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The Robin Hood & The Merchant Venturer named train.

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Condor7

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I hope I am not out of order, but I recently posted a thread entitled Named Trains 2020 https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/named-trains-2020.204689/ specifically to find out if the above two named trains were still running. I think however my thread title understandably invited too wide a discussion and now seems to have faltered, so have made this thread more specific.

I cannot for the life of me find these two named trains in the current National Rail Timetable which is normally the most official source to refer to. So can anyone please let me know if I have somehow missed them or do they appear in the train operating companies local timetables?

For clarity they are The Robin Hood, St.Pancras to Nottingham service run by East Midlands and The Merchant Venturer, Paddington to Penzance (Bristol TM to St.Pancras return) by GWR.

Many thanks.
 
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LowLevel

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The Robin Hood is currently 0800 Nottingham to St Pancras express and 1634 St Pancras to Nottingham. I don't believe the names are mentioned in the current emergency timetable.

Some years ago when I worked on a station I used to have a fiddle with the auto announcer and you could get it to announce the named trains as such.
 

30907

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Neither MV nor RH appear in the NRT, though both tables show other named trainsshow.
 

hexagon789

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I hope I am not out of order, but I recently posted a thread entitled Named Trains 2020 https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/named-trains-2020.204689/ specifically to find out if the above two named trains were still running. I think however my thread title understandably invited too wide a discussion and now seems to have faltered, so have made this thread more specific.

I cannot for the life of me find these two named trains in the current National Rail Timetable which is normally the most official source to refer to. So can anyone please let me know if I have somehow missed them or do they appear in the train operating companies local timetables?

For clarity they are The Robin Hood, St.Pancras to Nottingham service run by East Midlands and The Merchant Venturer, Paddington to Penzance (Bristol TM to St.Pancras return) by GWR.

Many thanks.

I would refer to TOCs' own timetables for named trains as I find the NRT is not always accurate with these.
 

pdeaves

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Paddington to Penzance (Bristol TM to St.Pancras return) by GWR.
Maybe this should be a 'speculative idea'! :)

As hexagon789 says, refer to TOC information. Things are up in the air at the moment and stuff like fancy names could well have taken a back seat until things settle down again.
 
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Mag_seven

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The Merchant Venturer, Paddington to Penzance (Bristol TM to St.Pancras return) by GWR.

The "normal" online timetables produced by GWR would normally contain that information but these are not being published at the moment as special COVID timetables are in place.

Things are up in the air at the moment and stuff like fancy names could well have taken a back seat until things settle down again.

Exactly this.
 

irish_rail

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I'm pretty sure the merchant venturer was done away with when it was pointed out it referred to the money made from the slave trade out of Bristol and liverpool.
 

HowardGWR

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I'm pretty sure the merchant venturer was done away with when it was pointed out it referred to the money made from the slave trade out of Bristol and liverpool.
You could be right about that, but in any case, at least it was appropriate when it existed in the 50s (although it used to run through to Weston). What on earth a train to Penzance has to do with Bristol businessmen escapes me. The Society of Merchant Venturers still exists as a Bristolian charity.
 

Merle Haggard

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What on earth a train to Penzance has to do with Bristol businessmen escapes me. The Society of Merchant Venturers still exists as a Bristolian charity.

And, with similar disregard, in the 1990's (and possibly later), the 'Robin Hood' was applied to the 1745 St Pancras - Leeds. A bit nervous travelling in the first class on it, though icon_biggrin[1].gif
 

Condor7

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Thanks for your help. I contacted East Midlands via email and received a very pleasant and prompt reply stating that named trains had been removed from their own timetables as it was an emergency timetable and The Robin Hood name would indeed be reinstated once things change. This doesn’t explain why in the National timetable their three other named trains are listed, i.e. The Master Cutler, The South Yorkshireman, and the Sheffield Continental.

And, with similar disregard, in the 1990's (and possibly later), the 'Robin Hood' was applied to the 1745 St Pancras - Leeds. A bit nervous travelling in the first class on it, though.

Nice one, it took a moment but then got it, very clever. :)
 

30907

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This doesn’t explain why in the National timetable their three other named trains are listed, i.e. The Master Cutler, The South Yorkshireman, and the Sheffield Continental.
Sorry, which one's that?
 

43074

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Thanks, not come across that. A rather random name.

So named as a marketing ploy shortly after Eurostar moved to St Pancras to sell the convenience of the move to MML customers. I seem to remember marketing advertising of the possibilities to travel to the continent arriving in time for brunch etc around the time it was launched.
 
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