Motorail (British Rail)

Motorail was the brand name for British Rail's long-distance services that carried passengers and their cars, ultimately part of the InterCity sector. It originated with the June 1955 introduction of the Car-Sleeper Limited between London and Perth. (Due to the enginemen's strike that summer the precise start date is uncertain.) The Motorail brand was introduced in 1966 with BR press releases and the opening of London Kensington Olympia terminal.[1]

Motorail

Logo from 1966 to 1995.
A Motorail service to Scotland at Carlisle in 1988
Overview
Stations called at	28 (Not all were served in all years of operation.)
Parent company	British Rail
Dates of operation	1955 - 1995 (British Rail) 1999 - 2005 (First Great Western)–
Route map This diagram is a guide: not all destinations shown were served in all years of operation. Inverness Perth Fort William Aberdeen Stirling Edinburgh Waverley Scotland England border Carlisle York Newcastle Newton-le-Willows Sheffield Birmingham (Sutton Coldfield) Worcester Shrub Hill Fishguard Harbour for ferries to Ireland Swansea Cardiff Central Bristol Temple Meads Reading London (Kensington Olympia) St Austell Dover for ferries to France Newton Abbot Brockenhurst Totnes Exeter St Davids Penzance Plymouth

Routes

Motorail operated from London to many places including Penzance, Plymouth, Fishguard Harbour, Carlisle, Edinburgh, Perth, Inverness and Fort William. A short-lived service from London to Glasgow was introduced in the early 1990s.

Not highlighted are the earlier services from Glasgow, St Enoch to London and the South Coast, in the 1960s. The cars were conveyed in covered vans and passengers coaches at the front of the train, similar to the one from Waverley with ‘Anglo Scottish Car Carrier’ emblazoned over the specially built vans. I travelled from Glasgow to the South coast overnight, took the cross channel ferry, boarded the French equivalent and thus reached the French Riviera, with a car in 36 hours from Glasgow having driven 40 miles!

The service was popular at a time when long distance travel by car involved long journey times, and additional services were introduced in 1972 between Stirling and Dover, London Kensington Olympia and Carmarthen and Birmingham and Inverness. An overnight service was also introduced between London Kensington and Carlisle to supplement the daytime service.[2]

A variety of rolling stock, both open and enclosed, was used. Many routes were operated with overnight sleeper services. The open double deck Cartic 4 was first used on a Kensington Olympia to Perth Motorail on 22 June 1966.[3] and last used in 1978.[4]

Withdrawal

Usage on many routes had declined by the early 1990s. In 1989 the London to Stirling service was discontinued.[5] The services operated at a significant loss and the service ceased in 1995 when British Rail was privatised.[6]

First Great Western relaunched a service from London Paddington to Penzance as part of its Night Riviera overnight sleeper service in September 1999, with eight converted General Utility Vans but withdrew it at the end of summer 2005.[7][8]

Gallery

• 
  Night Riviera Motorail van NVA at Penzance in August 2003
• 
  Motorail ended in summer 2005; there were still signs for it at Paddington in April 2006.
• 
  The former Motorail terminal at Kensington Olympia, in 2009. Since Motorail services here ceased, the building has been designated "Olympia Motorail Car Park P4".

References

1. John Furnevel (20 July 2005). "West London Line | RAILSCOT Magazine". Railbrit.co.uk. Retrieved 22 May 2014.
2. "News of the month". Railway World. Vol. 32 no. 379. Shepperton: Ian Allan Publishing. December 1971. p. 517.
3. Modern Railways September 1966 p. 468
4. Cartic-4 car carriers
5. "BR Motorail service pulls out of Stirling". The Herald (Glasgow). 8 February 1989. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
6. Paul Routledge (1 January 1995). "Motorail to be axed in BR sell-off - News". The Independent. Retrieved 22 May 2014.
7. FGW's first motorail train is a sell out Rail issue 362 28 July 1999 page 9
8. Farewell Motorail as FGW axes summer season operation Rail Express issue 121 June 2006 page 6

See also

• Accompanied car train
• Auto-Train, a similar service in the United States