Handbills, tickets and so much more

Handbills, tickets and so much more... collecting on a budget

Starting a railwayana collection doesn’t have to mean a big outlay in cost. Clifford Chambers outlines smaller, yet collectable items costing from £1 which can make a good starting point.

No longer produced in paper form, BR timetables are a popular item... but need space.

A really inexpensive starting point for collecting tickets are these platform tickets, all bought for under £1 each.

Collecting railwayana isn’t solely limited to the expensive locomotive nameplates and specials and mystery excursions. These too can look nice on a wall, framed. signs. Paper ephemera and tickets can be an ideal inexpensive starting point.

Those of us of a certain age will remember buying a platform ticket so as to spend an hour spotting on the local station.

Edmondson platform tickets are available from a well-known online auction site for a pound upwards from a variety of eras. The paper tickets from a machine which replaced the Edmondson style are also readily available online or from specialist ticket traders.

Like any style of ticket, they look good framed and hanging on a wall, more so if the stations are from a specific area or form a theme.

In the early 1960s, I recall collecting examples of railway handbills – I had hundreds and wish I had them now.

These were always in racks near the ticket office window, printed on coarse paper, but advertising excursions, day trips to the races or seaside, Blackpool Illuminations, football Even the more colourful folded handbills produced by British Rail in the 1980s have become collectable. How many of us picked these up on a visit to the station, but more crucially do you still have them? The era of the internet has changed many facets of our lives, but these booklets, leaflets and pocket timetables are still a vital part of past railway history, and ought not to be destroyed. When they’ve gone, they’ve gone.

Comparison

Talking of timetables, these too, bulky as some are, can be a useful source of information on how and when trains ran – and can make fascinating comparisons to the present day.

Timetable collecting needs plenty of bookshelf space, but when you have acquired them, it can be a wrench to part with them.

Looking back, cover designs of timetables have improved: From the single regional BR

British Railways handbills (centre) are another collectable, but also the British Rail leaflets of the 1970s and 80s too. PICTURES: CHRIS MILNER (LEFT AND RIGHT), COMMONS COLLECTIVE.

colour of the 1960s to a more corporate style in the 70s, then from the 80s onwards graphic artwork and later pictures before the National timetable of Great Britain was axed completely, and later revived under Middleton Press until they ceased publishing too – all because of information accessible via the internet or a mobile phone app.

Other collectable areas to begin can be London Underground memorabilia. While signs can be expensive, line carriage maps are often available for under £50, and can look great framed.

The London Transport Museum Shop in Covent Garden sells hundreds of different designs of poster seen on the Underground and these can also make attractive framed prints. The may not be original, but at least they are affordable.

A number of the auction houses offer London Underground cap badges, and you can also find BR cap badges – porter, inspector, driver, guard – for sale and a reasonable price. Caps and uniforms are also available.

One very popular area is the original art deco style railway posters of the 1920s, 30s and 40s. Many have become classics.

Sought after

The Big Four and later BR commissioned artists such as C Hamilton Ellis, Jack Merriott, Claude Buckle, Harry Riley and Terence Cuneo to produce art works which became posters. Much sought after, some often fetch four figures at auction.

In a similar vein are carriage prints. In the days of compartment stock, colourful images of

A Northern Line Underground map from a Tube train looks great framed, but beware – this one is 55 inches long! CHRIS MILNER

This corporate LNER gift set from the Azuma launch in 2019 of a notebook, pen, keyring, lapel badge and mobile phone re-charge pack has already become a future collectable.

Timetables from the 1960s and 70s can provide an interesting snapshot of the past.

the Scottish Highlands, North Wales, Devon or Cornwall were displayed – painted by the likes of Norman Wilkinson, Merriott and Buckle. These attractive prints sell at auction from £70 upwards and can be a perfect decorative addition to a room.

If you don’t have that much space, then another option is to collect buttons from railway uniforms, single line tokens or staffs, lamps, horse brasses, china, glassware, pay checks or signal lever plates. All take up a small space and can easily be housed in a small display cabinet.

Now some 25 years after privatisation, items bearing the logos and branding of companies such as Midland Main Line, Northern Spirit and other erstwhile operators are gaining popularity. But also in years to come, some corporate PR gifts given to guests and media at event launches, such as the LNER Azuma presentation box, will also be in demand as they were produced in limited quantities.

At the end of the day, collecting is whatever you want it to be. ■