MILEPOST 26 - April 2005
The Journal of The Railway Performance Society
Honorary President: Peter Semmens MA CChem FRSC MBCS MCIT Commitee: CHAIRMAN Nigel Smedley 40 Ferrers Way, Darley Abbey, Derby DE22 2BA. e-mail: [email protected] VICE CHAIRMAN Chris Taylor 11 Fenay Drive, Fenay Bridge, Huddersfield HD8 OAB. And Meetings e-mail; [email protected] tel; 01484 307069 SECRETARY Frank Collins 10 Collett Way, Frome, Somerset, BA11 2XR e-mail: [email protected] Tel: 01373 466408 TREASURER Peter Smith 28 Downsview Ave, Storrington, West Sussex RH20 4PS (and Membership) e-mail: [email protected] EDITOR David Ashley 92 Lawrence Drive, Ickenham, Uxbridge, Middx, UB10 8RW e-mail: [email protected], Tel 01895 675178 Distance Chart Editor John Bull 37 Heathfield Road, Basingstoke, Hants RG22 4PA e-mail;[email protected] Fastest Times Editor David Sage 93 Salisbury Road, Burton, Christchurch, Dorset BH23 7JR e-mail: [email protected] tel; 01202 249717 Committee Members:- Archivist & Librarian Lee Allsopp 2 Gainsborough, North Lake, Bracknell RG12 7WL e-mail: [email protected] tel; 01344 648644 Sales & Distribution Bruce Nathan 7 Salamanca, Crowthorne, Berks, RG45 6AP e-mail [email protected], tel 01344 776656 Publicity Vacancy Non-committee officials:- Topical points Martin Robertson 23 Brownside Rd, Cambuslang, Glasgow, G72 0NL e-mail: [email protected] Directors of RPS Rail Performance Consultants Ltd.:- Frank Collins (chairman), Martin Barrett (secretary), Nigel Smedley.
CONTENTS Page Notices 3 The Age of the Train – not quite yet Martin Robertson 13 Avon Valley Voyagers Frank Collins 15 Feste Lente Jeremy Hartill 19 Fastest Times Update Martin Robertson 25 Epic Climb of Grayrigg Bank William Alcock 31 Mass Timing Day 2004 – Part One Frank Collins 32 Kings and Castles on Top Link Work David Adams 37 The Unexpected K R Phillips 42 300kph in the UK David Ashley 48 Whose Timekeeping is best? - Part One Michael Hedges 52 The Blue Pullmans – Part One Bruce Nathan 58 BR Diesel Resistance and the Davis Formula John Knowles 67 Letters 70 News Alert 47, 57
Enclosures (where subscribed): UK Distance charts, Cd-roms, Annual report, Annual UK Fastest times
Copyright The Railway Performance Society Ltd, registered in England & Wales No. 04488089
The views expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of the RPS, the Editors or any of their advisers. Whilst efforts are made to ensure accuracy, the Editor his advisers and the RPS accept no responsibility for any loss or damage arising from any inaccuracies howsoever caused. Readers are asked to note that the RPS encourages contributions from all members, and articles may appear that are interesting in content, but occasionally may not be to the standard of the rest of the publication. Material sent to the Editors, whether commissioned or freely submitted is provided entirely at the contributors own risk; neither the Editor nor the RPS can be held responsible for any loss or damage howsoever caused. Published by The Railway Performance Society Limited, 92 Lawrence Drive, Ickenham, Uxbridge, Middx, UB10 8RW Printed by Prontaprint Harrow, 7 Central Parade, Station Rd., Harrow, Middx, HA1 2TW.
Milepost 26 - 2 - April 2005
Foreword from the Chairman
At this time of year inevitably thoughts turn towards the impending AGM. Is it really a year since the last one? This year’s event is on Saturday 14th May at The Brunswick, Derby and as always your support for the event would be very much appreciated.
Needless to say, the Committee are very short-handed. Whilst I don’t want to repeat the message in the Annual Report and in previous Mileposts, it has to be repeatedly stressed that continuation without a Publicity Officer threatens to do real damage both short and long term to the future of the Society. Furthermore we have one or maybe two further vacancies within the Committee too. If you are interested in getting involved in any of these roles or for that matter anything else to do with the management of the Society then please do not hesitate to contact either myself or the Secretary as soon as possible. Contact by phone, e- mail, via correspondence or personally at the AGM or at a meeting are all absolutely fine.
The level of response to the RPS Questionnaire has been almost overwhelming. We now have some good quality feedback from around 75% of the membership. Many thanks to all who took the trouble to complete the questionnaire. Some initial findings are included in the Annual Report with a more detailed analysis planned for in July’s magazine.
I am pleased to say that the long awaited Train Recorder’s Guide is finally ready for publication. What we hope will become the bible for the train timer will appear alongside the July Milepost. Much of the guide is a tribute to the efforts of the late Martin Tasker.
Another notable event has been the addition of the full Fastest Times information onto the Society web site. Thanks to the efforts of John Bull and David Sage for this milestone. The addition is being kept deliberately low key for the moment as this is really a prequel to the launch of the Society’s brand new web site later this year. More on this next time. It is hoped that the information will ultimately become a future reference source to the wider rail community, particularly the PR machines, whilst raising the Society’s profile at the same time.
Nigel Smedley Chairman
SOCIETY NOTICES
PUBLICATION OF MILEPOST
Milepost is published in April, July, October, and January. If you have not received your copy by the end of the month of publication it may have gone astray. Requests for replacements of missing or defective copies should be directed please to BRUCE NATHAN and not to the Editor.
Milepost 26 - 3 - April 2005 REPRESENTING THE SOCIETY
The RPS is always keen to be represented at special media-type occasions. However, we do ask that anyone wishing to do this should do so with the express agreement of the Committee. Should the opportunity arise for any member or in exceptional circumstances, friend of a member, to do this please can contact be made with the Secretary (either by telephone or e-mail) setting out the circumstances of the occasion. Please give us at least one week in advance of the occasion.
SUBMITTING ARTICLES
Submissions may be sent as attachments to an email or by post as documents on a CD or diskette or as a printed document. If sending a diskette or CD, please enclose a hard copy of the article; this helps if file(s) are unreadable for any reason.
Please send all submissions to the editor whose contact details are in the inside front cover of Milepost. The editor will normally acknowledge email submissions within a few days, and always within 3 weeks. If sending by post and you wish to have a receipt, please enclose an SAE for reply. If you wish any material/CD/diskette to be returned, please clearly state this.
Milepost 23 ¾ gave detailed guidelines for submissions. The editor is happy to supply these, on request by email or by post. Please note that page margins are critical: one inch or 2.54cm top, bottom, left and right.
FASTEST TIMES
Please send all contributions to David Sage. Please note e-mail address: [email protected]
This is with the following exceptions: John Heaton for Voyagers, 180s, Pendolinos and 222s. Bill Long for DB material.
Please, where practicable, also copy claims and logs to Lee Allsopp, for the Society database, and to Martin Robertson for material for the Fastest Times articles. In general the closing date for submissions will be the third week of the month preceding publication. The Annual Fastest Times Booklet is included with this edition of Milepost
HISTORIC FASTEST TIMES
Hopefully the 2005 issue will be distributed with the October 2005 Milepost, to those members who have subscribed to it. The steam section will mainly feature former GWR main lines, starting with Paddington to Wolverhampton, Bristol and South Wales. The lines to the far west will appear in a later issue. First draft versions for these GWR sections are now on line at the web address below. If you can beat any of these times, or if you have any contributions of diesel loco-hauled records, please try to send these by 1 August 2005 to Bevan Price, 24 Walmesley Road, Eccleston, St. Helens, Lancs., WA10 5JT, or by e-mail to [email protected]
The on-line Historical FT index is at: www.bevanprice.freeuk.com/rps45581hft.htm.
Bevan Price
Milepost 26 - 4 - April 2005 DISTRIBUTION OF MILEPOST
The stuffing and distribution of Milepost and supplements has been performed by a dedicated team of members from my home in Crowthorne. Due to other commitments certain members of the team are not always available at the relevant time and further help would be appreciated. The work is normally done on a weekday evening from 19.30 and usually takes around 1½-2 hours. If any member living in the Thames Valley area is willing to help on an occasional basis, will they please get in touch with me - address, phone and e- mail are on inside cover. Bruce Nathan
SALES ITEMS Back Numbers: Certain back issues of Milepost, mostly after Milepost 9, can be supplied at a price of £2.50 each including postage. Supplies are extremely limited and once sold they will not be reprinted. Details of issues available will be supplied on request. Milepost is available in the British Library; the Bodleian Library, Oxford; the University Library, Cambridge; The National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh; The Library of Trinity College, Dublin, the National Library of Wales, the National Railway Museum and the Railway Studies Library at Newton Abbot Library. Where a requested edition is out of print the member will be provided with a letter of authority from the Society (as copyright holder) to enable a complete copy to be taken from any of the Library copies. Indices for volumes 7 to 21 are available and will be supplied free of charge on receipt of an A5 size stamped addressed envelope. UK Mileage Supplement: £20.00 in two binders. The complete collection of RPS mileage charts compiled to date. Individual new and revised charts are issued with Milepost when available. Sets of the Charts are made up individually to order, but every effort is made to supply within the normal 28 day delivery allowance. Overseas Distance Supplement (Section 1: France): £10.00 in binder. The complete collection of RPS charts on SNCF lines compiled to date. Individual new and revised charts are distributed occasionally with Milepost to those members who have paid a small supplementary membership fee. Historical Fastest Times 2004 Edition: £2.00. All orders please to Bruce Nathan. All prices include postage. Please enclose the correct remittance with your order and allow 28 days for delivery. BUSINESS CARDS
The Railway Performance Society www.railperf.org.uk Are you interested in train performance? If so, you should join the Railway Performance Society. We offer a quarterly journal 'Milepost' with articles on modern and historic traction, steam, diesel and electric, British and overseas. We issue Distance Charts (UK and EU) for many routes and supplements of fastest times. Regular meetings are held to discuss train timing matters. The Society maintains an extensive electronic archive of performance logs dating from the 1890s to the present day. For further details please contact Peter Smith, 28 Downsview Avenue, Storrington, West Sussex, RH20 4PS, visit our web site or email [email protected]
Milepost 26 - 5 - April 2005 We have a supply of Business Cards, worded as above, which are useful to give to people who show an interest in train-timing, particularly on rail tours, to encourage them to join the Society. If any member would like a supply of these cards, please apply to Bruce Nathan.
AGM – The AGM is in Derby on 14th May 2005. The agenda, annual report and proxy form are included with this distribution of Milepost. If you cannot attend, please detach, complete and return the proxy form at the back of the booklet, to Frank Collins by 12th May 2005. After completion of the official business, Nigel Smedley will run a timing simulation.
MEETINGS NEXT MEETING DATES
SATURDAY SATURDAY THURSDAY 14TH MAY 2005 18TH JUNE, 2005 23RD JUNE, 2005 Derby 12 noon. MASS TIMING DAY BRISTOL 1700 FOR 1730 AGM – See enclosures LIVERPOOL ST- DISCUSSION ON Timing Simulation COLCHESTER See page 9 CURRENT PERFORMANCE
The Society now has a digital projector and if any member would like to give a short presentation at a society meeting using this projector (or not using it if they like), or if anyone has any topics for discussion at meetings please contact the vice-chairman. Perhaps you would like to tell a meeting about your best run of the year (or any year).
DIRECTIONS TO THE VENUES
LONDON – LAMBS PUBLIC HOUSE, Lambs Conduit Street, London WC1. From Russell Square Piccadilly Line station turn right, then turn first right into Grenville Street then first left into Guilford Street (Great Ormond Street Hospital on right), turn first right into Guilford Place (by the fountain and underground Gents toilet) and it is on the left - walking time about 5 minutes. OR. From King’s Cross station cross Euston Rd and turn left towards Grays Inn Road, where you turn right, and walk southwards down Grays Inn Rd to the junction with Guildford Street, where you turn right. Turn left at Guildford Place, and Lamb's is on the left. (About 10mins walk from King's Cross) We will use the Empire Theatre Bar / Dining Room upstairs DERBY – THE BRUNSWICK – From Derby Station, turn right and follow the road for about 200 yards. The Brunswick is on the left just before the road bends to the left. – walking time about 4 minutes We use one of the upstairs rooms. BRISTOL - at THE GWRSA CLUB, is on the right hand side of Bristol Temple Meads station approach road heading away from the station about 150 metres. It is reached by steps from the approach road. The GWRSA Club does not open until 1730, so we can meet at the main entrance at Temple Meads station at 1700 in order to be escorted through a side entrance. After 1730 please use the normal entrance. Due to licensing laws the manager of the GWRSA Club needs the names of members attending, if you could let John Heaton know at least 2 weeks before the date on 01626 865526 or [email protected] (those who attended previously do not need to let John Heaton know) . CREWE – THE CREWE ARMS HOTEL Come out of the railway station and turn right, cross the road, the hotel is 50 metres on the left hand side.
Milepost 26 - 6 - April 2005
FREE SOCIETY MEETINGS It was announced at the 2002 AGM that future society meetings will be free of charge to Members attending; i.e. no contribution will be asked towards the hire of rooms. The committee wishes to encourage Members to come along to meetings, talk to other train timers and share information and experiences of traction performance.
VOYAGER / ADELANTE / CHALLENGER / PENDOLINO RECORDS. Many thanks to those who responded to my request for records achieved by the above classes. As stated in Milepost 23¾ it is the intention to track the development of records by these classes. The file will be passed to David sage for publication as circumstances allow.
At this stage I simply need a line of entry, preferably by e-mail or post, to showing Unit no/s. Vehicles/Recorder/Section*/From/To/Date and time.
* as per FT booklet. e.g. Paddington to Reading would be gw1, Euston-Coventry wc2. Any recognisable abbreviation is fine.
In order to save David a lot of work in processing records for these classes until standards are set, please send your contributions for these classes to - John Heaton, 57 West Cliff Park Drive, Dawlish, Devon, EX7 9ER or [email protected]
MEETING REPORTS
Only five members attended the Bristol meeting on 10th February. The absence of Peter Darke through illness was noted and members wished him a speedy recovery. Chris Napper introduced high speed logs featuring repeated 100mph speeds with a Class 46 on the Midland and a Virgin Class 47 sustaining at least 109mph on the Somerset Levels. There was general discussion about aspects of timing accuracy and presentation before John Heaton talked about recent West Coast and Scotrail journeys, including two trips on the fashionable North Berwick line, one of which was a Class 170 when the WTT clearly showed a Class 90.
The next meeting was arranged for Thursday June 23rd at 17.00 in the concourse of Bristol Temple Meads for a meeting in the GWRSA club."
MEETING NOTICE The next Bristol meeting will be held at the Bristol GWRSA club (200 yards from Temple Meads on the right hand side of the station approach road). Members should meet on the concourse at Temple Meads at 17.00. Latecomers can gain entry to the club from 17.30. It would be helpful if those wishing to attend would let me know (contact details below). The meeting will take the form of short presentations by those members who wish to do so discussing logs they have produced or topical issues. Newcomers and inexperienced timers will be made welcome. John Heaton 01626 865526 57 West Cliff Park Drive Dawlish Devon EX7 9ER [email protected]
Milepost 26 - 7 - April 2005 MARTIN TASKER MEMORIAL LIBRARY
The Martin Tasker Memorial Library is now one year old! We started off with 13 books, through the year this doubled in size to 26. As many of you will be aware one of our members, and former Librarian and Archivist, Ken Barlow passed away last August. We have just received from his family a donation to the Society of his notebooks, and his collection of 50-60 books. Due to logistical reasons, only part of this collection has been sorted out so far, the new books are indicated in the list below. The next edition of Milepost will list the complete contents of the library including all the new books.
Title Author Locomotive & Train Working in the Latter Part of the 19th Century, Vol E L Ahrons 1 Locomotive & Train Working in the Latter Part of the 19th Century, Vol E L Ahrons 2 Locomotive & Train Working in the Latter Part of the 19th Century, Vol E L Ahrons 3 Locomotive & Train Working in the Latter Part of the 19th Century, Vol E L Ahrons 4 Locomotive & Train Working in the Latter Part of the 19th Century, Vol E L Ahrons 5 Locomotive & Train Working in the Latter Part of the 19th Century, Vol E L Ahrons 6 British Rail Track Diagrams – 1 – ScotRail – May 1987 Quail British Rail Track Diagrams – 2 – Eastern & Anglia Regions – March Quail 1988 British Rail Track Diagrams – 3 – Western Region – March 1989 Quail British Rail Track Diagrams – 4 – London Midland Region – Oct 1990 Quail British Rail Track Diagrams – 5 – England, South and London Quail Underground – Oct 1994 Speed Records on Britain’s Railways O S Nock LNER Steam O S Nock The Deltics – A Symposium (various) The North Eastern Railway Cecil J Allen The London & South Western Railway O S Nock The London Brighton and South Coast Railway C Hamilton Ellis British Railways In Action O S Nock Four Thousand Miles on the Footplate O S Nock
The books are available for borrowing by contacting me by letter, phone or E-Mail. The borrower will be responsible for postage in both directions. It will be possible in many cases for arrangements to be made to pass books on at Society Meetings to avoid postage costs in one direction at least. The standard borrowing period will be three weeks although this can be negotiable. Abuse of this may result in the loss of Library Privileges!!
The Society will be happy to receive donations to the Library. Items should be related to Railway Performance (no Magazine Collections please). Again please contact me regarding this. New items received into the Library will be notified in updates published in Milepost.
Milepost 26 - 8 - April 2005 RPS ARCHIVES – CD DISTRIBUTION
RPS Members who have registered to receive the RPS Archive CDs will receive a CD with this issue of Milepost as follows:
- Bruce Nathan Collection Disk 1. Bruce started recording whilst at University in 1952, and has been timing trains ever since. He has just passed Notebook 70 to the RPS for inclusion in the Archive. This CD covers the first part of the collection.
To keep the cost to the Society down (and the overhead of CD copying), the CDs will only be issued to those who ‘register’ for the updates. It’s not too late to register. To do so please contact Lee Allsopp by letter, phone or E-Mail to register for the CDs.
NEED MATERIAL FOR ARTICLES?
Do you feel that you could write an article for Milepost if only you had access to material to do so? Just want some information to satisfy an idle curiosity? Even if you don’t have access to the Society Archives and database on CD, you can still get information and logs for that article or whatever by contacting me direct by either E-Mail, phone or letter. Just ask me the question and I’ll see what we can come up with!
PROVISION OF CURRENT MATERIAL FOR RPS ARCHIVE
With many members now being connected by Broadband, we are now in a position where we can receive contributions via E-Mail of current material from as many members as wish to contribute. A member could record a log one day and send it to me immediately for inclusion in the database and archive. Would members who wish to participate in this please contact me by E-Mail for further details.
I can accept material in a number of formats, Word, Excel, Acrobat pdf files and scanned images of hand written material (eg notebooks). For scanned images we find that scanning at 150dpi gives perfectly acceptable results, while producing files of a reasonable size (200- 400KB)
UK DISTANCE CHARTS
Issue 38 is included with this edition of Milepost, adding new routes in East Anglia, Southern England and Wales.
John Bull
MASS TIMING DAY LIVERPOOL ST – COLCHESTER 18th JUNE 2005 – Lee Allsopp
This year’s Mass Timing Day will be held between Liverpool Street and Colchester on Saturday 18th June 2005.
The usual format is followed with the aim being to cover as many of the main line services over the route during the course of the day as possible.
Until recently the Norwich services were operated by Anglia Railways with the other services operated by First Great Eastern. Now all services out of Liverpool Street are operated by ‘One’ a National Express Company. 18th June is the first Saturday after the Summer
Milepost 26 - 9 - April 2005 timetable change. Making a basic assumption that the service will be little changed with the new timetable, then the typical service each hour is summarized as follows:-
(i) xx00 Fast Norwich train with a Shenfield stop (pu only). Expected to be Class 90s with a small possibility of the odd Class 86 still being around.
(ii) xx08 to Clacton with stops at Stratford, Romford, Shenfield, Chelmsford and Witham. Normally either a Class 321 or 360.
(iii) xx15 to Southend Victoria with stops at Stratford and Shenfield on the main line. Normally a Class 321.
(iv) xx18 to Harwich Town with stops at Stratford, Shenfield, Chelmsford, Witham, Kelvedon and Marks Tey. Normally either a Class 321 or 360.
(v) xx30 Fast Norwich train with stops at Stratford (pu only) and Chelmsford. Expected to be Class 90s with a small possibility of the odd Class 86 still being around.
(vi) xx34 to Southend Victoria with stops at Stratford, Romford and Shenfield on the main line. Normally a Class 321.
(vii) xx38 to either Lowestoft or Peterborough with stops at Shenfield, Chelmsford, Witham and Marks Tey. Class 170s are used on these services as they continue beyond the electrified network.
(viii) xx48 to Braintree with stops at Stratford, Shenfield, Ingatestone, Chelmsford, Hatfield Peverel and Witham on the main line. Normally either a Class 321 or 360
(ix) xx55 to Southend Victoria with stops at Stratford, and Shenfield on the main line. Normally a Class 321.
The numerous services and some variety in motive power should make for a good day out. The ascent of Brentwood bank and the high speed section between Chelmsford and Colchester are of particular interest.
To ensure that we cover as many trains as possible and to avoid duplication, participants should ‘book’ their chosen trains with me prior to the event. The booking list will be available from me electronically from me by the end of April. I can be contacted, by E- Mail, phone or post. (Details inside front cover). In the event of things not going to plan on the day, the golden rule is to attempt to get back on your booked itinerary as soon as possible.
The results of the day will be presented in an article in Milepost. To make life easier for the poor author, would you please note the following:-
(i) Please supply your logs using the timing points as detailed in the table below, and only those points!! An electronic version of the timing sheet will be available from me on request.
(ii) To aid the production of the article, it is requested that completed logs are forwarded to the Organiser by 31st July 2005.
Milepost 26 - 10 - April 2005 Miles M C Location 0.00 0 07 LIVERPOOL STREET - log purposes - 10 coach set 1.04 1 10 BETHNAL GREEN Sub 2.91 3 00 Bow Junction MP 3.91 4 00 STRATFORD (pass) Paint Mk 4.40 4 39 MARYLAND OB 5.21 5 24 FOREST GATE Plat No 6.16 6 20 MANOR PARK Chain Mk 7.28 7 29 ILFORD South SFB 8.48 8 45 SEVEN KINGS CY S 9.19 9 22 GOODMAYES CY N 9.91 10 00 CHADWELL HEATH MP Paint Mk 12.29 12 30 ROMFORD Sub 13.40 13 39 GIDEA PARK SFB 14.83 14 73 HAROLD WOOD SFB 18.11 18 16 BRENTWOOD CY N 19.16 19 20 Ingrave Summit MP 20.10 20 15 SHENFIELD (pass) CY S 23.50 23 47 INGATESTONE (pass/ S'bd stop) SFB 24.75 24 67 Church Lane LC 27.21 27 24 Margaretting UB 29.66 29 60 CHELMSFORD (pass/4 car stop) Sub 32.05 32 11 New Hall RR* 35.83 35 73 HATFIELD PEVEREL (pass) Shl* 38.51 38 48 WITHAM SFB 42.16 42 20 KELVEDON (pass/4 car stop) SFB 46.49 46 46 MARKS TEY (pass) Shl* 48.91 49 00 Stanway MP 51.44 51 42 COLCHESTER (S'bd IC Plat 3) Cen NB these are idealized points for illustration purposes. The electronic timing sheet will contain separate lines where there are different points for passing/stopping trains and northbound/southbound.
STOP-WATCH SEARCH
Whilst there are stop watch facilities on numerous devices (wrist watches, mobile phones, GPS receivers, calculators etc), there are times when a proper digital stop-watch is essential. Buying these from a High Street jeweller can be a depressing experience. The shop assistant’s ignorance of the products he stocks, and his knowledge of their specifications, can result with the buyer being offered a watch that is totally inappropriate. Twice, I have been sold watches that revert to mm.ss after 40 or 60 minutes.
Frank Collins was trying to locate a replacement stop watch and Chris Thomas recommended the www.sports-watches.net website, which returned over 100 different stop watches. So impressed was he, that he ordered, not one but two, HS-30W-1V – Casio Professional Lap Memory Stopwatches (at £36 each), which duly arrived just 36 hours after placing his order
Milepost 26 - 11 - April 2005 Where there’s a will ….
The Legacy of Train Recording
Have you ever thought what will happen to all your logs and notes after your death? If you are like most train recorders, these records will have taken you countless hours to prepare and compile, and of the greatest interest to you – but will be meaningless and of no interest to any other members of your family, and will be in great danger of being thrown away following your death, losing a very valuable historical resource.
The RPS is building a rapidly growing collection of Train Performance data, which is being stored electronically. Already (March 2005) there are over 58,000 logs in the collection, and more are being added all the time. We would like to encourage all members therefore to contribute their own personal collections to this very valuable historic resource, which is already the largest single collection of Train Performance information ever compiled.
We would therefore like to encourage all members to include within their Wills a legacy of this material to the RPS; and whilst all members will naturally take the advice of their Solicitor on the point, the following suggested wording may be helpful as guidance;-
“I GIVE to the Railway Performance Society Limited (or such other Company or body as shall from time to time have succeeded to its business) all notes logs and records compiled by me relating to Railway Traction Performance to be held by the said Society for its general purposes in accordance with the Articles of Association of the Society from time to time AND it is my wish that the said notes logs and records form part of the Archive Records of the said Society available for the use and benefit of the members for the time being”
[MEMBERS SPECIAL NOTE; those members who prepared their latest Wills prior to the Society becoming a Limited Company in 2002 will need to amend their Wills so that the legacy refers to the Company NOT to the Trustees of the Railway Performance Society]
Whilst we are of course always very grateful for all additions to the records following the death of a member we would also very much like to encourage members to donate their records to the Archive while they are still alive! As you will appreciate from the volume of material held the Society does not (other than in very exception circumstances where the notebooks themselves may have an intrinsic value) retain paper records; so such donations can be made by lending the relevant notebooks to us, the originals of which will then be returned to you following scanning. Those members with suitable scanning facilities are of course welcome to do the scanning themselves and just send us the scanned copies!
Milepost 26 - 12 - April 2005 The Age of The Train: Not Quite Yet M D Robertson
Monday the 27th September saw the recasting of the Virgin West Coast Main Line and Cross Country services. On the West Coast Main Line the highlight was the introduction of 125mph running with tilt south of Crewe. North of Crewe, although there was no upgrading of the line limits the schedules were tightened up to allow a decrease in journey times. On the Cross Country services Glasgow effectively lost all its VT2 services to Bournemouth with all West Coast departures running under the VT1 timetable. Again a tightening of schedules and reduction in intermediate stops allowed some acceleration of services.
From Glasgow it was possible to travel on the Royal Scot services in both directions to and from Preston, for which I had booked tickets. We left Glasgow with Pendolino unit 390043, which was piped out of Glasgow Central and photographed by the local television networks.
However things soon went wrong, with wheel flats occurring on one bogie, a signal stop at Carstairs then 50mph running to Carlisle where the service was terminated, some 70 minutes late. We even had the ignominy of being looped at Lockerbie to allow a Class 92 hauled container service to pass us. I later continued to Preston on the 12 05 Glasgow- Plymouth service which is non-stop to Preston. 221138 with all engines working took a comfortable 61m 00s to gain a couple of minutes on the schedule.
Table 1:Carlisle-Glasgow Date 27th September 2004 Train 7 25 Penzance-Glasgow I returned north on the 7 25 Unit 221 127 Penzance-Glasgow service Load 5/268/280 on which a well filled 221 127 Recorder M D Robertson left 5 minutes late. A signal Position/GPS 1/5 : No stop and 20mph tsr miles m c Location m s mph Ave immediately after leaving 0.00 0 00 Carlisle d 0 00 (-9) Preston was not a good start. 1.98 2 06 Kingmoor 3 04 70 38.7 I recall thinking that 6.10 6 07 Floriston 6 00 98/100 84.3 acceleration from the tsr was 8.59 8 47 Gretna Jn 7 30 96 99.6 rather sluggish, although 110 10.00 10 00 Quintishill 8 23 90* 95.8 was reached at Bay Horse. 13.01 13 00 Kirkpatrick 10 19 1/2 94 93.0 From Oxenholme, Grayrigg 14.50 14 40 Brackenhill Sm't 11 17 94 93.3 was cleared at a miserable 16.62 16 50 Kirtlebridge 12 34 1/2 99 98.5 72 and Shap summit was 18.00 18 00 Mp 13 33 1/2 60tsr 84.2 breasted at 74mph. The 20.12 20 10 Eccelfechan 15 32 74 64.4 descent to Carlisle was as 22.69 22 56 Castlemilk 17 29 89 79.1 normal. 25.84 25 67 Lockerbie 19 24 105 98.6 Departure from Carlisle was 9 28.69 28 55 Nethercleugh 20 58 1/2 110 108.6 minutes late on an 86 minute 31.78 31 62 Dinwoodie 22 40 1/2 108 109.1 schedule to Glasgow. The 34.50 34 40 Wamphray 24 09 1/2 110 110.0 run north from Carlisle is 37.01 37 00 Murthat 25 33 104 108.2 included over. An apparently 39.76 39 60 Beattock 27 21 88tsr 91.7 average start; with 98 by 42.51 42 40 Auchencastle 29 19 1/2 79 83.5 Rockcliffe. The driver overdid 45.26 45 20 Greskine 31 34 1/2 68 73.3 the 95mph restriction at 47.52 47 40 Harthope 33 43 1/2 59/58 63.1 Quintishill from which speed 49.76 49 60 Summit 36 00 1/2 60/95 58.9 only slowly recovered on the 52.79 52 60 Elvanfoot 38 12 1/2 88 82.6 1:200 to Brackenhill Summit 58.04 58 00 Abington 41 43 90 89.8 to 94. A tsr after Eccelfechan 60.29 60 20 Wandel 43 04 105 100.0 hindered the climb to Castlemilk but once the 110
Milepost 26 - 13 - April 2005 63.30 63 20 Lamington 44 51 1/2 100/98 100.8 68.56 68 40 Thankerton 48 00 100 100.5 limit before Lockerbie 70.06 70 00 Leggatfoot 48 55 1/2 96/106 97.3 was reached this was 73.68 73 49 Carstairs 51 05 1/2 88* 100.2 maintained until Murthat, 78.53 78 37 Craigenhill 54 18 1/2 94 90.5 falling below 60 before 82.01 81 75 Carluke 56 25 101 99.0 we cleared the summit, at 84.06 84 00 Law Jn 57 43 82br 94.6 what felt like a crawl. A 84.82 84 60 Garriongill Jn 58 23 59*/95 68.4 90mph tsr at Beattock 87.80 87 58 Shieldmuir 60 36 1/2 90br/sc40 80.4 was a hindrance, but one 89.50 89 35 Motherwell 62 24 1/2 73/95 56.7 could have expected 93.96 93 68 Uddingston 65 24 1/2 88 89.2 100mph to be regained 97.41 97 22 Cambuslang 69 41 1/2 sc35 48.3 with a fully functional unit. 101.59 101 36 Eglington St 75 02 30* 47.0 102.39 102 20 Glasgow arr 78 18 (-3) Instead speed was gradually lost on the ascent of Beattock
.
Thereafter running was pretty much as normal until a series of signal checks before Motherwell and after Newton caused arrival to be two minutes late. A satisfactory effort as far as most of the passengers were concerned, and a punctual arrival in the statistics. It was clear however that all was not well with the Voyager unit. I spoke to the driver at Glasgow, who advised that he only had two power cars working, however ‘they were good ones’. He suggested that he had been able to up-rate the engines on the two working power cars.
A very creditable effort on the drivers part in not failing the unit and being able to maintain time. This may also be a reflection on the relative laxity of the schedules and how much power there is in reserve when all engines are working. I assume the unit ran in this condition throughout and would do so on its return trip to Birmingham in the evening.
Although I have no formula for the tractive resistance of a Voyager unit I assume they are MkIII’s for comparison between units. Estimated rhp’s were around 1280 rhp, just about what a good Class 37 could produce. Maybe we could re-gear redundant Class 37’s and run them with four or five coach MkII loads: now that would be interesting.
A Voyager pauses at Carlisle before tackling Beattock Bank
Milepost 26 - 14 - April 2005
AVON VALLEY VOYAGERS
Frank Collins
Opportunities for interesting weekend journeys are not always immediately evident from a casual glance at the Timetable. If I had looked at the All Line Timetable Table 51 for Sundays from 15 February to 21 March 2004 I might have picked up that journey times between Bristol and Taunton appear to have been extended by half an hour or so. It took however a Sunday morning walk through the delights of the Avon Valley between Freshford and Bradford-on-Avon however to appreciate the real significance of this – Virgin Voyagers being diverted from Bristol via Bath, Bradford-on-Avon and Westbury to Taunton.
This is a fascinating section – and although all the various parts of it are well known to me as my local patch, normal service trains of course do not combine the various component parts into one run, let alone a non-stop one, and I therefore found it very hard to predict what a run could produce on that basis. The route effectively combines the Bristol – Paddington line for the first 14 miles, and the 47 miles of the Berks & Hants from Westbury to Taunton by 14 miles mostly winding through the scenic Avon Valley. The big question – just how long would it take, and how clear a road could be obtained.
Table 1 shows two southbound runs, recorded exactly 24 hours apart. Both runs made similar starts out of Bristol. Run 1 ran what I would describe as normally, making use of the 100mph HST limit between Keynsham and Oldfield Park; my own run (run 2) stuck rigidly to the 90 mph ‘other trains’ limit for no obvious reason. Run 1 however received a slight signal check through Oldfield Park from the 13.10 Bristol – Paddington, booked out of Bristol 8 mins ahead, and it was level pegging again by the time they took the Westbury line at Bathampton. There are differential speed limits between Bathampton and Westbury too, but since HSTs only visit this route on diversions, these are Sprinter only limits, so HSTs and therefore Voyagers are restricted to 60. Run 2 kept tight to the limits until the 30 tsr just south of Trowbridge, so were slightly down on schedule passing Westbury. The running times through the Westbury/Frome area seem slightly generous even allowing for the 1 minute recovery margin and run 1 in particular pulled back 1 ½ mins here against the net schedule with smarter running than run 2 the following afternoon. That advantage was lost by the unexplained decision of run 1s driver to coast over Brewham Summit, and it was level pegging again at Bruton.
Run 2 however then caught up the 12.15 Paddington – Plymouth, despite our being 5 mins late from Bristol. I suspect the Paddington train may have been slightly late too, as the margin at Castle Cary with our lateness would have been about 7 mins unchecked; but the real problem here is the very basic signalling on this main line west of Castle Cary, as there is only one intermediate stop signal, at Somerton, in the 22 miles from Castle Cary to Cogload. Run 2 therefore received a heavy check whilst the Paddington cleared Somerton. Thereafter the run 2 strangely ran again at 90 mph – though the driver was happy to put in a final spurt to 101 after Cogload. Arrival at Taunton therefore was 6 late. Run 1 in the meantime had been unchecked bar the tsrs, so had gained about 90 sec.
Table 2 illustrates running in the northbound direction. Run 3’s driver was in no hurry, and meandered to Castle Cary gently losing time. I suspect this was quite deliberate on his part, as this train was booked to be 5 minutes behind the 10.24 Portsmouth Harbour – Cardiff at Westbury and follow it to Bristol, and despite the cautious running, was duly stopped outside Westbury. The 158 must have run reasonably well – fortunately it is booked to call only at
Milepost 26 - 15 - April 2005 TABLE 1 Run 1 2 Date Sat 13/3/04 Sun 14/03/2004 Train 06:35 Edinburgh-Plymouth 09.32 Leeds - Plymouth Loco/Unit 221140 221130 Load 5 5 Recorder J Heaton F G Collins Position 5/5 2/5 GPS no no miles m c Timing Point sch m S mph av m s mph av 0.00 118 28 Bristol Temple Meads 0 0 00 T 0 00 plat 3 5 late 0.32 118 02 Bristol East Jct 1 1 07 17.5 1 08 17.2 0.77 117 46 North Somerset Jct 2 1 58 31.8 1 58 32.4 2.63 115 58 Brislington Tunnel E 3 35 68.7 3 39 1/2 65.6 4.56 113 63 Keynsham 4 49 94.3 4 59 1/2 91/92 87.2 7.01 111 27 Saltford 6 16 101.4 6 35 1/2 90/91 91.9 9.16 109 15 Twerton Long Tun W 7 34 99.2 8 00 1/2 90 91.1 10.45 107 72 Oldfield Park 8 50 sigs 61.0 8 51 1/2 90.9 11.46 106 71 Bath 9½ 10 01 51.3 9 56 40 56.5 12.55 105 64 Hampton Row 11 10 1/2 71 52.6 13.78 104 46 Bathampton Jct 12½ 12 32 55.1 12 32 1/2 39 53.8 0 00 15.69 1 73 Claverton 14 41 1/2 61 53.4 16.93 3 12 Dundas Aqueduct 15 56 60 59.8 18.61 4 67 Freshford 17 37 57.1 17 38 1/2 61 59.3 19.58 5 64 Avoncliff 18 31 64.2 18 34 62 62.4 20.90 7 10 Bradford on Avon - - 19 52 60/62 61.2 22.93 9 12 Bradford Jct. 22½ - - 22 09 1/2 43/51 53.0 104 40 24.18 105 60 Trowbridge 23 29 30 tsr 55.6 23 42 -/tsr 30 48.6 26.13 107 56 Yarnbrook 26 40 60 39.4 28.21 109 63 Westbury 28½ 29 17 41/39 41.8 29 08 1/2 40/43 44.5 29.63 111 16 Fairwood Jct [1] 31½ 31 24 43 40.0 31 15 1/2 37 40.0 32.93 114 40 Clink Road Jct 35½ 34 07 96 72.9 34 16 86 65.8 34.90 116 38 Blatchbridge Jct 37 35 18 102/103 100.1 35 29 1/2 101/100 96.7 116 53 36.99 118 60 Woodlands 36 44 101 100.9 39.03 120 63 Witham [1] 37 45 96 101.0 37 57 99/96* 100.5 40.89 122 52 Brewham 39 00 75 89.4 39 10 1/2 92/94 91.2 44.35 126 09 Bruton 41 31 100/101 82.5 41 31 1/2 Br45 88.4 47.79 129 44 Castle Cary 43 39 90/105 96.7 46 15 43.7 115 27 sigs v sev 5 49.90 117 36 Alford 50 57 1/2 64 26.9 80tsr 82 tsr 80 52.65 120 16 Keinton Mandeville 46 32 86/101 101.2 53 07 1/2 82 /90 76.2 60 tsr 61 tsr 58 58.16 125 57 Somerton 50 43 98 79.1 57 27 90 76.5 59.79 127 27 Somerton TWP 51 41 102/104 100.9 58 31 1/2 91 90.7 62.45 130 00 Langport East 53 15 103 102.0 60 16 92/91 91.7 67.44 134 79 Athelney 56 13 99/102 100.9 63 33 92 91.1 70.60 138 12 Cogload Jct 60½ 58 08 91/100 99.0 65 39 1/2 90.0 158 32 72.45 160 20 Creech St Michael 66 47 1/2 101 97.9 73.60 161 32 Broomhay 67 29 1/2 98.6 30 tsr Dn pfm line 75.34 163 11 TAUNTON 62 25 70 06
Milepost 26 - 16 - April 2005 TABLE 2 Run 3 Run 4 Date Sat 13/03/2004 Sun 14/03/2004 Train 08.19 Penzance-Edinburgh 11.22 Penzance – Edinburgh Loco/Unit 221133 221140 Load 5 5 Rec/Pos/Wester/GPS J Heaton F G Collins Position 5/5 1/5 Weather/GPS Fine/no damp/no miles m c sch m s mph av m s mph av 0.00 163 11 Taunton 0 0 00 ½E 0 00 3 late 1.74 161 32 Broomhay 2 02 80 51.3 2.89 160 20 Creech St Michael 2 48 1/2 97/102 89.0 4.74 158 32 Cogload Jct 4 4 29 92/89/96 63.4 3 54 1/2 93 100.9 138 12 5.89 137 00 MP 4 39 98/107 93.0 7.90 134 79 Athelney 6 34 91/89 91.1 5 49 1/2 103 102.8 9.89 133 00 MP 6 59 1/2 106/103 102.2 12.96 129 74 Langport East 9 58 91/92 89.3 8 46 1/2 106 103.5 15.55 127 27 Somerton TWP 11 39 90 92.2 10 18 1/2 100 101.3 17.18 125 57 Somerton 12 44 90 90.0 11 16 103/105 101.7 60mph tsr 58 tsr 61 20.45 122 35 Charlton Mackrell 13 47 72 78.1 22.69 120 16 Keinton Mandeville 17 05 91/101 76.0 15 18 102 88.5 25.44 117 36 Alford 16 55 1/2 102 101.5 27.55 115 27 Castle Cary 18 20 04 90/89/93 97.8 18 14 94 96.9 129 44 [1] 29.10 128 00 MP 19 10 105 99.6 30.99 126 09 Bruton 22 21 91 90.3 20 15 103/95 104.5 34.45 122 52 Brewham 24 41 85 89.0 22 29 1/2 92.7 35.99 121 09 Witham 25 41 98/102 92.3 23 23 105 103.5 38.35 118 60 Woodlands 24 45 104 103.7 40.44 116 53 Blatchbridge Jct 27 28 21 98 100.1 25 58 1/2 102.2 116 38 42.41 114 40 Clink Road Jct 28½ 29 45 59 84.6 27 07 1/2 103 103.0 60mph tsr 50/- 45.71 111 16 Fairwood Jct 31 33 28 - 53.3 29 16 1/2 41* 92.1 sigs 35.27-36.42 (3) 47.13 109 63 Westbury 36 38 36 sigs 16.5 31 22 42/66 40.5 49.21 107 56 Yarnbrook 33 34 1/2 64 56.7 [2] 51.16 105 60 Trowbridge (½) 43 19 51.4 35 34 53* 58.7 52.41 104 40 Bradford Jct. 44 44 47 sigs 51.1 37 00 1/2 43* 52.0 9 12 54.44 7 10 Bradford on Avon 47 58 38.2 39 16 1/2 62 53.6 55.76 5 64 Avoncliff 49 19 58.9 40 34 1/2 60 61.2 60/ tsr 56.73 4 67 Freshford 50 16 tsr 60.8 41 31 45 61.3 59.65 1 73 Claverton 44 53 55/60 52.1 61.56 0 00 Bathampton Jct 54½ 56 15 48.5 46 59 50 54.6 104 46 62.79 105 64 Hampton Row 48 11 68 61.2 63.88 106 71 Bath 57½ 58 54 52.4 49 26 41* 52.2
Milepost 26 - 17 - April 2005 miles m c sch m s mph av m s mph av [2] 64.89 107 72 Oldfield Park (2½) 60 09 48.6 50 32 1/2 72/85 55.0 66.03 109 03 Twerton Long TEP 61 07 70.6 40mph tsr tsr 38 68.70 111 57 Saltford TEP 63 50 59.1 54 37 38 70.78 113 63 Keynsham 65 44 65.5 56 52 1/2 93 55.1 71.80 114 65 Avon Ring Road 57 30 1/2 103/104 97.1 72.71 115 58 Brislington Tunnel Et 67 07 84.0 58 03 1/2 99.5 73.99 117 00 East Depot 68 50 sigs 44.6 59 17 56 62.4 -/sigs 74.56 117 46 North Somerset Jct 69½ 70 42 18.5 59 59 1/2 sev 48.7 (2) 75.01 118 02 Bristol East Jct 72½ 71 41 27.5 61 27 18.5 75.36 118 30 Bristol TMeads 73½ 72 54 17.3 62 47 plat 8 15.7
Bath – and also been smart with it’s Bath station stop, since despite a couple of slight checks along the way it does not seem to have delayed the Voyager very much in the Bath station area. The 70 mph sprinter differential to Bathampton no doubt helped.
Run 4 however was in a different class altogether. I was lucky to catch it at all, having reached Taunton 6 late on a tight turn round. The driver set off as if on a mission, and took full advantage of having the full 3750hp available, to pass Athelney in what is the fastest time from a Taunton start that either of the recorders can recall seeing. I suspect also, unusually, the speedometer may have been slightly misreading, as speeds were slightly high throughout. This was an exhilarating run to time however as the set was driven with great determination – note the flattening of Bruton bank for instance. The tsr in the Saltford area was a bad one – around about a mile – and it was this which really cost any chance of completing the trip in the even hour. The net schedule is indeed only 60 ½ minutes, and a run just under the hour ought to be comfortably possible with a clear road and determined driving.
As diversionary routes go, this is certainly one of the more interesting ones from a performance viewpoint
Milepost 26 - 18 - April 2005 Feste Lente
Jeremy Hartill
One of the features of rail travel for me last summer was how fast secondary trains often on secondary routes are getting round the country and that’s the theme of this piece. With modern trains that have good rates of acceleration and drivers who are able to make swift stops fast, often even time running is happening in places that you would not expect and over quite short distances TABLE 1 cont'd Run No. 1 Miles M C location m s mph Date/day Tues 10th Aug 2004 0.00 63 72 Sellafield 0 00 Train 14:21:00 stop for staff 13sec Motive Power 156.428 2.05 65 76 Braystones 3 38 59/41* Load (tons) 2/72/75 3.54 67 35 Nethertown 5 28 49*/57 Position 1/2 6.33 70 18 St Bees 9 22 Recorder JH 0.00 70 18 St Bees 0 00 60* Weather Intermittent heavy rain 3.74 73 77 Corlickle 5 09 59max GPS: Y/N? Y 0.00 73 77 Corlickle 0 00 Miles M C Location m s mph 0.85 74 65 Whitehaven 2 06 0.00 0 00 Whitehaven 0 00 0.00 28 76 Barrow-in-Furness 0 00 1.41 1 33 Parton 4 45 16*/30 2.60 31 44 British Cellophane LC 4 09 59/36* 1.91 1 73 Single Line 6 06 14*/10 4.01 32 77 Park S Jn 6 58 27* 2.69 2 55 Parton N Jn 9 32 12*/40 4.63 33 46 Park N LC 7 57 44/50 4.63 4 50 Harrington 13 55 6.13 35 06 Askham 10 28 0.00 4 50 Harrington 0 00 0.00 35 06 Askham 0 00 2.24 6 69 Workington 3 46 57max 1.20 36 22 Dunnerholme LC 1 51 57/59 0.00 6 69 Workington 0 00 3.16 38 19 Kirkby-in-Furness 3 55 33/23* 2.68 9 43 St Helens 3 36 57 4.66 39 59 Angerton LC 5 12 57 3.65 10 41 Flimby 4 59 28*/54 5.39 40 37 Foxfield 7 50 18* 5.51 12 30 Maryport 7 53 6.09 41 13 Duddon Viaduct N 9 25 40* 0.00 0 28 Maryport 0 00 7.39 42 37 Green Road 11 04 48 2.06 2 33 Dearham Bridge 3 13 48 8.08 43 12 Underhill LC 11 52 52/59 3.90 4 20 Bullgill 5 33 35* 9.94 45 01 Millom 14 21 5.65 6 00 MP 7 40 59 0.00 45 01 Millom 0 00 7.45 7 64 Aspatria 10 09 2.09 47 08 Kirksanton LC 2 57 59/61 0.00 7 64 Aspatria 0 00 3.19 48 16 Silecoroft 4 03 57 2.03 9 66 Brayton 3 00 61 4.68 49 55 Wellbeck LC 5 40 52* 4.75 12 44 Leegate 5 48 56 8.41 53 34 Bootle 9 35 60/57 5.70 13 40 Aikbank Jn 6 45 58 11.50 56 41 Eskmeals 12 42 59 7.20 15 00 MP 8 12 62 12.98 57 79 Ravenglass(52.4mph av) 14 52 60* 8.43 16 18 Wigton (50.2 mph av) 10 04 0.00 57 79 Ravenglass 0 00 0.00 16 18 Wigton 0 00 0.63 58 49 Saltcoats LC 1 18 49 4.56 20 63 Curthwaite 5 21 59 2.04 60 02 Drigg 2 50 61 7.31 23 43 Dalton (50.4 mph av) 8 42 4.16 62 12 Seascale 5 01 58/60 0.00 23 43 Dalton 0 00 5.91 63 72 Sellafield (47.8 mph ave) 7 25 0.77 24 25 Low Mill 1 25 50 0.00 63 72 Sellafield 0 00 2.14 25 54 Cummersdale 2 51 59 3.39 26 74 Currock Jn 4 34 18*sig 4.36 27 72 Carlisle 9 13
Milepost 26 - 19 - April 2005 It is also very instructive to see on the East Coast Main Line (ECML), Britain’s fastest railway how little difference there is between 125 mph services and slower trains. For example in timetable terms the differences between Virgin, GNER and Trans Pennine on the York Newcastle section is not that great. Terminating services need 65 min for GNER and Virgin and both run at up to 125mph, and 75 minutes for a 90mph Trans Pennine DMU all stopping at Darlington and Durham. And on some of the slower routes it is still possible to make quite good section times that offer a competitive journey time to the car or bus.
To start with the slowest journey and also a log for a route that is rarely seen in print, the Cumbrian Coast line. Last summer - and the word summer is used purely in the date sense, as the weather on this day was appalling - I was out on a North West Rover. The initial plan had been to go North over Shap however nothing was heading north from Oxenholme that morning, I think Blackburn was out due to lightning strikes, buses were running from Lancaster to Skipton so in desperation I decided to try the Cumbrian Coast line. My logic was that if any bit of railway was going to keep going then DMU’s, semaphore signals and mechanical points were a good bet. This proved to be a correct assumption. After watching rain pour from the centre light fittings of the 175 that took me to Barrow I boarded 156.428 for the 14.21 service to Carlisle. This is one of the few trains on the route that skips a number of stops. What surprised me was that without exceeding 61mph and including a 52mph slowing through Welbeck the 13 miles from Millom to Ravenglass were covered in TABLE 2 TABLE 3 Run No. 2 Run No. 3 Date/day Fri 2nd July 2004 Date/day Sat 11th May 02 Train 12:25:00 Train 18:11:00 Motive Power 334.029 Motive Power 158.905 Load (tons) 3/125/130 Load (tons) 2/76/80 Position 1/3 Position 1/2 Recorder Recorder Weather Fine Weather Fine GPS: Y/N? Y GPS: Y/N? Y Miles M C location M s mph Miles M C location m s mph - - 0.00 0 43 Glasgow Central 0 00 0.00 0 29 Doncaster 0 00 1.61 1 06 Shields Jn 3 59 42 1.41 1 04 Bentley Jn 2 13 60 3.68 3 11 Cardonald 5 57 74 4.11 3 60 Kirk Sandall 4 35 82/85 4.31 3 62 Hillington East 6 31 70 6.86 6 40 Hatfield & Stainforth 6 34 83 4.90 4 29 Hillington West 7 00 73 8.46 8 08 Thorne Jn 8 25 36* 6.06 5 42 Arkleston Jn 7 59 71 9.76 9 32 Thorne North 10 03 58 7.11 6 46 Paisley Gilmour Street 9 27 9.76 14 00 Thorne North 10 03 58 0.00 107 62 Paisley Gilmour Street 0 00 13.52 10 19 Creykes 13 20 73 0.80 108 46 Paisley St James 1 09 65/74 15.90 7 69 Aire & Calder Canal 15 25 69 4.97 112 60 Bishopton (57.3 mph av) 5 12 17.19 6 46 Goole (60.3 mph av) 17 06 0.00 112 60 Bishopton 0 00 0.00 6 46 Goole 0 00 1.30 114 04 No2 T W 1 40 74max 1.55 5 02 Goole Swingbridge N 2 12 60 4.08 116 66 Langbank 3 56 72/68 2.99 3 47 Saltmarshe 3 27 74 6.81 119 45 Woodhall 6 17 72 5.05 1 42 Green Oak Goit 5 11 71 8.14 120 71 Pt Glasgow (60.9mphav) 8 01 6.71 0 11 Gilberdyke 6 54 35*/40 0.00 120 71 Port Glasgow 0 00 6.71 16 76 Gilberdyke 6 54 35*/40 0.92 121 65 Bogston 1 18 62 9.21 14 36 Broomfleet 9 20 77 1.59 122 38 Cartsdyke 2 14 38* 10.95 12 57 Crabby Creek 10 37 83/85 2.59 123 38 Greenock Central 3 56 13.19 10 38 Brough (61.8 mph ave) 12 48 under 15 minutes, a start to stop average of 52.4mph and the subsequent 6 miles to Sellafield in seven and a half minutes. As you can see from the log this set showed it could
Milepost 26 - 20 - April 2005 average 50mph on a number of legs within the 60mph limit.
Heading a bit further north and getting into Scotrail territory in the next log is of a class 334 run from Glasgow to Greenock in July this year. I have not seen any logs of these fine sets in print yet but from the passengers point of view they are a high standard suburban train with a good turn of speed. The Glasgow Gourock/Weymss Bay semi-fasts have always given the units a chance to run but again I was very pleasantly surprised at what swift times can be made without excessive speed and over quite short legs. The acceleration of these trains was demonstrated leaving Paisley passing St James in 69seconds at 65 mph. The 334 reached Bishopton only 14 seconds outside even time on a 5 mile run. I am sure at some point one of our Scottish members will see even time on this section. Perhaps there should be an RPS prize for the shortest even time run? Continuing west quite easy running saw the next 8.14 miles to Port Glasgow completed in just a second over eight minutes without exceeding 74 mph.
The next sets of logs are from a few byways in Yorkshire. A route that is very much the second string to the second string is the south Transpennine line with its Doncaster Hull/Cleethorpes services but even here it is possible to get even time running. In 2002 with some rather cheeky running at up to 70 rather than 60mph 158.782 covered the 14.53 miles from Barnetby to Cleethorpes in 14m 31s. In the same year 158.905 gave me even time runs from Doncaster to Goole and on to Brough with slight infringements of the line speeds but nothing outrageous. And to cap that a day later 156.463 covered the 11.23 miles from Driffield to Beverley inside even time. To finish these snippets off a class 142 run on a York to Hull train. The non-stop to Selby services can run via the ECML or Gascoigne Wood Jn but this was a run booked to stop a Church Fenton. I was not expecting anything very interesting but to my surprise a swift start from the South East bay at York, then the down fast to Colton meant no crossovers, with 78mph at Ulleskelf and a fast stop saw another even time run.
The next set of logs concerns the Leeds Hull line. This route has been in the doldrums for some time. The running is often quite reasonable but the line has been bedevilled with pw slacks and also suffers from poor regulating. Recently things have changes however as the next set of logs show. Log 1 is the usual class 158 Transpennine service but for once one that got a clear run out of Leeds. The other plus was that a very long standing slowing at Thorpe gates has been lifted. Thus a good climb out of Leeds and a reasonably brisk run down the bank to Selby saw me there inside even time for my first time. This may be a new RPS record though only by the smallest of margins. Brisk running continued East of Selby, and with one slight slack after Hessle the total running time from Leeds was forty nine and a half minutes, overall the timetable allows from fifty six to sixty two minutes for this leg: not very enterprising. It is not only class 158’s that can make swift runs round here, 170,s HST’s and even 142’s have a chance to show their turn of speed as well. In June 170.396 on a Kings Cross Hull service covered the 8.65 miles from Selby to Howden in 8min 15 sec with a maximum of 89 mph, The next 11.86 miles to Brough took 10min 15sec with 84mph before Gilberdyke and 87 max before the Brough stop. 142.020 covered the 14.04 miles from Selby to Gilberdyke in 14m 07 sec on an August night and in the same week the NB GNER Hull HST covered the 20.5 miles from Selby to Brough in 20.3 minutes without exceeding 72mph despite a very slow stop at Brough. Again: an interesting example of getting around the country at a mile a minute without the need for high speeds.
Upping the ante a bit now and on to the ECML proper the York Newcastle leg of the trans Pennine services gives the 158’s a real chance to show their paces. The driver of 158.812 took a few minor liberties with the 90mph maximum of these sets but averages 91.8 mph over the 36 miles from Benningborough to Croft without exceeding 93mph was a skilled
Milepost 26 - 21 - April 2005 TABLE 4 TABLE 6 Run No. 4 Run No. 6 Date/day Th 15th May 2003 Date/day M 30 Aug04 (b/hl) 14:57 Train Scarborough Train 16:37:00 Motive Power 156.463 Motive Power 158.757 Load (tons) 2/72/74 Load (tons) 2/76/79 Position 1/2 Position ½ Recorder Recorder JH Weather Fine Weather Fine GPS: Y/N? Y GPS: Y/N? Y Miles M C location m s Mph Miles M C location m s mph 0.00 20 47 Leeds 0 00 0.00 19 38 Driffield 0 00 1.10 19 39 Richmond Hill T E 2 12 44 3.21 16 21 Hutton Cranswick 3 40 72 2.34 18 20 Neville Hill E Jn 3 33 65 4.93 14 44 Watton 5 07 69 4.45 16 11 Cross Gates 5 30 73 6.55 12 74 Lockington 6 28 72 7.30 13 23 Garforth 7 42 87 8.28 11 16 Arram 7 55 71 9.73 10 69 Micklefield 9 26 66* 10.70 8 62 Beverley North 10 00 53* 12.88 7 57 South Milford 11 49 87 11.23 8 20 Beverley (60.8 mph ave) 11 05 14.25 6 27 Gascoigne Wood Jn 12 47 84/79 TABLE 5 16.86 3 58 ECML 14 40 85/87 Run No. 5 18.25 2 27 Thorpe Gates 15 41 70 Date/day Fri 16th May 2004 20.14 0 36 Selby West 17 40 27* - Train 16:12:00 20.75 0 13 Selby (63.7mph ave) 19 32 Motive Power 142.087 0.00 30 79 Selby 0 00 Load (tons) 2/48/50 0.56 30 34 Barlby 1 19 44 Position 1/2 2.96 28 02 Cliffe LC 3 36 76 Recorder 6.00 24 79 Wressle 5 46 87 Weather Fine 8.65 22 27 Howden 7 38 86 GPS: Y/N? Y 11.70 19 23 Eastrington 10 00 76*/87 Miles M C location M s mph 14.04 16 76 Gilberdyke 11 44 66* 16.54 14 36 Broomfleet 13 58 71 0.00 0 00 York 0 00 18.28 12 57 Crabby Creek 15 23 76/82 1.50 1 40 MP 187 2 20 61 20.51 10 38 Brough (68.9mph av) 17 52 5.51 5 41 Colton S Jn 5 41 76 0.00 10 38 Brough 0 00 8.88 8 70 Ulleskelf 8 17 78 1.96 8 41 Melton LC 2 37 70 10.73 10 58 Church Fenton 10 38 2.95 7 42 Ferriby 3 26 79 5.68 4 64 Hessle 5 22 87 pws 58* 8.55 1 74 Hessle Rd Jn 7 25 52* 9.56 0 73 Anlaby Rd Jn 9 23 42* 10.48 0 00 Hull 12 00 piece of running and enabled the set to reach Darlington at an average of 84.1 mph. Over the shorter and harder leg to Durham 77.9 mph was the average and the final sprint down the bank to Newcastle was just inside even time. This gave an overall average of 77.2 mph from York to Newcastle and an inclusive one of 71.8mph. Turning to the 100mph DMU’s Hull trains 170 service has acquired a very good reputation against to notch GNER competition. These sets are quite well finished, the customer service is good and overall the performance is good as well. The acceleration is not stunning, with a weight of 132tons despite 1266hp as
Milepost 26 - 22 - April 2005 TABLE 7 opposed to the 1050hp of a 158 Run No. 7 the power to weight ratio is very Date/day Tue 31st August 2004 similar but once on the roll on the Train 19:06:00 ECML they keep going. Hull Motive Power 43.039+112 trains also seem to have acquired a skilled cadre of drivers.170.201 Load (tons) 2+9 demonstrated this by running Position 4/9 from Doncaster to Grantham on Recorder JH 33m 07s at a start to stop Weather Fine average of 91.5mph with a flying GPS: Y/N? Y average of 99.7mph from Bawtry Miles M C location M s Mph to Peascliffe Tunnel South without exceeding 101mph. The 0.00 30 79 Selby 0 00 piece de resistance on this run 0.56 30 34 Barlby 1 33 39 was the stop at Grantham. I 2.96 28 02 Cliffe LC 4 00 71 thought I had misread the 6.00 24 79 Wressle 6 31 72 timetable and there would not be 8.65 22 27 Howden 8 45 71 a Grantham stop but a full service 11.70 19 23 Eastrington 11 22 71 application in one go feathered 14.04 16 76 Gilberdyke 13 19 66* off as we came to a stop in the middle of the platform at 16.54 14 36 Broomfleet 15 41 64* Grantham enabled the last 2.4 18.28 12 57 Crabby Creek 17 07 71 miles to a stop to be averaged at 20.51 10 38 Brough 20 19 70mph!.
As far as I am aware the Doncaster-Grantham schedule is 33min so this council of perfection lost 7 seconds. South of Doncaster the service had a poor path and was looped for a GNER service to pass us but we were still 16 minutes early in Kings Cross.
To briefly recap, 75mph trains on 70mph railway can average 60mph start to stop, on 90mph railway 90mph units can average over 80mph and 100mph DMU’s are booked at over 90mph start to stop and can do it. The secondary routes and services are being operated to a higher standard than many so called first division trains. Why do we need 125mph trains and railway to cover the 167 miles from Sheffield to Bristol at an inclusive average of 61.6mph: this is a task that should be within the capability of a 158. The new tilting Pendolinos are booked to average about 80mph to Manchester; this is probably within the capability of a 170 or 175. High speed trains cost a lot of money and also use a lot of energy. It appears to me that railway operators are burying their inability to run a reliable fast service by over specifying the performance of the rolling stock they acquire or else failing to get a level of performance out of the new generation of trains that could reasonably be expected. On the current timing there are very few journey times that would appear out of reach of a class 170 DMU.
A Hull Trains 170, which regularly features in the magazine, is ready to leave King’s Cross with the 1604 train on 25th March 2005
Milepost 26 - 23 - April 2005
TABLE 8 cont'd Run No. 8 Miles M C Location m s mph Date/day Sat 4th Sept 04 0.00 66 14 Durham 0 00 Train 10:17:00 0.74 66 73 Durham Loop N 1 23 59 Motive Power 158.812 3.41 69 47 Plawsworth Viaduct N 3 39 80 Load (tons) 3/113/115 3.41 69 54 Plawsworth Viaduct N 3 39 80 Position 3/3 5.64 71 72 Chester-le-Street 5 09 86/95 Recorder JH 8.50 74 61 Birltey 7 02 93 Weather fine 11.24 77 40 Low Fell Jn 8 48 87 GPS: Y/N? Y 13.19 79 36 King Edward Bridge S J 11 04 12*/19 Miles M C location m s mph 13.96 80 18 Newcastle(60.6 mph av) 13 49 TABLE 9 0.00 0 00 York 0 00 Run No. 9 1.00 1 00 MP 1 39 56 Date/day Mon 4th Mar 02 1.66 1 53 Skelton Jn 2 21 65 Train 10:08 ex Hull 3.31 3 25 Skelton Bridge Jn 3 42 80 Motive Power 170.201 5.50 5 40 Benningborough 5 19 90 Load (tons) 3/132/138 9.70 9 56 Tollerton 8 04 92 Position 2/3 13.38 13 30 Raskelf 10 26 93 Recorder JH 18.00 18 00 Sessay 13 28 93 Weather dull 22.19 22 15 Thirsk 16 11 92 GPS: Y/N? Y 26.50 26 40 Otterington 19 00 90 Miles M C Location m s mph 30.00 30 00 Northallerton 21 16 93 33.76 33 61 Danby Wiske 23 42 90 0.00 155 77 Doncaster 37.18 37 14 Cowton 25 58 88 1.96 154 00 MP 2 53 71 38.95 38 76 Eryholme Jn 27 10 90 4.60 151 29 Rossington 4 47 90 41.50 41 40 Croft 28 51 93 6.46 149 40 MP (Pipers Wood) 6 01 91 44.13 44 10 Darlington (84.1mph ave) 31 28 8.25 147 57 Bawtry 7 06 100 0.00 44 10 Darlington 0 00 11.96 144 00 Ranskill 9 19 99 3.20 47 26 Skene Viaduct N 3 28 73 17.35 138 49 Retford 12 33 100 4.75 48 70 A1M 4 39 85 21.46 134 40 Askham T N 15 01 98 7.05 51 14 A1M 6 12 90 24.03 131 75 Tuxford N 16 35 101 10.16 54 23 Bradbury 8 15 89/87 29.65 126 25 Carlton -on-Trent 19 56 100 12.88 57 00 Ferryhill 10 02 92 35.81 120 12 Newark 23 39 101 14.76 58 71 Tursdale Jn 11 16 93 40.63 115 27 Claypole 26 32 97/101 16.14 60 21 Hett Mill 12 09 93 46.29 109 54 Barkeston S Jn 29 57 99 17.99 62 09 Croxdale Viaduct S 13 22 91 48.15 107 65 Peasecliffe T S 31 05 98 20.29 64 33 Langley Mill Viaduct S 14 56 80* 50.53 105 35 Grantham (91.5 mph av) 33 07 20.79 64 73 Relly Mill SS 15 19 72* 22.05 66 14 Durham (77.9mph ave) 16 59
Milepost 26 - 24 - April 2005
Fastest Times Update
Martin Robertson
Welcome to another edition of Fastest Times Update. The recent months seem to have yielded fewer Fastest Times than usual, or most timers are just having a rest after the excess and diversions of the Christmas and New Year period. Even the WCML has had few entries although David Ashley forwarded a number of runs, however my new computer system refuses to open the files; such is progress. My thanks to Ian Umpleby for a selection of runs, away from the principal main lines, together with a run from Ireland. John Heaton continues to forward logs, which David Sage often rejects as Fastest Times, but two genuine contenders are included.
We start with several snippets on the Midland Main Line, all recorded by Ian. These include his first experiences of the Class 222 Meridian Units. These appear to be equally impressive as the Virgin Voyager units, although whether their reliability will be better is to be seen.
Ian’s comments on the runs are:-
‘’I made an effort to have my first 222 runs on the 26/1 as the MML 170s had all been withdrawn. The 0806 Barnsley closely followed a Huddersfield-Sheffield train so it was not until after Sheffield that the driver could open up and the results were very impressive-but not as impressive as some others! The Sheffield-Chesterfield run was 1 sec slower than Chris Taylor’s record. The return run from Leicester benefited from the non-appearance of the overtaking fast train, thus ensuring an unimpeded departure. I have not been able to find out the 222 weights but assume they are similar to the 220s.’’
‘’A day out last Sunday, already affected by a derailment at Adwick, was further affected by a train failure at the west end of Leeds hemming in my train to Sheffield, one of the new ‘’express’’ trains via Barnsley formed by a less than state-of-the-art Class 150 Sprinter. The driver shot out of Leeds but tsrs at Methley and Haigh hindered progress to Barnsley. A rapid downhill start out of Barnsley and good approach to Meadowhall beat the previous 170 record by over half a minute. However if you knock a minute off the start to start time,11 seconds were dropped on schedule but 4 minutes had been recovered since leaving Leeds.’’
Table 2 has runs over the Leeds to Selby and Selby to Hull sections of the Manchester to Hull services, each recorded in January 2005, the first section by John and the second by Ian.
Both runs had good speeds recorded with the 90mph limit of the Class 158’s exceeded on several occasions. John did not offer any comments on the quality of the performance of his Class 158 unit. The tsr probably did not cost much time although the schedule was still bettered by 45 seconds. John’s comments were confined to ‘’ Leeds-Selby better than it looks-tight schedule’’.
Ian’s run on the mainly level section east of Selby had a brief signal check after Howden LC and a tsr after Hessle Road Jn, neither of which probably cost a great deal of time. The overall schedule, was bettered by 5 minutes, although there is almost certainly a recovery time allowance to boost punctuality figures. Ian’s comments are:-
‘’The Selby-Hull run is a bit of a strange one as in recent years all trains have stopped at Brough and this train is no quicker than the rest. It may well be a Working T/T error that
Milepost 26 - 25 - April 2005
Table 1 Date/day Wed 26 January 2005 Train 0830 St Panc-Derby Motive Power 222012/222023 Load (tons) 370?/375 Recorder/Posit/Weath/GPS IU : 8/8 : Sunny : N Miles M C location Sch m s mph average 0.00 99 07 LEICESTER 1 0 (PTT) 0 00 0.67 99 61 Humb Rd ub 1 50 1/2 65 22.0 4.70 103 63 Syston shl 4 26 110 93.2 9.54 108 50 Barrow shl 7 12 98 104.9 12.51 111 48 LOUGHBORO 10 9 50 67.8 2.85 114 36 Hathern 2 39 105 80.7 7.65 119 20 Trent S Jc 5 43 1/2 70* 93.7 8.74 120 27 LONG EATON 9 7 18 41.4
Date/day Weds 26 Jan 2005 Train 0806 Barnsley-St Pancras Motive Power 222015 Load (tons) 185?/190 Recorder/Posit/Weath/GPS IU : 3/4 : Cloudy : N Miles M C location Sch m s mph average 0.00 146 19 CHESTERFIELD 0 (PTT) 0 00 1L 1.73 144 41 Hasland fb 1 57 86/89 53.1 4.04 142 16 Clay Cross ob 3 34 1/2 79* 85.4 10.26 141 57 Wingfield ub 7 20 110 99.3 14.22 137 60 Ambergate S Jc 9 39 58*/80 102.6 16.34 135 51 BELPER 15 12 34 T 43.5 2.52 133 09 Duffield fb 2 22 1/2 99/110 81.3 7.11 128 42 Nottingham Rd ub 5 07 60 100.4 7.78 127 68 DERBY 6 10 7 05 20.6
Date/day Sun 13 Feb 2005 Train 1116 Leeds-Sheffield Motive Power 150270 Load (tons) 71/75 Recorder/Posit/Weath/GPS IU : 1/2 : Cloudy mod N wind : Y Miles M C location Sch m s mph average 0.00 6 51 BARNSLEY 0 (PTT) 0 00 16L 0.44 7 06 Oakwell ob 0 52 1/2 63/57* 30.2 2.80 171 63 Viaduct North 3 10 69 61.8 4.03 170 42 Wombwell shl 4 18 1/2 61*/68 64.6 5.56 169 00 Elsecar shl 5 46 1/2 63 62.6 7.38 167 16 Tankersley Tunnel NP 7 31 62/70 62.7 8.75 165 66 Chapeltown s exit 8 47 62/68/56* 64.9 10.42 164 13 Ecclesfield RR 10 21 1/2 73 63.6 12.70 161 70 MEADOWHALL 13 13 11 16L 48.4
Milepost 26 - 26 - April 2005
Table 2
Loco/Unit 158811 Load 3 Train 13.42 Manchester P.- Hull Date 21/1/05 Weather Cold and dry Rec/Pos/GPS JHe 1/3 Yes M. Chns Timing Point Sch Min Sec M.P.H. 20 47 Lees d. 0 0 00 18 74 Neveiile Hill W. 2½ 2 45 58 17 69 Osmondthorpe 3 46 66 16 13 Cross Gates 5½ 5 13 75/88 13 22 Garforth 7 21 79/91½ 10 69 Micklefield 9½ 9 02 81½/71/90 7 57 South Milford 11 18 86/89 6 27 Gascoigne Wood 12½ 12 15 88 4 43 Hambleton W. Jct 13 32 83 3 34 Hambleton E. Jct. 15 14 18 90/91 2 27 Thorpe Gates 15 03 85 70mph tsr 68/69 0 40 Selby West 16 45 31 0 0 31 12 30 79 Selby a. 19½ 18 47 Very late brake for 70psr Micklefield Jct.
Date/Day Thurs 27 January 2005 Train 0736 Man Picc-Hull Motive Power 158778/158767 Load 152/155 Weather Drizzly Rec/Pos/GPS IU ; 1/4 ; Yes
Miles M C Location Sch m s mph Ave
0.00 30 78 SELBY 0 0 00 T 0.56 30 33 Barlby LC 1 34 44 21.4 2.95 28 02 Hemingborough LC 3 50 75 63.2 8.64 22 27 Howden LC 8 04 1/2 83 80.5 si gs 63 11.70 19 22 Eastrington shl 10 34 1/2 81 73.6 14.05 16 74 Gilberdyke fb 12 27 68/73/67 75.2 16.54 14 35 Broomfleet shl 14 35 1/2 70/81 69.7 20.46 10 41 Brough fb 17 46 1/2 75 74.0 23.50 7 38 Ferriby fb 20 13 86/94 74.6 26.20 4 62 Hessle fb 22 01 1/2 90 89.6 29.01 1 77 Hessle Road J SB 24 32 1/2 27* 67.1 t sr 20/40 30.04 0 75 Anlaby Road Jc ob 26 40 31 29.0 30.95 0 02 HULL 2 35 30 00 16.4
Milepost 26 - 27 - April 2005 nobody has spotted or cannot be bothered to alter. The run is no world beater but it was novel to sweep through Brough at 75 and reach 94 at Ferriby. DS tells me the current record is by JH at 9m35s (!) but this is obviously an error as the train concerned stopped at all stations and the section should probably read Selby-Howden.After entering more than 16000 entries into the database myself I cannot believe that I have not made some similar errors.’’
Table 3 has the Doncaster to Grantham section of a Hull Trains service from Hull to Kings Cross. The Class 170 unit held speed at or around 100mph with only the short climbs after Rossington, Retford and the ascent out of the Vale of Belvoir causing speed to dip below 100mph. The easing after Barnby may have been for a brief check at one of the many level crossings in the area. The average speed of 91.1mph is certainly impressive for a unit which is restricted to 100mph and is by common consent somewhat under powered, by today’s standards when accelerating.
Table 4 features a near-miss record with a Class 158 unit between Wilmslow and Crewe. The speeds were certainly impressive with 96mph reached which must have been a flat out performance. The tsr at Sydney Bridge was unfortunate otherwise Gerald Ashton’s 1992 record would surely have been substantially improved upon. Ian’s comments and David Sage’s reply are included.
‘’The Cardiff came into Stockport 5' late and made a noticeably fast start but,yes, signals were on at Cheadle Hulme. We left Wilmslow 7 down and I settled down a bit drowsily but perked up when the GPS started showing speeds in the mid nineties. We slowed down as normal at Sandbach and I switched off once again; however, after a while, I thought we seem to be going a bit fast here and was surprised to see the GPS read over 70. Perhaps they've put the 60 limit up here but the northbound didn't exceed 60. We unusually accelerated towards Crewe after the Sydney Bridge slack and were routed into the main southbound platform which helped.’’
‘’ Thanks for that, however...... Whilst inputting the Pendolino times, an odd bunch those, I checked assorted sections with Lee's CD - this showed a 16.20 for Wilmslow/Crewe recorded by the late Gerald Aston in 1992 with an unidentified 158. He also popped up with a 16.23 in the other direction in 1998. Your TSR may well have made all the difference..... ‘’
Table 5 has details of one of Ian’s trips to Ireland for preparation of a Belfast to Dublin Mileage chart. The service was the 12 30 Belfast to Dublin service with real traction in the form of diesel 227 at the rear of a seven coach rake of basically British MkII stock. The Portadown to Dundalk sections are included. I have no idea of the line limits or gradient profile or of the power of the diesel providing power. However the start from Portadown was quite impressive with 95mph attained by Tanderagee within 5 minutes. The remainder of the section to Newry had reduced speeds, whether due to psr,s or gradients, I do not know. The Newry to Dundalk section had speed into the nineties on either side of the psr after Meigh. Ian’s comments are:-
‘’I booked a triangular, very cheap, day out with Jet2/Ryanair to try to finalise my Dublin- Belfast mileage chart. The Belfast-Dundalk and return to Portadown runs went smoothly. However on the last run from Portadown either the driver was in a hurry or the speedometer was wrong as the (very short) Scarva 30 mph tsr and 90 mph maximum were exceeded. Arrival at Dublin was 20' late due to the DART network being in disarray.’’
Milepost 26 - 28 - April 2005 Table 3
Loco/Unit 170396 Load 3 Train 15.42 Hull to King's Cross Date 21/01/2005 Weather Cold, clear Rec/Pos/GPS? JHe 1/3 Yes Miles Chns Timing Point WTT Sch. M. S. M.P.H. Ave. 155 79 Doncaster d. n/a 0 00 ½L on NRT 155 11 Balby Jct 1 31 48 33.6 151 29 Rossington 4 37 89/101 73.1 147 57 Bawtry 6 57 100/101/96 93.9 143 79 Ranskill 9 12 97/102/99 99.3 141 55 Sutton 10 34 101 101.0 138 49 Retford 12 25.5 99 99.3 137 37 Grove Road 13 07 101 99.8 134 40 Askham TNP 14 57 96½/101 97.0 133 04 Lincoln Road 15 49 99 100.4 131 76 Tuxford 16 29 100/98 99.0 130 29 Egmanton 17 26 102 100.3 126 25 Carlton 19 52 98 99.9 124 55 Cromwell 20 50 101/99 100.9 122 78 Bathley Lane 21 52 101 99.4 120 63 Newark Crossing 23 10 101 101.0 120 10 Newark 23 34 101 99.4 119 03 Barnby 24 13 101/95 100.4 116 69 Balderton 25 33 96 97.9 115 27 Claypole 26 29 100/97 98.0 109 54 Barkston South Jct 29 55 97 99.0 107 65 Peascliffe TSP 31 04 97 97.2 105 36 Grantham a. 33 18 dep T after 63.5 128sec stop 99.4mph av for 37m3c from Bawtry to Barkston S
Table 4 Date/day Weds 9 March 2005 Train 0934 Manchester-Cardiff Motive Power 158841 Load (tons) 2; 76/78 Position 1/2 Recorder I Umpleby Weather Cloudy, still GPS: Y/N? Yes Miles M C location PTTSch m s mph average 0.00 176 70 Wilmslow 0 0 00 7L 1.66 175 17 Alderley Edge fb 2 16 65 43.9 4.71 172 13 Chelford shl 4 34 90 79.6 8.54 168 27 Goostrey shl 7 01 1/2 96 93.5 10.45 166 34 Holmes Chapel shl 8 14 95/96 94.8 14.30 162 46 Sandbach shl 10 49 59/71 89.4 16.37 160 40 MP 12 41 65 66.5 17.95 158 76 Sydney Bridge 14 27 37tsr/46 53.7 18.84 158 03 Crewe Pl 5 22 16 25 1L 27.2
Milepost 26 - 29 - April 2005 Table 5
Date/day Tuesday 1 March 2005 Train 1230 Belfast Cen-Dublin C Motive Power 227 pushing Load (tons) 7/266/275 Weather Sunny,cool Rec/Pos/GPS? IU; 6/8; Yes Miles M C location Sch m s mph ave 0.00 87 20 Portadown 0 0 00 2L 1.16 86 07 Tavanagh O/A 1 57 1/2 64 35.6 5.33 81 74 Tanderagee ob 5 04 95 80.3 t sr 43 7.64 79 49 Scarva shl 7 07 1/2 47 9.20 78 04 Acton LC 8 38 1/2 70 61.8 10.35 76 72 Poyntzpass shl 9 48 51 59.6 12.25 75 00 MP 11 35 1/2 73 63.6 14.25 73 00 MP 13 34 56 60.8 16.25 71 00 MP 15 24 1/2 72 65.2 17.98 69 22 Newry 17 26 51.1 0.00 23 22 51 2L 1.27 68 00 MP 2 19 53 32.9 3.61 65 53 ob 4 38 1/2 66 60.3 6.16 63 09 Meigh LC 6 30 1/2 93/75* 82.0 9.37 59 72 Kilnasaggart ob 8 49 1/2 93/87 83.2 11.27 58 00 Mountpleasant 10 04 1/2 92 91.2 13.27 56 00 MP 11 24 85 90.6 14.97 54 24 Dundalk 17 13 17 2E 54.2
Milepost 26 - 30 - April 2005 THE 2004 MASS-TIMING DAY
Basingstoke and Southampton
Frank Collins
The Mass-Timing Day has been a regular fixture on the RPS Calendar for many years now. The location has varied from year to year to spread the variety both in terms of traction and geographical interest and accessibility; this year the chosen section was part of the Bournemouth main line, between Basingstoke and Southampton.
This is a route not without challenges over the 31 miles. If the time-honoured Gradient Profiles are to be believed, the start from Basingstoke gives 4 miles uphill at 1/249 to around MP 52 ¼, then around 3 ½ miles of gentle undulation to the summit inside Litchfield Tunnel (c MP 55 ¾ ); followed by 16 miles of almost continuous 1/252 down until Allbrook Junction, interrupted by some very slight changes to the down grade around Winchester station. After that, the downgrade gradually eases until level is reached alongside the river at St Denys.
Speed profile-wise it’s pretty uncomplicated too; unbroken 90 mph all the way from clearing Basingstoke station to the approach to Swaythling. On the down, speed is restricted to 75 mph through Swaythling through to approaching Northam, although there is a brief and rather pointless resumption of 90 for about ½ mile between Swaythling and St Denys. At Northam there is a 25 mph speed restriction as the line executes a tight 90-degree right turn away from the original route to the docks and on to the later extension – now the main line of course – west to Bournemouth and Weymouth. On the up run, the curve at Northam inevitably hampers acceleration away from Southampton; but the line between Northam and Swaythling is optimistically posted for 85 mph this way; again utterly pointless even without the 75 mph through Swaythling, since only a fully-powered Voyager has any hope of exceeding 75 mph on this section, and even then, so briefly as to make no practical difference to running times. Clear of Swaythling, it’s then unbroken 90 the rest of the way.
However, there is then a further oddity, in the form of a differential 100mph speed restriction over certain sections. On the down, this runs from Battledown to approaching Eastleigh; on the up, it’s restricted to 5 ½ miles from Northbrook substation to Steventon. Why odd – well it’s a differential speed limit only, not an all trains one, which originally applied to HSTs and class 442 emus only, but then these were the only rolling stock then running which was capable of 100mph in any case! Clearly the concession has been extended to Voyager stock; I am not clear however whether it now officially benefits class 170 dmus, and the new Desiro emus of classes 444 and 450, all of which do 100mph. Second oddity is the extent of the concession on the up road; the original logic may well have been practical, in the a 442 hasn’t a hope of exceeding 90 mph on the 1/252 upgrade; but Voyagers can with ease – even when running with one engine out – and Desiros will be able to do the same, especially once the power supply upgrade is finished. Perhaps some common sense updating is called for here.
The South-Western main line is renowned for the far-sighted planning of the LSWR and SR with all of the junctions with it in the first 45 miles being flying junctions – save for the busiest of all, at Woking. Heading west, the position is less favourable, save for the superb alignment at Worting Junction with 90 mph crossovers between fast and slow lines. First problem is immediately east of Basingstoke station, where the Reading line trails in. Whilst the Reading – Basingstoke local service is self contained and remains clear of the main line, the junction is a nasty one; a single lead 15 mph ladder right across the layout. This is a connection which has grown substantially in importance over the years; the hourly cross- country Voyager service is now joined by frequent freightliners between the Midlands and
Milepost 26 - 31 - April 2005 Southampton (which clearly take a long time to clear the junctions); and in addition, Basingstoke lacks proper turn-back facilities for the terminating semi-fasts from London, so these too have to use this ladder every half-hour on departure from platform 1 to cross the whole layout from south to north. Up semi-fasts block all 4 tracks every half hour; down Voyagers three tracks and down Freightliners between 3 and 4 – so any disruption here has the potential for serious delays.
Further west, the junctions at Eastleigh are on the flat too; the Chandlers Ford route to Romsey trailing in north of the station and the Portsmouth line leaving on a sharp curve immediately south. Busier though is the other junction for Portsmouth, at St Denys – although this seems to normally work very effectively with some imaginative and slick use of the four track section between there and Northam, and the reversible signalling from there through the tunnel into Southampton Central
As ever, the object of the exercise was to record as many of the services running on the day as possible so as to provide as complete and comprehensive a review of the days running as possible. 11 members took part, with contributions ranging from a single round trip to those who shuttled backwards and forwards dutifully virtually from dawn till dusk. All contributions are support are of course greatly appreciated, however large or small. Between them the 11 recorders managed a little over 40 runs in each direction, with only a couple of instances of enforced ‘doubling up’.
Even so, the complexities of the intense service on this line meant that total service coverage was impossible; hardly surprising when the basic service is around 6 trains an hour throughout most of the day, and one of those involved the recorder having to travel ‘out of area’ to Woking with a thoroughly inconvenient 50 minute wait there to return. Trains to be covered varied from the fast Weymouth services through to semi-fasts to Poole and Southampton supplemented by those to Portsmouth; an hourly Virgin Voyager service; and all interspersed with periodic Reading and Basingstoke to Brighton services. Even so, in the core part of the day, we were managing to cover 5 services in 6, which is very respectable; though even the most dedicated recorders enthusiasm waned by around 18.30!
Two competitions were held on the day, both around the subject of ‘Fastest Times’ recorded on the day. The ground rules for the first were as follows;-
Free membership of the RPS for 2005-06 is to be awarded to the participant who beats a Fastest Time on the Mass Timing Day route on 25th September 2004 by the greatest margin in percentage terms. Rules are as follows;-
1 Only the Fastest Times sections and traction types covered in the May 2004 Supplement qualify
2 The times to be beaten are those listed in the May 2004 supplement updated by any new records received and accepted by David Sage prior to 25th September
3 The best improvement will be judged by the percentage improvement over the record standing at the start of the day, rather than the gain in absolute terms in seconds, so as to give short section records a fair chance
4 Logs for the record claim had to be received by me by 31st October 2004 at the latest.
Only one member failed to get his logs to me in time for the deadline; fortunately his logs did not include any Fastest Times anyway! Thank you to everyone else who submitted their material so promptly.
Milepost 26 - 32 - April 2005
MASS TIMING DAY 2004 - FASTEST TIMES RECORDED ON THE DAY UP DOWN miles m s date loco veh mph rec section miles m s date loco veh mph rec
WOKING and:- 42.30 29 15 05/06/2004 2413/22 10 86.8 FC Winchester 42.30 29 50 25/06/2004 442405 5 85.1 AD 30 03 442424/13 10 AD ditto MTD 2004 30 47 442417/09 10 DJA
BASINGSTOKE and:- 10.31 8 58 25/06/2004 450 8 69.0 AD Micheldever 10.31 9 21 15/06/1992 442416 5 66.2 DS 9 24 450012 4 MB ditto MTD 2004 9 03 450012 4 DJA #
18.82 14 37 --/--/94 442407 5 77.3 KM Winchester 18.82 13 48 05/04/1995 442414 5 81.8 KM 15 17 1307 4 DJA ditto MTD 2004 14 19 450041 4 JB 18.82 13 14 24/05/2003 221123 5 85.3 AB ditto diesel m.u 18.82 13 07 18/07/2003 221114 5 86.1 AB 13 55 221104 5 BN ditto MTD 2004 13 27 220018 4 MH
MICHELDEVER and;- 8.43 7 38 20/06/1996 442422 5 66.2 AD Winchester 8.43 7 19 15/06/1992 442416 5 69.1 DS 7 59 1394 4 DA ditto MTD 2004 7 11 450012 4 DJA #
WINCHESTER and:- 3.12 4 01 11/08/1968 2-HAP 6 46.6 DS Shawford 3.12 3 46 11/11/2001 CIG/CEP 8 49.7 DS 4 06 450017 4 JB ditto MTD 2004 3 50 450017 4 MB 3.12 3 58 15/10/2003 170301 2 47.2 AD ditto diesel m.u 3.12 3 52 15/10/2003 170303 2 48.4 AD 4 19 170301 2 CN ditto MTD 2004 4 25 170392 2 CN
6.96 6 30 --/--/94 442421 5 64.3 KM Eastleigh 6.96 6 36 03/01/1994 4424xx 5 63.3 KM 7 09 1304 4 FC ditto MTD 2004 6 57 1307 4 RSc
8.34 7 30 25/09/1997 442404 5 66.7 AD Soton Apt Parkway 8.34 6 57 --/06/94 442412 5 72.0 KM 7 53 442406/08 10 RSc ditto MTD 2004 7 29 442417/09 10 DJA 8.34 6 28 27/04/2003 221110 5 77.4 AB ditto diesel m.u 8.34 6 31 10/05/2003 221143 5 76.8 DS 7 08 221104 5 BN ditto MTD 2004 6 42 221104 5 NS
SHAWFORD and:- 3.84 4 42 27/07/1969 2-HAP 4 49.0 DS Eastleigh 3.84 5 06 25/07/1969 4-VEP 4 45.2 DS 5 24 450017 4 JB ditto MTD 2004 5 16 450041 4 JB 3.84 5 02 15/10/2003 170301 2 45.8 AD ditto diesel m.u 3.84 5 08 15/10/2003 170303 2 44.9 AD 5 13 170301 2 CN ditto MTD 2004 4 57 170392 2 CN #
EASTLEIGH and:- 1.36 2 25 03/09/1994 4424xx 5 33.8 KM Soton Apt Parkway 1.36 2 20 03/03/1994 442419 5 35.0 KM 3 16 1318 4 MH ditto MTD 2004 2 45 1304 4 MB
SOUTHAMPTON AIRPORT PARKWAY and:- 4.25 5 30 18/02/1991 442410 5 46.4 DS Southampton Ctl 4.25 5 18 02/11/1993 442421 5 48.1 DS 6 00 1318 4 MH ditto MTD 2004 6 02 442416 5 BN 4.25 5 16 04/10/2002 221 5 48.4 DS ditto diesel m.u 4.25 5 16 10/01/2003 221 5 48.4 DS 5 39 221119 5 DA ditto MTD 2004 5 40 221104 5 NS
Milepost 26 - 33 - April 2005 Set out above is the official results table; up to date records for each section involved in the day as at 25th September 2004 are shown first, with the fastest times on each section recorded during the day set out below.
What is immediately apparent is that this was not a vintage day for records! That there were three set at all came as a pleasant surprise to me. What is noticeable is that all are with the latest traction; two with a class 450 Desiro unit, and one with a class 170 dmu. The former perhaps augers well for the future one the power supply upgrade is completed and the class 444 and 450 sets are operating to their full potential.
The levels of improvement were respectively 3.3% 1.8% and 3.7%, and since the rules of the competition were that it was the greatest percentage improvement, which mattered rather than absolute improvement, I am delighted to declare Chris Napper the winner with his class 170 run from Shawford to Eastleigh.
The second competition was more specific; anyone beating my Winchester – Woking record on the day got free membership for 2005-06 too. I have to say I thought the Society’s money was pretty safe with that one when I set the challenge, and I was not wrong! The fastest time on the day was all but a minute slower than the record.
So – before we launch into an analysis of the individual runs, what themes and conclusions emerge from the day?
Punctuality
On the whole, this was excellent; most trains ran very precisely to time throughout. The principal problem emanated from a major problem with a failed train at Portsmouth early in the morning. This caused what can politely be called chaos on the Portsmouth Direct line via Guildford, but also had knock-on effects on the Southampton line. The 09.10 up from Portsmouth started from Eastleigh 83 minutes late (which caused some hasty re- diagramming amongst the recorders in the area at the time!) and for a time the Portsmouth service was suspended. This had the knock on effect that certain of the Waterloo – Weymouth services – but curiously not all of them during the affected period – made additional stops at Micheldever and Eastleigh to cover, resulting in the unusual experience of Woking – Micheldever non-stop runs. The first of these so affected – the 11.30 ex Waterloo – had the double whammy of getting ahead at Basingstoke of a 12 minute late-running Voyager which should have preceded it, so received a further dose of delay at Eastleigh to enable the Voyager to overtake and get back to the proper running order. Later trains affected did not have this problem so delays of 5-6 mins from the two extra stops resulted.
The 10.05 Reading – Brighton was also 20 mins late off Basingstoke having been delayed at Reading with a fault on the class 170 unit. There were a handful of late starts on the up run out of Southampton, mostly it seems on services starting from Poole, the immediate cause of which is not clear.
Regulation
Again, generally excellent on this very busy route. The hourly down Poole service (xx.00 off Waterloo) routinely got checked through the Eastleigh area, presumably whilst the preceding xx.45 Southampton cleared its station stop there, but this seems to be allowed for with an additional 3 minutes in the schedule; and checked again behind the same service arriving at Southampton – which is not allowed for, in the Public Timetable at least, with the result that
Milepost 26 - 34 - April 2005 most of these services commonly lost 2-3 minutes time here. The terminating train seems to be allowed an extra minute to cross and terminate in the central platforms (which seems slightly strange at first sight as the approach speed is the same to all platforms at Southampton), and there seems to be insufficient margin behind it for the Poole to get through unchecked.
The other regulation issue was freights; the nature of Southampton docks these days is that the line is busy with Freightliners in particular even on Saturdays. John Bull on the 11.48 ex Poole followed a freight out of Southampton, which slightly delayed running to the Airport. It then crossed the down lines at Eastleigh to gain access to the yard there. David Ashley seems to have suffered the most unfortunate experience whilst on the 12.10 Voyager from Southampton in following something – presumably a freight – most of the way from Winchester to Basingstoke. I had a slick piece of regulation on the 13.48 ex-Poole routed via the relief lines at Northam to go round another train, with minimal delay.
Performance
This was not a day for outstanding performance. Most of the running could best be described as mediocre, with class 442s – as ever – particularly failing to set the world on fire. Of the 7 down runs on the fast Weymouth services only one even touched 100mph, and that only briefly; whilst in the up, only Chris Napper’s run on the 11.15 ex Southampton really got the bit between its teeth.
Voyagers, as ever, were having a bad day. This was not helped by the line being closed between Oxford and Banbury so at the southern end Voyagers were shuttling between Reading and Bournemouth only. This meant that the same units were seen repeatedly – and most were running with one engine out!
There was a surprising amount of Mk1 stock still in use – virtually 50% of the electric services over the section were formed of Mk1 emus, as these still had a monopoly of the Southampton and Portsmouth terminating services at that time. A mixed bag of running here, but they had their moments.
I propose to review all of the runs recorded throughout the day. One of the dilemmas of this exercise has been how to present the runs. Eventually I have decided, for better or for worse, to divide them according to traction type and service. We will therefore have sections for 442s on the Weymouth service; ditto on the Poole service; Mk1 emus; Voyagers; 170s and 450s, in each direction
(to be continued)
Milepost 26 - 35 - April 2005 EPIC CLIMB OF GRAYRIGG BANK: Lms 6244 King George VI – 28th January 1944
William Alcock
Many members no doubt will know of the performance achievement by the Stanier pacific No 6244 “King George VI” during World War II, when running conditions were at their worst. The run was timed by the late Cecil M Furst whose logs, not infrequently, were published by Cecil J Allen in his articles “British Locomotive Practice and Performance” in The Railway Magazine. This occasion was mentioned in his article in the May-June 1944 issue. Cecil Furst was travelling north on the 1005am from Euston to Perth, which was loaded to 15 coaches, 433tons tare, estimated at 475 tons gross (Wartime Anglo Scottish expresses were always very full, often to standing). The train had been stopped just just south of Oxenholme and passed that station at 29mph. As will be seen from the log, the driver had accelerated up the 1in104-124-131 to 54½mph. On the 2½miles at 1in131 the speed rose exactly to 60mph, and the final 2 miles at 1in106 was 55mph. Allen then states that no such demonstration was possible up Shap as Control had succeeded in putting a freight between the 10.00am and the 10.05am from Euston.
28 January 1944 Date Furst’s original log, printed here, Train 1005am Euston-Perth tells us that the precise date was Motive Power 6244 "King George VI" 28th January 1944, a fact not Load (tons) 15 coaches, 433./475tons widely known. The run has been Rec Cecil M Furst mentioned many times by OS Miles Location m s mph Nock, but apart from an abridged 0.00 OXENHOLME 0 00.0 29 1/2 log giving speeds only in The 1..65 20 ¾ 2 23.0 Railway Magazine for February 1.90 21 2 44.1 48 1/2 1959, no full log has been 2.40 21 ½ 3 21.1 51 1/2 published in The Railway 2.90 22 3 56.1 52 1/2 Magazine, Trains Illustrated, or as 3.40 22 ½ 4 30.2 54 1/2 far as I am aware Modern 3.50 Hay Fell box 4 35.0 Railways. In the RM February 3.90 23 5 03.2 56 1959 issue, Nock estimates the 4.40 23 ½ 5 35.3 58 1/2 drawbar horsepower at 2,600 and 4.65 23 ¾ 5 51.0 58 ½ the indicated horsepower of over 4.90 24 6 06.2 59 3,000 though probably less than 5.40 24 ½ 6 37.0 60 the 3,300 attained during the trials 5.65 24 ¾ 6 52.0 57 of No 6234 “Duchess of Abercorn” 5.90 25 7 07.3 57 ½ on February 26th 1939. 6.15 25 ¼ 7 23.2 57 6.37 Mosedale Hall box 7 37.0 John F Clay and J Cliffe give 6.40 25 ½ 7 39.1 55 revised power figures in their 6.65 25 ¾ 7 55.3 55 book “The West Coast Pacifics” 6.90 16 8 12.0 55 ½ (Ian Allan 1976) where Group 7.10 Grayrigg 8 20.0 55 ½ Captain Law estimates a dbhp of 7.15 26 ¼ 8 28.1 2,375 and a corresponding ihp of 7.40 26 ½ 8 43.4 57 ½ aboutr 3,000. 7.65 26 ¾ 8 58.0 63 ½ 7.90 27 9 12.1 63 ½ The full log is presented here to 8.15 27 ¼ 9 26.0 65 place on record this historic 8.40 27 ½ 9 39.1 68 occasion in locomotive 8.80 Low Gill 10 02.0 Sigs performance. sig stop
Milepost 26 - 36 - April 2005 “KINGS” AND “CASTLES” ON TOP LINK WORK More Stories of the final months
David Adams
Following my previous article on this subject I have sorted out a few more of my better experiences which I hope will give a broader picture of this memorable period.
Timings for the main Paddington – Birmingham trains were for a “King” and 420 ton loads which equated to 12 vehicles in those days. Occasionally trains were strengthened to meet expected demand and on Saturday the 9th June 1962 the 18.10 had a 14 coach load headed by 6022 in the capable hands of Stafford Road men. Although this train ran first stop Leamington Spa on Mondays to Fridays it called additionally at Bicester and Banbury on Saturdays.
Due to the load being above the timing limit drivers were entitled to take a pilot loco from Banbury, mainly to cope with the climb up Hatton bank. When provided this was a Banbury based “Hall” class, often not in the best of condition, which spent the day otherwise as station pilot, usually in the north bay. It was regularly used by Old Oak Common men working the 09.10 Paddington but seldom put in appearance on jobs worked by Stafford Road men, the time spent attaching at Banbury and detaching at Birmingham Snow Hill negating any advantage gained in running en route. This was indeed the case on this evening when the crew decided to go it alone, testimony to the good condition and steaming qualities of 6022 and the competence of the crew.
The running throughout was sound if not too spectacular, as table 1 shows, but the object of the exercise was of course to keep time. The schedule of 67 minutes to Bicester included 4 minutes recovery allowance and less than 1 minute of this was actually used, arrival being just over 3 minutes early. The maximum of 77.5 mph after Princes Risborough I considered above average with this load.
The run onto Banbury was completed just 2 seconds inside schedule and the engine was worked hard to attain 67½ after the Aynho Junction slowing.
The 22 minute allowance from Banbury to Leamington Spa was certainly tight and seldom kept even with lighter loads. A TSR at Banbury Junction did not help the situation and we subsequently dropped nearly 3 minutes on this section. Braking for Leamington Spa in those days was much more cautious as the approach was controlled by semaphore signals and running into the platform line was always against distant signals at caution. Today a double yellow at Whitnash indicates a clear run into the platform line allowing a much faster approach.
After Leamington Spa we made a fairly good climb up Hatton bank, despite having no pilot loco, speed falling to 33½ and Hatton station being passed just 1 second inside the timing allowance. By Tyseley we had dropped nearly a minute but the signal check at Bordesley North prevented any advantage being taken of the 3 minutes recovery time and we arrived just over 3 minutes late. This was a commendable effort when compared with other runs I had during in that period when timekeeping was well wide of the mark on so many occasions even without additional loads.
Just over a week earlier I had “Castle” 7032 on the 6.10pm Paddington with a 12 coach load, the only “Castle” performance I timed out of Paddington on this route. This time we had an Old Oak Common crew and, being a weekday, ran first stop Leamington Spa. This
Milepost 26 - 37 - April 2005
TABLE 1. PADDINGTON – BIRMINGHAM S.H. TABLE 2 - PADDINGTON-LEAMINGTON SPA TRAIN/DATE 6.10pm PADDINGTON SA 09.06.62 TRAIN/DATE 6.10pm PADDINGTON WE 30.05.62 LOCO: CASTLE CLASS 7032 DENBIGH CASTLE (DBLE LOCO: KING CLASS 6022 KING EDWARD III CHIMNEY) LOAD: COACHES/E/F 14/487/520 LOAD: COACHES/E/F 12/421/450 DRIVER: STAFFORD ROAD DRIVER: OLD OAK COMMON REC/POS: DAd 2/15 REC/POS. DAd 2/13 DISTANCE WTT ACTUAL SPEED DISTANCE ACTUAL SPEED MILES M. M.S. MPH MILES M.S. MPH 0.00 PADDINGTON 0.0 0.00 0.00 PADDINGTON 0.00 0.60 Subway Jnc. 2.26 0.60 Subway Jnc. 3.28 3.10 Old Oak Cmmon WJ 6.5 6.42 44* Sigs. Old Oak Common W 7.65 Greenford 12.0 12.20 58 3.10 Jnc. 8.14 32* 9.92 Northolt E Jnc. 14.5 14.53 52.5 7.65 Greenford 14.10 55.5 14.65 Denham 19.54 53 9.92 Northolt E Jnc. 16.47 51.5 17.24 Gerrards Cross 23.05 45 14.65 Denham 21.48 60.5 21.55 Beaconsfield -2.0 29.05 41.5/60 17.26 Gerrards Cross 24.47 49.5/48.5 26.41 HIGH WYCOMBE 34.5 34.46 34* 21.55 Beaconsfield 30.02 50.5/54.5 28.53 West Wycombe 38.19 37* 26.41 HIGH WYCOMBE 36.05 40* 31.35 Saunderton 42.25 40 28.53 West Wycombe 39.18 41* PRINCES 34.53 RISBOROUGH 45.0 46.38 60*/77.5 31.35 Saunderton 43.04 44.5/46 PRINCES 39.88 Haddenham 51.08 75.5 34.53 RISBOROUGH 46.54 60*/77 43.78 Ashendon Jnc. 54.0 54.23 71 39.88 Haddenham 51.28 73.5 47.19 Brill & L. -2.0 57.26 66/72.5 43.78 Ashendon Jnc. 55.00 64.5 53.23 BICESTER 67.0 63.44 47.19 Brill & L. 58.21 63/72.5 0.00 0.0 0.00 53.23 BICESTER 63.33 64 3.81 Ardley 8.0 7.53 42/62 57.04 Ardley 67.45 51/63 8.91 Aynho Jnc. 13.0 13.33 61* 62.14 Aynho Jnc. 73.04 61* 11.88 Astrop Sdg. 16.21 67.5 65.13 Astrop Sdg. 76.13 58 14.05 BANBURY 19.0 18.58 67.30 BANBURY 78.22 61 0.00 0.0 0.00 70.98 Cropredy 82.08 58 TSR 76.06 Fenny Compton 87.19 62.5 1.22 Banbury Jnc. 3.36 27* TSR 53* 3.69 Cropredy 7.46 45 81.00 Southam Road & H. 92.21 60 8.77 Fenny Compton 13.50 55 83.39 Fosse Road 94.37 68.5/73 13.71 Southam Road & H. 18.34 64 87.19 LEAMINGTON SPA 99.00 16.10 Fosse Road 20.39 74/75.5 19.90 LEAMINGTON SPA 22.0 24.57 SCHEDULE 103.00 0.00 0.0 0.00 MINUTES NET 96.50 42 1.93 Warwick 3.47 44.5 3.93 Budbrook 6.29 42.5/33.5 6.10 Hatton 10.0 9.59 38.5/59.5 10.34 Lapworth 14.56 56 12.88 Knowle & D. 17.5 17.40 54.5 16.21 SOLIHULL 21.16 59/67 19.99 Tyseley 24.0 24.46 64* -3.0 Sigs. 5* 23.30 BIRMINGHAM S.H. 31.0 31.22 .25 + MINUTES NET 63.8 19 + 23 28.75
Milepost 26 - 38 - April 2005 TABLE 3. PADDINGTON – BICESTER TRAIN: 7.10pm PADDINGTON DATE: Tu 19.06.62 We 25.07.62 LOCO: KING CLASS 6020 King Henry IV 6016 King Edward V LOAD: Coaches/E/F 10, 348/365 10, 352/370 Driver A William SRD SRD DISTANCE WTT ACTUAL SPEED ACTUAL SPEED MILES M. M.S. MPH M.S. MPH 0.00 PADDINGTON 0.0 0.00 0.00 0.60 Subway Jnc. 2.51 2.51 Sigs * 3.10 Old Oak Common W Jc 6.5 7.22 40* 6.30 45* 7.65 Greenford 12.0 12.41 62 11.30 66 9.92 Northolt E Jnc. 14.5 14.56 60 13.43 61 14.65 Denham 19.22 65.5 18.04 68 17.26 Gerrards Cross 22.05 54.5/55.5 20.37 59 Sigs. 37*/45 Sigs. 21.55 Beaconsfield -4.0 26.42 60/67 26.14 27*/55 Sigs. 25* 26.41 HIGH WYCOMBE 36.5 34.00 32* 32.21 39* 28.53 West Wycombe 37.40 37.5* 35.33 42* 31.35 Saunderton 41.44 41/44 39.32 41/43.5 34.53 PRINCES RISB. 47.0 45.48 57.5*/72 43.34 61*/80 39.88 Haddenham 50.36 68 48.11 78 43.78 Ashendon Jnc. 56.0 54.14 63.5 51.23 66.5 47.19 Brill & L. -4.0 57.46 57/66 54.34 66/79.5 53.23 BICESTER 69.0 64.39 56.5 60.54
MINUTES NET 61.00 58.00 loco was at one time deemed to be one of Old Oak Commons finest examples but its external appearance by this time certainly did not give that impression. This run, shown in table 2, provides an interesting comparison with those of 6013 and 6027 which I described in “Milepost 24¼”. Despite being underpowered for the load some very reasonable running was made and the time from Greenford to Brill was 55 seconds less than 6022 in table 1 above. Again not a spectacular performance but the schedule to Leamington Spa was improved on by 4 minutes despite slight checks costing 2.5 minutes which does show up 6013 in a particularly bad light.
To conclude on the down line two more runs on the 19.10 Paddington to Bicester which show just how elastic the schedule was on this section.
The first with the infamous driver A.Williams shows that he could indulge in less dramatic driving practices at times. The only running of note was the slight increase in speed up the 1 in 254 from Gerrards Cross and with a relatively easy run on the favourable stretch north of Princes Risborough he still managed to attain a net time of 61 minutes which was also the net schedule.
The driver of 6016 was not one that I recognised as a regular in the top link and was therefore probably not so familiar with the requirements of the schedule. Aided by the rarity of a completely clear run out of Paddington he paid the price for above average running
Milepost 26 - 39 - April 2005 TABLE 4. BIRMINGHAM S.H. – LEAMINGTON SPA TRAIN EX BIRMINGHAM 10.00am 10.00am DATE Sa 17.02.62 Fr 27.04.62 LOCO: King Class 6005 King George II 6012 King Edward VI Load: Coaches E/F 11, 386/410 12, 423/450
DISTANCE ACTUAL SPEED ACTUAL SPEED MILES M.S. MPH M.S. MPH 0.00 BIRMINGHAM S.H. 0.00 0.00 1.28 Bordesley 2.32 2.29 3.31 Tyseley 4.55 55.5/62 4.58 52 7.09 SOLIHULL 8.35 60 8.52 61 10.43 Knowle 11.36 66 11.51 73 12.97 Lapworth 13.50 72/75 13.54 74/75 17.20 Hatton 17.36 60* 17.34 62* 19.37 Budbrook 19.30 75 19.27 72.5 21.38 Warwick 21.07 75 21.09 70 23.30 LEAMINGTON SPA 23.32 23.51
TRAIN EX BIRMINGHAM 6.00pm 12.00noon DATE Fr 22.06.62 Sa 07.07.62 LOCO: King Class 6018 King Henry VI 6012 King Edward VI Load: Coaches E/F 11, 379/405 12, 421/455
DISTANCE ACTUAL SPEED ACTUAL SPEED MILES M.S. MPH M.S. MPH 0.00 BIRMINGHAM S.H. 0.00 0.00 1.28 Bordesley 2.27 2.26 3.31 Tyseley 4.52 55.5 4.49 57.5 7.09 SOLIHULL 8.44 60 8.32 62.5 10.43 Knowle 11.50 67.5/72 11.34 68 12.97 Lapworth 13.56 71 13.46 68.5/70 17.20 Hatton 17.41 64* 17.36 61.5* 19.37 Budbrook 19.28 75.5/78 19.26 71.5/72 TSR 21.38 Warwick 21.35 46*/52 21.05 71.5 23.30 LEAMINGTON SPA 23.57 23.44
to Gerrards Cross by catching up a local from Marylebone. Despite this hindrance we passed Princes Risborough 3.5 minutes early and, surprisingly with so much time in hand, a fairly fast run was made on to Bicester touching 80 mph before Haddenham and 79.5 mph after Brill. Arrival was in just under the net schedule of 61 minutes with a net overall time of 58 minutes.
The 24 minute schedule on the up line over the 23.3 miles from Birmingham Snow Hill to Leamington Spa demanded a reasonable performance to keep time. Table 4 shows four better runs where timekeeping was achieved by Stafford Road top link crews except for 6018 on the 18.00 which worked by number 2 link as far as Banbury where an Old Oak Common crew took over. The runs were very similar and the passing times at Budbrook were no more than 4 seconds apart. However such runs were the exception to the general rule and it was relatively common to drop a minute on this section.
Milepost 26 - 40 - April 2005 TABLE 5. LEAMINGTON SPA - PADDINGTON Finally two TRAIN EX BIRMINGHAM 3.00pm 10.00am examples of DATE Mo16.07.62 We 08.08.62 running south of Loco: King Class 6028 King George VI 6018 King Henry VI Leamington Spa Load: Coaches E/F 10,348/375 11, 379/405 with Old Oak Common based DISTANCE SCH ACTUAL SPEED ACTUAL SPEED locos. 6028 was MILES M. M.S. MPH M.S. MPH manned by an 0.00 LEAMINGTON SPA 0.0 0.00 Old Oak 3.77 Fosse Road 6.08 50 Common crew 6.16 Southam Road & H 9.07 48/64 and a 11.10 Fenny Compton 14.08 61 respectable run to Banbury was 16.18 Cropredy 18.53 73.5/75.5 made picking up 19.90 BANBURY 26.0 22.35 over 3 minutes 0.00 0.0 0.00 0.00 on schedule. A 2.18 Astrop Sdg. 4.26 45/51 4.09 47.5/56 TSR at Aynho TSR TSR prevented any 5.15 Aynho Jnc. 9.0 8.29 20*/41 8.43 9* speed being 10.24 Ardley 14.5 16.26 50 16.27 57.5 attained up the 1 14.05 BICESTER 19.55 73/79.5 19.48 76/81 in 200 rise to 20.09 Brill & L. 24.39 70 24.28 72 Ardley and 23.52 Ashendon Jnc. 26.5 28.03 45* 27.44 56.5* speed did not 27.42 Haddenham 32.09 62/68.5 31.20 69.5/73 quite reach 80 32.77 PRINCES RISB. 37.5 37.11 61/56 36.16 57.5/52.5 mph on the 35.95 Saunderton 40.24 61.5/64 39.44 59/66 subsequent TSR down grade to Blackthorn. After 38.70 West Wycombe 43.38 22* 42.25 46* a cautious 45 40.89 HIGH WYCOMBE 47.5 48.08 26* 45.34 36.5* mph over the 60 45.75 Beaconsfield 54.27 55 50.51 60 mph PSR at 50.04 Gerrards Cross 58.16 77 54.45 68 Ashendon some 52.65 Denham 60.0 60.13 83.5 56.57 73 more 57.38 Northolt E Jnc. 64.0 63.44 77.5 60.59 69.5 adventurous 59.65 Greenford 66.0 65.50 79 62.54 72.5/75 running Sigs. produced a 64.20 Old Oak Cmmon WJ 71 69.50 38* 68.25 32* minimum of 56 67.28 PADDINGTON 80.0 75.43 74.43 mph at the MINUTES NET 22.5 + 70 69.75 . summit of the climb towards Saunderton which was followed by another TSR at West Wycombe. After a maximum of 83.5 mph at Denham we arrived in Paddington over 4 minutes under schedule despite the checks costing 5.75 minutes in running.
The other run from Banbury with 6018 was with a Stafford Road crew. Again there was a TSR at Aynho, this time a more severe one, but the acceleration away from all slowings was more vigorous than on the run with 6018. High Wycombe was passed 2 minutes inside schedule and after a fine climb to Beaconsfield an easy run followed arriving in Paddington with over 5 minutes to spare.
Strange how those last 6-7 months of steam seemed like an eternity at the time but they were certainly crammed with memories that remain as vivid today as they were 40 years ago.
Milepost 26 - 41 - April 2005
A King arriving at Birmingham Snow Hill in 1954. B I Nathan
THE UNEXPECTED. K.R. Phillips.
The unexpected in terms of locomotive performance during the years of steam motive power on the railways of Britain underwent a change of emphasis, especially over the last three decades. In 1936 L.M.S. compound 4-4-0 No. 1086 hauling 329 tons tare covered the 99 miles from St. Pancras to Leicester in 106 minutes 10 seconds, in earlier days these engines were limited to 240 tons on the 106 minute schedules.
It was not unknown in the 1950s and the early 1960s for the ‘Jubilee’, ‘Royal Scot’ and ‘Britannia’ Class engines to produce performances inferior to the 60 ton Edwardian design engine, sometimes with lighter loads.
Perhaps the most famous and extreme example of an engine designed and built in the early years of the 20th century and hauling a heavy load was when L.N.E.R. Class A3 4-6-2 No. 2595 Trigo failed at Grantham on a north bound train of 17 coaches, the ‘Pacific’ was replaced by Great Northern ‘Atlantic’ No. 4404. The schedule of this train from Grantham to York was 90 minutes for the 82.7 miles and the 4-4-2 proceeded to gain over two minutes with a net time of about 86½ minutes. Probably the finest section of this run was from Retford to Doncaster, the 17.4 miles were covered in 15 minutes 4 seconds at an average speed of 69.2 mph. Twenty one years after this magnificent feat the ‘Elizabethan’ was allowed 84 minutes from passing Grantham to passing York. Allowing for starting and stopping the ‘Atlantic’ in 1936, at the least, equalled this section of the non-stop schedule with a 546 ton train. The ‘Elizabethan’ in 1957 usually weighed between 400 and 405 tons tare. The 4-4-2 had been improved since being built in 1905 by being superheated, its cylinder size increased and piston valves replaced the original slide valves. Without these improvements it is doubtful if No. 4404 would have performed as well as it did on that day in 1936. Even so, it was a remarkable effort for an engine of these dimensions on a 17 coach train.
Four-coupled engines of more modern design were also responsible for unexpected performances in the 1930s, especially the ‘Schools’ of the Southern Railway. At least twice No. 932 Blundells worked 15 coach trains of over 500 tons gross from Waterloo to Southampton inside the 87½ minute schedule, achieving 85 minutes in 1938 and 86½ minutes in 1939. The ‘Schools’ were supposed to be limited to 400 tons on these times.
Milepost 26 - 42 - April 2005
During the war years of the 1940s the unexpected usually centred on 4-6-0s and 4-6-2s hauling very heavy loads. The S.R. ‘Lord Nelson’ No. 859 Lord Hood averaged over 76 mph from Worting Junction to Brookwood, a distance of 22.3 miles, with a 17 coach train weighing 570 tons. Better known is the example when L.N.E.R. A4 No. 4901 with 22 coaches, 730 tons gross, averaged 75 mph from Otteringham to Poppleton Junction. Under the regime of British Railways No. 4901 became 60005 Sir Charles Newton. What was never emphasised at the time was that 4901 had a Kylchap exhaust. This probably assisted the exploit.
The examples quoted might give the impression that the unexpected always gave unalloyed pleasure to the traveller and/or recorder. In my experience this was not always so.
I did not expect to take nearly 59 minutes for the 31.4 miles from Carlisle to Shap Summit with Stanier 4-6-2 46203 Princess Margaret Rose on the ‘Midday Scot’ with a 14 coach train, the minimum speed at the top was 24 mph. Equally unexpected was the time when travelling on the Up ‘Elizabethan’ to find that the train was 21 minutes late passing York after being unchecked from Edinburgh. The engine was A4 No. 60010 Dominion of Canada on 11 coaches, 399 tons tare.
Sometimes the unexpected was the weather. In 1952 ‘Royal Scot’ 46160 with an 11 coach train departed from Crewe on time and passed Nuneaton in 61 minutes for the 61 miles, over 5 minutes early. We then encountered a severe thunderstorm before Rugby and eventually travelled over rails immersed in water at Banbury Lane – between Weedon and Blisworth. The train arrived in Euston 24 minutes late, the last 97 miles from Nuneaton having taken 134 minutes, a sad anti-climax and certainly unexpected.
During the 1950s pre-grouping four coupled engines still appeared on trains that were classed as ‘express’, but there is very little evidence that the exploits of No. 1086 and 4404 were repeated, or even approached. ‘Schools’ still gave invaluable service on the Southern Region, but not on 15 coach trains to Bournemouth.
The very heavy trains of the war years were but a memory, by 1956 the ‘Nelsons’ were eclipsed by the Bulleid 4-6-2s and mainly confined to secondary duties. Twenty two coach trains on the east coast main line were equally only memories. Recorders occasionally experienced the unexpected, though, as the logs accompanying this article illustrate.
TABLE 1 Date/day 01-Apr-60 Train 5.30pm ex Euston Motive Power Engine: 5MT 4-6-0 45381 Load (tons) 8, 247/265 Rec/Pos/GPS? T R Pearson Sch m s mph ave 0.00 Watford 0 0 00 3.50 Kings Langley 5 35 56 7.10 Hemel Hempstead 9 05 66 61.7 10.60 Berkhamsted 12 15 65/66 66.3 14.30 Tring 19 15 35 68 66.6 18.70 Cheddington 19 00 83 77.3 20.70 Sears Crossing [3] 20 25 86 84.7 22.80 Leighton Buzzard 31 23 23 42.5
This exploit was noted on the 5.30 p.m. from Euston, a Class 5 on this schedule was allowed
Milepost 26 - 43 - April 2005 370 tons. No. 45381 with a 247 ton train gained no less than 7½ minutes between Watford and Leighton Buzzard – remarkable, even with an eight coach train – 66 mph was sustained up the 7 miles of 1 – 335 against from milepost 24 to 31, and a maximum of 86 mph was attained at Seers Crossing, where the train was even time from the Watford start, 20.7 miles in 20 minutes 25 seconds. The slow finish into Leighton Buzzard was due to the train crossing from the main line to the slow line before that station.
Another example of the unusual on the Euston line was behind a Stanier ‘Duchess’ (Princess Coronation) on the ‘Midday Scot’.
Like the Class 5 it was well under the tonnage allowed for its schedule. A Class 8P 4-6-2 was supposed to be able to time this train with 510 tons tare, however, the number of times that this was achieved was probably very few. 46235 with its 11 coach train should have been well on top of this schedule but produced a ‘Curate’s Egg’ of a performance. Fortunately the bad part only manifested itself for a short distance. The time to Willesden of 9 minutes 50 seconds was reasonable, the speed
TABLE 2 at 50 mph was below par, as Train Midday Scot was the average speed from Motive Power Engine: Class 8P 4-6-2 - 46235 there to Hatch End of only 52
City of Birmingham mph. Watford was passed Load (tons) 11, 371/400 nearly two minutes late. Rec/Pos/GPS? N E Rimes Speed rose to 70 mph at Sch m s Mph Kings Langley, and like the 0.0 Euston 0 0 00 Class 5 the 4-6-2 averaged 1.1 Camden No. 1 3 23 50 66 mph from Hemel 5.4 Willesden 9 50 51 Hempstead to Tring Summit, 8.1 Wembley 12 55 50 the time of 12 minutes 40 11.4 Harrow 16 45 52 seconds from Watford to 13.3 Hatch End 18 55 66 Tring Station was 17.4 Watford 21 22 55 70 respectable. The ‘Midday 20.9 Kings Langley 26 03 68 Scot’ was a little over a half a 24.5 Hemel Hempstead 29 05 67/64 minute late at that point. 28.0 Berkhamsted 32 10 65/72 31.7 Tring 35 35 35 50 Two permanent way checks pws - were encountered between 36.1 Cheddington 40 00 25 Tring and Bletchley, passed nearly five minutes late doing pws - 73 mph, City of Birmingham 40.2 Leighton Buzzard 44 45 73 then rose to 81 mph at 46.7 Bletchley 47 51 43 81 Wolverton, surmounted 52.4 Wolverton 56 10 78 Roade Summit at 72 mph, 54.8 Castlethorpe 57 57 72 was a maximum of 84 mph 59.9 Roade 58 62 03 80 through Weedon, 76 mph at 62.8 Blisworth 61 64 20 84 Kilsby Tunnel and arrived in 69.7 Weedon 67 69 23 78/76 Rugby just over half a minute 75.3 Welton 73 26 77 late 80.3 Hillmorton 77 20 - 82.6 Rugby 80 80 35 Net time: 76.5mins
What was unexpected about this run was the low speed from Willesden to Hatch End and
Milepost 26 - 44 - April 2005 the fast finish from Bletchley to Rugby; the average speed of 82 mph from Weedon to Welton on an average gradient of 1 – 400 against for 5.6 miles; and the time of 21 minutes 10 seconds for the 27.9 miles from Wolverton to Hillmorton.
On the 1937 test run from Euston to Crewe when 114 mph was reached at milepost 156 with No. 6220 Coronation hauling 8 coaches, Wolverton to Hillmorton was covered in 21 minutes 15 seconds. To improve on this time 18 years afterwards with an 11 coach train was not without merit.
The unexpected was also present on the ex Midland main line with other Stanier engines. This sprightly performance was encountered on the 7.20 a.m. from Manchester Central.
At this period the train was allocated ‘Special Limit’ times, the maximum load for a ‘Jubilee’ on these schedules was 350 tons. No. 45629 made an excellent start over the undulating road between Luton and St. Albans, passing the latter at 76 mph, the average speed of 85.8 mph from St. Albans to Radlett suggests a higher speed than the 87 mph claimed. Notable was the minimum of 75 mph at Elstree, as was the average speed of 78.7 mph over the 20.7 miles from Harpenden to West Hampstead. Straits Settlements gained over three minutes between Luton and St. Pancras. It is doubtful if this performance was ever bettered by any steam engine on a 10 coach train, including the more powerful ‘Royal Scot’ and ‘Britannia’ types that were allocated to this Division in the late 1950s.
TABLE 3 Date/day 14th May 1955 Train 7.20pm Manchester Cen-St Pancras Engine: 6P Jubilee 45629 Straits Motive Power Settlements Load (tons) 10, 312/335 Rec/Pos/GPS? R Townsin Sch m s mph ave 0.0 Luton 0 00 00 2.9 Chiltern Green 04 49 58 5.6 Harpenden 07 29 62 60.8 10.3 St. Albans 12 11 31 76 69.9 15.0 Radlett 14 48 87 85.9 17.8 Elstree 16 54 75 80.0 20.9 Mill Hill 19 12 82 80.9 45616 approaches St Albans in 23.3 Hendon 23 20 54 86 84.7 June 1957 - B I Nathan
26.3 West Hampstead 23 15 73 76.6
28.7 Kentish Town 29 25 38 53 60.4
30.2 St. Pancras 32 28 45 - 28.9
No. 45629 had the unusual luxury of an unchecked run into St. Pancras station, this was the exception, not the norm.
The Down road was also often bedevilled by out of course checks, but occasionally the road was free of signal and permanent way delays, as the log of No. 46152 illustrates.
Milepost 26 - 45 - April 2005 TABLE 4 Date/day 29th May 1958 Train The Palatine Motive Power ‘Royal’ Scot 4-6-0 46152 Kings Dragoon Guardman Load (tons) 8, 258/279 Rec/Pos/GPS? K R Phillips Sch m s mph ave 0 St. Pancras 0 0 00 - 1.5 Kentish Town 4 3 49 39 3.9 West Hampstead 7 12 45 42.6 6.9 Hendon 10½ 10 34 64/65 53.5 9.3 Mill Hill 12 48 63 64.5 12.4 Elstree 15 50 60 61.3 15.2 Radlett 18 14 80 70.0 19.9 St. Albans 23 22 03 67/65 73.9 24.6 Harpenden 26 17 73 66.6 27.3 Chiltern Green 28 23 79 77.1 30.2 Luton 34 31 29 - 56.1 ‘The Palatine’ was allowed 34 minutes from London to Luton, this was an ‘XL’ schedule and Class 7P and 7MTs were limited to 340 tons on these schedules. Even Kings Dragoon Guardsman on 8 coaches did not observe the 6½ minutes allowed from passing Kentish Town to passing Hendon – very few did – it hardly mattered though. A minimum of 60 mph up the 1 – 176 to Elstree, 80 mph through Radlett, 65 mph at Sandridge (after 4 miles of 1 – 176 against) and 79 mph at Chiltern Green brought the Manchester bound train into Luton in 31 minutes 29 seconds from St. Pancras, 30.2 miles distant, perhaps the fastest actual time to be recorded? No. 46152 was crewed by Driver Golding and Fireman Cook of Kentish Town shed, who were not aware that they were being recorded until I spoke to them at Leicester.
The ‘Palatine’s next stop after Luton was Wellingborough, with 34 minutes for the 34.8 miles, at an average speed of 61.4 mph, start to stop. TABLE 5 Britannia 4-6-2 70021 Morning Star Date/day 10th July 1958 and Kentish Town Driver H. Train The Palatine Edwards were at the head of ‘The Motive Power B.R. 7MT Britannia 70021 Palatine’ in the next log on the Morning Star second leg. The train was eight Load (tons) 9, 296/315 minutes late departing Luton and Rec/Pos/GPS? B Howell made a fast start to Leagrave, Sch m s mph ave passing there at 59 mph, a higher 0.0 Luton 0 0 00 - than normal speed. Down the 1 – 2.6 Leagrave 3 51 59 40.5 200 gradients to Bedford No. 7.1 Harlington 7 42 77/83 70.1 70021’s maximum speed was 89 11.6 Ampthill 10 59 82 82.2 mph. At the bottom of Sharnbrook 14.8 Milepost 45 13 17 86/89 83.5 bank the speed was still 81 mph, 19.7 Bedford North Jc 18 16 39 86 87.3 and after 3¾ miles of 1 – 119 22.8 Oakley 21 18 49 81 85.8 against to the summit the speed 26.4 Sharnbrook 21 32 76 79.5 was 62 mph. 29.6 Milepost 59¾ 27½ 24 18 62 69.4 32.5 Irchester 26 32 85 77.9 34.8 Wellingborough 34 29 02 - 55.2
Milepost 26 - 46 - April 2005 A maximum of 85 mph at Irchester followed and the train came to a stand at Wellingborough in 29 minutes and 2 seconds for the 34.8 miles from Luton. The average speed was 71.9 mph start to stop! Morning Star had reduced the eight minutes lateness at Luton to three minutes,and perhaps had achieved the fastest time between those two towns with a nine coach train hauled by a steam engine?
The five logs have two things in common. All five engines were hauling loads lighter than permitted with the schedules. It is probable though that if they had been hauling the maximum tonnages allowed for these trains they would not have accomplished many of the times and speeds that the recorders noted. Perhaps the five recorders were easily surprised, but to them these performances were ‘Unexpected’ Table 6. Depot Highest Ann Total Known Engine Est. Mileage At Run Miles Mileage at Date Withdrawn Since Shops Date 1950s w/e at Run Date. 45629 Trafford Park 66,566 1,370,368 20.2.61 1. 5.65 15,240 14. 5.55 46152 Kentish Town 69,500 1,954,848 31.12.60 17. 4 65 8,200 29. 5.58 46235 Crewe North 79,832 1,566,677 31,12 63 12. 9.64 not known Detail supplied by R. Townsin.
News Alert - The Mystery of the Missing 180’s
In theory all the diagrams on the Cotswold Line went over to class 180s from 12th December (except the peak Hereford trains which remain as HSTs) but as always, it is not quite as cut and dried as it may first appear. Nigel Smedley’s visit on 5th March found only two 180s working all day with all the rest of the services covered by Turbos. Punctuality does not seem to suffer as a result.
Two particular services to avoid on Saturdays are the 1341 Oxford-Gt Malvern and 1604 return plus the 1348 Paddington-Gt Malvern and the 1654 return which seem to be diagrammed for Turbos.
Following these comments John Heaton’s observations were sought on other duties in the South West. He says that West of England 180s are on the 08.35, 12.18,16.35 and 18.33 Paddington down and the 06.00 Plymouth, 11.56, 15.35 and 19.45 Exeter up, all SX. 08.18, 12.18 17.18 Padd SO 07.00 Plymouth 11.35 15.35 Exeter 20.05 Taunton SO.20.15 Padd Sun. None up. These are shown by @ symbol in FGW Guide to Train Services but unfortunately not in the NRT. He hasn’t noticed any missing so far and no HST/180 transpositions noted yet.
Bookings on the Bristol/South Wales route include 0543, 1415,1515, 2000 and 2215 ex Paddington and arrivals at 1013, 1200,2000,2335 (All SX)
Milepost 26 - 47 - April 2005 300kph in the UK CTRL – Fawkham Junction to the Channel Tunnel David Ashley
Regular 300kph speeds in the UK became a reality in Autumn 2003 with the opening of the new section of line from Fawkham Junction to the Channel Tunnel, and the contrast between speeds on this side of the Channel compared with the French side became less of a source of humour. That said, however, the first 18 miles to Swanley still limit progress to 60mph, although there is a short 90mph section. Outward paths tend to slot in behind SET services, and this is not helped if the Eurostar train leaves Waterloo early. These are “high profile” services and one would have hoped that, even these days, preferential treatment could have Table 1 Fawkham Junction to English Tunnel Portal Run No.: 1 2 3 Date/day: Wed 10/12/03 S060604 Thu 27/05/04 Train: 0812 Waterloo Int-Paris 1039 Waterloo 0839 Waterloo Int-Brussels Motive Power: 3011/30121 3218/3217 3214/3213 Load (tonnes): Rec/Pos/GPS: D C Sage 16/20 Yes D Adams 3/20 D C Sage 18/20 Yes Weather: Dry, overcast, calm. Rail damp Avge Km Pk Location elev(m) m s Kph m s Kph m s Kph Waterloo International 0 00.0 Early 1.5 0 00 1L 0 00.0 WATERLOO INTL. 0.00 0.00 Fawkham Jn (0.00) 32 18.8 96/99 27 35 100 26 35.7 5.92 5.92 Southfleet Jn (5.92/40.15) 9 35 49.8 128 31 18 96 29 59.7 131 5.92 40.15 10.79 45.02 Halfpence Lane Tnl N. 100 37 43.0 180 33 19 145 31 50.9 181 15.74 49.97 Medway Viaduct North 37 39 02.5 266/268 34 40 220 33 09.9 270 17.00 51.23 Medway Viaduct South 39 19.5 267/270 33 26.7 273/274 20.21 54.44 North Downs Tnl North 40 03.1 257 35 42 260 34 09.2 260 23.41 57.64 North Downs Tnl South 40 46.6 36 25 268 34 52.5 25.90 60.13 Boxley Tnl N. 325m 41 17.2 297 36 56 290 35 23.2 299 27.91 62.14 Sittingbourne Rd OB 41 41.8 287 37 20 302 35 47.5 290/292/290 33.39 67.62 Eyhorne Tnl N. 360m 51 42 50.5 299 38 28 290 36 55.3 295/288 36.99 71.22 Harrietsham Tnl N.1 50m 67 290/295 39 13 288 37 40.2 295/292 39.95 74.18 Sandway Tnl N.170m 105 44 11.4 290 39 49 296 38 16.6 289/295 42.86 77.09 Lenham loop N. (pts) 38 52.8 287 45.15 79.38 Lenham loop S. (pts) 68 45 17.1 267/269 40 53 292 39 22.2 267 48.22 82.45 Leacon Lane Tnl N. 120m 45 58.6 267 40 04.6 261 54.08 88.31 Ashford West Jn 47 18.3 270 42 17.0 48 56.16 90.39 Ashford Viaducts x 3 43 20 270 43 17.9 56.10 90.33 ASHFORD INTNL 44 56.0 56.10 90.33 47 31.0 58.49 92.72 Ashford East Jn 40 48 16.4 1 58.1 136 60.89 95.12 Mersham Tnl N. 160m 48 47.1 287/288/273 44 23 268 2 51.5 186/188 69.02 103.25 OB950 Westenhanger 50 45.6 196 46 13 266 5 45.1 147 70.30 104.53 Sandling Tnl N. 92m 51 09.4 191 70.39 104.62 Sandling Tnl S. 6 19.1 143 71.33 105.56 Dollands Moor West Jn 78 74.33 108.56 NR/ET boundary 74.33 6.98 77.38 10.03 Tunnel Portal 38 53 47.5 158 52 27 37 sigs 9 15.3 161 Table 2 - Fawkham Junction to English Tunnel Portal
Milepost 26 - 48 - April 2005 Run 1 2 3 Date 07 November 2003 28 April 2004 10 June 2004 Train 14.42 ES9140 08.12 ES 9008 08.12 ES9008 Motive Power Units 3003/3004 Units 3201/3202 Units 3019/3020 18cars+2power Load cars 18cars+2power cars 18cars+2power cars Recorder A Leopard A Leopard A Leopard Av Av km hh:mm:ss sp hh:mm:ss sp hh:mm:ss Av sp
0 Waterloo Int 00:00:00 00:00:00 00:00:00 34.23 Fawkham Jc. 00:35:47 104 00:30:44 00:27:34 40.15 Southfleet Jc. 00:39:09 106 00:34:10 103 00:31:11 98 45.02 H'pence Lane Tun.E 00:33:11 151 54.44 North Downs Tun.N. 00:43:46 186 00:39:18 00:35:30 240 67.62 Eyhorne Tun.N. 00:46:34 283 00:42:30 248 00:38:19 282 79.38 Lenham Loop S. 00:49:04 281 00:45:11 262 00:40:47 285 88.31 Ashford Tun.West 00:51:10 255 00:47:14 261 00:44:35 141 70.30 Sandling Tun.W - 00:51:04 00:48:47 check 77.38 English Tunnel Portal 00:57:35 184 00:53:47 76 00:52:10 61 been given to them. Punctuality has improved since CTRL opened, but little further improvement is anticipated until the rest of the line from St, Pancras is completed in a few years time.
The new line leaves the Victoria – Medway line at Fawkham Junction, (22m50c) between Farningham Road and Longfield and heads northwest towards Southfleet Junction (5.92km from Fawkham J and 40.15km from St. Pancras) where it joins the new line from Stratford International via a flyover. There is a crossover here, which seems to be used quite frequently, with up trains running on the down line, and vice versa, all the way to/from Sandling. On new lines such as these, notable landmarks to use as passing points are in short supply – few tunnels, junctions and no closed stations. Furthermore due to our unfamiliarity with such speeds in the UK, the infrastructure that is visible can easily be missed. The new line re-crosses the Victoria to Rochester line around kp50and the Maidstone East to Ashford line around kp66. The through line at Ashford is via a series of viaducts, while stopping trains manoeuvre via a chord into Platforms 3 and 4. The line onwards to the tunnel runs parallel with the existing SE Trains line to Dover, but up and down lines skirt either side of Dollands Moor Yard. Because of increased activity between Ashford and the Tunnel, a clear run is rare.
The new line is posted with kp posts on the down side and markings on the overhead posts on the up. Gradients are virtually irrelevant to the Eurostar trains, but David Sage’s estimated elevations are shown in Table 1.
We turn now to the logs, starting with Table 1. Run 1 took place in the early days of the new service, and seems to have had a difficult time in getting as far as Fawkham Junction; a typical time seems to be around 27½ minutes, but this train took over 32mins. Once beyond Halfpence Lane Tunnel, speed increased up to 270kph. Full speeds were achieved between Boxley and Sandway Tunnels followed by 270kph around Ashford and the Tunnel was entered at 158kph. The 77.38km were covered at an average speed of 216kph. Run 2 was through Fawkham J in 27m35s, and progress was then in line with Run 1 all the way to the Ashford area, but then suffered signals nearing the Tunnel. Run 3 had a good run out to Fawkham J and was marginally faster all the way to the Ashford stop. Certainly, a time of
Milepost 26 - 49 - April 2005 Table 3 - Tunnel English Portal to Fawkham Junction Run No.: 1 2 3 Date/day: Thu 03/06/04 Wed 21/07/04 Wed 28/01/04 1143 Paris Nord-Waterloo 1519 Paris Nord-Waterloo 1304 Paris Nord-Waterloo Train: Int Int Int Motive Power: 3217/3218 3108/3107 3207/3208 Load (tonnes): joined at Lille Europe Rec/Pos/GPS: D C Sage 16/20 Yes D C Sage 4/20 Yes D C Sage 4/20 Yes Weather: Dry, sun, warm. Dry, sun, warm. Dry, sun, cold.
Km Pk Location m s Kph m s Kph m s Kph 0.00 10.03 Tunnel Portal 46 56.6 102 41.5 22 27.1 From Calais 3.05 6.98 NR/ET boundary 3.05 108.56 4.69 106.92 Up viaduct N. 48 48.0 104 48.0 6.05 105.56 Dollands Moor West Jn 24 39.9 6.99 104.62 Sandling Tnl S. 49 33.7 105 34.5 7.08 104.53 Sandling Tnl N. 92m x->down line 8.35 103.25 OB950 Westenhanger 49 57.3 106 05.3 25 21.6 228/223 14.57 97.04 Station Road OB 108 23.1 192 27 00.8 228 16.33 95.28 Mersham Tnl S. 52 08.6 241 27 28.3 232 16.49 95.12 Mersham Tnl N. 160m 108 56.4 221 18.89 92.72 Ashford East Jn 52 45.3 257 109 33.7 242/268 28 27.3 125 21.28 90.33 ASHFORD 31 07.0 21.28 90.33 ASHFORD 34 03.0 22.45 89.16 Chord tunnel S. 1 08.4 98 23.30 88.31 Ashford West Jn 53 45.6 272 110 34.8 264/274 1 35.7 128 25.42 86.19 Maidstone Road A20 OB 2 31.1 165 28.48 83.13 Maidstone Road A20 OB 3 30.5 29.04 82.57 Leacon Lane Tnl S. 55 04.5 GPS out 3 40.0 214 34.52 77.09 Lenham loop N. (pts) 56 18.3 269 113 05.4 269 5 03.4 255 37.26 74.35 Sandway Tnl S. 56 54.8 268 113 42.6 267/272 5 41.6 260 40.24 71.37 Harrietsham Tnl S. 57 33.4 290 114 22.9 270/274 6 20.5 287 43.63 67.98 Eyhorne Tnl S. 58 15.3 306? 115 07.9 271/251 7 02.1 301/284 51.15 60.46 Boxley Tnl S. 59 48.9 295 116 52.2 270/271 8 35.2 293/295 53.97 57.64 North Downs Tnl South 60 23.5 284 117 30.1 264 9 10.0 286 North Downs Tnl North 57.17 54.44 3199m 61 05.2 118 13.8 -/267 9 51.9 60.38 51.23 Medway Viaduct South 61 45.1 118 58.1 233 10 31.6 Medway Viaduct North 61.64 49.97 1261m 62 01.3 275/bks 119 20.0 180/154/164 10 47.3 282 66.42 45.19 Halfpence Lane Tnl S. 63 10.4 200 121 08.1 158 11 56.3 210 68.82 42.79 Singlewell loop S. (up) x->up line 71.46 40.15 Southfleet Jn (5.92/40.15) 65 05.5 115/105/112 123 10.0 101/98/113 13 51.2 107/98 71.46 5.92 77.38 0.00 Fawkham Jn (0.00) 68 35.6 60 mph 126 43.4 79 17 14.1 98 Waterloo International 96 32.0 Early 4 154 59.0 Early 1 46 21.0 Late 7
under 45mins from London to Ashford is something that the long-suffering Kent commuter cannot contemplate, and he will have to continue suffering for a few more years until the Bullet trains come on stream. Nowadays, after 45mins he will be viewing the Kentish countryside to the east of Tonbridge!
Table 2 covers three runs recorded by Tony Leopard. The first run had a poor start to Fawkham J, and continued in normal fashion to the Tunnel. Run 2 was a lack-lustre
Milepost 26 - 50 - April 2005 Table 4 English Portal to Fawkham J Run 1 2 3 Date 04 November 2003 11 May 2004 06 September 2004 Train 14.43 ES 9037 17.43 ES9049 18.16 ES9051 Motive Power Units 3231/3232 Units 3221/3222 Units 3107/3108 Load 18cars+2power cars 18cars+2power cars 18cars+2power cars Recorder A Leopard A Leopard A Leopard From Paris Nord Paris Nord hh:mm:s hh:mm:s s Av sp s Av sp hh:mm:ss Av sp
English Tun. Portal 01:58:56 124 01:47:11 104.5 3 Sandling Tun.W 02:01:31 80 01:50:13 68 90.33 Ashford Int. arr 02:07:18 dep 00:00:00 230 00:00:00 88.31 Ashford West Jc. 01:54:27 79.38 Lenham Loop S. 00:05:18 01:56:29 264 00:04:35 67.62 Eyhorne Tun.N. 00:07:50 279 01:59:00 279 00:07:16 262 22 54.44 North Downs Tun.N. 00:10:35 287 02:01:45 288 00:10:45 1 45.02 H'pence LaneTun.E 02:03:49 269 00:13:10 230 40.15 Southfleet Jc. 00:14:44 207 02:05:28 183 34.23 Fawkham Jc. 00:18:14 101 02:10:35 69 00:18:48 Waterloo Int 00:57:15 02:40:19 00:45:04
performance culminating in a slow approach to the Tunnel. Run 3 had a good start and speeds up to expectations, but was impeded by signals between Ashford and the Tunnel.
The Up direction is covered in Table 3. It is interesting to see that, having come through the tunnel, GPS signals are regained within 5 minutes, and in the case of Run 3, within three minutes of exiting the tunnel.
Speeds mirror the performance in the down direction, and Run 1 is particularly impressive with averages in the 280-300kph range, a final run from Fawkham J in less than 28mins and a 4min early arrival. Run 2 traversed the down line all the way from Sandling to Southfleet J. Speed hovered around 270 kph, -maybe a psr when travelling on the “wrong” line?. In spite of this, an early arrival was achieved. Run 3, which stopped at Ashford, followed the pattern of run 1 with similarly impressive speeds. The start-stop time from Ashford to Waterloo was 46m21s.
Run 1 in Table 4 is with another train with an Ashford stop. A slower start from Ashford was followed by impressive average speeds towards Fawkham J, but a onward crawl resulted in a 57m15s time from Ashford to Waterloo. Run 2 is a non-stop run with average speeds over the new section in the 265-280kph range. Finally, Run 3 was slower than Table 3, Run 3 to Fawkham J, but had a clear run into Waterloo, recording a start-stop time of 45m04s from Ashford.
So there you have it – a first glimpse of the benefits of the first stage of the new line. One hopes that performance will continue to improve, and can only wait for the remaining link into St. Pancras to be completed in 2007, but in the meantime there is scope for some good runs, and it is hoped that this article will encourage more members to travel on the line.
Milepost 26 - 51 - April 2005
WHOSE TIMEKEEPIN G IS BEST ? Part One By Michael Hedges
A lot has been said and written recently about the relative merits of the timekeeping of various countries’ railways, usually without any facts being quoted. As someone who has studied and worked with statistics for many years, I am well aware of the pitfalls of a sample of one, but one can only use the data available. Recently my wife and I took a railway orientated holiday. It officially started with Eurostar from Waterloo, so we find it very useful to be able to get from our home in Maidenhead to Windsor & Eton Riverside and thence to Waterloo – easier for us than when the terminal is moved to St. Pancras. We had been on holidays starting with Eurostar twice before, so I was not expecting our train from Windsor to be formed of 458 units, - the driver told me it was unusual, and another railwayman said that they were soon to be replaced due to unreliability. Table 149 does not seem to feature in my copy of the Society’s mileage charts, but I do have a commercial reprint of an old L. & S.W.R. WTT which should give fairly accurate distances, and I can only quote advertised times. Some of the stations are obviously less than a century old! I use actual times to make comparisons of timekeeping easier.
Table 1 Date Th.031002 Fri.131202 Wed.090604 Units 5737 +5723 5704 +5730 8012 + 8017 Miles M C PTT PTT arr dep arr dep arr dep 0.00 0 00 WINDSOR & 06.44 06.44.21 06.44.02 08.43 08.43.16 ETON R signals 1.80 1 64 DATCHET 06.47 06.48.50 06.48.51 06.47.39 06.47.58 08.46 08.46.40 08.47.04 - SUNNYMEADS 06.50 06.51.03 06.51.35 06.50.20 06.50.39 08.49 08.49.09 08.49.27 - 4 12 WRAYSBURY 06.52 06.53.57 06.54.17 06.52.53 06.53.17 08.51 08.51.29 08.51.52 1.48 6 50 STAINES 06.57 06.58.49 06.59.14 06.57.08 06.57.36 08.56 08.55.27 08.55.54 1.54 8 13 ASHFORD 07.00 07.02.08 07.02.36 07.00.41 07.01.06 08.59 08.58.21 08.58.54 2.55 10 67 FELTHAM 07.05 07.06.47 07 .07.20 07 .05.03 07 .05.28 09.04 09.02.27 09.0 3.44 1.40 12 19 Feltham Jct. 09.05.41 1.78 12 49 Whitton Jct. 07.09.05 09.06.03 - WHITTON 07.09 07.11.00 07.11.24 07.09.07 07.09.35 09.08 09.07.02 09.07.48 - 14 19 TWICKENHAM 07.12 07.13.51 07.1 4.26 07.12.02 07.1 2.35 09.10/12 09.09.55 09.1 1.48 0.62 14 69 St. Margaret’s 07.15.24 07.13.34 09.12.45 1.66 15.72 RICHMOND 07.16 07.17.20 07 .18.01 07 .15.29 07 .16.19 09.16 09.14.33 09.1 5.50 - North Sheen 09.17.06 1.54 17 35 Mortlake 07.20.21 07.18.37 09.18.01 2.69 18 47 Barnes 07.21.31 07.19.50 09.19.09 3.87 19 62 PUTNEY 07.23 07.23.18 07.2 3.59 07.21.37 07.2 3.13 09.23 09.20.46 09.2 2.46 1.19 20 77 Wandsworth Tn. 07.25.54 07.25.08 09.24.33 2.00 21 62 CLAPHAM JCT. 07.27 07.27.15 07 .27.56 07 .26.34 07.27.07 09.27 09.25.50 09 .26.30 signals ?signals 1.26 23 03 Q ueenstown Rd. 07.29.59 07.30.05 09.29.08 Signals 2.58 24 28 VAUXHALL 07.33 07.32.16 07.32.57 07.33.09 07.33.43 09.32 09.31.17 09.31.51 1.36 25 57 WATERLOO 07.39 07.37.18 07.37.39 09.38 09.35.42
Milepost 26 - 52 - April 2005
The 2 early trains terminated at Platform 17 and the later one at number 16, both very convenient for the Eurostar platforms. The newer 458 sets were more lively performers, but it was only one run. All three started very sparsely filled, perhaps a score or so of passengers, but on the earlier trips there were around 50 persons waiting at Staines and Ashford, about 80 at Feltham, 150 at Whitton and very approximately 350 at Twickenham (in October), about 250 at Richmond and, although there were about 300 at Putney in October I only noted 50 or so there in December – perhaps due to what train had just called. Yet the brevity of some of the station stops speaks well for the organisation of the station staff as well as how the discipline of regular travellers can contribute to good timekeeping! The later train was, of course, less well patronised, with about 50 people at 5 of the stations, and a maximum of about 100 at Richmond.
We now come to the outward Eurostar trip on the 10.42 to Brussels. We followed the 10.38 non-stop to Paris, which departed one minute late, and might have been responsible for certain checks. We left 7 seconds ahead of time
Table 2 Date Wednesday, 9/6/04 A G.P.S. was used for speeds. I Locos 373108,373107 (Brussels) estimated that the Eurostar train was Load 18 coaches about half full. We arrived at Lille Position 9/20 just 45 seconds after the advertised m s mph arrival time, and left just over 3 WATERLOO 0 00 minutes later. Arrival at Brussels, Vauxhall 3 40 after the brief signal stop, was 1½ Wandsworth Road 6 40 minutes late. This gave us just half- Brixton 8 42 an-hour to pass through the very Herne Hill 9 47 relaxed formalities and catch the 14.36 to Luxembourg as far as Arlon. West Dulwich 11 10 I noted all the stations I could, but Sydenham Hill 12 00 spellings may be wrong due to not Penge East 13 34 having time to read them and write Kent House 15 12 them down with any degree of Shortlands 16 36 accuracy and record times. All my Bromley South 17 34 recording on this holiday had to be St. Mary Cray 21 32 subject to such hazards as eating Swanley 23 33 and drinking, talking to train staff and ? ? ? 25 51 /sigs officials, talking to my wife and other Jct. 29 12 passengers on the tour, including the River Medway 169/167 most helpful Tour Manager, videoing Tunnel Portal 43 08 slowing/63 the scenery and other items of French Crossover ? 67 05 interest, including the train, etc! The Tunnel Portal 75 03 weather was mostly fine. Our Calais Frethun 77 00 itinerary told us that the total mileage from London to Arlon was 361, which Lille Tunnel West 99 39 187/183/188/ took us 340 minutes, including the LILLE EURO PE 102 52 half hour change in Brussels. 0 00 Excluding that, the average speed Braucorgard Jct. 17 53 187 (max.) was almost exactly 70 mph. I hope Viaduct de Tubize 90 that I have correctly allowed for the Halle 26 10 94 time difference between Britain and Buizinger 27 02 91 the Continent! Lot 27 47 90 Ruisbrock 29 44 49/sigs st 10s
Milepost 26 - 53 - April 2005 BRUSSELS Midi 38.32 Table 3 - Brussels-Arlon Table 3 sets out this journey, again using Date Wednesday, 9/6/04 actual times so, I hope, making Unit 6-car e.m.u. 510 (?) timekeeping ass-essments easier. The Position 6/6 empty stock arrived at 14.33 at platform sch arr Dep 12. I was not always able to discover the BRUSSELS MIDI 14.36 14.37.08 scheduled times at all the stations the Rapel K… 14.39.21 trains we used called at. The train was BRUSSELS CENTRAL 14 .40 14.40.29 14.4 1.33 due away from Arlon at 17.19, and actually Congress 14.42.46 departed by 17.26. The next day we BRUSSELS NORD 14.45 14.44.43 14.46.21 travelled on to Brig in the south of Switzerland, a distance of 340 miles, on BRUSSELS SCHUMAN 14.52.40 14.54.02 the 07.01 Brussels to Milan. This involved BRUSSELS 14.57 14.55.56 14.5 8.01 LUXEMBOURG a couple of reversals, changes of engines ? Etterbeek 15.00.25 and alterations to the make-up of the train. La Hulpe 15.06.53 The schedule allows 7 hours and 27 Rixensart 15.08.46 minutes, an average speed of less than 46 Slow mph. Several station stops appeared Profondsart 15.10.03 generous, giving plenty of scope for Slowing/pws ? recovery of any minutes lost. If the 67 NAMUR 15.42 15.38.19 15.4 2.08 minutes of scheduled station stops are ignored, then the average speed rises to Jambes (Est) 15.44.53 54m.p.h. Table 4 sets out details, speeds Nanone ? 15.48.52 again being mph by GPS. The Train Couriere 15.51.51 reversals were at Luxembourg and Bern. Assesse 15.53.35 The overtime at Spiez may have been due CINEY 15.59.14 16.0 0.51 to the connections made there. I was too Haversen 16.06.40 busy disembarking with luggage to MARLOIE 16.13.06 16.17.11 observe the train’s departure from Brig, but JEMELLE 16.21.16 16.23.46 it may well have been on time. I believe Poix St. Hubert 16.35.37 that the train was only a third full leaving LIBRAMONT 16.43.12 16.46.06 Bern. A station 16.52.18 On Friday, 11/6/04, we went to Zermatt Signal stop – train 15.56 59 17.01 59 with loco no. 4 on 8 coaches on the 09.23, passed which left a few seconds before 09.25. MARBEHAN 17.09.01 17.10.05 Due to having to pass other trains at 3 of Station 17.14.50 the 7 intermediate stops, we were up to “ 17.19.45 3½ minutes late at times, but were only “ 17.20.23 just over 2 minutes late terminating at ARLON 17.14 17.22.16 10.45 after our journey of about 30 miles.
On Friday, 11/6/04, we went to Zermatt with loco no. 4 on 8 coaches on the 09.23, which left a few seconds before 09.25. Due to having to pass other trains at 3 of the 7 intermediate stops, we were up to 3½ minutes late at times, but were only just over 2 minutes late terminating at 10.45 after our journey of about 30 miles.
We left Zermatt on the 13.10 on time with 108 on only 4 coaches. There were 3conditional stops, 2 of which were not made, and we were back in Brig a few seconds before the advertised 14.33.
The next day we left Brig ½ minute late at 08.59½ with 460.055 Rosenthorn on11 coaches and a bogie van, and perhaps with an assisting engine. First stop was Goppenstein, but the apparently recorded voice said it was Kandersteg! Whether or not this error caused the overtime here I do not know, then there
Milepost 26 - 54 - April 2005
Table 4 Arlon-Brig was a slowing before Date Thursday, 10/6/04 Kandersteg and we arrived Locos 2008 to Luxembourg, 115055 Luxembourg there 3 late and left 4 late, and
to Basle, 460-009-4 Le jet d’eau Basle to Brig the same at Frutigen. The Load 7 coaches to Basle, 10 from Basle train, bound, I think, for Zurich, Position Lux. – Basle 3/8, Basle – Bern 5/10, Bern – Brig 7/10 was 2 minutes late at Thun,
Sched Actual mph where we alighted. Most of our Arr Dep Arr Dep party caught a diesel boat to ARLON 9.30 9.33 09.25.30 09.34.03 Interlaken, but I had noticed a LUXB’G 9.52 10.02 09.51.12 10.02.10 paddle steamer, the Blumlisalp, Bettchem 10.08.23 which my wife and I sailed on, Bettenb’g 10.10.58 and rejoined our party in time v. slow?pws for the 15.35 from Interlaken Rettenge Grande 10.23.13 West (the 15.32 ex Interlaken Ost), a 3-car e.m.u., a minute slowing late but 3 minutes late when it THIONV’E 10.29 10.34 10.31.10 10. 34.06 departed from Faulensee, a Uckuange 10.38.43 conditional stop before Spiez, slowing yet when we reached there just Hagond’g 10.43.41 2 minutes and 4 seconds later virt. Sig stop we were nearly a minute early! METZ-VILLE 10.51 10.511.00.584 11.03.52 A minute after that, the train we slow to stop had come to Brig on a few days 11.08.36 11.11.03 earlier arrived (a minute early), slowing ? Pw s 460.022 Vauban on 11 Morhange 11.34.35 94 coaches, and set off only ½ Benestr’f 11.37.33 93 minute late. Times were Bertheling 11.47.01 94/ 62 similar to the previous run, Saverne 12.04.23 82/ although Kandersteg to Dettwiller 12.07.52 100/99 Goppenstein was nearly a minute faster, but then there Brumath 12.14.45 102 was a slowing, probably ? Sigs severe. signals, before Ausserberg, so STRASBOURG 12.16 12.112.26.178 12.28.49 we took just over a minute slow to xov er longer to there and were 1½ Xover 54 minutes late into Brig. The Benfeld 12.43.50 100 train left there on time – nearly Schestat 12.50.03 100 empty. Up early again on COLMAR 12.50 12.51 13.00.24 13.01.37 Sunday, 13/6/04, for a trip to Herlisham 13.05.03 slowing Locarno. This involved MULH’SE 13.14 13.16 13.24.02 13.25.52 travelling into Italy and at Brig Slow- SlowIng for Xover armed Italian police joined the St. Louis 13.09.33 train, checked travel documents St. Joh’n 13.41.48 and searched luggage lockers BASLE 13.41 14.04 13.46.49 14.04.13 at the end of the coach. Liestul 14.12.32 Despite the early arrival at Domodossola it departed a Lausen 14.14.15 /slack minute late due to a door OLTEN 14.28 14.31 14.28.36 14.32.04 problem! Table 5 gives details Merganth’l 14.39.08 of running. From there we Riedtwil 14.49.53 caught an e.m.u. from the Bergdorf 14.58.00 “Tunnel”, made up of 551 unit 21 (3-car) and single car unit B122.
Milepost 26 - 55 - April 2005 BERN 15.11 15.22 15.10.49 15.24.06 Table 4 cont'd Due away at 09.48, we left at
Sched Actual mph 09.51½, and where we were at the BERN 15.11 15.22 15.10.49 15.24.06 front for a good view it was certainly THUN 15.42 15.44 15.43.48 15 .45.38 well filled. We were not due at the signal first (conditional) stop for over half- 15.55.03 15.55.23 an-hour, but passed that and the SPIEZ 15.54 15.56 15.57.16 16.02.11 next, stopping at Malesco evel FRUTIGEN 16.07 16.08 16.12.55 16.14.29 Cannovina after nearly 41 minutes, practically on time. There were no KANDERSTEG 16.24 16.25 16.29.09 16.30.02 passengers for us here. We GOPPENSTEIN 16.36 16.37 16.42.03 16.42.58 continued on time for nearly an hour, Ausserberg 16.53.0 6 changing crews at Intragna. Then BRIG 17.00 17.10 17.04.16 A Table 5 we were 3 minutes early at Locarno S. Date Sunday, 13/6/04 Antonio, a conditional stop, and, with 7 Train 6.17 Basle – Milan minutes allowed to the terminus, reached there at 11.28½ compared with 11.35 Formation 9-ca r Cisalpino No. 4 advertised. The track burrows underground Position 1/9 to the final modern stations, which accounts Sched. Actual for why when I came here just a few years BRIG 0 0.00 ago I could not find the old trains I used to Simplon Tunnel Entrance 2.10 see running through the streets when I first “ “ Exit 11.52 visited exactly 40 years ago. Iselle 12.13 Spiral Tunnel entrance 12.25 We returned on the 13.55, a 2-car e.m.u. no. “ “ exit 13.37 51, and left to time but had a signal stop at “ “ entrance 13.44 San Martino making us 2 late at our first “ “ exit 15.44 stop, Ponteberela. On this journey we Varzo 16.29 changed crews at Camoedo, but had to wait Preglia 22.31 8 minutes for their train to arrive. Then we stopped 4 minutes at Ribbelasco for armed ? sigs ? Italian police to board and check passports. DOMODOSSOLA 30 26.32 We were thus about 10 minutes late at the Table 6 next stations, suffered a signal stop for 3 Date Sunday, 13/6/04 minutes at Creggio for another train to pass, Train 14.10 Milan – Basle yet terminated only 4½ minutes late at Loco 460.071.4 15.44½. Coffee was available on that Load 8 coaches service. About 52 passengers alighted at Domodossola. It was as well that our Position 8/9 connecting train was due there from 15.39 to Sched Actual DOMODOSSOLA 0 0.00 15.52, and for some reason we left 6 late, Preglia 3.24 yet it departed from Brig almost on time at 16.31¼, only about ⅓ full, but including Varzo 8.51 about 32 1st class passengers. Details are Spiral Tunnel Entrance 9.44 in Table 6. “ “ Exit 11.42 “ “ Entrance 11.49 To be continued “ “ Exit 12.59 Iselle 13.04 Simplon Tunnel Entrance 13.34 “ “ Exit 23.08
Milepost 26 - 56 - April 2005 BRIG 30 25.37
ROUTE
Brussels (Belg) Namur (Belg)
Libramont (Belg) Arlon (Belg)
Metz (Fr)
Strasbourg (Fr)
Mulhouse (Fr) Basle (Sw)
Bern (Sw) Brig (sw) Domodossoa (It)
News Alert - Derby-Birmingham - The agony goes on.
Nigel Smedley reports that 6th March 2005 saw the end of of 9 consecutive weekend engineering blocks on the route with a programme of Leciester diversions for the first 6 weeks and then 3 weeks of Lichfield diversions. During this time Stenson Junction has been completely remodelled but a 50 mph bedding down tsr remained at the time of writing. When this is lifted, line speed of 125mph on the northbound and 110 southbound will come into play replacing the original 90 mph tsr. 125 mph southbound is now dependent on Network Rail modifying the signalling to provide a 'double red' protection for the junction. In other words when the points for the junction are set, two consecutive signals show red to protect it against a potential SPAD overrun. Despite the scale of the engineering possesions, removal of the longstanding 90 tsr on the other parts of this route supposedly upgraded has not taken place. Indeed the restriction remains as it was before January 2005; Namely:
Westbound (Down) 15-60 to 20-40 90 23-20 to 23-40 90 Peartree- North Stafford Jn is a permament 110 mph pending the above.
Eastbound (Up) 23-40 to 15-60 90 New date for completion of the 125 mph upgrade is March 2006! Not bad for an upgrade completed in September 2002.
Milepost 26 - 57 - April 2005
The Blue Pullmans Bruce Nathan
Part 1. The Midland Pullman
I would like to thank those members who, following my request some time ago, submitted logs of runs on the Blue Pullman trains. There is too much material to cover all of the routes covered by these trains in a single article so this first part will describe the Midland Pullman service. But first, for the benefit of those who were not around at the time, a brief introduction.
In 1957, the British Transport Commission ordered from the Metropolitan-Cammell Carriage & Wagon Company of Saltley, five high-speed diesel-electric de-luxe Pullman trains. Two sets of six cars were to provide a first class only service on the London Midland Region between Manchester Central and St Pancras. The other three, 8-car sets with first and second class accommodation, were for the Western Region between Paddington and Bristol and Paddington and Birmingham/ Wolverhampton.
The trains were air conditioned with double glazing and 2+1 seating throughout, even in second class and internally were certainly an advance on anything else in service on British Railways at the time. A striking blue and white livery was adopted in place of the Pullman chocolate and cream. Unfortunately the ride on the specially produced Schlieren bogies left something to be desired. The end cars of each unit were powered by a 1000hp NBL/MAN engine coupled to a GEC generator. Weight of the 6-car LMR units was 298 tons, giving a power:weight ratio of 6.7. They were designed for a maximum speed of 90mph.
The units were due to begin service in 1958. The inevitable delays occurred but when the Midland Pullman was ready for service in January 1960, there was a strike by restaurant car staff who objected to working for a 'private' company, although the Pullman Car Company had by then been taken over by the British Transport Commission. Eventually the trains were unveiled to the press on 23 June 1960 and the Midland service commenced on 4 July and the Western services on 12 September 1960.
Initially the Midland Pullman started its day from Manchester Central (now the GMEX exhibition centre) at 08.50 and having called at Cheadle Heath to pick up, arrived at St Pancras at 12.03. This was a considerably faster time than anything on the West Coast route, particularly as electrification work was in progress at that time. On arrival in London the train made a run to Leicester at 12.45, returning at 14.33 but demand for luxury first class travel was limited in the middle of the day and this service attracted little custom. The Leicester train arrived back at St Pancras at 16.00 and there was time for cleaning before the train returned to Manchester at 18.10 taking 3 hr 10 min with the only stop at Cheadle Heath to set down. A supplementary fare of £1 on top of the first class fare was charged for the single journey between Manchester and London with rather less to and from Leicester. The 85 minute schedule for the 99.1 miles from St Pancras to Leicester meant a start-to-stop average of 70 mph and this was the fastest on British Railways at the time.
Within a few months, the starting time from Manchester Central was changed to 07.45 to allow business people an earlier arrival at 11.00 (later 10.55) for meetings in London. The midday working was changed to an 11.20 departure and extended from Leicester to Loughborough and Nottingham reached at 13.20. The train was serviced at Nottingham and returned to London at 15.45, at which time it might attract more business travellers. The 2- hour overall time between London and Nottingham
Milepost 26 - 58 - April 2005
TABLE 1 Run No. 1 2 3 Date/day August 1960 Thu 19 Sept 1963 Thu 19 Dec 1963 Train 8.50 M'cr Cen-St Pan 7.45 M'cr Cen - St Pan 7.45 M'cr Cen - St Pan Motive Power 6 car Pullma n u nit 6 car Pullma n u nit 6 car Pul lman unit Load tons 298 298 298 Recorder O.S. Nock G.J. Aston G.J. Aston WTT WTT Miles lo cation Sch m s m ph a v Sc h m s m ph av m s m ph av
0.0 MANCHESTER CENT'L 0 0 00 1½L 1.5 Throstle Nest Junction 4 3 23 26.6 3.6 Chorlton Junction 7 7 15 60 32.6 5.7 DIDSBURY 9 09 70 66.3 6.9 HEATON MERSEY 10 13 67.5 8.0 CHEADLE HEATH 13 11 51 40.4 0.0 0 13 35 0 0 00 1L 0 00 1½L 4.0 Hazel Grove 6 30 61 36.9 6 54 61 34.8 5 46 58/60 41.6 7.3 Disley 9 38 58* 63.2 10 06 59 61.9 9 01 66 60.9 9.1 New Mills South Junc 10 11 17 70 65.5 10 11 49 55 62.9 10 43 62 63.5 10.8 Buxworth 13 08 45 55.1 13 46 57 52.3 12 31 56 56.7 11.8 CHINLEY 12½ 14 20 50.0 12½ 14 44 59 62.1 13 30 57/58 61.0 13.8 CHAPEL-EN-LE-FRITH 16 33 55/58 54.1 16 44 61 60.0 15 36 54 57.1 17.4 PEAK FOREST 18½ 20 50 50* 50.4 18½ 20 49 53/7 3 52.9 20 00 47/56 49.1 20.2 Peak Forest Junction 23 52 55.4 [2] 23 10 61 71.5 22 53 50* 58.3 22.0 MILLERS DALE 25 25 57 51.8 25 25 12 53 53.1 25 04 40* 49.5 24.7 Monsal Dale 28 46 57.5 27 55 68 59.6 28 36 56 45.8 26.1 GREAT LONGSTONE 30 15 tsr 15 56.6 29 15 60/63 63.0 30 09 56/62 54.2 28.5 BAKEWELL 32 55 54.0 31 28 55/60 65.0 32 26 58/63 63.1 31.8 ROWSLEY 35½ 37 30 43.2 35½ 35 00 52* 56.0 35 41 47* 60.9 34.1 DARLEY DALE 39 52 64 58.3 37 09 73/77 64.2 38 02 75 58.7 36.3 MATLOCK 39½ 42 01 50* 61.4 39½ 39 08 47* 66.6 40 06 51* 63.9 38.2 CROMFORD 44 15 55 51.0 41 06 61 58.0 42 04 62 58.0 40.0 High Peak Junction 46 11 56 55.9 42 56 55 58.9 43 50 61.1 41.1 WHATSTANDWELL 47 35 40* 47.1 44 20 39* 47.1 45 04 50* 53.5 43.1 AMBERGATE 50½ 50 27 25* 41.9 49 47 10 26* 42.4 47 39 28* 46.5 45.6 BELPER 53 41 72/80 46.4 49 45 71/81 58.1 50 44 67 48.6 48.2 DUFFIELD 55 37 75/72 80.7 52 34 73 55.4 52 43 78 78.7 50.2 Little Eaton Junction 57 18 75/78 71.3 54 10 83/tsr 75.0 54 14 84 79.1 52.8 Derby North Junction 60 60 05 20* 56.0 58½ 57 43 14* 43.9 57 02 19* 55.7 54.8 Spondon Junction 68 65 2 0 2 0* 22.9 64½ 63 25 28* 21.1 62 19 30* 22.7 56.5 BORROWASH 65 31 66 48.6 64 19 66 51.0 58.8 DRAYCOTT 69 57 72 52.0 69 15 tsr 22 37.0 66 13 75 72.6 60.8 SAWLEY JUNCTION 71 41 69.2 71 54 62 45.3 67 52 58* 72.7 61.5 Sheet Stores Junction 74 72 1 8 48* 68.1 71 72 28 61 74.1 68 32 49* 63.0 62.0 Trent Junction 40* 72 59 48* 58.1 69 11 45* 46.2 65.0 KEGWORTH 76 10 68 54.3 [1] 75 55 73 61.4 72 04 73 62.4 66.9 HATHERN 77 50 75 68.4 77 24 83/89 76.9 73 31 85 78.6 69.7 LOUGHBOROUGH 81 79 55 82 80.6 78½ 79 19 88 87.7 75 27 87 86.9
Milepost 26 - 59 - April 2005
Miles Location Sch m s mph av Sc h m s mph av m s mph av 72.4 BARROW-ON-SOAR 81 56 79 80.3 81 09 87 88.4 77 23 83 83.8 74.7 SILEBY 83 42 78 78.1 82 42 89 89.0 79 04 82 82.0 77.5 SYSTON 85 51 78 78.1 84½ 84 36 91 88.4 81 08 83 81.3 79.5 Thurmaston [2] 85 58 88 87.8 82 36 80 81.8 81.4 HUMBERSTONE ROAD 89 19 67.5 87 32 58 72.8 84 34 32 58.0 82.2 LEICESTER 93 90 55 10* 30.0 90½ 89 00 18* 32.7 86 50 13* 21.2 83.4 Knighton North Junction 93 2 4 55 29.0 91 31 46/64 28.6 90 03 38/52 22.4 85.4 Wigston North Junction 40* 94 93 3 4 40 58.5 92 44 4 1* 44.7 85.9 WIGSTON MAGNA 96 22 50.6 87.5 Kilby Bridge 95 52 66 54.8 95 06 66 53.2 89.7 Great Glen 100 01 79 62.5 97 49 77 67.7 97 02 78 68.3 91.5 Kibworth North (Summit) 77 100 99 1 2 77 78.1 98 27 7 7 76.2 92.4 KIbworth 102 03 79.7 95.0 East Langton 103 58 82 81.4 101 32 92 90.0 100 51 87 87.5 98.4 MKT HARBOROUGH 10 8½ 106 51 48* 70.8 105½ 104 16 52* 74.6 103 40 52* 72.4 100.9 Braybrook 109 28 62 57.3 106 51 64 58.1 106 09 66 60.4 102.8 Desborough N (Summit) 66 110 108 3 7 67/80 64.5 107 5 4 6 7 65.1 103.2 DESBOROUGH 113½ 111 36 64.7 105.7 Glendon 113 33 80 76.9 111 18 tsr 53 64.8 110 01 86 82.2 106.7 Glendon South Junction 82 112 32 51/73 48.6 110 42 86/87 87.8 109.3 KETTERING 118 116 19 69* 78.1 116 114 48 67* 68.8 112 36 69* 82.1 112.0 Burton Latimer 118 37 70.4 [1] 116 57 84 75.3 114 39 85 79.0 113.1 Finedon 119 35 72/75 68.3 117 44 88 84.3 115 25 87 86.1 116.3 WELLINGBOROUGH 12 3 122 16 64* 71.6 121½ 119 58 65 86.0 117 45 64* 82.3 118.6 Irchester 124 24 67 64.7 122 02 77 66.8 119 42 77 70.8 121.6 Sharnbrook Summit 12 8 126 53 70 72.5 126 124 24 73 76.1 122 03 75 76.6 123.2 Souldrop 125 34 87/88 82.3 123 14 86 81.1 124.6 Sharnbrook 129 12 88 77.7 126 34 tsr 21 84.0 124 15 87/90 82.6 128.3 Oakley 131 53 82.7 132 04 62 40.4 126 46 85 88.2 129.7 Oakley Junction 133 10 78 76.4 127 44 85/82 86.9 131.4 Bedford North Junction 13 7 134 27 72 72.5 133 134 1 8 90 90.0 129 04 86 76.5 134.0 Elstow 130 47 88 90.9 137.5 Millbrook 138 32 85 86.5 133 10 88 88.1 139.5 Ampthill 141 48 60 66.1 139 58 83 83.7 134 32 87 87.8 141.1 FLITWICK 143 19 66 63.3 140 141 04 86 87.3 135 38 87 87.3 144.0 HARLINGTON 145 57 67 66.1 143 06 84 85.6 137 43 83/82 83.5 147.3 Milepost Summit 148 53 67 67.5 [1] 145 26 82 84.9 140 06 83 83.1 148.5 LEAGRAVE 149 57 76 67.5 146 19 86 81.5 141 01 78.5 151.1 LUTON 151 152 00 76.1 148½ 148 0 6 74* 87.5 143 02 70* 77.4 154.0 Chiltern Green 154 38 75/72 66.1 85 145 37 75 67.4 156.7 HARPENDEN 156 45 75/81 76.5 152 23 84 78.4 147 40 77 79.0 160.0 Sandridge 154 36 91 89.3 150 19 76 74.7 161.4 ST. ALBANS CITY 15 8½ 160 26 77 76.6 156½ 155 35 75 85.4 151 27 74.1 163.2 Napsbury 157 02 75 74.5 152 52 77 76.2 166.1 RADLETT 163 55 81 81.0 159 15 84 78.5 155 06 75 77.9 168.9 ELSTREE & B'HAMW'D 166 03 69 78.8 [3] 161 15 83/90 84.0 157 27 66 71.5 172.0 MILL HILL BROADWAY 168 26 83 78.0 163 22 89 87.9 160 13 69 67.2 174.3 HENDON 171½ 170 08 83 81.2 168½ 165 02 77 82.8 162 10 73 70.8 176.2 CRICKLEWOOD 171 36 77.7 166 31 69 76.9 163 44 71 72.8 177.4 WEST HAMPSTEAD 167 31 72 72.0 164 48 66 67.5 177.8 Finchley Road 173 01 67.8 171½ 167 52 67 68.6 165 08 65 72.0 179.8 KENTISH TOWN 176 175 00 60.5 169 39 64 67.3 167 05 62 61.5
Milepost 26 - 60 - April 2005 181.3 ST PANCRAS 179 177 45 RT 32.7 176½ 172 31 3E 31.4 170 15 5E 28.4 in each direction was later cut to 1hr 55min and the respective departures changed to 11.15 and 15.30. The unit then formed the 18.10 back to Manchester.
The final runs of theMidland Pullman service were on Friday 15 April 1966. On the following Monday electric loco hauled Pullman services were introduced between Euston and Manchester Piccadilly. The 6-car sets were then transferred to the Western Region.
The route taken by the Midland Pullman from Manchester involved a stiff climb, largely at 1 in 90 to a summit 980 feet above sea level at Peak Forest and then a similar descent, on easier grades after Matlock, until the North Midland route was joined at Ambergate. This section, which included many speed restrictions, was closed to through services in 1968 and much was closed completely although it remains open for local services from Matlock to Derby and Manchester - Sheffield trains use part of the route between Hazel Grove and Chinley. Also, the sections between Cheadle Heath & Hazel Grove and between Chinley & Peak Forest are still used by freight. The Pullman used the closed Chaddesden curve avoiding Derby station, to which the Milepost distances north of Derby still refer.
At the time of these runs, recorders did not usually specify the exact point at which they took a time and distances were usually shown only to the nearest tenth of a mile. This has been used for the logs shown in this article and average speeds calculated on this data. It is not as accurate as current RPS methods, but gives a good indication of the performance at the time.
Table 1 shows three up runs from Manchester. Run 1 was recorded from the cab by O.S. Nock in August 1960, soon after the service was inaugurated. A shortened version of the log with commentary appeared in the 'Railway Magazine' of November 1960. The various speed restrictions over the section as far as Ambergate precluded any high speeds; 70 mph at New Mills was the fastest on this section but the acceleration from 45 mph at Buxworth (although nominally a 55mph restriction) to 58mph up 1 in 90 before the 50 mph restriction in Dove Holes Tunnel was considered a good achievement at the time - steam locomotives usually fell to around 30 mph. After Ambergate speeds were in the region of 80 mph until the slow transit of the Derby avoiding line. Speeds towards Leicester did not greatly exceed 80mph and there was a further restriction to 10 mph through Leicester station. Speeds at the summits of Kibworth and Desborough were 77 and 66 mph respectively the latter after the 50 mph restriction through Market Harborough. There was acceleration from 67 mph at Irchester to 70 at Sharnbrook summit, and on the subsequent descent the highest speed of the run, 88 mph was achieved. The train was 2½ minutes early at Bedford and Nock stated in his article that for the rest of the journey with 4 minutes recovery time, relatively light power was used and the driver was coasting on much of the downhill sections. With a clear road, St Pancras was reached just over a minute early.
Living in Stockport, Gerald Aston often timed the up train from Cheadle Heath when he had business in London and two of his best are shown in the table as runs 2 and 3. Although run 2 made a slower start than run 1 as far as Chinley, there was a faster climb to Peak Forest and by Ambergate the train was 2 minutes ahead of schedule. There were tsrs approaching Derby and at Draycott and these may have been justification for some fast running between Trent and Leicester with a maximum of 91 mph. There was more high speed with 92 mph at East Langton and following a tsr at Glendon, 88 mph at Finedon. The fast descent from Sharnbrook summit was interrupted by a 21 mph tsr near Sharnbrook station, but 90 was again reached at Bedford; the speed at Milepost 34 after the 1 in 200 climb was 82 mph, compared to
Milepost 26 - 61 - April 2005 TABLE 2 Run No. 4 Date/day Friday 15 April 1966 Train 18.10 St Panc -M'cr Cen Motive Power 6 car Pullman unit Load (tons) 298 Recorder G.J.Aston
WTT WTT Miles location Sch m s mph Miles location Sch m s mph
0.0 ST PANCRAS 0 0 00 86.3 East Langton 70 24 tsr 1.5 KENTISH TOWN 3 23 49 89.7 Kibworth North (Summit) 76 40 17 3.5 Finchley Road 5 5 26 64 91.6 Great Glen 78 08 3.9 WEST HAMPSTEAD 5 46 95.9 Wigston North Junction 78½ 81 42 5.1 CRICKLEWOOD 6 51 69 97.9 Knighton North Junction 83 47 66 7.0 HENDON 8 8 18 80 99.1 LEICESTER 82 85 45 9.3 MILL HILL BROADWAY 10 06 99.9 HUMBERSTONE ROAD 87 12 12.4 ELSTREE & B'HAMW'D 12 31 101.8 Thurmaston 89 07 82 15.2 RADLETT 14 23 90 103.8 SYSTON 87 90 38 85 18.1 Napsbury 16 20 106.6 SILEBY 92 38 19.9 ST. ALBANS CITY 17½ 17 46 73 108.9 BARROW-ON-SOAR 94 12 21.3 Sandridge 18 53 75 111.6 LOUGHBOROUGH 92½ 95 59 91 tsr 24.6 HARPENDEN 21 21 20 119.3 Trent Junction 101 09 27.3 Chiltern Green 26 16 119.8 Sheet Stores Junction 98½ 101 39 30.2 LUTON 26½ 29 12 120.5 SAWLEY JUNCTION 102 11 32.8 LEAGRAVE 31 07 83 122.5 DRAYCOTT [4] 103 47 37.3 HARLINGTON [1] 34 09 90 124.8 BORROWASH 105 42 40.2 FLITWICK 36 04 92 126.5 Spondon Junction 108 107 24 30 41.8 Ampthill 37 07 92 128.5 Derby North Junction 114 112 14 17 43.8 Millbrook 38 25 92 131.1 Little Eaton Junction 115 30 47.3 Elstow 40 45 90 133.1 DUFFIELD 117 10 72 49.9 Bedford North Junction 40½ 42 30 87 135.7 BELPER 119 13 51.6 Oakley Junction 43 38 90 138.2 AMBERGATE 124½ 122 10 53.0 Oakley 44 35 87 140.2 WHATSTANDWELL 125 03 56.7 Sharnbrook 47 06 86 141.3 High Peak Junction 126 25 58.1 Souldrop 48 04 84 143.1 CROMFORD 128 29 59.7 Sharnbrook Summit 47½ 49 16 78 145.0 MATLOCK 132 130 44 62.7 Irchester [3] 51 13 90 147.2 DARLEY DALE 132 47 65.0 WELLINGBOROUGH 54½ 53 08 149.5 ROWSLEY 136½ 134 58 68.2 Finedon 55 38 82 152.8 BAKEWELL 138 45 54 69.3 Burton Latimer 56 26 88 156.6 Monsal Dale 142 38 72.0 KETTERING 60 58 30 159.3 MILLERS DALE 148½ 145 26 74.6 Glendon South Junction 60 37 72 167.5 CHAPEL-EN-LE-FRITH [2] 154 27 75.7 Glendon 61 25 76 169.5 CHINLEY 161½ 156 11 78.1 DESBOROUGH 65 63 23 172.2 New Mills South Junction 164 158 43 80.4 Braybrook 65 05 177.3 Hazel Grove [1] 163 13 82.9 MARKET HARBOROUGH 68½ 67 09 51* 181.3 CHEADLE HEATH 173 167 08 6E 67 mph on run1 and with further 90s at Sandridge and Mill Hill, St Pancras was reached 3 minutes early. The net time is estimated at 165½ minutes. Run 3 made a considerably faster start out of Cheadle Heath, beating run 1 to Hazel Grove by ¾ of a minute. This run appeared to suffer no signal checks or tsrs and although speeds were generally restrained, particularly south of Luton, the train was 5 minutes early
Milepost 26 - 62 - April 2005 TABLE 3 Run No. 5 6 Date/day Mon 20 November 1961 Tue 24 April 1962 Train 15.45 Nottingham - St Pancras 15.45 Nottingham - St Pancras Motive Power 6 car Pullman unit 6 car Pullman unit Load (tons) 298 298 Recorder M.G. Langdon G.J. Aston WTT Miles location Sch m s mph ave m s mph ave
0.0 NOTTINGHAM 0 0 00 3.3 BEESTON 4 39 75 42.6 4.7 ATTENBOROUGH 5 41 77 81.3 6.7 TRENT 8 18 20* 45.9 10.2 KEGWORTH 12 27 74 50.6 12.1 HATHERN 13 57 84 76.0 14.9 LOUGHBOROUGH 16½ 16 49 58.6 0.0 0 0 00 0 00 3L 2.7 BARROW ON SOAR 4 00 69 40.5 4 05 66 39.7 5.0 SILEBY 5 51 80 74.6 5 59 77 72.6 7.8 SYSTON 7½ 7 51 86 84.0 7 58 87 84.7 9.8 Thurmaston 9 17 83/85 83.7 9 25 87 82.8 11.7 HUMBERSTONE ROAD 10 43 64 79.5 10 50 80.5 12.5 LEICESTER 12½ 12 13 32.0 12 23 31.0 0.0 0 0 00 14 17 1½L 1.2 Knighton North Junction 2 42 48/60 26.7 2 39 48/58 27.2 3.2 Wigston North Junction 4½ 4 58 41* 52.9 5 02 42* 50.3 5.3 Kilby Bridge 7 19 64 55.2 7.5 Great Glen 9 21 79 58.9 9 20 69 65.5 9.3 Kibworth North (Summit) 10½ 10 44 77 78.1 10 45 75 76.2 10.2 KIbworth 11 24 79/tsr/25 81.0 12.8 East Langton 14 44 35/65 46.8 13 08 87 88.1 16.2 MARKET HARBOROUGH 16 18 23 50* 55.9 16 03 48* 69.9 18.7 Braybrook 18 40 62 57.3 20.6 Desborough North (Summit) 20½ 22 56 65 58.0 20 30 68 62.2 21.0 DESBOROUGH 23 17 72 68.6 23.4 Glendon 25 09 86 77.1 22 42 82 76.4 24.5 Glendon South Junction 25 52 82/87 92.1 23 26 77/sigs/38 90.0 27.1 KETTERING 25½ 27 47 69* 81.4 26 37 60 49.0 29.8 Burton Latimer 29 54 83 76.5 28 46 83 75.3 30.9 Finedon 30 42 86/88 82.5 29 34 85 82.5 34.1 WELLINGBOROUGH 31 33 04 65* 81.1 31 54 62* 82.3 36.4 Irchester 35 06 74 67.9 33 54 74 69.0 39.4 Sharnbrook Summit [1] 37 32 70 74.0 36 19 71 74.5 41.0 Souldrop 38 47 85 76.8 37 31 85 80.0 42.4 Sharnbrook 39 47 90/92 84.0 38 32 88/89 82.6 46.1 Oakley 42 18 80 88.2 41 06 79 86.5 47.5 Oakley Junction 43 19 84/sigs/70 82.6 42 08 83 81.3 49.2 Bedford North Junction 43½ 44 37 77 78.5 43 22 89/90 82.7
Milepost 26 - 63 - April 2005 Miles location Sch m s mph ave m s mph ave 51.8 Elstow 46 36 85 78.7 45 04 86 91.8 55.3 Millbrook 49 02 85 86.3 47 33 84 84.6 57.3 Ampthill 50 30 83 81.8 48 57 84 85.7 58.9 FLITWICK 50½ 51 35 91 88.6 50 04 88 86.0 61.8 HARLINGTON 53 37 87 85.6 52 04 86 87.0 65.1 Milepost Summit 55 57 84 84.9 54 22 85 86.1 66.3 LEAGRAVE 56 47 86/82 86.4 55 14 83 83.1 68.9 LUTON 58 58 37 83/sigs/67 85.1 57 04 76/71 85.1 71.8 Chiltern Green 61 09 87 68.7 59 29 88 72.0 74.5 HARPENDEN [2] 63 03 82/91/86 85.3 61 20 86 87.6 77.8 Sandridge 65 21 92 86.1 63 43 86 83.1 79.2 ST. ALBANS CITY 67½ 66 56 sigs 48 53.1 64 42 73* 85.4 81.0 Napsbury 68 38 78/88 63.5 66 08 78 75.3 83.9 RADLETT [2] 70 42 86 84.2 68 08 88 87.0 ELSTREE & 86.7 BOREHAMWOOD 72 38 84 86.9 70 04 84 86.9 89.8 MILL HILL BROADWAY 74 45 90/88 87.9 72 11 87 87.9 92.1 HENDON 78½ 76 23 87 84.5 73 48 88 85.4 94.0 CRICKLEWOOD 77 43 82 85.5 75 15 72/69 78.6 95.2 WEST HAMPSTEAD 78 46 sigs 68.6 76 18 71 68.6 79 36 sig stop 83 09 95.6 Finchley Road 81½ 84 15 76 36 97.6 KENTISH TOWN 88 20 56 29.4 78 37 sigs [1] 80 09 sig stop 81 33 99.1 ST PANCRAS 87 91 26 29.0 86 53 1½L into St Pancras. This is the fastest time from Cheadle Heath to St Pancras in the RPS records.
Gerald travelled in both directions on the final day of the service; 15 April 1966. His up run is not tabulated and although the maxima were not quite as high as in run 2, this was again a good performance with a time of 172m 26s from Cheadle Heath to St Pancras. There was an annoying signal stop at Kibworth North which cost 4 minutes and the net time is estimated at 167 minutes. His northbound run in Table 2 shows the only down run through to Cheadle Heath in the RPS records. A number of speeds not shown in his log, probably as he was unable to see the Mileposts as darkness increased. However, the average speeds give an indication of the performance. The driver made sure the service would end with a flourish and Cheadle Heath was reached 6 minutes early. The checks at Harpenden and Kibworth are estimated to cost 3¾ and 4 minutes respectively giving a net time of 159½ minutes, less than the schedule of 162 minutes when 11 minutes recovery time is deducted. Sharnbrook summit was topped at 78 mph and the 90 mph limit was achieved or slightly exceeded at several points between Elstree and Kettering and again north of Leicester.
In Table 3 there are two up runs on the afternoon Nottingham service. Mike Langdon's run 5 lost ¼ minute from Nottingham to Loughborough but was able to make this up on to Leicester with speeds in the mid 80s. After a tsr at Kibworth costing 1½ minutes, there was some steady running apart from a slight signal check approaching Bedford. Signals intervened again at Luton and St Albans, with an intermediate 92 mph. Hendon was passed 2 minutes ahead of schedule but there was then a 3½ minute signal stop at Finchley Road so that St Pancras was reached
Milepost 26 - 64 - April 2005 TABLE 4 Run No. 7 8 9 Date/day Monday 4 July 1960 Thursday 29 Dec 1960 Wednesday 18 Oct 1961 Train 14.33 Leicester-St Pancras 14.33 Leicester-St P 15.45 Nottingham - St P Motive Power 6 car Pullman unit 6 car Pullman unit 6 car Pullman unit Load (tons) 298/301 tons 298/302 tons 298/ tons Recorder M.G. Langdon M.G. Langdon G.J. Aston Miles location WTT m s mph m s mph WTT m s mph 0.0 LEICESTER 0 0 00 0 00 0 0 00 1L 1.2 Knighton North Junction 2 23 52 2 41 47 2 42 50/67 3.2 Wigston North Junction 4 33 62/39* 4 49 66/45* 4½ 4 49 40* 3.7 WIGSTON MAGNA 5 11 49 5 28 45 5.3 Kilby Bridge 6 50 66/tsr 24 7 09 63 7 02 64 7.5 Great Glen 10 11 30 9 08 71/79 9 03 76 9.3 Kibworth North (Summit) 12 35 55 10 30 77 10½ 10 27 76 12.8 East Langton 15 14 88 12 55 88 12 50 88 16.2 MARKET HARBOROUGH 16½ 18 01 50* 15 37 55* 16 15 32 58 18.7 Braybrook 20 39 63 18 09 63 17 57 65 20.6 Desborough North (Summit) 21½ 22 27 67 19 55 67 20½ 19 46 63 23.5 Glendon 24 36 89 22 03 86 21 54 87 24.5 Glendon South Junction 25 17 85/88 22 45 85/90 22 34 85 27.1 KETTERING 26 27 12 71* 25 11 tsr 15 25½ 24 29 80 29.8 Burton Latimer 29 17 83 28 38 78 26 20 84 30.9 Finedon 30 04 86/89 29 29 86 27 08 85 34.1 WELLINGBOROUGH 31 32 24 64* 31 50 66* 30 29 30 66* 36.4 Irchester 34 27 75 33 51 76 31 26 75 39.4 Sharnbrook Summit 36 36 50 72 36 11 73 35½ 33 53 73 41.0 Souldrop [2] 38 04 85/sig 34 37 22 84 [1] 35 08 87 42.4 Sharnbrook 39 52 39 38 25 88/90 36 46 tsr 38 46.1 Oakley 42 43 03 83 40 59 80 39 48 83 47.5 Oakley Junction 44 01 87 41 58 84/82 40 46 88 49.2 Bedford North Junction 45 45 10 83* 43 08 85 43½ 42 03 86/82 51.8 Elstow 47 04 87 45 00 88 43 49 86 55.3 Millbrook 49 29 85 47 25 86 46 17 83 57.3 Ampthill 50 54 84 48 48 85 47 46 83 58.9 FLITWICK 51 59 90 49 53 87 50½ 48 50 88 61.8 HARLINGTON 53 59 87 51 55 86 50 54 83 65.1 Milepost Summit 56 16 85 54 12 85 53 14 86 66.3 LEAGRAVE 57 08 87/81 55 04 87/85 54 06 87 68.9 LUTON 59 58 57 86/sig 70 56 53 80/74* 58 55 55 77 71.8 Chiltern Green 61 18 75 59 14 83 58 10 86 74.5 HARPENDEN 64 49 sigs 15 61 08 82/89 [2] 60 00 86 77.8 Sandridge 68 23 79 63 28 83 62 18 83 79.2 ST. ALBANS CITY 66½ 69 24 85/83* 64 30 75* 67½ 63 20 75 81.0 Napsbury 70 39 85 65 55 77 64 40 87 83.9 RADLETT [4] 72 41 88/80 68 00 87 [3] 66 40 84 ELSTREE & 86.7 BOREHAMWOOD 74 43 81 69 56 85 69 24 tsr 19 89.8 MILL HILL BROADWAY 76 49 92/90 72 02 90/87 73 04 84/85 92.1 HENDON 79½ 78 24 87 73 49 tsr 60 78½ 76 17 tsr 31 94.0 CRICKLEWOOD 79 46 80 75 36 64 77 57 55 95.2 WEST HAMPSTEAD 80 45 73 76 45 66/sigs 30 79 06 66 97.6 KENTISH TOWN 84 82 43 65 80 04 40/25 tsr 84 81 04 63 99.1 ST PANCRAS 87 85 16 83 56 87 85 14 1E
Milepost 26 - 65 - April 2005 TABLE 5 Run No. 10 11 Date/day Mon 4 July 1960 Thu 29 December 1960 Train 12.45 St Pancras - Leicester 12.45 St Pancras - Leicester Motive Power 6-car Pullman 6-car Pullman Load (tons) 6 298/301 6.6 6 298/301 6.6 Recorder M.G. Langdon M.G. Langdon WTT Miles location Sch m s mph ave m s mph ave 0.0 ST PANCRAS 0 0 00 0 00 25/tsr/20 1.5 KENTISH TOWN 3½ 3 40 50 24.5 4 23 35 20.5 3.5 Finchley Road 5 39 63 60.5 6 43 58 51.4 3.9 WEST HAMPSTEAD 6 03 65 60.0 7 11 62 51.4 5.1 CRICKLEWOOD 7 08 73/81 66.5 8 17 71 65.5 7.0 HENDON 8½ 8 34 63/tsr/60 79.5 10 00 tsr 52 66.4 9.3 MILL HILL BROADWAY 10 53 63 59.6 12 20 68 59.1 12.4 ELSTREE & BOREHAMWOOD 13 34 74 69.3 14 56 73 71.5 15.2 RADLETT 15 32 91 85.4 16 56 86 84.0 18.1 Napsbury 17 36 79* 84.2 18 59 79 84.9 19.9 ST. ALBANS CITY 18 18 55 78* 82.0 20 22 73* 78.1 21.3 Sandridge 19 57 80 81.3 21 30 74 74.1 24.6 HARPENDEN 22 19 90/80 83.7 23 56 88/85 81.4 27.3 Chiltern Green 24 15 82/80* 83.8 25 46 87/75* 88.4 30.2 LUTON 26 26 21 90 82.9 28 04 77 75.7 32.8 LEAGRAVE 28 06 85 89.1 29 58 83 82.1 34.0 Milepost Summit 28 57 86 84.7 30 49 87 84.7 37.3 HARLINGTON [2] 31 13 86 87.4 33 05 86 87.4 40.2 FLITWICK 33 18 85 83.5 35 08 87 84.9 41.8 Ampthill 34 23 84 88.6 36 13 84 88.6 43.8 Millbrook 35 47 90 85.7 37 36 87 86.7 47.3 Elstow 38 10 87/81 88.1 40 01 89/83 86.9 49.9 Bedford North Junction 41½ 40 06 79* 80.7 41 51 86 85.1 51.6 Oakley Junction 41 22 74/76 80.5 43 00 85/87 88.7 53.0 Oakley 42 32 71/86 72.0 43 58 82/tsr 30 86.9 56.7 Sharnbrook 45 17 82 80.7 48 28 61 49.3 58.1 Souldrop 47 01 sigs 19 48.5 49 52 65 60.0 59.7 Sharnbrook Summit 48½ 49 34 50 37.6 51 20 66 65.5 62.7 Irchester [2] 51 54 88 77.1 53 24 91 87.1 65.0 WELLINGBOROUGH 54½ 54 02 54* 64.7 55 18 65* 72.6 68.2 Finedon 56 48 77/82 69.4 57 51 82 75.3 69.3 Burton Latimer 57 38 81 79.2 58 39 86 82.5 72.0 KETTERING 60 59 48 68* 74.8 60 49 66 sigs 74.8 74.6 Glendon South Junction 61 54 75/72 74.3 63 01 71/70 70.9 75.6 Glendon 62 42 77 75.0 63 49 77/76 75.0 78.5 Desborough North (Summit) 65 64 58 75 76.8 66 04 77 77.3 80.4 Braybrook 66 23 87 80.5 67 27 87/90 82.4 82.9 MARKET HARBOROUGH 68½ 68 28 52* 72.0 69 25 50* 76.3 86.3 East Langton 71 29 81/82 67.6 72 30 81/82 66.2 89.7 Kibworth North (Summit) 74 02 76 80.0 75 02 78 80.5 91.6 Great Glen 75 19 86/83 88.8 76 17 87 91.2 93.8 Kilby Bridge 76 58 85 80.0 77 52 89 83.4 95.9 Wigston North Junction 78 45 41* 70.7 79 34 45* 74.1 97.9 Knighton North Junction 80 54 68 55.8 81 42 68 56.3 99.1 LEICESTER 85 82 47 38.2 83 36 37.9
Milepost 26 - 66 - April 2005
4½ minutes late. The net time from Leicester was 81½ minutes. On run 6 Gerald Aston joined at Loughborough. There was fairly clear road apart from a signal check at Kettering until an annoying signal stop outside St Pancras, so that although the 87 minute booking from Leicester was kept, the 1½ minute late start could not be made up.
Three more runs from Leicester on the afternoon service appear in Table 4. All were able to improve on the 87 minute schedule, which admittedly includes 6 minutes recovery time. Run 7 was on the first day of the service and although checked on the descent from Sharnbrook summit, had a clear road into the terminus. At the time, the fastest steam trains were allowed 99 minutes from Leicester, which was often hard to keep, so that the Pullman performance represented a considerable improvement, particularly climbs to Sharnbrook summit at over 70 mph and to Milepost 34 at 85 mph.
Two down runs on the midday service to Leicester are in table 5. Run 10, again on the first day had a 60 mph tsr at Hendon and was checked on the climb to Sharnbrook but still arrived in Leicester over 2 minutes early. Run 11 had tsrs on leaving London, again at Hendon and before Sharnbrook but again was able to reach Leicester ahead of time. Mike Langdon estimates the net time of both runs as 79¾ minutes.
BR Diesel Resistance and the Davis Formula John Knowles
(This article first appeared in the Journal of the Stephenson Locomotive Society and is reproduced by kind permission of the Editor and author). This article reports on an attempt to derive a universal formula for the rolling resistance of diesel electric locomotives from the data available on the resistance of several BR locomotives, mostly in Test Bulletins. It uses the Davis formula as the basis of such a universal formula. The locomotives and the source data are: Class Wheel Weight (tons) Length Body Horse- Cross Data Source: Arr'gt (a) (ft) Type power Sectio to Test (b) n (sq mph Bulletin ft) given 20 Bo Bo 72.7 43 hood 1000 100 70 11 15 Bo Bo 68 38.5 hood 800 101 60 12 31 A1A+ 104 53.1 flat 1250 107 80 14 A1A SR 1Co 132.8 61 flat 2000 95 90 16 10203 Co1 55 Co Co 106 66 nose 3300 100 80 19 Deltic 24 Bo Bo 79.8 59 flat 1160 105 80 21 47 Co Co 114 61.5 flat 2750 105 100 (c) Notes: (a) over superstructure (b) 'flat front' applies to bodies of basically box shape, with body edges rounded, and some slight slope to the upper part of the front. (c) from article 'Electric versus Hydraulic', 'Modern Railways', Dec 1965 The resistance given in the above sources for a range of speeds was in all cases the difference between the wheel rim and drawbar tractive efforts with the locomotive under
Milepost 26 - 67 - April 2005 power. That difference represents the resistance to motion of the locomotive as a vehicle. The wheel rim tractive effort was obtained by the BR researchers by deducting the internal mechanical and electrical resistances of the generator, motors and drive from the output of the diesel prime mover (all derived from manufacturers’ recommended figures for the various machines and drives). The drawbar tractive effort was obtained from the dynamometer. The resistance figures given in the Test Bulletins have no doubt been adjusted to lie on a smooth curve. In the case of the 47, the effect of the 7½mph 45º headwind quoted in the source was removed for this exercise by deducting the effect of a 5mph direct headwind using the aerodynamic coefficient of .0016, the value of this coefficient finally arrived at (see below). The object of this exercise is to explain the differences in the vehicle resistances of the various locomotives over the speed range, by sources of variation, such as weight, number of axles (hence axle load), cross section area, length and shape. The data considered was that for every five mph. The starting point was the American Davis formula. First of all, that formula was used to give the strictly 'rolling' part of the resistance (bearings, and wheels on rail). The remainder of the test data was then used to obtain a value for the aerodynamic term which fits the body shapes of diesel electric locomotives of the 1950s and 1960s (the term might also cover other factors which vary with speed squared, such as sway). The terms and coefficients of the Davis Formula applying to the strictly rolling aspect, applying to almost all railway vehicles, in Imperial units, are: 1.46W + .0336VW + 32.5 N where W is the weight in tons, V the speed in mph, and N the number of axles (the coefficient on the VW term is that in Davis’s own paper for locomotives and passenger stock; it differs for single power cars and freight stock). The result of this first calculation was deducted from the vehicle resistance deduced from the sources to give a difference (D) to be explained by aerodynamic factors, A the cross section area in sq ft, L the length of the superstructure in feet, and the body outline, as given in the table. The coefficient(s) for these aerodynamic terms were obtained by regression. In the basic Davis formula, the aerodynamic term was BAV2, and the coefficient B for the leading vehicle in a train was .0024. This applied to leading vehicles of rough outline, however. By the 1940s, US literature suggested that this coefficient was too high for modern diesel locomotives (see value recommended by W.W. Hay below). Multiple regression allows the validity of various hypotheses to be tested. For example, is two the right power to raise the V term to? Is there any tendency for the value of the coefficient B to change with speed? Does length of the body have any effect on the aerodynamic co-efficient? Regression results are accompanied by several tests, which state how much confidence can be placed in the results, and how much of the data is explained by the results. Regressions were carried out to test all these matters. The results are numerous, but can be summarised as follows. The coefficient B does not vary to any statistically significant extent with speed for any class for speeds of 30mph and above (data are scarce above 80mph - see below). This is not so for the lower speeds. All regression results quoted therefore apply above 30 mph. Including length makes almost no difference to the statistical soundness and explanatory power of the results. The coefficient of the Deltic with its nose front is not statistically different from that of the flat fronted classes like the 47. Two is a valid power to use for the V term. A highly satisfactory value of B of .0016 was obtained for five of the seven classes. The values for classes 15 and 31, however, are considerably, and statistically significantly, lower than for the other classes. For each of them, B is valued at about .0010 but is constant across the speed range as for the other classes. This difference for those classes is not obvious. It applies only to the aerodynamic term. Body shape cannot explain the difference. The 15 is of similar body outline to the 20, and the 31 to the other flat fronted classes. It
Milepost 26 - 68 - April 2005 cannot be that the internal resistances between the prime mover and the wheel rims were determined differently for these classes, because those resistances do not have any relationship with AV2, or with V2 alone. The 95% confidence interval for the .0016 result is ±2.6%, and the value of R2 0.966. These figures mean that the user can be 95% confident that the true value of the aerodynamic co-efficient lies in that range, and that the regression explains some 97% of the data. Both are excellent results for technical investigations. As the results apply to only the difference (D) above, this means that if the regression result for aerodynamic resistance is 2.6 per cent wrong (the extremity of the 95% confidence interval), the user can be 95% confident that the total rolling resistance for a diesel electric locomotive determined by the Davis formula using .0016 as the coefficient for the aerodynamic term is no more than 1% wrong at 30 mph, and no more than 3% wrong at 70 mph. This is an extraordinarily precise result, much better than expected - Mr Davis and the researchers whose work he used were clearly very successful in determining the first three terms of a universal formula. There is also a question of whether this confidence applies to the highest speeds. The results obtained from applying the formula conform very closely to the data up to 80mph. It is noticeable that above 75mph or so, the rate of increase of the resistance of the class 47 is lower than might be expected (it is close to a straight line). Nevertheless, data and results of application of the formula conform closely at 90mph for the SR and at 100mph for the class 47. The confidence with which the formula can be used with general application above 80mph is obviously lower than that applying in the 30 to 80mph range. In other words, the formula applies to 100mph, but the confidence in the values obtained is lower above 80, to an unknown extent. This means that for BR diesel locomotives in general a highly accurate rolling resistance for speeds between 30mph and 80mph, and probably 90mph is given by 1.46W + .0336VW + 32.5N + .0016AV2 This is remarkably close to the Davis formula with the final term modified to .0017, recommended by W.W. Hay for streamlined diesel locomotives in his 'Railroad Engineering' of 1952. It is of course disappointing that the result does not apply to two of the seven classes. Any suggested explanations for the failure of those two classes to conform will be welcome.
Comment from Doug Landau
John Knowles asks if there is any tendency for the aerodynamic drag factors to vary with speed, and finds minimal variation in the data sets above 30mph. It is possible that the small deviations found at low speed are simply down to small errors in the data. For example, in the case of the Deltic, an error of only 81lb (4HP) at 20mph, and 98lb (8HP) at 30mph account for the deviations found. For SR locomotive 10203 the ‘errors’ are even smaller; 38lb (2HP) at 20mph and 30lb (2.4 hp) at 30mph. Whether such errors were present in the original data, or simply introduced by measuring off small graphs is a moot point, but it hardly matters. It seems likely that no two individuals will end up with exactly the same “results” when measuring off the official data in this form. There seems to be some variation in the individual drag factors, the Deltic returning 0.0015 and 10203 0.0017, which represent drag co-efficient # of 0.58 & 0.65. These are plausible values. Adopting the proposed factor of 0.0016 for general use would not however introduce any significant errors, even at 70mph the HP difference between 0.0015 and 0.0016 would be under 10HP. # The aerodynamic drag co-efficient is a numerical value relative to that of a flat plate subject to perpendicular airflow, which, arbitrarily, is given a drag co-efficient of 1. This
Milepost 26 - 69 - April 2005 corresponds to a force of V2mph x 0.0026lb/sq.ft. Thus a drag factor of 0.0013 would represent a drag co-efficient of 0.5. The drag co-efficient is an index of aerodynamic efficiency, the lower the better. The sleekest of modern saloon cars return values of around 0.3, and for perfectly streamlined forms, such as an aircraft fuselage, the value falls below 0.1. The square law governing aerodynamic drag was first determined in France by Edme Mariotte in 1673.
LETTERS
GRADIENT DIAGRAMS WORTING JUNCTION TO EXETER
The distance scale in the Railway Magazine/Ian Allan gradient diagram of this section is wrong. This is evident from sighting and timing gradient boards, from a probably better source, and to some extent from the diagram itself.
1 - The distance of fourteen summits and foots of inclines are marked on the RM/IA diagram, but are shown at a greater distance than on the scale, by from 0.1 mile (eg 62½) to 0.25 mile (133¼). This means the boards are east of where the scale shows.
2 - Where I timed gradient boards at four locations west of Templecombe, I found them to be 0.3 mile east of where the scale on the RM/IA diagram says they should be. Judging this requires that the mile posts are correctly located relative to the scale.
3 - An LSWR gradient book of 1887 in the Railway Club Library gives the same gradients as the RM/IA diagram but places the changes in them from 12 to 30 chains closer to the zero mileage of the RM/IA scale, or once again east of where the RM/IA scale says the gradients change.
4 - It is difficult to observe changes in gradient from the train or lineside. But the change from 1 in 178 to level east of Andover is marked by a board at 65 miles 56 chains. By observation, this clearly represents a change of gradient, and the board is located circa 16 chains east of where the RM/IA diagram says it occurs.
The problem with all of this is the varying extent of the difference, from a few chains to over 20 chains. It would seem to me best to depend on the LSWR book. A complete rendering of the distances and gradients will take up considerable space, but if the editor is willing, I could provide the information.
John Knowles
[Shortly before he died, Eric Rudkin asked if it would be possible to check distances from Salisbury to Exeter using GPS because he thought there were errors. Initially this did not seem realistic due to number of station stops and the consequent difficulty of “marking” the locations and the possibility of losing GPS signals under station roofs. However on summer Saturdays the 0935 from Waterloo was timed non-stop from Salisbury to Yeovil Junction, and so it was possible to compare distances with published information. There certainly seemed to be differences, but one journey was not sufficient to establish this with certainty.
If any members have further information on distances and gradients on this route, we would be very interested. Ed]
Milepost 26 - 70 - April 2005 PROGRESS?
Dear David,
The two most recent editions of Milepost (25½ & 25¾) contain some very depressing items. This is not a criticism of the editor or the magazine’s contributors but a sorry reflection on the current state of Britain’s railways.
Take the Pendolino pre-press run from Euston to Manchester described in MP 25½. After vast quantities of taxpayers’ money have been thrown at upgrading the infrastructure and subsidies to Virgin Trains what is the outcome? 183.56 miles covered in 117 minutes 48 seconds, that’s what. Pathetic, especially compared with the performance over a similar distance or time provided by the Class 91s.
On 14 January 1994 1S28 1300 King’s Cross – Edinburgh consisted of 91021 + 9 + DVT. The train passed milepost 183½ (at 132mph) inside 94 minutes from King’s Cross. On 22 December 1994 the same service with the same consist was cruising at 128mph between Thirsk and Northallerton 117 minutes 48 seconds after leaving London, 214.7 miles away. That time includes 3 minutes 42.5 seconds standing in York.
In Milepost 25¾ we read that the current timetable “sees effectively the end of the Norwich express…” What would Gerard Fiennes have said about that?
Yours sincerely John Irving
IMPRESSIVE STEAM PERFORMANCE
Dear Sir
In Milepost 25, page 46, David Adams in his excellent article “Southern Pacifics” asked the question “Where else could you travel on steam-hauled Saturday holiday extra and run over 14 miles at an average of 81mph, or on a scheduled weekday twelve coach train and run 37 miles at an average speed of 82.3mph? The 37 miles were from Worting Junction to Hampton Court Junction.
The answer might – and I stress the word “might” – have been the log printed by OS Nock in the January 1962 Railway Magazine when A4 60022 Mallard with 454 tons net/490 tons gross covered the 37.5 miles from Hitchin to Holme in 27m21s at 82.26mph - this included a pws to 20mph between mp62 and Holme.
Another contender might be the Princess Royal 46209 Princess Beatrice hauling 428tons tare and 465 tons gross on the Red Rose between Bletchley and Willesden when the 41.3 miles took 30mins 07 secs – 82.28mph. This log appeared in OS Nock’s “60 years of West Coast Running” and AJ Powell’s “Stanier Pacifics at Work” – both books quoted the load as 449 tons tare and 490 tons gross, but the recorder amended the tonnage in the 1970’s.
On Mr Edwards excellent run the Merchant Navy was on a 12 coach train, the Princess Royal probably 13, and the A4 perhaps 14.
Yours faithfully K R Phillips.
Milepost 26 - 71 - April 2005 FEEDBACK
Mystery Speeds Restrictions. - While Chris Taylor’s remarks are basically accurate, perhaps clarification is needed. Regarding heavy axle weights, the type of restriction to which he refers applies to case when the route availability number of any vehicle on the train exceeds the route availability of the track. Many routes are only, say, RA8 but fully laden 100tonne vehicles on four axles are RA 10. In such cases the civil engineer can give an exception to allow the traffic to pass, sometimes subject to the kind of additional restriction Chris describes. To convey an exceptional load such as this, a form of authority must be issued to the driver, detailing the route and special restrictions. Containers exceeding 8ft can sometimes be outside the loading gauge of the route concerned. In such cases, similar authority needs to be given. Obviously, special restrictions for the former usually affect underbridges and the latter, overbridges. The situation is similar to that which is obvious if applied to out of gauge loads that carry a form saying that the opposite line has to be blocked or only a certain track may be used at a given location.
David Adams mentions the speed applied under tilt conditions on the West Coast Main Line within tunnels. 110mph is the limit applied to bores containing two tracks to protect the comfort of passengers in non-pressure sealed stock. It does not apply in single bore tunnels such as Linslade where the full 125mph is allowed.
Further to my comment about Silkmill level crossing on Silkmills Road at Taunton I erroneously said that official railway records refer to ‘Silkmill’. This should actually be ‘Silk Mill’ although I actually always use ‘Silkmill’ which (I think I am right in saying but beginning to doubt!) had ‘Silkmill’ on the name board.
Blue diamonds. For the record, the new and very helpful blue diamond quarter-mile posts have been installed on the Exeter-Waterloo line. I only noted them between Pinhoe and Yeovil Jct on a recent diverted FGW train but I presume they now stretch to Worting Jct to meet those on the Waterloo-Southampton line. Compared with the small, often missing, ones they replace, the blue diamonds transform timing such points as MP 152 Honiton Incline!
And finally……I am informed by the EWS Press Office that the North Berwick trains are not limited to the short formation restrictions that normally apply to loco-hauled trains. There was no reason given for this, but I presume it is the existence of the DVT and/or the use of superior-braking Mark 3 coaches that makes the difference. However, the limit of 110mph was the third figure I had been given from three separate sources. The trains are timed at 90mph.
John Heaton
Spring has sprung, and so has Milepost ¼ on Platform 8 at St Pancras – albeit on the down side! Anybody who has trekked from the old station to the new, will not dispute the fact that it must be a quarter of a mile. For the Distance Chart scholar, the post is situated about 6 HST car lengths from the buffer stops.
Milepost 26 - 72 - April 2005
Milepost 26 - 73 - April 2005