Flying Dutchman (train)

The Flying Dutchman was a named passenger train service from London Paddington to Exeter St Davids.

In 1848 the train, now the 09:50 from London Paddington, covered the 53.1 miles to Didcot in 55 minutes, setting a world record start-to-stop average of 57.9 mph.

In the 1850s performance deteriorated, but the introduction of a service from London Waterloo to Exeter Queen Street (now Exeter Central) in 4¾ hours by the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) in 1862 resulted in the down Flying Dutchman being retimed to leave Paddington at 11:45 with the 1840s journey time of 4½ hours being restored.

In 1879 the Flying Dutchman, still running on the broad gauge, was equalled by a new train The Cornishman which departed Paddington at 15:00 and also carried third class passengers.

In March 1891, a South Devon Railway Leopard class locomotive derailed in heavy snow while hauling the down Flying Dutchman near Camborne, an event known in Cornwall as the "Great Blizzard".