Bidder catches the overnight train to Edinburgh - for £35,000
The art deco image of the Night Scotsman was designed by the Russian-born artist, film-maker and illustrator Alexandre Alexeieff. It was commissioned by the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER).
Christie's auction of vintage posters saw 149 posters selling for almost half a million pounds.
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Hide AdThe Alexeieff poster, a coloured lithograph print, had been expected to fetch up to 20,000. But it went on to earn the second highest price of the day after it was sold to a private collector.
Alexeieff was a stage designer for Ballet Russes but left Russia to live and work in Paris. He became famous for his pioneering animation films and book illustrations. The poster, advertising nightly departures at 10:25pm, reflects his period designs.
Like other celebrated Alexieff railway posters, including Dine on the LNER, it has been popular ever since, with his tens of thousands of reprints being sold worldwide.
Born in 1901, Alexeieff left Russia in 1921 and moved to Paris. Working with both his Russian wife Alexandra and his lover Claire Parker, an American art student, he created a series of animated films. He died in 1981.