British Railways Emblem, Swanage Steam Railway

            On 1st January 1948, British Railways was born. It would go on to be one of the most infamous of British institutions, loved by some and reviled by many. Its corporate identity and “double arrow” logo would go on to attain international fame. But all that was to come later.
British Railways started its life with no corporate identity of its own. It would be unthinkable today for a new transport operator to start up without a logo and corporate colour scheme of some sort, but the BTC didn’t seem to have thought about this in advance.

While the Railway Executive experimented with different colour schemes for its locomotives, carriages and wagons (during 1948, even though British Railways had been in existence for months) the hunt was on for some kind of emblem which could be applied to trains. The Railway Executive and BTC’s saviour in this matter is the subject of some confusion. According to Haresnape (1989: p12) it was Abram Games (1914-1996), a brilliant graphic artist who had already produced some excellent modernist posters and products and would later go on to devise the graphic identity for the Festival of Britain in 1951. Not so, according to Jackson (2013: p94) and Lawrence (2016: p11), it was the work of sculptor Cecil Thomas (1885-1976).

Whichever of them it was, they created the “lion on wheel” totem/seal for the BTC, which could be used for any of its subsidiaries, and it was the British Railways version of the BTC totem that was eventually adopted by the Railway Executive for use on locomotives.

it’s a stylish and dramatic piece of graphic design, the detail on the lion’s mane and its fierce countenance especially. What this emblem wasn’t, however, was in any way modern or forward-looking. It harked back to heraldic imagery via a sort of pre-war Modern / Art Deco style. The lion stands on what is clearly a steam locomotive wheel, despite the fact that British Railways already had many electric trains and some early diesel locomotives, all of which pointed the way to the company’s future.

The good news was that, despite the fact it was neither particularly modern nor in keeping with British Railways’ corporate typeface, nor was actually British Railways’ own totem, it looked super on British Railways’ trains. It was reversible, so that the lion always faced forwards on steam locomotives (many diesel engines had a cab at each end and could run in either direction, so the lion faced left on these, and didn’t always face the direction of travel). But again, it wasn’t a logo as such, because it was rarely seen anywhere but on trains.

Taken in: United Kingdom / England / Swanage (show map)

Taken on: August 30, 2018

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Sets appears in: • Trains • Swanage Steam Railway, Dorset 30.8.18

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Camera:	Google Pixel XL
Aperture:	f/2.0
Exposure Time:	0.01 sec (1/100)
Focal Length:	4.7mm
ISO:	61
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Program AE
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Metering Mode:	Center-weighted average
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