Press release by Joyce G Raffe
The company who operates the Southern, Thameslink, Gatwick Express, and Great Northern services Govia Thameslink Railway are proud to announce today that we have announced plans to bring back the two iconic named trains that once ran to and from Brighton - the Brighton Belle which was a limited stop express to London Victoria, and the Sussex Scot which was an Intercity train that ran between Brighton and Glasgow via Birmingham and Preston.
Brighton Belle
This will be in addition to the present services that run between Brighton and London Victoria, calling at Haywards Heath, Redhill, East Croydon, Clapham Junction, and London Victoria. As Govia Thameslink Railway are experts in running branded routes even though they are not sexy, glamourous, or attractive, we decided that we (GTR) might as well do it properly. In the next few years, there will be several Class 142 Pacers that will retire from their duties north of the Thames, and we will be able to directly purchase them at a bargain basement price.
The onboard facilities will include catering, even though we will supply passengers with water, cutlery, cups, and plates, it is bring your own food and drink supplies. These Pacers will also include a footbath at the stepwell, and a shower in the bellows between the coaches, both which are free of charge to use. However, the caveat for both the footbath and the shower to work depends upon the weather, as the water supply is fresh and direct from the sky.
When further quizzed, the operations manager said of the use of Pacers on the Brighton Belle express "The Class 142 Pacers are a testament of British engineering, as they were built by that bastion of the automotive industry British Leyland. Although built in 1985, they are still going strong, and I am confident that they will continue to do so for many years to come, and will really be going back to the future".
Sussex Scot
GTR are also proud to announce that we have formed a partnership with our fellow train operating companies Arriva Crosscountry and First Transpennine Express to bring back a famous Intercity named train - the Sussex Scot. Talks are presently ongoing with all parties concerned, with plans to reinstate this link that was lost almost 10 years ago. Although the Sussex Scot would not run every day of the year, our plans are to have it running on Saturdays and Sundays during the summer, with one journey in each direction, and would be an extension of both the Crosscountry and Transpennine services all in one.
It is planned for the Sussex Scot to call at Haywards Heath, Redhill, East Croydon, Kensington Olympia, Reading, Oxford, Banbury, Leamington Spa, Coventry, Birmingham International, Birmingham New Street, Wolverhampton, Stafford, Stoke-on-Trent, Stockport, Manchester Piccadilly, Bolton, Preston, Lancaster, Oxenholme The Lake District, Penrith, Carlisle, Lockerbie, Motherwell, and Glasgow Central.
It is anticipated that as there are presently 6 spare Class 442s, these would run with 2 coupled together, with 2 spare. The advantages the Class 442s have is that they can use their own power on the third rail south of the Thames, and can pull over at Kensington Olympia for a locomotive to be attached northbound and detached southbound.
There will be first class provision on the Sussex Scot, with all the bells and whistles if travelling all the way to Glasgow or beyond. Following on from when our partner Arriva Crosscountry introduced the UK's very first £1,000 First Class fare from Newquay in Cornwall to Kyle of Lochalsh in the Scottish Highlands, we have gone one better than that. We are not going to double that. We will quadruple it to £4,000 First Class Single from Brighton to Mallaig.
When quizzed about the fare, the pricing manager Dick Turpin said "it is extremely unlikely anybody will ever purchase that fare anyway. The reason of this being so high is that we can offer promotional fares and keep fares for shorter journeys competitively priced, so as they rise below the rate of inflation".
