The 1950’s and 1960’s were probably the most colourful in the long history of British Railways. Being divided into six regions, each region had its own colour scheme from the rich brown and cream of the Western Region to the pastoral light blue of the Scottish. Nowhere was this more evident than on the stations themselves with the evocative “Totem” name tablets and “running in” boards. In all there were almost 3,000 stations known to have had totems – and over 1,000 of these stations have now closed – many without trace.

With the re-organisation of the late 60’s, most of these signs were unceremoniously scrapped, although a few did find their way into enthusiast’s possession for about 10 shillings each. Nowadays, when they do surface at auctions the prices realised are often out of reach of the average enthusiast, ranging from around £250 to the astronomical heights of over £12,000.