Talk:Thames–Clyde Express

one-way service?

I very much doubt that this was a one-way service: London to Glasgow as this article states.Pyrotec (talk) 18:00, 18 November 2007 (UTC)

A bit of a late reply, but it could have been: the stock may have carried out the return journey "unbranded", as it were. Britmax (talk) 15:17, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

Thanks, that is one possible answer. I suspect, however, that there was a similar named" train running in the opposite direction, e.g. Glasgow to London, possibly leaving Glasgow as a similar time. So there might be two unbranded services. What is needed is proper references.Pyrotec (talk) 17:15, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

Source[1]

Thames-Clyde Express
Red 1970/1 route
Glasgow Central Glasgow St Enoch River Clyde Kilmarnock Kirkconnel Glasgow South Western Line Dumfries Annan Carlisle Appleby Settle and Carlisle Railway Settle Leeds Wakefield Westgate Sheffield Chesterfield Midland Main Line Nottingham Trent Derby (Sundays Only) Leicester Luton London St Pancras

Thames-Clyde Express
Stations served most years of operation unless marked otherwise Glasgow Central Glasgow St Enoch (Closed 1966) River Clyde Kilmarnock Kirkconnel Glasgow South Western Line Dumfries Annan Carlisle Appleby Settle and Carlisle Railway Settle Leeds Wakefield Westgate Sheffield Chesterfield Midland Main Line Alfreton and Mansfield Parkway (1973-1975) Nottingham Trent (closed 1968) Derby (Sundays Only 1970/1) Leicester Kettering (1973/4) Luton (1970/1) London St Pancras

This is a start on a diagram for the route. I recall tracing it through the 1974 All Britain timetable; it wandered like a drunk on a Saturday night and took the thick end of twelve hours end to end. I think by that time it reversed at Nottingham, Derby and Leeds but would have to check these things. I vaguely recall it calling at Bradford: that is less likely (but not impossible). The same train ran on the 1975 table (I think) but without the branding. Work continues. Britmax (talk) 11:46, 4 May 2008 (UTC)

You could add that one of the reasons for its sparse use at the end was that you needed to be a mixture of expert timetable reader and clairvoyant to know that the train existed at all. It snaked through various timetables as a column note. I have a theory that its one way running was a conspiracy to keep MC Metals in business. I think that's a joke, but...! Britmax (talk) 12:32, 4 May 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for the route map - I will use Allen to extend the article. I've got the 1953 3rd edition, so I don't have any post early-1950s info to hand yet. With a 12 hour running time, they probably could not fit a round trip into one day; and it was typically 10 hours plus most of the time. Possibly it sat in a siding somewhere and came back the next day - just guess work so far.Pyrotec (talk) 20:31, 6 May 2008 (UTC)

In the 1970 / 71 Midland region timetable the northbound TCE left St Pancras at 0905 arriving Glasgow Central at 1823. The return working left Glasgow Central at 0935 and arriving St Pancras at 1911. It was a seven days a week train but called at Derby on Sundays (Not Monday to Saturday) Britmax (talk) 17:04, 14 May 2008 (UTC)

Times for comparison

           1962  1970  1973

St Pancras 1015 0905 0800

Leicester 1152 1039 0934

Nottingham 1112 1006

Sheffield 1319 1213 1116

Leeds 1425 1327 1223

Carlisle 1638 1553 1451

Glasgow 1905 1823 1722

Journey Times 8 h 50 m 9h 15 m 9h 22m