The Merseyside Express

British Transport Catering Services – Wine List and Menu from “The Merseyside Express”

The old British Transport Commission (that existed from 1948 until 1962) – and of which British Transport Catering was a subsidiary – had very high standards of graphic design and typography as this menu card and wine list cover shows. I suspect that the artwork is by Eric Fraser (although it is unusual for them not to show “EF” I will admit) as he undertook others in this series of “named train” cards. The design is based around the mythical “Liver Bird”. The “Merseyside Express” not surpringly ran between London Euston and Liverpool and is the shortened name for the “London – Merseyside Express” that had been introduced by the pre-nationalisation London Midland & Scottish Railway in 1927 although an earlier version, the name conferred on the 1730 ex-Euston, was introduced by the LNWR in 1905. Dinner – quite an event – was prices at 12/- (12 shillings – about 60p in decimal coinage).