Chiswick High Road Box

[hb88banzai]

No, you are perfectly right in thinking the early boxes were a lighter shade of blue.

All the early pictures (pre-war and many wartime photos) show a shade decidedly lighter than the dark blue tunics of the P.C.s in the same photographs. Seems that after the war the shade got progressively darker, ending up almost as dark as the uniform.

The 1948 photo is somewhere in between the extremes.

[hb88banzai]

It's horrible resolution, but at last a view of this Box from the other direction --



Source: http://www.londonbuses.co.uk/routes/267-1.html

It is apparently available with better resolution in the "Nostalgia CD" here: http://www.londonbuses.co.uk/for-sale/nostalgia-cd.html

[Dalekoracle]

Nice find there... What a wonderful photo - and yes, a shame about the resolution.
Do we know if thats the only Box pic on the CD, or might there be others? (ie: have other box photos come from that site and may they be on the CD too?)
If we are possibly looking at multiple images, I'd be happy to split the cost of getting a copy with other people here just so we can see these Boxes in all their on street glory.
Mark

[petewilson]

I second that Mark! 

Incidentally has anybody heard from Mike since his return to the UK?

[hb88banzai]

I don't know of any others that have come from this site. I'm taking a look to see if any more are there, but there are a great many routes. So far, though, nothing.

[hb88banzai]

It's amazing I never noticed this before, but with the hi-res versions of a couple of these photos I just got from Mark/dalekoracle, look what immediately popped out at me --



F4's number plate, big as life.

This is pretty cool as well --

[hb88banzai]

A bit of light enhancement at 400% --



Same for the lock --



Might be defaced, but probably one of these --

[Dalekoracle]

The level of detail is superb, isn't it. And the box numberplates, once you know where to look do leap out at you - adding that despite looking at the pictures, I'd never even noticed the number plates! But then again, until recently, no one else was looking for them either LOL!)
Really pleased that the high quality scans are helping pin down the elusive details.
Mark

[Volpone]

I'm less interested in the lock itself than in the placement.  Common sense puts the lock on the stile and TARDIS builders often feel like the lock is too close to the divider.  Here the lock is smack dab between the stile and the rail. 

[hb88banzai]

It's a question of setback.

A standard, heavy duty lock/nightlatch had the equivalent of a 60mm setback for the cylinder from the door edge (obviously in Imperial or US measure at the time), while if you put it on the stile it would have to be one of the shorter 40mm setback locks. The Met always used the longer, full sized locks, so all Met boxes had it in the shown position, either on the rail below the level of the phone door, or on the earlier versions, on the rail above. That's why you'll never see a lock position on a Met Box on the stile in the middle of a panel area like the Newbery Box.

No question that it weakens the join a little on that particular rail, but they didn't have a lot of choice. The shorter locks were more specialized, probably cost a bit more, and weren't quite as strong or available with as great a choice of features. The longer locks were THE standard across the industry, having been established by Yale back in the 19th century. Most models of Police Box had the rail tenon extend all the way to the door edge, however, so the weakening wasn't quite as much as you might expect.

[Volpone]

Highlights some of the differences between a TARDIS prop and a Met Box.  First off, for a TARDIS prop there is absolutely no requirement for a lock to work--let alone be strong.  But if you did need to have a functional lock and you couldn't use a smaller lock you could still fudge it with a door that opens inward.  If the door opens inward, you don't need the lock to be able to clear the jam so you have more leeway in lock placement.  (Of course if you have to move the lock far enough towards the jam you can't get all four screws mounted into the door, but again, not that big a deal if it is just a TV prop.) 

And of course if the door opens outward, is made of teak, and set into a concrete frame, it would be near impossible for anyone without a key to force it--definitely harder than forcing one that opens inward. 

[hb88banzai]

Well, I'll be...

I don't know how many times I've looked for the location of this Box and it was staring me in the face all this time. I give you our old friend F4 as it appeared in 1939 --







Here is a street view of the buildings visible behind the Box --



And a closer look at the details of the building on the next corner, visible on the right side of all the frames --



These captures are from  "War and Order" - a short informational film shot by the GPO film unit. It's available on disc 2 of the 2-disc DVD set "The General Post Office Film Unit Collection Vol.3 - If War Should Come".

[Mark]

This box was a celebrity of Police Boxes. Wonder if the others were jealous?

[Dalekoracle]

Back on Feb 11 2013, Hb88Banzai posted a blurry photo showing a reverse view of the Chiswick High Road box.

Just found a clear version of the same image.



Mark D

[hb88banzai]

Calling the original version of this just "blurry" is rather kind. It was pretty bad, so wonderful to have a better view.

Here's a blowup of this clearer view of our subject --