FGW Named Trains.

[whole diary]

[johnneyw]

Maybe another name for your Wiltshire trains, from the Wiltshire flag, the Great Bustard. There again liable to mis-spelling.

The Grate Bustard?   
This thread brought back a vague memory.  Back in the late 1980s/early 90s I'd fairly frequently take a Friday after work train from Temple Meads to Totnes where I'd get picked up by dad for a weekend in Devon.  As I recall, the late afternoon/early evening summer service that I favoured had a west country related name and was referred to as such on platform info displays and announcements.
Am I imagining things or was there such a scheduled service?

[Richard Fairhurst]

I've just purchased my copy of the new FGW^▸ (First Great Western) Network Timetable (^3.00 from all good FGW ticket offices!) and amongst the wealth of information therein are a couple of pages of information on the named trains that FGW run, with a little history behind the name.

It is nice to see a little bit of tradition, harking back to the days of GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) (with a nod to SR^‡(resolve) in one case). Whilst today's HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) may not have the romance of steam days of yore, it is still nice to refer to your journey by the name of the service you used.

I'm not recalling any named trains floating around of late.  Update, anyone?

Yes, I'd been wondering about that too. They've disappeared from the PDF timetables and I don't recall the Cathedrals Express, at least, being announced for a while (though it's not one of the services I get most often, admittedly).

[GBM]

Not forgetting the "broadgage", and perhaps the "broadgage tavern" for a rebuilt or replica tavern car.
https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/articles/british-rails-short-experiment-with-travelling-pubs-36068/

https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/articles/british-rails-short-experiment-with-travelling-pubs-36068/

[didcotdean]

I've just purchased my copy of the new FGW^▸ (First Great Western) Network Timetable (^3.00 from all good FGW ticket offices!) and amongst the wealth of information therein are a couple of pages of information on the named trains that FGW run, with a little history behind the name.

It is nice to see a little bit of tradition, harking back to the days of GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) (with a nod to SR^‡(resolve) in one case). Whilst today's HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) may not have the romance of steam days of yore, it is still nice to refer to your journey by the name of the service you used.

I'm not recalling any named trains floating around of late.  Update, anyone?

Yes, I'd been wondering about that too. They've disappeared from the PDF timetables and I don't recall the Cathedrals Express, at least, being announced for a while (though it's not one of the services I get most often, admittedly).

They look to have been quietly dropped. The link on the GWR site that used to list them now redirects to the page listing the named IETs^▸ (Intercity Express Train).

[bobm]

In the days of Swindon Panel the TransWilts service was frequently known as the Melksham Flyer.    Meanwhile the trains carrying household rubbish from London to Appleford or Calvert were christened "The Ken Livingstone".