Thursday 2 October 2025 (1pm BST / 2pm CEST)
Join us for transport writer Daniel Wright‘s overview of 60 years of British railway station signage. The talk starts with British Railways’ 1965 unified signage scheme and how it got lost, moves through the anarchy of privatisation-era signage, before looking at how Network Rail is trying to put railway signage back together again. It’s a tour that is by turns elegant, chaotic, monochrome, multi-coloured and sometimes just plain frustrating.
The last time anyone tried to introduce a consistent signage regime throughout the national railway network, it was British Rail in 1965. It was an immense project, and formed part of what is still a highly regarded example of corporate visual identity development. It lasted until 1982, when that visual unity started to fracture, thanks to the efforts of none other than… British Rail.
Rail privatisation, which started in 1994, saw any pretence that the national railway network should actually look like a national network quickly subsumed by visual – and signage – chaos. Before long, each rail franchise area started getting its own style of signage, and after the first round of franchises changed hands, it was not uncommon for single franchise areas to have more than one.
Now, it looks like the government is ready to have another go at a single national railway brand, through the creation of Great British Railways. Network Rail, which will form the core of Great British Railways, already has a plan for a single signage design for the railway network. But this time, the job is going to be a lot more difficult.
Daniel concludes his talk with an explanation as to why, despite Great British Railways’ aspirations and Network Rail’s recent endeavours, the chance for a new national railway signage scheme might already have slipped through the rail industry’s fingers.
About the speaker
Daniel Wright has a lifelong love of railways and transport in general, and a particular interest in transport architecture and design. He holds a First Class Honours degree in Transport Management. After working as a transport journalist and a transport planner for a number of years, he launched transport architecture and design website The Beauty of Transport in 2012, which he continues to write. He has written books on railway footbridges and railway station architecture of the inter-war period, and recently contributed to Arrows of Desire by Nick Job, a book about British Rail’s ‘double arrow’ corporate identity symbol. He has also appeared as a guest expert on television series ‘The Architecture the Railways Built’.
About the event
Tickets are free for paid-up SDS members, otherwise £19 per person, available to purchase via the SDS Administrator (please email: enquiries@signdesignsociety.co.uk for more information). Unable to make the seminar on the day? You can buy time-limited access to the talk recording too.
Tickets are non-refundable, unless the seminar is cancelled.
Any questions? Please email us.
