MAY 6 marks 50 years since electrified services were introduced to the full 401-mile West Coast Main Line from London Euston to Glasgow Central, but its fortunes as a key Anglo-Scottish artery since then have not always been rosy.
Electrification of main line routes had been the ambition of British Railways since the 1955 Modernisation Plan, but the goals were later scaled back – in part because of declining freight traffic, which had been a key factor in the justification for investment. WCML electrification did get the go-ahead, but only on the southern half from Euston to Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool, which was completed in 1966.
Electrification of the northern half, from just south of Warrington at Weaver Junction (approximately 174 miles from Euston) to Glasgow would have to wait until 1970 for authorisation at a cost of £74 million (equivalent to just under £1 billion today). Its completion in 1974 saw an immediate benefit, with journey times in the new timetable being reduced by an average of 100 minutes from Euston to Glasgow.
Back in the late 1950s, the London
