What font did British Railways use on their Station Signs?

Question

Also, the HEX codes for the colours may be useful. The regions Eastern, North Eastern, Midland, Western, Southern and Scottish.

Thanks.

Answer 1

This link should really help.   It's to Edward Johnston.  He was the graphic designer who created the Designs used for the  'London Underground'.

The typeface is  sans-serif Johnston.

http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/itc/johnsto...

Studying graphic design?

Answer 2

After the rebranding in 1965 BR used a font of its own known as 'Rail Alphabet' similar to, but not identical with Helvetica (probably the font most widely used by corporate bodies). it is also similar, but less so, to Arial and Akzidenz Grotesk. The Johnston Typeface used on London Underground is NOT the same. (see:- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rail_Alphab...

As to the HEX colour codes, I think you will have to get some coloured pictures and do your own matching. Computing was in its infancy in 1948 when BR came into existence and I doubt that HEX colours had been invented. What I think you will need is the British Standard Colour used in each case. Possibly the NRM can help further.

(Pity the previous answer doesn't give a credit to Wikipedia from which his answer is cut and pasted)

Answer 3

Rail Alphabet is a typeface designed by Jock Kinneir and Margaret Calvert for British Railways (Called British Railway Font). It was first used by British Railways in signing tests at London's Liverpool Street Station, and was then adopted by the Design Research Unit (DRU) as part of their 1965 rebranding of the company.

The rebranding was comprehensive and included a logo (the double arrow originated by DRU), a shortened name British Rail, station environments, train liveries, and promotional literature.

The typeface remains the dominant standard for trackside warning signs, and safety/operating notices within the trains themselves, but in the post-privatisation era, some of the train operating companies (TOCs) who manage individual stations on the British railway network have chosen to use their own fonts and typography for station signage, timetables and promotional literature, which has led to an inconsistency of design across the railway network.

Rail Alphabet is similar, but not identical, to a bold weight of Helvetica (and, not quite as similar, Akzidenz Grotesk or Arial). Akzidenz Grotesk had earlier also provided the same designers the broad inspiration for the Gatwick Airport signing (which later became the British Airports Authority (later known as BAA) standard) and Transport typeface used for all road signs in the United Kingdom.

I hope that my answer is of assistance.

Answer 4

ariel black

Answer 5

The font British Railways used prior to 1965 was Gill Sans (inherited from the LNER) _not_ Johnston, although the two are similar, Johnston has diamond shaped 'i' dots in lc rather than circles.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnston_%2...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gill_Sans

The entry for Gill Sans shows an LNER Station sign