The Red Dragon (train)

Up Red Dragon passes through Reading in 1958, hauled by Castle class 5078 Beaufort

The Red Dragon was an express passenger train between London Paddington station to Swansea and Carmarthen. It was operated by the Western Region of British Railways from 1950 to 1965.^[1][2][3]

The train's GWR reporting numbers were 720 'UP' (to the capital, London) and 173 'DOWN' (on its return journey, back to Wales).^[4]

Haulage was by Castle class locomotives at first, then by BR Standard Class 7 Britannias.^[1] Both were supplied by Cardiff Canton MPD (86C), which was noted as the main home for Britannias on the Western Region.

Headboards

Close-up of the dragon crest, third headboard

The Red Dragon carried a variety of headboards, mostly of two designs.^[1]

• The first design was a BR Type 3 headboard, in black or red with polished aluminium lettering. This was introduced in the Summer of 1951. As for other headboards of the time, in the Coronation year of 1953 a crown crest was used temporarily.^[5]
• In 1956, a reversed style of painting was briefly used, with dark painted letters on a light background, still using the Type 3 design.
• The third style was the best known. Introduced in 1956 and used until 1962, it was one of the Western Region designs to recreate a sense of regional identity. The shape was a curved rectangle, without the cutouts to the upper corners. It was painted overall, cream with brown letters. In the upper centre a disc protruding above the main headboard carried a moulded figure of a red dragon.
• A final design was used experimentally in late 1961. This was one of the rectangular fibreglass lightweight plates, intended for diesel haulage.

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to The Red Dragon.