Something to read on the train
The story is quite well known. William Henry Smith took over the business selling newspapers that had been founded by his parents, Henry Walton Smith and his wife Anna. William Henry not only gave the business its long-standing name, W. H. Smith, but also took advantage of the railway boom of the 1840s by doing a series of deals with railway companies to establish news-stands on station platforms all over the country. An increasing number of branches on Britain’s High Streets followed, and Smith became both very rich and a household name.
Smith’s brilliance was to spot that not only were there railway lines springing up everywhere, but there were millions of train passengers who realised too late that they could do with something to read on their journey. Newspapers and magazines were soon followed on Smith’s news-stands by books. The typical station news-stand had taken an enduring form.
The company was also very good at design and branding. I’ve blogged before about their delightful shops, with their sometimes striking architecture, and their use of tiled panels, ‘newsboy’ signs, and stained glass. By the 20th century, passengers could easily recognise their station outlets. You looked for a green box-like structure, which could be large or small according to the size of the station and in the station entrance area or on one of the platforms.
My photograph shows an example on one of the platforms at Pickering station. Pickering had a W. H. Smith outlet on one of the platforms in the early-20th century, but in 1952 the station’s roof was taken away, presumably became it was in poor condition and would have been expensive to repair. The simple wooden kiosk would have been vulnerable without the station roof, so it went soon after. In 1960s, the station was saved from closure by the North Yorkshire Moors Railway Society and since 1975 has formed the southern terminus of the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, with trains running to Whitby on the coast. The preserved railway installed an accurate replica of a 1930s news and bookstall on the platform, close to the position of the original, where it remains.
This kind of attention to detail is typical of the many preserved railways in Britain, which, as well as running trains, provide fitting settings for everything from enamel advising signs and pieces of railwayana, such as luggage scales and fire buckets, to entire trackside buildings like this news-stand. It’s good work, and we can be grateful that the old W. H. Smith name, vanishing from high streets as demand for magazines and newspapers shrinks, at least survives on railway stations, both working mainline stations and stations run by preserved railways. Long may they prosper.
The story is quite well known. William Henry Smith took over the business selling newspapers that had been founded by his parents, Henry Walton Smith and his wife Anna. William Henry not only gave the business its long-standing name, W. H. Smith, but also took advantage of the railway boom of the 1840s by doing a series of deals with railway companies to establish news-stands on station platforms all over the country. An increasing number of branches on Britain’s High Streets followed, and Smith became both very rich and a household name.
Smith’s brilliance was to spot that not only were there railway lines springing up everywhere, but there were millions of train passengers who realised too late that they could do with something to read on their journey. Newspapers and magazines were soon followed on Smith’s news-stands by books. The typical station news-stand had taken an enduring form.
The company was also very good at design and branding. I’ve blogged before about their delightful shops, with their sometimes striking architecture, and their use of tiled panels, ‘newsboy’ signs, and stained glass. By the 20th century, passengers could easily recognise their station outlets. You looked for a green box-like structure, which could be large or small according to the size of the station and in the station entrance area or on one of the platforms.
My photograph shows an example on one of the platforms at Pickering station. Pickering had a W. H. Smith outlet on one of the platforms in the early-20th century, but in 1952 the station’s roof was taken away, presumably became it was in poor condition and would have been expensive to repair. The simple wooden kiosk would have been vulnerable without the station roof, so it went soon after. In 1960s, the station was saved from closure by the North Yorkshire Moors Railway Society and since 1975 has formed the southern terminus of the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, with trains running to Whitby on the coast. The preserved railway installed an accurate replica of a 1930s news and bookstall on the platform, close to the position of the original, where it remains.
This kind of attention to detail is typical of the many preserved railways in Britain, which, as well as running trains, provide fitting settings for everything from enamel advising signs and pieces of railwayana, such as luggage scales and fire buckets, to entire trackside buildings like this news-stand. It’s good work, and we can be grateful that the old W. H. Smith name, vanishing from high streets as demand for magazines and newspapers shrinks, at least survives on railway stations, both working mainline stations and stations run by preserved railways. Long may they prosper.
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