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The Beauty of Transport

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Invisible Masterpieces – the Big Four’s Stations 1923-47 (and a book all about them) Have you ever had a project you’ve started on without any idea of the scale of work you’ve just...
4th Jan 2026
1

Invisible Masterpieces – the Big Four’s Stations 1923-47 (and a book all about them)

from The Beauty of Transport [alt+shift+b] in architecture

4th Jan 2026
Have you ever had a project you’ve started on without any idea of the scale of work you’ve just committed to? Well, if you want to know one of the reasons that I haven’t been writing here as much as I might have done otherwise, I’m happy to announce one of the projects that has...
Announcing ‘A Mainline Station Heritage Artefacts Collection’ I have been thinking *a lot* about heritage artefacts at mainline railway stations over the last few...
3rd Dec 2025
1

Announcing ‘A Mainline Station Heritage Artefacts Collection’

from The Beauty of Transport [alt+shift+b] in architecture

3rd Dec 2025
I have been thinking *a lot* about heritage artefacts at mainline railway stations over the last few years. They are so important in telling the story of the railway station at which they are located (and quite often the history of the wider railway industry), yet frequently go...
How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Thanet Parkway (Thanet Parkway, Kent, UK) Thanet Parkway station opened on 31 July 2023, and promptly broke quite a few people’s brains. I can...
13th Aug 2025
43

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Thanet Parkway (Thanet Parkway, Kent, UK)

from The Beauty of Transport [alt+shift+b] in architecture

13th Aug 2025
Thanet Parkway station opened on 31 July 2023, and promptly broke quite a few people’s brains. I can remember my Twitter feed (as was) being awash with commentators deriding its appearance. Even now, a simple web search will quickly turn up adjectives like “ugly”, “hideous”,...
A Change of Course – Honing Network Rail’s Wayfinding Guidance Finding your way around a Network Rail station is becoming another step easier. The publication of...
23rd Jul 2025
55

A Change of Course – Honing Network Rail’s Wayfinding Guidance

from The Beauty of Transport [alt+shift+b] in architecture

23rd Jul 2025
Finding your way around a Network Rail station is becoming another step easier. The publication of the most recent version of Network Rail’s Wayfinding design manual represents the latest step in the company’s quest to design the best possible signage system for stations. Given...
Never(?) Decreasing Circles (Railtrack/Network Rail major station logos, UK (continued)) One of the most enduringly popular articles on this website (at least in terms of clicks and...
27th Nov 2024
122

Never(?) Decreasing Circles (Railtrack/Network Rail major station logos, UK (continued))

from The Beauty of Transport [alt+shift+b] in architecture

27th Nov 2024
One of the most enduringly popular articles on this website (at least in terms of clicks and re-posts) is a very early one, from 2013. It concerns the graphic identities created for Railtrack’s major stations by Citigate Lloyd Northover. These ones… Firstly – have I really been...
The Inbetweeners (Ebbsfleet International and Stratford International, UK) Well then. At the end of the last article I promised to write about the stations on HS2 phase 1...
29th May 2024
155

The Inbetweeners (Ebbsfleet International and Stratford International, UK)

from The Beauty of Transport [alt+shift+b] in architecture

29th May 2024
Well then. At the end of the last article I promised to write about the stations on HS2 phase 1 assuming that I hadn’t been too enraged by the political fallout from hopefully soon-to-be-ex-prime minister Rishi Sunak’s cancellation of phase 2 of HS2. Reader, I have been enraged....
High Speed at High Speed (Tianjin West station, China) In scale and speed of construction, Tianjin West seems almost impossible – especially when viewed...
4th Oct 2023
80

High Speed at High Speed (Tianjin West station, China)

from The Beauty of Transport [alt+shift+b] in architecture

4th Oct 2023
In scale and speed of construction, Tianjin West seems almost impossible – especially when viewed from Britain. It is, therefore, the perfect embodiment of China’s high speed rail network, on which the station can be found. It is also, I am sorry to say, the antithesis of the...
Clean Lines and Integrated Transport (Florastrasse transport hub, Adliswil, Switzerland) The thing about Switzerland’s affordable, hyper-reliable, hyper-integrated and hyper-ubiquitous...
9th Aug 2023
104

Clean Lines and Integrated Transport (Florastrasse transport hub, Adliswil, Switzerland)

from The Beauty of Transport [alt+shift+b] in architecture

9th Aug 2023
The thing about Switzerland’s affordable, hyper-reliable, hyper-integrated and hyper-ubiquitous public transport system is that the regard in which its phenomenal operational expertise is held can overshadow the architectural successes it also demonstrates. Even when transport...
Riding the Steel Breeze (Port Talbot Parkway, Neath Port Talbot, UK) Some stations are born parkways, some achieve parkway status, while yet others have parkway status...
26th Jul 2023
46

Riding the Steel Breeze (Port Talbot Parkway, Neath Port Talbot, UK)

from The Beauty of Transport [alt+shift+b] in architecture

26th Jul 2023
Some stations are born parkways, some achieve parkway status, while yet others have parkway status thrust upon them. Such is the explanation for an arrival at Port Talbot Parkway being such a strange experience. As passengers step out of their trains they find themselves...
R.I.P. W.C. (1930s Southern Railway toilets, Havant station, Hampshire, UK) So farewell then, Havant station’s 1930s railway toilets. It is doubtful whether many passengers...
15th Feb 2023
70

R.I.P. W.C. (1930s Southern Railway toilets, Havant station, Hampshire, UK)

from The Beauty of Transport [alt+shift+b] in architecture

15th Feb 2023
So farewell then, Havant station’s 1930s railway toilets. It is doubtful whether many passengers will mourn their loss, but they are another piece of railway heritage that has slipped beyond grasp. If you care about the story of our railways, expressed through their built...
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