The LNER Encyclopedia

Something i've been wondering about for a while, and don't know if i've asked this before (apologies if I have), but in pre-grouping days, how would you travel long distance out of London? For example, were I to go from London to Newcastle, would I have to get the GNR to York, then change for the NER, or did the NER ever do a through express on GNR lines?

Also, in 'The Thirty-Nine Steps', the main character travels from London St Pancras to Newton Stewart and mentions changing at Dumfries - it doesn't mention changing beforehand, and the book was written in 1915, so was there a through Midland Railway or Scottish company train?

ECJS East Coast Joint Stock was owned by i believe GNR, NER & NBR but the engines hauling it belonged to only two companies GNR & NER except in times of dispute between the NBR and NER when NBR locos would be used between Berwick & Edinburgh.
The usual practice was the GNR loco to York and an NER loco to Edinburgh. This practice had come into being through NER/NBR agreements.

There were through trains between Kings X and Edinburgh more or less from the completion of the last GNR section of the ECML in 1852. The through coaches were mainly GNR at first but the ECJS arrangement was in place in 1860. The 1850s time between the two cities was 11 hours.

The St Pancras Dumfries route was mainly MR (to Carlisle) at which point the Glasgow & South Western was reached (for Dumfries). Once the Settle Carlisle was opened, there were through trains between St Pancras & Glasgow, at least some of which called at Dumfries, so John Buchan appears to have got his railway facts pretty straight. The film makers were not so accurate I think the Hitchcock film featured Robert Donat & the Forth Bridge! (If my memory serves me well).

An excellent set of articles in the magazine 'Back Track' covers this topic extensively.
It came in three parts as follows:
Volume 23, Number 11 (November 2009).
Volume 23, Number 12 (December 2009).
Volume 24, Number 1 (January 2010).

If you can get hold of back issues, this article (in three parts, called 'Travelling Through') covers through workings and long distance travel in both pre-grouping and post-grouping days all over the country. There are also some excellent photos included.

Malcolm