Headboard (train)

In the United Kingdom, headboards were common on the public railway in the age of steam and into the age of Diesel and electric trains, although in modern times, use of headboards on scheduled trains is now defunct, although headboards are often still used on the occasion of a "last train", such as the withdrawal of a particular class of locomotive.

On the scheduled network, headboards were used to denote special named trains, such as luxury pullmans, blue riband expresses or other once a day special services such as boat trains.

Latterly, headboards are still used by railtour companies for rail enthusiast's excursions, to denote the name of a tour, or more generally the name of the organisation running a tour.

Confusion may have arisen over the example of the "Flying Scotsman" — where The Flying Scotsman is a famous named train service operating since 1862, after which a now famous locomotive, the 1923 built No.

4472 displaying the name Flying Scotsman on both the front and the side of the locomotive.