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Guide to Economical Transport (Named Freight Trains)

GWR Route: Banbury to Wolverhampton
GWR Route: North Warwickshire Line

Bordesley Station Photographs (58) Bordesley Viaduct (7) Duddeston Viaduct (9)
Bordesley Junction (17) Bordesley Shed (20) GWR Publication – Named Freight Trains
GWR Appendix to STT (Bordesley Junction & Station) GWR Service Time Table (GW Shunting & LMS Trips) GWR Appendix to STT
(Whistle Codes & other infomation)

Named freight trains originating, terminating or passing through Warwickshire as published in 1936 and extracted from pages 23 and 24 of:

Great Western Railway
Guide to
ECONOMICAL TRANSPORT

Freight Train Names
Whilst the services referred to in the following pages are maintained by a variety of trains, with their appropriate scheduled paths, it may be of interest to record that these trains, to the men with whom they are constantly associated, are creatures of character; and all of them have names, as familiar to the staff up and down the line as the ‘Cornish Riviera Limited’, the ‘Cheltenham Flyer’ and the more recent ‘Bristolian’ are to the British Public and throughout the world. The present names have a variety of origins, founded on the nature of the traffic, associations of direction and county, and frequently of some personality amongst the men connected with the train.
Such a name becomes a term of affection – something that enhances the mere duty to ensure prompt despatch and the elimination of all possible delays, and seems to place a personal responsibility upon each man throughout the entire run. No longer, therefore, should they remain in obscurity; and for the information and interest of the reader the names of the principal freight trains, as given by the staff themselves, are reproduced below:-
Express Vacuum and Accelerated ‘E’ Freight Trains

Dep. Time Leaving from To Name
1:30 a.m. Wolverhampton Basingstoke The Southern Docker
2:10 a.m. Basingstoke Wolverhampton The Cherbourg
2:10 a.m. Wolverhampton Basingstoke The Southerner
3:55 p.m. Birkenhead Smithfield The Meat
7:22 p.m. West Drayton Wolverhampton The Drayton
8:15 p.m. Wolverhampton Paddington The Racer
8:20 p.m. Birkenhead Paddington The General
9:10 p.m. Bordesley Jc Birkenhead The Shipper
9:10 p.m. Paddington Birkenhead Northern Flash
9:35 p.m. Basingstoke Wolverhampton The B.B.C. (Basingstoke, Birmingham, Crewe)
10:05 p.m. Bristol Leamington Spa
10:10 p.m. Bordesley Jc Swansea The Hardware
10:25 p.m. Margam Bordesley Jc The Tinman
10:50 p.m. Birkenhead Bordesley Jc The Birmingham Market
11:00 p.m. Handsworth Acton The Queen’s Head
11:00 p.m. Birmingham Paddington The Pedlar
11:05 p.m. Paddington Wolverhampton The Hampton

Robert Ferris