A NEW LOOK FOR THE
KENT & EAST SUSSEX RAILWAY
THE KENT & EAST SUSSEX RAILWAY IS ONE OF THE SOUTH EAST’ S MOST POPULAR VISITOR ATTRACTIONS WITH THE LINE RUNNING THROUGH SOME OF THE AREA’ S MOST BEAUTIFUL AND OUTSTANDING COUNTRYSIDE. RUN LARGELY BY VOLUNTEERS OF ALL AGES, THE RAILWAY IS WELL KNOWN FOR ITS FRIENDLY ENVIRONMENT AND ENJOYABLE EVENTS INCLUDING 1940’ S WEEKENDS, REAL ALE AND CIDER TRAINS AND SANTA SPECIALS. TO SECURE ITS POPULARITY INTO THE NEXT CENTURY, THE RAILWAY HAS EMBARKED ON A NEW AND EXTENSIVE MARKETING CAMPAIGN TO REFLECT ITS HERITAGE, REGION AND THE VOLUNTEERS WHO MAKE IT WORK.
Helen Douglas, Product & Reservations Manager, oversees the new campaign and heads the team that is administering the roll out of the new material.“ The Railway needs a solid and easily identifiable set of creative materials that will guarantee its continued popularity in a constantly developing and competitive market place,” says Helen.
Kent-based illustrator and designer Andrew Redden is working with the team to produce a set of unique paintings and poster designs to underpin the campaign. Andrew says:“ If you look around the railway, it is uniquely representative of a time when things were done by hand. The maintenance sheds are full of hand operated tools such as lathes, drills and planes and there are people of all ages operating them; a mixture of experience and apprentice. It’ s great to see. The work we produce to reflect this environment has to be generated in the same fashion, by hand, using paint and brush and pencil and paper. The only
time a computer is used, is in final production.”
The new images have been inspired by the great railway posters of the middle part of the last century, when rail travel was at its zenith and the big four companies invested heavily in creating imagery to promote their products, destination and work force. Wonderful artists such as Tom Purvis, Frank Mason and Norman Wilkinson became the first famous and respected commercial artists, as passengers began to buy copies of the posters to put on their walls at home, a true sign of a successful advertising campaign.
To accurately reflect the style of this work, Andrew paints on stretched watercolour papers using acrylic paint, each overpainted two or three times to get the depth of colour to match the look of the originals.
“ The work of the 1930s and 40s looks as it does because of the limitations of the printing processes then available,” says
Andrew.“ On some of the artworks, even the headlines have been hand painted to replicate authenticity.”
To date, the railway has concentrated on posters that promote the countryside and some of the special trains for particular events.
Helen says:“ We have a schedule to work to. The next part of the campaign will concentrate on volunteer recruitment and what can be seen from the train, focussing on the wildlife and agriculture of the area. The new work will be adapted across all marketing platforms, posters, adverts, website and leaflets etc.”
Already the images have be re-produced on items sold in the railways gift shops, such as greetings cards, mugs, prints and tea towels and are proving very popular. A good sign.
www. kesr. org. uk
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