Named train - but where did it run?

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Named trains like the "Cornish Riviera Express", the "Atlantic Coast Express", and the "Bewdley Flyer" contain an indication in their very names of their destination areas - but that's not obvious from all train names from the past.    For  how many of these can you identify the route served?

Benjamin Britten
Clansman
Elizabethan
Enterprise
Fair Maid
Flying Kipper
Highlandman
Highwayman
Hogwarts Express
Inter City Express
Palatine
Pines Express
Red Dragon
Sunny South Express
Talisman
Zephyr

[Oxonhutch]

Pines Express ran between Manchester and Bournemouth West over the old, and beloved, S&DJR^▸ (Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway).

[Chris from Nailsea]

The Hogwarts Express is the iconic red steam train (a GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) engine, 5972, built in Swindon) from the Harry Potter series that carries students from Platform 9¾ at King's Cross Station to Hogsmeade Station, via the Glenfinnan Viaduct.

[Trowres]

"Clansman" was Euston-Inverness in both directions.

The only one in the list that I can recall travelling with.

[grahame]

"Clansman" was Euston-Inverness in both directions.

The only one in the list that I can recall travelling with.

Ditto.

[Trowres]

The "Red Dragon", unsurprisingly, was Paddington-Swansea. Modelled by the original Hornby Dublo.

[John D]

Palatine ran from London St Pancras to Manchester Central using the now closed line through Peak District via Matlock and Chinley



Not very commonly known is The Pines Express was the only Express that used the Bushbury Junction to Portobello Junction (near Wolverhampton) and Walsall - Sutton Coldfield - Kings Norton route.    It missed out Birmingham New Street.  And for years had a through coach to Liverpool

[Mark A]

'Ports to Ports Express'. Need a time machine for that one.

[grahame]

'Ports to Ports Express'. Need a time machine for that one.

Ah - now that's a new one on me ... had to look it up ...

[stuving]

My recollection is of the Talisman running KX to Aberdeen - but logically it ought only to have gone to Edinburgh.

[Chris from Nailsea]

"Clansman" was Euston-Inverness in both directions.

The only one in the list that I can recall travelling with.

Ditto.

I'm fairly sure that none of us muggles could ever travel on the Hogwarts Express ...  

[Western Pathfinder]

The Elizabethan was a top link service twixt Kings Cross and Edinburgh,middle of the day departure,usually A4 as traction ,features in an excellent BTF episode iirc.

[Merthyr Imp]

If I remember right The Flying Kipper ran from Tidmouth to Vicarstown. Or did it then continue onto the mainland through Barrow?

The Highwayman - I think that started from Potters Bar and ran to Newcastle.

[eightonedee]

Pines Express ran between Manchester and Bournemouth West over the old, and beloved, S&DJR^▸ (Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway)▸ .

The 7- to 10-year old trainspotter me was glad that for the latter part of its life, it was diverted to run via Reading and Basingstoke, giving me the opportunity to see Bulleid Pacifics (and occasional Southern Region Standard 4-6-0s) from the vantage point of a small tree in our garden, as a break from increasingly shabby ex-GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) engines and new diesel hydraulics and DMUs^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit).

I'm also a "me too" for the Clansman being the only one I travelled on.

[grahame]

If I remember right The Flying Kipper ran from Tidmouth to Vicarstown. Or did it then continue onto the mainland through Barrow?

I don't know.  The documentation provided by Rev. Awdry was very much operational - from the view of the railway operational team - rather than from the customer perspective once locomotives and staff were changed for through services.  I rather suspect the train (or at least the wagons) did carry on through England as I can't imagine that the people of Vicarstown or Barrow could eat that much fish.

The Highwayman - I think that started from Potters Bar and ran to Newcastle.

Goodness - yes - that rings a bell.  A service to provide point to point travel in the Ryanair style from "London - Potters Bar" to Newcastle and not put on the pressure, or expense, of a high priced and overcrowded resource such as Kings Cross.  Before the days of Platform 0 and Thameslink.