British Railways (London Midland Region) - The Mancunian, : British Transport Catering Services, wine list, June 1961
British Railways had a network of named trains for many years, usually main line 'expresses', and these services often had extensive catering and restaurant services. For these services BT's catering services frequently commissioned artwork for menu and wine list covers as can be seen here for "The Mancunian". This service between Manchester London Road (prior to its renaming as Manchester Piccadilly) and London Euston originated in 1927, the days of the London Midland & Scottish Railway prior to nationalisation in post-war years, and as the text explains the title was conferred upon the 9.35am departure and 5.30pm return. At the date of this list, 1961, electrification of the West Coast Main Line between London and Manchester/Liverpool was in full swing and so timings had been slackened to allow for engineering works.
The cover is a fine item, showing the a vessel against the backdrop of mercantile architecture and that hints at the Manchester Ship Canal and possibly the CWS's ship "The Pioneer" that was the first ship to unload cargo at the new Port of Manchester in 1894 and indeed the first vessel to be registered as being of that port. Annoyingly no artist or designer is shown but it has the feel of Eric Fraser who certainly did design such items for BR and BT Catering at this time.
British Railways (London Midland Region) - The Mancunian, : British Transport Catering Services, wine list, June 1961
British Railways had a network of named trains for many years, usually main line 'expresses', and these services often had extensive catering and restaurant services. For these services BT's catering services frequently commissioned artwork for menu and wine list covers as can be seen here for "The Mancunian". This service between Manchester London Road (prior to its renaming as Manchester Piccadilly) and London Euston originated in 1927, the days of the London Midland & Scottish Railway prior to nationalisation in post-war years, and as the text explains the title was conferred upon the 9.35am departure and 5.30pm return. At the date of this list, 1961, electrification of the West Coast Main Line between London and Manchester/Liverpool was in full swing and so timings had been slackened to allow for engineering works.
The cover is a fine item, showing the a vessel against the backdrop of mercantile architecture and that hints at the Manchester Ship Canal and possibly the CWS's ship "The Pioneer" that was the first ship to unload cargo at the new Port of Manchester in 1894 and indeed the first vessel to be registered as being of that port. Annoyingly no artist or designer is shown but it has the feel of Eric Fraser who certainly did design such items for BR and BT Catering at this time.