Before Barnato: the forgotten tale of the Blue Train Rover

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Mention the Blue Train or Train Bleu to any pre-war motoring enthusiast and chances are that he will rave about Barnato’s much-publicised and record-breaking drive from the Côte d’Azur to London. For those who haven't heard the story, a Bentley with works driver Woolf Barnato behind the wheel famously beat the glamorous Blue Train of the Calais-Mediterranée Express. In someone else's words: “The train whisked the wealthy and famous from Calais to the French Riviera in luxury, its passengers retiring for the overnight trip in the dark blue sleeping cars that gave the train its popular name.”

As with many legends, the 750-mile trip reputedly arose from a bet in March, 1930, and ended in victory for Barnato. He was back at his club in London minutes before the Blue Train even arrived at the Calais station. His "Blue Train Bentley," as the car became known, was rather beautifully portrayed in action many years later by artist Terence Cuneo. It’s just a pity he immortalised the wrong car; the famous painting shows Barnato’s flamboyant Gurney Nutting-bodied Speed Six coupé, which that had not even been built by March, 1930. The actual car was another Speed Six, a 1929 car with a far less extravagant saloon body by H. J. Mulliner. But the Gurney Nutting coupé will probably forever be known as the Blue Train Bentley, with several replicas of it around today, including some in blue...

There's another thing: Barnato was not the first to outclass the luxury train on its way back to Calais. He had, in fact, been inspired to do so by another successful attempt to beat the Blue Train by car. In January, 1930, a Rover Light Six had done so. Driver Dudley Noble was another racer who’d left his post as Rover's test driver to become their marketing man. The company’s two-litre Light Six had just been launched when Noble came up with the splendid idea to see if they could beat the Blue Train, a symbol of luxury, finesse and speed. "Impossible!" thought many at the time, but Noble later said the plan wasn’t as crazy as it sounded. “The Blue Train had the disadvantage of having to waste 45 minutes on its passage around Paris, and would lose time at Dijon and Marseilles for a change of locomotives. Though most people assumed the train covered a mile a minute, its actual average speed was closer to 40 m.p.h.—a pace that the Light Six should be able to maintain, even on the tree-lined N-roads of the day.”

He was smart enough not to drive on his own, but took a works mechanic as well as a journalist for the Daily Express along. The Rover, a Sportsman’s Saloon, was lined up next to the Blue Train's locomotive in Calais for a north-south race in late January, 1929—and off they went! Bypassing Paris went well, but thick fog kept the Rover from arriving first in Saint-Raphaël. They still had a chance in the other direction on the way back to Calais, but again they had no luck. The Rover left the road after misjudging a bend and had to be pulled out of a field by a local Citroën. Noble was still very eager to beat the train, which he knew was possible. His third attempt on January 27th, 1930, was held under sunnier circumstances and became the success he’d hoped for so badly. The Rover managed to beat the train by 20 minutes and made headlines the next day. Quoth the Daily Express: “While the lordly Blue Train roared along on its metals, secure from trouble, the two travellers in their motor-car were handicapped by fog, level crossings, and deep water-courses, in addition to the normal obstacles on the great highway.”

Woolf Barnato thought lightly of it, writing: “I contended the achievements advertised did not deserve much merit, and to back my contention, I wagered I could get to England in my Saloon Speed Six before the train got to Calais.”

“My proffered wager was laughed off as a late-night boast, so I said, all right, we’ll have ‘no bet,’ but I say I shall do it, just to prove my contention that beating the Blue Train deserves little merit.” Talk about confidence! But he managed to do it, beating the train’s arrival at Calais by just four minutes.

Unfortunately, the original "Blue Train Rover" does not seem to exist anymore. There is, in fact, just one Light Six Sportsman’s Saloon known to survive, which can be found in the British Motor Museum in Gaydon today. What’s more, we couldn’t even find a single picture of the actual record car driven by Dudley Noble 95 years ago on this day. That seems unfair when you compare it against the overwhelming attention Barnato’s car received. Maybe somebody should make a good painting of it...

Words: Jeroen Booij
Photograph: Wheelsage

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