digital magazine on railway history, design and photography
Joined December 2012
- Tweets 264
- Following 512
- Followers 754
- Likes 187
50 Photos and videos
21 Nov 2025
New RETOURS episode about GDR railway posters!
Even though there was no competition, East Germany was not devoid of advertising. Deutsche Reichsbahn (DR) promoted new timetables, discounts, vacancies or tourism. Design was on par with the West.
retours.eu/en/63-GDR-posters…
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21 Dec 2024
New RETOURS edition on special railway maps! Distance maps or 'cartes kilometriques' show the distances or travel times between stations. A clear design is essential for comprehensibility.
retours.eu/en/62-distance-ma…
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retours retweeted
7 Aug 2024
If you are interested in railway history and design, the entire Retours.eu website is worth an explore, with pieces on boat trains, sleeping cars, dining cars, railway maps and more. But warning… it might adversely affect your productivity!
retours.eu/
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25 Aug 2024
New RETOURS episode! The famous photo of a toddler near a giant steam locomotive is exactly a century old. The image was reused on many railway posters. retours.eu/en/61-little-boy-…
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29 Dec 2023
Finally a new RETOURS episode: Taj Mahal and windmills. Railway posters by William Spencer Bagdatopoulos retours.eu/en/60-bagdatopoul…
Last minute, the only one in 2023 because I was working on books and magazines. Hopefully more episodes in 2024, but they will be shorter than before.
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retours retweeted
15 Mar 2023
Railway history, design, architecture & photography.
retours.eu
This is an exceptional, and slick, resource.
@retoursEU
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31 Dec 2022
RETOURS only featured one episode in 2022, but it was a nice one!
A new edition will arrive in the new year, and hopefully not the only one.
retours.eu/en/59-boat-trains…
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11 Sep 2022
For those who missed during the holiday period: Railway posters as shipping posters. Dozens of great 20th-century poster designs for boat trains and train ferries.
retours.eu/en/59-boat-trains…
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31 Jul 2022
After a year here's a new RETOURS episode!
Boat trains and train ferries across Europe. The 40 most beautiful railway posters that are also shipping posters.
retours.eu/en/59-boat-trains…
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12 Dec 2021
In Nantes (Espace Cosmopolis) a small exhibition is currently on view about the Trans-Siberian: 'Retours 1900'. It's based on the @retoursEU story from 2014! Both content and form have been reused. You can still see the illustrated story here, of course: retours.eu/en/22-panorama-tr…
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6 Dec 2021
The winners of the European poster design contest
'The Renaissance of the Night Train' are announced!
See nl.backontrackbelgium.be/pos…
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22 Jul 2021
NEW EDITION featuring the 40 best sleeping car posters of the 20th century, as inspiration for the poster design contest 'The Renaissance of the Night Train' by @BackOnTrackBE.
retours.eu/en/58-overnight-t…
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26 May 2021
Participate in the European poster design contest 'The Renaissance of the night train'!
Organised by @BackOnTrackBE in cooperation with @retoursEU and @Interrail, amongst others. See backontrackbelgium.be/poster…
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retours retweeted
25 May 2021
Did you know we launch tomorrow a poster contest,part of the events of the #EUYearofRail?Join us!Subscriptions possible via facebook.com/backontrackbelg… #nighttrain #traindenuit #Nachtzug #nachttrein #Hub4Brussels @_DiningCar @Mediarail @nightjetworld @sleeping_train @ouiautraindnuit
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retours retweeted
27 Mar 2021
New edition! The North-Holland Tramway was a small regional company, but targeted foreign tourists. The famous architect H.P. Berlage designed the first posters and stations for the tram through the Waterland region north of Amsterdam.
retours.eu/en/57-north-holla…
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11 Mar 2021
Even if you can't understand Dutch this is a lavishly illustrated book about Dutch railway posters by the author of RETOURS!
10 Mar 2021
Hoera, mijn nieuwe boek '150 jaar Nederlandse spoorwegaffiches' is verschenen!
arjandenboer.nl/2021/boek-15…
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retours retweeted
10 Mar 2021
Hoera, mijn nieuwe boek '150 jaar Nederlandse spoorwegaffiches' is verschenen!
arjandenboer.nl/2021/boek-15…
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27 Dec 2020
Art Deco railway posters from around 1930 (left) and 1980 (right) by Pierre Fix-Masseau. The retro posters refer to the 1930s, but the font, colors and hairstyles a reveal that they date from the 1980s. Enjoy the full story here:
retours.eu/en/56-fix-masseau…
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24 Dec 2020
New RETOURS edition just in time for Christmas! Art Deco railway posters from the 1930s and 1980s by Pierre Fix-Masseau. Vintage posters for ETAT and retro posters for the Venice-Simplon Orient Express.
retours.eu/en/56-fix-masseau…
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