Blue Pullman
Development
When the British Railways modernisation programme was accepted in 1955, a committee was set up under the Chairmanship of Mr. H. H. Philips, then of the WR, to examine the possibility of introducing diesel express passenger trains. All the regions and technical branches of the BTC (British Transpost Commission) were represented on this committee, and the Pullman Car Company and the BTC Hotels & Catering Services were consulted concerning catering.
Originally it was not considered possible for the Pullman Car Company to operate these new services as they were not going to be based in London, where the Pullman Car Company had its installations (they would run *to* the capital from outstations).
This fact was recorded in the report; but the Commission rejected this view because it was considered that use should be made of the goodwill attending the name of Pullman which the BTC had recently acquired. The scheme was reconsidered and it was decided to introduce three multiple unit Pullman 'de luxe' trains, one in the Midland Region, serving Manchester, Leicester and London, and two in the Western Region, serving Bristol and London, and Wolverhampton, Birmingham and London.
The Manchester press printed stories at the start of '57 that British Railways were contemplating introducing a high-speed all-first class diesel service between Manchester Central and London St. Pancras to do the journey in about three hours in an endeavor to regain some traffic from British European Airways.
A more formal announcement was made by the BTC Chairman Sir Brian Robertson on the 6th March 1957 during a review of the Modernisation Plan. He stated that Met-Camm would build the five sets and they would be introduced in 1958. Few other details were announced about the vehicles, but the main one was that the power cars were to be non-passenger vehicles.
As stated it was laid down that the Metropolitan-Cammel Carriage & Wagon Co. Ltd. should be entrusted with the building of the trains and that, with the approval of the BTC and the Pullman Car Company, it would appoint an architect designer to style the trains. Mr. Jack Howe F.R.B.I.A. F.S.I.A. was appointed to work with the Design Panel and technical officers of the BTC as a design consultant. Mr. Howe and his colleagues had a completely free hand and, with an eye to the recommendations of the diesel committee, made certain plans and conditions before the board of the Pullman Car Company came into close consultation. This resulted in the adoption of some deviations from the traditional Pullman appearance and layout.
In December 1957 it was reported that the BTC design panel had finished the exterior styling and were now working on the interior. The chocolate-and-cream was discarded in favour of a blue and white livery. The choice of blue, the shade being roughly the same as the uniform lapels, was quoted as being "a chance to do something new". It was also noted that vehicles would not be named individually, but would just have the word "Pullman" in the traditional style of lettering and a smaller version of the coat of arms. The coat of arms for the long white panels was redesigned to fit the new shape of panel. Perhaps more important of all, it was decided to seat first class passengers at tables for four as well as at tables for two; in the traditional Pullman layout only tables for two were provided in first class cars. It was also announced this month that the Midland Pullman would have just one intermediate stop, at Cheadle Heath.
In May 1958 the WR announced its sets would be in operation by October 1959, one working the 08:45 from Paddington to Bristol (105 mins non-stop), the 11:50 Bristol to Paddington (also 105 mins non-stop), the 15:15 Paddington to Bristol (110 mins with a stop at Swindon) and the 18:20 Bristol to Paddington (110 mins stopping at Bath). The other would work the 08:30 Paddington to Wolverhampton in place of the "Inter-City" (155 mins with three stops), the 12:35 Wolverhampton to Paddington (140 mins with two stops), the 16:10 Paddington to Wolverhampton (145 mins with three stops) and 19:35 Wolverhampton to Paddington (135 minutes with one stop). This last one would run from Birmingham to Paddington non-stop in 110 mins. In the press it was commented on that these times were no quicker than the current steam ones, and that the Birmingham to Paddington schedule was only an average of 60mph.
Left: An 1958 artists impression of a set. Not much changed except the headcode box was omitted, the windscreen did not have the black surround, and the Pullman logo was added.
At a September 1958 press conference The LMR General Manager Mr. Blee confirmed rumours that the Midland de luxe DMU Pullman service would not begin until the autumn of the following year and revealed that in addition to a once-each-way daily trip between Manchester and St. Pancras it was hoped to run an intermediate working from London to Leicester and back. The Pullman unit would be based at Cricklewood.
Further delays saw the LMR announced that it hoped to be able to introduce the 'Midland Pullman' on the 1st January 1960.
The first set appeared from the Met-Camm works in Birmingham on the 18th October '59 for what became a very extended period of testing and trials. It's first outing was via Castle Bromwich to Aldridge and at the time the set was still due to enter LMR traffic just ten weeks later, now the 4th Jan. '60, during the major winter timetable alterations. Reports in Railway Observer at the time noted this first set as just 60090 / 60740 / 60741 / 60731 / 60091.
From the 16th November regular trial runs were done on a 62 minute schedule from Leicester to Luton behind the 08:55 ex-Manchester and back to Leicester behind the 12:25 ex-St. Pancras. Occasionally though, late running of the previous trains marred the trial schedule. The second set was completed soon after the first.
Mr AE Robson, the LMR CM&EE, was responsible for the inspection and testing of the vehicles. This gentleman had extensive experience with first generation DMUs being involved in their design, construction and testing.
Rough riding was soon identified as a major fault and the cars received modifications to the bogies. It was never completely cured though, and throughout their lives this was to be continually commented on. While this design of bogies was used on the continent with outstanding results, Met-Camm had changed the size of the wheel, and in later years this was given as a possible explanation for the trouble.
Teething problems continued, and the 4th Jan. introduction date passed. Although paths had been made for it in the January working timetable, the introduction had by now moved to April. The sets were moved to Derby for further trials and crew training. The second set (60092/3, 60732/3/4, 60742/3) was noted at Derby Diesel shed on 29th Feb. A set travelled to London to take the Minister of Transport from Cricklewood to St.Albans and back on the 21st March 1960 in connection with visits to some LMR installations in the London area.
In April the first Midland set was noted outside Met-Camm's Saltley works in the company of the second WR set, containing 60096/7, 60646/7, 60736/7 and 60746/7.
There was alterations to the guard's van doors around this time, with a small extra window being fitted on the left-hand doors.
Some official pictures of a set were taken on the Cambridge-Kettering branch on the morning of the 20th April 1960, a trip which also doubled as a trial run. It was the late spring of 1960 before the Chief Mechanical Engineer of the BTC accepted the sets (in the BTF film a timing sheet is shown marked "Completion of Acceptance Trials and Driver Training Programme" for 60092/3, 60732/33, 60742/3 dated April 11/12/13th), and the new date for traffic was announced as the 4th July.
On the 25th April the Midland sets began a new series of trials, leaving Cricklewood each morning ahead of the 'Thames-Clyde' and returning there about 18:10 in front of the 'Palatine'.
On the 29th May 1960 a Midland set formed 60092 / 60742 / 60743 / 60732 / 60093 was at Marylebone for official photography.
In November 1959 the Pullman supplements (single) for the train had been quoted as going to be 18s between London and Manchester and 10s between London and Leicester. In June 1960 the LMR announced that bookings were now being taken for the "Midland Pullman" which now had a Pullman supplement between London & Manchester of £1 each way.
An 8-car WR set could be seen in the Met-Camm works alongside Saltley station from mid-January 1960, and it was still there on the 14th Feb. The train made several runs during February (including the 3rd), and it was seen passing through Barnt Green and is also believed to have worked to Bristol and back (via the Midland route) at this time. On the indicator blind stations noted included Birmingham (Snow Hill), Knowle and Dorridge, Leamington Spa, Paddington and Bristol (TM). The set included 60094 / 60734 / 60644 / 60645 / 60735 / 60745.
On Friday June 24th 1960 one of the sets went on a test run between Marylebone and High Wycombe. Met Camm played host on the trip to a number of guests on the trip with home and overseas railway interests. The smoothness of the ride (!!!) of the WR 8-car set was commented on, and 85mph was made on the way down and 90mph on the return journey. Many congratulatory comments were made on the internal decor and comfort of the coaches, and about the smoothness of acceleration and deceleration, particularly from the technical passengers. A list of the guests invited can be found here.
An inaugural run took place between London and Leicester & return on the 1st July 1960 when a number of guests of the LMR and the Pullman Car Co. Ltd were given an opportunity to experience the high standards of comfort and excellent running properties of these six coach trains.
A WR set was noted out on a trial run from Saltley to Mangotsfield on the 3rd February (photographed in Trains Illustrated April 1960) and the three WR sets were all completed by the early summer, with the intentions of starting services on the 4th July subject to the staff difficulties being resolved. The proposed timings at this time were:
Bristol 07:45, non-stop to Paddington arr. 09:35
Paddington 10:05 to Bath (11:40/11:43) to Bristol arr. 12:00
Bristol 12:30 to Bath (12:43/12:45) to Paddington arr. 14:25
Paddington 16:55, non-stop to Bristol arr. 18:45.
(It was noted once more with regret in the press that the non-stop trips took 110mins, five minutes more than 'The Bristolian' on which no supplement was payable. They were thought to be capable of covering the non-stop run in 87 mins, and with 8 mins recovery time would allow a schedule of 95 mins, 5 mins faster than the previous summers 100 min 'Bristolian'.)
Wolverhampton 07:00, stopping at Solihull and Leamington, arr. Paddington 09:35
Paddington 12:10 to Leamington (13:34/13:37) to Birmingham arr. 14:05
(The 84 min run from Paddington to Leamington was the fastest ever scheduled between these points).
Birmingham 14:30 to Leamingont (14:53/14:55) at Paddington arr. 16:25
Paddington 16:50, stopping at Leamington, Solihull and Birmingham, arr. Wolverhampton 19:20
(In view of the fact that it is the Birmingham businessman who have been demanding a fast morning service to London, it was surprising that the up 'businessman's train' should take 95 mins to run non-stop from Leamington to Paddington (a minute longer than the steam hauled 'Cambrian Coast Express') whereas the 12:10 from Paddington performed the journey in 84 mins).
This timetable required numerous alterations to other trains, in particular on the Bristol main line. The continuing staff problems meant their introduction was postponed until the 12th September when the winter timetable came into operation.
Set 60096 / 60646 / 60736 / 60746 / 60747 / 60737 / 60647 / 60097 appeared on public display at Paddington, and there was a WR press demonstration run from Bristol to Bath on the 6th September 1960, and one from Wolverhampton to Princes Risborough the following day.