British Rail Classes 251 and 261

British Rail Classes 251 And 261

The Blue Pullman was a class of luxury train used from 1960 to 1973 by British Railways. The Blue Pullmans were the first Pullman diesel-electric multiple units, incorporating several novel features.

Named after their Nanking blue livery, the trains were conceived under the 1955 Modernisation Plan to create luxury diesel express trains aimed at competing with the motor car and the emerging domestic air travel market. Although not entirely successful – they were seen as underpowered, unreliable, and ultimately not economically viable – the Blue Pullmans demonstrated the possibility of fixed-formation multiple-unit inter-city train services, and inspired the later development of the Inter City 125, which resembles them in having an integral power car at each end of the train.

There were two versions: two first-class six-car sets for the London Midland Region (LMR), and three two-class eight-car sets for the Western Region (WR), built by Metro Cammell in Birmingham. They were initially operated by the luxury train operator the Pullman Car Company, which the BTC had recently acquired. Shortly after their introduction, in 1962, Pullman was fully nationalised, and operation of the Blue Pullmans was incorporated into the British Railways network. Originally given the last Pullman vehicle numbers, towards the end of their operational life the trains gained the British Rail TOPS classification of Class 251 (motor cars) and Class 261 (kitchen and parlour cars), although they never carried these numbers.

The WR sets operated from London Paddington to Birmingham and Wolverhampton and to Bristol. The LMR sets operated the Midland Pullman between London St Pancras and Manchester Central, a journey it accomplished in a record 3 hours 15 minutes with a maximum speed of 90 mph. The Midland Pullman was withdrawn in 1966 following electrification of the Euston-Manchester line, which brought greatly reduced journey times with which the Midland route could not compete. The LMR Blue Pullmans were then transferred to the Western Region, where some of the first-class seating was downgraded to form two-class sets.

The Blue Pullman was an advanced and luxurious design, befitting a Pullman train, although it did suffer some criticism particularly over a persistent ride quality problem. Over time it became costly to maintain such a small fleet of trains. By 1972, with the development of first-class accommodation in Mark II coaching stock, the surcharge for Blue Pullman services seemed uneconomical to passengers and BR managers, and in 1973 the trains were withdrawn. None of them was preserved.

The Blue Pullman sets featured in three films, one of the same name, as a documentary of the design and development, and an observation of the first service. From 2006, the Blue Pullman name was revived as a charter railtour, operated by various companies.