Monday, September 12, 2016
Artists are Salvaging Train Stations' Analog Departure Boards
Atlas Obscura: For years, noisy analog departure boards have been disappearing from Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor. These boards, most remarkable for the flapping, clacking sound they make as their split-flap cards flip to reveal new information, are often called Solari boards, after the Italian company that invented them. New York Penn Station lost its original one around 2000. Boston replaced its board, which was breaking twice a day, the Globe reported, in 2008. New Haven and Baltimore took theirs out of commission in 2010.
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4 comments:
I don’t think that I have ever seen one of these boards in person, but I definitely recognize it. I get that they are outdated and break too often, but it is sad to see that classic look go. It’s like when they started removing the blue mailboxes from my neighborhood, they weren’t practical anymore, but I liked them anyway. I hadn’t considered how difficult it would be to actually make a Solari Board from scratch. It’s the kind of technology that could go extinct. I also really liked that the author talked about the sound of the board changing. I prefer to type on a keyboard than on a screen because I like the sound of the keys. I feel more productive when I can hear myself type. In stagecraft the other day, we were discussing how making lights look familiar might be holding back the new technology. Maybe designing boards that look like the Solari Board would have the same issue. Still it’s a cool aesthetic. And I like that artists are making use of the clear association with departure by using the boards in their pieces while most people still recognize them.
This article about the Solari boards made me sentimental. It’s one of those things that reminds you that we’re in an ever-improving technological society and old things are starting to get tossed to the side for newer, higher tech. These old, antique objects usually find themselves owned by artists, antique shops, collectors, etc. and often just sit around to pick up dust. Things like this make me remember my times as a kid in NY and the transition from 1990s NYC to 2000s NYC. Before, we had telephone booths, police & fire boxes, graffiti all over the trains, etc. Now, although it is definitely better and more convenient, you still miss those old characteristics of former culture & generations. In fact, I was even thinking of experimenting with film cameras just to get a “look” closer to a time before my own—things just seemed so interesting back then and they could probably say the same about generations that came before them. In addition, I agree with Sarah that older designs and sentimental feelings can slow down progress if we rely too heavily on them, as in the case of LED lighting units. It’s OK to build off of the past but everyone should try and experiment actively.
I personally experienced one of these boards when I was living in New York two summers ago. They still use one down in the Amtrak section of Penn Station, where I picked up my mother visiting from Boston twice, and departed for Boston myself once. I have to say, even as someone who didn't grow up with the anticipation of the letters flapping over, it was still a really awesome feeling to watch it go. There is something about an old piece of technology that, in these days, really feels like a treasure. I feel really fortunate when I get to encounter something like this, so I love that it is being incorporated into people's artwork. Even those who did not experience these types of things before they stopped being used are able to have the feeling of being transported back in time, or into an old movie. I truly find this kind of thing beautiful and I hope to see many more similar old elements being incorporated into people's work.
After working on trying to possibly create something a little more large scale, seeing the Solari boards slowly start to fade away is a little disheartening. It is one of the few things I think about when I hear the term train station. It is what I’ve thought them to coincide with all this time. So while the times are fading from an older generation technology to a more up to date situation using digital and so forth. There is nothing quite like being able to hear the rattling of the boards as you await to hear about your destination. The few times I did see one was in New York, and I believe in London as I awaited my train to go to Stratford. The fact that the boards have held up this long is a testament to the time and effort spent to maintain them. Just like how you can make a few tweaks to get things up and running again, it shouldn’t take much to get the same effect with something a little more new.
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