Neil Williams wrote:
On 16 May 2005 04:25:46 -0700, "Rupert Candy"
wrote:

Actually Network SouthEast went through a real fad for this type of
displays in the 90s - as well as the Networker generation of trains
already mentioned, the Class 321 and 456 got them, and there were
several 'static' installations - examples I can remember include above
the ticket windows at Liverpool St and Cambridge (both of which became
illegible very quickly), above the platform entrances at Liverpool St
(in varying states of legibility but all still there) and on some
platform indicators (Barking seems to ring a bell). On Networkers they
were replaced with LCD displays, and on Class 456s they were replaced
with old-fashioned blinds (still in use)!

I remember those. Yes they were a bit crap, but that was technology
back then.

I think it was a BR fad. Such displays also appeared in the form of
the old departure boards at Manchester Piccadilly, Manchester Airport
and Euston (and probably others), not to mention the Class 323
Regional Railways EMUs.

I found the old display at Euston more readable. But that was not the
problem, but rather that the information it displayed never matched up
to reality! That's where the money should have been spent -- there was
nothing wrong with the display but rather with the content it was being
fed. And, as of a week ago (the last time I visited Euston), it still
hasn't been sorted.

None of them lasted well, and many have been removed, including many
of the 323s which have now gained the hugely superior LEDs, and
Manchester Piccadilly which has gained a new display - astonishingly
this is another LCD one!

I think the motivation was that they looked modern. There's a good
reason why the rest of Europe remained with flipboard technology on
stations for so long.

The continent has waited for the technology to mature. You obviously
haven't seen the modern LCD displays that are now being put on trams
and buses in place of the flipdot types in parts of Europe. These have
much superior contrast to the older types and can be replaced in
sections if they do fail.

Obviously, maintenance is important as is the need to have them set
correctly in the first place, but I don't understand why the British
seem to be the only people who can't manage to do this! Either way,
I've seen both types of display with dead or stuck pixels/segments.

The advantages of an LCD display over LED is that there is much less of
a gap between the pixels, hence a brighter, clearer display. And as it
is backlit, the display can be made much brighter too. And they don't
flicker.

Referring to the use of this type of display on a bus, both LCD and LED
are very bright at night. But during the day, with the various
reflections of sunlight on the glass, LED can be difficult to read,
particularly from a distance (or from an angle), whereas LCD remains
much clearer -- I would say, as clear as the old paper technology.