British Railways

Last modified: 2002-06-21 by rob raeside
Keywords: house flag | united kingdom | british railways | british rail | railroad | lion | double arrow | error |
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• British Rail: 1965-198X
  • Ashore
  • Afloat
  • Wrong design reported
• British Railways: 1949-1965

• House flags of british shipping companies
• United Kingdom

British Rail had two flags. On land at stations, the same flag was used with a red background. This flag is still in use as the “double-arrow” symbol now belongs to the DETR (Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions) and is authorised for use by the railway companies and other purposes connected to the national railway network. Recently I have seen the railways flag flying over Chester and Swansea railway stations.
Roy Stilling, 13 Feb 1999

In Dow (1973), Railway Heraldry, page 250, Mr. Dow has a longish tirade (far too long for reproduction in extenso), containing:

"The symbol [of British Railways] ... is officially described as consisting of 'two-way traffic arrows on parallel lines representing tracks'. The top arrow therefore always points to the right (because the trains keep to the left), save only in the case of ships' funnels and ships' flags, where the top arrow will point forward on the port-side. It was conceived by Design Research Unit and, although it is by no means generally liked and has been aptly dubbed 'the barbed wire', it does represent an attempt to devise a distinctive, instantly recognisable symbol."

British Railways, or to use its more common name, British Rail, ceased to exist during the early 1990s. It was replaced by Railtrack, which was to operate the actual track and station premises, and a variety of operating companies, which were to provide services. Railtrack eventually collapsed in a welter of maladministration and debt in 2001, and the British Government put the company into administration and in effect re-nationalized it at that time. A new non-profit successor to Railtrack is in the process of development. 

I do not know whether Railtrack or the many actual operating companies had their own flags or not. I suspect that most of them did, but I have not seen any depictions or illustrations. It is certain however that all the rolling stock received gaudy new liveries in place of actual new equipment.

Kath Lavar, 12 April 2002

This was the flag worn by its ships, with a blue background. I have read somewhere, although I cannot find the reference, that the double-arrow logo was reversed when used on the Sealink ferries so that the cross pieces could be read as an "S" for Sealink.
Roy Stilling, 13 Feb 1999

Crampton Observer’s book of 1991 [cra91] shows the red BR flag with the double-arrow logo in the "S" position — this is definitely wrong.
Roy Stilling, 13 Feb 1999

The British Rail Corporate Identity Manual states that the top arrow of the logo on the British Rail flag should always point towards the staff. (The majority of British Rail flags were presumably made from one piece of fabric rather than right- reading both sides.) Since the convention in flag books is to have the staff on the left, this accounts for the flag being "back to front" but it is not wrong, as Roy Stilling suggests. As far as I am aware, the British Rail flag was the only instance where it was acceptable to mirror the BR symbol although, from time to time, on roadsigns etc., one sees instances of the BR symbol crudely being reversed where it should not be!
Nick Job, 27 April 2000.

British Railways: 1949-1965

In the Observer’s Book of FLAGS [eva59], I found an image with the following text: «The emblem adopted by the British Railway, the lion astride a wheel, so conspicuously displayed inland, figures at the centre of a saltire of unusual design on the House Flags of the organisation’s ships.»
Jarig Bakker, Feb 1999

British Rail had ships. Today the railways have been privatised, and whilst the British Railways Board still exists, and is due to become the nucleus for the proposed new Strategic Rail Authority, it doesn’t run ships or trains anymore, and in fact British Rail lost its ships even earlier, back around 1984 when its Sealink ferry services were sold off.
Roy Stilling, 13 Feb 1999

The flag is a white saltire on dark blue with a double red and white fimbriation. Centered there’s a dark blue disc with a white-red-white border. In the disc, the above-mentioned logo.
Jorge Candeias, 22 Feb 1999

According to Barraclough and Crampton Flags of the World 1981 [bcr81] p.230, this flag was adopted in 1949 and replaced by the blue with white "double-arrow" flag in 1965 when British Railways adopted a new corporate identity becoming British Rail.
Roy Stilling, 13 Feb 1999