Railway Posters

Contents

The Blue Bird, Anvers Brussels Paris, A. M. Cassandre, 1929 Impr. L. Danel, Lille 100 X 62 cm

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Introduction

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Railways in the 19th Century.

The Construction of Lines and Networks in Europe and the USA

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1900-1920 The Apogee.

The Train as a Factor of Development

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1919-1929 The Period of Consolidation.

Happy Journeys!

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1930-1945 The Difficult Years.

Necessary Restructuring and Evolution

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1950-2005 The Renaissance of Rail.

Reconstruction and Modernization of the European Networks

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The Coming of Luxury.

A Pioneer: George Pullman

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Poster Designers

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Railways in the 19th Century.

The Construction of Lines and Networks in Europe and the USA

T Chemins de fer de l’Ouest, reduced-price journeys, PAL, 1897 108 X 76 cm

Compagnie des Wagons-Bars, Eugène Vavasseur, 1898 Atelier Vavasseur, Bois-Colombes 122 X 83 cm

hough a British invention, the railways originated in part in the fardier à vapeur (an early steam-driven carriage) created by the Frenchman Joseph Cugnot in 1771. The Industrial Revolution in Britain in the nineteenth century stimulated the search for new ways of transporting large quantities of freight. It was from this need that the first railways emerged. The first lines built for the transportation of coal would replace the earlier wooden rails with ones made of steel. From these beginnings the railways would grow rapidly and contribute to the industrialization of Europe, before spreading to other continents. Passenger railways also expanded exponentially, and in particular facilitated contacts between politicians, diplomats and businessmen.

So the railways were born in Britain. It was Richard Trevithick who, in 1804, constructed what might be considered to be the world’s very first locomotive: a more or less functional steam-driven machine that ran on wooden rails in Wales. He built a number of other machines, one of which, bearing the nickname ‘Catch Me Who Can’, carried paying passengers on a small circuit enclosed by a wooden fence.

Trevithick’s inventions did not go unnnoticed. Other engineers like Blenkinsop, Blackett, Brunton or Hedley came up with different solutions – using cogwheels, for example. In the USA, where there was greater enthusiasm for the railways than in old Europe, where the new invention initially encountered much suspicion and fear, the locomotive builders – converted former smelters and forges – greatly increased production with the aim of making a fast fortune. Most of these locomotives, unfortunately, were rather makeshift contraptions – one used rifle barrels in place of boiler pipes …

The Englishman George Stephenson worked on railway construction from as early as 1815. Along with his son, Robert, he is famous for creating the locomotive ‘the Rocket’, which came first in the Rainhill Trials run in 1829. Theirs was the locomotive chosen to pull trains on the Liverpool–Manchester line. Two years earlier, in France, Marc Seguin had refined two Stephenson locomotives acquired for the Lyon–St Étienne line by installing the tubular system that he employed in the boilers of steamboats plying the river Rhône. The Rocket made its creator the first great railway manufacturer.

In Europe, where industrialization was taking off, the technological advances coming out of Britain opened up opportunities for a number of countries intent on following the same path. A symbol of progress – and of decline for the barges, stagecoaches and horse-drawn carriages – the railways grew as rapidly in Europe as in the USA. In the Old World, Germany, Belgium, France and Italy were in the forefront of railway building. The companies involved made their money initially out of the transportation of freight, but, after a tentative start, passenger transport grew to be just as important. However, the new invention got a hostile reception at first.

Caricaturists like Daumier1 had a field day pillorying the railways in the newspapers, and placed great emphasis on the dangers of train travel. It is true that third-class train travel was pretty Spartan; but the real problem was the trains’ ‘excessive speed’.

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Riviera Express, anonymous, c.1901 Van Leer, Amsterdam 73.7 X 49.3 cm Collection Alessandro Bellenda, Galerie L’IMAGE, Alassio – Italy

Paris–Lyon–Mediterranée, Nice, Reduced-price tickets, F. Hugo d’Alesi, c.1900 110 X 78 cm

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Dänemark das land des meeres, Rundreise, anonymous, 1907 100 X 62 cm Jürgen Klein

Chemins de fer de l’Est, Haute Engadine, F. Hugo d’Alesi, 1900 Cornille & Serre Imprimeurs 103.5 X 71.5 cm

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1919-1929 The Period of Consolidation.

Happy Journeys!

W Harrogate, a Pullman train, anonymous, c.1925 100 X 64 cm

Ferrovia Elettrica Stresa-Mottarone, Mario Borgoni, 1920 Richter & C., Naples 99 X 68 cm Collection Alessandro Bellenda, Galerie L’IMAGE, Alassio – Italy

hen the First World War was over, the railways returned to peacetime activities and resumed their economic and social role. Various plans for modernization, drawn up before the war but put on hold until the return of more favourable circumstances, were dusted down. There was much that needed to be done, and great improvements would be made in the area of passenger safety and comfort.

The rapid growth of both domestic and international rail lines had created a strong demand for rolling stock, both engines and carriages. The roaring twenties were also a period of important technical advances. While speed and comfort were the major concerns of the train companies, passenger safety was not overlooked. A number of new safety measures were introduced. Signalling was quite heterogeneous – like the trains themselves, signalling systems could vary from one company to another. From the end of the nineteenth century work had begun to unify the colour codes for signals in order to simplify the work of mechanics, and these efforts were intensified as ‘high-speed’ trains became more common and overall train speeds increased. Human input was still the core of the system, but the mechanization of signalling was an exemplary sign of progress.

There had been a number of serious accidents caused by misreading of signals – human error in other words. Even though the mass media of the time were not as developed as they are today, the news got around, and travellers were shocked. The accidents of 1910, 1913, 1921 and 1922 were fully reported; that of 1917 – the worst in French history, with around 600 dead – went unreported because there was a war on.

This era saw the extension of luxury train travel and the introduction of innovations such as the Pullman trains ‘Golden Arrow’ and ‘Star of the North’, as well as the Calais–Mediterranean Express, the night train later to become the celebrated ‘Blue Train’.

The research departments of the train companies were an inventive lot, and had to face numerous demands to improve performance and reduce costs related to fuel consumption. The company directors, many of them important manufacturers, sought to develop lucrative passenger and freight services. There were a number of different factors to deal with in the search for ways to maximize the exploitation of the rail network. The first factor concerned the braking system, which was still rather rudimentary, reminiscent of the old hand brakes mounted on the roofs of wagons.

The second concerned passenger compartments, which were made of wood. And finally, the majority of rolling stock, both passenger and freight, ran on two or three axles. The four- or six-wheel undercarriage – invented in the USA, where train travel had developed apace – was the exception rather than the rule.

In France a commission comprising the directors of the large networks was set up under the aegis of the Ministry of Public Works, and they set about establishing

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Vesuvius and the Gulf of Naples, Mario Borgoni, c.1927 Richter & C., Naples 97 X 59.4 cm Collection Alessandro Bellenda, Galerie L’IMAGE, Alassio – Italy

Dall’Europa Centrale alla Riviera, Plinio Codognato, 1929 Edizioni Turisanda 99.3 X 69.3 cm Collection Alessandro Bellenda, Galerie L’IMAGE, Alassio – Italie

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Orient Express, Rafael de Ochoa y Madrazo, c.1890 Imp. F. Champenois, Paris 121.8 X 90.7 cm Collection Alessandro Bellenda, Galerie L’IMAGE, Alassio – Italy

Trianon Concert ‘ Orient Express’, Alfred Choubrac, 1896 Imp. G. Massias, Paris 120 X 80 cm

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Victoria Station London, Fix Masseau, 1981 98 X 62 cm

Venice-Simplon-Orient Express, Fix Masseau, 1982

Venice-Simplon-Orient Express, Fix Masseau, 1978 98.5 X 61.5 cm