# British railroad ticket collection **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 20, 2008, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-railroad-ticket-collection/442042 "2008-03-20T05:47:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2008, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-railroad-ticket-collection/442042/21 "2008-03-21T07:14:43Z")
[QUOTE=GorillaMan] …and some non-corridor compartment carriages were in use until the 1970s. With these, there was no way for tickets to be checked on the train. [/QUOTE] I’m now imagining those old railway cars that looked like three or four stagecoach bodies bolted to a flatcar. Is that about right? ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2008, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-railroad-ticket-collection/442042/22 "2008-03-21T07:21:19Z")
[QUOTE=Sunspace] I’m now imagining those old railway cars that looked like three or four stagecoach bodies bolted to a flatcar. Is that about right? [/QUOTE] No. These had the general outline of any average 20th century railway car (the stagecoach lookalikes went out about 1850). The only external difference was that there were lots of doors all the way along the car, rather than say one at each end with window in between. They were often known as “dogbox carriages” ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2008, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-railroad-ticket-collection/442042/23 "2008-03-21T07:25:13Z")
The tickets in Sydney up until about 1990 or so were called “Edmonson tickets”. They were a stiff piece of card, and they were quite small - about the size of a cigarette lighter. They were preprinted, and had no passenger details - thus they could be potentially reused and were collected by a station assistant at your destination. Even today, the magnetic single-journey tickets are “captured” by the turnstile machine at the end, for the same reason. Long distance tickets have passenger information, and the railway isn’t interested in collecting them. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2008, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-railroad-ticket-collection/442042/24 "2008-03-21T07:42:05Z")
[QUOTE=DesertDog] Thank you for the answers, all. Different way to run a railroad, I guess.Would a platform ticket cost anything, or could you see your companions off for free? Wow. Was this 19th century rolling stock with wood underframes and everything? [/QUOTE] When I was a kid platform tickets cost 1p We spent hours trainspotting and getting filthy from all the smoke. Mummy was ever so pleased we we rolled in looking like Al Jolson 😛 ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2008, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-railroad-ticket-collection/442042/25 "2008-03-21T07:50:51Z")
[QUOTE=DesertDog] Thank you for the answers, all. Different way to run a railroad, I guess.Would a platform ticket cost anything, or could you see your companions off for free? [/QUOTE] Platform tickets weren’t free but the cost was minimal, just a few pennies. I thought that they’d long ago been phased out but it seems they’re still used in some regions. > [@](#): > > South West Trains issue platform tickets for non-travellers such as enthusiasts, they cost 10 pence and are issued at most mainline stations such as Southampton Central and London Waterloo, and can by collected from the staff at the barriers. These can not be used for travelling, and if they are, a Penalty Fare can be issued as a result. [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_West_Trains#Platform_Tickets) ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2008, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-railroad-ticket-collection/442042/26 "2008-03-21T10:44:52Z")
[QUOTE=chowder] When I was a kid platform tickets cost 1p We spent hours trainspotting and getting filthy from all the smoke. Mummy was ever so pleased we we rolled in looking like Al Jolson 😛 [/QUOTE] Slight nitpick, it was 1d and not 1p. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2008, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-railroad-ticket-collection/442042/27 "2008-03-21T11:35:10Z")
[QUOTE=DesertDog] Was this 19th century rolling stock with wood underframes and everything? [/QUOTE] [QUOTE=Sunspace] I’m now imagining those old railway cars that looked like three or four stagecoach bodies bolted to a flatcar. Is that about right? [/QUOTE] I realise my earlier post was a bit ambiguous - see the page I linked to, which shows a 1950s British Rail-built non-corridor carriage. [QUOTE=TheLoadedDog] The only external difference was that there were lots of doors all the way along the car, rather than say one at each end with window in between. [/QUOTE] Corridor vehicles also could have doors all along one side, opening directly into the compartments, and just two doors on the other side at each end to the corridor. At least I think this is the case. The photo in my link also shows another external difference - a solid end, with no way to walk through to the next carriage! ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2008, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-railroad-ticket-collection/442042/28 "2008-03-21T11:47:59Z")
Until 2 or 3 years ago all the platforms at Edinburgh Waverley were open to the public and no platform ticket was required to see friends off. Now some (mainly the Glasgow/Central Scotland platforms) are closed unless you already have a train ticket - and there aren’t any platform tickets available either… ---
**Author:** ![nickkester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@nickkester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nickkester)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2008, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-railroad-ticket-collection/442042/29 "2008-03-21T12:11:47Z")
Hi I’m a first time poster but long time reader so please be gentle! To say that you have bought a train ticket in the UK is a misnomer. When handing over your hard earned cash to the train company you have actually bought the right to make a journey from one destination to another. The ticket that you receive remains, at all times, the property of the relevant train company. Thirty years ago when the train system was run by the UK Government a train journey would ideally happen as follows: you purchase the right to travel and are given a ticket, show your ticket to the station master to get onto the station platform, board the train, have your ticket clipped by the ticket inspector (we often call them clippies even today), reach your destination and hand your ticket in to the station master and leave the station. All in the hope that it would prevent fare dodging! The reality nowadays is a little different. Trains are run by commercial organisations as profit making businesses and the number of staff available to check tickets has reduced dramatically - they have often be replaced by mechanised barriers and ticket machines or teams of Revenue Protection officers. To answer your questions: 1. What was the purpose of this? To check that you had paid for the journey you had made or were making. Plus the ticket is the property of the train company and they wanted their property back! 2. Was collecting your ticket on exit done only at suburban stations, like Beldon, or also in busy stations like London as well? Tickets were suposedly collected from all stations but naturally it was subject to staffing levels. Often larger stations performed spot checks to make sure that customers weren’t fare dodging. 3. Is it still done today? Yes and No! The same or very similar terms and conditions of travel exist today. When buying a standard return ticket you are always given two tickets (one for the outbound journey and one for the return) in case you have to surrender a ticket once you reach you destination. If you have to use a mechanised barriers at the end of your journey they usually (with a standard ticket) retain the ticket and let you off the platform. Revenue protection teams still check tickets but the profit making organisations running the train companies view ticket checking as a cost/expense and do not put quite as much emphasis on this activity. Conspiracy/boggling mind? Can you really imagine anyone sorting through the millions of tickets used each day to try to glean some useful usable data from them? The train companies already know where 99.9% of their customers are going and coming from - after all they did by a ticket!! ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2008, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-railroad-ticket-collection/442042/30 "2008-03-21T17:23:01Z")
[QUOTE=GorillaMan] Up to (at least) [9 compartments](http://www.rollingstock.fotopic.net/p45963891.html) in carriage… [/QUOTE] Interesting. I don’t think we’ve ever had that style of passenger car in Canada. I can see where it would have great advantages for speed of loading. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2008, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-railroad-ticket-collection/442042/31 "2008-03-21T18:20:44Z")
[QUOTE=Sunspace] Interesting. I don’t think we’ve ever had that style of passenger car in Canada. I can see where it would have great advantages for speed of loading. [/QUOTE] True, but there’s compromises. One is reduced capacity, with restrictions on seating layouts and little room for standing passengers. Another is problems (be they perceived or real) with the safety and security of passengers while shut away in small enclosed areas with only a few strangers, or perhaps one stranger, for company. Of course, the speed-of-loading aspect is reflected in the typical multiple-door layout of subway trains the world over. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2008, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-railroad-ticket-collection/442042/32 "2008-03-21T18:34:31Z")
[QUOTE=GorillaMan] Another is problems (be they perceived or real) with the safety and security of passengers while shut away in small enclosed areas with only a few strangers, or perhaps one stranger, for company. [/QUOTE] Just so. In fact I believe it was in response to several attacks upon female passengers that led to the introduction of Ladies Only carriages in the 19th century. Interesting snippet from [The Railway Times, 3 March 1888,](http://www.york.ac.uk/inst/irs/irshome/features/readings/archive/women01.htm) > [@](#): > > Upon the London and North Western it has been the custom for many years past to reserve separate compartments for females, in all their main lines trains, and in the very train in which Miss Scragg was assaulted was a compartment marked ‘ladies only;’ but for some reason or other such special provision does not seem to be appreciated. The Great Western makes similar arrangements, but it has been found that out of 1,000 seats so provided in a given period the maximum occupied at any point on the journey has been 248 only; while, on the other hand, no less than 5,114 female passengers occupied seats in smoking compartments. Evidence of a similar character is forthcoming from all the other lines out of London, and from the provinces also, from which it will be seen how futile any attempt to push the matter of separation further must necessarily be. Still, we cannot disguise from ourselves the fact that even in this mild recommendation is to be found an indication of a growing tendency on the part of the Government to interfere with the freedom of action of railway companies even in the smallest details of management. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-railroad-ticket-collection/442042.md?page=1)