Parliamentary train

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one of the trains which, by act of Parliament, railway companies are required to run for the conveyance of third-class passengers at a reduced rate.

See also: Parliamentary

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, published 1913 by G. & C. Merriam Co.
References in classic literature
In the evening, Frank made his appearance, and announced that his father had mercilessly sentenced him to leave Combe-Raven by the parliamentary train the next morning.
The token service is known as a parliamentary train, so-called because it would require a costly act of parliament to actually close the little-used line.
On Saturday, Reddish South's parliamentary train became a return service for the first time in decades.
The token service at Britain's third least-used station is a parliamentary train, so-called as a costly Act of Parliament would be required to close it down.
Bordesley is what they call a "Parliamentary train station", a somewhat grand term for a legal loophole.
There are a whole host of these Parliamentary trains across the country, preserving little stations from the dust and the tumbleweed.
"That's called a Parliamentary train because it's cheaper to operate one service a week than close the line completely.
In the world of transport this has given us two real life Harry Potter vehicles - the ghost bus and the Parliamentary train.
I don't think there's any mystery about which MP allegedly took the male hormone, testosterone - obviously it was M'Lady Thatcher when she was in charge of the Parliamentary train set.
Synopsis: "Early Railways: A Guide for the Modeller" by the team of Peter Chatham (Production Manager for the London & North Western Railway Society's Journal, and Researcher And Kit Designer for Parliamentary Trains' Ltd.) and Stephen Weston (who joined The London & North Western Railway Society who formed Parliamentary Trains Ltd., where he is responsible for kit Production and marketing) will encourage and support the modeling of the earliest period of railway history, from the very beginnings of steam traction at the start of the nineteenth century, up to about 1880; a period which for British modelers has scarcely been covered in book form.
These trains became known as "Parliamentary Trains" - a termstill used to refer to services which run only to comply with legal requirements over the use of track and stations, so avoiding the expense of applying to Parliament to close them.
As the Mikado at one point I had to sing a line about people being forced to ride on 'Parliamentary trains' - and since no one was likely to know what those were we changed it to 'flexibly-rostered trains'."
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