This film is part of Free

Railway Catering

Trying (but failing) to avoid the jokes about curled up sandwiches, John Swallow finds out if the food's really as bad on the West Coast Main Line as people say it is.

Non-Fiction 1979 6 mins

From the collection of:

Logo for Media Archive for Central England

Overview

Sandwich or steak? Fried breakfast or meat from the griddle? The once ubiquitous British Rail buffet car had been serving up indifferent food for as long as people could remember. By 1979 attempts were being made to improve the standards - well, for the first class passengers anyway. For those left in second class it was sandwiches or crisps and at 30p many would still be going without. In fact, all that's stopped the sandwiches curling up is the invention of cling film.

The route featured in this news item is the West Coast Main Line from Birmingham New Street to Euston.