Those electro-mechanical sign boards that have announced the arrival and departure of Amtrak trains since Amtrak was Amtrak, are gradually going the way of E units and the Pointless Arrow logo.
The boards, Passenger Information Displays in Amtrak-speak, are gradually being replaced around the system. Amtrak spokesman Mike Tolbert says the signs are being replaced by modern digital displays on a station-by-station basis.
Split-flap or Solari boards — the name comes from the Italian company that first made them – were invented in 1956. Since then they have become icons in airline and railroad terminals around the world.
Amtrak’s program is nothing new. The Baltimore Sun reported that Amtrak replaced the signs in Baltimore Penn Station in 2010. Travel media outlets say Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station is next.
A project to replace liquid crystal display simulated Solari-style boards at New York’s Penn Station, themselves replacements for the electro-mechanical versions, recently made news because it caught the eye of a Twitter follower and the transportation reporting arm of online news organization, Politico.
Tolbert says the New York Penn display project is huge. Four wall-size video departure displays, nine large and 10 medium-size departure displays, and 13 gate boards. There are also medium-sized arrival boards. Amtrak is adding vocal messaging to aid visually-impaired patrons to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Progress is progress, but for those who long for the clacking sound of letters and numbers, there is some comfort online. Dixieland Software has created an Amtrak Solari Board simulator. Type in the station code and watch the letters flip on a specially designed website.
The Ferry Building in San Francisco has a Solari departures board for the ferries that leave from there. There isn’t one for arrivals though.
I don’t understand why, in Seattle’s beautifully renovated King St. Station, there are no boards of any kind for Amtrak arrivals and departures. King County installed one for local transit. Does anyone know why?
It would be cool if the simulation displayed live information.
Wonder if Amtrak will donate the old signs to museums around the country. I know that one of the museums I am affiliated with would like to have one (depending on size)
Solari aficionados should visit the rotunda at NJ Transit’s Secaucus Junction station, where they will be surrounded by four (well, 3-1/2 – half of one was replaced with a LED display) color-coded Solari boards showing departures for the various routes that radiate from the station. You’ll get to hear them click in surround sound.