Next Friday, there will be a very special visitor to Marylebone station – an Intercity 125 train, and you could be on it.
London Marylebone station (c) ianVisits
The Intercity 125 train will be recreating the The Master Cutler service, as a nod to the named train that originally ran along the Great Central route between Marylebone and Shefield, and is part of Marylebone station’s 125th anniversary celebrations, as the station opened on 15th March 1899.
Although The Master Cutler was created by LNER in 1947, it ran between Marylebone and Sheffield until 1968, when it switched to St Pancras station. It still runs daily from St Pancras to Sheffield, although now as an East Midlands Train service.
However, on Friday 15th March 2024, to mark Marylebone station’s 125th birthday, the service will be recreated and will once again run between Sheffield and Marylebone stations.
A RailAdventure Class 43 at Norton Fitzwarren – photo: Geof Sheppard CC BY-SA 4.0
The service will use Intercity 125 carriages supplied by the 125 Group, with the two power cars provided by RailAdventure, and will depart Sheffield at 6:47am, arriving at London Marylebone at 10:53am.
The service will take passengers back to Sheffield later in the afternoon, so to keep the platform clear, the train will leave Marylebone at 11:13am to go up to Banbury, returning to return to Marylebone station for 2:51pm. And there are tickets to be on the Banbury return service.
The train will finally leave Marylebone for Sheffield at 3:21pm.
According to Real Time Trains, the Intercity 125 train will pass through the following stations:
| To Marylebone | To Banbury | To Marylebone | To Sheffield | |
| West Ruislip | 10:24am | 12:02pm | 2:23pm | 4:01pm |
| Wembley Stadium | 10:39am | 11:23am | 2:39pm | 3:36pm |
| London Marylebone | 10:53am (arr) | 11:13 (dep) | 2:51pm (arr) | 3:31pm (dep) |
The route shown on the TfL rail map
Be on the train
If you fancy it, you can be ON the train.
There are still tickets for the Sheffield return, but more likely to appeal to Londoners, they’re offering the London to Banbury shuttle as well.
The standard class return to Banbury is £30 per person or £50 for first-class.
You can book tickets here (click on “get tickets” to see the Banbury return).
Tips for sightseers
As the train will be passing through west London four times, you have a good chance to catch it out and about, and also at Marylebone station as well.
Be aware that there are other events taking place at Marylebone in the morning, so I suspect the afternoon session will be quieter if you want to see the train at the station.
If watching the train pass by, then stations are the obvious locations, but as usual, no flash or tripods, and be sensible with other people who are there to catch a train, not watch one go past.
You might also find suitable locations along the line, as there are a number of good trainspotting locations around the North Circular road junction at Neasden and several footbridges over the railway as it heads through Sudbury.
I thought the Master Cutler ran from Kings Cross to Shefieid.
The Master cutler ran over what is now the Chiltern line, i can just remember it as a boy ,i seem to remember it was hauled by black five steam locos mainly!
Yes the Master Cutler came past our house in Preston Road on the Harrow line from Marylebone in the early 50’s. The tender was so full of coal that on the bend some often fell off – it burnt well!
Yes! I remember it coming through North Harrow station (Met line) towards Sheffield at about 8.00 am daily in the late ’50s.