Rare Metro tickets that were purchased the night before the network had opened to the public have been discovered on eBay.
The tickets, nine in total, were issued on Sunday 10 August 1980 – the eve of Metro’s first day of service.
Metro operator Nexus said that not many will be in existence and it was rare for someone to find any.
They were bought by local public transport enthusiast Ian Chapman, who collects Metro memorabilia. His collection includes over 40,000 used Metro tickets.
Ian discovered them in a large batch of tickets that he snapped up on eBay from sellers in the Isle of Wight and Hertfordshire.
He said: “It’s not often that you see Metro tickets that were sold before the network was opened. I’m thrilled to have found some.
“Back in August 1980, a lot of transport enthusiasts will have gone to the Metro stations the night before the opening to try and get the very first ticket.
“The ticket machines back then were analogue, so they will have printed the previous day’s date on them up to around 2am.
“The first section of Metro between Haymarket and Tynemouth was opened at 5am on 11 August 1980. The French-made Metro ticket machines from that time period used the old Edmondson style rail tickets printed on thin strips of yellow card.
“I saw a batch of them on eBay for £22 and I decided to buy them.
“When l looked at them more closely, I noticed that nine were printed the day before the opening, which is a quirk, and not something all that common. Two of them were issued at Monkseaton, one at Cullercoats, and the other three at Tynemouth.
“For rail enthusiasts there is great fondness for these old-style tickets. Not only because they are from the opening of Metro, but because they are the heritage style tickets that were phased out on the national railways in 1990, but were in use on Metro up to 2013.”
He added: “The Holy Grail for all collectors is to find the very first ever Tyne and Wear Metro ticket, number 000001. It will hopefully be out there somewhere. I’ll keep looking. I’ve got a passion for Metro memorabilia.”
Lynne Dickinson, station delivery manager at Nexus, said: “Metro tickets from the day before the system opened are rare. The ticket machines were switched on in the days leading up to the opening, but most people will more than likely have bought tickets on the actual day Metro began operating.
“The old-style Metro tickets are a real keepsake for enthusiasts and collectors. They’re a small part of Metro’s identity as part of everyday life in our region for 46 years.”
The old yellow Metro tickets were the standard paper tickets issued by the automatic coin operated ticket machines when the system was launched.
These durable tickets, often costing as little as 6p for a child fare in the early 1980s, were used until the transition to modern, smart ticketing and improved ticket machines in 2013.
The Edmondson ticket was a type of traditional railway ticket that was widely used on railways in Britain and many other countries from the mid 19th century until the late 20th century.
The ticket is named after Thomas Edmondson, an English stationmaster who introduced the system in 1838. His innovation helped standardise ticketing across the rapidly expanding railway network.
Image credit: Nexus
