The Railway Poster in Britain

Features Railways and Tourism (part 2)

Dieter W. Hopkin and Beverley Cole

Museum’s extensive collection (see pp. bills and notices were similar to those that The National Railway Museum 25–28). The story of railways in Britain had been used by the stagecoaches. A has been reflected in the development of simple statement of the services the rail- The National Railway Museum (NRM) in the railway poster. This art form illustrates ways offered was enough to show that York is part of the National Museum of the major changes that have occurred in they were preferable and often quicker Science and Industry of Britain. It was British society over the years and captures and cheaper. These letterpress posters opened in 1975 and is probably the big- the spirit and character of British life over were produced using standard printing gest museum of its type in the world. Its that period. Railway posters also provide blocks and included no individual graphic collections are the largest, the most com- historical information about the geo- design. When illustrative elements were prehensive, and the most significant in graphical growth of the network and about introduced, they were generally standard their field anywhere in the world and in- the people for whom they were designed. patterns depicting generic locomotives clude 100 locomotives, nearly 200 car- As such, they are material evidence of Brit- and carriages that were combined to form riages and wagons and artefacts of every ish culture and are social documents. trains. description from uniforms to signalling They illustrate styles in art, the changing By the 1850s, rivalry between the large equipment. patterns of holiday-making, urban and number of competing private railway The Museum’s Pictorial Collections con- rural landscapes, architecture, fashion, the companies resulted in a greater use of tain original works of art, paintings, draw- development of advertising standards, and advertising to promote alternative ser- ings, engravings and other printed the approaches and aspirations of com- vices. Another development was the op- material covering more than 150 years of panies. eration of special or excursion trains railway history in Britain. Perhaps the additional to the timetabled services to strongest collection is that of railway post- provide transport to specific events. These ers. The collection of over 7000 posters Early Railway Posters were either arranged by the railway com- covers the whole history of railway ad- panies or independent travel operators vertising from the earliest simple hand- The earliest advertisements of the railways like Thomas Cook, who organized his first bills to today’s sophisticated examples. were simple, giving factual information railway excursion in 1841. This article includes a selection of the about the services offered. These hand- The first mass advertising of this sort arose

The Newcastle and Carlisle Railway was one of the first railways to advertise its services for popular travel. Copyright National Railway Museum, UK This particularly early letterpress poster of 1846 promotes cheap fares to travel to a popular sporting event in Carlisle in the north west of England. (National Railway Museum/ The artist Norman Wilkinson working on the artwork for his poster ‘Garston, a Merseyside Port’ 1924. Science & Society Picture Library, U.K.) (National Railway Museum, U.K.)

The original colour of the posters on this page has been changed for copyright reasons.

from the Great Exhibition in London in 1851. During the 6 months of the Exhibi- tion, it attracted over 6 million visitors, many of whom arrived in London by trains operated by many competing companies. During the 1850s and 1860s, commercial rivalry on a number of principal routes lead to an increase in railway advertising. New, cheaper and more convenient services were promoted. In this climate, more creative posters began to be produced incorporating pictorial designs. Probably the earliest example is a rare poster produced by the London & Dover Railway around 1845; only one example is known to survive and it is in the collections of the NRM. It is probably the first British railway poster that incorporates realistic railway scenes and several colours. Copyright National Railway Museum, UK Development of Railway publicity stands on a show ground in 1909 advertising the services of the London & North Western, Pictorial Posters Lancashire & Yorkshire, Furness, North Staffordshire, South Eastern & Chatham, Great Western, Midland and Great Central railways. (National Railway Museum, U.K.) It was not until the 1870s that the real ad- vances in pictorial posters took place. temptations that lay just a train ride away. World War, the railway companies were Early coloured posters still predominantly The best set new standards for advertis- fortunate in having few competitors for conveyed factual information rather than ing art, while others remained a clutter of this traffic. The train was quite simply the images. They were often poorly com- text and images. Some posters that com- best and often the only way to travel. posed, garish and typographically coarse. bined image and text most successfully The rapid growth of seaside resorts owed However, they did lay the foundations for were produced by the Great Northern much to the expansion of the railway net- the more creative illustrative posters that Railway. Skegness is So Bracing by John work. Sea bathing increased in popular- were to follow. Hassall, which first appeared in 1908 and ity during the nineteenth century and Britain’s railways did not really make good featured the figure of the Jolly Fisherman railways were able to provide fast access use of artists for their advertising until the skipping along the beach, was the most from the towns and cities for many more beginning of the twentieth century. In famous, but there were many others and people who had the luxury of leisure time 1905, the London & North Western Rail- several of the introduced subjects and and paid and public holidays. The railway took the lead in commissioning themes were developed over the years. ways opened up parts of the country Norman Wilkinson to produce artwork for which had been previously inaccessible. a new type of poster that incorporated Holiday travel New resorts sprung up on Britain’s coasts. landscape paintings. The other compa- Above all, it was holiday travel that the However, the new visitors that the rail- nies followed this example with varying railway poster came to be associated ways brought were not always welcomed success. The pictorial railway poster soon with—a world of sunshine, sandy beaches with open arms. At Bridlington, in York- developed into a familiar feature of rail- and endless fun. Growing prosperity led shire, day visitors were disliked by regu- way stations as the companies tried to to increased demand for travel. However, lar visitors and residents alike and the entice passengers with an almost endless some companies had not always been station was sited well away from the sea. variety of colourful and evocative images. keen to cater for holiday traffic, but it Most of the larger resorts came to cater Some of the finest poster artists of the day gradually came to be seen as an impor- for all classes of visitor but others tried to were employed to portray the delights and tant source of revenue. Before the First retain a more select clientele.

The original colour of the posters on this page has been changed for copyright reasons.

22 Japan Railway & Transport Review 17 • September 1998 Copyright © 1998 EJRCF. All rights reserved. In some cases, railways created resorts companies, brought a greater degree of note was Speed to the West while the LMS where little had existed before. In 1871, unity to the network and made life easier promoted images reflecting the size of the Skegness in Lincolnshire had a popula- for the traveller, but the four companies company and the breadth of its opera- tion of less than 500. A railway line was were very different in size and character. tions. The companies also made use of opened to the town 2 years later and a The new companies were keen to develop the history of their operations and the large station was built with the hope of strong corporate images and during the heritage of their operational areas to pro- attracting holiday traffic to the sandy 1920s and 1930s created distinctive in- mote their images. beaches. The crowds came and the fa- house styles that were applied to every- cilities grew. By 1907, Skegness was at- thing associated with the company from House styles of The Big Four tracting 300,000 visitors a year, mostly locomotives to leaflets. This had a clear All developed their own styles using par- from the industrial towns of the East Mid- impact on advertising and especially post- ticular artists and approaches. Each com- lands and Yorkshire. ers. The LNER was a leader in graphic pany also had its own distinct branding design with its use of good artists for its to depict its title or initials. The GWR The Golden Age of poster illustrations and the development button logo or the LNER ellipse are clear the Railway Poster of its distinctive Gill sans serif graphics, examples of this. Because of their need named after Eric Gill. to have popular appeal they reflected the In 1923, the railway companies were re- Strong themes emerged that became fa- fashion and style of the period. Art deco, organized by the government. The exist- miliar to the railway traveller; the South- abstract, as well as more conventional ing 123 private railways were formed into ern Railway promoted the South for representational styles, were used. The four new companies, known collectively sunshine either to the English south-coast posters also reflected more general artis- as The Big Four. These were the London, resorts or Continental Europe and empha- tic influences from Europe and the Far Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS), the sized its modern electric trains with fre- East. London and North Eastern Railway quent use of the electric flash or spark This period has been referred to as the (LNER), the Great Western Railway (GWR) motif. The LNER promoted the East Coast Golden Age of the railway poster. Artists and the Southern Railway (SR). The new resorts as The Drier Side of Britain and its such as Cassandre, Edward McKnight arrangements, with four large regional prestige express trains. The GWR’s key- Kauffer, Fred Taylor, and Tom Purvis produced extremely fine work during this time and railway advertising provides some of the best examples of contempo- rary commercial art. During this period, graphic or commercial artists became ac- knowledged and recognized as a legiti- mate field of artistic endeavour. A general awareness that commercial design needed to be taught in art schools alongside fine art was becoming more accepted. However, this flourishing of commercial art was not achieved in a vacuum and the development of the railway poster during the 1920s and 1930s was a gradual and sometimes difficult process.

Great Western Railway The GWR was the only company that existed before the advent of The Big Four Copyright National Railway Museum, UK in 1923. It had never been noted for the quality of its posters and the first efforts of LMS posters advertising the company’s services associated with the 1927 exhibition of the Royal Scot, a new the enlarged GWR were hardly inspiring. locomotive. The posters include Norman Wilkinson’s Building an Engine, advertisements for Christmas and New Year excursions, the resort of Colwyn Bay, and golfing holidays. (National Railway Museum, U.K.) Unlike the other companies, it did not

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suffer a major upheaval in 1923. It con- Many stations were rebuilt and modern- London, Midland and Scottish tinued much as before and this applied ized, and as both services and facilities The LMS was a very different railway from as much to publicity as to its other areas improved, the number of passengers in- the SR but it too got off to a difficult start. of activity. Its strengths carried over, but creased. London was easier to reach and Not only were there tensions between so did its weaknesses. In posters, the it became possible to live well away from several of the constituent companies, but weaknesses included over-reliance on the city yet still commute comfortably. there were also problems in bringing to- printing firms and the frequent concern Much advertising was aimed at the com- gether such a vast and diverse system. It for economy, resulting in designs of poor muter but the SR was also keen to pro- had inherited some good practices from quality. mote off-peak travel by shoppers and constituent companies like the LNWR that Improvements came and in 1933, a se- theatregoers. The SR image was trans- had employed Norman Wilkinson, but its ries of six posters of Devon and Cornwall formed during these years. The slogan early products were simply the results of was commissioned from the American ‘Southern Electric’, coupled with the dis- carrying on the policies of the earlier com- designer Edward McKnight Kauffer. He tinctive electric flash motif, was used on panies. was highly regarded by the new school stations, bridges and posters to advertise However, the LMS soon developed a new of poster artists and by the critics. His the new network. policy for poster advertising. It commis- posters of Devon and Cornwall caused This new image did not mean that the tra- sioned three posters from the artist much comment but were not to ditional area of holiday publicity was ne- Norman Wilkinson and asked for his everyone’s taste. Further innovation fol- glected and the SR developed its own style views on how its advertising could be lowed in 1936 with the appearance of a in advertising resorts both at home and improved. Wilkinson proposed that to series of posters by Ronald Lampitt in an abroad. Much of its output was brash and raise standards, members of the Royal unusual mosaic style. unsophisticated, but highly effective. The Academy should be asked to design a se- ‘Southern Coast’ was promoted as the sun- ries of posters for the company. Eighteen Southern Railway shine coast and colourful characters were artists were approached by Wilkinson and Life was not so easy for the Southern Rail- used to reinforce this theme. all, with the exception of Frank Brangwyn way. Relations between its three constituent companies had never been good and it took some time to establish a degree of unity. The first advertisement in a newspaper campaign appeared under the heading ‘The Truth about the Southern’ and re- viewed the role and achievements of its constituent companies during the First World War. Details of suburban electrifi- cation and the building of new steam locomotives shared space with accounts of how carriages were cleaned and the diffi- culties of dealing with rush-hour traffic. John Elliot, SR’s advertising manager, saw improvement of press relations as equally important. He opened an Information Section at Waterloo, London that report- ers were free to visit and provided regular articles and information. He paid particu- lar attention to suburban and evening newspapers as these had been responsible Copyright National Railway Museum, UK for much criticism of the railway. The new approach to press relations was extremely LMS posters by Norman Wilkinson and Paul Henry in 1927, advertising holidays in Ireland. The LMS ran ferries successful. and connecting boat trains to Ireland. (National Railway Museum, U.K.)

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London Brighton & South Coast Railway poster promoting excursions from London to English south coast resorts, 1901. The railways played an important part in developing tourist traffic which helped to Copyright National Railway develop seaside resorts in the Museum, UK late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Copyright National Railway Museum, UK A South Eastern & Chatham Railway poster promoting services for the Crystal Palace England and Scotland East Coast Route c. 1900. This flamboyant poster for the Grand International Show of eastern route from London to Scotland shows the line and illustrates in cameos some Poultry & Pigeons, 1921. The Copyright National Railway unknown artist has colourfully of the sights along it, such as the Forth Bridge and the attractions of the towns and Museum, UK cities served. depicted some of the sorts of fancy birds and fowls featured in the show.

Copyright National Railway Museum, UK The Jolly Fisherman depicted in the poster Skegness Is So Bracing is arguably the most famous English holiday poster Blackpool on England’s north west coast owed much of its development in the image and was first produced in Copyright National Railway nineteenth century and subsequent popularity to the railways. It was and 1908. This is artist John Museum, UK remains a very popular resort. In this poster from the early 1920s, the artist Hassall’s 1926 version for the Wilton Williams illustrates some of the fashionable women who might be London and North Eastern among Blackpool’s other delights. Railway.

The original colour of the posters on this page has been changed for copyright reasons.

Copyright © 1998 EJRCF. All rights reserved. Japan Railway & Transport Review 17 • September 1998 25 Copyright National Railway Copyright National Railway Copyright National Railway Museum, UK Museum, UK Museum, UK

The Night Mail—The Enginemen, 1924. The artist William Orpen created Try a Fly by V. L. Danvers. This 1925 poster is Le Fleche D’Or—Golden Arrow. The Golden this dramatic image of the fireman and driver of a speeding steam one of a series produced by the London and Arrow luxury train service ran between London locomotive for the London, Midland and Scottish Railway. It is one of a North Eastern Railway aimed at country and Paris from 1929. Much of the advertising of series of 16 commissioned by the LMS from members of the Royal sportsmen. The style is simple and clear with continental services was carried out with other Academy. trout rising to an artificial fly. Its execution companies like Compagnie Internationale des shows clear Japanese influences and reflects Wagons-Lits and Chemins de Fer du Nord using the fashion for Japanese art in Britain in the exciting continental artists like W. S. 1920s. Bagdadopoulos.

East Coast Joys—Sun Bathing. This is one of Great Western to Devon’s Moors by Edward 100 Years of Progress, 1835–1935 by Murray Secretan. The Great six posters in a 1931 series by Tom Purvis McKnight Kauffer, 1933. McKnight Kauffer’s Western Railway celebrated its centenary in 1935 and published this poster produced for the London & North Eastern designs were influenced by new European art as part of the celebrations. Railway which form a continuous scene when movements. This can be seen clearly here placed next to each other, but each poster is with strong lines which emphasize the so designed that it can stand alone. This is a openness of the countryside and the stunning wonderful example of Tom Purvis’s style with views. flat primary colours and the elimination of detail conveying the pleasures of the seaside in the 1930s.

The original colour of the posters on this page has been changed for copyright reasons.

26 Japan Railway & Transport Review 17 • September 1998 Copyright © 1998 EJRCF. All rights reserved. Copyright National Railway Copyright National Railway Museum, UK Copyright National Railway Museum, UK Museum, UK

Come to Cromer by Bruce Angrave, c. 1937. In Speed To The West, 1939. This poster by Charles Mayo, who worked Have your Tickets Ready Please by Reginald this poster an attractive fashionable young in the Publicity Department of the Great Western Railway, shows a Mayes c. 1945. This joint poster issued by the woman in her bathing costume is used to King-class locomotive, the most powerful express passenger GWR, LMS, LNER, SR and London Transport promote the delights of this east coast seaside locomotives on the railway, hauling a holiday train to the English West shows thoughtless civilians delaying military staff resort with its sandy beaches. Country. on war service. The humorous cartoon characters convey a serious message.

Waterloo Station—(War). This was one of two posters commissioned from Helen McKie as part of the celebrations to mark the 1948 centenary of the opening of Waterloo Station. They contrast the differences in a wartime and post-war scene.

The original colour of the posters on this page has been changed for copyright reasons.

Copyright © 1998 EJRCF. All rights reserved. Japan Railway & Transport Review 17 • September 1998 27 Copyright National Railway Copyright National Railway Museum, UK Copyright National Railway Museum, UK Museum, UK

Weston Super-Mare in Somerset was a West Racing off Ryde by Claude Buckle, 1957. Ryde is on the Isle of Wight Lance Cattermole’s poster from the 1960s Country resort the development of which owed which is 3 miles from the south coast of Britain. It is a popular holiday promotes Scottish folk culture as an attraction much to the railways. In this early 1950s location especially for leisure sailors. to visitors and features sword dancing poster by Mr Merville, the delights of the Iido or accompanied by music played on the bagpipes. open air swimming pool are promoted. Highland Games are held annually in various parts of Scotland.

This poster, by Bagley, was issued in 1962 to In 1976, British Rail introduced a new generation of Tain—By Train by Brendan Neiland, 1996. One of a commemorate the centenary of the famous Flying high-speed diesel trains which reduced journey times series of six posters commissioned by Scot Rail to Scotsman express train between London and on most of inter-city routes. They were promoted as advertise the Scottish Highland line. The image is of a Edinburgh. The poster is dominated by one of the the Inter-City125 trains because their maximum whisky still for brewing Scotch whisky, one of powerful diesel electric Deltic-class locomotives which operating speed was 125 mph. The advertisers made Scotland’s most famous products. (Brendan Neiland) were introduced in 1961. considerable use of the sleek appearance of these trains which was emphasised by the design treatment of their external paintwork including the distinctive double arrow logo.

(All colour posters except Tain—by Train, courtesy of National Railway Museum/ Science & Society Picture Library, U.K.)

The original colour of the posters on this page has been changed for copyright reasons.

The artist Tom Purvis in front of his poster ‘Bracing East Anglia—Travel An LMS staff member at Hatch End Station in 1938 pasting up a poster advertising special LNER’ circa 1932. (National Railway Museum, U.K.) excursions from London to stations in Lancashire. (National Railway Museum, U.K.) who was working for the LNER, accepted. its stride. introduced its first streamlined train, the The subjects were chosen and allocated Its first poster in March 1923, featured a Silver Jubilee, which ran between London by Wilkinson but the artists were then left view by Fred Taylor of the interior of York and Newcastle. This was followed two to carry out the design in their own way. Minster. It was much admired. Over the years later by the Coronation which cov- The first of these posters appeared early next few months a stream of colourful ered the distance between London and in 1924. They were intended to illustrate images appeared on the hoardings as the Edinburgh in only 6 hours. the life and work of the LMS as well as new advertising campaign got under way. the scenic areas it served. Three posters The designs Taylor commissioned depicted industries served by the LMS. stretched to all corners of the system. Slo- Wartime Posters This was new ground for the railway gans were used by the LNER to provide a poster. In the past, the railway compa- constant reminder to passengers about its The outbreak of the Second World War nies had advertised docks and other fa- major routes: King’s Cross for Scotland and in September 1939 saw the hoardings cilities that they offered to industry, but Harwich for the Continent were to appear cleared of most advertising. In wartime, they had not shown the industries them- frequently on posters and other publicity the emphasis shifted away from leisure selves. The scheme generated an enor- materials. and holiday travel. The coastal holiday mous amount of publicity for the LMS and, Some of the best advertising of these years resorts effectively closed because of the as Wilkinson had predicted, opinion was was used to promote trains and services. threat of invasion and the railway indus- largely favourable. Many of the companies had stressed the try took on its essential role as part of the speed and comfort of their trains, particu- war machine moving men and material. London and North Eastern Railway larly those that operated the lines between Station names were painted out to con- In the LNER, relations between the con- London and Scotland. This rivalry was fuse the enemy in the event of invasion stituent companies were generally ami- pursued by the LMS and LNER during and there was a universal black out at cable and the new company soon got into the 1920s and 1930s. In 1935, the LNER night, masking all lighting that might

The original colour of the posters on this page has been changed for copyright reasons.

attract raiding bombers. and the advertising boards reverted to The stock position was even more serious. Space was created on the poster hoard- Big Four. The splendour and artistic merit charac- ings for notices issued by the newly- In May 1945, a joint poster by The Big terizing the railway poster of the Golden formed Railway Executive Committee, Four was designed by R. Mayes to mark Age were left behind in favour of basic which was responsible for running the Victory in Europe (V-E) day with the cap- explanations of the problems facing Brit- network, and for giving information on tion In War and Peace We Serve. Other ish Railways. These were often treated urgent matters, including emergency time- post-war posters reflected on the railway’s with the usual British humour. Also, not tables, air-raid warnings and reduced ser- wartime contribution like Helen McKie’s only were paper and printing ink in short vices. The Big Four companies were Waterloo pair for the SR. supply after the war but the printing united for operations under the name Brit- presses were outdated and in need of re- ish Railways. pair or renewal, so design simplicity was By November 1939, the British Railways Post-war Optimism the best option. network was taking the war effort seri- The nationalized British Railways, al- ously. They were moving extra food sup- In the optimism of the post-war period the though unified in many ways, operated plies, equipment and troops. This was public were no longer prepared to put up like its predecessor private companies. carried out under strict conditions of with the restrictions of wartime services. The new British Railways (BR) regions secrecy to destinations that were guarded The railways began to return to normal. were similar to those operated by The Big day and night by armed sentries. Poster advertising again promoted the Four and many of their practices contin- The emphasis was on running the railway delights of holidays at home with an em- ued for the first years after nationalization. efficiently and doing a tough job in phasis on a return to pre-war standards. Posters had a very similar look although difficult conditions. Although many Posters published by the GWR during this they now carried the British Railways railwaymen were excluded from military period included views of London and Ply- name in a distinctive lozenge or totem service because railway work was seen mouth with none of the destruction that design. Advertising was on a regional as an essential part of the war effort, many the two cities had suffered. Instead, post- basis and only in the 1960s did a distinc- joined up and their jobs were filled by ers recaptured much of the fun of earlier tive new image develop. women recruits. The public was asked to years, and passengers again found it diffi- In the interim, the familiar re-emerged. recognize the importance of the railways cult to resist the lure of coast and coun- The public was bombarded with and to the war effort; railways were Another tryside. tempted by idyllic scenes of well-fed, Mechanised Army as depicted in one happy families in beautiful Britain, enjoy- 1940 poster. People were asked to con- Posters of ing picture-book weather on golden sands sider what was really important with Nationalized Industry and British holiday fun. However, the questions like ‘Is your journey really nec- style and designs changed to suit the essary?’ and ‘Food, Shells and Fuel must The Labour government elected in 1945 changes in society that had taken place. come first. Do you mind?’ had a clear agenda to nationalize many Images of healthy families at play were They were also asked to play their part in of the principal industries of the nation. used to promote resorts and rail travel. We keeping the railways running smoothly by This included the railways and most other see the upright, dependable and solid fa- travelling only when necessary, and were major transport operations which became ther figure, the well-proportioned, whole- urged to help the hard-pressed railway part of the state-owned British Transport some (often blonde) mother, accompanied workers. Some of the Railway Executive’s Commission on 1 January 1948. Public by a couple of beaming, well-behaved best war posters employed a humorous ownership brought optimism and hope to and radiant children enjoying the perfect cartoon style to get their message across many, but brought about little initial holiday. Also, the use of the female fig- with slogans such as ‘Have your tickets change on the railways which continued ure was shamelessly used to induce—or ready please’ and ‘Heavy parcels cause very much as before. Unfortunately, due maybe seduce—the traveller to visit re- delay’ and ‘There isn’t even half an en- to the wear and tear of the war years the sorts from Bognor to Bridlington. There gine to spare for unnecessary journeys’. railways were at a low ebb. Some 6000 was some innovative work that can be As the threat of invasion faded and the stations were in urgent need of repair or seen in work by artists such as Abram end to the war came in sight, the war post- reconstruction and permanent-way main- Games. ers began to come down and station name tenance work was in arrears to the extent signs were restored. Optimism abounded of nearly 10 million sleepers. The rolling

30 Japan Railway & Transport Review 17 • September 1998 Copyright © 1998 EJRCF. All rights reserved. British Rail tion posters preaching to the converted, cal change. Identities became confused, and Corporate Identity they were having to try to tempt back pas- which is reflected in advertising images sengers who were increasingly turning to regularly incorporating several different The railways were now having to com- their cars as the preferred form of trans- logos or design approaches. pete seriously with the car. Posters port. Similarly, advertising media became In 1993, the Conservative government showed the frustration experienced by more diverse. Television commercials, passed legislation to take the railways out motorists in traffic jams. In 1958, the first newspaper advertising and mailshots de- of public ownership—to privatize them. stages of railway modernization were pro- livered the message to the homes and of- From this process, which was completed moted with posters showing electrifica- fices of those who seldom used the in 1997, has emerged a whole series of tion and new engineering works. In 1959, railway. External advertising agencies new train operating companies, many of Progress by Terence Cuneo showed new were used. Media personalities were used which are new to the railway business. diesel locomotives being built. to attract the traveller, such as rock star Yet again there are competing companies During the 1960s, British Railways under- Gary Glitter, disc jockey Jimmy Saville, with a desire to increase their market went a radical re-shaping and re-focus- and pop group Abba. These posters were share. One possible product of this ing. The report The Reshaping of British tacky and brash, reflecting the times. change and increased competition may Railways was published in 1963. It pre- Railway poster art was seemingly in de- be a revival of railway poster art. The new sented a plan for a new, more efficient, cline. companies will no doubt draw on the rich modern and smaller railway. This resulted In the 1980s, posters were used to project heritage of railway posters from the past, in the closure of many minor routes and the latest stage of modernization with the but they will hopefully combine these the emergence of the ‘new’ railway. Steam introduction of new high-speed trains. with an innovative new approach. What- locomotives were replaced by modern The stylish new Inter-City 125 trains rein- ever happens, the NRM will continue to diesel and electric locomotives and the forced Inter-City’s visual identity, and the document the ongoing story in its contin- message of the changing railway was pro- train was known as ‘The journey shrinker’. ued collecting of railway posters. I jected through poster advertising. New, These high-speed services were essential cleaner, faster trains were promoted and to win back travellers from the roads and featured prominently in poster designs. to increase revenue for BR which was As part of its new image, BR undertook a under increasing financial pressure from radical look at design across the whole the government. The operating sectors of company. It decided that it needed a new BR were now managed as separate busi- corporate identity and in 1965 launched nesses preparing the way for further radi- a new corporate design. This was innovative and had impact outside Britain through the widespread adoption of such Dieter W. Hopkin elements as Jock Kinneir’s British Rail Al- phabet, which was designed for maximum Mr Hopkin is Head of Library and Archive Collections at the National Railway Museum in York, where he has worked since 1989. After graduating in History from the University of Leicester in 1981, he legibility. obtained a Master’s degree in Museum Studies in 1988. The whole railway was re-branded as Brit- ish Rail, with the distinctive double arrow logo. Business sectors within the railway also received their own treatment within this overall corporate image. In 1966, the main-line express train services were Beverley Cole branded Inter-City and the freight opera- tion Railfreight. The results in poster ad- Ms Cole is the Curator of the Pictorial Collection at the National Railway Museum in York. Before this, vertising were clearly visible with a greater she was a curator at the National Museum of Film, Photography and Television at Bradford. consistency of style that was more tightly controlled centrally. The railway poster also had to appeal to changing consumer taste. Instead of sta-