The ''Irish Mail'' was a named train in the United Kingdom that operated from

London Euston Euston railway station ( ; also known as London Euston) is a central London railway terminus in the London Borough of Camden, managed by Network Rail. It is the southern terminus of the West Coast Main Line, the UK's busiest inter-city rail ...

via the West Coast and North Wales Coast lines to Holyhead from 1848 until 2002 connecting with ferry services to

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

History

The first ''Irish Mail'' was operated by the

London & North Western Railway The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the L&NWR was the largest joint stock company in the United Kingdom. In 1923, it became a constituent of the Lon ...

on 1 August 1848. It was subsequently operated by the

London, Midland & Scottish Railway The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSIt has been argued that the initials LMSR should be used to be consistent with LNER, GWR and SR. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway's corporate image used LMS, and this is what is generally ...

, British Rail,

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 ...

and

Virgin Trains Virgin Trains (legal name West Coast Trains Limited) was a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by Virgin Rail Group, a joint venture between Virgin Group and Stagecoach, which operated the InterCity West Coast franchise from ...

. As the

Britannia Bridge Britannia Bridge ( cy, Pont Britannia) is a bridge across the Menai Strait between the island of Anglesey and the mainland of Wales. It was originally designed and built by the noted railway engineer Robert Stephenson as a tubular bridge of w ...

had yet to be completed, the first services terminated at Bangor and recommenced at

Llanfairpwllgwyngyll Llanfairpwllgwyngyll, or Llanfair Pwllgwyngyll (), is a large village and local government community on the island of Anglesey, Wales, on the Menai Strait next to the Britannia Bridge and across the strait from Bangor. Both shortened (Llanf ...

. It operated twice daily in each direction, although this was reduced to daily during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. Although notionally an express service, with the electrification of the

West Coast Main Line The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London and Glasgow with branches to Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest ...

, from the 1960s the service stopped for a locomotive change at Crewe. Although the service continued to operate, the name was dropped in June 2002 as part of a policy by Virgin Trains not to operate named trains.

Incidents

Irish Mail train crash at Penmaenmawr, August 27 1950 (14866147008)

*On 20 August 1868, the ''Irish Mail'' collided with some run away freight wagons near

Abergele Abergele (; ; ) is a market town and community, situated on the north coast of Wales between the holiday resorts of Colwyn Bay and Rhyl, in Conwy County Borough and in the historic county of Denbighshire. Its northern suburb of Pensarn lies ...

that were loaded with flammable products with 33 fatalities. *On 14 September 1870, the ''Irish Mail'' was accidentally diverted into a siding at Tamworth crashing into the

River Anker The River Anker is a river in England that flows through the centre of Nuneaton. It is a major tributary of the River Tame, which it joins in Tamworth. The name of the river derives from an old British term for ''winding river''. From source t ...

with three fatalities. *On 27 August 1950, the ''Irish Mail'' collided with shunting locomotive

LMS Hughes Crab The London Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) Hughes Crab or Horwich Mogul is a class of mixed-traffic 2-6-0 steam locomotive built between 1926 and 1932. They are noted for their appearance with large steeply-angled cylinders to accommodate ...

No. 42885 near Penmaenmawr station resulting in six fatalities.

Namesake

In 1998, Virgin Trains named Class 43 powercar 43101 ''The Irish Mail 1848 - 1998'' to commemorate the services' 150th anniversary.

References

{{Reflist Named passenger trains of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway Named passenger trains of British Rail Railway services introduced in 1848 Railway services discontinued in 2002 1848 establishments in the United Kingdom 2002 disestablishments in the United Kingdom

History

Incidents

Namesake

See also

References