All aboard the Nostalgia Express: Collection of old railway posters set to sell for £1million

By Daily Mail Reporter
Updated: 17:56 EDT, 24 February 2010

During the golden age of the steam train they advertised journeys to Paignton, Southport and Cornwall. Now the destination is memory lane.

Part of a vast collection, these posters were saved by railway enthusiast and employee Malcolm Guest, who died last year aged 66.

His terrace house was 'filled to the gunwales' with his beloved collection, now thought to be worth almost £1 million.

He rescued thousands of items such as classic promotional posters and station signs unwanted after British Rail nationalised the regional railways.

Collection: Malcolm Guest had more than 2,500 rare posters advertising railway trips

'Jovial' view: This Southport Lido poster produced in 1925 made £6,200

Northern delight: Scotland's Lochy viaduct, 1959

His terraced house in Knaresborough, North Yorkshire, was ‘filled to the gunnels’ with his beloved collection, which he started while he worked for BR in the 1960s.

He continued with his hobby up until he died last year aged 66.

Mr Guest's widow and two grown-up children had no idea how much his collection was worth and were ‘pleasantly surprised’ by the valuation.

The collection is so huge it is being sold over three separate auctions at Morphets of Harrogate, North Yorkshire.

Collector: Malcolm Guest worked at British Rail

It has been described by railway historian and author Dr Richard Furness as one of the most important of its kind.

He said while Malcolm Guest was saving his posters, tens of thousands of others were burnt.  

Dr Furness said: ‘Malcolm Guest worked for British Rail at Paddington Station in the early Sixties.

‘In the offices and archives was all this memorabilia and posters that were no longer wanted by British Rail and were going to be destroyed.

‘What Malcolm Guest did was ask if he could have it and squirreled it away to make probably the best private collection of railway memorabilia ever seen.

‘He took away one or two mint copies of the best posters that nowadays collectors would die to get their hands on.

‘In the golden age of steam the railway companies commissioned popular artists of the day to produce paintings from which the posters were made.

‘It was a world away from the Jimmy Savile “Age Of The Train” poster campaign of the 1970s which was just naff.

‘He was also allowed to take home the original artwork including the iconic “Speed To The West” poster painting.

‘Some 30,000 of these posters just got burnt at Waterloo station in the 1960s, they would be worth about £20million today.

‘I would estimate the collection of posters are worth about £600,000, the original artwork about £250,000 and the railway ephemera about £50,000.’

Stunned auctioneers were overwhelmed by the sheer scale of the collection, which was immaculately filed on shelves and in cabinets.

Value: The rare collection is expected to fetch more than £1million

'Gathering dust': Most of the posters were just 'cluttering up' the British Rail offices

It included more than 2,500 rare posters advertising railway trips to British holiday resorts such as Torquay and St Ives in the 1920s and 1930s and the Flying Scotsman.

They are said to be worth a total of £600,000.

Original artwork for the promotional material was also discovered.

They included 84 drawings by famous cartoonist William Heath Robinson that were commissioned by Great Western Railways in 1935 and are now worth £90,000.

An oil on canvass painting of two locomotives by famed English artist David Shepherd has a pre-sale estimate of £10,000.

The first auction has already taken place and netted £411,392, with 580 of the 2,500 posters selling for around £300,000.

Excellent condition: Mr Guest's collection has been described as one of the most important of its kind

Attraction: The posters are valuable due to their appeal to railway enthusiasts and vintage art collectors

Malcolm Guest hoarded nostalgic souvenirs relating to the golden age of steam now worth £1million

One poster was a ‘jovial’ view of Southport Lido and was produced for the London, Midland and Scottish railway in 1925. It sold for £6,200.

Elizabeth Pepper-Darling, of Morphets, said: ‘The posters date from 1905 to the 1970s and are in excellent condition.

‘Most of them were just gathering dust and cluttering up the place when British Rail came into being.

‘Malcolm Guest worked in the publicity department at Paddington and his family have said he was given most of them, but some he acquired for a very small amount of money.

Mr Guest collected thousands of items such as classic promotional posters and station signs unwanted after British Rail nationalised

Hoard: Mr Guest's terraced house was 'filled to the gunnels' with his beloved collection

‘He worked away from the railways later in his career but carried on collecting.

‘He lived in a small terraced house in Knaresborough which was given over to the collection. He didn't have very much room for himself.

‘It was extremely well organised and tidy. He would have been able to lay his hand on any given item at any time. It was all beautifully stored.’ 

The second auction takes place on March 4 when the original artwork by Heath Robinson, Shepherd and other watercolours by Charles Mayo, Samuel Warburton and Claude H. Buckle go on sale.

Auction: The collection is so huge it is being sold over three separate auctions at Morphets of Harrogate, North Yorkshire

Value: The first auction has already taken place and netted £411,392

The remaining 2,000 posters which mainly date from the 1960s and 1970s, will come up for auction later in the year.

One of the reasons why the posters are so valuable now is because they appeal to both railway enthusiasts and collectors of vintage posters and artwork.

Other items that made up Mr Guest's epic collection include a brass plate for a steam engine, a cast iron and copper steam locomotive chimney pot and restaurant car cutlery.

There are also brass cap badges, signalmen's uniforms, a station master's oak desk, a brass whistle, brass locks for carriage doors, ticket collectors' punches, timetables and station signage including one for the gents.

Train buff: Malcolm Guest worked in the publicity department of British Rail in Paddington

The remaining 2,000 posters which mainly date from the 1960s and 1970s, will come up for auction later in the year