Dial Label Information


The dial labels at the bottom of this page are available for download - just click on a thumbnail to view or right click to save to your PC.

Fonts
Many different fonts were used on dial labels over the years.

Up to 1960 or so the font was normally a normal-width Grotesque (or a condensed Grot. if the name was exceptionally long).

Circa 1960, Gill Sans bold (10 or 12 point) and something rather like a condensed Granby were used.

Then during the 1970's a more modern face something like Helvetica Condensed.

There were plenty of exceptions to these general rules; you have to study the actual labels.  All of these typefaces are available in TrueType format, although at a price.  None of them are freeby giveaways.

Andy Emerson suggests....
That in many cases good photocopies of originals look better than reproductions.  Remember my old tip of buying pre-war novels cheap at charity shops.  The end papers of these books provide a low-cost source of pre-aged paper that you can laser-print or photocopy onto.

The labels either side of this text were used on Dials No. 8 and the early Dials No. 10.  They were smaller than the labels above.

The dial label with Luton Station would have been used on House Exchange Systems and was not used at all at Luton Railway Station.  Extension phones on HES systems were always called Stations.

 
 
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Last revised: December 19, 2022

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