rooms and views at Broadway it's one to get least het up about.

 

I hope this is a bit tongue in cheek....
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I've been told people don't look up by a senior source, are you telling me people don't look through the window now?
Other people's ticket offices are perfectly heritage, and people act out their roles. So can we, if we want to.

 

will you have edmonton card tickets and ticket racks on the booking office wall? please dont go down the computor print out ticket route, theres nothing worse than you walk into a booking office and its a recreated jem, looks totally right, then the booking clerk gives you a modern computer printed ticket .

 

Yes we will use Edmondson tickets, they have already been printed. I seem to recall there's about 50 different types now! :O

 

Having done a quick Google, all I've managed to determine is that you can't see much through the window especially with a person in the way, and there's usually a card machine in the front which is entirely necessary.

I'm not saying that means you can do what you like in there, merely the inevitable compromise between heritage and practicality can reasonably be expected to shift a little more towards practical that the toilets, booking office hall, cafe and platforms (those electrical boxes are decidedly naff). With respect, it's not you that's got to volunteer in there selling tickets all day. Of course you can advise, but if station staff would prefer something else in the only remotely private area of the station then I think they ought to take precedence.

That reasoning of course doesn't apply to the canopy, chimneys or electrical boxes hence I'm much more in agreement with you there.

 

As a Booking Office Clerk and also resonsible for tickets, among my many roles on the GWSR, having a comfortable envirnoment in the ticket office is important - bearing in mind most of the station staff are in their 60's and 70's! We do also need the modern IT for accounting at the end of the day and a few creature comforts like a kettle (most important!) and microwave. But rest assured all tickets will be Edmondson tickets and there are in fact well over 60 different ticket types in use once Broadway opens! I have also tried to take care to get the tickets designed in a traditional style, but also can be easily read. The tickets purchased from the main window at Broadway will also be date stamped using the orginial Edmondson date stamper from Honeybourne station, which was kindly donated to us last year.

 

Other people manage it , with pride:

 

That's cheating, they're shop window mannequins!

 

I have to say, even myself as a mere youngster, I wouldn't want to spend all day sat on a stool like that!! I realise I maybe being controversial here, but, in my opinion, when the public can't see what you are sat on, what difference does it make and what is wrong with having a bit of comfort on a more modern chair / stool? I am all for the areas the public see being as heritage as possible and am very supportive of the work at Broadway and the ethos behind it. I certainly believe the general operation of the railway should be done in as traditional way as possible, but where do you draw the line? Should the loco crews mess area be in the same style as a BR steam age messroom for instance?

 

We certainly won't give up our warm messroom/picture gallery in C+W! I don't think you;re being that controversial Andy, seems entirely reasonable to me. As I said, to me it seems distinct from the "no one will look up" attitude which I agree was wrong.

 

Something that’s been bugging me for some time - and this isn’t just about GWSR. Why, when building extra facilities to a station, like gift shops, cafes, toilets etc, that weren’t originally there, is the opportunity not taken to build away from the platform rather than along it? I get disappointed when standing on a platform to see a whole range of buildings stretching along its length where originally it would all be open. If you built away from the platform so that only a small facade was present you’d have the necessary facilities without impinging too much on the original heritage feel of the station.

I realise that this is only possible if the land is available and that building along a platform is easier but it does always bug me. I wonder if this is ever considered.

 

Whatever next, nasty dirty old steam locomotives covering everybody in smuts and cinders?