About the blog

British railways are run on a foundation of paperwork. Everything must have an instruction; a list; a rule. The railway was once such a huge, chaotic system that the only way to manage it was with reams and reams of paper. Today the system is much more compact but the mountain of literature upon which it is run is greater than ever. This is simply a collection of pages from railway documents. They may be old or new, interesting or tedious, large or small. Most are obscure and esoteric. Many feature interesting diagrams and all share the same strange mix of dry railway language and exotic nomenclature that has hardly changed in 200 years. I love these documents and have a large collection to share. If you want to see more of something or less of another, please get in touch or leave a comment.

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Saturday 7 April 2012

The oxygen of publicity..

Handbill - Holiday Runabout Tickets; B18524, British Railways (Scottish Region), Printed by McCorqudale, Glasgow, March 1956

So far all the posts on this blog have been concerned with publications aimed at an internal railway audience. Today I'm going to show a few of the more interesting publicity leaflets in my collection, starting with this handbill advertising special holiday tickets in the Angus and Perthshire areas. It is printed on very thin paper and is a remarkable survivor of the pre-Beeching railway. Of the 13 stations mentioned only 6 remain open in 2012; these being Arbroath, Broughty Ferry, Carnoustie, Dundee Tay Bridge, Montrose and Perth. In fact the line from Perth to Bridge of Dun (actually Stanley Jn to Kinnaber Jn) closed  to passengers in 1967, remaining partially open to freight traffic until 1982. Incidentally you can still take the train to Bridge of Dun though it is no longer part of the national network. The station is preserved by the Caledonian Railway*, a heritage railway which operates steam locomotive hauled trains from its grand Victorian terminus in Brechin during the summer months.

The fare seems good value at only £1 (around £18 in today's terms) for seven days unrestricted travel within a relatively extensive geographical area - you can even take your tandem for an extra 15 shillings! By way of comparison, a standard class adult day return ticket from Montrose to Perth today will cost you £15.80 and Scotrail will politely decline to convey your tandem.


*Well worth a visit! See www.caledonianrailway.com

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