NAMED FREIGHT TRAINS

摘要

Mention titled trains and most people will automatically think of passenger services. But as British Railways went in search of new freight customers following the 1955 Modernisation Plan and the consequent concentration of local goods yard traffic into a smaller number of strategically-placed marshalling yards, it was felt that freight should be given a more glamorous profile. So were born express freights such as'The Condor'- almost certainly the best-known of the genre. Launched in March 1959 and diesel-hauled from the start in order to convey a sense of modernity and speed, it was a bold attempt by the London Midland and Scottish Regions to wrest from road hauliers a share of the profitable London-Glasgow traffic. Condor was an abbreviation of'CONtainer Door-to-DoOR'and the train ran every night between Hendon and Gushetfaulds via the Midland Main Line, S&C and G&SW routes. Two further headboarded freights were 'The Lea Valley Enterprise', which ran from Tottenham (London) to Whitemoor marshalling yard (March), and'The East Essex Enterprise' (Chelmsford to Whitemoor).