Blue Pullman
With the market for charter trains appearing buoyant and the company wishing to develop into more lucrative fields, FM Rail decided to re-introduce a Blue Pullman from the beginning of 2006, reminiscent of the Blue Pullman diesel multiple units that operated between Bristol and London during the 1960s.
With the original stock scrapped, they had to provide a new fleet, which consisted of a rake of air-conditioned Mk.2 coaches fitted with Pullman style lighting, topped and tailed by Class 47 diesel locomotives. As no Mk.2 kitchen cars had been built, two Mk.1 coaches were inserted into the set. The Mk.2s were painted in the original livery of Nanking Blue with a white band around the windows, but, as the Mk.1 vehicles had much larger windows, they were simply painted in plain blue. This unfortunately broke up the lines of the train somewhat.
The first outing of the Blue Pullman was a dining excursion from Kings Cross and back via Ely and Peterborough on Thursday 12 January 2006.
The service, although normally worked by two Class 47s also painted in the dedicated blue livery, would be hauled by a single Class 87 if the entire working was due to be "under the wires". The 87 would be hired-in from GB Railfreight (now FirstGBRf) - in a bid to get the whole business in house, FM Rail was rumoured to be considering buying their own dedicated Class 86 locomotives when the company entered administration in December 2006. The Blue Pullman coaches passed to Cotswold Rail, which re-launched the service on February 2007.
Read more about this topic: Hertfordshire Rail Tours
Famous quotes containing the words blue and/or pullman:
“Little Boy Blue,
Come blow your horn,”
—Mother Goose (fl. 17th–18th century. Little Boy Blue (l. 1–2)
“If you find that you can’t make seventy by any but an uncomfortable road, don’t you go. When they take off the Pullman and retire you to the rancid smoker, put off your things, count your checks, and get out at the first way station where there’s a cemetery.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)