Master Cutler (train)
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The ''Master Cutler'' is a British named express passenger train operated by
East Midlands Railway Abellio East Midlands Limited, trading as East Midlands Railway (EMR), is a train operating company in England, owned by Abellio, and is the current operator of the East Midlands franchise. History In March 2017, the Department for Transport a ...
between
Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...
and
London St Pancras St Pancras railway station (), also known as London St Pancras or St Pancras International and officially since 2007 as London St Pancras International, is a London station group, central London railway terminus on Euston Road in the London Bor ...
. It has a somewhat complicated history, with the route and composition changing several times.


History

In 1947 at a meeting of the
Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire The Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire is a trade guild of metalworkers based in Sheffield, England. It was incorporated in 1624 by an Act of Parliament. The head is called the Master Cutler. Its motto is french: 1=Pour Y Parvenir a Bonne Foi, ...
Ronald Matthews, a former holder of the office of
Master Cutler The Master Cutler is the head of the Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire established in 1624. Their role is to act as an ambassador of industry in Sheffield, England. The Master Cutler is elected by the freemen of the company on the first Monday of ...
and Chairman of the
London and North Eastern Railway The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) was the second largest (after LMS) of the " Big Four" railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain. It operated from 1 January 1923 until nationalisation on 1 January 1948. At th ...
suggested that the 7.40 train from Sheffield Victoria to
London Marylebone Marylebone station ( ) is a Central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in the Marylebone area of the City of Westminster. On the National Rail network it is also known as London Marylebone and is the southern te ...
, returning at 18.15, should be named ''The Master Cutler''. This was agreed by both the Company of Cutlers and the LNER. The then Master Cutler, A Balfour, later the 2nd Lord Riverdale, rode on the footplate of the inaugural train. It has since been a tradition that the Master Cutler ride with the driver of the train during their year of office. The ''Master Cutler'' was introduced by the LNER on 6 October 1947, running on the
Great Central Main Line The Great Central Main Line (GCML), also known as the London Extension of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (MS&LR), is a former railway line in the United Kingdom. The line was opened in 1899 and built by the Great Central Railw ...
route from Sheffield Victoria to London Marylebone calling at and . Upon nationalisation the following year, the service became the responsibility of the
Eastern Region of British Railways The Eastern Region was a region of British Railways from 1948, whose operating area could be identified from the dark blue signs and colour schemes that adorned its station and other railway buildings. Together with the North Eastern Region ( ...
. Known to staff simply as "The Cutler", the train carried a restaurant car and was generally hauled by a Gresley A3 Pacific. In 1958, passenger services on the former Great Central route were beginning to be run down, and on 15 September of that year the title of the train switched to a new Class 40 diesel hauled service from Sheffield Victoria to calling at
Retford Retford (), also known as East Retford, is a market town in the Bassetlaw District in Nottinghamshire, England, and one of the oldest English market towns having been granted its first charter in 1105. It lies on the River Idle and the Chesterfie ...
only via
East Coast Main Line The East Coast Main Line (ECML) is a electrified railway between London and Edinburgh via Peterborough, Doncaster, York, Darlington, Durham and Newcastle. The line is a key transport artery on the eastern side of Great Britain running broa ...
. On 28 September 1960, Pullman carriage stock was introduced. However, in early 1966 British Railways decided to concentrate Sheffield traffic on the
Midland Main Line The Midland Main Line is a major railway line in England from London to Nottingham and Sheffield in the Midlands. It comprises the lines from London's St Pancras station via Leicester, Derby/Nottingham and Chesterfield in the East Midlands. ...
route to (and Leeds traffic on King's Cross), so the Pullman coaches were withdrawn on 15 April 1966, and the train reverted to normal carriages. From 7 October 1968 the ''Master Cutler'' title was moved over to a fast train running to London St Pancras via the Midland line. It was later de-named, but the name was revived by
InterCity InterCity (commonly abbreviated ''IC'' on timetables and tickets) is the classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains (in contrast to regional, local, or commuter trains) generally call at m ...
in May 1987, for a daily train operated by
InterCity 125 The InterCity 125 (originally Inter-City 125New trai ...
High Speed Trains. As part of the timetable changes on 14 December 2008,
East Midlands Trains East Midlands Trains (EMT) was a British train operating company owned by the transport group Stagecoach, which operated the East Midlands franchise between November 2007 and August 2019. Following the Department for Transport (DfT) award ...
reverted the service to its post-1968 historic route, and it now operates from Sheffield to London St Pancras, via
Chesterfield Chesterfield may refer to: Places Canada * Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan * Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom * Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England ** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...
,
Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gai ...
and Leicester, not starting from Leeds. Another change came with the use of a seven carriage Class 222 ''Meridian'' train to run the service instead of an InterCity 125 train that had operated it for the previous 21 years. The substantial reduction in the number of first-class seats caused by this change of train has led to noticeable overcrowding. In response East Midlands Trains has actively sought to persuade business travelers to consider the other two named trains between Sheffield and London, the ''
South Yorkshireman The ''South Yorkshireman'' is a British named passenger train. In its modern version it is one of four named expresses operated by East Midlands Railway, and runs between and . The original ''South Yorkshireman'' was a train in the post-WW2 er ...
'' and the ''
Sheffield Continental The ''Sheffield Continental'' is one of the four flagship named passenger trains operated by East Midlands Railway. There is only a south-bound ''Sheffield Continental'' service which is the 0647 train from Sheffield to London St Pancras. The ...
.''


Current service

Currently the ''Master Cutler'' name is carried by the 07:33 departure from Sheffield and 17:02 departure from London St Pancras. This is identified by the 'M' in the notes at the top of the timetable for these particular services.


In preservation

The preserved Great Central Railway also runs re-enactments of the train on certain days using a rake of "Blood and Custard" Mark 1s. One of their locomotives used to work on the original trains during the 1950s, jointly-owned BR standard class 5 73156; restored at Loughborough on the Great Central Railway in 2017, in the guise of 73084 Tintagel. One of the train's headboards was presented to the Company of Cutlers by British Railways (Eastern Region) and Firth Vickers Stainless Steels Ltd on 21 April 1959, and another
British Railways British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...
headboard is on display in the Great Hall at the
National Railway Museum The National Railway Museum is a museum in York forming part of the Science Museum Group. The museum tells the story of rail transport in Britain and its impact on society. It is the home of the national collection of historically significant r ...
, York.


Models

Palitoy Palitoy was a British toy company. It manufactured some of the most popular toys in Britain, some original items and others under licence. Its products included Action Man, Action Girl, Action Force, Tiny Tears, Pippa, Tressy, Mainline Model Rail ...
produced under the Mainline Railways brand a train set called the ''Master Cutler'' containing a model of BR Blue Class 45 number 45039 ''The Manchester Regiment'', two BR Blue/Grey MK1 SKs and a BSK. This was later changed to a BR Blue Class 31 number 31401, two BR Blue/Grey MK2D FOs and two BR Blue/Grey MK2D BSOs.
Hornby Hornby may refer to: Places In England * Hornby, Lancashire * Hornby, Hambleton, village in North Yorkshire * Hornby, Richmondshire, village in North Yorkshire Elsewhere * Hornby, Ontario, community in the town of Halton Hills, Ontario, Canad ...
has produced a set consisting of A3 locomotive ''Prince Palatine'' in early British Railways express passenger blue livery. The set also consists of three blood and custard Gresley coaches. A coach pack is also present for the set.
Graham Farish {{Use dmy dates, date=April 2022 Graham Farish is a company that produces large quantities of British outline model railway equipment in N gauge. History The Poole, Dorset based manufacturer of radio parts and kits entered the model railway busin ...
/
Bachmann Bachmann is a surname of Switzerland and Germany. It originates as a description of the bearer as dwelling near a brook (''Bach''), such as a farm "Hofstatt am Bach" also called "Bachmanns Hofstatt" near Hinwil or Dürnten (recorded 1387), or the ...
also introduced a ''Master Cutler'' train set, in
N gauge N scale is a popular model railway scale. Depending upon the manufacturer (or country), the scale ranges from 1:148 to 1:160. In all cases, the ''gauge'' (the distance between the rails) is . The term N ''gauge'' refers to the track dimensions, ...
consisting of an ex-LNER V2 and three blood and custard coaches, it is now discontinued.


Namesake

Between 1997 and 2005, HST powercar 43076 carried ''The Master Cutler 1947 - 1997'' nameplates.


References

{{Reflist Named passenger trains of British Rail Railway services introduced in 1947 1947 establishments in England