{{short description|Glasgow to London named train}} {{other uses|Caledonian (disambiguation)}} {{one source|date=February 2015}} {{italictitle}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2017}} {{Use British English|date=October 2017}} thumb|alt=Railway locomotive headboard, the text 'The Caledonian' across the bottom, with the shields of Scotland and England above|''The Caledonian'' headboard
'''''The Caledonian''''' was a British express passenger train of the 1950s and 1960s running between {{stnlink|Glasgow Central}} and {{stnlink|London Euston}}, up in the morning, due into London in mid-afternoon, and down 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 {{stnlink|Carlisle}} and London.
[[File:Carlisle with a 'Coronation' Pacific geograph-2414901-by-Ben-Brooksbank.jpg|thumb|Coronation pacific 46240 ''City of Coventry'' with ''The Caledonian'' at Carlisle in 1957]] The service was introduced on 17 June 1957 and ran as a named express until 4 September 1964.<ref name="Peel, Caledonian" /> It ran daily, although for the summer of 1958 there was a trial of running it twice daily, with morning and afternoon services in each direction.<ref name="Peel, Caledonian" />
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.<ref>{{cite news | title=The winter timetables of British Railways: The West Coast speed-up | work=Trains Illustrated |page=584 | date=December 1959 | location=Hampton Court | publisher=Ian Allan }}</ref>
== Headboard == ''The Caledonian'' used a headboard of the 'Royal Scot' pattern, which had been introduced with the ''Royal Scot'' of 1950.<ref name="Peel, Royal Scot" /> These were large headboards, five feet wide rather than the usual three, and with a large round-ended oblong panel carrying the name, surmounted by a crest.<ref name="Peel, Caledonian" /> For the ''Caledonian'', this was the paired shields of St Andrew and St George, representing Scotland and England. This basic design was used throughout the life of the ''Caledonian'', although there were detail variations. The first headboard was flat painted steel, later replaced by cast aluminium with a raised rim.<ref name="Peel, Caledonian" />
After diesel traction was introduced, from 1962, as usual a smaller version of the headboard was used instead. This was now of painted wood, three feet wide, and had ''The Caledonian'' split across two lines.<ref name="Peel, Caledonian" />
==See also== * List of named passenger trains of the United Kingdom
==References == {{Commons category|The Caledonian (train)|''The Caledonian''}} <references>
<ref name="Peel, Caledonian" >{{Cite book |title=Locomotive Headboards |section=The Caledonian |last=Peel |first=Dave |year=2006 |publisher=Sutton Publishing |isbn=0-7509-4462-5 |pages=109–111 }}</ref>
<ref name="Peel, Royal Scot" >{{harvp|Peel|2006|pages=93,99,101–103|loc=Introduction to the 'Midland' Headboards 1950–75}}</ref>
</references>
{{DEFAULTSORT:Caledonian, The}} Category:Named passenger trains of British Rail