Solari board replacement at South Station and Back Bay

[jonnhrr]

Happened to see this article in the on-line edition of today's Globe:

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massac ... th_station

[benltrain]

Happened to see this article in the on-line edition of today's Globe:

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massac ... th_station

well, apparently as the article says none of the commuters care!

[Diverging Route]

Here's someone who will care:
Bob Brigham at South Station

[CSX Conductor]

Nobody makes announcements like Bob, LOL. "Reet 128". I always loved the way he emphasizes that an arriving Amtrak train "is an arrival only, last stop, no passengers, end of the line!" lol.

As for the Globe article it is mentioned that the PA needs to be used when the Solari Board is broken, which is not trye since announcements are always made. Too bad the MBTA won't change their mind and keep the old board.

[MACTRAXX]

This topic in really interesting to me. I recall that the PRR put a Solari board in PSNY around 1967 or so. Remember the big boards at GCT in NY that the MTA replaced with newer LCDs? Just last month the LIRR replaced their board in PSNY which had Solari flip numbers with newer brighter fonts. As for the announcements I recall an old timer in NYP named Danny Simmons that had a great announcing style. He retired back in the early 90s and I remember his great train calls and his unique ALL ABOARDS done with style..I never thought that I would see Solari boards become obsolete technology. MACTRAXX

[danib62]

I was just wondering, is there anyway we can convince the T to donate the old board to seashore or another rail museum? They could put it to some sort of use for demos or something I could imagine.

I always loved the click of the boards though I was kind of impressed by NYP's new digital ones and the way they mimicked the font of the old board but never really wanted one to replace ours up in Boston.

[benltrain]

This topic in really interesting to me. I recall that the PRR put a Solari board in PSNY around 1967 or so. Remember the big boards at GCT in NY that the MTA replaced with newer LCDs? Just last month the LIRR replaced their board in PSNY which had Solari flip numbers with newer brighter fonts. As for the announcements I recall an old timer in NYP named Danny Simmons that had a great announcing style. He retired back in the early 90s and I remember his great train calls and his unique ALL ABOARDS done with style..I never thought that I would see Solari boards become obsolete technology. MACTRAXX

the announcements are all better than GCT which has no announcements (at least I heard none!) and septa's downtown stations, with their announcements that are automated, and say words like text-to-speech software...

also, you can't have any flip boards at places like penn station (NJT/amtrak part) because the destinations are constatly changing. in philadelphia 30th street station, there is no central SEPTA board, and the amtrak board is overloaded with destinations even though they only need a small amount these days:
washington, new york, springfield, vermont, savannah, miami, atlanta, new orleans, atlantic city, philadelphia, harrisburg, pittsburgh, chicago, newport news, and charlotte (i am likely missing a couple)
yet our flip boards still have about a hundred destinations.


the funniest flip board one is atlantic city:

-they need only two (and on rare occasions as many as 4 destinations, yet they have a huge amount of ex amtrak ones.
-all the train names are the same
-they are all the same railroad

[themallard]

the funniest flip board one is atlantic city:

-they need only two (and on rare occasions as many as 4 destinations, yet they have a huge amount of ex amtrak ones.
-all the train names are the same
-they are all the same railroad

They're planning for the future. There a plans for trains to Pleasantville, and possibly instead of Cape May trains terminating at Hammonton (East of Winslow JCT), they would terminate at AC.

[danib62]

I think what I'll miss most is the anticipation of when it starts clicking to look up and see if your train is going to be listed.

[benltrain]

the funniest flip board one is atlantic city:

-they need only two (and on rare occasions as many as 4 destinations, yet they have a huge amount of ex amtrak ones.
-all the train names are the same
-they are all the same railroad

They're planning for the future. There a plans for trains to Pleasantville, and possibly instead of Cape May trains terminating at Hammonton (East of Winslow JCT), they would terminate at AC.

oh, my fault, they'll have to add a couple more destinations...

thats definetely why richmond and springfield still need to be there.. is NJT planning service to richmond

[sjd0356]

At least with a new solari board all the train destinations will be able to be displayed. I know Whitman and I believe Mansfield come up blank next to the departure times.

[danib62]

How does the T claim that Solari doesn't support the old boards when they still make them? The solari website advertising 'flap boards' is right here: http://www.solari.it/solari/en/prodotti/display/ecf How about the T just gets a new flap board?

[MBTA F40PH-2C 1050]

why pay for another flip board when they should jsut get the digital board when they can?

[danib62]

why pay for another flip board when they should jsut get the digital board when they can?

Well they seem very attached to the clicking noise so why not get something that makes it naturally!

[Robert Paniagua]

They should use LED signage, it's easy to read from far away. Although I also liked the Solari boards myself, they also have one still in use at Providence, which also includes those automated messages of whe a train arrives preceeded by the two-tone door chime bell alert.