Insch (British Rail)

Some time back in the 1960s, when I was rather young, I remember my mother telling me one day that she'd just heard on the radio that British Railways was going to be called British Rail, and that from now on all the trains were going to be painted blue.

And this was the type of sign that soon started to appear at just about every railway station in Great Britain.

The fragmentation of our national railway network and the subsequent privatisation of rail services has led to a proliferation of distinct brands and corporate identities (some quite short-lived) over the past couple of decades.

The (in)famous Double Arrow logo nonetheless survives in use, binding the whole National Rail network together in a somewhat looser, more nebulous kind of association. As the Wikipedia article states, "It is now employed as a generic symbol on street signs in Great Britain denoting railway stations, and as part of the Association of Train Operating Companies' jointly-managed National Rail brand?being still printed on railway tickets."

Scotland, however, has now adopted its own distinctive Scotrail brand for use on trains and at stations, so I wonder how long this sign at Insch will survive.

Meanwhile I will continue to enjoy this link to my younger days, and the many miles I journeyed with 'British Rail' back in the 1970's and early 1980s with the half price travel that my Student Railcard then offered...