This poster, for the the overnight sleeper service between London and Scotland, is magical. It expresses the obvious link between the view from the carriage and dreaming…I’ve written about the Freudian potential of trains before, but this poster makes the point visually.
In fact, there are two versions – a London to Scotland (The Night Scotsman) and the one, shown here, for the same service towards London.
Here’s a poster by the German master, ludwig Hohlwein. There’s a steam loco in the background, but the poster is for excursions to the Bavarian Alps. Hohlwein is a significant figure in the historical development of the modern poster because of his skill at simplification and flat-colour. He’s quite good at dogs and horses too.
Genius.
There was a terrific Dr Who adventure on TV, yesterday evening, that combined Starlight Express and Murder on the Orient Express, with a zombie-style mummy from ancient Egypt.
I noticed that a number of the Doctor’s adventured take place in proximity to the railway line…I guess he enjoys upsetting the predictability of the celestial time-table!
This week-end, 11+12/10/2014, there is some kind of steam event at CSM KX. I had some fun yesterday, watching two big layouts being constructed in the front part of the building.
The two layouts are quite famous. They get exhibited at various shows all ver Britain. The fist is called The Gresley Beat. It’s a layout that shows the LNER streamlined Gresley A4s…it’s one of the few layouts that has properly designed signage – in Malard Blue and using the LNERs Gill Sans typeface.
Here’s apicture of the Gresley Beat in Folkestone
The other layout was a diorama of King’s Cross. It’s called Copenhagen Fields and is shown by the London Model Railway Club. It’s massive and very detailed. Here’s a track panel waiting to be installed…
This is the sleek new design, unveiled today by Transport for London, of the driverless train for London Underground. This is a perfect expression of an integrated and automated machine-ensemble…see, my post below.
The best part of these trains is that you can walk along the full length of the train. The whole thing is a kind of long corridor, or lounge.
I’ve been working, over the summer, on my book about the safety posters produced by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents. This has involved quite a lot of photography, and I now have a large number of high-re digital files of terrific poster designs.
In the book, I’ve used the term machine-ensemble. This seems to have caused some confusion. Largely, because it is a term that is unfamiliar to people. Actually, it’s quite easy to understand…and I’ve posted about the origins of this term, here
http://paulrennie.rennart.co.uk/post/97902068285/the-machine-ensemble-what-is-that
Nowhere is the machine ensemble more evident than in the extensive railway networks of the developed economies. As the machines grow in number and move more quickly; they become increasingly powerful. That’s just physics. But, their power is also expressed as a form of psychological brutality and experiences as trauma.
Nowadays, the machine-ensemble is solid-state and digital. Weirdly, it has no moving parts, but travels at the speed of light. We don’t know what digital disaster will look like. It could be nasty.
The posters, shown above, are specifically about railway safety. The first is from the 1930s. The second and third are from from the 1950s. They’re still about the dangers of a steam-powered machine ensemble. LC, the designer, is Leonard Cusden.
If anyone knows anything about Leonard Cusden, please let me know. I’d love to know more.
There was a piece in yesterday’s Guardian, about how European overnight sleeper services are being run down and phased out…that’s sad.
You can read the story, here
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/12/europe-night-trains-sleeper-service
Basically, these trains are the victims of high-speed train travel, low-cost airfares and general improvements in cars and motorways…there are just too many alternatives.
Still, this is a great shame. Overnight travel was certainly easy and convenient – you go to bed in one city and wake up, the next morning, in another. It’s centre-to-centre too. So, you didn’t waste time getting into town.
The whole experience was civilised, sophisticated and romantic; even in economy class. Actually, especially in economy class.
The sleeper train made the subconscious association between railway travel and dreaming absolutely explicit.
The high-point of the continental sleeper service was the period between the wars…when the service was provided by La Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-lits. This was a separate train company that provided high-class sleeping berths and restaurant cars to national train companies. A bit like Pullman in the USA.
The picture, above, is of a model of one of their 1930s sleeper units – it’s a kind of machine for sleeping. A bit like the Frankfurt Kitchen; but for resting.
They advertised their premium service by commissioning posters by the greatest designers…
I don’t like to dwell on train crashes, but this one in Switzerland had some dramatic images of a carriage hanging off a cliff. It reminded me of The Italian Job (1969), and of Richard Wilson’s, Bus hanging off the de la Warr, Bexhill-on-Sea, (2012)…
These are the beach-huts, by Richard Wilson, in Folkestone.
The BBC online magazine has a selection of images of trains…great!
Here’s the link.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-28648113
We live near the Romney Hythe and Dymchurch Railway. I’ve posted about it before.
