Thomas Edmondson

Thomas Edmondson (* June 30, 1792 in Lancaster, † June 22, 1851 in Manchester ) was the inventor of the eponymous and up to the 1980s spread everywhere ticketing system, the Edmondsonschen ticket mistakenly often called Edmonsonsche ticket. Edmondson 1836 stationmaster of the small station Milton at the newly opened railway line Newcastle - Carlisle. The then-common issue of small notes as ticketing, adopted by the stagecoach time, did not satisfy him and he began to develop a new ticketing system. The system he developed and spread Edmondson was promoted to Director of the Manchester and Leeds Railway.

Edmondsonsche ticket

In order to have better control, billing and audit of tickets sold, he built a machine along which small cardboard cartons with the size 30.5 mm × 57 mm (1 3/16 " x 2 ¼" ) and about 580 g / m² could be printed and numbered weight. In addition, a case in which the tickets were kept and a date press, with which the tickets could be dated. It soon took on some other stations on its line this system. Even Captain Law, executive director of the Manchester and Leeds Railway, recognized the potential of this revolutionary system and presented it to Thomas Edmondson as director. This resulted in his system at all stations of this railway. The type of ticket machines and the date of the press was right from the beginning, only the very complicated machines for printing and progressive numbering of the tickets were only the result of gradual improvements.

Today Edmondsonsche tickets are used almost exclusively by heritage railways.

Germany

Since the provincial railroad period the guiding color of the ticket corresponded to the then usual car class specific paint the coaches. So tickets were gray for single trips offered until 1928 the cheapest 4th class, ocher brown for the 3rd class and executed grass green in 2nd class. The yellow ticket of the luxurious and offered only in a few, mostly international long-distance trains first class were abolished July 3, 1956, when most European railways summarizing the two " upholstery classes " (1 / 2 class ) for first class and the previous " cattle class " ( 3rd class) to the second class of highly classified. Accordingly, henceforth tickets were issued at the regular price in brown and for the higher level of comfort in a green color.

Double tickets ( round- trip ticket for one person or one way for two people) were vertically inked only half in brown or green and children's tickets marked with a white border in the upper quarter. Both tickets for a supplementary charge long-distance trains ( express or fast trains ) as well as reduced time cards for workers and students were also designed by variants of the class-specific color. For example, the popular Sunday return ticket was provided with a wide blue center stripe.

Switzerland

In Switzerland, these tickets are referred to in the vernacular as a cardboard ticket. On the timetable 2007/2008, the sale of Edmondsonschen billets was set in Switzerland.