Sir Nigel Gresley

‘The West Riding Limited’, was the third streamlined train to be introduced by the London and North Eastern Railway and operated between London King’s Cross and Leeds Central and Bradford Exchange.

The design was based on the first, very successful streamlined train, ‘The Silver Jubilee’, built in 1935, but instead of being painted silver and grey, it was given a two-tone blue livery, garter blue on the lower panels and the lighter Marlborough blue above as with ‘The Coronation’. The colours were chosen from a group sponsored by the British Colour Council for the coronation of King George VI. Internally, it was decorated in the Art Deco style.

‘The West Riding Limited’ travelled from King’s Cross to Bradford at an average speed of 63.3 miles per hour (101.9 km/h). The service started on 27th September 1937 when the first train was hauled by LNER class A4 No. 4492 Dominion of New Zealand which had only entered service three months earlier. The up train left Bradford at 11:10hrs and Leeds Central 11:33hrs, scheduled to reach King’s Cross at 14:15hrs.

Two class A4s were specially named for the service. Painted in Garter Blue and with thin Red and White lines to separate the smokebox black from the Garter Blue in the form of a parabolic curve and with Coronation Red wheel centres and stainless steel letters and numerals as with those built for ‘The Coronation’. 

Due to the reversal at Leeds Central,  ‘The West Riding Limited’ was hauled between Bradford Exchange and Leeds Central stations by a pair of Gresley class N2s with the main leg between Leeds and King’s Cross hauled by a class A4 Pacific.

LNER class class A1 Pacific No 2555 Centenary departs from Leeds Central with the up ‘West Riding Limited’ on 22nd July 1938. A replacement for the allocated class A4, the Centenary nameplate is now owned by the Society.