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30th Anniversary Commemorative Issue

Photo: 50035 at Salisbury Bruce Nathan

RPS

railway performance society

www.railperf.org.uk 30 years ago, when the Railway Performance Society was founded, the railway scene was very different to what we see today. In Britain, main line steam operation was still a recent memory to the older generation but a whole new generation of timers were growing up with a fascination for timing trains but with no experience of steam at all. Their diet was of Modernisation plan diesels and electrics being thrashed hard by drivers often with a ‘gung ho’ spirit towards speed limits trying to get the best out of trains which in many cases were still quite underpowered; gradients still counted for a very great deal.

Today is very different indeed. Locomotive-hauled trains have all but disappeared from the UK scene; those that remain are mostly fixed-formation in push-pull mode. Power:weight ratios, acceleration capabilities and the level of installed power generally have changed out of all recognition, with high speeds being routinely achieved in places no-one would have dreamed of 30 years ago. Gradients are almost an irrelevance. This sea change in performance capability has been accompanied in some cases by a commensurate acceleration of journey times; but in other cases not so; commercial imperatives have inserted more stops; congestion and the advert of ‘professional driving’ have often seen to it that the advantages of high performance rolling stock have been more than offset by other factors. On many routes, the RPS ‘Fastest Time’ was recorded a decade or more ago.

Europe has seen a sea change of a different kind, with the construction of a network of high speed lines from Germany through France, Italy and Spain; even the Swiss and the Austrians, with all the topographical challenges of those countries, and now getting into the High Speed Club. 200 mph running is now routine on some of these lines; all of them deliver journey times that 30 years ago would have seemed pure fantasy

It has been a fascinating period in the history of Railway Traction performance; members of the RPS have been active throughout recording the evolving scene for posterity. Thanks to the dedication of its members, the RPS can now boast the largest collection of railway performance logs in the world – a unique resource which makes this Society truly special. To mark our 30th Anniversary therefore, there can be no finer way than to publish this selection of runs from throughout the 30 years of the life of the RPS, putting together some of the most memorable performances noted by the recorders concerned, and I hope that this supplement gives you as much pleasure as the runs themselves did to their recorders at the time

Frank Collins, Chairman

Contents: 1980 ECML Brian Milner 3 1995 Steam Michael Rowe 28 1981 Cross Country Frank Collins 4 1996 Berks & Hants David Ashley 30 1982 GWML David Ashley 8 1997 ECML Paul Walker 31 1983 Scotland Alan Varley 9 1998 Cross Country Brian Milner 33 1984 LSWR Frank Collins 11 1999 MML Brian Milner 34 1985 South West John Heaton 13 2000 Preserved lines Michael Rowe 35 1986 WCML Alan Varley 15 2001 Andrew James 37 1987 North East Noel Proudlock 17 2002 Tribute Martin Tasker 40 1988 UK Charles Foss 18 2003 MML John Rishton 43 1989 Ayr Ben Stone 21 2004 From Dover Don Benn 44 1990 Ireland Joe Cassells 22 2005 MML David Ashley 46 1991 MML Bruce Nathan 23 2006 Switerland Frank Collins 48 1992 LSWR John Heaton 24 2007 Cross Country David Adams 50 1993 South West Mark Warburton 26 2008 Chiltern/Virgin David Ashley 51 1994 Cross Country Lonsight Driver 27 2009 WCML David Ashley 53

30th Anniversary Commemorative Issue 2 July 2010 1980 Brian Milner LONDON KING'S CROSS - NEWARK NORTH GATE Date Tu 15/07/80 Tu 30/12/80 Train 17-05 Kings Cross - Hull 17-05 Kings Cross - Hull Loco Class 55 Co-Co 55015 Class 55 Co-Co 55015 Load/hp ton 8: 269, 285, 387,8.53 8: 272, 294, 396,8.53 Recorder B Milner T J K Griffiths Miles M C Location PTT m s Mph ave m s mph ave 0.00 0 07 KING'S CROSS 0 0 00.0 RT 0 00.0 2.41 2 40 FINSBURY PARK 4 13.5 66 34.3 4 48.0 30.2 4.91 5 00 WOOD GREEN 6 11.0 85/ 86 76.6 6 48.0 84 75.0 6.36 6 36 NEW SOUTHGATE 7 12.0 85 85.6 7 49.0 88 85.6 8.26 8 28 OAKLEIGH PARK 8 59.0 50 pws 63.9 9 06.0 90 88.8 10.51 10 48 HADLEY WOOD 11 21.0 68 57.0 10 36.0 92 90.0 12.61 12 56 POTTERS BAR 13 03.0 80 74.1 12 11.0 ‘/60 tsr 79.6 14.36 14 36 BROOKMANS PARK 14 16.5 92 85.7 13 45.0 80 67.0 17.61 17 56 HATFIELD 16 16.0 100 97.9 15 57.0 98 88.6 20.21 20 24 WELWYN GARDEN CITY 17 51.0 97 98.5 17 33.0 98 97.5

21.91 22 00 WELWYN NORTH 19 04.0 72/60/tsr 83.8 18 33.0 104 102.0 24.96 25 04 KNEBWORTH 21 54.0 79 64.6 20 22.0 100 100.7 27.46 27 44 STEVENAGE 23 34.5 96/102 89.6 21 51.0 102 101.1 31.86 31 76 HITCHIN 26 13.0 101/100 99.9 24 24.0 102 103.5 35.61 35 56 Three Counties 28 26.0 103 101.5 26 36.0 104 102.3 38.56 38 52 Langford 30 10.0 102 102.1 28 20.0 102 102.1 41.06 41 12 Biggleswade 31 37.0 105 103.4 29 49.0 103 101.1 44.06 44 12 SANDY 33 20.0 105 104.9 31 33.0 106 103.8 46.31 46 32 Everton 34 37.0 104 105.2 32 52.0 102 102.5 47.41 47 40 Tempsford 35 15.5 104/106 102.9 33 31.0 100 101.5 51.66 51 60 ST NEOTS 37 41.5 104 104.8 36 00.0 100 102.7 55.86 55 76 Offord 40 04.5 106 105.7 38 30.0 103 100.8 58.81 58 72 HUNTINGDON 41 45.5 105/102 105.1 40 17.0 98 99.3 63.46 63 44 Abbots Ripton 44 27.0 105 103.7 43 08.0 98 97.9 67.31 67 32 Connington 46 39.5 104 104.6 45 25.0 105 101.2 72.51 72 48 Yaxley 49 40.0 103 103.7 48 30.0 100 101.2 74.91 75 00 Fletton Junc 51 04.5 101/ 97 102.2 49 56.0 102 100.5 76.26 76 28 PETERBOROUGH 51 54.0 98/102 98.2 50 43.0 105 103.4 81.81 81 72 Helpston 55 13.0 99 100.4 54 00.0 100 101.4 83.31 83 32 Lolham 56 07.5 99 99.1 54 54.0 100 100.0 84.76 84 68 Tallington 57 00.0 100 99.4 55 46.0 102 100.4 87.01 87 08 Greatford 58 21.5 99 99.4 57 06.0 102 101.3 88.79 88 70 Essendine 59 26.0 99/101 99.1 58 08.0 104 103.1 92.16 92 20 Little Bytham 61 26.5 100/ 98 100.8 60 06.0 102 103.0 97.01 97 08 Corby Glen 64 24.0 99 98.4 62 58.0 102 101.5 100.01 100 08 Stoke Summit 66 13.5 96/ 90 98.6 64 50.0 92 96.4 105.36 105 36 GRANTHAM 69 41.5 97/100 92.6 68 15.0 95 94.0 109.56 109 52 Barkston South Jn 72 14.0 99 99.1 70 51.0 100 96.9 111.46 111 44 Hougham 73 23.5 97 98.4 72 02.0 96 96.3 115.31 115 32 Claypole 75 44.5 100 98.3 74 26.0 98 96.3 116.81 116 72 Balderton 76 40.0 94 97.3 75 22.0 94 96.4 118.96 119 04 Barnby 78 07.0 76 89.0 76 55.0 83.2 120.01 120 08 NEWARK NORTH GATE 83 79 19.0 3 E 52.5 78 40.0 36.0

30th Anniversary Commemorative Issue 3 July 2010 I was on the second day of a seven day Eastern Region Rover, most of which was spent on the East Coast Main Line between Kings Cross and Newcastle.

55015 was at the head of eight coaches, most of which were Mk2 air-conditioned coaches, and departure from Kings Cross was on time. A fast start and Finsbury Park was passed in 4m 13.5 at 66 mph. We then reached 86 mph before a 50 mph permanent way slowing (pws) at Oakleigh Park. 80 mph through Potters Bar was followed by 100 mph through Hatfield before a second pws of 60 mph after Welwyn North. We then ran at over 100 mph and up to 106 mph for most of the way from Stevenage to Peterborough. No further delays and a fast stop got us to Newark in 79m 19.

TJK Griffiths repeated this journey in December 1980, also with Tulyar on 8 coaches. His start was slower with 4m 48 through Finsbury Park but with only one pws to 60 mph after Potters Bar. 92 mph had been achieved through Hadley Wood. A fast run followed with another maximum of 106 mph, this time through Sandy. This was somewhat faster after Peterborough with 104 mph through Essendine but was slower in stopping into Newark. The overall time was 78m 40.

In terms of overall net time, the first run was slightly faster: a faster start and 53 m 06 from Hitchin to Newark against 54 m 16.

Many of my other logs that week were HSTs with long non-stop runs via Selby but not particularly fast overall.

1981 Frank Collins

1981 was a significant year for me, marking my own ‘coming of age’ in traditional terms, and my using my new freedom as a University student in Birmingham to time trains on a virtually weekly basis, exploring many parts of the network previously unknown to me. I have chosen two runs in the spring of that year as particular highlights from that time

Back then, the Cross Country (or North-East – South-West route as it was then called) route from Bristol to Birmingham was the last of the true Inter City routes to benefit from comprehensive rolling stock and traction modernisation. HST operation of some services was a year or so into the future, and trains were operated using a rag bag of traction and rolling stock, ranging from Mk 2 air-con stock hauled by ETH fitted class 47s or 45s (with the occasional class 50 for good measure) through to Mk 1 formations which could be hauled by pretty much anything which would turn a wheel. Summer Saturday extras – with unusual calling patterns – were still commonplace.

The principal morning service south from Birmingham was the 10.15 departure – the 06.49 Bradford Exchange to Penzance. This called only at Bristol Temple Meads and Exeter before Plymouth; on summer Saturdays it ran non-stop from Derby to Totnes, though presumably there was a call for crew purposes somewhere en route. The timetable change in those days was on the second weekend of May with ‘summer’ ending for railway purposes on 4th October.

Saturday 9th May 1981 was therefore the last Saturday of the old timetable. I turned up at New Street to discover a relief train running to the 10.15 leaving New Street at 10.04. Unfortunately my records from that time don’t recall its origin or destination (if indeed I knew

30th Anniversary Commemorative Issue 4 July 2010 Loco 40012 "Aureol" Load formation 12 Mk 1 Vehicles/tare/gross tonnes 12, 405/415/550 Train 10.04 Birmingham NS - Bristol TM Date Sat 09/05/1981 Rec FG Collins Dec. M. Chns Mls Timing Point Sch. Min. Sec. M.P.H. Ave. 112 73 0.00 Birmingham New St 0 0 00 2 1/2 late 41 47 2.04 Bordesley Junction 5 51 24 20.9 42 20 2.70 Camp Hill Jn 7 14 34/ tsr 20 28.7 43 40 3.95 Moseley 9 45 36 29.8 44 16 4.65 Kings Heath 10 51 45 38.2 45 11 5.59 Hazelwell 12 00 54 48.9 46 10 6.57 Lifford North Jn 14 07 sigs 28.0 46 60 7.20 Kings Norton 15 43 23 23.4 48 14 8.62 Northfield 19 47 20 tsr 21.0 49 19 9.69 Longbridge 21 52 41 30.6 50 40 10.95 MP 23 33 54 45.0 51 64 12.25 Barnt Green 24 55 58 57.1 53 20 13.70 Blackwell 26 18 66 62.9 55 31 15.84 Bromsgrove 28 00 82 75.4 57 43 17.99 Stoke Works Jn 29 36 82 80.6 60 20 20.70 Droitwich Rd 31 34 84 82.8 62 12 22.60 Dunhampstead 32 55 1/2 84 83.9 64 20 24.70 MP 34 25 85 84.5 66 18 26.68 Spetchley 35 49 84 84.6 68 60 29.20 Abbotswood Junction 37 37 84 84.2 70 02 30.48 Wadborough 38 31 85 85.0 71 60 32.20 MP 39 44 85 85.1 73 40 33.95 Defford 40 58 84 85.1 74 46 35.03 Eckington 41 44 82 84.1 77 26 37.78 Bredon 43 45 79 81.8 79 40 39.95 Ashchurch 45 20 84 82.4 81 44 42.00 Tredington 46 50 79 82.0 82 71 43.34 Cleeve 47 52 77 77.7 84 25 44.76 Swindon Road LC 48 59 72 76.6 86 58 47.18 Cheltenham Spa 52 09 41* 45.7 89 66 50.28 Churchdown 55 24 71 57.2 92 20 52.70 Barnwood Jn 57 31 62* 68.7 93 06 53.53 Gloucester Yard Jn 58 19 62 61.9 94 11 54.59 Tuffley Junction 59 20 66 62.7 94 60 54.59 sigs 97 00 56.84 Brookthorpe 61 58 47 51.3 98 62 58.61 Haresfield 64 05 55 50.3 99 74 59.76 Standish Junction 65 14 62 60.0 101 58 61.56 Stonehouse 66 49 75 68.2 103 33 63.25 Frocester 68 08 78 76.9 105 40 65.34 Coaley 69 45 77 77.5 108 00 67.84 Berkeley Road 71 38 82 79.6 109 16 69.04 Berkeley Road Sth Jn 72 31 82 81.5 111 00 70.84 MP 73 51 79 81.0 113 14 73.01 Charfield 75 34 74 76.0 115 00 74.84 Wickwar 77 04 72 73.0 118 00 77.84 MP 79 35 72 71.5

30th Anniversary Commemorative Issue 5 July 2010 Dec. M. Chns Mls Timing Point Sch. Min. Sec. M.P.H. Ave. 120 04 79.89 Yate South Jn 81 21 69.6 121 26 81.16 Westerleigh Jn 83 45 35 31.9 108 40 82.51 Coalpit Heath 85 30 57 46.3 109 66 83.84 Winterbourne 86 47 70 61.9 111 62 85.79 Bristol Parkway 88 48 45 58.0 112 66 86.84 Filton 90 08 50 47.2 3 54 87.96 Horfield 91 23 59 54.0 2 48 89.04 Ashley Hill 92 29 58.6 1 50 90.01 Stapleton Road 94 13 33.7 1 00 90.64 Lawrence Hill 95 16 35.7 118 38 91.70 Bristol Temple Meads 98 97 54 at the time) and there is no trace of it in the Public Timetable. However, it arrived from the north-west comprising 12 mk1s with a class 40 – 40012 – at the head.

The class 40 was itself unusual enough at New Street by this time, and ordinarily one would have expected the train to be re-engined at Birmingham and of course reverse to head south via the West Suburban line direct to Kings Norton. However, it quickly became apparent that this was not going to happen; the train was signalled out of the east end of the station with 40012 still at its head.

What happened over the next 100 minutes is shown in the table. Class 40s were notorious for being overweight and underpowered, and this was a substantial load even by the standards of the day. The exit from New Street via Camp Hill is a tough one in these circumstances, having to negotiate the steep climb from St Andrews Junction with no momentum, complicated by several checks – so we were over 25 minutes out of New Street before exceeding 60 mph. 85 mph seemed to be this machines best shot on the gentle undulations once down into the Severn Valley; my power output calculations at the time suggest that the loco was in pretty good order and was being driven flat out, especially on the climbs through the Birmingham suburbs, from Gloucester Yard to Stonehouse, through Wickwar, and away from the restrictions at Westerleigh Jn and Bristol Parkway.

My notes suggest a 98 minute advertised schedule which was precisely kept despite several checks en route. The train was only booked a 5 minute stop at Temple Meads but needless to say the 40 was taken off there – in favour of 47134 at a cost of 10 minutes to schedule. It was an amazing experience at the time – has anyone else any known instances of class 40s appearing on service trains on this route?

The ‘new toys’ in Inter City terms around that time were of course HSTs. The Western Region had taken delivery a year or so earlier of its second batch – specifically for Paddington – Plymouth and Penzance services – but using a different make of traction motor, which quickly developed major problems. As a result, a lot of this batch of power cars had to be taken out of service until the traction motor issues could be resolved, and for a year or more a number of Bristol line services were run with loco-hauled substitutions using class 47s or 50s and either HST trailers (with barrier coaches and generator vans) or conventional Mk2 air conditioned stock

One particular timetable highlight of these loco-hauled workings was a non-stop Paddington – Bath working on a Sunday evening, which had the added bonus (for the London based timer) of another loco-hauled working back again almost immediately. I was always a big fan of class 50s (to the extent that a few months earlier I had turned down the opportunity of a class 46 on a Paddington – Bristol turn in order to have a class 50 run instead) so on arriving

30th Anniversary Commemorative Issue 6 July 2010 47539 Loco at Paddington to Vehicles/tare/gross tonnes 8, 269/275/395 find 47539 at the Train 17.20 Paddington - Bristol TM head of the train it Date Sunday 05/04/1981 would be fair to say Rec/Pos/GPS? FG Collins I was rather M. Chns Dec. Mls Timing Point Sch. Min. Sec. M.P.H. Ave. disappointed. 0 08 0.00 London Paddington 0 0 00 1/2 late 1 20 1.15 Westbourne Park 2 11 50 31.6 What followed 2 63 2.69 Old Oak Common 3 40 70 62.2 however was 4 20 4.15 Acton Main Line 4 51 80 74.2 undoubtedly the 5 55 5.59 Ealing Broadway 5 53 86 83.5 finest diesel hauled 6 43 6.44 West Ealing 6 28 89 87.4 run I have ever had 7 28 7.25 Hanwell 7 00 92 91.4 or seen on the 9 06 8.98 Southall 8 08 92 91.3 Western region, 10 74 10.83 Hayes 9 18 93 95.1 and a run eclipsed 13 19 13.14 West Drayton 10 42 99 99.1 only by the efforts 14 60 14.65 Iver 11 37 101 99.0 of Deltics on the 16 20 16.15 Langley 12 30 1/2 101 100.9 Hull Executive non 18 35 18.34 Slough 13 48 1/2 101 101.0 stop from Kings 20 74 20.83 Burnham 15 16 102 102.3 Cross to Retford at 22 36 22.35 Taplow 16 10 98 101.7 around the same 24 21 24.16 Maidenhead 17 16 99 98.9 time in terms of 26 20 26.15 MP 18 29 98 98.0 high speed diesel 28 03 27.94 Shottesbrook 19 34 99 99.0 hauled running in 29 54 29.58 Ruscombe 20 33 1/2 99 99.1 the UK. There 31 03 30.94 Twyford 21 23 1/2 98 98.1 were none of the 34 00 33.90 Sonning 23 14 94 96.5 current speed 35 78 35.88 Reading 24 42 78 80.8 restrictions out of 38 52 38.55 Tilehurst 26 38 86 83.0 Paddington in those 41 43 41.44 Pangbourne 28 39 90 85.9 days of course, and 44 60 44.65 Goring 30 44 96 92.5 no Running Brake 48 35 48.34 Cholsey 33 01 96 96.9 test requirement 51 40 51.40 MP 34 55 96 96.7 either, but even so, 53 11 53.04 Didcot 35 56 1/2 96 95.9 the start was very 55 20 55.15 MP 37 15 97 96.9 fast. The amazing 56 38 56.38 Steventon 38 00 98 98.0 feature of this run 58 40 58.40 MP 39 15 97 97.2 however was that 60 28 60.25 Wantage Road 40 24 95 96.5 the driver just kept 63 66 63.73 Challow 42 35 96 95.5 going; a spell of 3- 66 43 66.44 Uffington 44 15 97 97.6 figure speeds 69 00 68.90 Knighton 45 46 98 97.4 around Slough 71 40 71.40 Shrivenham 47 21 96 94.7 tailed off to high- 73 20 73.15 MP 48 28 93 94.0 90s, and of course 75 00 74.90 MP 49 37 90 91.3 one could still 77 23 77.19 Swindon 51 10 89 88.5 legitimately pass 79 60 79.65 MP 52 48 93 90.5 Reading at 80 mph. 81 40 81.40 MP 53 54 97 95.5 Less than 25 83 07 82.99 Wootton Bassett Jn 54 52 1/2 99 97.7 minutes to pass 85 40 85.40 MP 56 23 93 96.0 Reading was 87 59 87.64 Dauntsey 57 49 94 93.7 excellent – many an 89 76 89.85 Christian Malford 59 18 87 89.5 HST doesn’t 92 00 91.90 MP 60 45 82 84.8 manage that start- 93 77 93.86 Chippenham 62 11 80 82.2 to-stop today – and 96 08 96.00 Thingley Jn 63 48 79 79.3 the high speed then

30th Anniversary Commemorative Issue 7 July 2010 resumed up the 98 28 98.25 Corsham 65 31 74 78.6 Vale of White 101 77 101.86 Box 68 16 82 78.8 Horse until a very 104 46 104.48 Bathampton Jn 70 17 75 77.7 slight easing for 106 71 106.79 Bath Spa 75 73 00 51.1 the then restriction at Swindon.

The driver must have realised on passing Wootton Bassett that he had 20 minutes left for the concluding 23.80 miles, and was unlikely to have anything else in his way, so unsurprisingly power was shut off at the top of Dauntsey bank, and matters were taken very easily, to arrive at Bath 2 minutes early. Milepost 91 however was passed in just under the hour from Paddington, and the start-stop average equates to 87.8 mph. If the pace had been maintained through to Bathampton Junction probably 90 seconds would have been saved – tantalisingly close to 90 mph start-to-stop.

Needless to say the return – with 47066 hauling a 7-car HST set with a barrier/generator at each end – was poor by comparison!

1982 David Ashley

18-Mar-82 Date/day One can look back at the early 1980’s as being the utopia for High Train 0650 Hereford Paddington Speed railway operations: the Motive Power 47519 HSTs had settled in and were Load (tons) 9 confined to the routes where there Recorder D Ashley speed potential could be exploited: Miles M C location m s mph av No stock diverted to the 100mph Berks and Hants, Cross Country or 0.00 77 23 SWINDON 0 00 RT Midland Main Lines. 5.82 71 37 Shrivenham 5 57 87 58.7 10.75 66 43 Uffington 9 09 99 92.3 One could also think that the 13.45 63 67 Challow 10 45 102 101.3 operators were not at the mercy of 16.94 60 28 Wantage Rd 12 45 105/106 104.6 the bureaucrats at DfT who know 20.81 56 38 Steventon 15 02 102 101.8 little about railway operation. Maybe there were political 24.15 53 11 Didcot 17 27 62tsr 82.9 shenanigans but on a much less 28.85 48 35 Cholsey 20 58 89 80.2 visible nature. In 1982 there was 32.54 44 60 Goring 23 19 95/98 94.1 concern about the state of 35.75 41 43 Pangbourne 25 20 97/99 95.6 Campden Tunnel on the North 38.64 38 52 Tilehurst 27 10 94 94.5 Cotswold Line from Oxford to Worcester. Closure of the line north 41.31 35 78 READING - fast line 31 30 37.0 of Moreton in Marsh was mooted – 0.00 35 78 READING - fast line 0 00 78.7 although this could have been the 4.94 31 03 Twyford 5 20 83 55.5 tip of a much larger iceberg. At the 11.71 24 21 Maidenhead 9 44 98 92.4 same time the main business train 13.53 22 36 Taplow 10 50 100 98.9 of the day from Hereford to Paddington was diverted via the 17.54 18 35 Slough 13 12 102/103 101.7 Golden Valley line, which increased 22.74 13 19 West Drayton 16 15 101 102.3 significantly the journey time and 26.90 9 06 Southall 18 44 102 100.6 would encourage passengers to 30.29 5 55 Ealing Bdwy 20 47 99 99.1 travel via Newport and the newer 33.19 2 63 Old Oak Common 22 44 80 89.2 HST service – and presumably 34.73 1 20 Westbourne Park 24 16 42 60.2 divert revenue away from the Cotswold line. 35.83 0 12 PADDINGTON 27 00 2E 24.1

30th Anniversary Commemorative Issue 8 July 2010 However, passengers could still travel on the Cotswold line by changing at Worcester Shrub Hill – but presumably few through passengers may have been aware of this.

I travelled on this train on the first day of a weekly Western Region Rover ticket. The standard for operating locomotive-hauled trains on High Speed lines had been adequately displayed in the late 1970’s when 47’s and 50’s on 8 coaches was the order of the day until all HSTs had been supplied. Trains were required to run at speeds up to 100mph and these services were arguably more interesting than HSTs at the time. They were covered extensively in the early editions of “Milepost”. The same policy continued with loco hauled operations in the 1980’s.

Allowed 62 minutes for the 77 miles from Swindon to Paddington, our train accelerated smartly away from Swindon, and was running comfortably around 105/106mph around Wantage until a 60mph tsr at Didcot slowed down proceedings. Away from the tsr, speed rose again to 99mph before we were brought to a stand on the fast line in Reading to allow an HST in front of us – based on the speeds achieved west of Reading, it is unlikely we would have held it up!. Speed again continued to increase up to 103mph beyond Slough, and uninterrupted approach into Paddington resulted in an arrival 2mins early in spite of the tsr at Didcot and a 2minute signal stop in Reading.

Compare the infrastructure situation with today: the tunnel and the North Cotswold line remain open and the long single line sections are being re-doubled (although Network Rail currently seem to be dragging their feet as to when this will be completed).

1983 Alan Varley

One recorder’s view of a year is bound to be partial, in both senses of the word; even more so in my case as my UK visits are necessarily brief and sporadic. So no apologies for presenting here some very personal impressions – after all, in an exercise of this sort, nostalgia is very much the name of the game.

My timing in Britain is mostly concentrated in short intensive bursts – Railrovers as a poor student, the Britrail Pass when I became a privileged foreign visitor. The planning of such visits oscillates between on one hand the search for variety and geographical spread, and on the other, concentration on this year’s novelty. The former was easier to achieve in the days when academic holidays (and family authorization!) enabled me to come over for two or three weeks at a time; more recently, with visits often restricted to 8-day or even 4- day passes, it has become difficult to resist the lure of the main lines and find time to reach the slower and more distant parts of the network. So to illustrate 1983 I have chosen a couple of days that took me up to the far north – several days rather than just one run, because variety and the succession of different trains are what Railrovering is all about.

13 September: into Birmingham for the 0807 to Glasgow. (In these days of 4-hr Voyager timings it is perhaps salutary to remember that 35 years ago the 1735 from Glasgow was booked to New Street in less than 4½ hours – including the time required to attach the Edinburgh portion in Carstairs.) The 0807 had 87032 on 12; signal stops before Warrington and Preston made us 14 late from there but very precise speeds took us to Oxenholme in 29 04; then after a slow start in misty conditions we reached 91 at Lambrigg and, again with no fireworks, arrived 6 late in Carlisle in 38 25. More variation in speed north of the border – 105 at Floriston, 108 after Lockerbie, and a steady 89 up Beattock – a sound 5000 HP performance with this load. 50 20 Carstairs, so easily RT in Glasgow. The 1310 Glasgow-Euston was 87007 on 11, and stopped for 2 minutes in the platform line at Newton. This loco tended to run at fractionally under line speed, so with TSR 50 at Wandelmill and a brief stop outside Carlisle we took 80 27, 3 late. The train was also very full, with an

30th Anniversary Commemorative Issue 9 July 2010 unending buffet queue (another significant factor when railrovering), so I switched to the following 1320 Glasgow-Paddington, 86229 on 11 which ran well at first – 105 down Shap – but suffered signal checks after Hay Fell, so took 57 31 to Lancaster. Nice time though to turn round onto the 1405 from Birmingham, 11 on with 86312. I sometimes joked that the resilient ABS wheels on these locos expanded at high revs and led to overspeeding, and this run was a good illustration – 105 at Burton, 84 minimum at Low Gill, and 111, no less, at Calthwaite. So an excellent 48 09 to Carlisle and 11 minutes waiting time. Despite slipping on the starts we then ran to Lockerbie in 19 10, max 106, and to Carstairs in 34 02, max 105 and 82 sustained on Beattock, 4300 RHP – times equivalent to less than the 50 minutes yardstick for a good Carlisle-Carstairs run. The last two runs of the day, to Carlisle and back, were less good, affected by the increasingly wet conditions, but as I noted at the time, a day with a 48-min Lancaster-Carlisle run and two in around 50 minutes to Carstairs couldn’t be bad.

In the early 1980s the variety of overnight trains was much greater than today – Stranraer, Newcastle, the Bristol-Scotch – and a Glasgow/Edinburgh-Inverness service on which I indulged in the luxury of a berth, as I was planning to spend the next night in an ordinary seat southwards from Inverness. Unlike today’s Euston-Inverness sleeper, the Glasgow train reached Inverness in good time for the early-morning far north and Kyle departures, so at 0643 – 3 mins late – I was heading north behind 37114 with a 7-coach, 235-tonne load. There was some debate back at that time about the possible “tweaking” of the Inverness 37s – see, inter alia, Milepost 7½ and 8¾ – and although 37114 was not generally quoted as one of the over-performing units the run, in both directions, contained some remarkable outputs – and speeds. We ran up to high 70s before Fearn and again between Tain and Ardgay; thick mist and damp rail hindered some starts, but despite slipping we attained 40 on the grade above Invershin. At Golspie we emerged into bright sunshine and responded with 38 attained up 1 in 60 before Dunrobin – difficult not to calculate a rail HP of at least 1500 here, and the final climb to County March at 53/45/51 gives a similar figure. The schedule was treated as an approximate guide only: from Lairg onwards we left most stations between 2 and 4.5 minutes early, reaching Wick 5.5 early with a final maximum of 74! On the return journey we had only 6/210 from Georgemas, with which we kept time with ease to Brora, where a long crossing wait was enlivened by the antics of a drunken male passenger who, becoming violent, was overpowered by a brawny Highland matron. The police were called, statements were lengthily taken, and we left 58 late. The guard assured us that connections would be held, but I doubted whether the 1630 to Edinburgh would wait over half an hour for us. In the event it was able to leave less than 15 late, as we picked up almost 30 minutes to Inverness. 65/58 up 1 in 60 to Dunrobin, max 79 before Rogart, and an extraordinary climb to the summit before Lairg: 52½ attained up 1 in 80, 56 on 1 in 95 and minimum 55 on the final 1 in 80 – again a 1500+ output. Then we made even time between Ardgay and Tain in 13 26 for 13.51 miles, max 79 but an almost slow stop, followed though by an over-fast approach to Fearn where we overshot – but still managed to set back, pick up a passenger and get away in less than a minute! The downhill start from Alness was used to good effect to get speed up to 80, and with 81/82 sustained for 5 miles we made another even-time run to Dingwall in 09 34, 62.2 mph.

Alarms and excursions enough for one day, one might think – but there was more to come. 47570 on the 8-coach 1630 suffered two signal stops into the loops at Moy and Carr Bridge so made little impression on its late start at first, though 45 attained on all three 1 in 60 stretches was good work. With a fine start from Aviemore, 79 maximum and an excellent stop we ran to Kingussie in 11 57 – the first time I had recorded less than 12 minutes here. Then power was kept on right up to the Dalmwhinnie stop – none of those annoying easings for the curves at Inchlea – and with 66 attained at MP 66 and 71/72 thereafter we reached Dalwhinnie in 11 05. The Highland line’s 60 mph booking – 23 minutes from here to Blair Atholl – was rarely kept (though I had recorded 22 22 a couple of years earlier, with an 87 max on the descent); this driver showed how it should be done, never exceeding 80 downhill

30th Anniversary Commemorative Issue 10 July 2010 but mostly in the upper 70s and only twice below 70, including a careful 59 for the curve above Struan: 22 31 to Blair Atholl. Curiously, there had been no sign yet of the northbound Clansman – but there it was in Pitlochry. A dash over the bridge slowed to a saunter as I saw no signs of imminent departure on the down platform; in fact the loco had partly failed and a pilot was awaited. We finally left 80 late; with 11 on and a dead loco I was expecting sleeper-style speeds uphill, but in fact the train engine revved almost as well as the pilot on the start, and we stormed up the 1 in 60 at a steady 55. So I was able to go through to Aviemore and pick up fish and chips from the Crawford’s take-away before boarding the 1930 Inverness-Euston. 47533 on 14/435, an empty post-side compartment with the lights dimmed, just behind a Mk2 SO that was lighting up the mileposts like a searchlight – perfect overnight timing conditions! In fact the run was notable for its stops: 36 seconds in Kingussie, 43 Newtonmore, 26 Dalwhinnie, 19 seconds at Blair Atholl, a leisurely 45 at Pitlochry but a record 16 at Dunkeld – scarcely credible in these days of central locking and power-operated doors. Uphill speeds were fair – 55 minimum before Gleneagles after 78 in the valley was perhaps the best climb – and time was kept with ease. After Stirling I dozed, but was woken with a bang as we took Penrith at over 80; minimum at Thrimby Grange was 84 and we touched 101 down Shap. 81011 was responsible for these high jinks, getting us to Euston 7 early – an appropriate if perhaps untypical point at which to end this account of railrovering in 1983.

1984 Frank Collins

1984 was another special year for me in many ways. Professionally, it was the year of my Finals course and exams, which entailed a year in Guildford. Railway wise therefore that meant a year with a very South-Western focus, at a time when the Bournemouth line was still dominated by 4-REPs, both routes to Weymouth together with the Portsmouth line were operated with class 33s, and the Salisbury route to Exeter run with class 50s with some 33s thrown in for good measure. In short, there was a lot of interest around for the train timer.

Much of this ground was covered by the Wessex Rover ticket, giving a week’s unlimited travel between Barnham and Basingstoke in the east, Yeovil and Weymouth in the west and extending north (conveniently) at least to Westbury. I did several of these over the remaining years of loco-haulage on these routes, including one in the summer of 1984.

The two runs I have chosen for 1984 therefore represent this flavour, both being recorded on the 14.17 up Exeter, 3 days apart. Both represent the classic diesel railroading experience of this line; demonstrate two different approaches to a similar problem, and also highlight some of the thrill and frustrations of this route.

The first run, with 50009, was 18 ½ late when I joined the train at Yeovil Jn – a knock on single-line delay from the late running 11.14 Brighton – Penzance (33042 + 8 Mk1s) which although driven hard had insufficient in hand to offset a signalling problem near Southbourne, 6 minute station stop at Southampton and a 40 tsr near Dean so lost 9 minutes from Barnham to Yeovil and was 12 late there. I suspect this train probably should have had a pair of 33s. 50009 was driven with some enthusiasm, if a little below par on the power output front. The cumulative effect of single line delays shows up at Gillingham for a crossing stop that should have taken place at Wilton – no Tisbury loop in those days! Salisbury to Andover was full power up hill – and down dale; one would normally expect to see power eased soon after Grateley but this driver decided to regain some time downhill, with a line speed excess that would be neither achieved nor condoned today. It would have been interesting to see how this train was driven the rest of the way to London – my suspicion is more 100 mph running would have been involved.

30th Anniversary Commemorative Issue 11 July 2010 Loco 50009 'Conqueror' 50047 'Swiftsure' Load formation loco + 9Mk2 non air con loco + 9Mk2 non air con Vehicles/tare/gross tonnes 9, 290/303/420 9, 290/303/420 Train 14.17 Exeter St Davids - Waterloo 14.17 Exeter St Davids - Waterloo Date Fri 27/07/1984 Mon 30/07/1984 Rec FG Collins FG Collins miles m c Timing Point Sch. m s mph av m s mph av 0.00 118 04 Sherborne 0 0 00 16 1/2 late 0 00 9 late 1.55 116 40 MP 2 43 44 34.2 2 35 49 36.0 3.66 114 31 Milborne Port 5 19 57 48.7 4 55 66 54.3 5.05 113 00 MP 6 39 64 62.4 6 08 70 68.4 6.10 111 76 Templecombe 9 1/2 8 26 35.3 7 33 44.5 0.00 111 76 10 8 50 15 1/2 late 8 15 7 1/2 late 0.95 111 00 MP 1 34 62 36.4 1 35 66 36.0 1.95 110 00 MP 2 27 72 67.9 2 25 76 72.0 4.40 107 44 Buckhorn Weston Tun E 4 33 67 70.0 4 23 72 74.7 5.45 106 40 MP 5 27 74/sigs 70.0 5 12 79 77.1 6.73 105 18 Gillingham 7 1/2 8 07 28.7 6 43 50.4 0.00 105 18 9 14 55 21 1/2 late 7 40 6 late 0.72 104 40 MP 1 30 41 29.0 1 30 43 29.0 2.72 102 40 MP 3 57 55 49.0 3 48 58 52.2 4.06 101 13 Semley 5 23 56 56.0 5 11 59 58.0 5.22 100 00 MP 6 30 68 62.5 6 14 70* 66.4 7.22 98 00 MP 8 06 84 75.0 7 48 83 76.6 8.05 97 14 Tisbury West 8 41 1/2 84 83.7 8 24 81 82.5 9.05 96 14 Tisbury 10 10 02 44.7 9 47 43.4 0.00 96 14 11 10 55 21 late 11 00 6 late 1.24 94 75 Tisbury Quarry 2 03 59 36.2 2 04 61 35.9 2.68 93 40 MP 3 20 72 67.2 3 21 71 67.2 4.27 91 72 Dinton 4 36 80 75.8 4 37 84 75.8 6.18 90 00 MP 5 58 86 83.4 5 58 85 84.4 8.18 88 00 MP 7 26 67*/70 81.8 7 31 74/ sstop 6 sec 77.4 10.04 86 11 Wilton South 9 1/2 9 23 40* 57.3 10 40 25 35.5 11.18 85 00 MP 10 49 54 47.6 12 40 48 34.1 12.53 83 52 Salisbury 13 1/2 13 31 30.0 15 33 28.1 0.00 83 45 MP 17 17 45 22 late 19 00 8 late 1.16 82 32 Tunnel Junction 3 2 06 52 33.2 2 19 54 30.1 3.06 80 40 MP 4 00 65 60.0 4 09 67 62.2 5.47 78 07 Porton 6 10 68 66.8 6 11 72 71.2 8.06 75 40 Amesbury Junction 8 23 74 70.0 8 15 78 75.1 10.95 72 49 Grateley 10 36 86 78.2 10 21 84 82.5 12.56 71 00 MP 11 40 96 90.7 11 30 85 84.1 13.56 70 00 MP 12 17 101 97.3 12 12 84 85.7 14.56 69 00 MP 12 52 104 102.9 12 55 85 83.7 15.99 67 46 Red Post Jn 13 43 100 100.6 13 58 78 81.4 17.33 66 19 Andover 18 1/2 15 23 48.2 15 39 47.7 0.00 66 19 21 16 35 17 1/2 late 19 10 6 late 1.74 64 40 Enham 2 36 56 40.1 2 37 59 39.8 3.74 62 40 MP 4 36 63 60.0 4 30 69 63.7 5.29 60 76 Hurstbourne 5 54 77 71.5 5 44 81 75.4 7.13 59 09 Whitchurch 7 20 80 76.9 7 05 82 81.7 9.24 57 00 MP 8 53 84 81.8 8 40 78 80.1 10.74 55 40 Overton 9 56 86 85.7 9 49 77 78.3 12.24 54 00 MP 10 58 87 87.1 10 58 79 78.3

30th Anniversary Commemorative Issue 12 July 2010 miles m c Timing Point Sch. m s mph av m s mph av 13.89 52 28 Oakley 12 05 93 88.7 12 12 81 80.3 15.24 51 00 Battledown 13 06 65* 79.7 13 27 58* 64.8 15.89 50 28 Worting Junction 15 1/2 13 40 72 68.8 14 06 65 60.0 16.74 49 40 MP 14 20 79 76.5 14 50 74 69.5 18.49 47 60 Basingstoke 18 1/2 16 37 46.0 17 09 4 1/2 late 45.3

Monday’s service, this time with 50047, also started late. I’m not clear what caused the delay on this occasion; my down service had again been late (about 7 minutes) but since the two services were booked to cross just east of Yeovil Junction this was not the cause of the delay to the up train. 50047 clearly gave by far the better run, with much higher power outputs on the climbs. The advantage on the 1/80 climb out of Sherborne, the switchback from Templecombe to Gillingham and the long climb to Semley are clear. East of Salisbury however we had a driver disciplined to the point of caution in line speed terms; the complete opposite of the Friday man. The start from Salisbury was slower, but the superior power brought back the advantage to 50047 well before the summit after Amesbury Junction; but then the driver eased off to run at 5 mph below line speed, which cost him about ½ minute. Had 50047 had 50009’s start the result would have been virtually identical times between Salisbury and Andover with very different running styles. The story on to Basingstoke was similar; the power advantage on the initial climb away from the stop all being frittered away (and more) by over cautious running at speed.

Today’s 159s may not have the excitement or the romance – but the punctuality is generally far superior!

1985 John Heaton FCILT

Rifling through my old notebooks for 1985 I am surprised to feel that this was one of the, admittedly many, pivotal years in railway fortunes. It was arguably the year when British Rail banished the spectre of Serpell by securing investment to replace the increasingly costly rolling stock that had come to make the income/expenditure ratio of many rural lines seem indefensible.

From a managerial standpoint, the challenges this posed gave scope to gain a good deal of satisfaction but in retrospect it was mainly fire-fighting. When my replacement stock did arrive, it came in the form of twelve Class 142 for 11 diagrams, certainly no more reliable and possibly no less expensive than my hotch-potch of loco-hauled Mark 1s and Class 117 1960 vintage dmus - once capital costs were included. Their South West sojourn was mercifully brief, at least its initial stage. When the last one was waved bye-bye over Whiteball, I would have been saddened to think that 25 years later they would have been paying a return visit.

The 90mph Class 158s were probably the worthiest of the sprinter build but their delayed delivery left the Class 33s in charge of some long distance secondary services for longer than planned. A handful of Cardiff originators came in my direction, occasionally ambushed to form the scratch ‘Exeter Secret Set’ and prevent an unacceptable level of cancellations from the over-ambitious Class 142 availability.

My notebooks feature a run to Barnstaple and back in the cab of a Class 33 and the 17.25 Exeter to Paignton was also a regular Class 33 turn. The Meldon stone ‘33s’ substituted for Class 50s to Waterloo, preferably in multiple, and they were even known to take five-coach relief trains to Paddington.

30th Anniversary Commemorative Issue 13 July 2010 Bristol Temple Meads to Exeter S. D. On 15th May Loco 33054 1985 I had to Vehicles/tare/gross tonnes 5/175/180 attend a late Train 22.35 Bristol TM-Exeter S.D. night function in Date 16/5/85 Bristol. These Rec/Pos/GPS? J. Heaton 1/6 No were the days Dec. Mls M. Chns Timing Point Sch. Min. Sec. M.P.H. Ave. when overnight 0.00 118 33 Bristol T.M. d. 0 0 00 pfm 4 5½L hotel 8.00 126 33 Nailsea a. 10 9 15 4½L 51.9 accommodation 0.00 126 33 d. 11 10 40 4½L was only 3.94 130 28 Yatton a. 6 4 48 3½L 49.2 provided if it was 0.00 130 28 d. 7 5 11 2½L a proven 5.78 136 10 Weston Mil. a. 8 8 09 3L 42.5 necessity and, 0.00 136 10 d. 9 8 31 2L with a 22.35 1.31 137 35 Weston SM a. 3 3 01 2L 26.1 Temple Meads to 0.00 136 33 d. 5 4 00 1L Exeter St David’s 8.90 145 25 Highbridge a. 11 11 08 1½L 48.0 in the timetable 0.00 145 25 d. 12 11 35 1L followed by a 6.28 151 47 Bridgwater a. 9 7 01 1E 53.7 drive home, I did not even consider 0.00 151 47 d. 10 9 50 ½L arguing the case. 11.56 163 12 Taunton a. [2]14 11 42 1½E 59.3

0.00 163 12 d. 17 14 36 1E I cannot recall the 1.29 164 35 Silk Mill 2 57 57 26.2 event but at a 2.91 166 5 Victory 4 35 62 59.7 guess it was 4.50 167 52 Bradford 6 00 71 67.2 probably a 7.10 170 20 Wellington 8 05 77 74.9 Transport Users’ 10.01 173 13 Whiteball TEP [3] 10 45 63 65.5 Consultative 10.85 174 0 Whiteball 11 33 62 62.8 Committee 14.10 177 20 Sampford P. 14 00 85 79.6 meeting and 15.95 179 8 Tiverton Jct 15 22 78 81.2 dinner. 18.20 181 28 Cullompton 17 02 82/77 81.0 22.36 185 41 Hele 20 12 82 78.9 27.05 190 16 Stoke Canon 23 30 88 85.2 29.50 192 52 Cowley Bridge J. 25 20 65 s stop 144s 80.2 30.75 193 72 Exeter S. D. a. 31 31 21 ½E 12.5 Italics are estimated speeds from averages The TUCC did not stint itself on dinners. However, the return run was more memorable. Joining young Exeter driver Peter Longthorpe in the cab of No. 33054 on five bogies, we were surrounded by a swirling, unseasonable fog. In fact, looking back on that night I cannot remember being in the cab on a thicker one.

Held 5min for a connection, Peter made a competent start but as we accelerated through Bedminster Peter turned to me in the darkness and said, “This is the first time I have driven a stopping train from Bristol to Taunton.” Taken aback and gazing out at the wall of fog , it was a couple of seconds before I replied. “Just drive as if I wasn’t here,” I said, intending to put him at his ease and probably failing. We promptly regained 1min on the timing to Nailsea, not the easiest stop in the daylight let alone darkness and the fog. Then another minute saved to Yatton and another pinched 1min off the dwell time.

Robbed by the fog of braking landmarks, we lost a few seconds as we peered into the grey mass and crawled into Highbridge but we were back on time by Bridgwater. Our minimum at Whiteball Tunnel was 62mph before bucking and bouncing down from the summit at around 85mph. Hurling ourselves at the darkness, it felt a lot faster. We came to a stand outside St.

30th Anniversary Commemorative Issue 14 July 2010 David’s for 2½min. One might have expected a clear run in at that time of night but the station was busy with mail trains and arrival was min early so one can ask for no more.

In this particular notebook I rode in the cab on 39 of the 182 runs that it includes so it is perhaps rather strange that this run should stand out in my mind as representative of my year. Apologies for the sketchy nature of the log but, in retrospect, more survives than might be expected in the pervading conditions.

1986 Alan Varley

Unlike 1983 (see above) 1986 was a year with a focus – and the target was 110 mph trains on the WCML. This overall limit had in fact come into force a little while earlier, but it was only on the occasion of my 1986 visits that things came together, with ambitious new speed limits between Lancaster and Carlisle (several of them short-lived: 90 at Hay Fell didn’t last long, like 90 over Shap Summit – which of course even Pendolinos can’t do today) and an adequate number of trains formed of 110 mph stock and locos – including in particular the new “Clansman”, with Inverness and Glasgow portions combined to form a 13-coach train south of Carstairs. A lot of the 110 mph stock was new-build Mk 3s with softer springing than the HST version; combined with the new limits this must have sent the bill for crockery damage rocketing …

During a first visit in August I remained mostly in the south of England and just had a couple of runs to Crewe on the 1145 from Euston. The first of these saw 86 224 (a 110 mph loco) on 11 reach Crewe RT, net 69 15 from Milton Keynes with 111-112 maxima. 87 016 a few days later left 14 down, showed a brief flash of class with an acceleration to 111 at Harrow, ran reasonably from Watford to Milton Keynes, max again 111, but was then diverted via Northampton and finished 30 late in Crewe.

My first run on the Clansman came in early September, 87 008 on 13, and with this load nothing over 104 was possible before Watford. After that we ran regularly up to 111-112 and passed Rugby in net 40, Stafford net 71 45, arriving in Crewe just a minute late in 95 32, net 89. Again nothing really new, apart from the sustained speeds of around 110 with 470 tonnes and the atrocious riding – an unholy mixture of soft springing and severe flats on the Mk 3, and vicious hunting from the 110 mph BG just behind. I had my first contact with the new situation on the northern end of the line a few days later when I joined the up Royal Scot in Glasgow, 87 005 on 10, in good form with an average of 111.2 from Wamphray to Lockerbie, max 114, 4 early into Carlisle despite a signal stop. Then after a slow start and a 60 TSR at Brisco we had a taste of the new limits – 78 through Penrith, minimum 75 but mostly 80+ through Bessie Ghyll, 88 over Shap Summit and 113 down the incline, 86 Hay Fell and 106 before Oxenholme, 114 down Yealand , a slight check after Carnforth and then an easier finish, but my first sub-60 time to Preston nonetheless – 59 50, net 59 15. The down train was severely checked before Lancaster and into Carlisle but again demonstrated what could be done on the new limits – notably between Shap and Penrith, with 82 minimum in Bessie Ghyll and a rousing 111 (not in fact my fastest of the fortnight) round the Eden Valley curve. Back up with the 1510 from Glasgow, 13 on from Carstairs, and 13 late as the Inverness portion was late in. 109.6 average Wamphray-Lockerbie testified to the accuracy of 87 006’s speedometer, and we left Carlisle only 6 late after a net 48 35 from Carstairs. Then 88 over Shap summit, 112 before Tebay, 87 at Hay Fell, 114 before Carnforth – yes, this did indeed seem to be a new era on the WCML.

In fact in August/September 1986 I timed 22 110 mph trains with, on the whole, a very consistent level of performance. As well as 86 224 I found 86 225 and 86 211 on high-speed workings – the latter just a few days before the Colwich collision, and very much on form with a 47 46 net 47 15 from Carlisle to Lancaster. And 86 225, with a 10-coach load, not only

30th Anniversary Commemorative Issue 15 July 2010 ran up to 116 max but also recovered from 1 mph before Beattock to 85 at Harthope before signals intervened again. Only one train was not properly equipped for 110 mph, being headed by 86 246 – which nevertheless kept time easily from Glasgow to Preston. Apart from this run, only 3 others failed to reach full 110.

There were of course ups and downs. An excellent down run on the Royal Scot with 87 020 – 95 miles in the first hour out of Euston, 60 33 Preston-Carlisle with a TSR, 92 minimum on Beattock and 8 early in Glasgow – was followed by a disappointing effort with 87 013 on the 1510/Clansman: the speedometer seemed to be over-reading by 5 mph and we never exceeded 106 – in fact with slack driving at the northern end we were mostly well below that before Preston. Equally disappointing was 87 025 on the 1735 from Euston on 19 September: while 87 020 had passed Bulkington in 58 57, 87 025 took 60 49 and had not exceeded 107 to this point. With several slacks to come there seemed little chance of reaching Warrington on time – but in fact the journey ended at Nuneaton, for this was the evening of the tragic events at Colwich.

The highest of the high spots were reached with two runs made behind 87 001. The first was on the northbound Royal Scot on 17 September, announced 30+ late due to emergency track repairs in Tamworth. It was a day of sunshine and showers, and I noted that the train made a fine sight as it ran in past Ribble sidings, headlight shining from a dark front silhouetted against the cloud of Mk3 brake dust back-lit by the late-summer sun. The start was less energetic than the stop, but we accelerated steadily to 116, then touched 117 after a minimum of 110 on the Garstang neutral. Unfortunately signals brought us down to 24 at Oubeck, after which speeds were 114 before Milnthorpe, 104/107 Hincaster, 93 through Oxenholme (net 24 45), 99 before Hay Fell, exactly 90 on the reverse curves and 96 above, 82 at Grayrigg, 104 before Tebay, 92 minimum over Shap and a Pendolino-style 112 just after the station, before minimum 84 through Bessie Ghyll and relatively restrained speeds of 110 at Eden Valley and 74 Penrith (net 45 15). Another 116 max preceded 64* on 60 TSR at Brisco – fairly clear confirmation of an under-reading speedometer – and despite the two checks we ran into Carlisle in under the hour – 59 48, net 57 45. Despite a slippery start in the rain we then got through Carstairs in 45 02.5 – average 113.3 from MP 24 to 37, max 118, 94/95 on the last 4 miles of Beattock bank – but signals after Carluke put paid to any hopes of a good time to Glasgow.

Five days later the same loco was at the head of the 1310 from Glasgow, which I picked up in Carlisle, on time. A sluggish start, exactly 60 on the Brisco TSR, 71 at Penrith – it seemed that 87 001 was not such a speedy performer in this direction. 117 down Shap was the only unusual feature in a nicely-paced run that got us to Preston a minute early. We were still RT from Crewe, but 115 at Standon Bridge and minimum 96 Norton suggested greater urgency, prompted by the fact that we would be running via Birmingham as the line through Colwich was still blocked. It was after a long slow trudge behind the 1721 New Street-Coventry local that we really got going. 110 max before Rugby, 50 TSR before Hillmorton but a good 110 out of Kilsby tunnel and 121, no less, below Welton. After 82 minimum on the Weedon neutral we averaged 115.5 from Heyford to MP 43 with another 120 through Hanslope, 108 Milton Keynes, 118 after Bletchley. We slowed to 94 for Linslade tunnel, went over Tring at 110, eased to 98 for Berkhamstead, and ran at 117-119 for 6 miles before Watford tunnel. A 2-minute start to Bushey and max 119 at Wembley could have given us a record time to Euston but signals on Camden Bank ruled that out. A good thing, perhaps, that this was practically the last run of my visit – it would have been very difficult to follow that performance!

87 001’s efforts tend to stand out in this account, but they were the untypical result of an under-reading speedometer and enthusiastic – arguably over-enthusiastic – driving. Overall, though, I remember 1986 as the year when 110 mph running on the WCML became the

30th Anniversary Commemorative Issue 16 July 2010 norm – the culminating point in the career of the Class 87s, and also the last major step forward on this line for a score of years, before the advent of Pendolinos and 125 mph limits

1987 – Noel Proudlock

When new, the class 14x “Pacer” diesel trains were fitted with automatic mechanical drive gearboxes made by Self Changing Gears Company, expected to be a major improvement on the manual operation standard on most of the diesel railcar fleet. They turned out to be less reliable than hoped for and by mid 1987 availability had fallen to a level which compromised the ability to turn out each day the number of units needed to cover the rostered duties, so a number of those incorporating fewest reversals were handed over to locomotive and coaches formations. One of these was the 1718 Newcastle to Berwick upon Tweed locals and on 3rd June 1987 I had to attend a meeting of NE/SW (Now Cross Country)Service Planning Committee at Derby, and on 4th June chair a meeting of the East Coast Service Planning Committee at Berwick upon Tweed. At both these, my friend David Murphy was representing the Scottish Region and to minimise his travelling in particular we decided to stay overnight at Berwick and with the 1718 offering the most convenient arrival there, we travelled on it. The log follows and as can be seen, the pace at times was hot indeed. The “Pacer” gearbox problem was solved by re-engineering them all with Voith- Gmeinder hydraulic drive which had quickly proved extremely reliable on the newer Class 150 diesel units. The first “Pacer” so altered was 141013 (car numbers 55513,55533) which became 141113 and on which I travelled from Huddersfield to Leeds on 21st January 1988, soon after it was altered, and still under evaluation.

Run No. Miles M C location Sch m s mph ave Date/day Wed 3 Jun 87 1.66 20 17 Longhirst 2 10 75/40tsr/50 46.0 Train 1718 New castle-Berw ick 4.70 23 20 WIDDRINGTON 5.1 7 22 35.0 Motive Pow er 47418 0.00 23 20 WIDDRINGTON 5.3 7 40 Load (tons) 2 mkII & 1 mk 1 - 98 tons tare 2.35 25 48 Chevington 2 45 90/65 51.3 Weather Calm & Damp 5.29 28 43 ACKLINGTON 6.1 5 55 55.7 Rec/Pos/GPS? N Proudlock 2/4 N 0.00 28 43 ACKLINGTON 6.3 6 10 Miles M C Location Sch m s Mph ave 3.30 31 67 Warkw orth 3 20 90 59.4 m.s 3 Late 6.33 34 69 ALNMOUTH 7.3 6 15 62.2 0.00 0 00 NEWCASTLE 0 0 00 /25 0.00 34 69 ALNMOUTH 8.3 7 07 0.58 0 46 MANORS 2.1 2 13 15.6 2.60 37 37 Longhoughton 3 08 78 49.8 0.00 0 46 MANORS 2.3 3 05 4.55 39 33 Little Mill 4 38 80 78.0 1.40 1 78 Heaton S J 2 48 48/tsr30 30.0 8.14 43 00 Christon Bank 7 05 88 87.9 2.10 2 54 Benton Bank S 3 55 68 37.6 11.11 45 78 CHATHILL 11.1 10 08 58.5 4.44 5 01 Forest Hall 5 52 73 71.9 0.00 45 78 CHATHILL 11.3 11 00 5.38 5 76 Killingw orth lc 6 38 74 73.4 1.14 47 09 New ham 1 51 68 36.9 7.35 7 74 Dudley 8 05 85 81.7 3.24 49 17 Lucker 3 31 90/97 75.6 9.35 9 74 CRAMLINGTON 10.1 10 27 50.7 5.60 51 46 Belford 6 5 38 60 67.0 0.00 9 74 CRAMLINGTON 10.3 11 00 9.01 54 79 Smeafield 8 20 85 75.8 1.55 11 38 Plessey 2 10 78 42.9 12.685852Beal 105090 87.9 4.01 13 75 Stannington 3 55 92 84.4 14.86 60 67 Gosw ick 12 15 97 92.6 6.70 16 50 MORPETH 7.3 6 55 53.8 17.60 63 46 Scemerston 13 56 97 97.6 0.00 16 50 MORPETH 8.3 7 45 /45 19.84 65 65 Tw eedmouth 15 35 75 81.4 1.93 18 44 PEGSWOOD 3.1 3 27 33.5 21.03 67 00 BERWICK 22 17 03 48.6 0.00 18 44 PEGSWOOD 3.3 4 35 .

30th Anniversary Commemorative Issue 17 July 2010 The extent to which the station to station allowances were undercut during this journey illustrates particularly clearly how increased line speed only reduces journey time when it can be maintained for a significant distance.

1988 Charles Foss

1988 - a year of changes, personal, as well as on Britain's railways. A long posting to Fyfe ended, followed by a few months near Elgin and a few more in west London before finally disappearing into deepest Lincolnshire. Join the Forces and see the railways! On the tracks Class 90s started work on the WCML and Class 442 'Wessex Electrics' began working out of Waterloo. Sprinter DMUs were taking over loco hauled turns throughout the system, and electric traction started to operate on the ECML.

A letter in Milepost 9, (April '88) noted that even time out of Kings Cross could be achieved in 6½ miles, while from St. Pancras 5¾, and from Paddington in just 5 miles. A reader responded that he had recorded even time in only 4¾ miles out of St. Pancras, but with scant regard for the 10mph speed restriction at the station throat. Starting from Inverness an HST could just manage even time by Slochd summit. A heavily laden class 47, meanwhile, required plenty of effort but could achieve little in the way of speed.

Table A

Date F 1st July 1988 Sat 6th Aug 1988 Table A illustrates Train 19.35 Inverness-Euston 10.10 to Glasgow the effect of 590 Loco 47.570 47.646 tonnes gross Load 15/560/590 5/159/175 behind 47.570, Posn/Wx 15/16. Overcast, E10 kts 2/6. Fair, calm. while 47.646 shows Dist Place Time Speed M S MPH what could be done 0.00 INVERNESS 14 mins late 8 mins late with the standard 0.72 Milburn jctn Sb 2 15 /34 1 13 lightweight train of 1.98 MP 116 4 41 27 2 52 57 the day. (Alighting 3.98 MP 114 9 56 23 5 00 55 from the day train sig stop 8 30/8 53 at Newtonmore to 6.55 Culloden Moor Ob 15 35 37/48 9 23 await the next down MP 109 19 54 23/22 12 16 55 train, I sought 10.84 Daviot 24 41 27 14 14 57 refreshment in town 11.98 MP 106 27 21 23 15 21 60 and found a small 14.80 Moy bldg 32 35 45 17 54 71 tea room;- which 16.98 MP 101 35 06 59 19 33 80 served twenty 18.98 MP 99 Tomatin sig stop 40 31/42 50 21 39 44 different types of 20.98 MP 97 48 36 24 23 57 56 tea!) 22.59 Slochd Summit sign 52 38 25 25 37 57

Both trains suffered from late starts which, as is often the case, lead to delays crossing services coming the opposite way. North of the great glen, 37.421, Table B, made a spirited effort to regain a 13 minute late start by Lairg. Single line operation was far from the only cause of delays. Typically, 87.026, in late March departed Glasgow Central 20 minutes down, due to a very late arrival, then lost a further 13 minutes to Preston. Loss of path resulted in no less than 6 dead stands at signals in the booked non stop continuation to Euston.. Another form of signal delay was experienced by 43.112 + 43.116 which lost 70 minutes between York and Darlington due to theft of signal cables. In this case time was regained to Aberdeen, so making the connection for Elgin.

Delays were frequent on the busy line out of Glasgow, Queen Street, where 'Heritage' DMUs shared the track with the subclass 47.7s which were cleared for 100mph. 47.715 enjoyed a check free run, in table C, and unusually also attained full speed approaching Haymarket.

30th Anniversary Commemorative Issue 18 July 2010 Table B

Date Saturday 11th June 1988 Train 11.35Inverness - Wick/Thurso A scheduled time of 43 minutes to Haymarket Loco 37.421 compared well with the 1970's non stop 39 Load 5 mk 2a, 160/170 minutes schedule laid down for top and tail Posn/Wx 2/6. Fair, NE'ly breeze. class 27s. The projected electrification of this Distance PLACE Time Speed route will give a schedule of less than 40 INVERNESS 13 minutes late minutes, presumably with stops. 1.60 Clachnaharry Sb 3 48 psr 10 5.85 Lentran shelter 9 19 74/76 September 17th saw the society's first mass 10.10 Beauly bldg 12 52 70/73 timing day between Paddington and Reading. 13.00 MUIR of ORD 16 25 47.5mph A TSR at Sonning rather spoilt things but times of 23m 13s down and 23m 38s up were TAIN 5 minutes late recorded. My only visit to the GW main line for 2.50 Meikle Ferry 3 35 64 many years produced an excellent run;- 57¾ 5.35 Edderton 6 15 66 minutes Paddington to Bath. An average of 8.71 MP 53 9 19 psr57/65 nearly 111 mph. Table D. A bit of a cheek to 13.61 Ardgay 14 32 56.2mph make one visit, deep into other members 2.10 MP 60 3 13 60 territory, and scoop a fastest time that lasted 3.10 Culrain 4 51 38.4mph for years. Acceleration could have been better, 2.00 MP 63 3 45 42/37 perhaps enough to produce a similar time 4.00 MP 65 6 40 46/61 today, without the slightly excessive speeds. 5.95 LAIRG 9 24 38.0mph Scheduled time:- 20//17/5/12 mins . Table C 4Reps were phased out of the Date Wednesday 2nd March 1988 Waterloo services gradually and while Train 12.00 Queen Street – Waverley their motors were being fitted to the Loco 47.715 new 'Wessex' units, class 73 with 4Tc Load 6 mk 2/3. 205/210 sets filled the gaps. The 73s struggled Posn/Wx 1/7. Fine, calm. a bit up the hills but would frequently Distance PLACE Time Speed attain three figure speeds near Right Winchester on the down grade. Runs QUEEN STREET time with the new units feature in MP 1.85 Cowlairs Sb 3 36 35 10½, where their acceleration was 3.20 Bishopbriggs 4 54 70 considered poor but speeds as high 6.20 Lenzie 7 11 86 as 117mph were recorded. Slightly 11.40 Croy 10 34 97 better than the Reps and a 17.25 Greenhill Upper Sb 14 05 103 considerable improvement on the 21.75 Falkirk High 17 29 74.6mph class 33s that had provided the 5.20 MP 27 5 10 92 traction beyond Bournemouth. Class 7.85 Linlithgow 7 55 59.5mph 90s also, were just entering service. 5.05 Winchburgh jctn 5 08 78 My first recording, behind 90.009, 9.45 Ratho 8 26 88 gave a satisfying 90 mph average 13.35 MP 43 11 00 100 between Euston and Preston, cutting 16.45 HAYMARKET 13 48 71.5mph 18/9/16 mins Scheduled time:-

9½ minutes off the schedule. North of Preston nearly all services were restricted to 100mph to save the cost of double manning, however a most trains were electric hauled, which is not the case today. Also restricted to less than line speed was the lone class 89;- to 110 mph. Two runs behind this locomotive appear in table E, showing 89.001 in control of an evening commuter train despite severe checks, but with a liberal view of the speed limit.

30th Anniversary Commemorative Issue 19 July 2010 Table D Date Saturday 29th October 1988 Train 09.50 to Paignton Loco 43.008 + 43.006 Load 8/271/29+I395 Posn/Wx 4/10. Fine, calm. Distance PLACE Time Speed PADDINGTON Right time 1.10 Westbourne Park 2 40 6.39 West Ealing 6 21 107 8.93 Southall 7 46 111 18.29 Slough 12 18 129 24.11 Maidenhead 15 02 127 35.83 Reading 20 49 84 41.39 Pangbourne 24 15 108 52.99 Didcot 29 59 125 63.68 Challow 35 00 128 77.14 Swindon 41 33 99 87.64 Dauntsey 46 49 130 93.89 Chippenham 49 45 127 98.85 MP 99 52 11 112 103.85 MP 104 55 10 90 106.75 BATH 57 47 110.9mph Scheduled time:- 62 minutes

After all that excitement, a quiet winter in the Fens sampling class 101 DMUs, was a considerable anticlimax, but there was always next year to look forward to.

Table E Date Tu 20th Sep 1988 Thur 6th Oct 1988 Train 1736 KX - Peterborough 1736 KX - Peterborough Loco 89.001 89.001 Load 9 mk 3 + DVT, 375/400 10+DVT, 413/440 Posn/Wx 2/11. Overcast, calm. 2/12. Fine, SW'ly15kts Dist Place Time Speed M S MPH KINGS CROSS Right time plat 9 Right time plat 1 2.45 Finsbury Park 4 20 72 3 53 64 4.95 Alexandria Palace 6 12 89 5 53 88 8.30 Oakleigh Park 9 15 tsr 22 8 08 98 12.70 Potters Bar 14 38 85 10 44 102 17.65 Hatfield 17 42 105/113 13 36 106 27.50 Stevenage 23 14 110 19 08 113

31.90 Hitchin 25 30 117 21 25 117 41.15 Biggleswade 30 18 113 26 13 115 51.65 St Neots 35 52 111 31 46 113 s stop 2m 58.80 HUNTINGDON 42 00 84.0mph 41 44 88.8mph

Scheduled time:- 43 minutes 43 minutes Net time :- 38½ minutes 37¾ minutes

30th Anniversary Commemorative Issue 20 July 2010 1989 Ben Stone

I have always thought that Glasgow & South Western drivers, by descent, thrashed their engines as no Englishmen did. One only had to witness the explosive start from Paisley Gilmour St) of LMS Class 2P 4-4-0. And I clearly had not done my homework on this line.

Date/day Sun 2-Jul-89 This was a surprise! I’d got off the Train 1100 Glasgow-Ayr 0855 Balloch to Balloch via the Motive Power 318258/318251 Argyle line, which arrived at 1054, Load (tons) 6, 214/230 and fortunately the Inverclyde Weather Brilliant sun platforms are next to the steps up from the Argyle line. So I was Rec/Pos/GPS? K B Stone 2/6 N settling myself while the driver Miles location Sch m s mph ave observed the 15mph area, the m curve round the back of the power 0.00 GLASGOW Cen 0.0 0 00 T signal box and the pointwork at Shields Road. Then I became 0.51 Bridge St J 1 41 18.2 aware that we were travelling very 1.57 Shields Rd 2 55 88/96 51.6 fast for the outer suburban set with 3.64 Cardonald 5 18 52.1 96, and as the Hillingtons’ flashed 4.27 Hillington E 5 44 87.2 past I timed 102mph. So despite a 4.86 Hillington W 6 05 102 101.1 slowish start we reached Paisley 7.18 Paisley G St 9.0 8 24 60.1 within 8½ minutes. But it was the next stage that made this run come 0.00 Paisley G St 0.0 9 15 /96 to life: 3.42 miles Paisley to 2.19 Elderslie 2 02 64.6 Johnstone in 3.33 minutes with a 3.26 Johnstone 3.5 3 33 42.3 maximum of 95mph. 0.00 Johnstone 4 04 /90 1.35 Milliken Park 1 33 90/97/102 52.3 By now, I was wide awake, and the journey continued in like manner to 5.60 Lochwinnoch 5.5 5 06 71.8 Barassie – and even after Troon we 0.00 Lochwinnoch 5 25 /82 achieved 74mph on the congested 4.05 Glengarock 3 35 83/88/91 67.8 part of the line. 6.81 Dalry 5 33 90/95 84.2 10.29 Kilwinning 8.5 8 35 68.8 When I got out at Ayr, I was still amazed, and yet for over 20 years 0.00 Kilwinning 9 11 /72 – a minimum of 15 times a day 7 3.35 Irvine 3.5 3 48 52.9 days a week the train on the hour 0.00 Irvine 4 35 /88/95 from Glasgow does this. I have 3.61 Barassie 4.5 4 02 53.7 since caught a 318 - but not 0.00 Barassie 4 25 including a terrifying ride - in 318257 in the year 2000 on the 1.34 Troon 1.5 2 10 37.1 1900, and not on a 334 which will 0.00 Troon 2 52 /74/70 shortly be phased out in favour of 3.41 Prestwick 3.5 3 48 53.8 the 380 while it goes off to the 0.00 Prestwick 4 53 /pws25 newly-reopened Bathgate line. 1.93 Newton on Ayr 3 13 /sigs 36.0

Ayr outer home

3.09 AYR 10.0 7 18 2E 25.4

30th Anniversary Commemorative Issue 21 July 2010 1990 Joe Cassells

In forty seven years of train timing my first love has always been steam, and this is where I was tempted to centre my recollections of 1990. I had some vigorous work with 6024 on the North Warwick line at Eastertime, followed in the summer by a splendid effort from Didcot to Sheffield and back involving 35028 and 53805, along with rather more restrained runs on the Holyhead road behind 71000 and 60009. In Ireland 2-6-4 tank no. 4 produced one of the fastest steam runs ever recorded on the Cork main line, although I was nearly more impressed by a September run from Tuam to Athenry with 0-6-0t no 90 and two bogies. In the 115 years of its life, I doubt whether this tiny engine had ever previously done a speed as high as 34, though after this herculean effort a brief stop was needed for a blow-up. The crew, a Limerick and an Athlone driver, were nonetheless well pleased with themselves!

But I want to focus on something else from Date 15 July 1990 Train 14.30 ex Cork 1990. Although an Ulsterman by birth and Loco 078 lifetime residence, I’d hitherto done very little Load 9/318/340 timing in the Irish Republic, beyond RPSI Weather Sunny steam specials. So in July 1990 a friend and 88 37 THURLES 0 00 00 I took an Irish Rail Rover Ticket – the first of 78 59 Templemore 07 34 86 72 40 Lisduff 11 38 90/94 many enjoyed over the following two 66 50 Ballybrophy 16 15 42 81 psr decades - and this run is an abiding memory 65 00 MP 16 55 78 from that week. 078’s driver produced a 59 28 Mountrath 20 42 90/92 53 38 Clonkeen 24 50 78 professional effort on a very tight schedule 50 72 Portlaois 27 1/2 26 37 88/90 (ten minutes tighter than today!) keeping a 41 50 Portarlington 35 33 24 61 psr minute in hand against the very eventuality 36 53 Monasterevan 37 34 78 34 00 MP 39 24 89 that occurred when we were diverted 32 35 Cherryville Jn 42 40 26 86 through the up platform road at Kildare. But 30 00 Kildare 44 44 55 15 sigs 27 40 Curragh 47 57 72 psr a very brisk, just slightly naughty, finish 25 40 Newbridge 48 49 27 95 guaranteed that the run ended as it began – 21 00 MP 52 22 89 right time. In 1990 there were no serious 17 72 Sallins 54 23 93 13 11 Straffan 57 25 98 restrictions until an overall 60 for the last 3 10 00 Hazelhatch 59 59 22 92 miles into Dublin, so a much higher speed 06 60 Lucan South 61 30 95 than today could be sustained as far as 04 34 Clondalkin 62 57 91 01 43 Inchicore 66 64 58 38 sigs Clondalkin. This run was followed by an 00 02 HEUSTON pfm 4 69 1/2 69 04 even faster one as we made a speedy dash to the back coach of the 18.00 Westport train. Less than two minutes after arriving in Dublin, we were off again, first stop Newbridge in 21’01”, which featured a three figure maximum. Quite an afternoon!

One other memory of an interesting year, this time begun quite near to my own home. NIR no 108 began life as CIE B class no 230, Date 17 August 1990 and was one of six engines at first leased Train 13.20 special Loco 108 and then sold north by CIE in 1986 for what Load 6/180/190 turned out only to be a brief working life. Weather Sunny None of the class ever worked a scheduled

67 42 CASTLEROCK 0 00 00 passenger train in NIR ownership, so I was 68 75 Downhill 02 57 pleased to record this run on the RPSI’s 71 77 Magilligan 06 25 58 74 77 Bellarena 09 22 62 “North West Express” It’s also included as a 79 56 Limavady Jcn 14 31 44psr tribute to Chief Loco Inspector Frank Dunlop, 82 51 Carrichue 17 26 57/61 whose supervision of this train was in fact 87 58 Eglinton 22 59 58 90 68 Culmore 26 05 59 the last day of his 48 years of railway 95 32 LONDONDERRY 36 34 23 service.

30th Anniversary Commemorative Issue 22 July 2010 “Emotion recollected in tranquillity” might apply to our logs as much as to Wordsworth’s poetry. It was certainly so for me, as I reopened the twenty year old notebooks and recalled two very happy memories of 1990.

1991Bruce Nathan

On Saturday February 2 1991, I had to go to a meeting of the SLS Council at York and made my way to King’s Cross for the 10.30 train only to find that, due to engineering works in Peascliffe Tunnel, there were few trains out of the station that morning and we were re- directed next door to St Pancras. On arriving there I saw the tail of the 10.20 (10.00 King’s Cross) leaving and the next train, the re-timed 10.30, was due to leave at 10.50. Fortunately the stock for this train was already in the platform and I was able to obtain a good seat.

This was before privatisation when both the East Coast and Midland Main lines were part of the InterCity sector and shared their HST sets, In similar circumstances today, there would probably be road transport for a considerable part of the journey. Furthermore as there were normally only two departures an hour from St Pancras on Saturdays compared to the current five, there was spare capacity on the Midland line for the diverted trains.

The 10.50 was a 2+8 HST set and the first booked stop was Leicester which I expect was to pick up passengers who would normally join at Peterborough. The supplementary timetable showed a schedule of 68 minutes from St Pancras to Leicester departure. Section 1 shows the log. It was a novelty to me as non-stop runs between St Pancras and Leicester were few at the time and I had timed none since the speed limit over part of the route had recently been raised to 110 mph. On this run, there were several instances of this limit being slightly exceeded up to 114/115 mph. There was a tsr in Belsize tunnel but the only other check on this section was signals approaching Flitwick. Was a Thameslink train ahead of us on the fast line? The time to Leicester was 67m 27s or about 64 min net.

Section 1 Miles M C location PTT ms mph ave Date/day Saturday 2 February 1991 Train 10.50 St Pancras - New castle 40.13 40 16 FLITWICK 29 36 47 59.0 Motive Pow er HST Pow er cars 43018/43165 41.68 41 60 Ampthill 31 17 81 55.2 Load (tonnes) 2+8 278/408/415 tons 47.18 47 20 Elstow 34 39 112 98.0 Rec/Pos/GPS? B.I. Nathan/8 of 10/N 49.8 49 70 BEDFORD 36 6 107 108.6 Miles M C location PTT m s mph ave 52.88 52 76 Oakley 37 45 115 111.8 56.59 56 53 Sharnbrook 39 42 110 114.2 0.00 0 06 ST PANCRAS 0 0 00 59.68 59 60 Summit 41 26 106 106.9 1.46 1 43 KENTISH TOWN 3 19 65/tsr 38 26.5 62.55 62 50 Irchester 42 58 114 112.5 3.84 3 73 WEST HAMPSTEAD 6 50 58 40.5 64.98 65 04 WELLINGBOROUGH 44 53 67 75.9 6.93 7 00 HENDON 9 13 98 77.7 68.18 68 20 Finedon 47 09 100/103 84.7 9.28 9 28 MILL HILL BROADWAY 10 38 100 99.5 71.93 72 00 KETTERING 49 24 92 100.0 12.38 12 36 ELSTREE 12 28 103/114 101.5 74.43 74 40 Glendon South Junction 50 58 99/103 95.7 15.14 15 17 RADLETT 13 58 111 110.5 78.01 78 07 Desborough 53 06 101/105 100.9 19.83 19 72 ST ALBANS 16 36 97 106.8 82.86 82 75 MARKET HARBOROUGH 56 14 64 92.9 21.18 21 20 Sandridge 17 25 100 99.2 86.43 86 40 East Langton 58 47 102 83.8 24.56 24 51 HARPENDEN 19 19 109/106 107.0 88.9 88 78 Kibw orth 60 14 103/106 102.4 27.18 27 20 Chiltern Green 20 46 110 108.1 91.46 91 43 Great Glen 61 43 104 103.7 30.16 30 19 LUTON 22 36 92 97.8 95.43 95 40 Wigston South Junction 64 11 79/90 96.4 32.70 32 62 LEAGRAVE 24 12 101/114 95.2 97.43 97 40 Knighton South Junction 65 35 78 85.7 37.18 37 20 HARLINGTON 26 36 sigs 95 111.9 99.01 99 07 LEICESTER 67 27 51.0 The log beyond Leicester is in section 2. The fast running continued as far as Trent but speeds had to be reduced thereafter along the Erewash Valley and the ‘old road’ north of Chesterfield. There were a number of signal checks and tsrs but we recovered well from them. I cannot agree with my SLS colleague who was on the 10.20 and wrote ‘we ran at speeds that would have disgraced a run-down Jubilee in steam days as we wearily jogged through the Erewash valley, round the back of Sheffield and so to Doncaster’. Although our running from Rotherham onwards may have fallen into this category, the 10.50 arrived at

30th Anniversary Commemorative Issue 23 July 2010 Section 2 Date/day Saturday 2 February 1991 Miles M C location PTT ms mph ave Train 10.50 St Pancras - New castle Motive Pow er HST Pow er cars 43018/43165 47.15 146 19 CHESTERFIELD 37 56 sigs 35 49.4 Load (tonnes) 2+8 278/408/415 tons 47.78 146 69 Tapton Junction 39 28 19/55/tsr 24.5 Rec/Pos/GPS? B.I. Nathan/8 of 10/N 50.64 149 58 Barrow Hill 42 44 64 52.6 Miles M C location PTT m s mph ave 53.58 152 53 Eckington 45 14 75/tsr 38 70.5 0.00 99 07 LEICESTER 68 68 23 56.51 155 48 Beighton Junction 48 34 79 52.9 0.67 99 61 Humberstone Road 1 29 58.31 157 32 Woodhouse Mill 50 03 71 72.8 4.70 103 63 Syston 4 15 103 87.3 61.66 160 60 Masboro South Junction 52 51 52 71.8 7.52 106 49 Sileby 5 50 111/113 107.1 62.91 162 00 Rotherham Masborough 56 35 sigs 12/4 20.1 9.85 108 75 Barrow -on-Soar 7 06 103 110.1 65.41 164 40 Aldw arke Junction Box 59 44 50/64 47.6 12.48 111 45 LOUGHBOROUGH 8 38 103 102.7 67.85 166 75 SWINTON 62 20 48 56.3 15.31 114 32 Hathern 10 14 110/113 106.4 67.85 14 58 17.24 116 26 Kegw orth 11 16 111 111.8 68.99 15 69 MEXBOROUGH 63 46 60/20 47.6 20.16 119 20 Trent Junction 13 36 36 75.2 71.29 18 13 CONISBROUGH 67 33 25/55 36.5 20.93 120 01 Trent PSB 14 49 48 37.6 76.11 22 79 DONCASTER 75 75 07 38.3 23.56 122 52 Stapleford & Sandiacre 17 46 72 53.6 0.00 155 79 0 76 50 RT 26.05 125 11 Trow ell Junction 19 38 84 80.0 4.30 160 23 Shaftholme Junction 4 37 100 55.9 27.54 126 50 Ilkeston Junction 20 41 86/79 85.0 9.94 165 74 Balne 7 44 116 108.5 30.80 129 71 LANGLEY MILL 23 07 86 80.4 13.26 169 20 Templehirst Junction 9 22 125/sigs/ 122.1 34.41 133 40 Pye Bridge 25 48 73 80.8 19.01 175 00 Hambleton North Junction 12 34 106 107.8 37.00 136 07 ALFRETON 27 46 84 78.9 24.38 180 29 Ryther Viaduct North 15 26 119 112.2 39.58 138 53 Doe Hill 29 52 tsr 43/31 73.6 26.99 182 78 Colton Junction 16 44 122 120.6 43.09 142 14 Clay Cross 33 00 71/88 67.3 28.80 184 63 Copmanthorpe 17 41 101 114.5 32.51 188 40 YORK 25 22 59 2E 42.0

Doncaster on time at an average of just over 60 mph from Leicester. From Doncaster to York it was normal fast East Coast HST running and although we were checked before Hambleton South Junction, we arrived in York at 13.38, 2 minutes early by the temporary timetable. 2 hours 48 minutes from St Pancras was quite creditable and faster than most Gresley Pacifics (the Coronation excepted), let alone run-down Jubilees, would have taken from King’s Cross in steam days.

I stayed in York overnight and returned on the Sunday by which time East Coast trains were running to King’s Cross but diverted between Doncaster and Peterborough via Lincoln and Spalding. At the time trains from Newcastle and Scotland were still all HSTs but Class 91 electric locomotives were working the Leeds services and had to be dragged by a Class 47 over this section. There was then a further diversion round the Hertford loop. This increased the time allowed between York and King’s Cross to around 3¾ hours. My run on the 12.32 HST from York kept this schedule without difficulty but my colleagues who returned on the Saturday evening had a miserable journey with the 17.34 from York leaving 40 minutes late and not arriving at King’s Cross until 22.35, 95 minutes late caused by two separate incidents of fatalities on the line.

1992 - John Heaton FCILT

I have never sought to be involved with ‘last days’ and the last day of the Class 50s on the Exeter to Waterloo route was no different. In the mid-‘90s, Network SouthEast had appointed me to co-ordinate managers from all disciplines with a target of improving standards of punctuality on this notoriously difficult route (amongst other duties of course!). The unique combination of mercurial (OK some might say unreliable) diesel locomotives, ‘engine and coaches’ working at a busy London terminal, densely occupied tracks for the fifty miles and the London end and eighty miles of mainly single line at the Exeter end was difficult enough. Add a temperamental signalling system west of Salisbury and chaos could easily ensue.

One of my ‘80s notebook entries shows a Class 50 failure at Yeovil Jct. Happily, there was a Class 47 in the yard. Unhappily, the failure was across the junction, trapping the source of salvation. We waited for the down train, which was approaching Sherborne, uncoupled its Class 50 to drag the failure back into the platform, thereby releasing the Class 47 to work the

30th Anniversary Commemorative Issue 24 July 2010 failed train. The down class 50 then resumed its journey to Exeter. As operators, we felt to have done a decent job but our customers no doubt felt otherwise.

In the late 1980s, I had conducted an investigation into replacing Class 50s with Class 47s but the Brush Type 4s could not match their English Electric counterparts on the great majority of criteria used. However, it was now 23rd May 1992, I had left the industry and the Class 50 statistics had no doubt deteriorated. It was the penultimate day of their operation so I decided to have a final fling as far as Salisbury.

No. 50033 had charge of the 14.22 Exeter to Waterloo, one of the three Exeter through turns, a nine-hour job returning with the 19.10 and probably the toughest turn on the roster. Coincidentally, the driver was Peter Longthorpe from the 1985 entry to this publication.

Exeter St. David's to Salisbury M. ChnDec. Mls Timing Point Sch. Min SecM.P.H. A v e. Loco 50033 134 04 10.46 Hew ish 11 47 45 47.6 Vehicles/tare/gross tonnes 9/301/310-315 132 48 11.91 Crew kerne TEP 13 25 61 53.3 Train 14.22 Exeter S.D.-Waterloo 132 03 12.48 Crew kerne a. 14 15 00 21.3 Date 23/5/92 132 03 0.00 d. 15 16 19 Rec/Pos/GPS? J. Heaton,9/10 No 127 66 4.21 Hardington 3 50 76 65.9 M. Chns Dec. Mls Timing Point Sch. Min. Sec. M.P.H. Ave. 124 67 7.20 Sutton Bingham 6 08 87 77.9 172 12 0.00 Exeter St. D. d. 0 0 00 2L -/25 122 48 9.44 Yeovil Jct a. 9 8 33 55.6 171 30 0.78 Exeter C. a. 3249 16.5 122 48 0.00 d. 11 9 44 171 30 0.00 d. 5 4 24 120 60 1.85 Wyke 2 55 56/72 38.1 170 72 0.47 St. James P. 1 17 40/sigs 22.2 118 04 4.55 Sherborne a. 6 5 43 57.9 170 21 1.11 Exmouth Jct 2 2 20 31/sigstop105s 36.4 118 04 0.00 d. 7 6 54 168 41 2.86 Pinhoe 4 9 38 43 14.4 115 40 2.55 MP 115½ 4 15 47 36.0 166 55 4.69 Broadclyst 11 26 70 60.8 114 31 3.66 Milborne Port 5 28 61/68 54.9 165 20 6.13 Crannaford 12 36 75 73.9 111 79 6.06 Templecombe a. 8 8 03 55.7 163 02 8.35 Whimple a. 91456 57.2 111 79 0.00 d. 9 8 32 163 02 0.00 d. 10 15 22 109 43 2.45 Ashford LC 2 58 74 49.6 161 00 2.03 MP 161 3 24 73 35.7 107 78 4.01 Gillingham TWP 4 18 66 70.3 159 24 3.72 Feniton a. 5½ 5 32 47.8 105 18 6.76 Gillingham a. 7½ 7 09 57.9 159 24 3.72 d. 6½ 6 05 105 18 0.00 d. 8½ 7 56 157 00 6.03 MP 157 3 10 63 43.6 102 00 3.22 MP 102 4 46 51 40.6 154 55 8.34 Honiton 6548 52.7 101 12 4.07 Semley 5 44 54 52.8 154 55 0.00 d. 7½ 6 55 99 00 6.22 MP99 7 38 83/87 67.9 153 26 1.36 Honiton TWP 2 36 43 31.4 97 11 8.09 Tisbury Gates 8 57 81 84.9 150 10 4.56 Black Sands 5 14 94/97/77 72.9 96 14 9.05 Tisbury a. 10½ 10 17 43.3 147 65 6.88 Seaton Jct 6 54 85/94 83.3 96 14 0.00 d. 11½ 11 08 144 41 10.18 Axminster a. 10 9 50 67.5 94 75 1.24 Tisbury Quarry 2 09 59 34.5 144 41 0.00 d. 12 10 04 91 72 4.27 Dinton 4 42 86/88 71.5 141 56 2.81 Axe 3 51 64 43.8 90 00 6.18 MP 90 6 01 85 86.6 141 14 3.34 Broom 4 21 63 63.0 86 11 10.04 Wilton 9½ 9 14 46 72.0 139 32 5.11 Chard 6½ 5 59 68 65.2 85 40 10.68 Wilton Jct 10½ 10 02 54/65 47.8 137 00 7.51 MP 137 8 04 73/40tsr 41 69.1 83 43 12.64 Salisbury a. 13½ 12 25 2L 49.4

It was disappointing, if routine, to be held at Pinhoe for the late 11.10 from Waterloo so we were 7min late at Whimple. Any further delay might initiate a domino effect on other trains, which might eventually topple into Peter’s path on his journey home.

Gains at stations meant a 5½min late departure from Honiton and a last shot at an illegal Class 50 100mph on the 85mph permanent speed restriction down Seaton bank. I recorded a 9.35sec quarter, still accelerating, before braking for the 80mph psr below Black Sands, so I reckon it was a 97mph max. It was a relief no longer to have the task of deciding what action should be taken about that. This was the RPS fastest single loco time for this section. Further determined work from the crew at both ends of the train brought the Class 50 into Salisbury a manageable 2min late. An era was over.

In case future train timers should be tempted to suggest the locomotive and coaches work on Exeter to Waterloo operated to easy schedules, just take a careful look a the log, the

30th Anniversary Commemorative Issue 25 July 2010 booked dwell times and just what a determined driver had in hand on the sectional running times. And this was after I had persuaded the Swindon train planners to adopt the Southern 5% contingency arrangement instead of block recovery time on the route.

I crossed to the down side for the 15.10 from Waterloo in the hands of No. 47701, one of the locos that were to see out the last days of loco-haulage before the efficient but soulless Class 159s arrived. The Class 47 managed 52½mph minimum on the climb to Honiton Tunnel with ten on. This was typical for a ‘50’ on nine, demonstrating the Class 47s superior power when losing speed from the upper ranges, one of the few properties that had been identified in the Brush Type 4s’ favour in the earlier study.

1993 - Mark Warburton

I have done relatively little rail travelling and timing during the thirty years existence of the RPS – the decades of 1950’s 1960’s and 1970’s saw much more personal activity in this field. However, one aspect of my regular travelling has been to visit Exeter to record summer Saturday workings, almost every such week for the past 40 years and more spasmodically for 20 or years or so before that when a 5½ day working week was still in vogue.

Until the advent of the Voyagers, I generally endeavoured to travel to and from Bristol by haulage services and over the years timed some exciting runs – chiefly with class 47’s. Although nominally restricted to 95mph maximum, in the days before defensive driving and the dreaded “black box” recorders, speeds in excess of 100mph were commonplace, not only downhill from Whiteball but not infrequently across the Somerset Levels as well.

A promise to our Editor that I write a summary of these journeys (some 500 in total to date) or “Milepost” will have to wait a bit. Meanwhile I have chosen an unusual return run of 1993 for this anniversary series. For many years, there were two summer Saturday services from South Wales to the West of England –one from Swansea to Penzance, and another starting from Cardiff. By the 1990’s this had reduced to one through service from Cardiff to Paignton and back – originally a 12-coach formation, then an HST, then for several years this was diagrammed for three class 153 single cars, but in practice any combination of “sprinter” type units, from two to six cars might turn up. No West of England service to or from South Wales now operate on summer Saturdays.

On Saturday 26th June 1993 I needed to return from Exeter earlier than usual so I caught the 1532 Paignton to Cardiff at 1623. On this day, it was the three single 153’s as booked – nominally limited to 75mph. Exeter was left on time and 85mph was recorded as early as Hele, with Whiteball summit cleared at 75mph. From 88mph at Wellington, and unwavering 84-87mph was held right through to Long Ashton. Not surprisingly, Bristol was not ready for us, and a 1½min signal stop was enforced at Pylle Hill, at an average of almost 80mph from Exeter. The arrival at Temple Meads was effected just within the hour at 75.7mph, including the signal stop. The intermediate pass to pass 70miles from Stoke Canon to Parson St had averaged 84mph.

I don’t claim this as a record, but I have never come across a faster dmu – heritage or sprinter - run faster than this.

30th Anniversary Commemorative Issue 26 July 2010 Date/day Sat 26-Jun-93 Miles M C location PTT m s mph Train 1532 Paignton-Cardiff 33.64 20 74 Creech St Michael 25 48 88 Motive Power 153327/377/362 35.51 22 36 Cogload 27 07 87 Load (tons) 3 36.43 24 21 Durston 27 49 87 Recorder M Warburton 42.29 31 03 Bridgwater 31 51 84 Miles location PTT m s mph 44.89 35 78 Dunball 33 38 86 0.00 EXETER St D 0 0 00 RT 48.58 38 52 Highbridge 36 18 84 1.23 Cowley Br J 2 03 55 51.39 41 43 Brent Knoll 38 14 85 3.40 Stoke Canon 4 01 73 55.83 44 60 Uphill J 41 24 85 7.15 Silverton 6 54 81 58.76 48 35 Worle J 43 24 86 8.38 Hele 7 47 85 59.91 53 11 Puxton 44 16 86 12.56 Cullompton 10 45 84 63.57 56 40 Yatton 46 48 87 14.81 Tiverton J 12 26 80 67.48 60 32 Nailsea 49 31 85 16.57 Tiverton Pkway 13 44 85 69.64 63 67 Flax Bourton 51 04 83 19.15 Burlescombe 15 39 77 71.84 66 40 Long Ashton 52 45 85 19.90 Whiteball 16 14 75 73.73 71 40 Parson St 54 12 65 23.65 Wellington 18 55 88/86 74.64 Bedminster 55 12 /sig st 1.5m 28.80 Norton Fitzwarren 22 29 88 75.52 BRISTOL T M 68.5 59 55 30.76 Taunton 23 50 87

1994 Longsight Driver.

In 1994, the writing was on the wall - changes meant that I would not be working Inter City trains in the near future, so, where possible, I arranged swaps with colleagues so I could drive class 47s on trains that became part of the XC franchise. One memorable occasion was on a Bank Holiday in April; I worked the 0718 Manchester to Birmingham. Due to engineering work, the train was diverted via Styal, stopping at Wilmslow. By this time XC train formations had decreased to a standard 7 Mk 2 AC coaches; this made comparing the performance between locomotives much easier but being of sufficent weight to require several minutes work accelerating from station stops.

I arrived at Longsight with dawn breaking. There were no problems with the loco during preparation, so I ‘whistled up’ and dropped down to the north end, off the shed when the signal cleared and straight into Piccadilly to attach to the stock, which was already in the platform. When we conferred, the senior conductor advised of very low passenger numbers and we left platform7 RT into the early morning sunshine, crossing from the DF to the DS at Ardwick. Hitting the sharp curve on to the Styal line at Slade Lane, I felt the ride was rougher than usual at the correct speed. The following acceleration seemed a little sluggish, so I dropped the window to listen to the power unit. This sounded OK, not as powerful as the best at that time (806/830/850) and certainly not bad - 849 was very poor in this period. The straight alignment from Mauldeth Road to East Didsbury allowed me to see a signal in the distance change yellow to green, so I eased power to avoid braking. The signal at the end of Gatley platform just changed to green on approach so we started the 1 in 135 upgrade on full power at 70. The locos’ speedometer indicated that we sustained 71 over entire length of the upgrade. After Wilmslow, the normal ¾ power cruise at 95 mph through Cheshire was interrupted by 2x TSRs, the speedometer reading a maximum of 86 before Sandbach. The diversion of our train seems to have deceived the signalman at Crewe, who stopped us, only for us to have a clear road with no sign of any other train movements. As we passed on the centre road I dropped the window to listen to the sound of the power unit reverberating off the station buildings. Using the centre road allowed an extra few yards compared to a station

30th Anniversary Commemorative Issue 27 July 2010 Date 04 04 94 stop, and increased the Train 0718 Manchester Brighton chance of a sustained Loco 47826- No.2 End speed further up the Load 7-234/240-245 Mk2 air con bank to Madeley, and Weather dry mild calm/light winds in this instance the M C location Sch m s speedo actual speedometer indicated MANCHESTER PICC a small increase from 188 64 (P7) 0 0 00 15*/28*/55 75 to 77. On the 186 40 Slade Lane Jn 4 3 58 1/2 46*/76 following downgrade 5 09 Gatley 7 44 1/2 70 75 the loco barely touched 2 40 Mp 2 1/2 9 42 1/2 71/TSR 10 76 maximum speed before 176 71 WILMSLOW 16 13 50 having to slow for the 175 20 Alderley Edge 2 29 1/2 60/TSR 20 90 PSR through Norton 172 12 Chelford 6 49 55/TSR 40 Bridge. 168 26 Goostrey 11 20 68/86 71/94 162 46 Sandbach 15 47 TSR42/40 Having now decided sigs 5 that the speedometer is 158 00 Crewe 20 1/2 23 34 30 definitely reading 156 22 Basford Hall Jn 25 34 1/2 62 64 substantially low at 153 13 Betley Road 28 07 1/2 75 79 high speed, I used the 149 74 Madeley 26 1/2 30 31 1/2 78 83 brake more cautiously 147 40 Whitmore 32 12 1/2 85 90 than before. Beyond 142 00 Mp142 35 32 96 104 Stafford, a long 139 00 Norton Bridge 35 1/2 37 18 91* 98 standing TSR in force 136 00 Mp 136 39 05 95/XUS 29 103 near Penkridge neatly 133 43 STAFFORD 41 1/2 42 23 divide this section to 133 00 Trent Valley Jn. 1 09 40 give two long periods of 25 00 Mp 25 4 27 75/76 79/80 full power acceleration. bke/TSR 23 32 Penkridge 5 41 42 After giving the loco a last working on full 17 00 Mp 17 11 24 79/80 84/85 power clear of the 15 29 Bushbury Jn 12 36 58*/20* PSRs leaving Wolves, 12 76 WOLVES 15 10 braking was necessary 12 40 Mp 12 1/2 1 35 1/2 22 for the 60 PSR near 9 46 Coseley 4 41 70/61* Tipton, then due to the 8 12 Tipton 5 57 62 generous schedule it 3 64 Galton Jn. 12 10 50 TSR 40/46 0 05 BIRMINGHAM. NEW ST. 18 17 34 sigs 20 it was possible to coast to New St and still suffer a signal check inside the Stour tunnel.

In the table, which was produced in conjunction with a colleague, I have estimated actual speeds at some locations in the column next to those recorded from the speedometer. It can be seen that the size of the error at high speed required the caution adopted when braking. EDHPs of 1800 at 75 indicate that the loco was performing well for the class at this period.

1995 Michael Rowe

It has oft been stated that the GWR Chief Mechanical Engineer, G.J.Churchward on hearing that his equivalent on the Great Northern Railway, Nigel Gresley intended building a pacific locomotive said to the effect “He needn’t bother, I can let him have ours” Whether this is apocryphal or not Churchward’s Pacific, “The Great Bear” was withdrawn from service in 1924 and nominally rebuilt as a “Castle” 4-6-0. The following year, the LNER/GWR locomotive exchange between Gresley Class A1 4-6-2 No.4474 and Collett Castle Class 4- 6-0 No.4074 resulted in a triumph for the smaller loco..

30th Anniversary Commemorative Issue 28 July 2010

The A1 kept exemplary time in both directions with the “Cornish Riviera Express” to Plymouth, greatly to the credit to Driver Pibworth. Driver Rowe [No relative!],.with the Castle, overall eclipsed this performance but not on the restart from Exeter; Pibworth with the Up train on May 2nd and 345 tons Tare passed Whiteball summit (19.9 miles) in 22 minutes exactly compared with 23-31, albeit with an extra coach.

Date 28-Apr-48 I 21-Jul-48 II 1995 III Loco 60033 34006 60009 Type A4 4-62 wc 4-6-2 A4-4-6-2 Load 15,492/525 14,449/475 11/413/440 Recorder C J Allen W J Alcock Sean Emmett Dist Sch mph Sch mph Sch mph 0.0 Exeter 0 0.00 0 0.00 0 0.00 1.3 Cowley Bridge J t 3.38 37 3.29 50 4.05 42 3.4 Stoke Canon 6.43 47 6.10 55 6.34 62 7.2 Silverton 11.17 53 10.05 60 9.54 71 8.4 Hele 12.37 56 11.17 66 10.56 74 12.6 Cullompton 16.55 60/53 15.00 68/60 14.16 78/75 14.9 Tiverton Jct 19.19 61 17.09 66 16.01 78/80 16.7 Sampford Pev 21.12 18.45 64 19 17.20 *80 19.2 Burlescombe 24.12 47 21.21 53 19.08 **73 19.9 Whiteball 25.48 22.19 19.59 70 20pwr pwr30 21.26 ***91/95 23.7 Wellington 30.57 75 27.07 76 22.35 84 26.6 Norton Fitzwarren 35.21 31.27 26.34 69 30.8 Taunton 38 38.43 38 34.53 35 30.13 2.4 Creech Jct 4.31 57 4.20 55 > 4.52 5.8 Durston To Westbury(A) 7.32 70 >> 8.28 76 11.6 Bridgwater 12.29 82/84 14.1 Dunball 14.28 73 >>> 14.22 83 17.9 Highbridge 20 17.37 72 17.03 81 20.6 Brent Knoll 20.00 66 19.07 81 25.1 Uphill Jct 28 24.06 64 33 24.07 36 sig stop29-01/35-56 28.0 Worle Jct 31 26.42 70 34 38.02 32.8 Yatton 30.46 74 43.41 65 36.7 Nailsea 33.56 75 47.07 69 38.9 Flax Bourton 35.49 70 48.58 68/67 41.6 Long Ashton 37.59 75 50.55 69 43.8 Bedminster 54.05 sig stop 44.8 Bristol TM 53 47.59 56 58.40 * Tiverton Parkway 16.6 miles from Exeter ** MP175 18.9 miles *** Beam Bridge 21.9

[A600] 33 passed Curry Rivel Jct 11.9 miles in 13-16 at 75 mph, fell to 61 at Somerton, then from 71 fell to 68 on the 1/264 to Charlton and passed Alford 25.4 miles inside even time, 25 minutes 10 seconds. > M5 Bridge - 2.1 miles from Taunton,>> MP157 - 6.1.miles >>> MP149 - 14.1 miles

30th Anniversary Commemorative Issue 29 July 2010

British Railway’s 1948 Locomotive Exchanges aroused much interest; particularly pacific performance over the former GWR route. The A4 [I] developed an EDHP in the range of 1,450-1,500 between Hele and Cullompton. The loco was then taken easily up to Whiteball, perhaps in anticipation of the pw slack to 20mph. The A4, taking the Westbury route, showed its true ability from the Taunton restart. It attained “even time” in 25 miles with 74mph on the “Levels”, climbed the 4½ miles mainly at 1/264 to Somerton tunnel at a minimum of 61 mph and on the following 1¾ miles at the same gradient up to Charlton only fell from 71 to 68mph [1,700- 1,800 EDHP].

The Bulleid Pacific’s produced some scintillating performances [and heavy coal consumption]. The light Pacific’s were driven with considerable élan. Driver Snell with No. 34006 [II] and timed by RPS member William Alcock was almost a minute slower to Stoke Canon than Pibworth’s in 1925 but half a minute quicker from there to Whiteball with 475 tons vs 345. The EDHP was 1.500-1,600 between Hele and Cullompton and probably exceeded 1,800 before easing for the Whiteball pws. The Taunton to Bristol stage was one of the Exchange highlights; at 75 mph, depending on wind conditions, the modestly dimensioned Pacific was developing 1,150-1,200 HP at the drawbar.

Those wishing to discover what a Gresley Pacific, driven with serious intent, could achieve on the former GWR had to wait until 1995 when with an obviously dubious speedometer run {III] materialised. The average EDHP between Hele and Cullompton was in the range 1,800- 1,900, exceeded 2,000 onwards to Whiteball with a peak of c 2,200; a performance redolent of the very best A4 climbs to Stoke in the Down direction. The restart from Taunton was equally impressive, 84 mph attained in 12 level miles, 1350-1,400 DBHP. C.J.Allen in 1948 wrote after noting 60033’s splendid Hemerdon ascent earlier in its journey “the wheel had come full circle since the day of the Great Western victory in 1925” Certainly so in 1995...

1996 David Ashley/John Heaton

We’re now roughly halfway through our 30 year journey, and it’s perhaps time to take stock. There has been a preponderance of coverage in the southern half of England, which is perhaps a reflection of the geographic profile of the membership of the Society, rather than the performance interest. What, perhaps isn’t surprising is the volume of loco and coaches runs in the first half, in spite of the introduction of new stock during the later years. So we have been treated to an abundance of 47 haulage, together with some 33, 37 40 and 50 runs. In fact some of these loco hauled runs were substitutions due to problems with the new traction.

Due to a lack of material from 1996, I decided to look at fastest times during the year for inclusion here. This was done using the RPS database and archive in conjunction with the Fastest Times. Who would have thought it would be possible back in 1980, or possibly even in 1996, that it would be possible to have loaded 250,000 records into an RPS database, and that one could interrogate the database and produce scanned images thousands of logs. One run which did stand out was a run on the down Golden Hind between Reading and Taunton recorded by John Heaton. The fact that the record has stood for the last 15 years, with plenty of trains running to this stopping pattern, is maybe due to lack of increase in line speeds during this period and the spread of defensive driving in later years.

Unfortunately, the train was running in darkness before the arrival of GPS, so actual speeds are not available. What can be seen is that the average speeds were up to line limits throughout, and the record was achieved in spite of a 60mph tsr around Woodborough. Maybe an 8 minute early arrival was unnecessary, and the driver could have been “playing to the gallery” He could have been ensuring that he would be able to sign off and rejoin the

30th Anniversary Commemorative Issue 30 July 2010 train for its onward journey, but whatever the reason, it was certainly an impressive run of the quality that is rarely seen in the new century.

Date/day 22-Jan-96 av Train 1735 Padd-Penzance miles m c location m s spd

Motive Power 43169/43174 34.14 70 9 Savernake 22 51 81.6 Load (tons) 2+7 34.86 70 67 Burbage 23 21 87 Weather SE Gale 36.53 72 40 Wootton Rivers 24 19 103.2 Rec/Pos/GPS? J Heaton,8/9, N 39.35 75 26 Pewsey 26 00 100.7

Miles m c location m s av spd 42.94 78 73 Woodborough 27 58 109.4 1E/60tsr 35 78 READING 0 00 T 51.05 87 2 Lavington 33 03 95.8 0.92 36 72 Reading W 1 46 31.4 55.55 91 42 Edington 35 27 112.5 2R 1.8 37 62 Southcote J 2 41 57.3 T 58.63 94 48 Heywood Rd J 37 12 105.4 3.5E 5.33 41 24 Theale 5 02 90 61.04 97 1 Fairwood J 38 37 102.2 4.5E 7.51 43 39 Ufton 6 22 98.4 64.31 114 40 Clink Rd J 40 37 98.3 4.5E 8.84 44 65 Aldermaston 7 09 101.5 66.29 116 38 Blatchbridge J 41 57 88.9 5E 10.76 46 59 Midgham 8 18 100.4 70.58 120 76 Witham 44 27 102.9 12.96 48 75 Colthrop 9 39 97.8 75.74 126 9 Bruton 47 50 91.6 13.6 49 46 Thatcham 10 02 99.8 79.18 129 44 Castle Cary 49 52 101.4 5E 16.41 52 31 Newbury RC 11 40 103.3 89.55 125 57 Somerton 56 00 101.5 2R 17.1 53 6 Newbury 12 03 107.6 1E 90.58 126 59 Somerton TE 56 36 102.5 20.14 56 9 Hamstead 13 40 112.7 91.18 127 27 Somerton TW 56 57 102.9 22.46 58 35 Kintbury 15 00 104.6 93.76 129 74 Langport E 58 23 108.3 25.56 61 43 Hungerford 17 06 88.6 98.83 134 79 Athelney 61 26 99.6 29.3 65 22 L Bedwyn 19 34 90.9 101.99 138 12 Cogload 63 24 96.5 7.5E 30.45 66 34 Bedwyn 20 15 101 .5E 101.99 158 32 0 32.08 68 4 Grafton 21 20 90 106.74 163 12 TAUNTON 66 56 80.7 8E

1997 – Paul Walker

John Heaton suggested that I looked for a year for which I might cover my favourite route on my favourite train – which he alleged were the ECML and the 15.00 from Kings Cross. Maybe this is accurate so far as the current railway is concerned (certainly there is no argument regarding the route) – but my most favoured train, on which I travelled ‘only once’ in each direction (in 1956), was the Elizabethan.

Since I resumed serious timing in the 90s, after a career in insurance, the 15.00 has certainly seen plenty of me, and I have got to know many on-board staff. Unfortunately there have not been many opportunities to meet the drivers – one knew Christopher Garnett rather better! Twice it has been singled out for ‘special attention’ by the timetablers, by adjusting recovery / performance minutes. In 1992 /1993 (under BR in its ‘gung-ho’ days) the working time to Edinburgh became 3 hours 59 minutes, with stops at York and Newcastle. Odd minutes were then added, but in 1997, GNER (scarcely a year old) persuaded Network Rail to reintroduce the sub 4 hour schedule, with an advertised arrival time at Edinburgh Waverley of 18.59. I understand that there was some financial incentive for Network Rail if the train reached Waverley on time, but maybe this is an apocryphal story. In any event I doubt if much money changed hands – unless the ‘ten minute rule’ applied!

30th Anniversary Commemorative Issue 31 July 2010 I only had two trips to Edinburgh under BR on the 15.00, in August ’92 and May ’93. Perhaps strangely, time was kept on both occasions, or was this only an indication of fewer trains? Date 01/07/1997 dist timing point sch. M. S. Speeds Av. Speeds Train 1500 KX-Glasgow 122.89 Bathley Lane LC 63 33 114 108.4 Loco 91005 126.23 Carlton LC/d'n box 65 13 125/127 120.2 Load 9+DVT 130.28 Egmanton LC 67 7.5 126½ 127.3 Recorder/posP Walker 10/11 134.38 Askham Tunnel 69 7 117½ 123.5 dist timing point sch. M. S. Speeds Av. Speeds 138.53 RETFORD 73 71 12 122½ 119.5 0.00 KINGS CROSS O 0 0 T 143.91 Ranskill LC 73 43.5 131 127.8 0.73 Copenhagen Tunn. 2 28 17.8 147.63 Baw try [½] 75 31.5 116/112½/118 124.0 2.43 FINSBURY PARK 4 4 3.5 73½ 64.1 151.28 Rossington LC 77 24 ? 116.8 4.91 ALEXANDRA PAL 6 5 42 /103 90.6 153.91 MP154 78 46.5 ? 114.8 9.08 NEW BARNET 8 0.5 116 108.4 155.90 DONCASTER 82 79 57 ?/sigs 101.6 12.66 POTTERS BAR 10½ 9 49.5 120 118.2 157.94 Arksey LC 81 15 /psr 94.2 15.49 WELHAM GREEN 11 18 115½ 115.1 160.51 Joan Croft Junc.LC 82 44 104 104.0 17.61 HATFIELD 12 23.5 117½ 116.5 162.94 Moss LC 84 6 108 106.7 20.24 WELWYN G CITY 14½ 13 45.5 115 115.5 165.80 Balne 85 35 121 115.7 21.86 WELWYN NORTH 14 37 113 113.2 169.16 Templehirst Junc. 89 87 10.5 126.7 24.91 KNEBWORTH 16 8 126 120.7 172.45 Selby Canal 88 43 130½ 128.0 27.51 STEVENAGE 18 17 20 131 130.0 174.91 Hambleton N Junc 91½ 89 51 130 130.2 31.86 HITCHIN 20 19 20.5 128/126 130.0 179.96 Ryther Viaduct S <1> 92 12.5 126½ 128.5 36.97 ARLESEY 21 45 130 127.3 182.91 Colton Junct. FB 96½ 93 39 117 122.8 41.10 BIGGLESWADE 23 39 132½ 130.4 185.60 Copmanthorpe OB 95 7.5 106/0* 109.4 44.04 SANDY 26 24 59.5 130/131 131.5 188.04 Holgate Bridge OB 100 35.5 sig st 2m10s 26.8 47.39 Tempsford 26 32 130 130.4 188.41 YORK 101 101 20 29.9 51.61 ST NEOTS 28 30 126 128.7 00 1L 55.81 Offord 30 32 121 123.9 1.66 Skelton Junction 2½ 3 2.5 32.7 58.75 HUNTINGDON 33 31 56 129 126.0 3.20 Skelton Bridge 4 19 72.5 62.64 Abbots Ripton 33 44.5 129½/133 129.1 5.50 Beningboro' OB 5 38.5 112 104.2 65.91 MP 66 35 14 130 131.5 9.50 Tollerton 7½ 7 38 128 120.5 69.24 Holme LC 38 36 50 112½/103 124.9 14.00 MP 14 9 41.5 131 131.2 72.70 Yaxley OB 174 38 48 105.6 17.97 Sessay OB 11 30 131 131.7 76.25 PETERBOR' pass 42 40 42 psr 112.1 22.15 THIRSK 13½ 13 25.5 131 130.3 79.53 Werrington Junct. 42 23 123 116.9 26.55 Otterington 15 26 130½ 131.5 81.81 Helpston LC 43 27 128½ 128.3 30.00 N'ALLERTON 17 17 1.5 131 130.1 84.71 Tallington LC 46 44 47.5 130½/129 129.7 33.76 Danby Wiske OB 18 45 130½ 130.8 88.70 Essendine OB 46 38 132 130.0 37.16 Cow ton UB 20 19 128 130.2 92.13 Little Bytham Bdg 48 12 128½ 131.4 41.49 Croft Spa OB 22 25 /50sigs 123.7 94.91 MP 95 49 31.5 122½ 125.9 44.04 DARLINGTON 24 24 34.5 70.9 97.00 Corby Glen 50 32.5 124 123.3 45.86 Springfield OB 25 59 77.5 100.05 Stoke Summit 53½ 52 3.5 122 120.7 51.18 Aycliffe N OB 29 29 91.2 102.04 Great Ponton 53 4 115½ 118.4 54.93 Bradbury OB 31 30 111.6 105.35 GRANTHAM 56½ 54 47.5 103 115.1 56.88 Ferryhill 32 32 120 113.2 107.73 Peascliffe Tunnel 56 7 115 107.8 58.96 Tursdale OB 32½ 33 34.5 119 119.8 109.59 Barkston S Ju. UB 58½ 57 3.5 123 118.5 62.16 Croxdale 35 29 89/5sigs 100.6 111.58 Hougham OB 261 57 59 131 129.1 66.18 DURHAM 37 40 48 35 approx 45.4 115.25 Claypole LC/d'nbox 59 39.5 131½ 131.5 71.81 CHESTER LE ST. 44 42.5 111/103sigs 86.4 118.95 Barnby Box/LC 61 25.5 118 125.7 76.56 Lamesley OB A69 <2½> 47 21.5 109 107.5 120.06 NEWARK 63½ 61 59 106/psr 119.3 79.46 K.Edw ard B S Jun. 48 49 32 sigs 80.0 80.14 NEWCASTLE 50½ 51 52

On the first run the overall time was 3 hours 57 minutes, and on the second 3 hours 51 minutes (concluding with a time of 75 minutes 37 seconds from Newcastle to Edinburgh, a gain of 6½ minutes on this stretch alone). One might have been tempted to think the schedule was not difficult. Certainly at the time I did not consider the runs exceptional. Line limits were only marginally exceeded on the first but on the second 133 was reached 3 times south of York, and 132 on several other occasions. Signal and tsr checks were few.

A brief word about my timing method prior to the advent of GPS, which had it been available, would have added so much additional information to what follows. I preferred to travel on the up side when travelling north, which provides a better view of mileposts. However up side posts are full miles only, with the consequent limitation on the recording of maximum and minimum speeds. However it makes for good correlation with averages!

The log selected for 1997 sticks in the mind as much for the driver’s comment as for the run itself, although it records the only occasion I have passed Doncaster in under 80 minutes

30th Anniversary Commemorative Issue 32 July 2010 from Kings Cross, at an average of 117 mph. Features included Potters Bar being passed at an unusual 120 mph; the climb to Abbots Ripton starting and finishing at 129; 132 after Essendine and a steady 130 /131 between York and Darlington. Unfortunately signal checks prevented exact timekeeping, although we were only 1¾ minutes late into Newcastle, having left Kings Cross ½ minute late. Leaving the train on this occasion at Newcastle I congratulated the Kings Cross driver on his performance while regretting that checks had prevented exact timekeeping. According to my notes he replied “These are good locos – I just keep going like the clappers on these schedules”. This was characteristic of many GNER drivers at the time. Net time to York was about 97 minutes.

I travelled again on the 15.00 on the Monday of the following week – probably with a different driver. Retford was passed in a similar time, but a problem with Ranskill gates made us nearly 9 minutes late passing Doncaster. A speed of 134½ was attained after Hambleton, but further signals prevented any time recovery. From York to Newcastle, with 130/133 we were heading for a time of 47 minutes on to Newcastle, but a stop for sheep on the line near Bradbury meant a further loss of 3¼ minutes. Sheep and gate problems – were they unusual at this time?

Although current schedules are less onerous, and the overall time is 4 hours 13 minutes, this does include extra stops at Darlington and Berwick, possibly absorbing 10 minutes. The train is still worth timing – in September 08 we reached York in 100 minutes 10seconds (under 99 minutes net) on its 104 minute schedule. The ruling speed was 126/127, but 129 was reached before and after Essendine.

So is the 15.00 a deserving successor to the Elizabethan? Certainly it is not as glamorous. To the onboard crews clearly not as prestigious – to them with short turn rounds it is just another train. And currently 3 minutes longer than the Virgin equivalent to Glasgow. But around 4 hours as compared with 6½ represents real progress, and maybe we shall see 4 hours again when the ECML timetables are recast? To those of us interested in the driving aspect of performance one cannot help but feel that many Kings Cross drivers, setting out on the non-stop run to York, do so with the same determination as their predecessors did at the controls of an A4.

1998 – Brian Milner

I was in the middle of a Railrover and was on my way back from Penzance. The previous day, 47806 had given me a couple of RPS records in Cornwall and I was wondering how well we would do on the train’s non-stop run from Bristol Parkway to Birmingham New Street. 47806 was on a standard 7 coach Mk 2 air coach set. 75 mph was achieved before Westerleigh Jn, which was passed at 26 mph. A brief 23 mph after Westerleigh Jn was followed by a very fast run to Tuffley Jn. The eighteen miles from Wickwar to Brookthorpe were run at an average of 103.6 mph with a maximum of 108 mph. This with a locomotive officially limited to 95 mph! 61 mph at Gloucester Yard Jn was followed 84 mph through Badgeworth before 39 mph through Cheltenham Spa. We then ran at over 90 mph (with a maximum of 100 mph) on the slightly uphill section towards Bromsgrove but then had a very brief signal stop just before Stoke Works Jn at signal G67. 67 mph at Bromsgrove fell to 39 mph at Blackwell. With a good run thereafter into New Street, another RPS record was achieved.

30th Anniversary Commemorative Issue 33 July 2010

BRISTOL PARKWAY - BIRMINGHAM NEW STREET Miles M C Location D245 m s mph ave Date 17-Jul-98 38.61 86 58 CHELTENHAM SPA 33.0 30 12.5 39 60.8 Train 0848 Penzance-Manchester 40.30 85 03 Morris Hill 31 59.0 74 57.0 Loco 47806 42.41 82 74 Cleeve 33 31.5 88 82.2 Load 7,235260/380 6.8hp/ton Mk2 aircon 43.79 81 44 Tredington 34 25.5 94 91.7 Recorder, position B Milner 6/8 45.88 79 37 A SHCHURCH 39.0 35 43.5 98 96.3 Miles M C Location D245 m s mph ave 48.01 77 26 Bredon 37 03.0 96 96.8 0.00 111 62 BRISTOL PARKWAY 0.0 0 00.0 12 L 50.76 74 46 Eckington 38 43.5 99/100 98.5 1.95 109 66 Winterbourne 2 49.5 66 41.4 51.84 73 40 Defford 39 22.5 99/ 96 99.2 3.28 108 40 Coalpit Heath 3 56.5 75 71.2 54.71 70 50 Pirton 41 09.0 97 97.2 4.63 107 12 Westerleigh Junction 5.0 5 29.5 26/ 23 52.3 56.59 68 60 Abbotsw ood J 46.5 42 21.0 91/ 95 93.7 6.20 119 60 YATE 8.0 8 26.5 56 32.0 60.84 64 40 Milepost 45 05.5 94 92.7 8.86 117 07 Rangew orthy 10 37.5 85 73.2 62.59 62 60 Oddingley 46 12.0 95/ 98 94.7 10.95 115 00 Wickw ar 12 01.0 96 90.0 65.09 60 20 Droitw ich Road 47 45.0 97/ 99 96.8 12.78 113 14 Charfield 13.0 13 07.5 102 98.8 66.34 59 00 Milepost 48 32.0 95.7 15.20 110 60 Wick 14 31.0 106/105 104.6 50 36.0 signal 16.75 109 16 Berkeley Road Sth Jn 15 23.5 107/108 106.3 50 42.0 stop 18.10 107 68 Berkeley Road J 16 09.0 105/104 106.8 67.84 57 40 Stoke Works J 54.5 51 40.0 37 28.7 20.56 105 31 CA M & DURSLEY 17 33.0 107 105.5 [1.0] 22.54 103 33 Frocester 18 41.0 104 104.6 69.95 55 31 BROMSGROVE 57.5 53 58.5 67 54.9 24.23 101 58 Stonehouse 19 39.0 105 104.7 72.09 53 20 Blackw ell 56 37.5 39/49/36 48.4 25.93 100 02 Standish Junction 22.0 20 40.0 100 100.3 73.54 51 64 BARNT GREEN 62.0 58 41.5 43/ 30 42.1 28.95 97 00 Brookthorpe 22 26.5 105/107 102.3 76.14 49 16 LONGBRIDGE 64.0 62 08.0 66/ 83 45.3 31.20 94 60 Tuffley Junction [1.0] 23 52.5 75 94.2 47 00 32.26 93 06 Gloucester Yard J 27.0 24 47.5 61 69.5 48 05 33.09 92 20 Barnw ood Junction 27.5 25 32.5 71 66.0 78.59 47 65 KING'S NORTON 68.5 64 17.5 45/ 68 68.1 35.45 89 71 Churchdow n 27 22.5 82/ 81 77.3 80.76 45 51 SELLY OAK 71.0 66 29.5 61 59.3 36.59 88 60 Badgew orth [1.0] 28 12.5 84 81.9 82.89 43 41 Church Road 69 00.5 33 50.7 84.10 42 24 BIRMINGHAM NEW ST 78.0 73 19.0 7 L 16.9

1999 Brian Milner

I was at the beginning of my 1999 All-Line Rover and was keen to try out the up Master Cutler with its non-stop run from Chesterfield to London St Pancras. This was an excellent run through the Erewash Valley and down the Midland Main Line. Current schedules on Midland Main Line are as tight as ever but there is nothing like this any more. No MML expresses run past Toton any more and none run through Leicester either.

84 mph past Doe Hill followed by 73 mph at Pye Bridge Jn and then a maximum of 85 mph before Langley Mill. After 31 mph just beyond Trent PSB, speed was built up to 112 mph through Loughborough. 104 mph through Barrow-on-Soar was followed by 114 mph around Syston. We ran through Leicester at 25 mph with 20 mph shortly after. 102 mph at Kibworth Summit with 107 mph before 62 mph through Market Harborough. 87 mph at Desborough Summit was followed by 107 mph and then 62 mph just before Kettering, which was passed at 85 mph. The maximum was then 105 mph before the Wellingborough restriction which was passed at 74 mph. 92 mph at Sharnbrook Summit was followed by 116 mph before Bedford which was passed at 114 mph. This superb level of working continued and we were more than 5 minutes early through Hendon. Despite 36 mph (probably signals) after Cricklewood arrival in St Pancras was 3.5 minutes early and an RPS record was achieved.

30th Anniversary Commemorative Issue 34 July 2010 CHESTERFIELD - LONDON ST PA NCRA S Miles M C Location HST m s mph aver Date 28-7-99 65.74 80 40 Braybrook 49 52 81 73.1 Train 0613 Leeds-St Pancras 67.74 78 40 Desborough Summit 51 17.5 87 84.2 Loco 43056/43055 69.99 76 20 Milepost 52 41 104/107 97.0 Load 8,273/295/435 72.24 74 00 Kettering North J 54 03.5 81/ 62 98.2 Recorder, position B Milner 3/10 74.24 72 00 KETTERING 57.5 55 43.5 85/105 72.0 Miles M C Location HST m s mph aver 76.89 69 28 Burton Latimer 57 21 104 97.8 0.00 146 19 CHESTERFIELD 0.0 0 00.0 RT/54 79.31 66 74 Harrow den Junction 58 48 99 100.3 1.24 145 00 Milepost 2 05.5 52 tsr 35.5 81.19 65 04 WELLINGBOROUGH 62 60 9 74 83.3 2.86 143 30 Avenue 3 39.0 75/ 78 62.6 83.61 62 50 Irchester 61 56.5 89 81.2 4.11 142 10 Clay Cross South Jn 4.0 4 38.0 75/ 72 76.3 86.49 59 60 Sharnbrook Summit 63 51 92 90.4 5.74 140 40 Danesmoor 5 55.5 80 75.5 88.24 58 00 Milepost 64 54 109 100.0 7.58 138 53 Doe Hill 7 16.0 84 82.2 89.59 56 52 Sharnbrook Jn 67.5 65 37 115/112 113.0 10.15 136 07 ALFRETON 9.0 9 07.0 80 83.5 91.24 55 00 Milepost 66 29.5 113/115 113.1 12.40 133 67 Pye Bridge Jn 10.5 10 53.5 73 76.1 93.29 52 76 Oakley [1.0] 67 34.5 112/116 113.5 14.19 132 04 Stoneyford 12 18.0 82/ 85 76.2 95.74 50 40 Bedford North Junction 72 68 52.5 112 113.1 16.35 129 71 LANGLEY MILL 14.0 13 51.5 82/ 84 83.3 96.35 49 71 BEDFORD 72.5 69 12 114 113.1 18.74 127 40 Bennerley Jn [1.0] 15 34.5 83/ 81 83.4 97.49 48 60 Bedford South Junction 73 69 48 113/115 113.8 21.10 125 11 Trow ell Jn 18.5 17 18.5 83 81.8 100.09 46 12 Houghton Conquest 71 10.5 112 113.5 22.34 123 72 Stanton Gate 18 13.5 76/ 73 81.0 102.49 43 60 Millbrook 72 27.5 111 112.2 24.39 121 68 Toton Centre 20.5 19 51.0 77 75.7 104.49 41 60 Ampthill 73 35 104/103 106.7 24.91 121 26 Toton Jn 21.0 20 15.5 76 77.1 106.04 40 16 FLITWICK 78 74 28.5 109 104.3 26.23 120 01 Trent PSB 22.0 21 36.5 34/ 31 58.3 108.99 37 20 HARLINGTON 76 05.5 110/108 109.5 26.99 119 20 Trent Jn 22.5 22 52.5 50 36.1 110.55 35 55 Sundon 76 57 109/111 109.2 29.91 116 26 Kegw orth 25 13.5 90 74.7 112.24 34 00 Milepost 77 52.5 109/111 109.5 31.84 114 32 Hathern 26 26.5 102 94.9 113.48 32 61 LEAGRAVE [1.0] 78 33 110 110.0 33.24 113 00 Milepost 27 15.0 107 103.9 115.99 30 20 LUTON 86 80 00.0 94 104.0 34.65 111 47 LOUGHBOROUGH 27.5 28 01.0 112 110.5 118.99 27 20 Chiltern Green 81 52.5 104 96.0 37.61 108 50 BARROW-ON-SOAR [1.0] 29 39.0 104 108.8 120.24 26 00 Milepost 82 34.5 108 107.1 39.24 107 00 Sileby Jn 31.0 30 34.5 108 105.4 121.99 24 20 Harpenden Junction 83 31.5 113 110.5 40.74 105 40 Milepost 31 23.5 112/114 110.2 124.99 21 20 Sandridge 85 09.5 96/ 80 110.2 42.34 103 72 Syston South Jn 33.0 32 14.5 113/114 112.9 126.35 19 71 ST ALBANS CITY 92 86 07.0 83 85.3 44.49 101 60 Thurmaston 33 23.0 109 113.0 127.99 18 20 Napsury 87 14.5 93/101 87.3 47.15 99 07 LEICESTER 37.0 35 38.5 25/ 20 70.7 130.99 15 20 RADLETT 89 04.5 99 98.2 48.74 97 40 Knighton South Jn 38 25.5 66 34.2 133.81 12 34 ELSTREE 90 53 89 93.7 50.21 96 02 Wigston North Jn 41.5 39 35.0 83 76.4 135.24 11 00 Scratchw ood Sidings 91 49.5 94 90.8 52.74 93 40 Kilby Bridge Jn 41 15.0 96 90.9 136.89 9 28 MILL HILL BROADWAY 92 50.5 100/102 97.4 54.70 91 43 Great Glen 42 26.5 102/103 98.8 139.24 7 00 HENDON 99.5 94 13.5 101 101.9 56.49 89 60 Kibw orth Summit 43 29.0 102/107 103.0 141.13 5 09 CRICKLEWOOD 95 37 50/ 36 81.4 58.49 87 60 Gumley 44 38.5 103 103.6 142.33 3 73 WEST HAMPSTEAD 101.5 97 26 51/ 68 39.6 59.74 86 40 East Langton 45 22.0 102 103.4 144.70 1 43 KENTISH TOWN 99 37 65 65.3 61.74 84 40 Great Bow den 46 35.5 88 98.0 146.18 0 05 LONDON ST PANCRAS 106.5 103 03.0 3.5 E 25.8 63.30 82 75 MARKET HARBORO 50.0 47 52.0 62 73.5

2000 Michael Rowe

The UK standard gauge passenger carrying Railways in 1900 utilised many thousands of steam locomotives, after WWII there were over 20,000 and in 1968 post the BR end of steam only an operable few. By 2000 there were several hundred, the increase due mainly to Mr. Dai Woodham’s preference for scrapping wagons rather than locomotives and the growth of Heritage Railways. In 1968 three standard gauge lines had a total mileage of 17, in 2000 the two longest, the West Somerset and the North Yorkshire Moors both exceeded this length and the UK total approached 300 [In 2009 c 320 and still growing]

Many Preserved lines include heavy gradients and despite the Draconian speed limits imposed by Light Railway Orders, performance is of interest. The attached logs were recorded during the Millennium year or the previous decade.

The Ruling Gradient on the Severn Valley is 1/100; arguably the most interesting section is that between Hampton Loade and Bridgnorth where the line rises for 1½ miles at 1/100 immediately after the 5mph tsr for the Sterns landslip. The 57xx Pannier tank [II] developed an EDHP of 470, the Stanier 5 [I] 720 and the Manor [III] at least 750, at the summit all three trains were still accelerating..

30th Anniversary Commemorative Issue 35 July 2010 III The Bluebell has several Run I II stretches of 1/75 with the Date 6-Sep-00 6-Sep-00 24-Aug-99 longest unbroken stretch of Loco LMS 45407 57xx 7714 78xx 7802 2¼ miles occurring between Load 8,276/285 8,271/280 8,279/290 Horsted Keynes and West Recorder M J Rowe M J Rowe M J Rowe Hoathly. The Standard Class 4 4-6-0 [IV] and the Q1 whilst m c m s mph m s mph m s mph sustaining 30mph before the 0-00 Hampton Loade 0.00 0.00 0.00 tunnel developed EDHP’s in Max before psr 32 25 34 the range 850-880 and MP 147.25* 7.10 5 7.24 6 5.58 5 650-680 respectively. The 2-35 Eardington 8.30 9.15 7.15 two Pacific’s hauled what was probably the first ever 12 MP 148.75 10.58 25 12.25 20 9.29 29 coach train on the Bluebell 4-52 Bridgnorth 15.18 16.25 13.21 and the log is included for 7714 driven 2nd valve cracked 35% cut off *speed at Sterns tsr interest... Run IV V VI Date 18-Aug-00 22-Oct-00 15-Aug-96 Whilst the 1/65 West Somerset ruling gradient on Loco BR 75027 BB 34081 Q1 33001 Washford Bank is celebrated, Load 6,216/225 12,412/450 5,160/170 in practice harder locomotive Recorder M J Rowe M J Rowe M J Rowe work is required over the 5.9 m c m s mph m s mph m s mph miles from Williton, to 0-00 Horsted Keynes 0.00 tsr10** 0.00 0.00 Crowcombe, much of which is at 1/92 and includes starts 2-47 W Hoathly 7.32 30/26 9.46 26/25 5.51 30 out of Williton and Stogumber 4-22 Kingscote 12.59 15.51 10.43 at 1/100 and 1/68 **tsr 10mph 1/4 mile north of Horsted Keynes respectively. [Washford Bank Run VII VIII IX can be rushed] The EDHP Date 25-3-00 9-9-00 19-8-96 developed by the 43xc 2-6-0 No.7325 [VII], 51xx 2-6-2 Loco 43xx 7325 51xx 4144 42xx 4277 tank No.4144 [VIII] and the Load 8,273/290 6,205/230 8,267/285 42xx 2-8-0 tank No.4277 [IX] Recorder M J Rowe M J Rowe M J Rowe were 730-760, 680-710 and m c m s mph m s mph m s mph 860-890 respectively. 0-00 Williton 0.00 0.00 0.00 Numbers 7325 and 4277 both have the Swindon No.4 3-22 Stogumber 9.23 27 7.55 31 8.04 33 boiler, No.4144 the smaller 2-54 Crowcombe 8.23 25 7.36 28/25 7.30 31 No.2. Number, 4277 developed c, 42 EDHP per Run X XI XII square foot of grate, well up Date Milepost 20 Milepost 20 19-Sep-92 on the “Tuplin” standard.

Loco A4 60007 49xx 5972 S15 30841 The North Yorkshire Moors Load 7,241/251 9,290/305 7,224/238 arguably demands the most Recorder J Knowles J Knowles M Tasker from its motive power, m c m s mph m s mph m s mph particularly on the 1/49 from 0-00 Grosmont 0.00 0.00 0.00 Grosmont to Goathland. Personal visits to the NYMR 0-40 MP 24 2.10 25 2.45 19.5 2.13 22 are infrequent so three logs 1-40 MP 23 4.16 30 5.48 19 4.28 26 from the archive are tabled. 3-00 MP 21.5 7.13 31 10.3 19 9.03 20 3-33 Goathland 8.20 12.02 10.34

30th Anniversary Commemorative Issue 36 July 2010 The S15 No.30841 [X], the 49xx No.5972 [XI] and the A4 4-6-2 [XII] developed EDHP’s 1,140-1,190 [42 EDHP/sq.ft. grate], 1,220-1,270 [46] and 1,680-1,730 [41] respectively. The A4 and the Hall maintained this level of performance throughout the climb. The S15, probably initially “given the lot” was eased at MP 23, perhaps the cylinders were beating the boiler. Based on Swindon data [Roberts/Ell] it appears there was some “mortgaging” of the Hall boiler.

2001 Andrew James

I would have to say at the outset that as an avid reader of Milepost since I joined the society in 1993 I‘m sometimes ‘green with envy’ with some of the material submitted for inclusion in the magazine. My runs are usually inferior to the vast majority of material published in Milepost. Yours truly seems to be the ‘kiss of death’ to enterprising driving, but perhaps 2001 was the exception to the rule for me. Today in this era of ‘defensive driving’ where in my experience it is a very rare occurrence to get an excess of over 5 mph, either over the nominal class limit or the line limit, it is perhaps beneficial to remember this was not always so. The beginning of the 21st century was not an era renowned for its exuberant driving, but it is quite surprising looking back in my own archive of runs that over speed was certainly more frequent than now.

Loco 47827 Load 7,231/240 Train 1210 Bristol-Newcastle Date 13-Apr-01 Like many members of the RPS at the time I suspect, I decided to Recorder/GPS A James N concentrate my energies on Virgin’s Miles M C Location m s mph ave fleet of increasingly unreliable fleet of geriatric Class 47s. However, in my 0.00 0 00 YORK 0 00 experience at the time it was the 1.66 1 53 York Yard N 2 48 56 35.6 rolling stock rather than loco availability that governed whether the 3.00 3 00 mp 4 05 67 62.9 actual service ran or not. Frustratingly 5.50 5 40 Beningborough 6 00 86 77.9 as always- the most interesting trains 9.50 9 40 Tollerton 8 42 93 88.9 always seem to run very infrequently 11.24 11 19 Alne 9 49 96 94.1 and the 12.10 Bristol Temple Meads- 13.38 13 30 Raskelf 11 09 95 95.6 Newcastle was a case in point been virtually the only diesel-hauled loco 15.35 15 28 Pilmoor S 12 23 97 96.1 working north of York in this direction 16.00 16 00 Pilmoor 12 48 96/95 95.5 at the time. 17.98 17 78 Sessay 14 02 96/100 95.4 22.15 22 12 Thirsk 16 35 98/99 98.2 Whilst this sort of running behind the 26.50 26 40 Otterington 19 15 97 98.2 class was certainly not unknown at the 28.71 28 57 Longlands J 20 36 96 97.7 time, it was exceptionally high speed for me to reach behind a member of 30.00 30 00 Northallerton 21 24 98 97.6 the class. Indeed this was the fastest 30.79 30 63 Castle Hills J 21 53 97 97.8 speed I have ever recorded behind a 33.76 33 61 Danby Wiske 23 42 100 98.3 member of the class and the ‘ton’ 37.18 37 14 Cowton 25 44 100 100.3 approaching Thirsk on the level was 38.95 38 76 Eryholme J 26 49 98 98.3 also pretty exceptional in my experience. 41.49 41 39 Croft Spa 28 20 103 100.4

43.00 43 00 mp 29 17 95.5 44.15 44 12 DARLINGTON 31 10 36.6

30th Anniversary Commemorative Issue 37 July 2010 156418 Loco

Load 2,76/82 The second run features my joint top Train 1630 Bham-Stansted Airpt speed behind a 156 unit. A late Date 08-Apr-01 departure saw a particularly vigorous Recorder/GPS A James N attempt to regain time on to Leicester Miles M C Location m s mph ave and 85 mph was reached between Milepost 5 and Elmesthorpe. This was

enough to cut over six minutes from the 0.00 97 04 NUNEATON 0 00 schedule. In the same month 2.26 2 00 mp 3 33 63/69 33.9 (30/4/2001) I timed 156403 between 4.26 4 00 Hinckley 5 19 65/73 67.9 Birmingham New Street and 5.26 5 00 mp 6 09 76/85 71.3 Cheltenham via the Camp Hill route, which reached 85 mph at Spetchley, 7.41 7 12 Elmesthorpe 7 42 83 83.2 again following a late departure. In the 8.29 8 02 Stoney Stanton 8 20 83 84.0 intervening eight years since I have 9.99 9 58 Croft 9 32 82 84.4 never approached the 80 mark with 12.06 11 64 Narborough 11 09 67 77.0 these units let alone 85 mph. As far as I 13.85 13 47 Blaby 12 40 75 71.1 know 156 units are not regularly 14.98 14 57 South Wigston 13 53 40* 55.5 diagrammed to work either route now and therefore these runs do really 15.70 96 00 Wigston N J 14 44 42 51.2 belong to the consignment of history 17.20 97 40 Knighton S J 16 23 65 54.5 18.79 99 07 LEICESTER 18 36 42.8 . Finally two runs out of Cheltenham Spa. The first features a HST on one power car (as far as I can ascertain) going up the Lickey incline. To the best of my knowledge this practice has never been officially permitted due to the relative high gearing of these units and the danger that one of these units would be checked at the bottom of the bank where it would be potentially unable to restart from a dead stand. Fortunately for the power car concerned an unchecked run ensued to Bromsgrove where the driver slightly exceeded the 80 restriction, no doubt to get as much momentum as possible to ‘charge’ the bank. A comparison with a not particularly special 47848 provides an arguably interesting comparison.

These runs remind us that things are always changing, whilst HST’s have made a welcome return to this cross-country route, 47’s on regular passenger trains are very much a thing of the past. In the same year I timed DEMU’S on the ‘Oxted’ and Marshes line, Class 86s between Ipswich-Norwich: 308’s from Leeds-Skipton and slam door stock on the former Southern Region-all now long gone. Not exactly unusual for the period, but of course something that one cannot repeat today.

30th Anniversary Commemorative Issue 38 July 2010

Loco 43180/43060 47848 Load 7,238/252 7,231/242 Train 0922 Edinburgh-Penzance 1210 Bristol-Newcastle Date 06-Apr-01 07-Apr-01 Recorder/position/GPS A James 8/9 N A James 7/8 N Miles M C Location m s mph ave m s mph ave

0.00 86 58 CHELTENHAM 0 00 0 00 14L 2.41 84 25 Swindon Rd 3 30 74 41.5 3 04 76 47.2 3.84 82 71 Cleeve 4 34 85 80.2 4 06 90/93 82.7 5.18 81 44 Tredington 5 29 91 87.5 4 58 92 92.6 7.26 79 37 Ashchurch 7 18 43tsr 68.6 6 56 39tsr 63.7 9.40 77 26 Bredon 9 32 74 57.6 9 13 70 56.4 12.15 74 46 Eckington 11 35 85 80.2 11 15 88 80.8 13.23 73 40 Defford 12 19 90 88.0 11 58 92 90.0 16.70 70 02 Wadborough 14 39 90 89.4 14 15 92 91.6 18.08 68 52 Abbotswood J 16 07 38tsr 56.3 15 38 38tsr 59.6 20.50 66 18 Spetchley 18 40 67 57.2 17 59 77/72 61.9 23.98 62 60 Oddingley 21 22 83 77.2 20 36 89 79.7 24.58 62 12 Dunhampstead 21 47 89 86.4 20 60 90 90.0 26.48 60 20 Droitwich Rd 23 02 91/93 90.6 22 14 94 91.8 29.23 57 40 Stoke Works J 24 51 88 91.2 24 02 87 91.7 31.34 55 31 Bromsgrove 26 18 84 86.9 25 35 77 81.8 33.48 53 20 Blackwell 28 24 42 61.3 27 57 42 54.4 34.93 51 64 Barnt Green 30 01 61 53.5 29 34 64 53.5 37.48 49 20 Longbridge 32 17 77 67.7 31 59 63.3 38.55 48 14 Northfield 33 05 83 80.6 32 48 83 79.0 39.98 47 65 Kings Norton 34 04 42/60 67.5 41.05 46 59 Bournville 35 49 sigs 54.9 35 17 53/57 53.0 42.15 45 51 Selly Oak 38 25 24 25.4 36 28 53 55.8 42.81 44 78 University 39 59 26 25.2 37 15 50 50.7 44.61 43 14 Five Ways 43 39 28 29.5 40 43 24 31.2 45.49 42 24 BIRMINGHAM N St 49 52 8.4 43 46 17.2

30th Anniversary Commemorative Issue 39 July 2010 2002 – Tribute to committee member Martin Tasker who died in 2002, aged 40

We reprint Martin’s article, which first appeared in Milepost 22¼ (2001)

Life on a Polish Branch Line

I left Krakow, the most attractive city in Poland feeling rather guilty. My stay here had simply involved finding a hotel directly opposite the station and then returning to the station the following morning at 0615. It was like visiting Venice without seeing a canal.

My journey southwards into the foothills of the Tatra Mountains was dire. Expecting a comfortable train to Zakopane, the 0630 from Krakow was an awful EMU providing transport for a motley collection of chain-smoking peasants and heavily-made-up eighteen year old girls (trying to look thirty) returning home after a night on the town .. or in tourist hotels.

The Hotel Europeski’s packed breakfast comprised one stale cheese sandwich and a rotten apple. Whilst trying vainly to chew the worst bread roll in history, my GPS slid down the window, lubricated by an oily condensation found only in Eastern European smoking compartments. Its impact on the floor woke the moustachioed Lech Walensa lookalike opposite. He grimaced, made a gesture along the lines of “I bet your mobile phone won’t work now” and went back to sleep. Sometimes, in Poland, it’s not much fun being a tourist.

Two hours later and I’m in Chabowka – the sun is shining, the air is clear and I’m revived. With just five minutes before my connection to Nowy Sacz. I wander through the modern station and, yippee, right in front of me is possibly the largest cake stall in Poland. I point at an orange chocolate éclair, pay around 30p and get a bag of six – great.

One minute before departure, and still no train had arrived. Many branch lines in Poland had closed recently .. could I be too late? I check again inside the station building and the train fortunately still runs with a departure time (odjazd) of 0833. Strolling out onto the platform I notice two coaches in the distance and the whistle blows. I don’t know the Polish for “hang on” so like all Brits abroad I wave my arms in a panic, shout “hang on” in English and fortunately the guard holds the train just long enough for me to jump on.

Poland is one of the few countries free of diesel multiple units. Branch line services are predominantly hauled by SP/SM/SU42 BoBo switchers on a couple of coaches. If there was a referendum to select the weediest locos in Europe, these would get my vote. An unbelievable 1,427 of these locos were constructed between 1959 and 1993 with the SP prefix indicating the loco has steam heat, whereas SM implies no heat. SU 42 531 is ETH fitted. I don’t know whether the auxiliary power supply comes from a second engine or from the main generator. If the latter, a heavy ETH load would render the 788hp SU not much better than a mobile generator!

Even with just two coaches, the power to weight ratio was only 5.2hp per ton- in practice not a problem for this or most other branch lines. Over the past decade, Polish Railways (PKP) have done much to improve the main lines linking Berlin with Poznan and Warsaw, and the Centralna Main Line from Katowice and Krakow to Warsaw. These 160kph routes, and the quality Inter City trains running over them are on a par with a Corail service in France or a Cross Country train in the UK. However, elsewhere, services are simply deplorable.

Branch lines have been just left to decay, along with the rolling stock running over them. Line limits are low – often less than 50kpm. If the track becomes unsafe, lines are shut. Ten years ago, many routes – although slow – would have had a service of, say, six trains each way a day. Now, the same routes would only have one, two or three trains a day. Anyone

30th Anniversary Commemorative Issue 40 July 2010 trying to travel cross-country from Sczytno to Ostroleka – quite a useful route – who misses the 0523 would have to wait until 2200 for the next train. Services in the opposite direction leave Ostroleka at 0242 and 1640! The scenic route from Czerwonka to Elk (I’m not making these up) has just one train each way a day.

Over the second section from Chabowka Rabka Zdroj to Rabka Zaryte, I was quite encouraged by a surprisingly fast 63kpm over fairly level track. At Zaryte we crossed a freight .. a single empty open wagon hauled by an SM42.

Here, it was time for the first éclair .. out of the wrapper it looked lovely .. nice orange icing with chocolate buttercream on the inside. I then bit it. In practice, the icing I’m sure was made from congealed carrot juice, and the chocolate inside was more likely heavy fuel oil with grit in it .. probably aniseed. Appalling

The guard then came round. Much to my surprise, it appeared that he had never seen a 1st Class Polrailpass before and radioed to check it out. However, he smiled and then said something that seemed to suggest that “you won’t catch many trains in Poland if you can’t run faster than your effort in Chabowka” I offer him an éclair. He grabs hold of his stomach, moves it a remarkable distance up and down, and declines my kind offer

Beyond Mszana the route climbs steadily into the foothills of the Tatra Mountains. Most articles describing locomotive performance over hilly routes in exotic locations use such phrases as “blasted up the steep gradient with a heavy train in tow”, “thrashed mercilessly until over the summit”, or “with its maximum allowable load, the engine effortlessly climbed mile after mile from the valley floor to the hills”

It’s difficult to decide how best to describe SU42 531’s performance on the climb to Kasina Wielka. I think the best representation would be “with a trivial load the engine crept up the bank making a low “farting” sound.” On a gradient probably no steeper than 1in50 we struggled up to a top speed of 30kph. The rolling hills and well-kept farmhouses were more reminiscent of rural Austria than Poland. However, the second éclair I consumed reminded me I was still in Poland.

We actually reached Kasina Wielka early despite such an abysmal performance. Beyond here it appeared to be downhill all the way to Nowy Sacz. By gravity we actually reached the line limit of 50kph beyond Skrzydlna. (as an aside, how many other station names do you know with eight consonants before you reach a vowel?). Onwards to Tymbark, running comprised dawdling to around 45kph before braking for a series of restrictions over open crossings.

Just when I thought it couldn’t get much more boring, beyond Tymbark the line limit fell from 50kph to 30kph. At this point I decided that enough is enough and ventured to the loo.

For those not familiar with the smallest compartment on East European local trains the following facilities should be found: 1 A bowl, 2 a cistern, 3 water, 4 a door lock 5 A detailed exploded isometric diagram of the entire plumbing system of the toilet, pipework and water tank. There will be guidance (sometimes in Cyrillic) on how to replace the stopcock in the cistern and what techniques are acceptable when brazing pipework.

30th Anniversary Commemorative Issue 41 July 2010 However, there will only ever be three of the five items in any one toilet. Once, in Hungary, I was down to one, and that was item 3 raining from a gap in the ceiling and rushing down to the hole where the bowl had once been (Top tip: At night take a torch)

Much to my surprise, my ablutions scored 5, but then on releasing item 4, the door wouldn’t budge. I tugged and tugged at the door – no joy – I was trapped. I then lowered the window (picking up kp 42.5 in the process – how’s that for dedication?) so that I could shout at the guard for help at the next station. As soon as I applied all my weight pushing rather than pulling the door, I went sprawling headlong into the vestibule. The toilet door opened outwards rather than inwards! Fortunately no-one was around to issue me with a “Wally of the Week” award.

Limanowa is the largest town on the route and amazingly crowds were waiting on the platform. The number of people in my coach increased from two to around 50. A puny old woman with her middle-aged son sat opposite. Her cardigan was spectacular, best described as a bright yellow high visibility string vest. Presumably she earned a living knitting fishing nets. Her son looked worried as we passed through pleasant rolling countryside at a steady 29kph. The cause for his concern soon appeared: she was knitting him a fluorescent green string vest, possibly doubling as a pullover.

She knitted at a furious pace completing half of the body by Mecina Podgorze. Then she asked her son (aged 48) to walk up and down the coach wearing his lovely new pullover to see how it hung – much to the amusement of everybody in the coach. In sympathy, (you’ve guessed it) I offered him an éclair. He looked at it suspiciously, took a small bite, and handed it to his mother who threw it out of the window!

The line limit rose to 50 again around kp 58 and my notes state “lively running” (ie top speed 50 kph) before Marcinkwoice. Surprisingly the route is electrified for the next 12km following the wide River Dunajec, which is crossed by a superb girder bridge just before Nowy Sacz Miasto. Our final stop in Nowy Sacz was 1min early having taken 37mins to cover 77km – an overall average of 29.4kph. But for swift station stops the average could have been significantly worse.

My advice to anyone wanting to travel on Polish branch lines is to go now before they shut.

However, I would question why anyone would want to travel on them at all.

We would also want to remember other RPS members who are no longer with us – particularly officers: Ken Barlow and Eric Rudkin

30th Anniversary Commemorative Issue 42 July 2010 2003 – John Rishton

Nothing special, just a typical run. Today, there is no longer a direct service from St. Pancras to Manchester. The service below, hourly throughout the day, was introduced whilst the effects of West Coast modernisation were most disruptive. Indeed, during this holiday the service provided the only direct trains between London and Manchester. It also provided a very useful route between the East Midlands and the North West, avoided the time consuming reversal or change of trains in Sheffield.

The usual rapid start from Date: Wednesday 31st December 2003 Leicester was followed by Train: 12:00 London St. Pancras to Manchester Piccadilly precision driving until adverse Loco: 43180+43155 8/345/360 9.8hp/tonne Max speed 125MPH Recorder:/pos/weather : John Rishton by stopwatch 7/8 Dry, cold signals were sighted at Trent as Miles mm:cc Location WTT mm:ss the 1337 Nottingham to Hereford Av. Mph diesel unit, running on time, took 0 99:07 Leicester 0 0 p2 4 late the curve towards Long Eaton 4.76 103:68 Syston South Jcn 4 4:12 68 7.91 107:00 Sileby Junction 6 5:55 110 across our path. The accelerate 12.48 111:45 Loughborough 9 8:39 100 and brake routine of the Erewash 16.41 115:40 Milepost 10:53 106 was well managed until we were 20.14 119:18 Trent South Junction 13 13:25 sigs 88 20.61 119:56 Trent East Junction 14 14:40 23 again faced with a train crossing 22.76 121:68 Toton Centre 16 16:54 58 our bows at Clay Cross, this time 26.05 125:11 Trowell Junction 19 19:48 68 the 1145 Newcastle to Plymouth 30.81 129:72 Langley Mill up plat 23 23:45 72 34.66 133:60 Pye Bridge Junction 26 26:55 73 running a couple of minutes late. 37.00 136:07 Alfreton 28 28:45 77 39.99 139:06 Morton 31:36 63 43.04 142:10 Clay Cross South Jcn 33 35:19 sigs 49 A good acceleration followed, this 47.15 146:19 Chesterfield 36 38:16 84 benefiting from recent line speed 48.93 148:02 Sheepbridge 39:30 87 improvements allowing a 52.45 151:43 Dronfield 41:54 88 54.59 153:54 Bradway Tunnel 45:47 33 maximum of 89 mph at Dronfield. -46:02 sig stand However a further conflicting 54.86 153:76 Dore South Junction 42 47:07 15 move, the 1229 Cleethorpes to 55.11 154:16 Dore West Junction 44 48:28 11 55.69 154:62 Totley Tunnel East 45 50:21 sigs 18 Manchester Airport, also running 56.16 155:20 Totley Tunnel ent. 51:47 sigs 20 a couple of minutes late, crossed 59.99 159:06 Gridleford 49 55:29 62 66.17 165:20 Earles Sidings 55 1:00:52 69 and took the road in front of us at 70.21 169:23 Edale 58 1:04:24 69 Dore West and resulted in a 74.57 173:52 Chinley East Jcn 62 1:08:28 64 signal stand at the exit from 74.95 174:02 Chinley North Jcn 63 1:08:55 50 78.66 172:17 New Mills South Jcn 66 1:12:21 65 Bradway Tunnel plus further 83.95 177:40 Hazel Grove H. L. Jcn 71 1:17:09 66 checks on to the entrance to 84.45 2:22 Hazel Grove 72 1:19:19 sigs 14 Totley Tunnel. However, due to a 86.73 0.00 Edgeley Jcn No. 1 76 1:26:33 sigs 19 87.28 183:00 Stockport 79 1:27:52 p3 25 total of 7 minutes recovery and pathing allowances since leaving Leicester (stripped from my WTT column) we were now on time. Differential speeds apply along much of the Hope Valley line and the train to Manchester Airport, generally having a higher maximum speed than our HST, did not delay us again until we met with general congestion approaching Hazel Grove. Here we began running on adverse signals towards Edgeley Junction. We took the down fast line from Edgeley Junction and regained a clear road for a last burst of acceleration before the Stockport stop.

Due to a total of 12 minutes of allowances, arrival at Stockport was only 2 minutes behind schedule.

Nothing special, just a typical run.

30th Anniversary Commemorative Issue 43 July 2010 2004 Don Benn

Don Benn has supplied the following logs from Victoria to Dover, which put some of the 395 journey times from St Pancras in the shade:

Date 30-Dec-04 miles mins mins secs speed Train 1458 Dover-Victoria 44.33 MP 33 36 35 82 CEP Tribute Tour 46.33 MP 31 38 05 81/83 Units: 1609/1698/1697 47.80 Tonbridge 46 39 10 58* Driver: Seb Barrow (Ashford) 49.33 MP 28 40 47 63 Weather Fine and dry 50.30 Hildenborough 41 45 65 Recorder D Benn 9/12 51.33 MP 26 42 40 66 Sevenoaks Tunnel Sched Actual 52.68 South 43 54 67 Sevenoaks Tunnel miles mins mins secs speed 54.68 North 45 40 70 0.00 Dover Priory 0 00 00 55.22 Sevenoaks 55 46 07 77 0.80 Archcliffe Jct (Site) 02 13 13* 56.75 Dunton Green 47 17 81 4.33 Abbotscliffe (Site) 07 22 72 58.13 Polhill Box (site) 48 20 79 6.34 Folkestone Jct 09 18 71 58.63 Polhill Tunnel South 48 41 77 7.42 Folkestone Central 11 10 10 61* 60.08 Polhill Tunnel North 49 55 71 8.05 Folkestone West 10 51 64/69 60.78 Knockholt 50 27 75 10.13 Saltwood Jct 14 13 22 68 62.02 Chelsfield 51 23 80 11.88 Sandling 14 18 72 63.52 Orpington 63 52 31 73* 13.14 Westenhanger 15 19 77 64.64 Petts Wood 53 31 72 15.33 MP 62 16 55 88 65.01 Petts Wood Jct 65 53 58 56* 16.88 Smeeth (Site) 17 55 91 65.92 Bickley Jct 66 54 48 51* 18.33 MP 59 18 55 92 66.45 Bickley 55 25 72 21.22 Ashford 23 20 44 95 67.51 Bromley South 56 23 68* 23.33 Chart Siding (Site) 22 12 88 68.36 Shortlands 57 06 70 25.33 MP 52 23 33 92 68.59 Shortlands Jct 72 57 25 64* 26.89 Pluckley 24 31 93 69.74 Beckenham Jct 73 58 22 69 28.33 MP 49 25 30 90 70.51 Kent House 59 07 67 30.33 MP 47 26 48 93 71.21 Penge East 59 40 65 32.08 Headcorn 32 28 00 90 72.69 Sydenham Hill 61 00 76 34.33 MP 43 29 26 92 73.37 West Dulwich 61 32 74* 35.47 Staplehurst 30 11 91 74.45 Herne Hill 78 62 45 37* 36.33 MP 41 30 46 90 p.w.s. 31* 37.94 Marden 31 51 88 75.22 Brixton 79 63 58 45/56 39.33 MP 38 32 46 92 77.51 Battersea Pier Jct 66 52 * sigs 71* 78.40 Victoria 86 69 02 17E 41.33 MP 36 34 20 75 Net Time 67 45 42.52 Paddock Wood 41 35 15 80 Average speed Sandling-Paddock Wood: 87.75 Average speed MP59 to MP 38 90.98 .

30th Anniversary Commemorative Issue 44 July 2010 Date 30-Dec-04 29.12.04 Train 0946 Victoria-Dover Cep Tribute tour 0946 Victoria-Dover - staff special Units: 1699, 1698, 1697 1697,1698, 1699 Driver: Dave Deadman (Victoria) Peter Hudson (Ramsgate) Weather Dull and damp Fine and sunny Recorder D Benn 9/12 C Price 8/12 Sched Actual Sched Actual

miles mins mins secs speed mins mins secs 0.00 Victoria 0 00 00 0 00 00 0.89 Battersea Pier Junction 02 31 33 01 55 3.18 Brixton 7 05 56 45 7 04 35 p.w.s 28* p.w.s. 3.95 Herne Hill 8 07 17 33 8 05 55 5.03 West Dulwich 08 47 51 07 15 5.71 Sydenham Hill 09 35 57 08 40 7.19 Penge East 11 06 60 10 20 7.89 Kent House 11 43 64 10 57 8.66 Beckenham Jct 13 12 33 56* 13 11 40 sigs 3* 9.81 Shortlands Jct 15 15 06 36* 15 12 35 10.04 Shortlands 15 46 32* 12 53 sigs 8* 10.89 Bromley South 17 57 36 13 35 11.95 Bickley 19 31 48 14 40 12.48 Bickley Jct 18 20 13 51 18 15 30 sigs 13.39 Petts Wood Jct 19 21 05 57 19 17 10 sigs 13.76 Petts Wood 21 31 60 17 43 14.88 Orpington 21 22 38 62 21 19 47 *15 to FL 16.38 Chelsfield 24 05 60 22 05 17.62 Knockholt 25 17 61 23 20 18.32 Polhill Tunnel North 26 00 69 23 57 19.77 Polhill Tunnel South 27 11 82 25 08 20.27 Polhill Box (site) 27 31 84 21.65 Dunton Green 28 28 87 26 20 23.18 Sevenoaks 29 29 38 73 29 27 25 23.72 Sevenoaks Tunnel North 30 07 71 27 52 25,72 Sevenoaks Tunnel South 31 36 84 29 17 ) 27.07 MP 26 32 34 96 30 10 av 96.50) 28.10 Hildenborough 33 10 100 30 45 103 max ) 29.07 MP 28 33 57 95* 31 22 ) 30.60 Tonbridge 35 35 21 57* 35 32 40 32.07 MP 31 36 55 63 34 02 34.07 MP 33 38 36 78 35 36 35.88 Paddock Wood 40 39 55 84 40 36 50 37.07 MP 36 40 45 86 37 39 39.07 MP 38 42 11 88 40.46 Marden 43 10 82 39 50 42.07 MP 41 44 20 86 42.93 Staplehurst 44 55 88 41 32 44.07 MP 43 45 41 86 42 20 46.32 Headcorn 49 47 12 85/87 49 43 45 48.07 MP 47 48 30 83 44 58 50.07 MP 49 49 57 81 46 21 51.51 Pluckley 51 01 85 47 23

30th Anniversary Commemorative Issue 45 July 2010 miles mins mins secs speed mins mins secs 53.07 MP 52 52 06 83/81 48 25 55.07 Chart Siding (Site) 53 32 85 49 48 57.18 Ashford 59 55 00 87 59 51 40 60.07 MP 59 57 24 82 53 14 61.62 Smeeth (Site) 58 07 84 54 27 63.07 MP 62 59 12 82 55 22 65.26 Westenhanger 60 51 80 56 55 66.52 Sandling 61 43 82 68.27 Saltwood Jct 68 62 36 *74/83 68 58 27 70.35 Folkestone West 64 47 64* 60 50 70.98 Folkestone Central 71 65 40 33* 71 61 50 72.06 Folkestone Jct 67 07 59 63 12 74.07 Abbotscliffe (Site) 68 55 76 64 47 77.60 Archcliffe Jct (Site) 73 10 20* 78.40 Dover Priory 82 75 37 82 71 31 Net time: 71 45 68 30 Average speed Paddock Wood to: Sandling 84.3mph Westenhanger 87.78 mph

2005 David Ashley

We are now in 2005, and heading into defensive-driving and inflated-schedule territory. Running brake tests are now being recorded, excessive speeding is the exception rather than the rule, and the fear of the on-board data recorder is becoming apparent. It is common for a train to leave its penultimate station 5 minutes late and arrive at its destination, 10 miles away, 5 minutes early.

We were becoming familiar with the trials and tribulations of GPS reception and looking forward to the much-improved reception that the sirfstar III chip and its equivalents deliver. We were disappointed when we found that they still didn’t work in Voyagers.

Regional railrovers had long-since disappeared, and we were left with the local versions with time restrictions in the morning - and speaking from the London perspective - having to travel long distances to the boundary station.

Turning to operations, class 170 multiple units had given way to 222 Meridiens on the Midland Main Line – later to become East Midland Trains.

Apart from the nominal increase in speeds from 100mph to 110mph for short distances, there has been little increase in speeds over the years and the notorious curves through Wellingborough and Market Harborough continue to impede performance

Whilst I harbour an irrational dislike of Voyagers, I can tolerate the 222 Meridiens. Maybe they are less claustrophobic than their 220/221 neighbours, and in their early days their 4- car formation included a declassified 1st class carriage which was more comfortable.

I took advantage of an East Midlands Rover Ticket over the Easter holiday in 2005, and used it to travel over the Bedford to Derby section of line to sample the recently introduced 222’s

The table shows the benefit of the additional power available from the 222’s compared with the 170’s. It is surprising that one of the early runs with the 222’s took three of the “fastest times”, and after five years, they still haven’t been beaten.

30th Anniversary Commemorative Issue 46 July 2010 Loco 222020 170105 Load 4 3 Train 0830 St Pancras – Derby 0730 St Pancras-Derby Date Sat 2-Apr-05 S 30-Aug-03 Recorder/Position/weather D Ashley 1/4 Misty D Ashley m s Mph ave m s mph ave

0.00 49 71 BEDFORD 0 00 T 0 00 3.06 52 76 Oakley 2 49 102 65.2 3 30 77/90 52.5 9.80 59 55 Sharnbrook 6 29 112/113 110.3 8 06 89/106 87.9 12.74 62 50 Irchester 8 03 110 112.5 9 49 100 102.7 15.18 65 05 Wellingborough 10 14 67.0 12 03 65.5 0.00 65 05 Wellingborough 0 00 0 00 3.11 68 14 Finedon 2 37 100/101 71.4 3 31 81 53.1 5.64 70 56 Kettering S J 4 10 97 97.7 5 12 92 90.0 6.94 72 00 KETTERING 5 43 50.3 6 35 56.4 0.00 72 00 KETTERING 0 00 0 00 2.00 74 00 Kettering N J 2 07 81 56.7 2 40 62 45.0 3.55 75 44 Glendon 3 10 100/99 88.6 4 05 75 65.6 6.09 78 07 Desborough 4 41 101/102 100.4 5 58 82 80.8 8.50 80 40 Braybrook 6 07 101 101.0 7 34 101 90.5 10.99 82 79 Market Harborough 8 32 61.8 9 55 63.5 0.00 82 79 Market Harborough 0 00 0 00 3.51 86 40 East Langton 2 56 102 80.1 3 36 85 58.5 6.01 89 00 Kibworth 4 25 101/102 101.1 5 19 88 87.4 8.55 91 43 Great Glen 5 55 99/102 101.5 6 57 100/30tsr 93.2 13.01 96 00 Wigston N J 8 43 79/90 95.6 11 18 64/82 61.6 16.10 99 07 LEICESTER 11 59 5E 56.7 14 53 51.7 0.00 99 07 LEICESTER 0 00 2L /sigs 0 00 4.70 103 63 Syston 5 33 102 50.8 5 14 94/100 53.9 7.52 106 49 Sileby 7 11 107 103.8 6 56 99/100 99.7 9.54 108 50 Barrow on Soar 8 47 53tsr/78 75.5 8 10 98/sigs 97.9 12.50 111 47 Loughborough 11 58 55.8 11 25 54.7 0.00 111 47 Loughborough 0 00 2.81 114 32 Hathern 2 30 102 67.5 4.74 116 26 Kegworth 3 36 111 105.0 7.64 119 18 Trent S J 5 25 66 95.8 8.75 120 27 Long Eaton 6 51 46.6 0.00 120 27 Long Eaton 0 00 2.05 122 31 Draycott 2 03 91/103 60.0 5.54 125 70 Spondon 4 12 87/sig st 1m 97.3 7.46 127 64 DERBY 10 58 T 17.1

30th Anniversary Commemorative Issue 47 July 2010 2006 Frank Collins

April 2006 saw me take a week’s holiday in Switzerland, based in Luzern. Getting there involved, firstly, a flight from Bristol – Geneva (probably the bumpiest air journey I have yet experienced), and then train. Having plenty of time in hand I opted to go the long way round to Bern, via the Rhone Valley to Brig and then over the Lotschberg main line back to the Swiss Capital.

My intended train from Brig was a EuroCity from Milano to Basel. It was one of those very rare trains in Switzerland which prove that even in Switzerland, railways are not 100% dependable, for we departed 53 minutes late. On board, a passenger quizzed the conductor as to why the train was late. “I don’t know” came the reply “it came from Italy” – which at least preserved the reputation of Swiss rail.

A brief description of the Lotschberg main line may help those not familiar with it. From 678m a.s.l at Brig the line climbs to 1216m at the southern entrance to the summit tunnel; the ruling gradient this way is around 1:42. The climb is dramatic, the line forcing its way up the side of the valley on a narrow ledge carved out of the rock. Originally single track, it has been doubled at vast expense with the second track seemingly almost more precarious than the first, often perched on dramatic concrete viaducts. The northern ramp is steeper, 1:37 for about 18 km from Frutigen up to Kandersteg, with the Spiez – Frutigen section at a ‘mere’ 1:67. Curvature on the main climbs is incessant, punctuated by many tunnels, which can make timing quite testing; needless to say the kilometre post you want is normally inside a tunnel! Line speed is 80 km/h on the climbs and 110 or perhaps even 120 through the 14.61 km summit tunnel. Spiez down to Thun involves some sections steeper than 1:60 and more curvature; Thun to Bern by contrast involves nothing steeper than 1:100 and until the recent high speed line openings was one of only two sections in the country permitting 160 km/h

Operationally, the classic route is fascinating. The class 460 of course had no difficulty cruising up the 1:42 at a steady 80 km/h. Both tracks are fully bi-directional with frequent line-speed crossovers, and this capability is used to the full; switches from one line to the other are commonplace to deal with booked maintenance, or simply to overtake slower freights. Testimony to the climbing power of these machines is the time from Brig to Goppenstein, the 25.39 km averaging 76.8 km/h start-pass uphill with an 80 km/h limit! Wrong line through the tunnel did not hinder progress and with the descent at line speed also and (amazingly for a train so far out of path) unchecked, the result was a pretty decent time to Spiez. The Swiss however gave up with this service at Bern, and terminated it short of destination there, no doubt to avoid disruption to the regular interval timetable

A few days later, I headed south over the route, this time to catch the Glacier Express from Brig. I nearly didn’t make it; the service from Luzern arrived about 2 mins late leaving barely 3 mins to locate the Brig service and change platforms via a very busy subway. A heavier load this time, making the principal intermediate calls; but not even this prevented the 460 cruising uphill at line speed. Particularly notable on this run are the number of switches from one running line to the other, especially on the descent

Since these trips, the Lotschberg base tunnel has now been opened; curiously, single track for 2/3 of its length. The principal passenger services now use this route – with Visp in the Rhone Valley now being the junction rather than Brig – together with as much freight as can be accommodated, so bypassing the very scenic Brig – Frutigen section, but the classic line remains fully operational for passenger services making the intermediate calls, and for a certain amount of the freight.

30th Anniversary Commemorative Issue 48 July 2010 Date Thurs 20/04/2006 Date Sat 15/04/2006 Train 10.06 Bern - Brig Train 12.52 EC Brig - Bern Loco 460 032 Loco 460103 Load/ Pow er:eight 11 Load/ Pow er:eight 8 Recorder/position/GPS F G Collins/ 10/12/ no Recorder/position/GPS F G Collins/ 2/9 / no km lineside km m s km/h av km lineside km m s km/h av 0.00 105.80 Bern 0 00 1 late 0.00 73.83 Brig 0 00 53 late 3.68 109.48 Wankdorf 3 09 1/2 69.9 1.33 72.50 KP 1 42 1/2 46.7 4.97 110.77 Ostermundigen 4 16 1/2 101/103 69.3 2.83 71.00 KP 2 50 79 80.0 8.16 113.96 Gumligen 6 23 tsr 81 90.8 4.83 69.00 KP 4 20 1/2 79 79.6 11.20 117.00 KP 8 20 137 93.5 6.54 67.29 Lalden 5 38 79/80 79.4 13.24 119.04 Rubigen 9 09 156 149.9 8.83 65.00 Eggerberg 7 21 1/2 79 79.7 16.31 122.11 Munsingen 10 18 1/2 160/156 159.0 10.83 63.00 KP 8 52 80 79.6 19.93 125.73 Wichtrach 11 42 160 156.1 12.57 61.26 Ausserberg 10 10 1/2 80 79.8 22.50 128.30 Kiesen 12 40 160 159.5 14.33 59.50 KP 11 31 77 78.7 25.30 131.10 Utligen 13 50 140 144.0 16.33 57.50 KP 13 01 1/2 80 79.6 28.83 134.63 Lerchenfeld 15 27 1/2 130.3 17.83 56.00 KP 14 09 80 80.0 31.22 137.02 Thun 18 04 19.61 54.22 Hohtenn 15 29 1/2 80 79.6 0.00 20 34 23.83 50.00 KP 18 40 1/2 80 79.5 1.34 1.34 Durrenast 1 58 90 40.9 25.39 48.44 Goppenstein 19 50 80.8 3.10 3.10 Gw att 3 09 90 89.2 73.83 Lotschberg Tun S 20 01 1/2 XL 4.41 4.41 Gw attstutz 4 01 90 90.7 73.83 Lotschberg Tun N 27 56 1/2 6.75 6.75 Krumm 5 34 90 90.6 42.28 31.55 Kandersteg 29 28 1/2 79/XL 8.20 8.20 Spiezmoos N 6 32 1/2 87 89.2 43.83 30.00 KP 30 38 1/2 81 79.7 9.78 9.78 Spiez 8 23 51.5 46.33 27.50 KP 32 31 79 80.0 0.00 10 57 49.63 24.20 KP 35 00 80 79.7 3.00 3.00 KP 2 50 1/2 63.3 51.48 22.35 Blausee 36 24 79 79.3 5.16 5.16 Heustrich 4 13 1/2 90 93.7 53.33 20.50 KP 37 47 80 80.2 6.85 6.85 Mulenen 5 20 90 91.5 56.38 17.45 Kandergrund 40 04 80 80.1 8.29 8.29 Reichenbach 6 17 1/2 90 XL 90.2 60.29 13.54 Frutigen 42 56 1/2 84 81.6 10.00 10.00 KP 7 26 90 89.9 63.33 10.50 KP 45 15 1/2 83 78.7 12.00 12.00 KP 8 44 90 XL 92.3 65.54 8.29 Reichenbach 46 51 1/2 83 82.9 13.54 13.54 Frutigen 10 29 66.98 6.85 Mulenen 47 52 1/2 79 85.0 12 31 68.67 5.16 Heustrich 48 58 79.1 3.91 17.45 Kandergrund 3 38 1/2 82 64.4 70.83 3.00 KP 50 20 1/2 73.7 6.96 20.50 KP 5 55 80 80.4 73.83 0.00 Spiez 53 37 39.6 8.81 22.35 Blausee 7 18 82 80.2 0.00 9.78 57 19 48.6 10.66 24.20 KP 8 41 1/2 80 79.8 3.03 6.75 Krumm 2 38 95 81.0 13.56 27.10 KP 10 52 1/2 80 79.7 6.68 3.10 Gw att 4 56 1/2 93 94.9 16.46 30.00 KP 13 03 1/2 80 79.7 8.44 1.34 Durrenast 6 06 90 91.2 18.01 31.55 Kandersteg 14 31 9.78 0.00 Thun 7 58 43.1 0.00 16 43 0.00 137.02 9 16 Lotschberg Tun N 2 03 1/2 82 5.92 131.10 Utligen 3 54 14.61 Lotschberg Tun S 9 49 1/2 8.72 128.30 Kiesen 5 02 1/2 158 147.2 16.89 48.44 Goppenstein 10 21 11.29 125.73 Wichtrach 5 59 1/2 162.3 11 59 XL 14.91 122.11 Munsingen 7 21 1/2 160 158.9 1.56 50.00 KP 1 37 1/2 57.6 17.98 119.04 Rubigen 8 32 159 156.8 5.78 54.22 Hohtenn 4 47 80.2 21.02 116.00 KP 9 43 -/tsr 154.1 7.56 56.00 KP 6 07 1/2 80 79.6 23.06 113.96 Gumligen 11 12 118 82.5 9.06 57.50 KP 7 14 1/2 80 80.6 26.25 110.77 Ostermundigen 13 15 1/2 93.0 11.06 59.50 KP 8 44 1/2 80/sigs 80.0 31.22 105.80 Bern 17 37 12.82 61.26 Ausserberg 10 56 1/2 48.0 14.56 63.00 KP 13 11 XL 46.6 16.56 65.00 Eggerberg 14 55 80 69.2 18.85 67.29 Lalden 17 59 tsr 81 44.8 20.56 69.00 KP 19 31 80/XL 66.9 22.56 71.00 KP 21 00 1/2 80 80.4 24.06 72.50 KP 22 09 1/2 78.3 25.39 73.83 Brig 24 31 33.8

30th Anniversary Commemorative Issue 49 July 2010 2007 David Adams

Having arrived in Derby without any pre-planned journey time to get me back to Birmingham I was pleasantly surprised to find my next service was an HST running first stop New Street, a welcome change from Voyagers and 170’s.

A 4 minute late departure gave the driver some incentive to run up to maximum permitted speeds and 125 mph was briefly attained at Wilnecote, the only time I have recorded that maximum with an HST on this route. The only hindrance was an 80 mph TSR approaching Water Orton and with a rare unchecked entry into New Street we arrived 3 minutes early in a fastest RPS time for an HST.

DERBY-BIRMINGHAM Train 0940 Newcastle Date Sat 26-May-07 Loco 43052/43066 Load 8/269/285 Position 1/8 av mlge m c m s mph spd 0.00 128.35 DERBY 0.00 (4 LATE) 1.40 1.20 Pear Tree & N. 2.58½ 65 28.2 4.77 4.50 Stenson Jnc. 5.20½ 100 85.4 6.29 6.11 Willington 6.14 104/115 102.2 8.82 8.54 Clay Mills Jnc. 7.34½ 112 113.1 10.97 10.66 BURTON ON TRENT 9.30 46* 67.0 12.52 12.30 Branston 11.03 75 60.0 14.85 14.56 Barton 12.38 97 88.3 16.20 16.04 Wichnor Jnc. RR 13.26 103 101.2 19.57 19.34 Elford 15.16 114 110.3 22.15 22.00 MP 22 16.35 120 117.6 23.85 23.56 TAMWORTH 17.25½ 122 121.2 25.74 25.47 Wilnecote 18.20 125 123.7 27.24 27.07 Whateley Sidings 19.04 122 122.7 29.40 29.20 Kingsbury 20.09 118/78TSR 119.6 33.52 34.52 Water Orton 22.43½ 80 96.0 35.87 37.00 Castle Bromwich 24.24 90/96 84.2 37.36 38.39 Bromford Bridge 25.21½ 94 93.3 39.07 40.16 Saltley 26.50 40* 52.7 40.50 112.17 Proof House Jnc. 29.18 30* 34.8 41.20 112.73 BIRMINGHAM N.ST. 31.46 (3 EARLY)

30th Anniversary Commemorative Issue 50 July 2010 2008 David Ashley

Engineering work has always been a mixed blessing for the traction recorder, and probably over the last thirty years there has been an inclination to resort to “replacement buses”. This may have been used as a means to discourage travel at such times, and also possibly reduce costs. More recently, there has been a trend to divert the trains over an alternative route, which may also result in the diversion of rolling stock to other routes as well. Date/day Sat 19-Jul-08 Miles location m s mph ave Train 1300 Euston-Birmingham Intnl 32.65 West Wycombe 56 59 67/73 51.4 Motive Pow er 221142/221112 35.47 Saunderton 59 22 67 71.0 Load (tons) 9,481/485 38.65 Princes Risborough 64 31 35*/10* 37.0 Rec/Pos/GPS? D Adams 2/9 41.31 Ilmer 68 53 61sigs 36.5 Miles location m s mph ave 44.46 Haddenham 72 36 45*/58 50.9 47.90 Ashendon J 76 16 55 56.3 0.00 EUSTON 0 00 T 49.21 Dorton 77 39 57 56.8 0.98 Camden 2 21 25.0 50.37 Brill TS 78 51 59 58.0 1.60 Primrose Hill TS 3 08 47.5 51.51 Brill & L 79 59 61/55 60.4 2.26 Primrose Hill TN 3 59 46.6 54.27 Blackthorn 82 49 58 58.4 2.92 Kilburn High Rd 4 41 56.6 57.37 Bicester N 86 35 40* 49.4 3.61 Queens Park 5 20 63.7 61.12 Ardley 89 53 84 68.2 4.42 Kensal Green 6 12 56.1 63.17 Ardley TS 91 22 81 82.9 5.17 West London J 8 19 15* 21.3 63.82 Ardley TN 91 50 88 83.6 6.01 Acton Wells J 12 12 sigs 13.0 66.36 Aynho J 95 54 22* 37.5 6.91 Acton Main Line 15 06 tsr 18.6 67.92 Kings Sutton 97 43 76 51.5 8.36 Ealing Broadw ay 17 32 58 35.8 69.23Astrop 984086/90 82.7 9.21 West Ealing 18 56 36.4 71.42 Banbury 100 17 72* 81.3 10.28 Castle Bar Park 21 29 25.2 72.48 Banbury J 101 08 79 74.8 10.92 South Greenford 22 54 27.1 75.23 Cropredy 103 00 90 88.4 Sig stop 24 03 77.54 Claydon 104 34 88/90 88.5 26 28 80.19 Fenny Compton 106 20 88 90.0 11.57 Greenford W J 28 31 */51 6.9 81.23 mp 96 107 07 75*/74* 79.7 14.15 Northolt J 32 51 30* 35.7 85.14 Southam Rd 109 59 90/95 81.8 Sig stop 34 05 87.73 Fosse Rd 111 40 94 92.3 37 11 /58 89.96 Whitnash 113 15 58*/5* 84.5 16.01 West Ruislip 39 42 55*/75 16.3 91.60 Leamington 116 50 15* 27.5 18.77 Denham 42 05 72/68sigs/74 69.5 92.60 Milverton 119 12 50/78/76 25.4 21.38 Gerrards Cross 44 17 68*/73/63sigs 71.2 96.23 Kenilw orth 122 00 78/80/77 77.8 24.10 Seer Green 46 40 64 68.5 99.35 mp 6 3/4 124 23 80 78.5 25.67 Beaconsfield 47 59 74/75 71.5 101.26 COVENTRY 128 32 7E 27.6 28.15 Tylers Green 50 01 71/30sigs 73.2 30.51 High Wycombe 54 29 47* 31.7 Virgin started its “Blockbuster” service in 2008, which involved diverting “Voyagers” via the Chiltern line. Whilst the elimination of “bustitution” was admirable, the fact that most trains terminated at Birmingham International resulted in passengers having to change trains there to complete their journey. Also, due to routing and pathing problems mentioned later, the timings were not particularly challenging: passengers could arrive in Birmingham just as

30th Anniversary Commemorative Issue 51 July 2010 quickly by travelling from Paddington or Marylebone. No doubt, paths were unavailable, but running via Oxford would have been far quicker.

The trains normally followed the WCML out of Euston to West London Junction - beyond Kensal Green - where the train diverted north westwards towards Acton Wells Junction. It then joined the GW main line at Acton Main Line, and continued along the slow line to West Ealing, where it diverted to the Greenford branch. At Greenford it joined the original GW main line from Paddington to Birmingham Snow Hill, via Old Oak Common, and met the current Chiltern line at Northolt Junction. It then continues along the conventional Chiltern line to Leamington Spa and then went via Coventry to Birmingham International.

Date/day Mon 25-Aug-08 Miles M C location m s mph ave Train 1245 Birmingham Int-Eusto 59.92 27 13 Ilmer 64 46 59/57 59.1 Motive Pow er 221108/221110 62.58 24 40 Princes Risborough 67 33 60 57.4 Load (tons) 10,481/485 65.76 21 26 Saunderton 70 24 76 66.8 Weather Bright 68.58 18 40 West Wycombe 72 41 74/49 74.2 Rec/Pos/GPS? D Ashley 7/10 N 70.72 16 29 High Wycombe 75 02 52/75 54.6 Miles M C location m s mph ave 73.08 14 00 Tylers Green 77 12 73 65.4 75.56 11 42 Beaconsfield 79 14 74/73 73.0 0 0-67COVENTRY 0 00 8L 77.13 9 76 Seer Green 80 30 75/74 74.6 5.03 3 73 Kenilw orth 11 15 79.84 7 19 Gerrards Cross 82 40 75/76 75.1 9.94 106 06 Leamington Spa 16 54 35.3 81.58 5 40 Denham GC 84 04 75/76 74.5 13.47 102 44 Fosse Rd 20 45 84 54.9 82.46 4 50 Denham 84 46 74 75.0 16.86 99 13 Greaves Siding 23 01 95/73 89.7 85.22 1 69 West Ruislip 87 51 24sigs 53.8 21.04 94 78 Fenny Compton 26 05 82 81.9 87.02 0 05 South Ruislip 91 52 sig stop 26.9 23.71 92 25 Claydon 27 56 88/91 86.4 93 05 /49 26.31 89 57 Cropredy 29 40 90/28sigs 90 88.46 8 60 Northolt 95 20 35 24.9 29.83 86 15 Banbury 33 22 47 57.2 89.41 9 06 Greenford 98 18 sig stop 30.98 85 03 M40 35 02 41sigs 41.4 103 50 32.02 84 00 Astrop 36 30 46 42.4 90.18 8 24 South Greenford 107 00 5.3 33.33 82 55 Kings Sutton 37 47 80 61.4 91.01 7 38 Castle Bar Park 108 38 30.3 34.89 81 10 Aynho J 39 07 68 70.3 91.39 7 07 Drayton Green 110 00 17.0 38.06 15 13 Ardley Tnnl S 41 54 69 68.2 91.91 6 46 West Ealing 111 44 20 17.7 40.11 13 09 Ardley 43 40 70 69.6 92.78 5 56 Ealing Broadw ay 112 50 52/63 47.7 42.22 11 00 11 45 29 71 69.8 43.86 9 29 Bicester N 47 43 27sigs 44 94.29 4 15 Acton Main Line 115 17 20 37.0 45.22 8 00 8 49 44 62 40.5 95.25 0 49 Acton Wells J 117 57 10 21.4 46.96 6 21 Blackthorn 51 33 57 57.4 96.58 5 24 5.25 122 30 20.2 49.58 3 51 Brill 54 16 59 58 97.65 3 55 Queens Park 125 33 20.9 50.86 2 29 Brill Tnnl S 55 33 62 59.6 98.32 3 01 Kilburn High Rd 126 12 62.3 52.02 1 16 Dorton 56 42 60 60.7 98.92 2 33 South Hamstead 126 46 63.5 53.22 0 00 Ashendon J 57 54 60 60 101.26 0 00 EUSTON 130 59 13E 33.3

The down train was recorded by David Adams – he travelled in one direction only, as he could not stand double the tedium! After an initial sprint out of Euston along the WCML, a circuitous route to the GW main line resulted in a time of 17½ minutes for the first eight miles to Ealing Broadway. Progress continued in a similar fashion to Greenford, where a signal stop delayed progress. A further signal stop at Northolt Junction was to allow the 1320 from Marylebone in front of the Blockbuster (with six more station stops than the Blockbuster!).

30th Anniversary Commemorative Issue 52 July 2010 This resulted in intermittent signal checks all the way to Haddenham. What may not be appreciated is at the time the 100mph speed limit between Princes Risborough and Bicester is “DMU only”, which means that other traction (including Voyagers) were limited to 60mph. Speeds increased north of Bicester , but in spite of the restrictions earlier in the journey, the preceding 1320 continued to cause signal checks towards Leamington. In spite of all the hold ups, arrival at Coventry was seven minutes early.

The up journey was recorded on August Bank Holiday Monday 2008. The train contrived to lose time from International and was eight minutes late away from Coventry. This time I suspect we were affected by the 1347 Bicester. The signal stop at South Ruislip was to allow the down Blockbuster off the single line from Greenford. Previous observations at West Ruislip would have indicated that if the train had left punctually from Coventry, it would have probably been held there for 10minutes . The signal stop at Greenford was to allow the train from Paddington into the platform. The train continued into Euston in a similar fashion to the down journey, and in spite of the late departure from Coventry, and the signal stops, the train still arrived 13 minutes early.

These operations continue, mainly when the WCML is closed at Rugby. It remains to be seen how engineering work will be treated in the future.

2009 David Ashley

So what has changed in domestic operations over the 30 years? Locomotive haulage has almost disappeared, and been replaced by multiple unit operation – who would have thought 30 years ago that an Aberdeen to Penzance train would be operated by a 5-car multiple unit. Surplus locomotives have been requisitioned to cover overloading on existing diagrams, but must be totally uneconomical with top and tailing on limited loads. Not surprisingly, the HST has become the most successful rolling stock ever, and the reluctance to spend money on new rolling stock means that they will probably still be running in another 30 years!

Who would have thought 30 years ago that there would be no increase in maximum speeds above 125mph, until 395’s were introduced on HS1 in 2009. ECML and Anglia lines were electrified, but little else.

Privatisation has arrived, and has evolved subsequently over the years. DfT seem to take an uninformed interest in the operation of the system, which seems to detract from sensible innovation by the operators. Greater control and monitoring has resulted in timetable inflation, defensive driving and excessive caution. What powers the TOCs have seem to revolve about filling their fixed formations in the off-peak with passengers travelling on discounted fares, which results in overcrowding in the peaks. Extra capacity is not in the equation.

One area that has improved over the last 30 years is communications. With the growth of mobile phones, it seems unfortunate that this technology cannot improve operations when things go wrong. I was on a train where there was a total signal failure outside Dunbar. The train was delayed by three hours – the main problem being the time taken to get hand signalmen to the remote locations.

On the other hand railways seem to be a success story, with patronage at record levels and station and line re-openings being proposed. Whether HS2 gets beyond the design stage probably depends on how it can be funded.

As well as defensive driving, frequency of service and shorter trains is probably one of the main factors that has affected the train timer. A comparison of a typical itinerary from a

30th Anniversary Commemorative Issue 53 July 2010 Western Region rover ticket from the 1980’s and an all line rover on the WCML in 2009 shows the difference.

1981 2009 arr dep miles arr dep miles Worcester 0700 Euston 0617 Paddington 0915 0920 120 Stoke 0744 0750 145 Bristol 1052 1110 118 Euston 0923 0930 145 Paddington 1252 1315 118 Warrington 1111 1120 182 Newport 1440 1452 133 Euston 1312 1330 182 Paddington 1633 1700 133 Warrington 1511 1520 182 Worcester 1917 120 Euston 1712 1733 182 Av spd (mph) 61 742 Crewe 1910 1922 158 Euston 2105 158 Av spd (mph) 90 1334

Whilst maximum mileage is not going to be achieved by starting from Worcester, the tables show what could be done. With only one HST an hour to Cardiff and Bristol – with fewer stops – detailed planning was essential. With 9 Pendolinos’/Voyagers per hour out of Euston all that is necessary is to prepare a list of preferred “country” connections and away you go. Punctuality is far better in 2009 than in the 1980’s, although this is probably due to the timetable inflation mentioned earlier.

The sort of performance that it being achieved on the WCML is shown on the accompanying log

Due to defensive driving, a good run is probably going to be characterised these days by good acceleration and braking rather than by excessive speeds, and how the train progresses through the pinch points and junctions along the route. Similarly, greater power means that trains recover more quickly from signal checks and tsrs. Having spent a week travelling on the WCML, timings were affected by a 90mph speed restriction around Bletchley, but this was removed over the weekend. This meant that the southern end of the WCML was now clear of TSRs. A good start was followed by running up to line speed all the way to Coventry resulted in a 39¾min run for the 76.68miles at an average speed of 115.7mph. This is thought to be the most likely section for the fastest run on the WCML due to the stopping pattern of the trains and the subsequent main line speed restrictions at Atherstone and beyond Colwich.

So here’s to the next thirty years

Happy travelling

30th Anniversary Commemorative Issue 54 July 2010 Date/day W 09-Sep-09 Train 1123 Euston-Wolverhampton Motive Power 390035 Load (tons) 9 Recorder D Ashley 8/9 Y Miles M C Location m s mph av 0.00 0.00 17 25 WATFORD J 0 00 2L 3.64 20 76 King's Langley 3 04 112 71.2 5.78 23 07 Apsley 4 07 123 122.1 7.19 24 40 Hemel Hempstead 4 48 124 124.0 10.60 27 73 Berkhamsted 6 27 124 124.1 14.39 31 56 Tring 8 17 124/121 124.0 18.80 36 09 Cheddington 10 28 124/122 121.3 22.85 40 13 Leighton Buzzard 12 27 124 122.5 29.34 46 52 Bletchley 15 38 121 122.3 32.51 49 66 Milton Keynes Cen 17 12 123 121.6 35.10 52 33 Wolverton 18 28 122 122.6 37.44 54 60 Castlethorpe 19 38 120 120.2 39.21 56 42 Hanslope J 20 30 122 122.9 42.50 59 65 Roade 22 07 123 122.0 45.50 62 65 Blisworth 23 35 123 122.7 47.23 64 43 Banbury Lane 24 25 123 124.2 49.69 67 00 67 25 37 123 123.1 52.44 69 60 Weedon 26 59 117 120.7 57.94 75 20 Welton 29 42 123 121.5 60.85 78 13 Kilsby Tnnl N 31 15 110 112.7 62.81 80 10 Hilmorton 32 15 123 117.8 65.19 82 40 Rugby 33 25 122 122.1 76.68 93 79 COVENTRY 39 45 2E 108.8 Avge speed 115.7

30th Anniversary Commemorative Issue 55 July 2010

Class 91 at Edinburgh