History and Contextual Information on the Project:
(Information sourced from Wikipedia)

Suburban services (The Jazz):

The Great Eastern was renowned for operating an intensive suburban service known as the "Jazz" service. The different classes on the trains were indicated by different coloured stripes along the top of the carriage sides. The stripes allowed passengers to find their compartments more quickly at stations and reduced stopping times. They were yellow for first class and blue for second class. In 1920, the GER also introduced a system of colour-coded boards on the side and rear of the guard's van, which would be nearest the gates and concourse at terminus stations and thus allow passengers to identify the service they needed. This colourful combination was regarded, in the parlance of the time, as 'jazzy'.

Serving the East End of London, the London Docklands and the capital's eastern suburbs, the Great Eastern's suburban services had a much greater proportion of working class industrial workers, labourers and lower-ranking office workers than the suburban networks of the likes of the London and South Western Railway or the Metropolitan. The GER had to transport greater numbers of passengers commuting in and out of the urban centre and at lower fares. The GER encouraged passenger numbers with low-price 'workman fares' services which ran in the early morning and late evening. There was a symbiotic relationship between the railway and property development - the existence of the railway made it possible for even industrial workers to move into new housing developments in the suburbs which then provided extra custom for the GER. The GER itself invested in property development near its routes and in some cases even built its own housing on land purchased as part of railway construction.

The service was initially operated by 2-4-2T engines and these were later superseded by 0-6-2T engines of the N7 class. At Liverpool Street station alterations were made to the signalling so once a train had arrived and was emptying, an engine was attached to the other end of the train whilst the train engine was detached. When the train departed, the locomotive on the buffer stops moved to the locomotive siding at the other end of the platform to await the arrival of the next terminating service.

Turn round (train arrival to train departure) could be achieved in as little as four minutes.

As you can make from this description, The Jazz was a high intensity suburban service, at one point the most intensive in the world. It will no doubt be a challenge to recreate in the Simulator, but we are going to give it out best shot.

Photo Courtesy of

Ken Cook/Rail Archive Stephenson