Notice. Newcastle and Carlisle Railway. A Grand Northern Dahlia Show will be held in the Corn Market, Newcastle, 16 & 17 September 1846. Passengers will be conveyed from Carlisle, and all the Stations, to Newcastle and back, returning the same day, for One Fare! Black text on white background. Printed at the Courant Office, Newcastle. Stuck to card.

This Newcastle & Carlisle Railway notice from 1846 shows that railways soon began using eye-catching posters to promote their services. This one was published eight years after the line’s formal opening and advertises bargain excursion rates to the Grand Northern Dahlia Show in the Corn Market in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

The printers often used stock images for these posters, so this one features a train rather than dahlias. It was only later that the railway companies played a direct part in producing the illustrations.

Dahlia flowers originated in Mexico and Central America. By the mid-ninteteenth century they were very popular in Britain and gardeners competed to cultivate new varieties.