The Four Belles railway poster – Shep – 1948

Poster: The Four Belles railway poster – Shep – 1948

Following the merging of the Big Four railway companies –  the Great Western Railway, the London and North Eastern Railway, the London, Midland and Scottish Railway and the Southern Railway and the nationalisation of the railways in 1948, there was a necessity for the railways to produce new informative advertising to reassure the rail traveling public of the changes.

The vintage Four Belles railway poster was created by Charles ‘Shep” Shepard. It was published the same year as the nationalisation and highlighted that the coastal routes that were provided by Southern Railways before the change were still in effect.

Under the banner heading of The Four Belles Ring the Southern Coast the poster promoted what were Southern’s three premier Pullman trains – the Devon Belle, the Bournemouth Belle and the Brighton Belle. In addition, in 1948, British Railways added a fourth ‘Belle” in the form of the Thanet Belle. With this addition as the poster reflects the whole of the Southern Coast was catered for by rail.

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 a 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 bargain of print and poster for just £22.