Blue Pullman

LMR Operations

From the 2nd January 1961 the timings for the Midland Pullman were revised. It now left Manchester (Central) at 07:45 and arrived in London St Pancras at 11:00. These new timings allowed businessmen from the north-west to keep pre-lunch appointments in London and also allowed the midday service to be extended from Leicester to include Loughborough and Nottingham.

The new fill-in turn was:

This fill-in turn did not go down well with staff, and coupled with very poor patrionism they were shortlived.

The trains proved to be reliable trains with substitutions being rare, one such occasion being the 21st November 1961 when a Peak with six standard coaches worked the evening down service following an unscheduled Bedford stop by the set on the morning up train. The LMR standby set in September '62 was formed as follows:
   Brake Parlour First - ATHENE – Ex CAR No248,
   Kitchen - THETIS – Ex CAR No.107,
   Parlour – CETEIA – Ex CAR No.73,
   Kitchen – THALIA – Ex CAR No.106,
   Brake Parlour – FORTUNA,
   Parlour – JUANA,
   Parlour – MELANDRA – Ex CAR No.74, Kitchen – HEBE – Ex CAR No.105.

An incident happened on a midday working out of St Pancras on the 1st February 1962 when a ganger's jack was left projecting from the trackbed at the south end of Haverstock Tunnel which caused considerable damage to the underside of the vehicles. The set managed to reach West Hampstead where an LMS 3F 0-6-0T dragged it to Cricklewood Depot.

The images shows a down Midland Pullman passing Bedford circa 1964, a quad set (later Class 127) in the foreground; the coaling tower at 15D can be seen in the background. Kevin Lane Collection.

Services End

Always seen as a temporary measure until the introduction of faster electric services from Euston, the advancement of electrification saw their LMR duties end in April 1966. The last Midland Pullam services ran on Friday 15th, replaced by an electric service to Euston on Monday 18th.

In advance of this thought had been given to alternative services for the sets, and a set powered by M60090/1 ran a test return journey from Leeds to Kings Cross on the 16th October 1965, with the possiblility of them moving to Hull - Kings Cross services, with the comments in the linked image noted that a shore supply was fitted in Botanic Gardens for this. There was also proposals for use on Waterloo to Bournemouth trains.

The would ultimately move to the Western Region.