Tickets & Railcards: problems with fading ink/magnetic strips (merged topic, ongoing discussion)

[whole diary]

[Timmer]

Just like old fax machines which used rolls of paper that had the image burned onto it. Few years later you would find the fax had completely faded.

[devonian]

I have a Devon and Cornwall Railcard. My current one is fine but last year's startede fading and was barely legible towards the end of its validity. I keep it in a FGW^▸ (First Great Western) issued wallet away from heat.

I asked at a station if they can replace it for a legible one only to be told that they don't keep records of D&C Railcards and that I would have to buy a new one and that I should look after it better.

What would have happened had it faded totally as season tickets have done so in the past?

[moonrakerz]

II asked at a station .......... only to be told that............... I would have to buy a new one and that I should look after it better.

That's what I like to see: a good, helpful attitude to the customer !!

[Worcester_Passenger]

I just tested this and you are correct.  They work like the thermally printed receipts from shops (which are very prone to fading).

Think that Brucey has identified the problem. In the 'bad' old days of thermal printers, there used to be a problem with a slow chemical reaction between the printed ticket/receipt and various other plastics - so that they faded even quicker than fax rolls.

What I suspect is happening here is that there's a combination of printer ink and wallet plastic that exacerbates the fading process. But there's no identifying number on my wallet (issued at Foregate St and doesn't seem to suffer from fading).

[Tim]

I amassed a collection of railcard wallets when I had a YP card many years ago (most are at least 10 years old).  I used to use then to store my tickets in, but they definately do cause the thermal printing on some tickets to lift off and they also seem to attract the ink from the Zipfco gripper (which rather stupidity doesn't soak into thermal stock) and then transfer a suspicious purple mark on unused tickets so I have stopped using them.     

[JayMac]

I've had similar problems with the purple ink on the inside of ticket wallet windows. Put a fresh ticket in there after a recently gripped one and then the new ticket looks like it's been gripped and you've attempted to rub off the ink!!

[noddingdonkey]

It's not a ticket wallet it's a railcard wallet!

[Brucey]

I've had similar problems with the purple ink on the inside of ticket wallet windows. Put a fresh ticket in there after a recently gripped one and then the new ticket looks like it's been gripped and you've attempted to rub off the ink!!

Happened to me on several occassions.  I now keep my reservation coupon or my Bite card at the front and put the actual ticket near the back.

[Tim]

The ink on the ticket stampers needs to evaportate more quickly.  It stays wet for far too long on unabsorbant thermal coated stock and plastic wallets.  As well as transfering suspicious marks it is very easy to smudge either accidentally, deliberately (I've a colleage who always wipes his gripped ticket on his sock before returning it to his wallet to aviod getting ink in there) or possibly fradualently (to remove eveidence of on which train it is gripped).

in any case, if you are going to the trouble of printing detailed information on a ticket when it is gripped (the date and others details which I assume can be traced back to the individual train service or member of staff), why print it with ink that all to easily becomes illegible?

perhaps TM^▸ (Train Manager, or possibly Ticket Machine, depending on context) are just over-inking their grippers, but you dont want the cancelling to be too pale and hard to see either which is what you occassionally see with under-inked grippers.   

Personally, I prefered the Dot Matrix printing over the thermal method.  Surely thermal printing stock is more expensive as well.  Does it have a advantage I am missing (harder to fake with a PC printer prehaps?)

[Brucey]

in any case, if you are going to the trouble of printing detailed information on a ticket when it is gripped (the date and others details which I assume can be traced back to the individual train service or member of staff)

FGW^▸ (First Great Western) stamp the date and train's headcode plus another number (presumably linked to the member of staff).  I've only had my ticket hole punched once on FGW, although this seems to be the only way SN mark their tickets.

[devon_metro]

I have a ticket with a heart stamp through it. Must have been a novelty BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) clipper 

[inspector_blakey]

That was the BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) shape assigned to Devon and Cornwall guards, I believe. Somewhere at home I have a ticket examiner's handbook dated 1989 which catalogues all the various different nippers used by BR staff and what they meant.

The Zifa stamper is "re-inked" by replacing a ribbon cartridge. They are available with quick-drying ink for thermal tickets but FGW^▸ (First Great Western) don't seem to use it.

I suspect thermal printing is preferred these days because it's quicker, doesn't need an ink ribbon to be replaced and produces a more consistent print density. Back in the days of APTIS^▸ (All Purpose Ticket Issuing System) tickets issued at Oxford (probably elsewhere too) were frequently all but illegible seeing as they never seemed to change the ribbons!

[Super Guard]

FGW^▸ (First Great Western) stamp the date and train's headcode plus another number (presumably linked to the member of staff).

Correct.

[JayMac]

It's not a ticket wallet it's a railcard wallet!

No. It's a ticket wallet, one of the 3 pocket National Rail blue jobbies. My green DIS wallet only has 2 pockets which ain't enough for my railcard, tickets and BiTE card!

[Ollie]

It's not a ticket wallet it's a railcard wallet!

I suppose I should take all my bank cards out of mine then =P