Caledonian trains

The first old postcard has a painting of a Caledonian Railway night passenger train. The Caledonian Railway was a major railway company which operated in Scotland, formed in the early 19th century and absorbed almost a century later into the London, Midland and Scottish Railway, in the 1923 railway grouping.

The second postcard shows The Caledonian, a British express passenger train of the 1950s and 1960s which ran between Glasgow Central and London Euston, due into London in mid-afternoon, and back in the afternoon, with a Glasgow arrival in the late evening. It was operated by the London Midland Region of British Railways and was non-stop between Carlisle and London. In the timetable for winter 1959-60, the train was slowed by 25 minutes to compensate for delays during electrification work on the West Coast Main Line, for a new journey time of 7 hours 15 minutes, identical with the other two daytime named trains of the period between the two cities, the Royal Scot and the Mid-Day Scot. All three trains were restricted to eight coaches to save weight, and the number of passengers carried was limited to the seating capacity of the train, standing passengers not being permitted.

The loco looks like a class 40 1Co-Co1 diesel, the first production BR Type 4 diesel.