Editing West Coast Main Line (section)

=== LMS, 1923–1948 ===
[[File:Coronation scot BNF.jpg|thumb|The [[Coronation Scot]] in 1937, hauled by a [[Streamliner|streamlined]] [[LMS Coronation Class|Coronation Class]] locomotive]]
The entire route came under the control of the [[London, Midland and Scottish Railway]] (LMS) on 1 January 1923 when the railway companies were [[Big Four (British railway companies)|grouped]], under the [[Railways Act 1921]].

The LMS competed fiercely with the rival [[London and North Eastern Railway|LNER]]'s [[East Coast Main Line]] for London to Scotland traffic (see [[Race to the North]]). Attempts were made to minimise end-to-end journey times for a small number of powerful lightweight trains that could be marketed as glamorous premium crack expresses, especially between London and Glasgow, such as the 1937–39 [[Coronation Scot]], hauled by [[Streamliner|streamlined]] [[LMS Princess Coronation Class|Princess Coronation Class]] locomotives, which made the journey in 6{{nbsp}}hours 30{{nbsp}}minutes,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.railalbum.co.uk/steam-locomotives/lms-coronation-streamlined-1.htm |title=Rail Album – LMS Steam Locos – Streamlined Princess Coronation Class Pacifics – Part 1 |work=railalbum.co.uk}}</ref> making it competitive with the rival East Coast [[Flying Scotsman (train)|Flying Scotsman]] (British Railways in the 1950s could not match this, but did achieve a London-Glasgow timing of 7{{nbsp}}hours 15{{nbsp}}minutes in the 1959–60 timetable by strictly limiting the number of coaches to eight and not stopping between London and Carlisle.<ref>{{cite news |title=The winter timetables of British Railways: The West Coast speed-up |work=Trains Illustrated |publisher=Ian Allan |location=Hampton Court |date=December 1959 |page=584}}</ref>)