The West Highland Line poster – Lochy Viaduct Fort William – Jack Merriott – 1959

The West Highland Line poster – Lochy Viaduct Fort William – Jack Merriott – 1959 The West Highland Line poster was produced by British Railways as part of their ongoing See Britain by Train advertising campaign. The West 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 became 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, which 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 to it. This made the process of adding and removing carriages to cater to 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 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 The cars saw another ten years before being withdrawn from service in 1968.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.