It's full steam ahead for sale of rail posters

A RARE collection of vintage British Rail travel posters depicting iconic views of Scotland is expected to fetch more than £200,000 at auction next week.

The brightly-coloured posters date from between the 1920s and 1950s.

Designed by leading artists, they were used to encourage people to travel by rail and depict iconic Scots locations including the Forth Rail Bridge, Loch Ness, and Princes Street.

The collection of 198 posters, including 41 of Scotland, is to be sold at the Bloomsbury Auctions' sale in New York on Wednesday.

The posters are now extremely scarce because they were made to be posted at stations, and most were destroyed after they had served their purpose.

International poster consultant Richard Barclay said the entire collection belongs to a millionaire American businessman who regularly visits the UK.