To fill in between these turns, there was an afternoon return trip from St Pancras to Nottingham[2] described by railway staff as "The most luxurious ECS[a] in the world."

[3] The operation attracted criticism because being a fixed-formation train it required a full spare set, making poor use of expensive assets.

Critics also noted that the new service was not best timed for priority business use: initially the up Midland Pullman did not leave Manchester until 09:00.

The service was withdrawn in 1966 and replaced by the electric-locomotive-hauled Manchester Pullman running from Manchester Piccadilly to London Euston via the newly electrified West Coast Main Line, with a much-reduced journey time of 2 hours 30 minutes,[4] marking the end of the Midland line as a significant route for Manchester-London traffic.

An attempt was made to find work for the train units on the East Coast Main Line but, plagued as they were by rough-riding bogies, they were never run in revenue-earning service.