George Dow joined
London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) as a grade five clerk at
Kings Cross railway station in London, England. He held many offices on the LNER (particularly as Press Relations Officer throughout the Second World War) and
British Railways. He is perhaps best known as a
draughtsman for his
diagrammatic railway maps for the LNER and
London, Midland and Scottish Railway and as an inspiration to the celebrated designer
Harry Beck on the
tube map. Their work led to a style of design which has revolutionised the world of
urban rail and metro maps. On the creation of British Railways in 1948, he was appointed Public Relations and Publicity Officer for the
Eastern and
North Eastern Regions. In 1949 he took the same post at the larger
London Midland Region. He rose to Divisional Manager, Birmingham, and later
Stoke-on-Trent, and retired in 1968. He also wrote twenty-one railway histories, starting with studies for the LNER, and later including his three-volume history of the
Great Central Railway and a two-volume work on the carriages of the
Midland Railway. He was the founding President of the Model Engineering Trade Association in 1944, and of the
Historical Model Railway Society in 1950. He died on 28 January 1987 aged 79 years. == Bibliography ==