The ''

Thanet Thanet may refer to: *Isle of Thanet, a former island, now a peninsula, at the most easterly point of Kent, England *Thanet District, a local government district containing the island *Thanet College, former name of East Kent College *Thanet Canal, ...

Belle'' was a named train run by the

Southern Region of British Railways The Southern Region was a region of British Railways from 1948 until 1992 when railways were re-privatised. The region ceased to be an operating unit in its own right in the 1980s. The region covered south London, southern England and the sout ...

from 1948 until it was withdrawn in 1958 due to the

electrification Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source. The broad meaning of the term, such as in the history of technology, economic histor ...

of the route. It ran from to , and . The train, composed of Pullman stock, had its origins in the ''Thanet Pullman Limited'', introduced by the

South Eastern and Chatham Railway The South Eastern and Chatham Railway Companies Joint Management Committee (SE&CRCJMC),Awdry (1990), page 199 known as the South Eastern and Chatham Railway (SE&CR), was a working union of two neighbouring rival railways, the South Easter ...

in July 1921 but withdrawn in 1928. The ''Thanet Belle'' was usually hauled by a West Country class or

Battle of Britain class The SR West Country and Battle of Britain classes, collectively known as ''Light Pacifics'' or informally as ''Spam Cans'', are air-smoothed 4-6-2 ''Pacific'' steam locomotives designed for the Southern Railway by its Chief Mechanical Engine ...

locomotive. From 1951, three coaches were detached at and ran separately through to {{stnlnk, Canterbury East, and the name of the whole train was changed to ''Kentish Belle''. The Canterbury service was withdrawn after only one year, but the new name for the train was retained. The use of the name ''Kentish Belle'' was discontinued after 1958 because of the impending completion of the first phase of the "Kent Coast Electrification" in 1959.

References

Named passenger trains of British Rail Pullman Car Company (UK) Railway services introduced in 1948 Railway services discontinued in 1958

See also

References