Photographs
Shops
ARMTHORPE. Co-op. "he Cooperative shop in Armthorpe fascinated me watching it wizz round the ceiling when I was a kid." Shirley Cross in posting to Facebook
BARNSLEY. Co-op. "The new Pneumatic Cash Tubes will facilitate the rush of trade with quick change." South Yorkshire Times, 27 Jan. 1939, p. 9
BARNSLEY. A. Oglesby, 21 Cheapside. "Sale of the high-class fixtures, fittings and trade utensils of the chemist's shop and dental surgery, comprising .. Cooke's patent pneumatic brass pump and tubing, with cash carriers." Barnsley Chronicle, 15 Jun 1907, p. 4
BRADFORD. Brown Muffs. Pneumatic tube system. Facebook
• Photograph of exterior
BRADFORD. Busbys (dept. store), Manningham Lane."Busbys' (Bfd.), Ltd., require capable experienced cash girl; knowledge of Lamson system preferred." Halifax Evening Courier, 28 Sep. 1946, p. 1
• "The extensions consist of rooms for the use of staff and a pneumatic tube room where cash-conveying apparatus is installed." Bradford Observer, 23 Oct. 1953, p. 6
•"The magnificent building that once housed Busby's Department Store, in Manningham Lane, was destroyed by a spectacular fire in 1979... It dominated Manningham Lane for nearly five decades from the 1930s... In 1937 a Power House and Laundry were built which .. drove engines for vacuum suction for both cleaning and the cash tubing... No-one can ever forget that amasing [sic] Lamson-Tube system of transfering cash to and from departments. Telegraph & Argus website
BRADFORD. Co-op, Silsden. Pneumatic tube system. Patricia Todd in posting to Facebook
BRADFORD. Co-op, Sunwin House. Sturtevant pneumatic tube system with 8 stations [branch not stated]. (Sturtevant letter of 13/8/29). Pneumatic tube system Posting to rec.arts.tv.coronation-st newsgroup, 19/9/02. Also postings to alt.fan.goons newsgroup, 17/3/04 and 22/11/05 - same shop? - see Reminiscences.
BRADFORD. R.Denby & Son. Still using Rapid Wire system in 1977. Daily Mirror, 21 July 1977, p.20
BRADFORD. Lingards, Westgate. "A singular scaffolding accident has occurred at Messrs. Lingard's shop... Some of the men had wonderful escapes, the fall being broken by wires running across the well of the building in connection with a cash railway system." Yorkshire Evening Post, 14 Apr. 1914, p. 3
BRADFORD. Paige (ladies' clothes). Cash carrier. Nina Chapman posting to Facebook.
BRADFORD. Stead & Simpson. "My first job when I left school used these. Stead and Simpson’s Bradford." Marion Oldroyd in posting to Facebook
BRIGHOUSE. Brighouse District Industrial Society, Central Emporium, King Street. "Wanted. Smart girls for cash office. Lamson tube system in use." Halifax Evening Courier, 11 Jan. 1950, p. 6
BRADFORD. George Thorpe, Ivegate/New Tyrrel Street. "Messrs. Thorpe have always been in the van of enterprise in adapting the most modern inventions, not only for the benefit of their customers but also for the comfort of their assistants, as may be well illustrated by the fact that here the American cash railway system has ben now in full operation for several years, taking cash to and from all parts of the house (even two floors up) to one large central office on the ground floor." Illustrated Yorkshire 1893
DONCASTER. Co-op. "In Doncaster cash carriers survived well into the 1950s notably at Morris' wallpaper shop and the Co-op, both its central emporium and all branches. Railway & Canal Historical Society. Occasional Paper No. 14 (rev. 2009)
• "One of the methods reminded me of the way money was paid at Doncaster Co-op via the pneumatic tubes." Jackson Family website
DONCASTER. Co-op, Tickhill. "The Co-Operative Society .. also had a store which is now the Emporium. Here was a butchers, and a drapery department in addition to the general store. In common with most Co-Op stores of the time, cash was sent in a small cylinder by overhead wire from the counter to a central glass cubicle." Tickhill and District Local History Society website
DONCASTER. Hodgson and Hepworth. Wire? system until refurbishment in mid-1970s. Secret Leeds website.
DONCASTER. Morris (wallpaper shop). See DONCASTER. Co-op
GOOLE. Hitchen & Colquhoun (Cash Drapery Stores), Boothferry Road. "For the convenience of the public we have introduced the Cash Railway, which conveys the money from the counters to the cashier by means of balls which fly along the rails with lightning rapidity." Howdenshire Gazette, 5 Aug. 1892, p. 1
HALIFAX. ? 3 and 5 Corn Market. "Charles Wm Laycock will sell by auction .. the extensive and valuable shop fittings and fixtures, comprising .. cash railway, with 5 stations, and all accessories." Yorkshire Post, 14 May 1927, p. 3
HALIFAX. Industrial Co-op. Sturtevant pneumatic tube system with 13 stations. Sturtevant letter of 13/8/29
HALIFAX. Stoddards. Cash carrier. Yvonne Harris in posting to Facebook
HARROGATE. (A butcher's), Beulah Street. Wire system. Louise Charlton
HARROGATE. D.G.Brown (dept. store), Commercial Street. Cash ball system. Louise Charlton
HARROGATE. Lawsons (children's wear), Commercial Street. Wire system. Louise Charlton
HELMSLEY. Browns. Cash carrier. Joan Pickup in posting to Facebook
HOYLAND. Broughs (grocers), West Street. "The large airy shop, with its .. cash railway, and eficient lighting, is all fitted with the latest devices." South Yorkshire Times, 3 Mar. 1933, p. 18
HUDDERSFIELD. Co-op. "During the summer [of 1894] the patent cash railway system was installed in the Drapery Department." Owen Balmforth. The Huddersfield Industrial Society Limited: history of fifty years' progress, 1860-1910, p.145
HUDDERSFIELD. Jax, 71 New Street. "Centralised cash tube installation for Jax of Oxford Street executed by Lamson Engineering Co., Ltd." Huddersfield Daily Examiner, 3 Apr. 1952, p. 3
HUDDERSFIELD. Kayes, King Street. Pneumatic tube system until at least mid-1960s. Lamson engineer used to come in to do repairs and fit new pads to ends of carriers. "Quite a big system." Gordon Kneale Brooke
HUDDERSFIELD. Rushworths, Westgate/John William Street. "It was also at this time [1920] that the Lamson tube system was installed... By the 1920s an improved system with the grand name of the 'Belt Desk Automatic Power Control Pneumatic Tube System' was available, which was designed to complete the transaction in about forty seconds... By 1960 modern technology overtook the Lamson tubes and some of them, mainly on the ground floor, were replaced by Burroughs accounting machines, cycle-billing for the accounts and a micro-filmer to keep records of it all." Gill Rushworth. The story of a department store (Huddersfield: J.D.M. & G. Rushworth, 1999), p. 21. In April 1966 the business was sold to Hurst & Sandler of Leeds.
HUDDERSFIELD. Yorkshire Warehouse (household goods and clothes), Cross Church Street. Lamson wire system until mid-1950s. Gordon Kneale Brooke
HULL. Bon Marché (F.F. Bladon and Co.), Prospect Street. "A new railway has been established in Hull, which must prove advantageous to all parties concerned. It is the 'Lamson's Cash Railway', which has been adopted by that enterprising and popular establishment known as Bon Marché, in Prospect-street. Though not exactly new in other towns, the invention, which is American, is entirely original to Hull... This, of course, saves time and labour to the poor shop girl or man, also to the customer, and lastly, it prevents the chances of 'genteel purloining'... We commend Messrs Bladon for the adoption of this really interesting and time labour-saving apparatus." Hull Daily Mail, 4 Dec. 1885, p.3
HULL. Boyes, 232-4 Hessle Road. Opened in 1920. "The cash office was a raised-up unit in the centre of the shop. This was to allow the overhead-wire cash system to operate. There were 14 cash-points around the store each with its own numbered cash containers and pulley system for propelling the container up to the cash office, the return journey being mainly by gravity." Boyes stores book
HULL. Co-operative Store. Pneumatic tube system. Photo of cashier's office with 20 terminals in Gerrard, p. 74
HULL. Dewhursts, Endyke Lane. "Dewhurst's was the nearest shop that compares to Boyes... Do you remember the vacuum tube money system they had in the store? When you made a purchase they put your money in a little tube shaped canister, then fired it through tubular piping at high speed and it went whizzing through the store, up walls and along the ceiling, finally ending up in the cash office some distance away. After a minute or so, your change and receipt was returned to you by the same canister and the loud noise 'KERR-CHUNK' as it hit the buffers." This is Your Mail website
HULL. Hammonds, Paragon Square. "New emporium open... Each counter and department has been provided with the new system of cash tubes... Under this system the cash is pneumatically drawn up to the counting house on the first floor, and the change is returned without delay to the customer... The installation, we believe, is one of the largest and most up-to-date plants of its kind in England, as over 10,000 feet of solid drawn brass tubing, including 481 bends and 2,015 sleeves, or joints, are used... The carriers containing the money are drawn to the cash desk by vacuum, created by an electric motor driving the Lamson rotary blower. This tube arrangement is equipped with a patent for ensuring that power is consumed only in proportion to the amount of business, so that when no carriers are in the tube, no power practically is being used. The Lamson system .. furnishes a complete inter-communication service between different departments, enabling communications to be sent and the answer received in a fraction of the time required under the old system." Hull Daily Mail, 16 Oct. 1916, p. 3
• "It was a cause of celebration that Hammond's
had .. a system of pneumatic tubes, 'obviating the necessity for the out-of-date
cash desks'." John Markham, Hammonds of Hull: a store
of good things for family and home. Beverley: Highgate, 2004. p.20
• The shop was bombed in May 1941 and rebuilt after the war, reopening on
16 May 1952. "The pneumatic tube system was also not ready for use
and, as a temporary measure, cash desks were put in place." Ibid.
p.50.
• In September 1972 it was transferred to House of Fraser.
HULL. Hope Brothers, 26 Whitefriargate. "New Hull shop... The system of cash tubes installed is a further advantage." Hull Daily Mail, 29 Nov. 1928, p. 8
HULL. S. Lambert, 19 Whitefriargate. "Young lady wanted for cash railway, must be accurate, quick and reliable." Hull Daily Mail, 24 Jan. 1936, p. 12
"S. Lambert & Co., Ltd., have an immediate vacancy for a lady cashier, 18-21 years, for their cash tube system." Ibid., 15 Jul. 1947, p. 2
HULL. Thornton-Varley, part of Debenham group, Prospect Street/North Street. "The Lamson tubes are hidden in the ceilings or in the columns." Yorkshire Post and Leeds Mercury, 11 Nov. 1955, p. 7
• "[Wanted.] Experienced cashier for our cash tube room." Hull Daily Mail, 22 Jan. 1968, p. 2
HULL. Willis's, 1 Carr Lane/2 Waterhouse Lane."Willis's new warehouse... New York Express Car cash railway. The first erected in the North of England." Eastern Morning News, 11 May 1888, p. 1
• "The third erected in England." Ibid., 15 May 1888, p. 1
• "Cashier required for general drapery office; experience of Lamson Cash Railway an asset... Apply General Manager, Willis's, in Carr-lane." Hull Daily Mail, 14 June 1950, p.2
HULL. H. Willis, 10-11 Silver Street. "By order of H. Willis, Esq., who is retiring from business .. W.N. Lewendon and Sons will sell by auction .. Cash Railway." Hull Daily Mail, 30 Sep. 1919, p. 6
KEIGHLEY. Chadwicks. Cash carrier. Pat Keene in posting to Facebook
KEIGHLEY. T.E. Smith & Co. "3 sets of Swift cash railways, complete." Yorkshire Post, 28 Nov. 1908, p. 2
LEEDS. Barretts. Cash carrier. Susan Phipps Eastwood in posting to Facebook
LEEDS. Butlers "C R Butlers furnishings on Low Road in Hunslet had a cash tube system." Warringtonrhino in posting to Secret Leeds, 1/11/14
LEEDS. Cashdisia (drapers), 65 Vicar Lane. "Lady for cash desk, used to Lamson pneumatic system." Yorkshire Evening Post, 11 Dec. 1941, p. 7
• "Cashdisa .. also had a vacuum tube system. Liits in posting to Secret Leeds, 1/11/14
LEEDS. A corset shop, County Arcade. "I used to love the way Auntie Dolly's money was put into a round cylinder and sucked up a pipe to the cash office and then returned with the change." Brendan Sheerin. My life: a coach trip adventure. London: O'Mara, 2011, p.31
LEEDS. Driver's, 126 Kirkgate. "Wanted for Leeds. Young lady to work cash desk; preference given to applicant used to cash railway." Yorkshire Post, 30 Oct. 1915, p. 4
• "Cash Girl required, used to Lamson cash railway system." Yorkshire Evening Post, 29 Jul. 1920, p. 2
LEEDS. Ellins, Central Market. "Lady cashier for cash desk; must be used to Samson's [sic] Cash Railway System." Yorkshire Post, 26 Mar. 1913, p. 2
LEEDS. W. Gibbs and Co. (silk mercers), 67-68 Briggate. "In consequence of the premises being acquired for a Picture Theatre .. R.R. Tempest will sell by auction .. Lamson's wire system cash railway with 6 stations." Yorkshire Post, 23 May 1914, p. 2
LEEDS. Grand Pygmalion, Boar Lane. A department store run by Alexander Monteith of Monteith, Hamilton and Monteith Ltd. built in the 1880s. Cash Ball system. Information from Mrs Proctor.
LEEDS. Grand Restaurant, 21 Boar Lane. "In consequence of structural alterations... Oliver Kitchen and Flynn will sell by public auction ... the Lamson pneumatic despatch service with improved blower and 7.5 h.p. Fuller electric motor." Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer, 25 Feb. 1933, p. 2
LEEDS. C.J. Hardy, 1 Boar Lane. "Wanting a respectable youth .. one who has had some experience with Lawson's [sic] cash railway preferred." Yorkshire Evening Post, 26 Jan. 1899, p. 1
LEEDS. Hitchens, Briggate/Kirkgate. "Hitchens New Store... Up in an airy room at the top of the building I found the girls who handle your cash when it is put into a little tube at the counter, along with your bill, and whisked mysteriously out of sight with a swish and a whistle... There are a hundred air-tubes and little metal carriers drop out of the end of each of them. A girl empties out the cash, reads the bill, inserts the change, and sends it whistling back to you at the counter. Nine miles of tubing have been put into Hitchen's for this swift method of handling money, and there are five hundred carriers in use for taking it to this high room." Leeds Mercury, 30 Apr. 1938, p. 9
• "Hitchens, Briggate and Kirkgate, require experienced Ladies for the Tube Room." Yorkshire Post, 30 Nov. 1946, p. 7
• At Hitchens department store in Leeds more than fifty years ago I was fascinated by these. They worked on a suction/vacuum principle." Mary
Fisher in posting to DIYbanter.com 3/11/04
• "I can vividly remember, as a small child, the overhead lines running throughout Hitchen's shop, to enable your money to be sent, via a suction tube, to the cashiers' office." Cynthia on Leodis website
LEEDS. Jessop (grocer), 112 Wellington Road. "Cash desk and railway for sale, cheap." Yorkshire Evening Post, 4 Mar. 1903, p. 2
LEEDS. Lewis's, 22-26 Headrow. "They had used .. 25 miles of cash tubes. He hoped it would not be long before the cash was rolling down the last named." Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 20 Aug. 1932, p. 9
• "Inside are 150 miles of electric wiring, 288 cash tube stations." Leeds Mercury, 15 Sep. 1932, p. 7
• "Lamson pneumatic tubes for the speedy handling of all cash and credit transactions are installed throughout Messrs. Lewis's stores at Leeds." Yorkshire Evening Post, 15 Sep. 1932, p. 10
• Pneumatic tube system
"including a tube room fifty feet below street level. It was connected
by twenty-five miles of pneumatic tubing with the 250 change points in
the store, the change returning to the points, it was boasted, at thirty
miles an hour."Briggs. Photo.
• "In
1932, at the age of 14, Mrs McNess got a job at Lewis's in the 'Tube Room'
counting change and sending it back up to the shop floor." Methleys
website
• "Lewis's, Matthias Robinson and Schofields had an ingenious system of pneumatic pipes that took your money down to the cashiers in the bowels of the store. A hand-written slip was put into a canister with the cash, stuck in the pipe and away it went, only to return moments later with any change and the receipt. It never ceased to thrill as it shot back up the pipe with a satisfying thwuck!" This England, Winter 2009, p.35
LEEDS. John Mollett, 66 Albion Street. "Smart girl wanted (aged about 15) for cash tube." Yorkshire Evening Post, 27 Jan. 1949, p. 11
LEEDS. Matthias Robinson, 115-126 Briggate (became Debenhams). "All transactions at Messrs. Matthias Robinson's are completed in the Lamson way - bill and money are flashed to an Automatic Central Desk and change (double-checked for accuracy) is whisked back, all in a few seconds. That is why the assistants remain in constant attendance on Purchasers and no one need 'walk to the desk'. Lamson Service ensures comfort and courtesy for Customers - and many advantages to the Store." Yorkshire Post, 2 Oct. 1931, p. 4 (Advt.)
• "I took a Saturday job in Matthias Robinson's in the late 1960's... One day I had to work in the Tube Room, returning the carriers to departments once the cashiers had dealt with them. There was a chair on wooden rails that you had to push back and forward to reach the various numbered tubes." S. Wilson in posting to Leodis: a photographic archive of Leeds website 28/1/13. Photograph of exterior.
• "With
those roaring pneumatic tubes whose grey-capped cylinders fetched back
your change from some distant basement". Alan Bennett in the Guardian,
1 Apr. 1994, p.7.
• "A Grace Brothers-type store with a lift and a lift-man." This England, Winter 2009, p.35
• [May refer to Robinson's or H.&D.Hart?] "This day .. at 77, Briggate, and Land's Lane, Leeds. Sale of shop fixtures.. Lamson Cash System to all floors." Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer, 25 July 1933, p.2
LEEDS. Pygmalion, Boar Lane. Cash Ball system. Information from Mrs Proctor.
LEEDS. Scarrs, 6-16 New York Street. "Require assistant for telephone and cash tubes." Yorkshire Post, 30 Apr. 1945, p. 4
LEEDS. Schofields (milliners and fancy drapers), Victoria Arcade. "The extensive alterations are now complete... The entire establishment is fitted with every modern convenience (including the latest pneumatic cash tubes, the only system in Leeds). Leeds Mercury, 26 May 1906, p. 1
•"The Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress of Leeds .. inspecting the department to which the pneumatic cash tubes lead in the extensions to the store of Schofields, Ltd., in the Headrow. The many tubes give the department something of the appearance of an organ." Yorkshire Evening Post, 23 Oct. 1930, p. 11
• Good photographs of cash office in 1987, when the shop relocated, at Secret Leeds website.
• Schofield's "did have a nice gentility to it". This England, Winter 2009, p.35
MIDDLESBROUGH. Binns. See SOUTH SHIELDS. Binns
MIDDLESBROUGH. Co-op, Higher Linthorpe Road/Clifton Street. "The pneumatic cash carrier, the work of Messrs Sykes and Co., Darlington, is a somewhat novel but most effective and satisfactory method of transmitting cash from the customer into the hands of the general cashier." The building covered 6,573 square feet, divided into four shops. Second floor provided millinery, mantle, drapery and grocery rooms. Northern Echo, 2 Mar. 1899, p.4
• "Victoria Buildings, headquarters of the Middlesbrough Cooperative society. Built on the corner of Clifton St .. the premises were opened in 1899... The building was unique in the town, with its introduction of an electrically operated pneumatic cash carrier. In 1942 the building was destroyed during an air raid." Norman Moorsom. Middlesbrough as it was (1976)
MIDDLESBROUGH. John Hedley & Co. (drapers). "Be sure you see the new patent cash railway, which will be opened by his worshipful [sic] the Mayor at John Hedley and Co.'s. .. on Saturday First." Daily Gazette for Middlesbrough, 1 Feb. 1887, p.3. A stirring account of the opening is given in Middlesbrough Daily Exchange, 3 Mar. 1887.
MIDDLESBROUGH. Wrights, Sussex Street. "Lamson Ball cash carrier system for sale; 10 stations; suitable for small departmental store. On view at and offers to Wright and Co. Ltd., Sussex St., Middlesbrough." Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer, 16 May 1947, p.3
MIDDLESBROUGH. Wrights Tower House (dept store), corner of Linthorpe Road and Grange Road, where Macdonalds is now. Pneumatic tube system. Ali in posting to uk.people.silversurfers 10/11/03
NORTHALLERTON. Barkers (dept store), 199 High Street. Pneumatic tube system with 16 terminals. Cash office was on second floor: sales floors were ground and first. Dismantled in major refurbishment in mid-1980s. (Claire Jarmain and Barkers). Photographs
REDCAR. Coates and Sidgewicks, High Street. "Coates and Sidgewick's store used a system of overhead cords to transport the cash you paid to the assistant for your goods to send to the cashier in a sealed box connected to the pulley system. The box would then hurtle back across the ceiling of the shop on the cord and the shopper would be given their receipt, which had been despatched by the cashier in the box." Gazette Live (Redcar)
REDCAR. Co-op, Queen Street. "Here I queued for the week's milk tokens, marveling at the way the assistant put the money into a little canister and placed it in a vacuum tube, the change came back the same way." 1950s. Communigate website
REDCAR. Roebucks, Progress House. "For sale - several cash tills... Store changed over to pneumatic cash tubes." Daily Gazette for Middlesbrough, 31 Mar. 1939, p. 3
RICHMOND. Co-op, Rosemary Lane. "After you'd rattled off the Co-op number and the assistant had printed it on a tear-off slip, this with your money would be placed in a wood and brass cup and screwed into an overhead apliance. A handle attached to it by a strong piece of elastic would be pulled, so releasing the cup which would whizz across the shop, coming to a stop over the cashier's booth. At this point, a white hand would reach up and unscrew the cup, take out the money and slip which would be replaced by one's change, then ..." Audrey Carr. You must remember this: Richmond and thereabouts during the war. (Aztec, 1987) p.24
RIPON. Moss's. Cash carrier. Doreen Wharton in posting to Facebook
ROSSINGTON. Co-op. "The Co Op where my grandmother would buy an ounce of salmon paste... When she paid they would put the money in one of those metal cup things and send it on a pulley to the cash office, and then wait for the change to come back." Rosemary Robinson posting to The Villager website 23/2/06
ROTHERHAM. Bailey Bros., 'Deswood', Doncaster Road. "Cash; railway for 2 counters and cash desk, with patent cash drawer, £10." Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 17 Apr. 1915, p. 5
ROTHERHAM. Burton (menswear). "I worked at Burton Tailoring in Rotherham from 1959-64... They had a Lamson Paragon air tube system between the two floors - brass as you say." Nigel Womersle posting to Sheffield Froum, 6/9/06
ROTHERHAM. Co-op. "I was intrigued by the method of payment for goods. The shop assistant placed the money in a small metal cylinder which was attached to an overhead wire, and with a sharp pull on a lever, the missile would shoot off at high speed to a cashier who would deal with the purchase. After a short time the cylinder would shoot back on the wire with the customer's change and a receipt inside." Gervase Phinn. Road to the Dales: the story of a Yorkshire lad. (London: Michael Joseph, 2010) p.196
SCARBOROUGH. Boyes. Cash ball system probably from 1896. Lamson pneumatic tube system installed in 1900 for £848. Photographs
SCARBOROUGH. [A business] "For sale... Central Freehold Business premises, 14, 15 and 15a Queen Street, Scarborough... 4 cash carriers." Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer, 31 May 1945, p. 4
SCARBOROUGH. Hopper and Masons (drapers), 100-102 Westborough. Cash carrier. Angela Atkinson on Facebook.
SCARBOROUGH. Alexander Swain, 39 Aberdeen Walk. "Lamson Cash Tube system, perfect working order, 6 stations, 3 turbines, all comp., can be seen working; cheap quick sale as premises are sold. Alexander Swain." Yorkshire Evening Post, 14 Mar. 1947, p. 2. (Presumably Swain was the former shop, not the sales agent.)
SELBY. Pyke and Mould (grocers), Ousegate. Cash ball system still there in 1960s. (Gordon Kneale Brooke)
SHEFFIELD. W. Andrews and Son, 1-3 Page Hall Road. "I vaguely remember the assistant who served you put your payment into a container on an overhead wire system which after the assistant pulled a lever or something, whisked your payment to an office. There they sorted any change required & sent that back on the overhead wire (probably with a receipt) to the assistant, who passed the change to you. I think that would be very late 40's or early 50's." Sheffield History website
SHEFFIELD. John Atkinson, 86 Sheffield Moor. "Wanted. Young lady for cash desk; used to railway system." Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 28 Feb. 1899, p. 2
SHEFFIELD. Austin Reed, Fargate. "Pneumatic tubes, similar to those in use in newspaper offices, have ben installed. The customer buys his or her article, the assistant places the money and bill with duplicate in the cartridge, and within three seconds it has reached the office at the top of the building." Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 1 Jan. 1925, p. 8
SHEFFIELD. John Banner. Pneumatic tube system installed by Sturtevant Engineering Co. There was a double-sided desk for 75 cash stations - photographs in Hammond. "I was always fascinated when our money was put in a little brass cylinder, which then whisked off with a hiss of compressed air, then it would arrive back with the change in it." "Little Malc" in posting to Sheffield Forum
SHEFFIELD. Blanchards, Infirmary Road, S6. Cash carrier until 1950s. Sheila Rimmington. "Had shoots for money" "Pauline in posting to Sheffield Forum
SHEFFIELD. Brightside and Carbrook Co-op, Boyland Street, Neepsend/Parkwood Springs, S3. "I remember .. the overhead money transporters. Even though the shop wasn't big compared to shops today, they had a cashier's office (which must have been elevated above the ground floor). There were overhead wires on which were attached 'pods' and the wires could be reached by the shop assistants around the shop to transport cash to and from the cashier via the 'pods'." Sheila Rimmington in Walk the Ages website. Closed in late 1950s.
SHEFFIELD. Brightside and Carbrook Co-op. City Stores, Exchange Street. Photograph of hosiery department showing pneumatic tube terminal, 1929. Picture Sheffield website
SHEFFIELD. Brightside and Carbrook Co-op. Kirkbridge Road, Attercliffe. "Young lady, smart, wanted at once, aged 18-20, to take charge of cash desk; Lamson 'Rapid' Wire System in use." Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 11 Dec. 1918, p. 1
SHEFFIELD. George Binns clothiers, Cambridge Street, S1. "I had to retrieve the money in the tubes when they came down the shoot." Vera Hopkinson in posting to Sheffield Forum
SHEFFIELD. Cole Brothers, Church Street. Pneumatic tube system. "Mags" in posting to Sheffield Forum, 12/9/06
SHEFFIELD. Co-op, Barber Road. "The Co-op on Barber rd had an overhead money system and the cashier sat in the office looking down into the shop.""Mags" in posting to Sheffield Forum, 12/9/06
SHEFFIELD. Co-op, Bents Green. "It was the canister hanging on a wire system, with a cord hanging down that fired the canister over to the cashiers.""Cliffhanger" in posting to Sheffield Forum, 6/9/06
SHEFFIELD. Co-op, Chesterfield Road/Meersbrook Park Road. "Brass tube system" - see Reminiscences
SHEFFIELD. Co-op, Greenhill village, S8. Cash carrier around 1956. "Albatross" in posting to Sheffield Forum, 7/9/05
SHEFFIELD. Co-op, Hickmott Road. "Small Co-op near Hickmott Road had the railway variety with three tracks. They went to the corner of the shop where a female cashier sat on what looked more like an elevated platform with a veranda. She overlooked everything and could have thrown customers their change a lot quicker." "PeterW" in posting to Sheffield Forum, 6/9/06
SHEFFIELD. Co-op, Wynard Road. I do remember the 'money tube' system. The Cooperative at the top of Wynyard Road had one as well. As a child I found it fascinating." Rowlf in posting to Sheffield Forum, 21/8/11
SHEFFIELD. Sheffield & Ecclesall
Co-op, The Arcade, Ecclesall Road. "Females, two, wanted for Cash Receiving Station; applicants must have good experience of dealing with cash carriers and preference will be given to those with a knowledge of the Lampson [sic] Pneumatic Tube Cash system." Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 30 Aug. 1913, p.2
• "The cash system was made by a company called
'Lamson', and at its heyday was supposed to have been the biggest system
outside London. I was employed there as the instore engineer, our many
branches had the wire system, just known as 'cash carriers'." Ernie
Wild in posting to Sheffield
Forum."When I started there in 1979 the cash carriers were no
longer in use, although the equipment was still in place." Ernie
Wild
SHEFFIELD. Sheffield & Ecclesall Co-op, Carterknowle Road S12. Wire system. (Ernie Wild) Photographs
SHEFFIELD. Sheffield & Ecclesall Co-op, Crosspool S10. Wire system. (Colin Woodhead)
SHEFFIELD. Sheffield & Ecclesall Co-op, Ecclesall Road. "They had one of those overhead wire systems by which you paid your money at the counter, the assistant put it in a small container, pulled a lever and it shot off to the cashier's box which was sited high up in the corner of the shop. She overlooked everything. A couple of seconds later the container arrived back with your change and a receipt." PeterW posting to Sheffield Forum, 26/11/06
SHEFFIELD. Sheffield & Ecclesall Co-op, Holly Thorpe Rise. "Quite a few of the Co-ops in the various districts had cash railway systems. The S & E Co-op at Holly Thorpe Rise (Lees Hall Avenue) for one." "Falls" in posting to Sheffield Forum, 6/9/06
SHEFFIELD. Hawksfords, Hoole Street. "The shop with the overhead wire (cashier system) was Hawksfords." Sheffield Forum
SHEFFIELD. Laceys, West Bar, S3. "Had shoots for money too" Pauline in posting to Sheffield Forum
SHEFFIELD. Roberts, Rockingham House. "Lamson automatic central desks. At Messrs. Roberts Bros. .. a complete equipment of LAmson pneumatic tubes with Lamson automatic central desk handles all transactions speedily and accurately. See a modern Lamson tube system at work." Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 23 Nov. 1929, p. 10
SHEFFIELD. Suggs, Pinstone Street. Cash carrier. Laraine Livermore in posting to Facebook
• Photograph of exterior.
SHEFFIELD. Toy shop, London Road, Heeley Bottom. "I'm sure there was an overhead wire system in a toy shop in London Road, Heeley Bottom... This would have been around 1967." "Henrypond" in posting to Sheffield Forum, 6/9/06
SHEFFIELD. Tuckwoods (luxury food - amongst other things?), Fargate. "There used to be a shop in Fargate called Tuckwoods. Long gone - approximately where M & S are now. I seem to remember that they had a cash centre system (railway type) that was a little different. You entered the shop through a sort of covered arcade with counters on both sides. At the end was the main shopping area. A large hall with balconies, lots of wrought iron and a glass roof. The cash centre was in the middle of the main hall and the 'rail tracks' radiated out. Seem to think the center was a two-level affair. The low level served the main floor while the high level was for the departments on the balcony. It did the usual trick, like passing through holes in walls, etc. "Falls" in posting to Sheffield Forum, 6/9/06
SHEFFIELD. Woolworths, Haymarket. "When I was a kid, Woolworths in The Haymarket where the now closed British Home Stores is, had an overhead cash wire system." Nigel Womersle in posting to Sheffield Forum, 11/9/06
STOCKSBRIDGE. Co-op. "Young lady, experienced, wanted for cash desk; rapid wire system... Stocksbridge Band of Hope Industrial Co-operative Society, Limited, Stocksbridge, near Sheffield." Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 1 Nov. 1911, p. 2
THORNABY.? "We had one [cash carrier] in the stores at the bottom of Havlock street Thornaby." Chrissie Carter in posting to Facebook
TICKHILL. Co-op. "The Co-Operative Society (the 'Co-Op') also had a store which is now the Emporium. Here was a butchers, and a drapery department in addition to the general store. In common with most Co-Op stores of the time, cash was sent in a small cylinder by overhead wire from the counter to a central glass cubicle. Here, the value of the purchase was credited to the customer’s 'Co-Op number' for eventual calculation of the 'dividend'. Tickhill Local History Society website
WAKEFIELD. Broughs, Featherstone. (Now Jack Foultons). Cash carrier. Flo Willis in posting to Facebook
YORK. Co-op. "Young lady .. wanted for Cash Office, Pneumatic Tube System. Apply .. to the Secretary, York Co-operative Society, Ltd., 22 Railway Street, York." Yorkshire Evening Post, 19 Apr. 1940, p.4
YORK. Makins and Bean, Parliament Street. "The 'Hanson [sic] Cash Railway' which the above-named firm are having fitted up... The 'railway lines' are constructed of wood, and are suspended from the ceiling by means of steel wire. There are five 'stations', the shop assistants being, of course, the 'station masters'.. Four .. are on the ground floor and one upstairs - for the millinery department... The system .. is extensively used in America, and has been introduced with success into the leading provincial towns of the United Kingdom. Messrs. Makins and Bean are to be congratulated on their enterprise in being the first to intoduce it into York... It will prove the greatest boon to the millinery department; under the old system they had to take the cash they received downstairs, and then make a special journey back to the customer. Richmond & Ripon Chronicle, 16 Nov. 1889, p. 8
YORK. Stuff Warehouse, Davygate. "The proprietor of the Stuff Warehouse, Davygate, York, has recently erected a 'Castle Cash Railway' on his premises." Yorkshire Herald, 7 Mar. 1895, p.3
Museums
BRADFORD. Industrial Museum. One run of a Rapid Wire system with two propulsions
on display in the gift shop. The maker's plate reads "Lamson Engineering
Co Ltd, Hythe Road, London NW10". Originally from a china shop in
Seven Sisters (David Holt).
BRIDLINGTON. Boyes dept. store. Museum on 3rd floor with a reconstruction of
a cash ball system. The track is made up of three steel rods welded to
rings. There is one lift which looks original. There are also a section
of an original rail and a ball in a glass case, a pneumatic tube carrier
(stamped 19D), and photographs of a tube system and Rapid Wire system
on display.
indicates systems which
are still there (as far as I know) though they may not be working.