The West Highland Line poster – Jack Marriott – 1959

The West Highland Line poster – Jack Marriott – 1959

This vintage railway poster was produced by British Railways as part of their ongoing See Britain by Train advertising campaign. TheWest Highland Line trains run from Glasgow to Oban or Fort William and Mallaig. It is widely considered to be the most scenic rail journey in the world. This vintage railway poster by renowned artist Jack Merriott conveys some of the beauty of the journey. The train featured on the British Railways poster is the Observation Coach at Lochy Viaduct near Fort William.

The Observation Cars were designed by Sir Nigel Gresley to offer a new look to the train pulled by LNER’s new streamlined A4 locomotive, The Coronation. The train was named for the Coronation of King George VI, on 12th May 1937. George had become king in December 1936 with the abdication of Edward VIII.

The streamlined car, known affectionately as ‘beaver tail’  featured large slanted windows, intended to be the last car of the train, for passenger’s viewing pleasure. The exterior of the carriage was painted in garter blue, reminiscent of the record-breaking Mallard, that set a world speed record of 126mph in 1938. A record that still stands. The interior of all the coaches, including the observation car were decorated in the Art Deco style.

The idea of the observation cars turned out to be better than the reality and the car was difficult to incorporate into a flexible passenger service, because nothing else could sensibly be attached behind it. This made the process of adding and removing carriages to cater for demand a complicated logistical matter. These problems coupled with the war halted the operation of the observation cars after just two years. The observation cars were put into storage.

The cars were put back into service in the 1956 on the West Highland lines in Scotland to allow passengers to take in sights of the stunning Scottish countryside in the summer. The cars were rebuilt in 1959 with a more angled end to give a better view. The cars saw another ten years before being withdrawn from service in 1968.

 The 1719 and 1729 observation cars were built in Doncaster and are the only  two ever made. Both the observation cars have survived and have been  restored by Railway Vehicle Preservations Ltd, which has restored the LNER 1719 to its original condition. It has been finished in the red livery as seen in the poster and resides with the Great Central Railway. The LNER 1729 currently resides at the One:One collection in Margate. This car has been finished in its original Silver and Blue livery. 

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 bargain of print and frame for a great price.