The ScotRail trading name was adopted on 22 September 1983, under manager
Chris Green,
British Railways Scottish Region to provide a distinctive brand for the
British Rail
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 ra ...
network in Scotland.
Services
ScotRail was responsible for all passenger services that operated wholly within Scotland. It also operated services across the
English border to
Carlisle
Carlisle ( , ; from xcb, Caer Luel) is a city that lies within the Northern English county of Cumbria, south of the Scottish border at the confluence of the rivers Eden, Caldew and Petteril. It is the administrative centre of the City ...
, and from 5 March 1988, took over operation of the
Caledonian Sleeper services to
London Euston.
["Inverness depot to remain open" '']The Railway Magazine
''The Railway Magazine'' is a monthly British railway magazine, aimed at the railway enthusiast market, that has been published in London since July 1897. it was, for three years running, the railway magazine with the largest circulation ...
'' issue 1128 April 1995 page 31 Services from south of the border via the
East Coast and
West Coast Main Lines remained the responsibility of
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 ...
.
Infrastructure
The
Ayrshire Coast Line was electrified in September 1986, as was the
North Berwick Line in July 1991.
Rolling stock
During its tenure, much of Scotland's locomotive hauled passenger carriage fleet was replaced by
Class 150,
Class 156 and
Class 158 diesel multiple units. It also introduced cascaded
Class 305s as well as new
Class 318 and
Class 320 electric multiple units.
Liveries
When formed in 1983, customised versions of the existing British Rail liveries were adopted, with passenger locomotives and coaching stock painted in a lightly modified version of the InterCity Executive livery. The red stripe was replaced with a saltire blue stripe, and the InterCity name was replaced with the ScotRail name. Most locomotives carried the standard InterCity Executive livery but with ScotRail branding. Diesel and Electric multiple units carried normal versions of the
Regional Railways
Regional Railways was one of the three passenger sectors of British Rail created in 1982 that existed until 1997, two years after privatisation. The sector was originally called ''Provincial''.
Regional Railways was the most subsidised (per pas ...
livery. In the
SPT area, rolling stock was painted in Strathclyde Orange and Black.
References
Further reading
*
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British Rail brands
Railway companies established in 1983
Railway companies disestablished in 1997
Railway companies of Scotland
Rail transport in Scotland
1983 establishments in Scotland
1997 disestablishments in Scotland
British companies established in 1983
British companies disestablished in 1997