Plainmoor turnstile; some help required.

Sorry bit late on this one Rob but heres a pic of a Plainmoor turnstile cover and a quick bit of research shows this firm were operating in the 1920s.

Great stuff from gullone and bluedragon. Ties in with them advertising turnstiles in 1884:

www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/evancoll/a/largeimage73495.html

Maybe my 1892 date could be the one then?

I found this: link

It shows that a new entrance turnstile cost £12 in 1896, and an exit turnstile £9. It doesn't say in the council minutes how many entrances should be at the Warbro Lane and Bronshill Road ends of the ground, so perhaps the ones in 1911 were a job lot of secondhand ones?

As an aside, according to the Bank of England inflation calculator £12 in 1896 would be £1425 in today's money.

As a professional user of the turnstiles for 49 years, yes, at the end of next season I will have completed 50 man and boy ( or boy and man), firstly the stile looks very nice but it isn't a typical representation of those that I know!

It's a bit like the debates to be had within the preserved steam railway fraternity as those engines that grandly puff up and down the line these days are immaculate but ask anybody who can remember and they will tell you that those in operation when steam ruled (certainly after nationalisation) were filthy and a monochrome dusty and rusty shade of black. Thus, to be realistic your stile needs to have 90% of the paint chipped off and the remaining paint covered in a layer of dust.

My recollection is that none of that type of stile was bought new and they were ancient and creaky when brought to Plainmoor. The only new stiles were a batch bought when the old social club was knocked down and the stiles for the Ellacombe end of the pop side were moved to a new block built entrance at that corner. These were luxururious as they included a remote control release. This was a simple attachment using a British Leyland (probably made by Girling) master and slave cylinder set as found on the brake system of a Mini.

These worked well for a couple of seasons but rust and lack of maintenance took is toll and as the rubbers perished so the fluid leaked and no matter how hard you pressed the foot pedal nothing happened and the stile had to be forced or shut! In fact, a couple of these still linger on as those that still worked were moved back along Marnham Road when the entrance was shifted to its current position.

As for all those entrance moves along Marnham Road, I suppose one might say 'what goes round comes around'.

In passing, the stile that I currently operate is another second hand one bought, I think, from Taunton Racecourse, a few years back and it is similar to this bright shiny one on show on this thread. These are resilient as most of the parts are cast, and there is some brass and other alloy in the counter mechanisms which show how rugged things were from that era. Their only Achilles heel is that they are cumbersome and the fulcrum hinge for that massive foot control tends to wear so one has to use all sorts of techniques to get a smooth swing only allowing one customer to enter at each click!

Enough of this reverie, what a fine piece of garden furniture, well done!