InterCity (British Rail)
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Image:Brsince78 photo 2444.jpg Image:86213 'Lancashire Witch' at Crewe Works.JPG InterCity (or, in the earliest days, the hyphenated Inter-City) was introduced by British Rail in 1966 as a brand-name for its long-haul express passenger services (see British Rail brand names for a full history).
Subsequently, in 1986, the British Railways Board decided to divide its operations into a number of sectors ("sectorisation"). The sector responsible for long-distance express trains assumed the brand-name InterCity, although many services that were previously designated as such were assigned to other sectors (eg, London to King's Lynn services were transferred from InterCity to the commuter sector Network SouthEast). The InterCity sector was also responsible for Motorail.
InterCity was itself separated into divisions: East Coast, West Coast, Cross Country, Great Western, Great Eastern, Gatwick Express and Midland.
InterCity operated High Speed Trains (under the brand-name "Inter-City 125", reflecting its top speed in miles per hour - roughly 200 km/h); InterCity 225s (although this refers to the top speed in kilometers per hour - roughly 140mph); and various other loco-hauled trains.
The InterCity livery originally consisted of standard British Rail corporate blue with just the brand "InterCity" added in white lettering on each coach (although Inter-City 125 trains treated differently the locomotives at each end of each train, with extensive additional yellow panels - these gave the trains their nicknames of "flying bananas"). A separate InterCity livery was introduced in 1986 after sectorisation, which consisted of dark grey on white with a red stripe. There were several variations:
- Executive - introduced in 1984, based on the APT-P livery. It consisted of a dark grey upper body, an off-white lower body, and horizontal red and white below-window bodyside stripes. On HSTs, half-yellow front ends wrapped around the lower cab ends. InterCity branding was on the upper grey body, with white numbers carried on the upper grey cabside.
- ScotRail - as Executive livery, but with red stripe replaced by a light blue stripe, and ScotRail branding.
- Mainline - introduced in 1988. As Executive livery, but minus the branding and with full-yellow front ends.
- Swallow - final version, introduced in 1989. As Mainline livery, but with white lower body, half-yellow front end, InterCity branding and Swallow logo on upper grey bodyside, and black lower cabside numbers.
After the privatisation of British Rail, InterCity trains were operated by Anglia Railways (later 'One'), Great Western Trains (later First Great Western), Virgin Trains (West Coast and Cross Country franchises), Midland Mainline, Gatwick Express and GNER.