Heart of Wales Line Railcard

Railway ticket, APTIS type, Accountancy and Passenger Ticket Issuing System, British railways network, Heart of Wales Line Railcard, unissued, rail settlement plan number 4599/252, 1998-2002.

Inventor, and one-time stationmaster Thomas Edmondson, fundamentally improved the ticket-buying system by devising numbered, small rectangular cardboard tickets that were pocket-sized and could be changed in colour and markings to reflect ticket types and prevent fare dodging - a big problem at the time. Edmondson also invented the ticket printing machine that enabled bulk pre-printing of these cardboard tickets. These machines were so successful that by 1842 their use was widespread. The pre-printed Edmondson tickets would be stored in racking in the booking office and were used until the 1980s when the arrival of the computerised All-Purpose Ticket Issuing System, or APTIS ticket, appeared. Now passengers could use the magnetic strip on these tickets to automatically open ticket turnstiles, and so speed up the dash for the train.