On Either Side, London and North Eastern Railway, 1925 [ebook]

£3.95

Booklet, stiff paper covers, 8”x 7” , pp. 75, strip maps of routes described on cover, with numerous B&W half tone photographs of places en route. (Note: in this copy, one photo is missing having been cut out by a previous owner).

Description

In various forms, this was a very long-lived publication, having originated in a simpler format published by the Great Northern Railway before Grouping, and culminating in the last LNER Edition of 1939, which was still on sale in British Railways days, with a warning sticker that it was no longer up-to-date- One of these was amongst the first items in my own collection, having been purchased for 1/- at the “Sammy the Shunter” model railway exhibition at Scarborough in 1955.

Despite the sticker warning that things had changed, I persuaded my father to rake me to see a beautiful windmill, complete with sails illustrated south of York. I was bitterly disappointed to find only the burned out shell of the brick tower.

The edition offered here was first available at the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley in 1925. Initially, it is thought that the booklets were free of charge, but in the harsher economic climate of the 1930s, a charge of 3d was made 1931 -1933 but was then dropped.

The cover was designed by Austin Cooper (born 1890 in Souris, Manitoba, Canada, died 1964) who was a prolific poster artist for London Underground and the LNER. He was one of a group of five or six artists selected by LNER Advertising Manager W. M. Teesdale to be given regular commissions for posters and other artwork. Cooper described their style as “a kind of simplified realism”. It is interesting that he presented his cover design for “On Either Side” as a view through a very impressionistic carriage window, a design which the Southern Railway elaborated on with:-

http://www.britishtransporttreasures.com/product/ace-the-atlantic-coast-express-by-s-p-b-mais-southern-railway-1937-ebook/

The LMS also had a go in1938, with:-

http://www.britishtransporttreasures.com/product/the-track-of-the-coronation-scot-july-1938/

This is a smaller format than the other two, but tries to pack in too much detail Every brdge over or under the railway is shown, but the maps, compared to the LNER publicaion are, I suspect too small to take in at the much vaunted average speed of 61.7 mph.

PREVIEW BELOW – MAY TAKE A WHILE TO LOAD.

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