Great Western Coffee Shop

Changing trains at Clapham Junction on Friday night I came across this sign. Doesn't look that old, but when was it last possible to get to Dawlish and Penzance from Clapham Junction? Were these direct trains?

I think Wales&West ran some Alphaline (class 158) services between Waterloo and south Wales, perhaps they also ran services from Waterloo to Dawlish and Penzance?

Until December 2009 South West Trains ran beyond Exeter St David's to Paignton, Plymouth and Penzance.

http://web.archive.org/web/20080913090424/http://www.southwesttrains.co.uk/SWTrains/pdfs/ttApril08/PTT20Apr08.pdf

Waterloo to Manchester via Bradford-on-Avon and Ludlow.

Waterloo to Maesteg

Clapham Junction has - in addition - had a whole lot of extra services.  Take a look at
http://www.1s76.com/1S76%201992.htm which shows in the summer of 1992 services calling at Clapham Junction to / From Edinburgh, Manchester, Liverpool, Brighton, Eastbourne and Dover Western Docks.

Certainly a post-privatisation sign - it's not in Rail Alphabet which is a giveaway. Looks more like Frutiger Medium to me.

The 'white on dark blue' signs at Clapham Junction date from about 2009/10, that's roughly when SWT started the changeover to that colour scheme for platform signage across their whole network, coinciding with the DfT 'stations report' of 2009 suggested it be rolled out as a national standard.  (I don't think that has ever happened though.)   Given how long these things take to happen it isn't surprising that they list destinations no longer served...

I think the house font is an SWT 'owned' design, but only based on a dim memory of a discussion elsewhere quite a few years ago.

Paul

If I remember correctly the services to Dawlish and Plymouth ceased when the train service on the Waterloo - Exeter line was increased from two hourly to hourly, after the opening of the Axminster passing loop. They could no longer spare the sets.

I moved to SWT land in 2010 and it was about a year later that the platform signs at my station changed from a white background to a blue background though as you say some stations had already changed and others did not change till some time later.

Incidentally the neighbouring Southern services have very similar platform signs but with a dark green background.

Whilst we're talking about platform signs I have to say that my least favourite of those that I have seen are those of National Express East Anglia. The lettering is too small and too thin for me to read or even to notice it is there. Abellio seem to have blanked the National Express logo but kept the typeface :(