Southern Railway Publicity
Miscellaneous
Bookmarks
Bookmatchs
Three dimensional publicity
When you think of publicity; guide books, leaflets, posters come to mind. The Southern Railway, however, took its publicity
further with non-ephemeral items such as a model train set and model ships. Listed below are some of the three dimensional
publicity items produced.
The King Arthur Paperweight.
Produced early in 1926 and advertised as The neatest and most useful adjunct to your desk equipment. |
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The box lid is shown above.
Advertisements of the time claimed the model to be an exact scale model of No. 763, Sir Bors de Ganis. Originally priced at 5/- but reduced to 2/6 in a
June 1929 advertisement when there was only 100 left to sell.
Model Ships
The waterline models of the Southern Railway Steamers Canterbury, Isle of Jersey and Isle of Guernsey were produced by
Bassett-Lowke to a scale of 75ft to 1in. They were boxed and sold for 5/-. The images above show the model in its box with the lid shown below. No official mention can be found for these
models though the box carried the words Southern Railway in its traditional sunshine lettering. A very brief description
of the vessel was contained on the label. For the model of TSS Canterbury the text reads
The premier vessel of the Southern Railway Company's fleet. 2912 tons, speed 22 knots. A modern luxury vessel.
Runs in connection with “Golden Arrow” service between Victoria and Paris daily.
Ashtrays
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The two ashtrays top left are made from Omnite Ware a material very like bakelite. Note that the wording on the first ashtray is concave while on the second it is convex.
The third silver ashtray was produced for the Southampton Docks Centenary in 1938.
The fourth, also produced in 1938, was given away to staff as part of the Southern Sales Scheme where staff were rewarded for increasing revenue at their station. |
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Model Train Set
The February 1937 edition of the Southern Railway Magazine includes an article on the Bassett-Lowke produced Trix Twin OO
gauge Southern Electric Model Train Set.
“Mr C Grasemann, Advertising Officer of the Southern Railway, was quick to realise the potentialities of this novelty,
and, in collaboration with him, Messrs. Bassett-Lowke, Ltd., have just placed on the market an actual scale model,
representing one of the new electric trains, which will run on the London - Portsmouth service. The set is made up in
an attractive box covered with green enamelled paper and a multicoloured label specially designed by the Southern Railway
Company.”
The 3 coach set standing in front of the box. |
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The set cost 55/- though the sticker on the box end shown above right has the price 70/- written on it. |
The set contained a complimentary copy of the 8 page Southern Railway publication The Evolution of the World’s Largest Suburban Electrified Railway. A set was put on show at Waterloo Station. The green enamelled paper used for the box was made from Celilynd that wears badly meaning that most of the boxes that survive are in a poor condition. |
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Page from Trix catalogue |
Click on the three images above for larger versions.
Menus
All the menus are dated and different menus were produced every day. Some also include the name of the train they were to be used on, for example, The Atlantic Coast Express. See the lunch menu below. All the images are by Leonard Richmond and from 1936.
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Brockhampton Dorset |
Hartland Devon |
Carisbrook Castle Isle of Wight |
Lee Point Nr. Ilfracombe |
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St Anne's Gate Salisbury |
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Sample menus. Click on the image for a full screen version.
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13 February 1936 |
28 February 1936 Atlantic Coast Express |
Postcards
The following four sets of postcards are all from oil paintings by Leonard Richmond. They were produced in 1939.
The Channel Ports
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Boulogne |
Calais |
Dieppe |
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Dover |
Folkestone |
Newhaven |
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St Malo |
The Solent - Southampton |
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Hampshire
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Packet |
Bournemouth from Durley Chine |
Brockenhurst |
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Christchurch Priory |
New Forest, near Ringwood |
Lymington |
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Lyndhurst |
Picket Post, near Ringwood |
Beaulieu Abbey Church |
North Devon
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Packet |
Clovelly |
Ilfracombe from Hilsborough |
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Lee Bay, near Ilfracombe |
Lee Valley, near Ilfracombe |
Bideford |
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River Torridge, Torrington |
Valley of the Rocks, Lynton |
Woolacombe |
North Cornwall
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Packet |
Boscastle |
Bude Sands |
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King Arthur‘s Castle, Tintagel |
Padstow Harbour |
Port Graverne, near Port Isaac |
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Port Isaac |
St Enodoc, Padstow |
Coastal Scenery at Tintagel |
Postcard Backs
Three sample backs are shown below. Click on the image to display a full screen version which is readable. British Railways overprinted some of the Channel Ports set and used them as correspondence cards.
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Coastal Scenery at Tintagel |
Dover |
The Solent - Southampton |
Advertising Cards
The two cards to the right were sent to hotels, in France and England, to advertise the train service. The cards included the request: I would be much obliged if you would display this card, the other side uppermost, in the hall of your hotel, well in view of the public. |
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August 1928 |
June 1931 |
Southampton Docks
The Graving Dock was opened in 1933 and this set of postcards shows its construction, opening etc. |
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Inside the dock |
Inside the dock |
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RMS Majestic, the first ship to use the dock from a painting by Leslie Carr |
Official Opening HM King George V |
The dock nearing completion |
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Early stage of construction |
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Golden Way
Produced to a very high standard by the Pullman Car Company, the Golden Way booklet contained information about Pullman services throughout the UK.
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July 1927 |
May 1929 |
July 1929 |
January 1930 |
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April 1930 |
July 1930 |
April 1931 |
April 1932 |
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JUly 1932 |
October 1932 |
March 1933 |
July 1933 |
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September 1933 |
January 1934 |
April 1934 |
July 1934 |
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January 1936 |
May 1936 |
January 1937 |
May 1937 |
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July 1939 |
April 1941 |
July 1941 |
October 1941 |
Lynton & Barnstaple Railway, Woody Bay Station
The following posters are on display at Woody Bay station on the Lynton & Barnstaple Railway. At first sight they may appear as normal copies of Southern Railway posters. But look more carefully and you will see subtle changes. Click on an image to see a bigger version. Thanks to the Lynton & Barnstaple Railway for agreeing to these images being included.
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The graphic for the Exmoor Associates poster is based on the Waterloo bookmatch above. |
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