Desktop Departure Boards with Audio Announcements

The new Departure Boards and Desktop Departure Boards are here! With a new design, and now with audio announcements, using the voice packs exactly as you would hear at a station! You can see (and now hear!) with your own railway departure times board at home to see at a glance, on Rail, Tube, Bus and Tram Stops!
Thanks to the team at UK Departure Boards for sending me one of their new boards, you can get them on their website here: ukdepartureboards.co.uk/

[@gingermany6223]

When I lived in Munich they installed a dot matrix at the tram stop across the street from my apartment. I can't tell you how great it was to look out the window to see how many minutes I had to procrastinate until I missed my tram, now with this I could miss my tram/train without getting up from my desk!

[@RoamingAdhocrat]

my girlfriend lives 100m from one of the new tram stops in Edinburgh. for weeks I was going mad trying to figure out what was making a chiming chord and an inaudible announcement. turns out the tram stops all have very loud public-address systems

[@konstantinstarke4434]

I guess your tram stop was Großhesseloher Brücke?

[@PokhrajRoy.]

I’m here for Geoff’s Unboxing Era. We should see more of that.

[@dlb9283]

What have our lives become...watching bloke unpacking stuff.🤣😂😉

[@PokhrajRoy.]

@@dlb9283 So what? It was a nice thing he unboxed.

[@JP_TaVeryMuch]

​@@dlb9283People watch all sorts of crap as you know. Anything other than engage with the assumed complexities of facing the real world.

[@richardwillson101]

I never understood "unboxing" reviews. I'm not interested in the box or how the item is packed. But I'm 100% interested in the product being reviews. Preferably after some use too.

[@JP_TaVeryMuch]

@@richardwillson101 That's what always gets me. I know that we live in a now now now world on the internet, but there's a gaping hole in the review system. I want to know how the product fares after the initial thrill has long worn off and it's had to face up to every day life. Bet a good deal of them don't make the cut at this stage.

[@awild10]

That final announcement about the delay to the Thameslink service really shows how realistic this is!

[@christian0405]

As a Dutchman I am really jealous about y'all having this magnificent work of art

[@Jothamvvw]

Yeah, I'd love to just be at home and look at a tiny screen that will just announce "Beste reizigers, de Intercity naar Ede-Wageningen, Utrecht Centraal, Amsterdam Bijlmer ArenA, Schiphol Airport en Rotterdam Centraal van zeven uur eenenvijftig vertrekt van spoor 11. _Herhaling._ De Intercity naar Ede-Wageningen, Utrecht Centraal, Amsterdam Bijlmer ArenA, Schiphol Airport en Rotterdam Centraal van zeven uur eenenvijftig vertrekt van spoor 11."

[@DuskHorizon]

@@Jothamvvw who knows, maybe you could get that super-happy Thalys voice for it.

[@Jothamvvw]

@@DuskHorizon Honestly I'd be happy with the Belgian voices too, as long as it's not French first. Also, Thalys is fully part of Eurostar now. Only the livery is still different.

[@salina3192]

I'd love to have this just to know if my train at Schiphol leaves from Spoor 5 or 6 😂

[@actua99]

I'd love to have either the current, full-detail announcement board or the old one with the flaps

[@obroni]

Thanks Geoff. You single-handedly crashed the UK Departure Boards website :)

[@dustojnikhummer]

So that is why it is down, I thought there was a region block. But that explains the Cloudflare 502 error

[@RoamingAdhocrat]

tfw watching geoff marshall makes your pc part of his botnet ;)

[@pic101]

I have to have one. Must have one. 😎 Coolest toy ever for a traveller. Why do more people not know about this?!

[@krisztianforgacs1316]

😂

[@kabongpope]

The echo on the annoucment voices is absolutely brilliant!

[@absentmindedjunk]

If it weren't for the price, I'd love to have one of these

[@Kunjo79]

Saw the comment, like you I thought I’d love one. Wondered how bad could the price be? Went to the site.... came straight off again. Bloody hell

[@Ro99]

Yeah looks so cool but a little bit pricey

[@roberthindle5146]

Small-run electronics for a niche market. Got to cover fixed development costs.

[@Vonononie]

@@Kunjo79same! 😮

[@chrisdeacon2000]

Yeah I'd love one, too but the price says "no thanks"

[@dustojnikhummer]

I wish these were open standard and worked for all countries and types of transport. I would love to have one for my local bus service, even if it was text only and I had to supply the timetable myself.

[@caw25sha]

In theory it might be possible to create a "meta web service" which consolidates others into a standard format. I wouldn't like to be the one responsible for maintaining it though.

[@marcscattolin1554]

Gtfs is basically that, it has a real-time version as well But sometimes the real-time feed is hard to access since you typically need an API key

[@dustojnikhummer]

@@marcscattolin1554 If it could be hooked into these boards it would be great. My local bus schedule isn't the best, so if I could have a departure board at all times, no need to constantly check on my phone.

[@Cowcow211]

I'd love to see one that could be setup for your loval airport.

[@gmfinc18]

I just checked and it does support one other countries rail service, at a glance it looks like all they need is an open api and they can integrate it, my guess is a lot of them are paywalled or not open enough to be used like this. Maybe find your local services open api and then ask them if they can include it in a future firmware release

[@ekuldoo]

A fun gadget for the rail enthusiast but at £179 plus an extra £75 for all the voice packs, is sadly outside of many people's price range, especially when the warranty doesn't fully cover broken pixels or pixel discolouration, and the LCD lifespan is only 4 years.

[@Saturnuria]

Plus an extra £4.99 every month if you subscribe to the “Premium” tier to access a lot of the cool features. I appreciate it’s probably a very-low volume product, created in a shed, but the bill of materials should be nowhere close to the upfront cost.

[@ekuldoo]

@Saturnuria I just looked at this and it seems the premium is even required to change the colour and font and for the audio announcement, which is a bit cheeky. Definitely a low volume product but I feel that they are driving potential customers away with these extra charges. If the price point was closer to £80 then I'd probably consider buying one.

[@richardwillson101]

​@ekuldoo the cost is justified by the "low volume" IMO. If it went "high volume" mass production, then I too would think £80 about right.

[@Bigaitch]

I was really interested in one of these but the price is something that puts me off...it is very overpriced. Shame really as it could be fun.

[@AnnabelSmyth]

And realistically, what does it do that Citymapper doesn't, apart from the voice announcements? I know I'm sounding as though I have shares in Citymapper - I don't, but I do use it almost daily!

[@gibsonms]

Ngl if someone in the office got one of these then I’d be programming it for Reddish South - without a doubt.

[@thesalopgardener]

The excitement when the first announcement came through was absolutely fantastic.

[@nickbartlett5928]

In 2000 I was the Chief Clerk at the Information Production Unit for South West Trains at Southampton Central. We produced all the Station Departure Posters, Pocket Timetables and Station Operating Working Books for SWT. I was then seconded to a joint Railtrack / SWT team to come up with a real-time Customer Information System (C.I.S.) for all of our stations. At the time we only had standalone TV screens, mechanical Solari Flaps and 'Finger boards' at stations. These were operated by the local station staff and were not joined together as a system. It was proposed that the new system would use the Train Service database feed. We visited every SWT station and measured up each one, to work out how many new screens and speakers were needed. Four companies tendered for the work, and Amey-Datel won the contract. I was then tasked with developing the screen layouts and recorded announcements. Don't forget this was long before Realtime Trains had been invented, that we now take for granted. So your mini C.I.S. screen looks very familiar to me!

[@ChrisGBusby]

I have the big 1m one on my wall and love it :) Got it set to my local station (Hampden Park) with both platforms announced by Elinor Hamilton on the additional pack. I can now see why our level crossing is one of the busiest in the world!

[@LeoStarrenburg]

Love this ! In a way it reminds me of the older TomTom nav sets where you could upload your own personalized instructions. Have a board in your car and set the filter to delays only, could make you feel smug when doeing 70+ mph or comforted when in a traffic jam ...

[@unluckydisclaimer4686]

London transport museum needs to stock these

[@greentravels2850]

All it needs is a “Mind the gap” announcement!

[@jamesgilbart2672]

Brilliant. A miniature version would add a lot of fun to a model railway!

[@PopeLando]

Ah, excellent. A departure board just like we've always wanted, but in a miniature version, for those of us who have, well, significant others. Who were less keen on a large electronic piece of platform or street furniture attached to a wall in the house.

[@JP_TaVeryMuch]

Traintech does one small enough to fit inside an OO gauge IET coach like the destination screens in real life next to the door. You could probably pin it behind your lapel. Or use it as a tie pin!

[@morzee94]

I really wish these cost a reasonable amount. I think loads of people would want one but £150 for what is essentially a small novelty item is unjustifiable for most people like me.

[@JAY_K423]

The reason for the price tag is that they're hand made within the UK and not mass produced within China.

[@stazzaproductions]

​@@JAY_K423 ​ Still, Not including bulk shipping orders of parts from china, they are spending AT MOST £45 on making it and that is extremely generous, They could quite easily build them within like 10 minutes and then mass upload the software. It's worth £75 AT MOST, As they could easily get bulk shipping from the manufactures of Rasberry Pi and the LCD Screen used which would half the cost to make it

[@notakeyring]

the amount of joy geoff expresses here is honestly i could watch this all day on loopp

[@toast99bubbles]

I got the original Desktop Departures thanks to your video on them years ago. I also have a large one as a bedroom clock. The audio stuff is pretty fun.

[@Rheilffordd]

You were the perfect person to review this revised product to the masses!

[@roderickmain9697]

I love a great gizmo and this is one. Grinning at the tube echo too. Love it.

[@robertlalor8090]

You may never leave home again Geoff😁😁😁. Great little gadget. Thanks for sharing

[@gibbo9089]

Spookily I was looking at these departure boards yesterday remembering Geoff had reviewed the large one a few years back. Wasn't sure whether to get one then lol and behold..... Have made my mind up now and ordered the desktop version.

[@daniel_dsouza_]

That is cool, and as a regular commuter on the Underground and a bit of a geek about Dot matrix information boards, I would love to get one to put in my Pocket to keep a track of time...

[@andrewdolinskiatcarpathian]

This years must have Christmas gift. But remember, the departure board is not just for Christmas 🎅👍😀 Looks and sounds brilliant. 👏👏

[@steveb4666]

I just got a departure board for Christmas…. And it is brilliant. Really good quality and alot of fun to play with!

[@kiera4136]

this is absolutely beautiful, thank you for sharing! I must get one now

[@guillaumemaurice3503]

Thank you for sharing this Geoff that was very entertaining. ❤

[@HamishG199]

I have a large one of these and I never knew that you could have announcements thanks Geoff

[@axolotlgamer615]

Love desktop departures Got one my own LOVELY.

[@vinnyethanol]

I'm not a train guy, but I think that's really neat. Happy for you, Geoff!

[@LKBRICKS1993]

Excellent video Geoff very interesting to watch.

[@Renasense]

Christmas present for my Son sorted. Thanks Geoff!

[@transponderings]

Absolutely brilliant! I need this in my life.

[@the-real-iandavid]

I think an absolutely must would be the ability to record your own announcements. My world would be complete! 🤗

[@eastlancsesteem]

Awesome! Very fun and exciting to use!

[@_Michal_Michal_]

I need to get myself some London Underground or National Rail souvenirs 😎

[@DJ_BROBOT]

THIS IS AMAZING...WISH WE HAD THIS IN THE STATES. I AM JEALOUS!!

[@GilesWendes]

No trains for you! lol

[@simonmcowan6874]

Wow, what a giggle, love it.

[@martinsyrett2551]

Brilliant device…. How surreal, my nearest mainline station is Yatton, and I used to get the tube from Morden when I lived there. Both places shown on the departure board .

[@DenkyManner]

That's such a lovely little thing. I don't know why I like miniature things but I do

[@geirmyrvagnes8718]

Oh look, a little baby version of a normally bigger thing! That is pretty much the definition of "cute", if you think about it. Of course that is lovely! 😅

[@bazzlerg]

I don't normally comment, but this is a superb little piece of kit. It's a little pricey for me at the moment, but it would be great to have at home as we live very close to a train station. Brilliant piece of work for regular train users and enthusiasts.

[@badbob1982]

I don’t think I could handle the continual See It, Say It, Sorted!

[@johnjinks4972]

Geoff, What an excellent video. I know it has a serious use but what an amazing little box of fun. I will be back to watch more but sorry to tell you that I am leaving your channel to go and order one. You really have made my day. Let me think.... a model railway to go with it, that sounds like a good idea.

[@DAEMTAM]

This is so awesome! I wish i had one when I lived in the Uk! I wish i could get something like this gor Sydney light rail!

[@axolotlgamer615]

Want to make it clear For changing settings you need to buy premium

[@V6B60X]

And worth mentioning that it's not only the advanced settings that are locked behind a subscription, it's literally every setting which is a shame as I just wanted to customise some small details for it to look similar to the boards at my local station

[@jacquelineharrod6386]

I want one of these! Fantastic.

[@johannesofie777]

These names means so much to me these days. I live in Norway, but I am currently writing in all of the bus stops in London into Google's version of Excel (after copying and pasting the tube stations from Wikipedia or a place like that). I have gone from stop to stop in alphabetical order in my city, Oslo and Bergen, but I wanted a challenge. Your city have so many more lines than the cities in Norway (my city has 3 main lines, 2-3 in between and some smaller ones). I really enjoy the time getting to know the place names in London, there are some funny ones. I have used different configurations when I go alphabetically, sometimes on foot, sometimes by car on a typical week day. I am on bus rout 60-something now, so I still have a lot of work to do before the other part begin.

[@AnnabelSmyth]

Yes, but the T-bane is a great deal nicer than the Underground! We were in Oslo - actually, we were outside Oslo - in June, and used the T-bane to get into town and to explore a bit of the suburb we were in. A great service!

[@johannesofie777]

@@AnnabelSmyth Not the point here, but I have been to both (mostly Oslo of course, I have only been in London 2 days) and it depends on the time of day. I only go by bus a couple of times a year in my own city and there it definitely depends on if this is right after schools ending or at other times of the day

[@acebatlerx4841]

I didn't know about this. I am glad to know and I really want one.

[@michellebell5092]

That’s the best bit, to have the announcements I’m your home, and could you have it configured to your iPhone, so you could even listen to announcement on the move. Better than music lol. Fantastic

[@the1gip]

These look great, but I think Geoff has unwittingly spotted a bit of a bug with the tube announcements. If you're waiting at Tooting for a train to Morden, it's definitely not going to go "via Bank"! Nevertheless, very polished and impressive.

[@chrisadye1590]

Yes I spotted that too. Obviously for the first half of the route from North London it will be described as Morden via Bank. My guess is that once south of the river the boards have been programmed to drop the "via Bank" bit, but this departure board just uses the train description. It must be difficult to eliminate all the individual quirks of the system

[@daleharper2007]

My Son's fiancé noticed that as well 👍👍

[@RainhamRailEnthusiast]

Well now I definitely want one!! 😊

[@Northerner_Transport_Hub]

Looks really cool but I do not have 150 quid spare for one of these but I really wish I could Because it gets the information off from Realtime Trains it brings up freight trains as if they're passenger ones and shows all the stations they're going through 😂😂

[@melchestermodelrailway]

Wow, incredible!

[@davegreenlaw5654]

Oh, I would just *LOVE* to have one of those here in Toronto, seeing how I live close to both a TTC subway AND GO Transit train station.

[@Chris.stew68]

Wow how brilliant 👍👍

[@keebeomnam5807]

That’s just amazing!! I’m definitely gonna buy this 😄

[@nigelh4617]

Abso-ruddy-lutely brilliant.

[@siobhan28483]

Tooting Broadway, my home station! This would be a great gadget to have, just a shame it’s so expensive!

[@alanclarke4646]

Hi Geoff. I love your moquette cushions 😊

[@jgodfrey546]

Brilliant!!!

[@asac159]

Love it - want one!

[@susanshepherd7093]

This would be so useful for people who are blind or have limited sight, particularly as it does tube, buses and trams as well as trains.

[@scullytawoody4852]

That is so cool. I love the audio. Great video geoff

[@kennythedragon47]

i could see this as a fun thing for model railroaders

[@justeatingbigmacs]

thanks for sharing this i’ve just ordered one, i know it’s a bit pricey but i don’t drink or smoke so i thought i’ll treat myself

[@Deanrwp]

Hi Geoff this is absolutely brilliant I have never ever seen something as awesome as this, I will be buying one of these Desktop Departure Boards for my son who is a Train enthusiast, he will absolutely love it…..more to the point I might even buy myself one as well, how cool will it be to take out with you and just go to a Train Station, I can power this up using my MagSafe Powerbank and use my iPhone or iPad as a Hotspot for the Internet connection! Thanks for another great video Geoff! 😊

[@travelswithjess]

I would like to have one these, they look so cool! But £149.99 is way too expensive for a small device!

[@LiveSteamNick]

So how much did your phone cost at roughly the same size.

[@travelswithjess]

@@LiveSteamNick I think it was a lot less than that but I can’t remember from off the top of my head.

[@kellydalstok8900]

@@LiveSteamNick A phone may be more expensive, but it has a lot more functions too.

[@LiveSteamNick]

@@kellydalstok8900 it’s not about the phone being as capable, it’s primarily designed to accompany a model railway to add an element of authentic realism. This a phone cannot do.

[@stazzaproductions]

@@LiveSteamNick Functionality is key also Research & Development + Manufacturing Costs, there is no justifable reason for this product to be that price, a Smart Phone which could have millions if not billions of £'s worth of research and development, manufacturing etc. into can justify its price and functionaility

[@furryrug5998]

I don't know why but I really need one of these in my life! 😊

[@intruder313]

I want this as an App that keys in for all the services you mentioned AND Aircraft!

[@andreawoelke]

Looks very cool although I think it needs a sound on/off button so if the phone rings you can quickly switch it off; or you may want the sound on while you are having breakfast to see how trains are going at your local station but switch it off before you leave without having to log onto your computer.

[@fnaticmatt20]

Big fan of your content mate love it! Thanks so much for all the videos :) P.S. was at Euston last night and 730s for West Midlands Rail have enter service (how exciting!)

[@UK.RoadsCyclingandTransport]

I love it, I have to get one!!

[@amancalledkev]

Something that I didn’t know I needed!

[@Nick-Antoniou]

Amazing!

[@SouthLightFX]

Bloody love it!

[@soulheavenmusicuk]

Great fun but too expensive

[@nickhiscock8948]

They need this in Australia!

[@chrisroberts2266]

I will be saving for one of those

[@PeterGaunt]

Excellent! I love it as it is but perhaps for their next upgrade to this they could add GPS location? Or maybe 'favourite stations'?

[@matthewhendy5785]

I never knew this even existed. Now it’s something I’ve always wanted.

[@andymartin5374]

These are fantastic - but £150?!

[@hyttennis]

This is so cool ❤

[@JP_TaVeryMuch]

If Russell has gone as far as to record his voice for every destination available, I hope he's used some sort of computer - wizardry or he'll have got no sleep. If he indeed has, how long before the next update where you can record your very own voice too? When that happens, the world's his oyster. Card

[@PokhrajRoy.]

THE T-SHIRT IS AWESOME 🤩

[@cmaburns]

I love the desktop boards .. though haven’t needed SD card for quite a while with these

[@KaliTragus]

If there was more than six trains a week here I'd love one of these. I now just know which train noise is the passenger rail and I like to comment on whether it's late or on time.

[@richardharrison6993]

Love it!

[@davidpiper3652]

I need one these, I don't really but it's so good.

[@riddypr]

... yeah, i absolutely want one of these

[@ericprice3225]

I love the look of these, now I just have to convince the wife it is a worthwhile purchase...

[@favioar]

I DO NEED ONE NOW !!!!!!! 😭

[@212Piet]

I would love to have this for other countries

[@regchan]

got 2 of these its great

[@mogwaay]

That's every London train buff Xmas sorted!

[@PokhrajRoy.]

5:45 OMG THIS IS AWESOME

[@physx_yt1062]

Love this and I actually have a spare LCD screen laying around, so I might hack something similar together, just for the fun of it.

[@jpnrndr7983]

Woah thats awesome