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Blue Pullman
Britain's first all-Pullman diesel trains, built by Metropolitan-Cammell in 1959-60: two 6-car sets for the Midland Pullman between Manchester and St Pancras and three 8-car sets for the Western Region's Bristol, Birmingham and South Wales Pullmans from Paddington. Air-conditioned and riding on Swiss-pattern bogies, they were painted Nanking blue and white, and later grey with a blue band. When the West Coast electrics took over Manchester in 1966 the Midland sets moved to the Western Region; all were withdrawn in 1973 and none survives.
Blue Pullman · schematic drawing GB Trains · gbtrains.uk/stock/blue-pullman/ · CC BY 4.0
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Liveries 1
The same measured train in each livery, each drawn from a cited source. The drawing above shows the largest fleet’s.
Former liveries 1
- Type
- Diesel-electric multiple unit (Pullman)
- Builder
- Metropolitan-Cammell, Birmingham
- Built
- 1959-1960
- In service
- 1960–1973
- Formation
- 8 cars (the Western Region's sets): two power cars, two parlour seconds, two kitchen firsts, two parlour firsts
- Trains in fleet
- 5
- Top speed
- 90 mph (145 km/h)
- Power
- Two 1,000 hp NBL/MAN L12V18/21 diesel engines, one in each power car, with GEC generators and traction motors · how it works
- Bogies
- Metro-Cammell Swiss-pattern bogies, 8 ft 6 in (Blue Pullman); Metro-Cammell Swiss-pattern bogies, 9 ft 6 in (Blue Pullman)
- Train length
- 545 ft (166.18 m)
- Car height
- 12 ft 5 in (3.79 m)
- Car width
- 9 ft 0 in (2.743 m)
- Profile
- main-line
- Status
- Withdrawn in May 1973 and all scrapped; none survives.
unverified Some of these figures haven’t yet been checked against an official source or a published history. What’s in doubt ↓
Car types
| Code | Car | Length | Doors per side |
|---|---|---|---|
| DMBS | Driving motor brake second (BR 654) | 68 ft 7 in20.892 m | |
| TPS | Trailer parlour second (BR 673) | 68 ft 0 in20.733 m | |
| TFK | Trailer kitchen first (BR 663) | 68 ft 0 in20.733 m | |
| TPF | Trailer parlour first (BR 664) | 68 ft 0 in20.733 m |
Sources
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Show the 9 sources from Wikimedia Commons, British Railways, Wikipedia
- Coaching Stock Diagram Book (DMU), with BR 653, 654, 662, 663, 664 and 673 (the Blue Pullmans) British Railways (original copyright BRB Residuary Ltd; diagrams courtesy of Clive Mortimore, PDF copy by J. D. Faulkner, 2010), pp. BR 654, 673, 663, 664 (pp. 143, 153, 148, 149); BR 653, 662 (pp. 142, 147) for the Midland setseach car's side elevation, layout, lengths (66 ft 5 1/2 in and 65 ft 6 in over body, 68 ft 6 1/2 in and 68 ft 0 in overall), 46 ft 6 in bogie centres, 9 ft 6 in and 8 ft 6 in bogies, 9 ft 0 in over body, the heights over the roof and the vents
- British Rail Classes 251 and 261 Wikipedialead only: builder, 1959-60, the sets and routes, the liveries, withdrawal in 1973
- Pullman Trailer First Restaurant Kitchen (TFLRK) W60737 (8323378694).jpg (photograph, CC BY-SA 2.0) Wikimedia Commons (Hugh Llewelyn), 1967-07-15W60737 (BR 663) in Nanking blue, level and abeam: the kitchen car's layout checked (the other side, mirrored) and the white band's heights.
- Pullman Trailer Parlour First (TPFL) W60744 (8323377126).jpg (photograph, CC BY-SA 2.0) Wikimedia Commons (Hugh Llewelyn), 1967-07-15W60744 (BR 664) in the reversed grey and blue, level and abeam: the parlour car and the reversed livery.
- Metropolitan Cammell 8 car Blue Pullman dmu W60097 (8323144840).jpg (photograph, CC BY-SA 2.0) Wikimedia Commons (Hugh Llewelyn), 1967-07-15W60097 (BR 654) in Nanking blue, three-quarter: the power car's side and where its white band starts.
- Metropolitan Cammell 8 car Blue Pullman dmu W60096 (8322082201).jpg (photograph, CC BY-SA 2.0) Wikimedia Commons (Hugh Llewelyn), 1967-07-15W60096 (BR 654) in the reversed livery, a close three-quarter view: the nose, buffers and cab.
- Midland Pullman at St Pancras.jpg (photograph, CC BY 2.0) Wikimedia Commons (shipley43), 1960s (uploaded 2013-11-17)A Midland set's power car in Nanking blue (colour): the colours and the nose.
- South Wales Pullman.jpg (photograph, CC BY-SA 3.0) Wikimedia Commons (Johnragla), 1973The reversed livery in colour from above: the yellow end, the blue band, the roof.
- The Birmingham Pullman passing High Wycombe, geograph 4105938 by john bristow.jpg (photograph, CC BY-SA 2.0) Wikimedia Commons (john bristow), 1962-04-25The whole 8-car Western train in Nanking blue: the formation.
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- Dates, builder, the fleet (two 6-car and three 8-car sets), the engines, the routes and the withdrawal: from Wikipedia, used as a lead only
- The wheels about 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm), read off the sheets' wheel circles (1,020-1,080): not printed
- The bogies' details: from the sheets' small elevations only (no close photograph among the 19)
- Which way the kitchen cars faced in the train: drawn with each car's sheet the same way up in the first half and turned in the second
- Heights: each sheet's render is 1-2.5% taller than wide; scaled to its printed height over the roof (12 ft 5 3/16 in, 12 ft 4 1/2 in)
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