See 40 Vintage Tram Posters At This Free Exhibition

Last Updated 03 February 2025

See 40 Vintage Tram Posters At This Free Exhibition
Old photo of people standing at a tram stop
Londoners wait for a tram at New Cross Gate in 1922. The posters are accompanied by official tramways guides, photographs and a map.

40 London's Tramways posters — dating from between 1922-1933 — go on display at the London Archives from February.

The artworks (which will be facsimiles of the real deals, held in the Archives), recall a halcyon age of transport artwork. The first set of posters was commissioned in black and white by the London County Council from their Central School of Arts and Crafts. Following their success, a slew of coloured designs were commissioned — some from the Central School of Arts and Crafts, but increasingly from other artists too.

A British Museum poster with a chariot
1927

The posters — which would have originally appeared on the display panel at the front of tramcars, as well as on London County Council sites and around the tram network — promoted a wide range of things, including heritage attractions like the British Museum; days out such as Hampstead Heath; sports; and nighttime and Sunday fares. The target audience was Londoners and tourists alike.

Despite London's transport network being largely male dominated at this time, a number of the commissioned artists were by women, including Maud Klein, Freda Beard and Muriel Jackson.

London's original tram network — which began as a horse-drawn affair, but soon switched to electric — grew to spider across the city and beyond but was hastily nixed post-Second World War, the last tram running in 1952.

A tram poster for Epping Forest
1922

For a preview of some of the other London's Tramways posters that'll be on show, have a browse of this lot.

Poster showing people on tutus standing on little trams
1924

London's Tramways Posters, 10 February-26 June 2025. Located in the Information Area on the first floor of The London Archives, free

All images © London Archive.