A VINTAGE railway poster advertising Oxford as a tourist destination is expected to fetch up to £900 at an auction next month.

The 40in by 50in poster, emblazoned with the words, ‘Oxford, See Britain By Train’, was produced in 1958 for British Railways by an artist named Alan Carr Linford, who was then in his early 30s.

It shows a smart, elegant, litter-free and virtually traffic-free High Street on a bright, sunny day.

In fact, if one is to believe it, there was so little traffic in Oxford in the late 1950s the poster features three unconcerned donnish figures casually ambling along the road.

In the early and middle parts of the 20th century, railway companies commissioned artists to produce colourful, eye-catching posters to promote rail travel to seaside resorts, beauty spots and places of historical interest throughout Britain and abroad.

It was the steam era, when comparatively few people owned cars and when overseas holidays and trips were beyond the financial reach of many.

The enticing views depicted in these now-sought after posters, which used to adorn railway station platforms and waiting rooms, usually feature clear blue skies on sunny days.

The Oxford poster is among 280 travel and vintage posters expected to fetch a total of about £500,000 in a sale at Christie's South Kensington saleroom in London on September 9.

The year when the Oxford poster was produced, 1958, was particularly memorable.

It was the year seven members of the Manchester United football team, the so-called Busby Babes, were tragically killed in the Munich air disaster – an eighth player, Duncan Edwards, survived the crash but died from his injuries in hospital a few days later.

It was also the year the late pop star Michael Jackson was born.

That year the average British house cost £2,390, according to the Department of Communities and Local Government.

A gallon of petrol cost four shillings and eight pence and a pint of beer cost one shilling and four pence, Oxford railway posters tend to sell well at Christie’s.

On September 10, 2003, a Great Western Railway poster depicting the city, from the company’s ‘This England Of Ours’ series sold for £940, while on September 14, 2005, another Great Western Railway poster by Fred Taylor sold for £1,140.