Not ‘The Dalesman’

IT IS always a pleasure to read John Heaton’s ‘Practice and Performance’ articles, and I found the one in the November issue particularly interesting. I feel obliged, however, to point out the error in the caption accompanying the photograph at the top of page 33 (of No. 46151 at Kings Langley on July 20, 1950, shown again here). There has never been, to my knowledge, a train from Euston called ‘The Dalesman’. I suspect that this may be a photograph of ‘The Welshman’, a summer-only service from Euston to North Wales with through portions for Pwllheli, Porthmadog, Bangor and Llandudno. I suggest this because the front two coaches of the service comprised the Pwllheli portion. In the photograph the first coach is a Third Class brake, and the second coach a First/Third composite, and these two coaches could thus comprise the Pwllheli portion. Also, the third vehicle is another Third Class brake, suggesting that this may be the first coach in the through portion to another destination. Despite the error, this is a superb photograph of a West Coast Main Line train in the early years of British Railways, and it brought back many happy memories for me. Tony Roques By email