Designer: Rian
HughesSmart, readable and classy, Gravesend Sans is a based on the special typeface utilized for the renowned grass-green signs for the Southern Railway. In presence from 1923 to 1948, when the network was nationalised, the Southern Train linked London with the Channel ports, South West England, the South coast resorts and Kent. The very same design was likewise used for the 'hawkeye' signs on the London, Midland and Scottish Railway, distinguished by black letters on a yellow background.
Reference for each letter was taken from vintage 'target' station nameplates and other platform signage. The rarest letters were the Q, seen in Queens Road Battersea, the X, seen in East Brixton, and the Z, used in Maze Hill, website of a notorious train crash in 1958. Being hand-made, the letters frequently vary in width and thickness. There was no lower case. The Bluebell Train, a heritage steam line, runs over part of the old Southern Railway network and utilizes a really similar type.
The style of the numbers varied considerably, however here have been taken from the Gadget 112 Hours font Smokebox. As well recognizing platforms, they were utilized on the front of the steam engine's smokebox, hence the name, and stylistically are more in keeping with the letters than a few of the squarer variations that can be seen in old photographs.
William Caslon IV is credited with the first Latin sans-serif type, shown in a 1816 Caslon specimen book. '2 Lines English Egyptian', as it was called, was caps-only, and there are numerous other correlations in between that type style and this one.
Includes a selection of genuine arrows and manicules, plus shortened ligatures such as 'St.' (Saint or Street) 'Rd.' (Road) and 'Jn.' (Junction). The Cameo version includes numerous graphic banner aspects that can be easily combined.
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