Gerry Barney and the double arrow logo

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Looking up the "BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) Logo" to date a map that used it ... I came across this fascinating piece:

http://home.bt.com/news/uk-news/the-untold-story-of-the-british-rail-logo-11363968427192

British Rail, Gerry Barney, Design Research Unit, 1964

The arrows of indecision. The barbed wire. The crow^s feet. In the 50 years since he drew up one of the UK^▸ (United Kingdom)^s most recognisable symbols, designer Gerry Barney has probably heard them all. But he doesn^t mind. While the British public were to gradually fall out of love with British Rail as an organisation, Barney^s classic double arrow logo steadfastly carried on, quietly working away as a simple but remarkably relevant piece of design.

[Oxonhutch]

The pictures in the article must show the very first ships' funnels - or else they are photo mock-ups, because the British Rail shipping fleet had the symbol reversed to reflect nautical right-hand running.

[Tim]

The pictures in the article must show the very first ships' funnels - or else they are photo mock-ups, because the British Rail shipping fleet had the symbol reversed to reflect nautical right-hand running.

I thought that the logo was the right way round on one side of the funnel and reversed on the other. 

I once heard it described (by a staff member at bath Spa many years ago) as "the Devil's hoof print"

[Oxonhutch]

The Sealink house flag was the reverse of the BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) logo to mimic nautical convention but as the first photograph on the linked wiki's page shows, two ships with the logo either way depending on their direction. When running from left to right, their flag is reversed ("flag-pole" on the right) - and looks just like the BR flag!

[Bmblbzzz]

Thank you for posting that.

It's interesting that the symbol has survived the demise of BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) and become the accepted sign for a railway station (although I do recall one station, somewhere in Berkshire I think, having a "steam engine" sign, back in the early 90s; I only saw it while driving past though) while the "steam engine" symbol is still used on road signs warning of unbarriered level crossings.

In the mid-90s I was in New Zealand when they decided to introduce the "steam engine" sign on their level crossing warnings. I can't remember what they had before that, but of course there were protests that people wouldn't know what it meant. There were several of us watching the news together when that was reported and one joked that it could mean "toy shop ahead"! 

In some countries, of course, a steam engine sign is still used to indicate a station.

[grahame]

In some countries, of course, a steam engine sign is still used to indicate a station.

Like this?

[John R]

Maybe it's to warn that there's the risk of a West Coast Railways train passing through....

[Adelante_CCT]

Maybe it's to warn that there's the risk of a West Coast Railways train passing through....

....if there was, I'd stand much further away than just the yellow line. 

[Bmblbzzz]

Wha?  ^ Looks v odd to me, but if it gets the message across, then it works. (Is that Chippenham?)