Trade Advertising on Railways.

Trade advertising on railway premises to-day forms a most valuable source of income for the Home railways, and for many continental and overseas systems. On all the Home lines trade advertisements in the form of posters, enamelled plates, show-cases and placards, are placed on exhibition in stations, waiting-rooms, offices and passenger carriages, and add considerably to the railway revenues. As a general rule the trade advertising is supervised by the railway advertising staffs, and some especially pleasing publicity page 21 is to-day put out by the leading traders making use of the facility.

By the Southern Railway there has just been completed the reorganisation of its trade advertising section. Headquarters have been set up at Waterloo Station, London, and the system has been divided into three divisions with a regional trade advertising representative stationed in each section. Depots for the convenient handling of advertising matter have been established at convenient points on the system, and an outdoor staff of inspectors has been set up to supervise the exhibition of the different classes of advertising matter. It may seem a big jump from driving a passenger locomotive to handling, say, an advertisement for chocolates on' railway premises. Today however, both of these duties come under the head of “railway working,” so wide are the ramifications of the “Iron Way” of 1928.