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In 1969 two power cars (51137/50) were adopted for use from Bristol Marsh Junction and Reading, working with GUV vehicles
(W86174/W86572) sandwiched between them.
They were used on a night Airfreight Parcels service between Bristol and Hayes
(for Heathrow Airport) and were also available for daytime express parcel Bristol - Birmingham
runs when required.
"Railair Express Parcels" was the brand name of a new service introduced by
the Western Region on the 6th October 1969 with a dual aim: to get a foothold in
the airfreight market, which was at the time expanding by 20% annually; and
indirectly, to promote the whole rail express parcels service. The train
operated each way nightly between Bristol and Hayes (for Heathrow), with
scheduled connections at Bristol for traffic to and from South Wales and the far
west.
To operate the service the two power cars and two GUVs were converted at Newton Abbot. The GUVs were wired for DMU operation and had strengthened
floors to accommodate consignments on pallets or in BRUTE trolleys. The power
cars had their seats removed, and could take larger packages not suitable for
bulking in BRUTES or for palletisation. They were in Rail Blue livery with 'Railair
Express Parcels' on both sides of all four vehicles, and reclassified as Class
130s as were the earlier1967 conversions.
Hayes, just three miles from Heathrow by road, had a fully-equipped parcels
terminal which could handle not only this initial service comfortably but also
additions if the idea developed into a network of services to and from
provincial centres. Substantial growth would require a bigger site. BR's
marketing hope was that agents would buy space on the train on a contract basis,
the rates being pitched for competitive appeal to the many potential customers
with insufficient traffic to make bulk for a road vehicle load. If the service
made its hoped for impact, the WR's West of England executives saw the potential
in time for a rake of 12 GUVs or even more each night. In addition to Bristol,
nine principal centres in the west and south Wales was linked with the
Bristol - Hayes DMU by cross-platform exchange of goods at Bristol. For exports,
the latest time of acceptance for each night's service ranged from 13:25 at
Carmarthen and 15:00 at Plymouth to 20:00 at Bristol; on the return working each
night, earliest collection times for imports ranged from 08:00 at Bristol to
10:50 at Plymouth and 12:50 at Carmarthen.
In April 1972 the vehicles were placed in store. 51150 was apparently later destroyed by
fire, but both were withdrawn the week ending 21st Oct. '72. The two GUVs survived a bit longer as trailer vehicles for WR parcels units.
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