Flying Scotsman poster – Leo Marfurt – Vintage Railway Poster 1928

Flying Scotsman poster – Leo Marfurt – Vintage Railway Poster 1928 This Art Deco influenced Flying Scotsman poster was created by the Swiss-born artist Leo Marfurt who spent most of his career working in Belgium. It was the third poster produced in a style that was inspired by Cubism and Futurism and combined simple shapes, bold colours and flat silhouettes to create striking works of art. The artwork is similar tthe work of the English artist Tom Purvis at around the same time. In 1927 Marfurt set up his own business in Brussels under the name Les Créations Publicitaires (“Advertising Creations”). His customers included the Brussels World Fair. Minerva automobiles, Chrysler automobiles, Belga cigarettes and Belgian National Railways. Marfurt’s work caught the attention of the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) who commissioned a poster to highlight their flagship rail passenger service – The Flying Scotsman. The design was very similar in style to Marfurt’s earlier Oostende-Dover and Les Grandes Communications posters for Belgian Railways. The jumble of colour and shapes depicts a busy, crowded scene at King’s Cross railway station. Composed of flat areas of colour, the image offers a view across several platforms with a large crowd of people milling around the station. The different sizes of certain groups of people offers a feeling of perspective and also suggest that there are several layers to the image. A young, elegantly dressed couple standing on Platform 7 dominates the foreground. The gentleman in a blue suit and grey trilby is standing with his right hand in his trouser pocket. The woman standing to his right is wearing a warm red coat dress and cloche hat. Her white gloves and the hand on her hip emphasise that she is mimicking the gentleman’s stance. Moving forward past the couple we see the backs of more people waiting for their train on Platform 8. Between Platforms 8 and 9 we can see a railway guard or porter crossing the railway tracks. It is, Platform 9 that offers the most activity as the passengers that have just alighted the train are moving towards the station exit on the left. In the distance, on Platform 10, we finally get a glimpse of The Flying Scotsman. Her passengers have boarded and are preparing for their 7-hour journey. Bags are being placed in the overhead luggage rack, coats are being folded and out away and others gaze out of the window and wave at the people they are temporarily leaving behind. A shaft of light bounces off the railway carriage roof and reflects onto one of the passengers leaving the platform, a man in a flat cap carrying a matching yellow briefcase. The image accompanies the message that the train leaves Kings Cross station in London at 10 a.m. every weekday. Of the Big Four railway companies, the LNER is probably considered to be the most adventurous with its marketing material, advertising media and poster designs. Under the leadership of its Chief Publicity Officer, Charles Dandridge, the LNER, commissioned numerous artists to create striking and visually appealing posters to promote travel on its routes. These posters, featuring scenic destinations and iconic locomotives like the Flying Scotsman, became iconic examples of Art Deco and Art Nouveau design. Different artists contributed to the LNER’s impressive collection of promotional materials, making them highly collectible and admired even today among enthusiasts of vintage travel posters. Other Leo Marfurt posters Oostende-Dover, Les Grandes Communications, Brussels World Fair, Minerva automobiles, Belga cigarettes Other Flying Scotsman Railway Posters The Flying Scotsman passenger train service began in 1862 as the Special Scotch Express. The Flying Scotsman train was officially named in 1923 after the passenger service from London King’s Cross to Edinburgh Waverley on the East Coast mainline. Its unmissable green livery, record-breaking achievements, and iconic railway posters soon made the train extremely popular with the British public. The Flying Scotsman continues to be a symbol of British engineering and a beloved piece of railway history, captivating enthusiasts and tourists worldwide. This famous train has left its mark in various forms of media, gracing the pages of books, the screens of films, and even adorning coins, postage stamps, and jigsaw puzzles. Its iconic presence extends to everyday items like cups, mugs, and coasters, making it a beloved symbol that permeates both history and popular culture. Vintage posters featuring the Flying Scotsman are especially popular among collectors due to their rarity and nostalgic appeal. These posters capture the essence of the train and are highly valued by those who appreciate history and art. The posters are a testament to its enduring legacy, the Flying Scotsman continues to inspire and captivate generations, becoming a cherished symbol of the golden age of rail travel. Some of our favorite Flying Scotsman posters include an anonymous poster for the LNER who in conjunction with the Cunard shipping line produced a poster to encourage transatlantic travel from America and Canada to the British shores and onto the Continent. The Cunard LNER poster depicts the famous train waiting patiently on Liverpool docks while its passengers disembark from the RMS Aquitania. Another well-known and popular poster was produced in 1932 by the British artist A.R. Thomson. The Take Me By Flying Scotsman poster depicts a small child standing on a railway platform looking up at a train driver in his cab. The poster mimics Southern Railways ‘Early Holiday poster‘ by Charles Brown. However, the size of the child compared to the locomotive, and the train driver needing to use a megaphone to communicate with the child, seems to be a playful way to show that LNER trains were bigger and faster than Southern’s. Leo Marfurt‘s 1928 Flying Scotsman poster is an Art Deco classic that barely features the famous locomotive or train. Instead, the bright and contemporary graphic, almost abstract design depicts a large crowd of passengers leaving the platform having alighted the train whilst others wait patiently to board. The image accompanies the message that the train leaves Kings Cross station in London at 10 a.m. every weekday. A personal favorite features the iconic train winding its way through the rugged Scottish scenery in the Monessie Gorge in Inverness-shire, Scotland. The stunning By Rail to the Highlands print was created by the renowned artist Terence Cuneo who was renowned for his incredible railway posters and fine art paintings. For our final highlight, we have chosen a series of posters that were created to celebrate the Flying Scotsman turning 100 years old. Each of the twenty Centenary posters marks one of the mainline centenary runs that took place between March and December 2023. The runs include East Lancashire, Royal Duchy, Keighley and Worth Valley, Cardiff Express, the Cheshireman, the Portsmouth Flyer, the Salisbury Express, the East Coast Mainline, and the Highland Express. We currently list over 200 vintage railway posters in our collection with new ones introduced on a regular basis. More than a dozen of these include superb reproduction prints and original Flying Scotsman posters. Take a trip over there and see where the journey takes you!