The art of advertising railways: organisation and coordination in Britain's railway marketing, 1860–1910

Abstract

This article examines early developments in Britain's railway companies' marketing. Railways have long been considered primarily manufacturers of transport and their selling efforts have attracted little attention from historians. Recent approaches to business history have revealed some important aspects of modern corporations' contributions to the cultural construction of social and economic behaviour. However, there is little research about public transport's role in encouraging people's movement. The article demonstrates the sophisticated promotional machinery developed by railway companies from the late nineteenth century, as well as shedding light on the hitherto neglected coordination of railway advertising at the Railway Clearing House.