Paternoster

[Pete]

Having noticed a discared label in a tray of pilau rice for the "paternoster square" branch of M&S I'm wondering if anyone has actually had a go on one of these snazzy lifts. I'd love to go on one although apparently the nearest one to be is Glasgow.

Please share your other elevator / escalator tales in this thread. Thanks

[cdd]

As it happens, I'm terrified of lifts and will only take stairs (up to a limit of about 15 floors). This makes life very difficult as some places are difficult about letting you use stairs.

[Jenny]

Yes, in fact I used the very one shown in this clip regularly for three years (it's in the Attenborough Tower - named after Dave and Rich's dad - at Leicester Uni)...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXSnNzGJDdg

I never thought of it as a big deal, really.

[Gavin Scott]

My first college (in 1989 - yeesh!) was Fife College in Kirkcaldy. It had a paternoster elevator in the 8 storey college block.

Terrifying and deadly was the only way to describe it. You leapt on and leapt off the moving open carriages which were only large enough for two. On the first day there a girl called Elaine and I rode it up to the 8th floor and beyond, till it moved sideways to decend back down again.

Unfortunately it had a safety sensor to detect such illegal manoevers and it stopped and a bell rang. We were trapped in there for about 40 minutes facing a brick wall. When it finally started moving again we got off to face the engineer and janitor who gave us a row. We were late for our first acting class. It was ripped out and replaced in the early 90s.

True story.

[cdd]

True story.

Yes, I heard it on Richard and Judy.

[Mich]

Yes, in fact I used the very one shown in this clip regularly for three years (it's in the Attenborough Tower - named after Dave and Rich's dad - at Leicester Uni)...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXSnNzGJDdg

I never thought of it as a big deal, really.

I've also used that very Paternoster for three years... and considering that I didn't have any need to go up there after the first 6 months, you can read into it that i'm quite a fan!

They aren't the quickest of lifts, but they do have a tremendous capacity and most of all they are quite good fun.

Once you get used to it getting on and off the moving lift is no bigger deal than an escalator and surprisingly very few injuries.

Over and under riding is perfectly safe, although I can understand that getting stuck for 40 minutes could take the edge off the whole experience.

[Netizen]

I've been on the one at Sheffield Uni Arts Tower, a slightly unnerving experience as others will have said. I think it was mainly because it looked poorly maintained and rickety, not to mention the ominous clunking sounds and vibrations the closer you get to the top. Having said that, I've no more confidence in the modern lifts at my uni (Sheffield Hallam), which like to proclaim "Doors opening.." and "Lift overloaded" long after the journey has started .

[Sky Clearbrook]

My first college (in 1989 - yeesh!) was Fife College in Kirkcaldy. It had a paternoster elevator in the 8 storey college block.

Terrifying and deadly was the only way to describe it. You leapt on and leapt off the moving open carriages which were only large enough for two. On the first day there a girl called Elaine and I rode it up to the 8th floor and beyond, till it moved sideways to decend back down again.

Unfortunately it had a safety sensor to detect such illegal manoevers and it stopped and a bell rang. We were trapped in there for about 40 minutes facing a brick wall. When it finally started moving again we got off to face the engineer and janitor who gave us a row. We were late for our first acting class. It was ripped out and replaced in the early 90s.

True story.

Snap! I too joined Fife College in 1989 on the HND Communication Studies course. It was on the sixth floor of the high rise block, so travelling on the paternoster featured heavily in my life for two years. I used to enjoy the jump-on/jump-off requirement.

There was a bloke in my "class" ('cos let's face it, it DID seem like a school!) who possessed a certain amount of devilment. One day we alighted at the ground floor and he suddenly announced that he could no longer resist pushing the big-red-button-which-should-never-be-pressed marked "Press only in the event of an emergency". So he did it. The paternoster jerked to a halt, the alarm went off and we had to make a sharp exit as the jannies rushed to the scene of the crime.

Not very mature really, but it was a welcome diversion from the dreaded Louise Boreham who was in charge of the course.

[Gavin Scott]

Snap! I too joined Fife College in 1989 on the HND Communication Studies course. It was on the sixth floor of the high rise block, so travelling on the paternoster featured heavily in my life for two years. I used to enjoy the jump-on/jump-off requirement.

I bet we passed each other at one stage or another that year. Most of our classes were in the Adam Smith Theatre along the road.

Ahh... memories.

[Finn]

Oh god. Bad memory time.

During late 1988 to mid 1989 I was living in Cologne (in the then West Germany).

I had to go to some offices (if I recall correctly it was to register a change of address or somesuch) and hopped in one of these, never having seen one before.

Being a bit dozy, I only realised it was leaving the top floor as it was already halfway up. A panicked jump, banged head and feelings of homesickness (along with the shakes!) were the result.

I'd forgotten all about that until this topic...

[barcode]

My first college (in 1989 - yeesh!) was Fife College in Kirkcaldy. It had a paternoster elevator in the 8 storey college block.

Terrifying and deadly was the only way to describe it. You leapt on and leapt off the moving open carriages which were only large enough for two. On the first day there a girl called Elaine and I rode it up to the 8th floor and beyond, till it moved sideways to decend back down again.

Unfortunately it had a safety sensor to detect such illegal manoevers and it stopped and a bell rang. We were trapped in there for about 40 minutes facing a brick wall. When it finally started moving again we got off to face the engineer and janitor who gave us a row. We were late for our first acting class. It was ripped out and replaced in the early 90s.

True story.

Snap! I too joined Fife College in 1989 on the HND Communication Studies course. It was on the sixth floor of the high rise block, so travelling on the paternoster featured heavily in my life for two years. I used to enjoy the jump-on/jump-off requirement.

There was a bloke in my "class" ('cos let's face it, it DID seem like a school!) who possessed a certain amount of devilment. One day we alighted at the ground floor and he suddenly announced that he could no longer resist pushing the big-red-button-which-should-never-be-pressed marked "Press only in the event of an emergency". So he did it. The paternoster jerked to a halt, the alarm went off and we had to make a sharp exit as the jannies rushed to the scene of the crime.

Not very mature really, but it was a welcome diversion from the dreaded Louise Boreham who was in charge of the course.

My twin went to adam smith college, ( yes they renamed it to kirkcaldy best know man,the bloke who inverted Capitalism, strangely not a lot of Scott's seem to like this. ) strangely the tower bloke is now gone and is replace with 4 story build that was made with land at the back of the collage.
you must of live in Fife then Gavin when you were younger, as there is no way you would travel to Kirkcaldly every day for college