Vintage Forth Bridge rail poster sells for more than £12,000 at auction

The striking Art-Deco style poster of the rail bridge was designed in 1928 by Henry George Gawthorn, who worked as a commercial artist for LNER and also as a fine artist.

It was the centrepiece of the sale of seven Scottish posters which went under the hammer at an online auction last month.

Ahead of the sale, it had been anticipated the poster featuring the famous bridge over the Forth would fetch between £6000 and £8000.

However on the day, it sold for £12,600, including the buyer’s premium.

The event on October 27 was hosted by fine art and design auctioneers Lyon & Turnbull, in partnership with poster specialists Tomkinson Churcher.

Seven vintage railway posters featuring Scottish scenes were among those lots sold at the auction.

The rare lithographic posters from the heyday of travelling by train were produced to encourage people to take a train to tourist hotspots such as the Fife coast, Bute, Royal Deeside and the Trossachs.

The colourful images were commissioned from a range of artists between 1934 and 1950.

A c1950 poster promoting the Fife coast as a destination, by Frank Henry Mason, sold for £1638 in the auction.

Ahead of the sale, Sophie Churcher from Tomkinson Churcher, said the posters “evoke a warm nostalgia and represent a time when travelling by train was considered a real adventure”.