21-589: The Cathedrals Express was a named passenger express introduced in 1957 on the Western Region of British Railways . It connected the cathedral cities of Hereford and Worcester to London Paddington . The service started on 16 September 1957 and was operated six days a week. It departed Hereford at 07:45 with the return service leaving Paddington at 16:45. Coaching stock was in the Great Western Railway chocolate and cream livery, not
42-583: A crest in relief . It was the only train in Britain to carry the image of a bishop's mitre . Three dimensional crests were relatively uncommon on British headboards, although used more on the Western Region than elsewhere. After the withdrawal of mainline steam services, the name Cathedrals Express was used for a number of steam-hauled railtours in the area of the Welsh Marches . As the area
63-418: Is currently operated by a Class 800 . This was the last named express with a headboard to be introduced on British Railways in the steam era. The headboard design was unusual and somewhat ecclesiastical in design. It did not have the usual border around it and its distinctive feature was the use of a blackletter font , not otherwise used for headboards. The headboard was surmounted by a bishop's mitre as
84-525: Is scenic, rural, with attractive destination cities and running over lightly trafficked lines, it was a popular venue. In recent years, the name Cathedrals Express has been used by Steam Dreams for regular railtours in a variety of locations. One of these, operated by the West Coast Railways (WCR), was the scene of the 2015 Wootton Bassett SPAD incident which led to the suspension of WCR's operating licence. Great Western Railway also use
105-882: The British Railways standard maroon of this period. The service also stopped at Oxford , another cathedral city, although this was already well-served by other London services. Although a named train, the Cathedrals Express was by no means a fast service throughout. Between Hereford and Worcester it was at most a semi-fast. In later years the number of stops increased. The timetable in summer 1963 was: Hereford (d. 08:00), Ledbury , Colwall , Great Malvern , Malvern Link , Worcester Foregate Street , Worcester Shrub Hill (d. 09:10), Evesham , Moreton-in-Marsh , Oxford, Reading and Paddington (a. 11:55; 12:09 on Saturdays) – returning from Paddington at 17:15 and reaching Hereford at 20:59 (21:18 on Saturdays). There
126-544: The London Midland Region in 1963 and with the addition of all former Southern Railway routes west of Exeter, which were subsequently rationalised. When British Railways was created at the start of 1948, it was immediately subdivided into six Regions, largely based upon pre-nationalisation ownership. The Western Region initially consisted of the former Great Western Railway system, totalling 3,782 route miles and with its headquarters at Paddington. To this
147-686: The Transport Act 1947 and amalgamation with the other railway companies as British Railways, the new Region continued its enmity with its powerful neighbour, the London Midland Region , which had been born out of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway . There were few incomers to the Region at senior level: for example, the Chairman of the Regional Board from 1955, Reggie Hanks, came from
168-470: The 1940s; of less long-term relevance were new facilities at Paignton for summer holiday passenger traffic and a marshalling yard at Margam in South Wales . Bristol Parkway station opened in 1972. The Western Region built a large number of steam locomotives to GWR designs including 341 pannier tanks, even after the advent of diesel shunters. Both 2-6-0 tender and 2-6-2 tank engine variants of
189-735: The 1980s, and was wound up at the end of 1992. At its inception, the LMR's territory consisted of ex-LMS lines in England and Wales. The Mersey Railway , which had avoided being "Grouped" with the LMS in 1923, also joined the LMR. The LMR's territory principally consisted of the West Coast Main Line (WCML), the Midland Main Line (MML) south of Carlisle , and the ex-Midland Cross Country route from Bristol to Leeds . During
210-477: The 58XXX series to make way for new production of LMS designs. The LMR initially continued building ex-LMS stock, particularly Black Fives , Ivatt 2MT , two Duchesses , and rebuilds of Royal Scots and Patriots . Stanier "Period III" carriages continued to be built and were developed into a new style known as "Porthole" stock. Freight stock on order at Nationalisation was completed: some LMS designs were accepted as BR standard designs and continued to be built for
231-595: The BR Standard Class 3 were also built by the Western Region. It was the first region of BR to eliminate steam traction under the 1955 Modernisation Plan . While the other BR regions introduced diesel-electric locomotives the Western Region went its own way by purchasing a complete range of diesel-hydraulic locomotives covering the type 1 to type 4 power requirements. These included the Warship locomotives, which were based on proven West German designs,
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#1732797393524252-731: The British-designed Class 14 , Hymek and Western types; these were all eventually withdrawn and replaced with more standard British Rail diesel-electric classes such as the Class 37 and Class 47 upon the British Railways Board declaring diesel-hydraulic locomotives "non-standard" in an attempt to reduce costs. One of the major improvements on the Western Region, and later on the Eastern Region East Coast Main Line ,
273-405: The LMR's existence there were a number of transfers of territory to and from other regions. The major changes were: The LMR inherited ex-LMS types of steam locomotive. For a few months in early 1948, an M prefix was added to existing LMS locomotive numbers. From mid-1948, 40000 was added, giving numbers of ex-LMS types in the 4XXXX and 5XXXX series. Some elderly locomotive classes were renumbered in
294-447: The motor industry but had been a Swindon Works apprentice. In the 1956–1962 period, a range of express trains were named and their coaches given GWR-style chocolate and cream colours. Major changes came on the appointment from outside as Regional Managers Stanley Raymond (in 1962) and Gerry Fiennes (in 1963); both worked hard to eliminate the Western Region's large financial operating deficit. Some revenues were increased, but most of
315-450: The name for scheduled diesel services from Hereford (see above). Western Region of British Railways The Western Region was a region of British Railways from 1948. The region ceased to be an operating unit in its own right on completion of the "Organising for Quality" initiative on 6 April 1992. The Region consisted principally of ex- Great Western Railway lines, minus certain lines west of Birmingham , which were transferred to
336-409: The savings came from cuts. Adjusted for transfer of Banbury northward to LMR and Dorset, Devon and Cornwall from SR, the assets of WR reduced greatly over the decade 1955–1965 and especially from 1963 to 1965: Major new investment in infrastructure did not go ahead substantially until after 1955. The earliest projects included the rebuilding of stations at Banbury and Plymouth , both postponed since
357-478: The whole network through the 1950s and early 1960s. The LMR had some experimental diesel locomotives, such as the Class D16/1 and "Fell locomotive" 10100 . In August 1968 it was the last region of BR to eliminate steam traction under the 1955 Modernisation Plan . In the 1960s, the West Coast Main Line was electrified between London Euston and Crewe , Liverpool , Manchester and Birmingham . This
378-432: Was a restaurant car service east of Worcester. Through carriages from Kidderminster to London and vice versa were also attached/detached at Worcester. It operated until 12 June 1965. Great Western Railway re-introduced a named Cathedrals Express service Mondays to Fridays between Hereford and London Paddington via Worcester and Oxford. The train departs Hereford at 06:42, returning from London Paddington at 18:22 and
399-661: Was added some minor railways and joint lines in which the GWR had an interest: Regional boundaries were adjusted several times in subsequent years. The first such adjustments took place on 2 April 1950, under which the WR gained At the same time, the WR lost several lines: The Great Western Railway (GWR) was established during the 19th century. Although run down by the Second World War, its management opposed its nationalisation into British Railways. Even after nationalisation under
420-550: Was one of the six regions created on the formation of the nationalised British Railways (BR), and initially consisted of ex- London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) lines in England , Wales and Northern Ireland . The region was managed first from buildings adjacent to Euston station , and later from Stanier House in Birmingham . It existed from the creation of BR in 1948, ceased to be an operating unit in its own right in
441-561: Was the introduction on the Great Western Main Line of the InterCity 125 trains in 1976/7 bringing major accelerations to the timetables. [REDACTED] Eastern [REDACTED] London Midland [REDACTED] North Eastern [REDACTED] Scottish [REDACTED] Southern [REDACTED] Western London Midland Region of British Railways The London Midland Region (LMR)
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