That’s good - especially when they were around 30 years old at the time to still be retained. 🙂 Would be good to see those ones at some point! I’ve known of a few places to do this. After all escalators can be moved easily so it’s a shame it’s not done more. I am sure the lakeside Next also did this with one of their Thyssen escalators years back - the lower floor ones are now together underneath the tall upper floor ThyssenKrupp Velinos, however I remember years ago the up one was at the back of the store on the right but the down was in the same place. Definitely much better to reposition them than dispose and replace with generic junk. 😅

Yeah they’re fairly nice for sure. This type wasn’t very common in England, but I have filmed a few more and also some similar ones abroad in a few places - coming soon. 🙂

@@aventra710 It sure is. 🙂 This station was massively renovated (beyond recognition really) just in time for the 2012 Olympics so I suppose that’s why it was given escalators. It’s lovely now. Most stations on these lines are so close to or above ground level, a few more have escalators linking to other lines like Westminster, Victoria and Monument, but not directly for exits. As you mention Sloane Square I’ll see if I can find my videos and post now 👍

@@idl3k_elev Nice. These were very common across Europe. I’ll try to film some more soon - many had these logos on but some places had blank landing plates (either was a choice). They ran from about 1990/91 to 1998 when the original Velino came about. 😄

@@aventra710 Yeah I knew those lifts well. Reliability wasn’t good at all on the glass lifts after the mod - I think that’s why Kone was given the maintenance and new equipment contracts back after as they’d do a much better job - and then replaced the car park lifts fully. The original (green cab) lifts in Car park 2 were reliable as they were entirely original but the car park 1 (orange/ red cab) lifts were messed about with in the early 2000s when they changed the floors from numbers to letters and the then-maintenance company (not Kone) installed a generic button set. The logic was original but the alterations sometimes seemed to cause them to go wrong. I remember getting to floors, a lift would announce the floor and stop but not open, then start up again and open on a different floor 😅 I think they should have re-modded the glass ones at the same time!

@@EscalatorsAnywhere I believe the Car Park 1 lifts were done around 2006 ish to letters, I do miss the custom drucegrove on those. "Level A, Car Park Level" The left hand BDFJ one used to get confused which way it was going so did what the old TMS mod in Primark did "Going down, going up". The temp Primark during the rebuild retained the old Evans but it got a DAC mod. Shame Poundland didn't take both floors as I thought they would have done. Otis escalators and Evans lift look to still be present as unit is now split so upstairs can be let out seperately. The food court lift in Castle Mall needs some TLC I think (maybe new buttons and cab), glass ones would suit a KCE mod. I have found KCE if set up decently to be pretty efficient, take the mod on the Selfridges TMS Lifts in Manchester for example.

@@aventra710 Yeah Lakeside was one of the first major malls to use RTK-B escalators as it opened in 1990 which was their release year. Many are now gone so I’ve been told but I last went in 2019. Before I started filming for on here I was using another camera and I recorded them all (original) and I’ll still have the (probably not very good) videos somewhere. Think the only original escalator I didn’t get to was Boots as that was EcoModded earlier. That one and the 2 in HOF were RTKs (some of the last made). Debenhams had 4 RTK KBS/LBS too but apparently they’re gone now M&S took the unit. I’ll probably go back one day but not for a while. 😄

I’m not sure. I did find an old brochure once many years ago with a few of their older models on but it seems to have been taken offline. I can’t remember. These prototype velinos you mention - please take a look at my video of the 18x escalators at C&A in Stuttgart and see if they’re the same type... If they are, they’re a separate type that came out in 1990/91 and were incredibly common across Europe. But of course without seeing, I don’t know. If you can show me them I will have a look. 😄 The actual ‘Velino’ type, the earliest I have seen are from 1998 as you say. We had quite a few in England but they weren’t as common as O&K and Kone or Otis escalators were around the same time…

@@EscalatorsAnywhere You can take a look at those "pre-Velino" Thyssen escalators that I've filmed in Singapore: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-1Q5iJDInNHc.html Those were the only known Thyssen type I knew and saw so far. Unfortunately almost all of them were replaced into Schindler, leaving just a handful of them still remain in the building. Oddly enough, those Thyssen escalators were installed by GEC Singapore according to a newspaper article I found online, which is unusual considering GEC at that time mostly supplied Express and FIAM branded elevators in Singapore. The oldest Thyssen Velino escalators I've seen so far were from 1998 in the Norwegian town of Narvik. Norway has LOADS of Thyssen escalators, from the usual 1980s type to the Velino ones. It's interesting how the Velino, which was originally developed by Thyssen in the late 1990s, continues to be produced today under the TKE brand and remains one of the longest products produced by TKE along with other models like Tugela (mid duty), Victoria (heavy duty) and Orinoco (moving walks), except the Loire moving walks which have since been discontinued. Oh, and all of those products were named after famous natural rivers and waterfalls from around the world.

Sorry if this sounds slightly offtopic, but have you ever heard or seen Graaff branded escalators from Germany? Someone told me that this rather obscure company had only produced about 43 escalators, of which 30 of them were shipped to Indonesia in the mid 1970s, and they had colored segmented handrails as opposed to the traditional rubber ones. Sadly those Graaff escalators in Indonesia have long gone as the building where they were installed was heavily damaged by a fire in the 1980s and finally demolished. Very little is known about this Graaff company though, and it's difficult to find any information about it on the internet.

@@idl3k_elev Hi, I looked at the video in the link you sent me. 😄 So, those escalators are that 1990/91 to 1998 type that I mentioned. They’re just in a nicer, shinier finish and of course appear unbranded. There were many in Europe and the UK - I will try to film more. Unfortunately many of my retail environment videos do not get uploaded since the buildings play loud, copyrighted music and I don’t know how to remove this. It’s a shame they’ve been replaced as they’re becoming rare now here too.

@@idl3k_elev I haven’t - I’m afraid. There was also another small German manufacturer called Rathgeber that’s also disappeared nearly without trace. Do you have any photos of the originals or a link to a picture of the building they were in? I wonder if they were a distributor for another company such as Rheinstahl that also used a number of different smaller brand names in other countries (In England all of the Rheinstahl escalators were distributed by Marryat Scott - who’s escalator division was later acquired by Thyssen, but lift division acquired by Kone). It could be that, or just a really small company that never took off. I’ll try and have a look sometime too. 👍

Yeah you’re right there, this was Thyssen’s late 80’s commercial type. The next generation model from this came out in 1990/91 which M&S also used in a number of stores. The other store here used their early 80’s type (with the different patterned steps and the distinctive ‘tap tap tap’ sound). They were unfortunately replaced with newer TKE Velinos a few years ago.

@@idl3k_elev Sort of - but really it’s the glass sided version of the RT-HD (though not all are written as RT-HDLS, strangely, despite being identical - some are written RTHD85…). The aesthetic design resembles the RT-LS more than the RTK - which I believe is why they gave it that name code. The RT-LS finished production in 1982/83 and the RTK started in 1983. The earliest RT-HDLS’s I have found are from 1985, running up til the RTV-HD’s came along in 1994. 🙂

@@EscalatorsAnywhere I see now. So RT-HD was a semi heavy duty type? And was RTW a more heavy duty type? I've filmed two before in Kiel, Germany (in the Ostseekai cruise terminal), and I think that vintage 1979 O&K escalator in Surabaya, Indonesia that I've mentioned before was also RTW (sadly I just found out that escalator is now gone).

@@idl3k_elev RT-HD was their full ‘off the shelf’ HD type from the 80s til the RTV series came out in 1994. I’d not come across any RTWs before (I’ve been on some the same as those in Kiel, but not seen the serial plates), the likelihood is that if they were from the 1970s, they were an older type code and the RT-HD replaced them. In Stockholm’s T-Bana and on Budapest’s metro, there’s also a few huge O&Ks listed as RT-HD-M5. I believe that’s a ‘custom’ version extra heavy duty for metro environments - built into the station structure with a separate machine room underneath rather than an off the shelf in truss variant…

It is odd but I believe it’s always been an option. I prefer the normal older style though. 😄 These ones are only 3-4 months newer than the ones in their Cambridge store and those have normal landing plates. That said I’ve found RTVs from 2000 like this from original too. There’s another unusual landing plate design Kone did that I’ve found in a few places across Europe too.

I know you do, haha. 😄 Glad these are original still. It’s a shame that the RTK-B’s in the main centre were modded slightly and had their logos removed years back, and all the lifts in the mall changed. Also, I’ve found a couple more sets like this coming soon in different Boots stores too.

⁠@@EscalatorsAnywherenice one, I remember when they did all the lifts and escalators in 2014. The glass ones done in 2012 and the MonoSpace to TKMaxx replacing another TMS in 2005. You ventured over to Roy’s yet. They have some O&Ks from 1996.

@@konemseries12 Yeah same here. Would’ve been better if they installed a separate 2 floor lift to Tk Maxx and retained the original. I preferred how things were before and the architecture like the fountain under the stairs outside Boots. I’ve been to Roy’s a couple of times over the years but not filmed. The City Debenhams was also great as that had 10 (4x 1988 RTK, 6x 1998 RTV-G and GE). I think I have a video I took in 2019 somewhere but never uploaded. One day I’ll find it hopefully… I won’t be back there for a while but if you return it would be good to see a full up and down ride at Roy’s with serial plates. I think they were German built ones from memory - it’s likely as in 1996 the Yorkshire factory was in full swing producing for London’s JLE. 😄

@@EscalatorsAnywhere oh yes, shame we lost Debenhams. I was annoyed when they gave the TMS in there Lester controls. There are plenty of old photos online of Castle Mall before it was changed dramatically. I even found a photo showing the larger Car Park 2 before it was demolished for the cinema. I remember M&S before its large refurb with the older lifts modded by Schindler. They had received many mods including some TMS probably in the mid 90s. The gen2s do struggle at times with numbers in there. Jarrold was good as well before the Lester mod of the big lift. I believe a lot of the now rebuilt car parks had express Lifts and the old N&N hospital did as well. The new one is full of 2000 VFs with a lot of bodged interiors

@@konemseries12It was a bad mod. Although, that lift was actually not a real TMS. While Kone modded it in 1998 when the top floor was opened to the public, it was actually an old OTIS from when the store was built. It would’ve been great if it was still original. Debenhams was the UK high street’s biggest loss. That and BHS. Both had so many good lifts and escalators in their stores and they were nice places to spend time.

Yeah I knew of those ones well although I’ve not been to that station for a few years now. There were alot of them around London, and those ones were incredibly similar to that type here, if not the same. OTIS did a few different types so there are some more modern ones too, and then O&K did a similar thing for the Jubilee line to their own designs. There are a few reasons they survive so long but mainly because they were custom built and are designed to be extra heavy duty. The escalators are built into the structure of the stations (rather than just installed flat-packed like in a lot of metros), and they have their own motor room or ‘turbine hall’ underneath so it’s a huge heavy duty motor with a lot of torque which can deal with the strain much better than off the shelf variants. They maintain them well and replace or rebuild the steps every so many years as they wear down, but the physical unit lasts years… On these ones you can actually feel the heat coming up from under the steps at the top and they have a lovely old rubber smell. Reminds me of a fair few old escalators I used to like riding until they were removed or the buildings demolished. ☺️

@@idl3k_elev These were quite common in England, and there were a few in Germany too. But most places except for those, these escalators were fairly rare. These were released in 1990, same as the RTK-B, essentially they used all of the same running gear and drive ⚙️ that the RTK-B used (and had the option of the same LCD display with the ‘System OK-Tronik 301’ computer) - but they had a more sleek / glamorous design. They were O&K’s first escalator without a metal rail between the handrails and the glass balustrades. Production of these and the RTK-B was ceased (except for a couple of US examples) in 1994, when the RTVs were introduced and became the standard type. 😄 Also, they had a slight different name (RTK-LBS) for the ones with handrail arcs out to the truss ends similar to the RTv naming system. Even more strange, I found some in Finland (6x) where the serial plates said ‘RTK-B 1000’.

@@EscalatorsAnywhere Thanks for the information! Hopefully I can see an O&K RTK-KBS someday. Also do you know what does the B digit means on the RTK-B model?

@@idl3k_elev That’s ok. 😄 And the B is there to just signify it’s a mid-model change from the original RTK. It was not so different to be given a new name, but it was different enough to need distinguishing (different drive, system computer and higher balustrades etc). It would have been the same as being called the RTK Mark 2 for example. 👍

@@EscalatorsAnywhere I see, because I once filmed a pair of O&K KONE RTK-B in Singapore and was wondering about the difference between that and the regular RT-K type. So it's basically like an improvement of the original type.

@@idl3k_elev Yes.

They are very unusual for this type of Otis escalator - I don’t think I have seen them like this anywhere else, but I might be wrong. The only other escalators we had in Europe with flat ended handrail arcs were the late 70’s to early 80’s O&K RT-LS which are all nearly gone now unfortunately. 😄

It is odd for sure as like you say correctly Sabiem didn’t make their own escalators. 😅 What’s even more strange is that in some places, like Milan Malpensa Airport, and on the 4x 1997 stations on the Milan Suburban railway (PTA Venezia, PTA Garibaldi, Milano Repubblica and Milano Lancetti )- the same order had a mix of O&K Fiam and O&K Sabiem branded escalators. I did like Fiam’s own escalators which were in production til the late 1980s. Unfortunately the last on Rome’s metro and I believe Milan’s have now been replaced (by 2022), with the oldest I found in Rome recently being some 1990 O&K Fiam RT-HDs and a few 1990s Otis’s. I unfortunately didn’t film the metro ones when I visited years ago, and the ones in England I knew of are also now gone.

You mean the ones in England that were branded as FIAM Express? Someone else have filmed them, and I think so far those were the only known FIAM Express branded escalators.

@@idl3k_elev Almost! ☺️ So there were a couple branded as ‘Express FIAM’ but that was because they had a brief agreement to distribute FIAM escalators. There was one at Topman/Topshop in Southend on Sea I believe I remember but that was ages ago I rode that! But actually in England quite a few appeared unbranded because the name was under a rubber coating on the floor plate. The House Of Fraser in Victoria, London had 6 until around 2017 when Jackson replaced them. The Manchester Arndale had some until the 1990s but O&K replaced them etc. They were about but still rare. And that H.O.F store I mentioned had Express lifts. It was an engineer that told me the brand originally, as I was unsure because I’d not visited Italy at that point. But when I visited Italy they were identical (just wider than most I found). Naples had 8x in the COIN department store branded as FIAM I filmed years ago but never uploaded because of loud music playing and I just found 8x unbranded but identical in the Rome store that I uploaded also with 2x 1999 O&K Kone Rtv-T escalators to the top floor ☺️. If interested that’s the store at San Giovanni, Rome Italy 😄

@@EscalatorsAnywhere Yeah, Express Lift (which was owned by General Electric Company) had a relationship with FIAM, just like Marryat & Scott with Sabiem and Rheinstahl Eggers Kehrhahn in the UK. In fact, FIAM lifts in Singapore, Malaysia and British Hong Kong were distributed by GEC, who had a representative office in each of those mentioned region. Notably, most FIAM lifts in Hong Kong were almost always branded as FIAM GEC, and later OTIS would slapped their name over the FIAM logo since OTIS took over the maintenance contract following the acquisition of Express Lift from GEC in 1997 (OTIS acquired GEC Hong Kong in 1999). However, no single Express FIAM branded escalator has been found in Asia so far apart from the regular FIAM ones; some of the well known ones were at the Hong Kong General Post Office and the now closed Mong Kok Wet Market in Kowloon. On the other hand, apart from FIAM stuff, GEC Singapore had also sold very small number of SAN-LINE escalators made by Philippines based company Permaline Industries.

@@idl3k_elev It’s interesting looking back and realising how many companies had agreements and partnerships in the past. I would just prefer it if some of the smaller companies still existed so that we had a greater variety of escalator types like before! 😄

Yeah they were very rare in the UK. There were a few across Europe - most are gone but I’m hopeful to find a few to film. When I went to Helsinki recently I was disappointed to find all the ones I’d seen before had been replaced or heavily EcoModded. I expect maybe the smaller towns and cities could have a few left, but as they were rare parts are probably difficult to find…

I remember vaguely how it was before too - I remember the travelator out was a 1980s O&K the same as the ones to the shuttle train, though I always remembered the one that the inbound Schindler replaced as a metal balustraded Otis. I may be wrong. 😅 I do remember the older escalators in the terminal and in fact I did find some old pictures online - they were O&K, again old metal sided ones probably from around 1980. The small escalator you mention up from the domestic arrivals section is the same sort (it’s a 1976 O&K originally). There’s a video coming. It’s silver now but I am sure the metal balustrades were blue originally. Outside by the car park where the travelators start - before Kone replaced the escalators in 2004/5 they were 70s ones too with black steps and the ‘Keep Clear Of Yellow Lines’ warnings that used to be common! 😄

Yeah I noticed a couple of gates blocked off when I was there. So have they retained the same original escalators, since the ones to the gates are actually in a really good condition still? It’d be really nice to be able to get taken around by a staff member and allowed to film every single one. But I can’t see that happening… I agree it’d be better leaving the escalator and stairs for both gates in the event repairs are needed! 😄

Same. That said there wasn’t much door motor noise on these (they’d probably had new ones of the original type recently as Kone still maintains them). There were a fair few lifts here - all the others including in the car park (which I’ve uploaded) had Novel elements fixtures in and out. I do miss seeing the rare half height panels like the Castle Mall ones had though!

@@EscalatorsAnywhere they were rare, I wish I was able to get my hands on those but sadly was not able to. I have got a few lift parts though including an Otis push button and keyswitch (with key), dewhurst keyswitch (with key), KONE M series keyswitch (with key) the Kaba type used for car preference on the Castle Mall ones, two otis inspection controls and a MonoSpace cabinet slam lock (with key). I also miss the Drucegrove voice fitted when they changed from numbers to letters in Car Park 1 “Level A, Car Park Level” and “Level J, Shopping Mall, Exit Level” not forgetting the left hand BDFJ lift always getting confused which direction it was going when they fitted the voice. I still remember getting in the left hand odd lift in Car Park 1 on Level 3 and it having a lock failure meaning it flung its doors open and shut multiple times with the classic chime. It gave up after a while and we had to wait ages for the right hand lift.

@@konemseries12 Yeah I remember those lifts and the voices getting confused! Also remember one of the glass lifts getting stuck with its doors continuously opening and closing. Plus the glass ones seemed to go into nudge mode within 5-10 seconds originally! You’d like the lifts in the Prague Zizkov TV tower and some 16 floor ones I found in a hotel in Germany once. I’ll find those videos at some point. 😄

@@EscalatorsAnywhere I managed to get the Car Park 2 Right Hand lift to nudge. I haven’t nudged any lifts in years. The MonoSpace in my former school once did that (the doors were quite dodgy on that after the caretaker used some force on them when trying to rescue some kids who had tripped the governor out by jumping in it). If only the caretaker spotted the triangle key slot.

@@EscalatorsAnywhere the glass lifts now they have been refurbished by TK are not that interesting. They do still feel quite clunky though which is good. Shame a certain person pratted about in them recently with a dewhurst key when he visited Norwich. Same with the left hand MonoSpace in car park 2 putting that on priority to get to the locked floors.

Cheers for the info. It would be nice to visit there one day for sure! 😄

Cheers for the info! 😄 Yeah I couldn’t believe how many escalators were here. It’s a similar situation at the next stop on the RER line (Magenta / Gare Du Nord). And on top of that, KONE just put out a video of them installing 56 escalators in one single new station right outside the main Olympic venues to open this month. I’ll have to go back!… 😅 Next time I go back I’ll try flying the Heathrow - Orly route rather than into CDG. I think it’s also a fairly big airport so will be worth seeing!

Thanks for the info. I’ll update the description. 😄

Yes it is the one. That’s in the underground section. 😄 The normal outside Travelators were 1980s O&Ks and have now been replaced with Kone TransitMaster 185s, and the middle express walkway has been replaced with a normal but very long ThyssenKrupp Orinoco - this unfortunately wasn’t working on my visit, just the Kones.

So much has been modernised in the last few years I expect because of the upcoming Olympics. They did a lot of the same kind of thing in London pre - the 2012 games. I think if places have been planning refurbishments, construction and vanity projects, they probably get some initiative to do it beforehand. There was a video Kone just put out a week ago where they installed 56 escalators in a single new station in Paris, due to open later this month - that's just outside the main games venues area. It's incredible the amount of investment hosting the games seems to generate...

This should hopefully explain. I have found other sites saying the same in the past too. Basically Montgomery escalators were Thyssen escalators made under licence for the US Market. Eggers Kehrhahn (later Rheinstahl Eggers Kehrhahn) was the founding escalator company, bought out by Thyssen in 1973. There’ll be slight subtle differences in design because of different codes and health and safety regulations in local markets…😄 elevation.fandom.com/wiki/Montgomery

Not quite, but close enough. 😅 I travel a fair bit though.

What Town or City do You live in, I live in Bristol.

I’ll have a look through my videos at some point - I think I did, but it’s in a separate clip. 😄