British Railways Western Region timetable
September 1963 - 14 June 1964
Whilst not being a Great Western Railway publication, this timetable does have close associations with the GWR, not only in the geographical area covered but also the services advertised within. It also serves as a snapshot of a time of great change on the railways as the effects of the railway rationalisation programme proposed by Dr. Beeching were in full swing. Many services advertised, and their accompanying illustrations, would not have been out of place had this book been published in the 1930s. Within just a few years much would change with services being withdrawn and miles of track closing. It is fascinating to look at this book in greater detail.
Stepping up the Pace
The first page goes into great detail in describing many greatly accelerated passenger expresses with speeds of up to ninety miles an hour and some averages of seventy miles an hour. Described as being 2700 h.p. diesel giants, the Western class of locomotive had already been introduced on the London to Birmingham route and were set to be introduced on the London to South Wales route as far as Swansea, but with boat trains continuing to Fishguard. Multiple unit diesel trains were to be introduced for local services west of Swansea. In total, 74 Western class diesel hydraulic locomotives were built for use by the Western Region of British Railways between 1961 and 1964, the first 29 at Swindon and the remainder at Crewe. Highlighted time savings on certain routes ranged from 40 minutes up to 85 minutes.
Ordinary Tickets
The various ordinary and special classes of ticket are outlined. Singles are advertised as being issued at the basic rate of 3d. per mile, second class, for distances up to 200 miles. Over 200 miles the rate was slightly lower and first class at about fifty percent higher. Returns were advertised as being generally double the single fare . Breaks of journey were allowed with both single and return tickets. Children of three and under fourteen were charges at half the equivalent adult fare.
Reduced Rate Tickets
Midweek Holiday Returns offered reduced fares for travel only on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, returning on any of those days the following week or within the month. Circular Tours were popular and allowed a visit to three or more places anywhere on the network (including Ireland and the Channel Islands). A specimen route given was from Cardiff to London, then to York, across to Windermere, south to Chester and back to Crdiff via Stratford-on-Avon. Any chosen circular route could be arranged, given notice, but there was a minimum charge of 40s. second class, and 60s. first class. Rail Rover and Holiday Runabout tickets allowed for unlimited travel within specified areas for seven days. Cheap Day Return Tickets were only issued between certain stations and were confined for use within a radius of 30 miles. One interesting service offered was for Party Travel. The entry explains that We have a specialist staff whose main concern is the success of your outings, whether your party consists of Eight persons (the minimum) travelling in a normal train or hundreds travelling in a special train. They are your railway booking agents who are experts at arranging not only the railway side of the journey but river and sea trips, admissions to theatres, meals at hotels and restaurants, exhibitions, sporting events, festivals, trade shows, and so on.
Seat Reservations
Seats could be reserved only on certain trains and application had to be made in person at a station on the route, or by post enclosing a stamped addressed envelope and the booking fee of 2s. per seat.
Camping Coaches
Another leftover from the 1930s were camping coaches which had been, and apparently were still, a popular form of reasonably priced self catering holiday accommodation. These did not originate from just the GWR, and according to the entry there were still well over a hundred camping coaches in England, Scotlad and Wales in both rural and seaside locations. They were all converted from, sometimes very, old coaching stock and would be parked on an otherwise disused siding at a station. The entry describes them as being A novel holiday - living in a railway coach for one or two weeks. Everything is provided: crockery, cutlery, cooking utensils, towels and bedding. Lighting, cooking and heating is by paraffin or Calor gas or - in some luxury Pullman coaches - by electricity. Camping Coaches could sleep four, six or up to eight people with drinking water and toilets being available at the station. Bookings were restricted at busy times to tenants buying at least four or six ordinary returns, depending upon the size of the coach being booked, with two children counting as one adult.
Sleeping Berths
Both first and second class sleeping accommodation was provided on certain trains running between Paddington and Penzance, Plymouth, Carmarthen, Swansea (High Street) and Birkenhead, as well as those between Manchester (Picadilly) and Plymouth, and Newcaste and Bristol (Temple Meads). Apparently dogs and other livestock were not allowed to be taken into Sleeping Cars. The entry states that First class sleeping compartments are top class in comfort. Each one is no less than a small private bedroom, with luxurious spring-and-foam-rubber matresses, clean sheets, two pillows, blankets, wash-asin and wardrobe, and controls for warming or cooling the compartment. Second class is of the improved two-berth type, with the same quality of bedding and washing facilities as the first class. Light refreshments are brought to each passenger by the attendant about an hour before the end of the journey.
Autobritn Plan
This strangely named service was one whereby, for a reservation fee of 5 shillings, one could book a hire car to be ready and waiting upon arrival by train at any one of fifty named stations plus all London termini. Four sizes of car were available for hire, being small, medium, large or very large. The hire cars were supplied by 'Victor Britain' and their representative would collect a £15 deposit plus estimated hire charges and provide any maps or guides as required.
Meals And Refreshnents On Trains
Depending upon the time of day, and the schedule of particular trains, breakfast, early lunch, late lunch, afternoon tea or dinner could be obtained in the reasaurant car. Seats could be booked in advance, but apparently an attendant would call at every compartment and invite passengers to take a seat. On the Blue Pullman trains meals and refreshments were served at every seat. Mention is also made of buffet cars which were being used in increasing numbers.
One service which had been offered since the early days of train travel, but now no longer seen, was a ready packed meal. There was a range of options varying between a packed meal in a carrier bag, an individual tray meal, a meal box , or a de-luxe tray meal. These were all advertised as being available from station refreshment rooms. Large paries were also catered for with tea being available at 12s. per gallon, or coffee at 20s. per gallon, being supplied in thermal urns. Examples given of carrier bag meals were: for 2/6, a sausage roll, cheese sandwich, Kup cake and fruit, or for an extra shilling this could be upgraded to a pork pie, ham sandwich, tomato, packet of biscuits and a gala fruit pie. The illustration doesn't seem to quite tally with either of these options and it also looks to include a hard-boiled egg.
Luggage In Advance
At this time it was quite common to see trolleys of luggage and parcels on station platforms either being transferred onto, or from, a train standing at the platform. Whilst some of this traffic would have arisen from the railway being a 'common carrier', some would have been unaccompanied luggage. One service offered was, for a fee of 5/6, luggage would be collected from home and delivered to one's destination. For a reduced fee, luggage could either be collected from home and taken to the destination station ready for collection, or it could be handed in at a station and it would then be either delivered to the destiation address or station. For an additional fee this service also covered the Isle of Man, Jersey, Guernsey and Northern Ireland.
Western Region Car Tourist Services
This service, which operated between March and October, was little changed from that of the 1930s. Motorists and their passengers could travel between Paddington and St. Austell or Newton Abbott by certain trains with their car being transported overnight in special covered vans and being available at the destination early the following morning. This was the precursor to the wider Motorail service which started in 1965 and ran until 1995, although routes had begun to close in 1975.
24-Hour Clock
It may seem strange now, but in 1964 the idea of a 24 hour clock was quite new. One page in the timetable is devoted to explaining how the 24 hour clock worked in readiness for its adoption across the network. It had already appeared on train departure sheets at principal stations but it would appear that it was still to be introduced to Western Region timetables and at other stations across the network. It was pointed out that 24.00 denoted a train arriving at midnight, and that a train departing at midnight is represented by 0.00.
Named Trains
The Great Western Railway named may of its limited stop express trains and these names either survived ,or were resurrected, for use in BR days. This timetable devotes a page for each of the seventeen named trains then in operation at that time, many of which are still remembered: The Bristolian (London, Bath Spa and Bristol), The Bristol Pullman (London, Bath Spa and Bristol), Cornish Riviera Express (London, Plymouth, Truro and Penzance), Torbay Express (London, Exeter, Torquay, Paignton, Plymouth and Penzance), The Royal Duchy (London, Exeter, Plymouth, Truro and Penzance), The Mayflower ( London, Taunton, Exeter, Newton Abbot and Plymouth), The South Wales Pullman (London, Newport, Cardiff, Bridgend, Port Talbot, Neath and Swansea)., The Red Dragon (London, Newport, Cardiff and Swansea), Capitals United Express (London and Cardiff), Cheltenham Spa Express (London, Kemble, Stroud, Goucester and Chaltenham), The Inter-City (London, Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Shrewsbury and Chester), The Birmingham Pullman (London, Leamington Spa, Birmingham and Wolverhampton), The Cathedrals Express(London, Oxford Worcester and Hereford), Cambrian Coast Express (London, Aberdovey, Towyn, Barmouth, Pwlleli and Aberystwyth), The Cornishman (Sheffield, Derby, Birmingham, Gloucester, Bristol and the West of England), The Devonian (Bradford, leeds, Sheffield, Derby, Exeter, Torquay and Paignton), and finally The Pines Express(Manchester, Liverpol, Wolverhampton, Birmingham, Leamington Spa, Southampton and Bournemouth).
Hotels on the Western
One final reminder of Great Western heritage appears on the inside back cover where the three remaining GWR hotels are advertised, albeit no longer under their ownership. These are the Great Western Royal Hotel in Paddington, the Manor House Hotel at Moretonhampstead and Treganna Castle Hotel in St. Ives. You could easily be forgiven for thinking that you had returned to the 1930s.
We have in our collection several postcards issued by the GWR featuring their hotels. They can be found, together with some background and a short history of the whole GWR hotel estate, in the 'GWR postcards' pages under the 'MEMORABILIA/Card collections menu item.
Companies other than the GWR had developed their own larger hotel interests and these were also taken in to form British Transport Hotels Ltd. which operated a total of 34 railway hotels in England and Scotland according to the listing in this timetable.
Western Region map
Now detached from inside the back cover of the timetable is a double sided fold out map covering passenger services of the Western Region and some of the connacting lines from a wider area.On the rear of the map are enlargements covering the Bristol, South Wales, and London/Reading/Princess Risborough districts.
The map shows how the rail network was changing at that time. Only passenger services are shown, so lines which had already been closed to passengers, but remained open for freight were not included on the map. Only large stations and those at the end of lines were shown, so Culham does not appear. More detailed information as to which stations remained open at that time can be gleaned from the time tables themselves.
Abingdon station and branch are shown on the map, but Abingdon was closed to passenger traffic on 9th September 1963 (the first day covered by the timetable). The entry for train services between Radley and Abingdon notes that rail services had been withdrawn, but frequent services between Oxford, Radley and Abingdon were operated by the City of Oxford Motor Services Ltd. It was still possible to travel from Oxford to Cambridge via Bicester and Blechley, but the line from Oxford to Princes Risborough is not shown as passenger services along that line had been withdrawn in January 1963. The Didcot, Newbury and Southampton route is not shown as passenger services to stations south of Newbury had already ended in March 1960, and passenger services to stations north of Newbury ceased in September 1962. Just to the north of Oxford, Kidlington station still features in the timetable but this was soon to close in November 1964. Several other smaller local branch lines (such as the ones to Woodstock, Wallingford, Faringdon, Watlington, and Lambourn) had already either lost their passenger services or been closed completely during the late 1950s. The line from Yarnton to Fairford via Witney had closed to passengers in 1962.
