 Gresley A4 4-6-2 No. 60028 'Walter K. Whigham’ ready at King’s Cross for the inaugural run on 29 June 1953 | |
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Service type | Passenger train |
| Predecessor | Capitals Limited |
| First service | 29 June 1953 |
| Last service | 1963 |
| Former operator(s) | BR |
| Route | |
| Start | London King’s Cross |
| End | Edinburgh |
| Service frequency | Daily |
The Elizabethan was a named passenger train operating in the United Kingdom, which ran from London King's Cross to Edinburgh Waverley station. [1]
In 1953, the summer only Capitals Limited train was renamed The Elizabethan, to mark the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. [2] From 1954 the journey time was reduced from 6 hours 45 minutes to 6 hours 30 minutes, and it was promoted by a British Transport Film, Elizabethan Express . The journey time of 6 hours 30 minutes gave an end-to-end average speed of just over 60 mph (97 km/h), regarded as a creditable achievement given the poor state of the infrastructure in the postwar era. At the time this was the longest scheduled non-stop railway journey in the world. [3]
The service ran until 1963 but steam haulage came to an end on 8 September 1961. [4] On that day the final northbound run was hauled by No 60022 Mallard, which was (and remains) the holder of the world speed record for steam.
The Rainhill trials was an important competition run from the 6 to 14 October 1829, to test George Stephenson's argument that locomotives would have the best motive power for the then nearly-completed Liverpool and Manchester Railway (L&MR). Five locomotives were entered, running along a 1 mile (1.6 km) length of level track at Rainhill, in Lancashire.
The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London and Glasgow with branches to Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest mixed-traffic railway routes in Europe, carrying a mixture of intercity rail, regional rail, commuter rail and rail freight traffic. The core route of the WCML runs from London to Glasgow for 399 miles (642 km) and was opened from 1837 to 1869. With additional lines deviating to Northampton, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Edinburgh, this totals a route mileage of 700 miles (1,127 km). The Glasgow–Edinburgh via Carstairs line connects the WCML to Edinburgh, however the main London–Edinburgh route is the East Coast Main Line. Several sections of the WCML form part of the suburban railway systems in London, Coventry, Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Glasgow, with many more smaller commuter stations, as well as providing links to more rural towns.
LNER Class A4 4468 Mallard is a 4-6-2 ("Pacific") steam locomotive built in 1938 for operation on the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) at Doncaster Works to a design of Nigel Gresley. Its streamlined, wind tunnel tested design allowed it to haul long distance express passenger services at high speeds. On 3 July 1938, Mallard broke the world speed record for steam locomotives at 126 mph (203 km/h), which still stands today.
The Flying Scotsman is an express passenger train service that operates between Edinburgh and London, the capitals of Scotland and England, via the East Coast Main Line. The service began in 1862; the name was officially adopted in 1924. It is currently operated by London North Eastern Railway.
The Alton line is a railway line in Hampshire and Surrey, England, operated by South Western Railway as a relatively long branch of the South West Main Line.
The Coronation Scot was a named express passenger train of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway inaugurated in 1937 for the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth which ran until the start of the war in 1939. It ran on the West Coast Main Line between London and Glasgow, stopping at Carlisle for crew change and to pick up and set down passengers to and from London only. The service was designed to compete with the rival services on the East Coast Main Line, for prestigious London to Scotland traffic. It was scheduled to complete the journey from London to Glasgow in 6 hours 30 minutes.
The Royal Scot was a British named express passenger train that ran between London Euston and Glasgow Central, the length of the West Coast Main Line (WCML), with previously a portion also going to Edinburgh.
The Cheltenham Spa Express is a British named passenger train service from Paddington station, in London, to Cheltenham Spa, in Gloucestershire, via Reading, Kemble, Stroud, Stonehouse and Gloucester. During the 1930s, when operated by the Great Western Railway, the service was more popularly known as the Cheltenham Flyer.
Elizabethan Express is a 1954 British Transport Film that follows The Elizabethan, a non-stop British Railways service from London King's Cross to Edinburgh Waverley along the East Coast Main Line. Although originally intended as an advertising short, it now acts as a nostalgic record of the halcyon years of steam on British Railways and the ex LNER Class A4.
The Race to the North was the name given by the press to occasions in two summers of the late 19th century when British passenger trains belonging to different companies would literally race each other from London to Edinburgh over the two principal rail trunk routes connecting the English capital city to Scotland – the West Coast Main Line which runs from London Euston via Crewe and Carlisle and the East Coast Main Line route from London King's Cross via York and Newcastle. The "races" were never official and publicly the companies denied that what happened was racing at all. Results were not announced officially and the outcomes have since been hotly debated. In the 20th century there were also occasions of competition for speed on the two routes.
Great Missenden railway station serves the village of Great Missenden in Buckinghamshire, England and the neighbouring villages of Prestwood, Little Hampden and Little Missenden. The station lies on the London Marylebone - Aylesbury line and is served by Chiltern Railways trains. It is between Amersham and Wendover stations.
The Bristolian is a named passenger train service from London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads. It starts at Weston-super-Mare in the London-bound direction.
The South Island Limited was a passenger express train operated by the New Zealand Railways Department (NZR) between 1949 and 1970. It operated over the almost 590 kilometres (370 mi) route between Christchurch and Invercargill. It was replaced by the Southerner.
The Thames–Clyde Express was a named express passenger train operating on the Midland Main Line, Settle-Carlisle Railway and the Glasgow South Western Line between London St Pancras and Glasgow St Enoch. Following the closure of St Enoch station in 1966, the service ran to Glasgow Central instead.
The Midland Pullman was the name given to a former express passenger train service operating on British Railways' old Midland Main Line between London St Pancras and Manchester Central via Leicester and Millers Dale. The train completed the journey in 3 hours 15 minutes.
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.
The Top Gear Race to the North was a three-way race held in 2009 between a Jaguar XK120 car, a Vincent Black Shadow motorbike, and railway locomotive 60163 Tornado – a brand new mainline steam engine completed in Britain in 2008. The race saw the car, bike and locomotive, race from London, England, to Edinburgh, Scotland, a journey of around 400 miles (640 km). Eighteen months in the planning, the race was filmed in secret on 25 April 2009, and shown on 21 June 2009 on the UK's top rated motoring programme, Top Gear.
The Eastbourne rail crash was an accident on the British railway system which occurred on 25 August 1958 at Eastbourne railway station in East Sussex. The accident killed five people and injured 41 others. Eastbourne station is a terminus station with services to Hastings, Brighton, London Victoria. At the time of the accident, there was a further service to Tonbridge via the Cuckoo Line. It was then common for services from Hastings to Brighton to enter Eastbourne and reverse to carry on its journey. Trains between Ashford International and Brighton and between London Victoria and Ore still do this today, with some calling at Hampden Park twice.
The Capitals Limited was a named passenger train operating in the United Kingdom.
London to Brighton in Four Minutes is a short film produced by the BBC Film Unit in the early 1950s showing a train journey from London Victoria to Brighton in England. The camera was manually undercranked to produce a fast motion film so that the journey lasted only four minutes instead of the actual time of about one hour.
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