Lucky Dogs! GWR poster – Fred Gardner – c1923

Vintage GWR Railway Poster: Lucky Dogs! poster – Fred Gardner – c1923

In this vintage GWR railway, Lucky Dogs poster two new found friends meet for the first time on a Great Western Railway platform. They look quite excited about the journeys they are about to make. They are heading to Cornwall! The dog on the left has a passenger travel tag for St Ives and the one on the right is labelled for Falmouth. However, they are sat next to cases with tags for Torquay. Let’s hope the fun-loving dogs get to their destinations. 

Below the travelling companions and luggage is a map of the south west coast of England showing the Great Western Railway’s main lines, branch lines and motor routes in Cornwall and Devon from Dawlish to Penzance.

The original vintage railway poster was created by the artist Fred Gardner sometime in the 1920s for the Great Western Railway. The poster points out that the General Manager was Felix J.C. Pole. Felix John Clewett Pole had joined the Great Western Railway in 1891 as a telegraph lad. He worked his way up the ladder becoming Assistant General Manager in 1919 and finally General Manage in 1921. Pole was knighted on 28 February 1924 and left the Great Western Railway in 1929.

In 1914, Great Western Railways introduced an express passenger train service between Paddington Station and Penzance in Cornwall. The Cornish Riviera Express, as it is known, has become of the most famous named trains in Britain. 

In 1923, the GWR introduced its new Castle Class locomotives. At the time these were touted as the ‘most powerful locomotives in Britain’ and cut the journey to Plymouth down to around four hours.

In 1927, the company brought in the King Class steam locomotive. With the exception of the unique Pacific, the King Class were the largest locomotives built by the GWR. They were designed especially for the GWR expresses on the mainline from London to the West of England and on the Birmingham and Wolverhampton mainline. A vintage railway poster by the artist Charles Mayo from 1939. It focuses on the King George VI, King Class locomotive pulling its cream and chocolate liveried coaches. The poster is titled Cornish Riviera Express and can be seen here. 

The King Class locomotives steamed up and down and across the country for almost 40 years. The service was dieselised in the late 1950s and the famous King Class was withdrawn in 1962.

Our posters are carefully and professionally created from vintage originals. Whilst great care is taken in the production of these posters, we also try to maintain a vintage feel, so there may be small imperfections, fold marks, scuffs, tears, or marks that were part of the original poster master. If these do appear they should be visible on the larger views of the item on this listing. The originals of many of the posters we offer can cost many thousands of pounds, so whilst these posters look great, especially framed and mounted on a wall, they are intended as fun, affordable reproductions and not intended fine art prints.

The 50x70cm version has been specially produced to be used in conjunction with Ikea’s 50x70cm Ribba picture frame which currently retails for around £12. So you can bag a print and frame for a great price.