Blue Pullmans might have been a failure but they certainly captured the public imagination at the time. Whilst I never travelled on one as they didn't operate out of my area my father bought me a Triang one in the 1960s for my trainset! (Yes even that had faults such as Mark 1 bogies and no kitchen cars! ) He wasn't really into railways but indulged my interest and they certainly caught his imagination when he could have bought me some other rolling stock!
I have seen quite a few pictures on Flickr and must say the HST looks stunning. One wonders why, looking a this, BR didn't reintroduce a limited number of premium HSTs as a second generation Blue Pullman in the 1970s!
John
I don't know about the public's imagination, but the Blue Pullman certainly captured mine on first sighting.
I was eight, and travelling in the family sidecar with my brother driving the motorbike. I was standing up (probably wouldn't be allowed today) as we went down Ampthill Road, in Bedford. It was summer, 1960, and, in those days there was some sort of playing field, giving a clear view of the MML at the other end, about 200 yards away.
As we tootled along at about 35 mph, I saw this blue streak on the railway line. I could hardly believe it - I thought such trains were only in the USA. I wasn't even trainspotting at the time - but I must have started a week or two later.
I think this was probably the very first week of regular Pullman service, though I had no idea of this at the time. The train would have been the up afternoon service from Nottingham.