Friends of Bishopstone Station and an interesting donation
We recently received a donation from the Friends of Bishopstone Station (FOBS). They have been renovating the unused rooms in the ticket hall, to use as a Community Hub. Inside one of the rooms, there languished the PERTIS ticket machine which used to stand outside the station. They had no use for it, so suggested that the museum should have it, and we agreed. Disappointingly, the railway Powers-That-Be refused permission, saying FOBS must keep it, or dispose of it instead. Their very resourceful chairman, Barbara, was having none of it, and eventually gained the relevant permission and delivered it to us.
It was delivered mid August, and after quite a struggle to get it downstairs, was installed next to the railway exhibit.
Bishopstone station did not have a ticket machine until recently, and this PERTIS machine was introduced in the 1980s for passengers to buy a ticket to travel, for a fixed price. This would be refunded by the guard when the passenger bought a ticket. That’s the theory anyway. Not sure how often it happened that way.
(I can’t help seeing a metallic man handing out a ticket.)