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Last orders as restaurant cars hit the train buffers
ROMANTIC, refined and ritzy, restaurant cars on the Flying Scotsman have long held a special place in rail commuters' hearts – not least for the award-winning cuisine that has made the most of Yorkshire's special ingredients.
For 130 years customers have made their way to the special carriage with the plush seats, expensive cutlery and an impossibly-narrow kitchen found on most weekday trains travelling that well-worn London to Scotland route.
But while restaurant cars may have reached the peak of their popularity in the years following the 1930s Great Depression, such travelling in style may not be repeated on the other side of the current credit crunch.
National Express East Coast, the current flagbearers of the Flying Scotsman route, has called time on all but a handful of the carriages, citing the challenging economic climate as its reason for replacing them with an at-seat service.
Just two morning southbound trains and a handful of evening services from London will continue to host restaurant cars. Otherwise first-class ticket holders will be able to buy fish pie or crayfish and chorizo risotto to eat at their seats.
Standard class ticketholders will get to chose from chicken caesar salad, pasta, a burger or sausage and mash to take back and eat at their seats.
National Express said the new catering followed a four-month customer survey, where passengers told the operator they wanted better choice and value for money.
Customer service director Helen Thornton said: "We conducted four months of trials on various trains to gauge customer demand for a more substantial hot and cold catering selection, including at weekends. The feedback we received was clearly in favour of expanded choice seven days a week and improved value for money."
It will mark a return back to the days before restaurant cars, when customers bought a small returnable hamper for five shillings, known either as a Royal or Republican pack depending on the quality, which contained a sandwich, pork pie, and flask of tea.
The exhibitions developer at the National Railway Museum in York, Russell Hollowood, said original restaurant cars in 1879 would have provided quite "stodgy" fare – mostly roast beef, potatoes and vegetables – and did not take off until the introduction of connecting corridors on trains at the turn of the century.
They reached the height of their popularity after the First World War when third-class dining was introduced, peaking in the 1930s.
During the Second World War only soldiers were allowed to eat on trains, and while train companies tried to recreate the glory days after the war ended, the rise of fast food combined with faster train speeds meant that the use of restaurant cars rapidly declined.
Mr Hollowood said: "The withdrawal of restaurant cars during the Second World War saw the introduction of trolley services. That combined with a movement after the war against snobbery element of fine dining on trains saw restaurant cars getting a real kicking and they never really recovered."
After rail privatisation in the late 1990s GNER brought in a new gastropub-style menu and started heavily promoting it.
The writing has been on the wall though since 2007 when "the great kipper debate" saw then chairman of Yorkshire Tourist Board, Judith Donovan, lead a rebellion against GNER's plans to take the fish off its breakfast menu.
Last night she said of its successor's plans to remove most restaurant cars: "This is a very disappointing decision. There have been rumours flying round for months but it's sad to finally get confirmation."
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Saturday 11 February 2012
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