47 628 at Tonbridge with 1M02 on the inaugural day of GBTT Table 50.
Not strictly a boat train although the cross London services operated by Inter-City Cross Country to Dover were marketed with European Rail-Ship connections. The introduction of 3 Inter-City services to and from Dover on this day in 1986 also heralded a major alteration to the BR GBTT (Great Britain Time Table) with the splitting up of of the former Inter-City cross country timetable (Table 51). From 12/05/1986 a new table 50 appeared which separated off destinations on the former Southern Region from those on the Western Region so every train destined for locations east of Weymouth were in the new table 50 which encompassed all the Channel port destinations like Portsmouth, Newhaven, Folkestone and Dover. The timetable revamp was extended to the BRIPT (International Passenger Timetable) where a new table 6 covered Liverpool, Manchester & Birmingham to Dover with rail and ship connections to Oostende (Belgium) and Boulogne (France).
In typically dreadful summer weather 47 628 named 'Sir Daniel Gooch' is seen running into Tonbridge on the inaugural day of table 50 passenger service with train 1M02 10.45 Dover Western Docks to Liverpool Lime Street. Of the three IC departures from Dover this one didn't offer connections from the continent, only 1M04 13.45 ex Dover and 1M31 17.45 ex Dover appeared in BRIPT table 6. In the background 4-CEP EMU no.1532 in 'Jaffa' livery is running in with the 11.00 London Charing Cross to Ashford.
A nice touch on the inaugural day was the fact all three workings were diagrammed for Old Oak Common depot prestige liveried class 47/4's so the the three locos in GWR green livery were used, 47 484 'Isambard Kingdom Brunel', 47 500 'Great Western' and as above 47 628 'Sir Daniel Gooch' for the three trains. Old Oak provided the locos for this service for a number of years but unfortunately it was never a great success and loadings during the week never reached expected demand. BR eventually cut the service back to a weekend summer only service and by privatisation Virgin Cross Country inherited the route but cut it back further to just serve the Kent coast holiday destinations terminating at Ramsgate, withdrawal of loco hauled trains by Virgin spelt the end of through workings across London to Kent.
47 628 at Tonbridge with 1M02 on the inaugural day of GBTT Table 50.
Not strictly a boat train although the cross London services operated by Inter-City Cross Country to Dover were marketed with European Rail-Ship connections. The introduction of 3 Inter-City services to and from Dover on this day in 1986 also heralded a major alteration to the BR GBTT (Great Britain Time Table) with the splitting up of of the former Inter-City cross country timetable (Table 51). From 12/05/1986 a new table 50 appeared which separated off destinations on the former Southern Region from those on the Western Region so every train destined for locations east of Weymouth were in the new table 50 which encompassed all the Channel port destinations like Portsmouth, Newhaven, Folkestone and Dover. The timetable revamp was extended to the BRIPT (International Passenger Timetable) where a new table 6 covered Liverpool, Manchester & Birmingham to Dover with rail and ship connections to Oostende (Belgium) and Boulogne (France).
In typically dreadful summer weather 47 628 named 'Sir Daniel Gooch' is seen running into Tonbridge on the inaugural day of table 50 passenger service with train 1M02 10.45 Dover Western Docks to Liverpool Lime Street. Of the three IC departures from Dover this one didn't offer connections from the continent, only 1M04 13.45 ex Dover and 1M31 17.45 ex Dover appeared in BRIPT table 6. In the background 4-CEP EMU no.1532 in 'Jaffa' livery is running in with the 11.00 London Charing Cross to Ashford.
A nice touch on the inaugural day was the fact all three workings were diagrammed for Old Oak Common depot prestige liveried class 47/4's so the the three locos in GWR green livery were used, 47 484 'Isambard Kingdom Brunel', 47 500 'Great Western' and as above 47 628 'Sir Daniel Gooch' for the three trains. Old Oak provided the locos for this service for a number of years but unfortunately it was never a great success and loadings during the week never reached expected demand. BR eventually cut the service back to a weekend summer only service and by privatisation Virgin Cross Country inherited the route but cut it back further to just serve the Kent coast holiday destinations terminating at Ramsgate, withdrawal of loco hauled trains by Virgin spelt the end of through workings across London to Kent.