The Flickr Railwaypublciity Image Generatr

A bit of scaperboard artwork here I suspect on the cover of the Winter 1950 - 1951 Condensed Time Tables issued by the Canadain Pacific Railway - as noted this was for use of passengers arriving by Atlantic Steamships. CP used to market themselves as spanning the globe via their Atlantic and Pacific steamship routes allied to their Trans-Canadian railway lines and perhaps there was a version fo this for arrival by Pacific Steamships.

The artwork is a little 'old fashioned' in some respects for 1950 but it is wonderfully detailed and eye-catching as the train steams across what appears to be a prairie landscape, even down to a couple of telegraph poles far right.

Another of the large series of annually produced 'county' and district leaflet folders issued by British Railways during the 1950s. Prior to the later use of photography for these brochure covers BR commissioned numerous artists and illustrators to produce artworks but this view of towering mountains over a glen is anonymous.

The rear cover has an interesting stamp in that it was issued at the now long closed Sheffield Victoria station that served the then electrified route to Manchester.

More many years the Southern Railway issued this charming little magazine free to its First Class season holders and it takes a usual format of two or three short articles on 'matters concerning' the railway and its latest advances. At the time there were, despite the straightened times, quite a few thinsg happening on the SR whose more affluent region of activity was more bouyant than the other of the Big Four whose traffic was more impacted by the decline in heavy industry and attendant freight. At the time the Southern was busy on some of its major electrifications and the introduction of various Pullman services. The company's advertising was arguably more staid than the LNER's but it had high standards of production and graphic design. Much of the work in "Over the Points" is of exemplary production, set and printed at the Curwen Press, who at the time were amongst the foremost printers around, and the look and feel of the periodical oozes Curwen's attention to detail. The vast majority of the line illustrations were undertaken by Victor Reinganum, in a very abstract style, typical of his work. Annoyingly this edition is 'unsigned' and so the artist can only be conjectured.

The LMS were never quite as visually exciting as the London & North Eastern Railway; the latter's publicity and advertising was amongst the best in the day and the former's well, it was a little more staid. This folded linen backed route map and station list is undated but feels about 1930 and I do rather like the slightly American style "route map' graphic device.

I like a lot of the LNER's publicity as it was always a little more adventurous than the other 'Big Four" railway companies (although the Southern smartened its act up in time!). It is also great to see that a lot of the LNER's booklets. etc., featured artwork by Freda Lingstrom - who in the 1920s and '30s was one of a small number of female illustrators and designers who made a mark in a male dominated world. This is typical of Lingstrom's work - blocky colour and for this series of booklets a strong historical flavour selling the castles, abbeys and historic places served on the eastern side of the UK by the railway.

Designed to encourage interchange off the London & North Western and North London lines onto the the Underground this poster advises using in very bold form the roundel and then then current 'Stingemore' style tube map. There's certainly no missing the poster but it is interesting to note that in design terms it lacks the refinement of later LT posters and no doubt this was the sort of comments Frank Pick (the Underground's commercial manager) would have had in mind as he evolved the company's design over the coming years.