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The Flying Dutchman was a named passenger train service from London Paddington to Exeter St Davids. It ran from 1849 until 1892, originally over the Great Western Railway (GWR) and then the Bristol and Exeter Railway. As the GWR expanded, the destination of the train changed to Plymouth and briefly to Penzance.
The name Flying Dutchman has a convoluted history. In common with many steam and diesel locomotives such as a London and North Eastern Railway A1s and British Rail Class 55 'Deltic', the Flying Dutchman was named after The Flying Dutchman, a famous racehorse, which had won both the Derby and St. Leger in 1849. The racehorse was in turn named after the famous Dutch Admiral Tromp.
In 1845 the 09:30 morning express train between London Paddington and Exeter St Davids was taking 5 hours with stops at Didcot, Bath, Bristol and Taunton, this being reduced to 4½ hours during that year. In 1848 the train, now the 09:50 from London Paddington, covered the 53.1 miles to Didcot in 55 minutes, setting a world record start-to-stop average of 57.9 mph. The return train was the 11:45 from Exeter. In 1849, the Train took on the name "Flying Dutchman", and added a stop at Chippenham without extending the overall journey time. The up train time was changed to 12:30 which gave an arrival at Paddington of 17:00.
In the 1850s performance deteriorated, but the introduction of a service from London Waterloo to Exeter Queen Street (now Exeter Central) in 4¾ hours by the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) in 1862 resulted in the down Flying Dutchman being retimed to leave Paddington at 11:45 with the 1840s journey time of 4½ hours being restored. This was, however, a brief interlude and soon the time to Exeter has stretched to 5 hours and 5 minutes. At this time the train left Paddington with 7 coaches. Two were detached at Swindon; one for Weymouth and the other for Cheltenham, and after detaching 2 more at Newton Abbot for Torquay the remaining three coaches worked through to Plymouth. By 1867 the GWR was doing so poorly that the Flying Dutchman ceased running in October of that year.
The Flying Dutchman began running again in 1869, taking 4¾ hours from Paddington to Exeter, but this was accelerated in 1871 when the LSWR began a service taking 4½ hours from London Waterloo; the Flying Dutchman was now taking 4¼ hours to Exeter and 6¼ hours to Plymouth, and during the summer was extending to Penzance although taking an extra 3 hours. By 1876 the LSWR, in extending their main line to Plymouth, introduced a train that reached Exeter in 4 hours and Plymouth in 6 hours 38 minutes, and also carrying third class passengers in contrast to the GWR express which only carried First and Second class passengers. In 1879 the Flying Dutchman, still running on the broad gauge, was equalled by a new train The Cornishman which departed Paddington at 15:00 and also carried third class passengers. Third class was finally introduced to the Flying Dutchman in 1890.
In March 1891, a South Devon Railway Leopard class locomotive derailed in heavy snow while hauling the down Flying Dutchman near Camborne, an event known in Cornwall as the "Great Blizzard". Fortunately the coaches remained on the track and there were no serious injuries. [1]
The last run of the Flying Dutchman, still broad gauge, was on 19 May 1892; the 11:45 from Paddington the following day was a standard gauge express train, but not distinguished by any name.
The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838 with the initial route completed between London and Bristol in 1841. It was engineered by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, who chose a broad gauge of 7 ft —later slightly widened to 7 ft 1⁄4 in —but, from 1854, a series of amalgamations saw it also operate 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in standard-gauge trains; the last broad-gauge services were operated in 1892.
The London and South Western Railway was a railway company in England from 1838 to 1922. Originating as the London and Southampton Railway, its network extended to Dorchester and Weymouth, to Salisbury, Exeter and Plymouth, and to Padstow, Ilfracombe and Bude. It developed a network of routes in Hampshire, Surrey and Berkshire, including Portsmouth and Reading.
The Great Western Railway Iron Duke Class 4-2-2 was a class of 7 ft 1⁄4 in broad gauge steam locomotives for express passenger train work.
Exeter St Davids is the principal railway station serving the city of Exeter in Devon, England. It is 193 miles 72 chains from the zero point at London Paddington on the line through Bristol which continues to Plymouth and Penzance. It is also served by an alternative route to London Waterloo via Salisbury and branch lines to Exmouth, Barnstaple, and Okehampton. It is currently managed by Great Western Railway and is served by trains operated by Great Western Railway, South Western Railway and CrossCountry.
Newton Abbot railway station serves the market town of Newton Abbot in Devon, England. It is 214 miles 5 chains (345 km) from London Paddington. The station today is managed by Great Western Railway, who provide train services along with CrossCountry.
Plymouth railway station serves the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. It is on the northern edge of the city centre, close to the North Cross roundabout. It is the second busiest station in the county of Devon and the largest of the six surviving stations in Plymouth.
The Plymouth, Devonport and South Western Junction Railway (PD&SWJR) was an English railway company. It constructed a main line railway between Lydford and Devonport, in Devon, England, enabling the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) to reach Plymouth more conveniently than before.
Salisbury railway station serves the city of Salisbury in Wiltshire, England. It is 83 miles 43 chains (134.4 km) from London Waterloo on the West of England line to Exeter St Davids. This is crossed by the Wessex Main Line from Bristol Temple Meads to Southampton Central. The station is operated and served by South Western Railway (SWR), and is also served by Great Western Railway (GWR).
The Night Riviera is a sleeper train operated by Great Western Railway (GWR). It is one of only two sleeper services on the railway in the United Kingdom. The Night Riviera runs six nights a week (Sunday–Friday) between London Paddington and Penzance with one train in each direction.
Plymouth Millbay railway station was the original railway terminus in Plymouth, Devon, England. It was used for passenger trains from 1849 to 1941. It was rebuilt in 1903.
The Bristol and Exeter Railway (B&ER) was an English railway company formed to connect Bristol and Exeter. It was built on the broad gauge and its engineer was Isambard Kingdom Brunel. It opened in stages between 1841 and 1844. It was allied with the Great Western Railway (GWR), which built its main line between London and Bristol, and in time formed part of a through route between London and Cornwall.
The North Devon Railway connected Barnstaple to the growing railway network in 1854 and as Ilfracombe developed as a watering place, it was obvious a railway connection to the town was needed. The hilly terrain was very difficult, but an Ilfracombe Railway was authorised in 1864 but failed when a major shareholder was unable to respond to a subscription call. After several false starts the Barnstaple and Ilfracombe Railway, soon taken over by the London and South Western Railway, opened in 1870.
The South Devon and Tavistock Railway linked Plymouth with Tavistock in Devon; it opened in 1859. It was extended by the Launceston and South Devon Railway to Launceston, in Cornwall in 1865. It was a broad gauge line but from 1876 also carried the standard gauge trains of the London and South Western Railway between Lydford and Plymouth: a third rail was provided, making a mixed gauge. In 1892 the whole line was converted to standard gauge only.
The North Devon Railway was a railway company which operated a line from Cowley Bridge Junction, near Exeter, to Bideford in Devon, England, later becoming part of the London and South Western Railway's system. Originally planned as a broad gauge feeder to the Bristol & Exeter Railway, it became part of a battle between the broad gauge group and the standard gauge railway interests. In this context, standard gauge lines were often described as narrow gauge.
The Cornish Riviera Express is a British express passenger train that has run between London Paddington and Penzance in Cornwall since 1904. Introduced by the Great Western Railway, the name Cornish Riviera Express has been applied to the late morning express train from London to Penzance continuously through nationalisation under British Rail and privatisation under First Great Western, only ceasing briefly during the two World Wars. The name is also applied to the late morning express train running in the opposite direction from Penzance to London. Through performance and publicity the Cornish Riviera Express has become one of the most famous named trains in the United Kingdom and is particularly renowned for the publicity employed by the Great Western Railway in the 1930s which elevated it to iconic status. Today it is operated by the Great Western Railway train operating company.
Launceston railway station was situated in Launceston, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It was served by both the Great Western Railway (GWR) and London and South Western Railway (LSWR).
The Cornishman was a British express passenger train to Penzance in Cornwall. From its inception in the 19th century until before World War II it originated at London Paddington. Under British Railways the name was applied to a different service, starting variously from Wolverhampton, Leeds or Bradford.
Lydford railway station was a junction at Lydford between the Great Western Railway (GWR) and London and South Western Railway (LSWR) situated in a remote part of north-west Dartmoor in Devon, England.
The network of railways in Plymouth, Devon, England, was developed by companies affiliated to two competing railways, the Great Western Railway and the London and South Western Railway. At their height two main lines and three branch lines served 28 stations in the Plymouth area, but today just six stations remain in use.
The Bristol to Exeter line is a major branch of the Great Western Main Line in the West of England and runs from Bristol, to Exeter, from where it continues as the Exeter to Plymouth line. It was one of the principal routes of the pre-1948 Great Western Railway which were subsequently taken over by the Western Region of British Railways and are now part of the Network Rail system.
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