The Race to the North was the name given by the press to two occasions in summers of the late 19th century when British passenger trains belonging to different companies would literally race each other from London to Scotland over the two principal rail trunk routes connecting the English capital city to Scotland - the West Coast Main Line which runs from London Euston via Crewe and Carlisle and the East Coast Main Line route from London King's Cross via York and Newcastle. The "races" were never official and publicly the companies denied that what happened was racing at all. Results were never announced officially and the outcomes have since been hotly debated. In the 20th century there were also occasions of competition for speed on the two routes.
Read more about Race To The North: Background, London To Edinburgh, 1888, London To Aberdeen, 1895, Aftermath of The 1895 Races, Later Rivalry, The Two Routes Today, See Also
Famous quotes containing the words race and/or north:
“The brutalities of progress are called revolutions. When they are over we realize this: that the human race has been roughly handled, but that it has advanced.”
—Victor Hugo (1802–1885)
“The North American system only wants to consider the positive aspects of reality. Men and women are subjected from childhood to an inexorable process of adaptation; certain principles, contained in brief formulas are endlessly repeated by the press, the radio, the churches, and the schools, and by those kindly, sinister beings, the North American mothers and wives. A person imprisoned by these schemes is like a plant in a flowerpot too small for it: he cannot grow or mature.”
—Octavio Paz (b. 1914)