Platform Ticket Machine
We all work hard to make our track and locomotives as realistic and interesting as possible. Many of us build beautiful coaches, wagons, railcars and so forth. But if, like me, you have to do this on a tight budget and with limited space, you cannot go on for ever.
It seemed to me that for comparatively little money I could improve the
impression my railway gives to visitors by making a few of those pieces of
equipment that used to make stations special places: a blackboard with the
railway’s name at the top; departure boards; next train clocks and so
on. Top of my list is a platform ticket machine such as used to
grace the booking hall of the local station. I could not afford a
genuine one so I would make a “replica” which could be used as a
collecting box for donations. 
The example described here is made from 12mm MDF and odds and ends.
It issues Edmonson card tickets made at home. Each time the “brass”
slide is pulled, one ticket (hopefully!) falls into the tray. 
Its
charm comes, it seems to me, from its height and from the notice (“enamel”
produced on the PC) at the top, as well as from the mechanism.
The top and bottom sections are each three pieces of MDF screwed into an open box shape. Dimensions are suggested in the sketches. A cap for the top and a plinth for the bottom are made from MDF with rounded edges. The top structure has a collecting box with a hinged flap which can be removed. It will easily take £20 notes. The back edge of the whole machine is flat so that it may be stood against a wall (where it needs to be secured with a screw or bolt).
The working part is a middle box. It has no real top or bottom and
the slide (made of dowel) is fitted to the front, just above the ticket
tray. A thin sheet of tin is attached to the rear of the slide; this
pushes one ticket at a time out of the hopper and into the chute which
leads to the tray.
Try it; you’ll like it!
Drawings to help you: 