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Jacksons, Reading

Exterior of Jacksons shop at "Jacksons Corner"

Jacksons shop at 1-9 Kings Road, Reading. Until it closed on 24 December, 2013 it still had an operational Lamson pneumatic tube system with nine stations over two floors, dating from the 1960s.

 

Station and nearby shop fittings

One of the Pneu Art stations. The box is copper-coloured and has a plastic cover - which was probably a fairly late version. Three carriers are stored to the left.

 

Interior of station showing despatch tube

Interior of the station with the lid open. The carrier is dropped into the tube on the left.

Cash desk with nine incoming and nine return tubes

Inside the cash office. Carriers arrive down one of the five tubes on the left or the four on the right and drop into the wooden trough. After the cashier has dealt with them, they are returned through the correct numbered tube in the centre.

Blower

The blower in the basement, powered by the blue electric motor in front. Air is blown out by the turbine through the tube on the right, which produces a partial vacuum in the tube on the left. This tube leads up to the cash office on the ground floor. The plate at the bottom of this tube permits loose papers to be removed from the tube, e.g. notes which have fallen out of the carriers. The sound can be heard on the Internet Archive.

Makers plate on blower

The maker's plate on the blower. The size is given as 1003.3, the machine number is 5985 and Lamson's telephone number is LADbroke 2424.

 

The system being dismantled in 2014

An earlier system at Jacksons. If this is the cash office there would appear to be only two stations.