Great Western Coffee Shop

Flicking through the Crossrail site I came across a page with old photos of Paddington. One picture caught my eye. It was taken in 1929 and features an arrivals board on platforms 8/9. I can't quite make out all the words but I think the board is saying that the train from Exeter is 2 minutes late. What sort of new-fangled technology were they using back then?

Also just below that board is a sign showing a subway to all platforms. When did that go out of use?

The photo is image 11 at http://www.crossrail.co.uk/news/site-news/railways-at-paddington-a-photographic-timeline#.UB60XKNU2So

The old passenger subway is still there it ran from Plat 1 to 10, it is now bisected by the HEX baggage tunnel built in the 1990's.  There is still an access on platform 1 just under the 3 face clock, it did have stairs up to 2 & 3 and 4 & 5 until the HEX work, I cannot remember there being stairs to 6 & 7 (too narrow) and for platform 8 these stairs were closed and slabbed over back in the 60's I think; there is still access to the passenger subway on platform 10 where there is access to a service passage way with various store rooms which runs the full length of the train shed the London end still has a lift at the London end.

I suspect the arrivals board was an electromechanical one.

Yes, the train to Exeter and Torquay on Platform 11 is 2 minutes late. I'm guessing from the gaps between place names that the new tech is something that uncovers the names of stations already on the board - there's room for Newton Abbott between Exeter and Torquay, and for Bridgend and Neath for the Welsh train.

... in which case, it'll be rather like the departures boards that used to exist at Waterloo and Victoria.

There's a picture of the Victoria one as it existed in 1933 at http://www.ltmcollection.org/images/webmax/r3/i0000fr3.jpg (http://www.ltmcollection.org/images/webmax/r3/i0000fr3.jpg), but it's not sufficiently-detailed to see how it works.

(and it's the train from Torquay and Exeter)

The Victoria one was constructed from mechanical rotating triangular flaps.  The Paddington one looks as though it could be lit by lamps.

At the time of the photo Paddington was devided into a Departures Side and Arrivals Side.  Platform 1 to 5 / 6 basically Departures and 7 to 10 Arrivals therefore the platform indication would have been simpler

Over on the right-hand side of the board there's what looks like a local train due in at 2:05 from "Uxbridge and all stations".

I hadn't realised that there were through trains from Uxbridge to Paddington.

That'd probably be a service from the Uxbridge (Vine Street) branch, a short GWR branch line that diverged from the main line at West Drayton. Closed to passengers in 1962.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uxbridge_branch

Who needs history teachers when we have this forum? I have learned so much! Largely useless today, of course, but absolutely fascinating.