Yeah! (Such a shame it’s Helvetica not Rail Alphabet)

Two observations (which I’ve probably made elsewhere before): (1) I don’t think Class 86s (AL6) carried Electric Blue*, and (2) that is not a good facsimile of Electric Blue * happy to be proven wrong 😬 Lovely photo 📸 btw

Beautiful shot but the symbol is always going to be backwards from one direction when applied to glass…

By Royal Appointment? @doublearrow64.bsky.social

Posted by Andrew Gardner on the other channel, this is of course the largest British Rail symbol in existence (by some margin); never seen it up close and personal like this though :) #GatwickAirport

Some very dark #RailBlue What’s the second M for in ‘M29276M’?

Pacific Blue (BS 381C 107) arrows… (btw the new Network Rail guidance was designed in part to eliminate the stacking of multiple identical arrows as per the far sign in the photograph)

Now that is a sign… #CambridgeSouth

Not sure this facia sign is still there (or the strip light ftm)

Won’t ever be able to get on board with a symbol that is based on cap-height; also that symbol on its own is not RS2, so two different symbols

I often wish I'd swiped a set of these doorhandles!

Nice little door plate, but not ideal really; where is this? Somewhere in the West Midlands, I guess?

Both signs succumbing to the legend being centred on cap-height, which in the case of the Transport Medium (designed for negative lettering!) sign leaves little or no room for any descenders (g,j,p,q,y); FWIW I think the other version is NR Brunel although I can’t get used to it in black on white

Please can you not… 😂

Agree the Flame Red version is better; also fascinated (probably too much) by the micro-differences between the bespoke British Rail logotype—strictly speaking, btw, this was not actually Rail Alphabet per se—and the ‘matching’ Helvetica Medium lettering for ‘Passenger Network 1972’

It's taken 50 years but - having never managed to blag one back in the '70s it's a delight to have acquired this; the 1971 British Rail Passenger Network quad royal poster map. Just such a 'clean' design. #railways #maps @doublearrow64.bsky.social ↘️ flic.kr/p/2s3NgF9

Symbol only really meant to be on the running-in boards (that’s one in the distance on the far side) but these goalpost signs are about as big (because they are so deep); I find this treatment too repetitive and only devalues the symbol

Remember thinking the symbol in red stripe Railfreight was always a bit meh, in terms of size, neither one thing nor the other

BR tablecloths :)

Lot of time for this shot, not least the BS 3693B:1964 numerals (shown below); I’m pretty sure the letters (in this case Y) are the negative version of Rail Alphabet

Shouldn’t be just an endorsement though, should be ’the‘ brand (of an integrated system) As for TOCs (such as XC whose franchise ends in about 18 months), repainting trains in their own liveries at this point strikes me as utter madness (someone will no doubt explain how it is fully justifiable)

There may have been more than one…?

Mental topology, mental typography #Motorail #Futura

Crewe is in the middle of people changing its signage today (new on the left, old on the right - pic 1). I quite like the look of the old Intercity running-in boards (pic 2). Hopefully it will clear up the muddle of mixed Virgin Trains and Avanti signs (pic 3). cc @doublearrow64.bsky.social

Wow, that’s a crazy serif on those 2s and Ss

Today's #BRNostalgia remembers #Euston as it was in loco-hauled days back in 1990 when engines were regularly stabled inside the station between duties. paulbigland.zenfolio.com/p651486993/e... #railways #photography #nostalgia

Today's #BRNostalgia shows an HST full house at #Paddington in May 1990 when the fleet was still powered by 'Valenta' engines - hence the clag... paulbigland.zenfolio.com/p651486993/e... #railways #photography #nostalgia

Still one of my favourites : March 1976 British Rail "Principal Passenger Network" poster map that, for years, graced my bedroom wall! The map design will be by Bernard Slatter of BR CAS - overall it just looks so bold, so clear & so cleanly corporate. @doublearrow64.bsky.social flic.kr/p/2s1wULn

That’s a lot of Rail Alphabet… Do we know where it is?

Rules are(n’t) there to be broken… “Yeah, just stick it on top of a V, it’ll be fine.”

The Southern were, I think, a little like the Western in that by the late '50s "standards" were slipping & they liked to fiddle with the totem identity. I often wonder if these Regional versions helped propel the desire for a new 'single' idendity to help bring the Regions to heel.

This device is crazy…

*doesn’t* obvs

Such a different universe from the British Rail symbol, perhaps one day heraldry will be a thing of the past?

This has to be red stripe Railfreight in its truest form. The class 58, the final class of loco to be built at Doncaster Works. 58019 passes through Crewe with a rake of MGRs, doing what it was built to do. #Class58 #Bone #RedStripeRailfreight #Crewe #BritishRail

11 new stations added to the Mainline Station Heritage Artefacts Collection and 5 updated thanks to 4 contributors. Highlights include some splendid floor tiling at Lancaster (© @railwayheritage.bsky.social). Inspired to submit a station artefact(s) yourself? Info on how to is in the link.

Avanti West Coast absolutely nailing new signage at Warrington Bank Quay, when it’s done properly it’s superb

Someone should probably have mentioned that a logo applied to a corrugated surface needs some optical adjustment so it does all go pear-shaped (or on this case egg-shaped)

Bee Network-(sub)branded signage at Manchester Oxford Road. I don't think I've seen this before. Firstly - inevitable given the politics. Secondly - another blow to the idea that Great British Railways is bringing back any kind of 'national' branding to the network.

Get the [red] symbol off all those lift shafts; it’s not a bauble

I do wish they would’t; also the symbol should now only be on running-in boards and not on every repeater

#OnThisDay 20 years ago the first edition of the London Railway Atlas was published. My first attempt sprawled across my bedroom wall 37 years ago, but it was another 15 years before I'd have another go on a computer, and was shocked when the publisher said yes to the samples @crecyrail.bsky.social

On the other hand, you’ve not mentioned the Class 73 version…

GB Railfreight seem determined to use as many typefaces for their big GBRf logotypes on the sides of their locomotives as possible…

Oh dear, amazing how some think that they can improve an incredibly carefully thought out design system (by a multidisciplinary consortium of wayfinding and architectural specialists) on a whim or through personal preference or whatever…

‘…it’s not even wrong any more…’

They’ve made it up…

Local rag has mocked up this sign to illustrate a story about a station possibly reopening and I think for all our sake's it would be better if @doublearrow64.bsky.social didn't see it.

Ugh. It’s “buse’s”, why does nobody get it right?

Sweet (apart from the all caps ‘BRITISH RAIL CATERING’)