Titled Trains

Few marketing initiatives have a cultural impact on our lives, yet the introduction of titled trains to Britain’s railways brought names into the vocabulary which would become recognised in almost every household, in some cases for more than a century. EVAN GREEN-HUGHES investigates how this came about.

One of the most famous East Coast Main Line titled trains was the ‘Coronation’. Introduced in 1937, it left London King’s Cross at 4pm arriving in Edinburgh at 10pm. A southbound working left Edinburgh at 4.30pm. In July 1938, Gresley ‘A4’ 4-6-2 4467 Wild Swan leaves the Gas Works tunnel as it heads out of King’s Cross with the down ‘Coronation’. Rail Archive Stephenson.

RAILWAY REALISM

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