Stations provided the setting for a wide variety of very collectible items such as station signs, lamps, posters, and seats. Under British Railways, much design was standardised, and station names were recorded by the large, so-called "running-in boards", and the smaller "totems". Running-in boards usually perform miserably at auction, presumably because of the sheer size, although they seem to have been dragged along by the high prices now being paid for totems. Totems have outperformed the rest of the market for a couple of years, and this is often put down to the publication of Brennand & Furness' book.

Totems

A North Eastern Region totem.

BR adopted a different colour scheme for each region and totems reflect this policy:

At any given station, there would be a number of totems, although other things being equal, smaller stations would have fewer than larger, and some had none at all. Collectors usually go for themes, e.g. collecting totems from stations on the same line.

A Western Region totem.

There was an explosion in totem prices in around 2000 which lasted for a few years, which had the effect of encouraging lots of rare examples onto the market. This boom has now passed and prices for more common totems have returned to pre-boom levels. Rare and evocatively named totems remain expensive however. When buying, being enamel, condition is important as many were chipped or faded in service. Quality restorations can be undertaken but generally one is better advised to go for a decent example. This is especially so as stations generally had a number of totems, and in such a narrow market, the price will quickly collapse if several examples come along and demand is satisfied.

Direction signs

BR enamel direction signs are also very popular, for good reason, as your get the BR logo and it explicitly says "station", in addition to the station name..

"Running-in" boards

Hawkseyes

03 May 2008