Just out of interest, what is the story behind the station signs at Enfield Chase? Are they unique?. Usual thing: the sooner RA2 signage is rolled out (properly!) across as much of the station estate as possible, the better.

The @railwayheritage.bsky.social supported restoration of Richmond is as good as I could have hoped. For so long, Richmond has been Surbiton’s neglected sibling amongst J R Scott’s large London stations. Not any more. Works by SWR and NR to a plan by Benedict O’Looney Architects. Fabulous.

So… will I see it later when I’m at one of the London terminals? Hope so. Glad to hear it has the @doublearrow64.bsky.social seal of approval.

Network Rail’s (and, one assumes, GBR’s) new standard station clock has been unveiled. Provided it’s installed in addition to heritage clocks at stations rather than accidentally replacing them, I’m all in. Very smart. www.creativeboom.com/news/design-...

Inspired by a recent @railwayheritage.bsky.social Advisory Panel meeting, I have visited the superbly restored LB&SCR tiled maps at London Victoria, supported by an RHT grant with work by Southeastern and Benedict O’Looney Architects. [1/4]

On my occasional topic of caring for heritage artefacts/features at railway stations - I am not completely sure that the artist of the mural at Aberdeen really hoped that not one, but two fire exit signs would be glued onto it. Could this have been done better/more sensitively?

Think this double arrow looks pretty good; opening plaque at Montrose station. (cc @watfordgap.bsky.social @doublearrow64.bsky.social )

2 years ago I worked on a project to restore a 1920s WHS railway station bookstall. It was in pieces & in a bad state. A colleague & I found old photos of it in the WHS archive at @themerl.bsky.social which helped the restoration work. Look at it now👇 Full story www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

I have (trepidatiously) accepted an invite from the nice people at the Sign Design Society to give a talk about the last 60 years of signage on the national rail network, and where we might go next. It’s on Oct 2nd online, non-SDS members can watch for a modest fee (£10 I think). bit.ly/SDS_Oct25

If you have not seen the latest on the restoration of James Robb Scott’s Richmond station, watch this and swoon at the inter-war glamour. A great SWR - Network Rail - @railwayheritage.bsky.social project. www.linkedin.com/posts/south-...

Hello @doublearrow64.bsky.social (or indeed other railway typeface-interested types), I know it's not really your preferred area of study, but do you know if there is a single source of info on the typefaces used by post-1994 train operating franchises esp for signage? I can't readily find one. 1/2

Two new transport books for my wishlist from @artdecomagpie.bsky.social and Christopher Herwig. www.wallpaper.com/transportati...

The inside track on the creation of the ever-so-pretty (and substantially more useful) new Northern network map. Fascinating stuff. Designers are so clever.

New blog: The Lantern Bearer - www.merseytart.com/2025/08/the-... - an ode to the magnificence of Helsinki Central station and its muscular beauty.

Architectural photographer Philip Butler's new book "226 Garages and Service Stations" is out imminently, and Britain's garages have never looked so good. #TheBeautyOfTransport talks to Philip about the book, car-related roadside architecture, and his approach to architectural photography.

Dear @doublearrow64.bsky.social I have found you another one - on the pages of the Sunday Times magazine.

Wilfully contrarian to the end, #TheBeautyOfTransport explains why Thanet Parkway (yes, the 'ugly' one) isn't nearly so bad as most people seem to think. It's the plucky little station that could, built while endless consultations took place, costs rose and a pandemic raged.

I have been waiting for this book to be published for quite some time and I can promise you it is worth the wait. It is interesting and it is gorgeous.

A petition to save the old Possil station in Glasgow should be worth a few moments of your time if you enjoy railway heritage. www.change.org/p/save-the-f...

ICYMI - new article on the website about the latest revisions to Network Rail's "Wayfinding" design manual, with input from @doublearrow64.bsky.social. And watch a video of the lovely new wayfinding signs being installed at Clapham Junction here: vimeo.com/1095076736?m...

Breaking down the changes to Network Rail's wayfinding standards in version 3 of its "Wayfinding" design manual - #TheBeautyOfTransport gets all the detail from graphic/typographic designer Nick Job.

So much better than all those boxy Access for All footbridges.

Gareth makes a good point. The very first Stagecoach SWT ‘livery’ in 1996, was just a couple of stickers added to existing Network SouthEast livery. At that point, it appeared that change of ownership had led to little obvious difference. But a few years down the line…

My hot take on today’s Great British Railways logo is… that I don’t have one. I’m not sure what, if anything, a “coming soon” logo tells us about GBR’s longer term plans for branding/livery/visual identity. [via www.gov.uk/guidance/gre... ]

What a stunning day for it too! Nameplate (and 225 day logo) designed by me, on behalf of LNER, with a little quirk... Different nameplates on each side, so the swallow icon sits on the 'leading edge' of the plate, pointed forwards, as it used to be on the original Inter-City 225 livery 😉👍

This is great! As I have bored soooo many people with, it’s the small design features that are so important to giving a station its character. They’re so easily lost, or overlooked in refurbishment works.

So here is my problem: Do I want this ugly muddle to be replaced ASAP by consistent RA2 signage? Yes. Do I enjoy finding decades old signage surviving at stations? Also yes. Doing the former means doing less of the latter at some point in the future. What to do?

I wonder if the new Great British Energy logo tells us anything about the upcoming Great British Railways logo? I can't find anything on the web about the designers of either the GBE or GBR logos so I don't know if the same company is doing both. Source: www.gbe.gov.uk

Now on eBay www.ebay.co.uk/itm/35648761... Some very tightly set Helvetica Medium; hadn’t come across the British Rail Publications logotype lockup before…

Edinburgh Waverley, where the signage is very much in transition.

Looks so good! Because of the way that inter-war mainline stations were treated post-Grouping, it's difficult for people to appreciate how attractive they were originally - projects like this are a reminder of their quality. Different from, but as good as, Holden's work for LU. Great stuff!

I am slightly sad to see Bexhill's NSE-era internally illuminated name sign box replaced with an opaque vinyl (although the original was getting very weather-beaten I admit). Might(?) be RA2 - the h has the narrowing stroke where the curved element joins the vertical.

As I have said before elsewhere, I think the symbol for the new rail body should be Rail Symbol 2—pure and simple—and I think the word ‘Great’ is surplus to requirements; the version below uses carefully adjusted Rail Alphabet 2 SIGN Medium

And so a community of railway graphic design enthusiasts holds its breath. www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-...

This is what I want to know too. How come Network Rail has a suite of standard attractive (IMHO) footbridge designs but so few are actually built, in favour of terrible designs (looking at you, most A4A footbridges)? You might need to register: www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/opinion...

Super-stylish funicular in Lisbon. (Thanks @longbranchmike.bsky.social for this one.) www.archdaily.com/1027156/grac...

Let's do some #RailAlphabet (or maybe, close enough - I'm no great shakes at spotting accurate/inaccurate Rail Alphabet) plaques at stations. Here are examples from Radlett (2) / Bedford / University. (1/3)

They keep uncovering old signage while restoring Richmond station (James Robb Scott for the Southern Railway; great to see it get some TLC). They've already found some Southern-era signage (see bsky.app/profile/rail...) but this is more recent. Definitely pre-1971 though. @doublearrow64.bsky.social

I am thinking... if GBR takes on ticket retailing on a national (appreciate this is a bit fuzzy in GBR's case) basis, then maybe we could finally get that national rail smartcard? And maybe it could look like this? Take your pick from trad red, blue/white, Pullman grey or departmental yellow. 1/2

Passenger Assist? Great! York station’s heritage aretefacts? Also great! But I’m not sure that putting them together like this is quite treating the heritage assets as they deserve to be. Hard to go and have a look at the North Eastern Railways map now.

A railway building I knew very little about. Until I read this… londonrail.uk/historical/f...

Don’t let it be Rain, Steam, and Speed. It’s going to be Rain, Steam, and Speed, isn’t it?

Ha! The beautiful (and beautifully restored by SWR with grant funding from @railwayheritage.bsky.social) toilets at London Road Guildford have made it to the local press. I do love a historic railway toilet. Quotidian heritage restorations for the win. www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/nostalg...

Enjoy some fabulous railroad stations, even if they’re not railroad stations any longer. I am annoyed not to have seen Denver’s repurposed station in person - it was under construction when I was last there. www.bbc.com/travel/artic...

A short Q&A with Frank Anatole, principal architect at Network Rail. www.networkrail.co.uk/stories/a-q-...

Some people laugh at my fascination with heritage railway toilets. But I think (a) they’re useful, (b) they’re beautiful, and (c) railway preservation has to be about the quotidian as well as the glamorous if we are to understand our industrial heritage. Thank you, RHT, for making this happen.

Oh! The first one of these is going in. I like it.

Spending a week in the second city (Brum) catching up with design projects - although the main attraction, to be honest, is wandering round the city and seeing my little blue wonders buzzing about - WMM exterior livery, interior signage style and interior moquette origination by yours truly! 💙 👍

Competition: To celebrate my first 200+ followers on BlueSky, just like and share this post for a chance to win a signed copy of my latest book “Southern Way Special No. 20: Isle of Wight Railways in the 1950s”. @crecyrail.bsky.social

A couple of small heritage just-about-survivors seen recently in Scotland. What I assume to be a blanked-off water fountain at Stirling, and a (probably?) gas lamp fitting at Cathcart.