"Robin9" wrote

In "my day" The Flying Scotsman was a loco-hauled 12 coach train with an
extra coach added on Fridays. It did leave from platform 1. How long is the
equivalent train today? My point is that if in those B.R. days the train
had
been reduced to eight coaches, it too would have been massively
overcrowded.

In the early years of the InterCity brand (1965-70) there were typically 5
daytime trains from Kings Cross to Edinburgh at 2 hour intervals, maybe with
a relief to the Flying Scotsman. A Deltic + 12 Mk1 or Mk2 was about 260
metres long. There are now typically 3 Kings Cross - Edinburgh trains every
2 hours. They are either a 91+9 Mk4 + DVT, or 2+9 HST, in either case about
247 metres - so only about half a coach shorter, and an extra coach would
cause problems with train lengths.

It has long been accepted that increasing frequency of InterCity trains
brings in an increase in passengers, which more than outweighs the extra
costs involved. The one big mistake with implementing this philosophy was
Operation Princess on Cross-country, when frequency was doubled, but seats
per hour remained essentially the same, resulting in a lot of overcrowding.

Peter