The Manchester Pullman was a first-class-only Pullman

Pullman train (UK)

Pullman trains in Great Britain were mainline luxury railway services that operated with first-class coaches and a steward service, provided by the British Pullman Car Company.-Origins:...

 passenger train operated by British Rail

British Rail

British Railways , which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was the operator of most of the rail transport in Great Britain between 1948 and 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the "Big Four" British railway companies and lasted until the gradual privatisation of British Rail, in stages...

, targeted at business travellers. The service began in 1966, operating between and , and offered an at-seat restaurant service to all passengers. It was hauled by electric locomotives (usually British Rail Class 86

British Rail Class 86

The British Rail Class 86 was the standard electric locomotive built during the 1960s, developed as a result of testing with the earlier Classes 81, 82, 83, 84 and 85. One hundred of these locomotives were built from 1965-1966 by either English Electric at Vulcan Foundry, Newton-le-Willows, or...

). It replaced the Midland Pullman

Midland Pullman

The Midland Pullman was the name given to a former express passenger train service operating on British Railways' old Midland Main Line between and via and Millers Dale...

 (operated by the diesel Blue Pullman units) upon completion of the electrification of the West Coast Main Line

West Coast Main Line

The West Coast Main Line is the busiest mixed-traffic railway route in Britain, being the country's most important rail backbone in terms of population served. Fast, long-distance inter-city passenger services are provided between London, the West Midlands, the North West, North Wales and the...

.

The train consisted of purpose-built British Rail Mark 2

British Rail Mark 2

The Mark 2 family of railway carriages were British Rail's second design of carriages. They were built by British Rail workshops between 1964 and 1975...

 carriages in a special Pullman livery, pearl grey with blue window surrounds (a reversal of the normal British Rail InterCity

InterCity (British Rail)

InterCity was introduced by British Rail in 1966 as a brand-name for its long-haul express passenger services ....

 livery of the period). For a while in the late 1970s, the Manchester Pullman was the only remaining regular Pullman service in Britain.

The rolling stock eventually came to be seen as dated, and also could not be hauled by Class 87

British Rail Class 87

The British Rail Class 87 is a type of electric locomotive built from 1973-75 by British Rail Engineering Limited . 36 of these locomotives were built to work passenger services over the West Coast Main Line . They were the flagships of British Rail's electric locomotive fleet until the late 1980s,...

 locomotives because it had no air-braking. In May 1985 it was therefore replaced with Mark 3

British Rail Mark 3

British Rail's third design of standard carriage was designated 'Mark 3' , and was developed primarily for the InterCity 125 High Speed Train...

 stock, when non-Pullman standard-class coaches were also added. This was part of a revival of the Pullman brand by InterCity, with Merseyside and Yorkshire services being launched on the same day.

After the withdrawal of the East Coast

East Coast Main Line

The East Coast Main Line is a long electrified high-speed railway link between London, Peterborough, Doncaster, Wakefield, Leeds, York, Darlington, Newcastle and Edinburgh...

 Pullman trains, the Manchester Pullman once again remained as the only Pullman train on British Rail. The West Coast Main Line InterCity services were taken over by Virgin Trains

Virgin Trains

Virgin Trains is a train operating company in the United Kingdom. It operates long-distance passenger services on the West Coast Main Line between London, the West Midlands, North West England, North Wales and Scotland...

in 1997 and the Manchester Pullman name was dropped.