British Rail identity and signs (1965–1990s)

From Nick Job’s doublearrow.co.uk:

In 1964 Design Research Unit—Britain’s first multi-disciplinary design agency founded in 1943 by Misha Black, Milner Gray and Herbert Read—was commissioned to breathe new life into the nation’s neglected railway industry, the corporate image of which had remained largely unchanged after its nationalisation in 1948, a reflection of a largely disjointed and out-of-date transport system. The company name was shortened to British Rail and Gerry Barney of Design Research Unit conceived the famous ‘double-arrow’, a remarkably robust and memorable icon that has far outlasted British Rail itself and continues to be used on traffic signs throughout the United Kingdom as the symbol for the national rail network and more specifically railway stations on that network. The new corporate identity programme was launched in January 1965 with an exhibition at the Design Council, London.

After briefly testing the Transport typeface that Margaret Calvert and Jock Kinneir had recently designed for all UK road signs, the Design Research Unit asked them to make a similar typeface more suitable for the railway network – for people walking down platforms and sitting in trains, rather than driving down motorways. The result was Rail Alphabet, and it’s been used throughout the rail network ever since, at over 2,000 stations.

The British Rail Corporate Identity manual (1964–1965) contains detailed specifications for:
— the Rail Alphabet, which “closely resembles. but is different from, Helvetica Medium as specified for printed applications”
— the brand colours, Rail Blue, Rail Grey and Rail Red
— the “two-way traffic arrows on parallel lines representing tracks” symbol, the well-known British Rail Double Arrow logo.

For more information about British Rail’s design and branding, refer to Daniel Wright’s excellent web site, The Beauty of Transport.

The original Rail Alphabet shares Helvetica genes. It’s a bit more solid, a bit more compact, with a raised x-height. The digits 2 and 7 are straight rather than curved. The M looks chunkier, the J has lost some of its curviness, the f is contained.

Although still to be seen on many stations, the original Rail Alphabet has been “departing our platforms” for over 20 years. Some of the privatization branding efforts in the 1990s adopted different typefaces (e.g., Brunel, Glypha), and it will eventually be replaced entirely by Rail Alphabet 2. But at present you can still see ageing examples on many stations across the country, functional despite being covered with years of railway grime, and patiently awaiting their time for rejuvenation.