1914: The N.E.R. 10:00 a.m. Newcastle to Liverpool Lime Street
Northeast England during the steam era. Edited ----- Examination of the 1912 timetable indicates that the 10:00 a.m. to Liverpool Lime Street (The "L.N.W.R." service) ran via Sunderland, West Hartlepool, Northallerton and Harrogate to reach Leeds New Station. The 12:30 p.m. "L.&Y.R." service) ran via the E.C.M.L. to York. So, my mistake, and the narrative changes.
Here at the east end of Newcastle Central station the 10:00 a.m. express passenger train for Liverpool Lime Street gets under way. This service has its origins in the mid-19th century, with one daily dining service each way operated as a joint venture between the North Eastern Railway and the London & North western Railway, with one set provided by each company. The northeastbound service departs Liverpool Lime Street at 5:00 p.m. and works back southwestwards the next day at 10:00 a.m. The rolling stock for it has gradualy evolved, until during 1908 the N.E.R. introduced its brand new corridor bogie stock with a fine twelve wheel Restauarnt Dining Third car. The seven carriage set was well configured for First Class travellers, with a four compartment Corridor Brake First and Corridor Open First. There were three Corridor Third Class carriages, one of which was a Corridor Open Third, expanding the capacity for Third Class Diners. The seventh carriage was a Corridor Bogie Luggage Van. The service ran via Sunderland and the County Durham coast route, rejoining the ECML at Northallerton for the station call but then leaving it again to head for Harrogate and Leeds. At Leeds New Station a L.&N.W.R. locomotive would take over for the journey over L.&N.W.R. metals.
Standing in an east end bay at newcastle with a Z class Atlantic in charge.
Crossing the east end junction to take the Stephenson High Level Bridge, which, up to 1905, was the only way for the railway to cross the Tyne in the vicinity of Newcastle Central, compelling all Anglo-Scottish trains to reverse in the station. operationally, this was not a tremendous inconvenience, since Anglo-Scottish passenger trains changed engine at Newcastle. What prompted building the King Edward bridge at the west end of the station was the capacity of the High Level Bridge as traffic levels relentlessly increased and there was no way to extend the HLB.
In the 1912/13 timetable there were two trains between Newcastle Central (N.E.R.) and Liverpool Lime Street (L.&N.W.R.) but only the 10:00 a.m. was a dining car express. The other train left Newcastle at 8:45 a.m. stopping at Darlington (9:30 - 9:34 a.m.) and Harrogate (10:24 - 10:29 a.m.), reaching Leeds new Station at 10:59 a.m. The timetable for the Leeds Northern line northbound shows the 5:00 p.m. from Liverpool travelling via Harrogate but from Northallerton heading for Newcastle via Darlington. working on the assumption that a second northbound train from Liverpool Lime Street ran via Stockton, West Hartlepool and Sunderland, I found three running via the Durham Coast route in each direction! It does not help that the letter G denotes a Saturdays Only train in the southbound table but a through train from Liverpool on the northbound table!! From the timetable it appears to me that while these were through trains to/from Liverpool two out of the three made a lot more stops than the 10:00 a.m. Dining Car Express. The last northbound through train is faster than the others, departing Liverpool at 6 p.m., Leeds New station at 8:05 p.m., Harrogate at 8:45 p.m., Northallerton at 9:30 p.m., Sunderland at 11 p.m. and arriving Newcastle at 11:20 p.m.
I am not clear if this 6:00 p.m. from Liverpool and 8:45 a.m. from Newcastle were made up of corridor carriages or non-corridor carriages. Even in the early post-grouping era some lengthy train journeys were accomplished in non-corridor stock, though some First Class and Composite carriages had access to lavatories. However, it was not a universal facility on 52ft stock lacking vestibule connections. By the time the 1926 carriage roster was in place the L.&.Y.R. had been taken over by the L.&N.W.R. (1922) before becoming part of the L.M.S.R. (1923) and significant changes had taken place in the Newcastle to Liverpool service.