Solari boards trashed

[NWKTrainer]

Two trackside Solari displays are headed for the landfill from Newark.(Penn Station) That’s progress for you. Yes, I am getting my shoes shined at the station in one picture.

http://cs.trains.com/TRCCS/themes/trc/utility/[:550:0]

http://cs.trains.com/TRCCS/themes/trc/utility/[:550:0]

http://cs.trains.com/TRCCS/themes/trc/utility/[:550:0]

http://cs.trains.com/TRCCS/themes/trc/utility/[:550:0]

[samfp1943]

Well! You might say that our tax dollars; which were at work, have been laid off?[:^)]

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

Solari boards have lots and lots of moving parts, which made them expensive to maintain. They were quite an advance in their time, but they have since been superseded by LED displays and other types of message boards.

[Modelcar]

Solari boards have lots and lots of moving parts, which made them expensive to maintain. They were quite an advance in their time, but they have since been superseded by LED displays and other types of message boards.

And that’s what the article on 30th St. Station in the current TRAINS mag. indicated will be happening to the big one in that station’s Concourse this Spring…Being replaced by the LED design.

Those Solari boards must have been a headache to keep up and running…They must have thousands of moving parts in them…and mechanically and electronically controlled.

[tree68]

Making any sort of change had to be a real pain, too - like adding a new station or changing a reference to an existing station.

With LEDs, it’s all software driven.

[Dragoman]

Quite true, tree68 – most change is difficult. But let us also acknowledge that not all “change” is necessarily “progress”, and not all “progress” is necessarily improvement.

I know that the original “Solari” (actually, “split-flap display”) boards have several draw-backs, including complexity of maintenance and difficulty of changing the possible displays, such as train names, etc. (But honestly, how often does Amtrak change train names!?)

But I feel that they also had certain advantages over “TV-screen” type displays. One is visibility – I have always found the large Solari boards much easier to scan, read, and quickly comprehend the info. Also, the Solari boards only used power when changing, as opposed to newer systems that require constant power to display.

And, speaking of maintenence, how many times have we seen one of the newer electronic displays partially or largely unreadable due to some display distortion? They may be cheaper to maintain, but I am not convinced that they are necessarily an improvement.

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

Another factor to be considered is parts availability. Solari boards have been obsolete and out of production for quite a while, obtaining parts to maintain them might require a lot more scrounging around junk yards than contacting parts suppliers.