Journey into the past: the joy of collecting railway literature

Godfrey Holmes reflects on time(tables) gone by

(Godfrey Holmes)

All railway counter literature is advertising, right? To get bums on seats; to keep existing customers; to tempt future customers; or to propagate the company image. And timetables and flyers are free: shiny paper, maybe just the size of one third of an A4 sheet. So why hang on to this ephemera – why not consign it to landfill? Well, railways evolve: new operators, new livery, new stations, new routes, new rolling stock. It offers a fascinating glance at times gone by, and allows us to compare and contrast, say, 1979 with 2019.

Operators wish to provide exact timing, up-to-date timing, changed timing due to engineering work, diversion timing, holiday express timing, racecourse timing, away match timing – and also timings to connect with heritage railways like Keighley & Worth Valley, where both those and the mainline share stations.