The ''Silver Jubilee'' was a

named train In the history of rail transport, dating back to the 19th century, there have been hundreds of named passenger trains. The following is a list of named trains. Lists of these have been organized into geographical regions. Trains with numeric na ...

of the

London and North Eastern Railway The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) was the second largest (after London, Midland and Scottish Railway, LMS) of the "Big Four (British railway companies), Big Four" railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain. It ope ...

(LNER) that ran between 1935 and 1939.

History

Inspired by the success of the

streamlined Streamlines, streaklines and pathlines are field lines in a fluid flow. They differ only when the flow changes with time, that is, when the flow is not steady flow, steady. Considering a velocity vector field in three-dimensional space in the f ...

high-speed two-car diesel '' Fliegender Hamburger'' service between Berlin and Hamburg introduced by

Deutsche Reichsbahn The ''Deutsche Reichsbahn'' (), also known as the German National Railway, the German State Railway, German Reich Railway, and the German Imperial Railway, was the Weimar Republic, German national Rail transport, railway system created after th ...

in 1933, the LNER proposed the following year to introduce a similar high-speed service between London and Newcastle during 1935. Over the next few months the plans were changed to comprise a normal-length train hauled by a steam locomotive, all being streamlined. The service was to run once per day in each direction, departing from at 10:00 am and returning from at 5:30 pm. To operate the service, an entirely new train was constructed – four locomotives (one of which was spare) and seven carriages were ordered in March 1935, all to new designs. The four locomotives were

LNER Class A4 The LNER Class A4 is a class of streamlined 4-6-2 steam locomotive, steam locomotives designed by Nigel Gresley for the London and North Eastern Railway in 1935. Their streamlined design gave them high-speed capability as well as making them ins ...

, but only one of these, no. 2509 ''Silver Link'', was ready in time for the introduction of the service – the others followed at intervals until December. The carriages were all ready in time for trial runs to be made on 27 September. One set of special carriages were built for the two daily services, which were not used on any other service. It commenced service on 30 September 1935, the train travelling between and . It did this at an average speed of , taking four hours to complete the journey. The high average speed was maintained by running at high speeds uphill. The train was made in the year of King

George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until Death and state funeral of George V, his death in 1936. George w ...

's Silver Jubilee, and was painted silver throughout. It was composed of two twin-set

articulated An articulated vehicle is a vehicle which has a permanent or semi-permanent coupling in its construction. This coupling works as a large pivot joint, allowing it to bend and turn more sharply. There are many kinds, from heavy equipment to buse ...

coaches, and one triplet-set; seven coaches in total. On 6 November 1935, the

newlywed Newlyweds are people who have recently entered into a marriage. The time frame during which a married couple is considered newlywed varies, but for social science research purposes it may be considered as up to six months into the marriage.Rebecc ...

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of Royal family, royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobi ...

and

Duchess of Gloucester Duchess of Gloucester is the principal Courtesy titles in the United Kingdom, courtesy title used by the wife of the Duke of Gloucester. There have been five titles referring to Gloucester since the 14th century. The current duchess is Birgitt ...

travelled on ''Silver Jubilee'' from St Pancras to

Kettering Kettering is a market town, market and industrial town, industrial town in the North Northamptonshire district of Northamptonshire, England, west of Cambridge, England, Cambridge, southwest of Peterborough, southeast of Leicester and north- ...

for a honeymoon at nearby

Boughton House Boughton House is a country house in the parish of Weekley in Northamptonshire, England, situated about north-east of Kettering. It is situated within an estate of . The present house was built by Ralph Montagu, 1st Duke of Montagu (d.1709) ...

, one of the bride's family homes. In February 1938, an eighth coach was inserted into the third class twin set, bringing the total to eight coaches. The train set a new standard for speed in Britain at that time. Service continued until the outbreak of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

in 1939.

Technical details

Engine and train: total length Total weight: .

Revival

The name was briefly applied to one train per day between King's Cross and in 1977 for the

Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II The Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II marked the Silver jubilee, 25th anniversary of the accession of Queen Elizabeth II on 6 February 1952. It was celebrated with large-scale parties and parades throughout the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth ...

References

{{Authority control Silver Jubilee of George V Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II Named passenger trains of the London and North Eastern Railway Railway services introduced in 1935 Railway services discontinued in 1939 Railway services introduced in 1977 Railway services discontinued in 1977

History

Technical details

Revival

See also

References