For Margaret Calvert fans
Two years ago I started taking photographs of signs in railway stations. Not just any signs, only the signs using Rail Alphabet, a typeface designed by Jock Kinneir and Margaret Calvert for signage on the British Rail network.
In 1965, Rail Alphabet replaced Transport – which had been designed for use on road signage – and it was used right up until the end of the 1980s, when sectorisation broke up the national rail network and the universal brand.
Eventually it might totally disappear, so each photo acts as a record of the single identity in use across a fragmented network.
Rail Alphabet was designed to be prominent in stations and it doesn’t half stand out. Look at this example in Manchester.
I love this big illuminated sign in City Thameslink station.
I’m posting the photos on typo.social/@RailAlphabet, a Mastodon instance for typography enthusiasts. You can follow it via RSS and it should be bridged to Bluesky soon (hopefully).