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London Transport Bus Blinds, Football
Club Signs & Sporting Event Signs, London Tube Station Temporary
Signs, London Underground Roundel, Enamel Signs & Hardware,
London Transport Notices Direction Signs Old Maps, Books & Bus
Interior
Posters, London Underground Train Destination Signs, London
Underground Line Car Diagrams, London Transport Special Bus Signs
This site enables me to share with you the truly evocative and
iconic signs from London's famous transport system that I grew up
with and depended on. Then, a few real copper coins bought a bus
ticket that was reeled off by hand. You entered and left a tube
station passing a uniformed inspector who checked your ticket. No
electronic barriers to negotiate, no cameras watching your every
move and the trains bore no mindless graffiti. Self-serve
ticket machines only took coins and worked via simple buttons. No
'ology' in computer science was required. Unlike now, knife-carrying
passengers were almost exclusively Boy Scouts or chefs harmlessly
transporting the tools of their trade.
I expect you can remember those days too, of open platform buses
with conductors and tube trains with guards. These often very
extrovert people gave passengers a much more secure feeling, - often
with some amusing banter as they dealt with 'Joe Public'. Upstairs
on a bus or in some tube train carriages you could legitimately
light up a cigarette or participate in the then unrecognised
dangerous sport now known as 'passive smoking' as your clothes and
hair soaked up the pong of tobacco. With no ashtrays you were
invited to throw cigarette ends on the floor. Now discarded
free newspapers, junk food wrappers and plastic bottles have
replaced them. Conversation has also been either replaced by 'leaky'
earphones pumping music directly into people's heads or is
interrupted by a sometimes menacing beggar thrusting a crying baby
in your face.
Enjoy a trip down your own 'memory lane' with me going back to
what seemed like a much simpler world.
None of these signs are in use today, many go back to the late
1960's and some of the maps way, way back to the 1920's. These
make superb and entirely unique gifts that will last a lifetime. |