Recollections

1.

Douglas Bryce

Pilton, Edinburgh

Caledonian Station

Metal Nameplate Stamping Machine

In his recollections of what he did in Edinburgh, without spending any cash, Bob Sinclair wrote about Caledonian Station at the West End of Princes Street:

"You could go and look at the 'Stamping Out' machine which had a pointer on it that you could set to different letters of the alphabet or symbols.  If you were flush, you could print your name out on a metal strip.  The cost, as I remember, was one penny.  A couple of times I tried it and was successful.

Somebody must have put their penny in and, for whatever reason, they had not got it to work.  Other times I just stared at it in wonder."

Bob Sinclair, Queensland, Australia:  January 6, 2010

Douglas Bryce read this comment and replied:

"I visited the National Railway Museum at York at the beginning of December, and took a photo of the nameplate machine that Bob was recalling in the Caley Station."

©

Douglas Bryce, Pilton, Edinburgh:  January 12, 2010

'10 letters for 10p'.

This notice on the machine in the photo above says '10 letters for 10p'.  That sounds, to me, to be reasonable value for money.

However, as far as I remember, when I used to use these machines in the 1950s, the cost was 'Up to 22 letters for 1d (i.e. for one old penny)'

Peter Stubbs:  January 14, 2010

Recollections

2.

David Jackson Taylor

Suffolk, England

Thank you to David Taylor who also remembered this machine.

David wrote:

Metal Nameplate Stamping Machine

©

"I, too, remember the Tinny machine  in the Caley Station.  I would cut through from the side entrance on Lothian Road and the machine was on my left, with its red surround and grey dial.

I used it once, having saved some pennies from my bus fare from Ferry Road Grove to Fountainbridge via the West End.  At age 8 or 9, I was taking a bus (single decker under the double bridges near Crewe Toll) to the West End then a bus up to Fountainbridge for Tollcross School."

David Taylor, Pilton, Edinburgh:  March 30, 2010