30 MILEPOST OCTOBER 2009 II
SURELY, IT’S NOT 50 YEARS AGO ...... 60007 RETURNS TO YORK- Page 224 Photo: Bruce Nathan RPS
railway performance society
www.railperf.org.uk 30TH YEAR OF PUBLICATION Milepost 30½ – October 2009
The Quarterly Magazine of the Railway Performance Society Honorary President: Gordon Pettit, OBE, FCILT Commitee:
CHAIRMAN Frank Collins 10 Collett Way, Frome, Somerset BA11 2XR Tel: 01373 466408 e-mail [email protected] SECRETARY & VC Martin Barrett 112 Langley Drive, Norton, Malton, N Yorks, YO17 9AB (and meetings) Tel: 01653 694937 Email: [email protected] TREASURER Peter Smith 28 Downsview Ave, Storrington, W Sussex, RH20 (and membership) 4PS. Tel 01903 742684 e-mail: [email protected] EDITOR David Ashley 92 Lawrence Drive, Ickenham, Uxbridge, Middx, UB10 8RW. Tel 01895 675178 E-mail: [email protected] Fastest Times Editor David Sage 93 Salisbury Rd, Burton, Christchurch, Dorset, BH23, 7JR. Tel 01202 249717 E-mail [email protected] Distance Chart Editor Ian Umpleby 314 Stainbeck Rd, Leeds, W Yorks LS7 2LR Tel 0113 266 8588 Email: [email protected] Database/Archivist Lee Allsopp 2 Gainsborough, North Lake, Bracknell, RG12 7WL Tel 01344 648644 e-mail [email protected] Technical Officer David Hobbs 11 Lynton Terrace, Acton, London W3 9DX Tel 020 8993 3788 e-mail [email protected] David Stannard 26 Broomfield Close, Chelford, Macclesfield, Cheshire,SK11 9SL. Tel 01625 861172 e mail: [email protected] Publicity/Webmaster Baard Covington, 2 Rose Cottage, Bradfield,Wix, Manningtree, Essex CO11 2SH Tel 07010 717717, E-mail: [email protected] Steam Specialist Michael Rowe Burley Cottage, Parson St., Porlock,Minehead, Somerset, TA24 8QJ . Tel 01643 862182 E-mail: [email protected] Non-committee official:- 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),), Peter Smith (secretary), Martin Barrett CONTENTS Notices 181 A Daunting Task John Heaton 190 North West Rover 2008 Bevan Price 197 Fastest Times Update Martin Robertson 203 The Blue Pullman – more revelations Martin Barrett & John Gough 214 Power Consumption by 390s’ Virgin Driver 221 50 Years On Bruce Nathan 224 Rhone Valley Frank Collins 231 Letters 241 News Alert 248
Enclosures (where subscribed): Heritage Fastest Times2009, UK Distance Charts,
Copyright The Railway Performance Society Ltd, registered in England & Wales No. 04488089 Use of the material in the magazine is permitted only for the private purposes of the reader No material in the magazine can otherwise be used for publication or reproduction in any form without the express permission of the Society
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 30½ 182 October 2009 The Chairman’s Christmas Challenge
One Saturday during the currency of the 2009 summer timetable I set out for a day’s train timing.
• I parked up at Bristol Temple Meads at the start of my day out at about 07.30 hrs • I arrived back at Temple Meads 12hrs and 13 minutes after I left it. • During the course of the day I travelled, using the RPS distance charts, 610.48 miles • I changed trains 5 times • I never changed trains twice at the same place • The shortest leg of my journey was the first, and the last was the longest • Each train that I used comprised a different class of rolling stock • Two of the trains I used were electric • One of the trains provided was less than 12 months old • Three of the trains I used reached 125 mph during the course of their journeys • I covered three sections of line three times but no others more than twice. Only one of the runs covered all three of these sections • I passed through one station twice travelling in the same direction but journeying in opposite directions • None of the trains I used reversed direction of travel while I was travelling on them • I did not travel on any train throughout between the starting and terminating destinations of that service • On only one service did I alight at the first stop after boarding it.
Where did I go?
There is a free year’s membership available to the first person who correctly answers the following questions;-
• What was my itinerary and routing for the day? • What type of rolling stock was provided for each leg? • Which were the three sections of line that I traversed 3 times during the course of the day? • Which was the station I passed through twice in the same direction while journeying in the opposite direction? • Which was the service I alighted from at its first stop after I boarded it? • Was I late or early arriving back at Bristol against the Public Timetable and by how much?
Closing date for entries 28th February 2010
The answers and winner will be announced in the April edition along with an article covering the day. If not won by then, further clues may follow
Frank Collins
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 the Editor.
Milepost 30½ 183 October 2009 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 23¾ 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 Fastest Times contributions to David Sage at the address on the inside cover.
This is with the following exceptions:- John Heaton for Voyagers, 180s, Pendolinos and 222s. Bill Long for DB material.
If in doubt then e-mail or post to my contact details on the inside cover.
Please, where practicable, also copy claims and logs to Lee Allsopp for the Society archive, and to Martin Robertson for material for his Fastest Times articles.
Note that the Members area of the RPS website – see www.railperf.org.uk - has the latest GB and Overseas Fastest Times. These times are also there in the general area, but without the recorder’s initials. At present all entries are as up to date as possible from submissions received.
OVERSEAS CHARTS
No further news.
David Sage
HISTORIC FASTEST TIMES
The 2009 issue should be included with this copy of Milepost for those members who subscribe to the printed version of Historical Fastest Times. A new section covers fastest times by "preserved" steam locos. on selected "main line" routes. If you have any suggestions or new records for inclusion in the 2010 issue, please send these to the
Milepost 30½ 184 October 2009 compiler, Bevan Price, by post to 24 Walmesley Road, Eccleston, St. Helens, Lancs., WA10 5JT, or by e-mail at [email protected] . Please set your software to send e- mail messages in plain text format (not html), and include details of the contents of any file attachments (otherwise your messages may be mistaken for "spam" and deleted.)
A fuller version, containing records published in previous issues, but for which there is insufficient space in the annual printed issues, is likely to be available in the members' area of the RPS website.
SALES ITEMS Back Numbers: Certain back issues of Milepost, from Milepost 6 onwards, 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, 8, 10, 12 to 19 and 21 are available and will be supplied free of charge on receipt of an A5 size stamped addressed envelope.
Distance Chart Supplements.
All supplements are issued in A5 loose leaf format. Following a review, the price of these supplements has been reduced, but they will no longer be supplied with binders.
UK Distance Supplement: £17.00
The complete collection of RPS distance charts compiled to date. Individual new and revised charts are issued with Milepost when they become available.
Overseas Distance Supplement (Section 1 France): £8.50
The complete collection of Issue 2 distance charts compiled to date. Individual new and revised charts are distributed occasionally with Milepost to those members who have paid a small supllementary membership fee.
Overseas Distance Supplement (Section 2 Ireland): £7.50
The complete set of Irish distance charts as published in 2005/6. If any revised charts are published they will be distributed with Milepost to those members who have paid a small supllementary membership fee. Historical Fastest Times 2004, 2006 Editions: £2.00 each; 2004/6/7 pack: £7.50 Orders for all above sales items please to Peter Smith. All prices include postage. Please enclose the correct remittance with your order and allow 28 days for delivery.
VOYAGER / ADELANTE / CHALLENGER / PENDOLINO RECORDS.
Milepost 30½ 185 October 2009
"The notice of members is drawn to the monthly e-mail update of Fastest times for Classes 180/220/221/220+221/222/390 and the re-opened lists for FGW/ecml and GE. If anyone would like to start receiving these lists please let me know by e-mail to [email protected]. Equally, if a current recipient wishes to withdraw his name, please let me know.
For the benefit of new members the re-opened lists refer to the fastest performances recorded on and from the arbitrary start date of 18/5/08 These are usually but necessarily slower than the printed book Fastest Times, many of which were achieved pre-data recorders and involved speeds that are unlikely to be repeated. The re-opened records are for HSTs from FGW services plus Wakefield Westgate to Penzance, Class 91s and HSTs on Fastest Time book 'ecml' sections and for Class 90s on GE sections.
Submissions must be made in excel or works spreadsheet and the format used on the lists issued, unless the member does not have access to the technology. This is to minimise copying errors and compilation time. It would be a good idea therefore for new members to wait until they have received an issue of the lists before participating to save them from indulging in unnecessary detail. No logs are needed for this exercise, although David Sage and Martin Robertson would appreciate a copy if the record is also a new Fastest Times book entry, as opposed to just a re-opened one.
If in doubt please do not hesitate to contact me on the above e-mail address, by phone on 01626 865526 or letter to 57 West Cliff Park Drive, Dawlish, Devon, EX7 9ER"
John Heaton
THE MEETINGS SECTION
THURSDAY 29TH TUESDAY 24th MARCH/APRIL 2010 OCTOBER 2009 NOVEMBER 2009 Bristol Leeds Ardwick and York 1700 1700 Members discussion Members discussion Visit to First group group TransPennine simulator
As part of our 30th anniversary celebrations First Transpennine have agreed we can visit (and partake of) their driving simulators at Ardwick and York. We have requested Saturdays 20th March and 17th April but as yet have not had confirmation from FTP they can accommodate us on these dates or which venue will be on which day (start time in the region of 1030 to allow travel from London). In order to cover costs there will be a charge of £10 per person. At this time I cannot take firm bookings, but you may register an expression of interest by either e- mailing or phoning me as shown inside the front cover.
Martin Barrett
Future Meeting dates
We also hope to arrange a speaker for early 2010
08 May 2010 – AGM – York
19 June 2010 – MTD Manchester – Stoke/Crewe
Milepost 30½ 186 October 2009 DIRECTIONS TO THE VENUES
LEEDS – THE GROVE INN, Back Row (off Neville Street), Leeds The Grove Inn is around 400 yards south of Leeds City station (under10 minutes walk). From the south concourse at Leeds City station go past M & S Simply Food, cross the road and into a circular building, go down the steps and turn sharp right at the bottom, continue under the railway on Neville Street, past the Hilton Hotel, over the river, cross Water Lane, next on the right is a large new office complex called Bridgewater Place with Starbucks and a Tesco Express, turn immediately right after Bridgewater Place into Back Lane and The Grove Inn is on the right (an old building surrounded by modern office blocks). It is highly visible from Neville Street at this point). If you are going to attend this inaugural meeting, it would help if you can let Chris Taylor know on 07941 315846 or [email protected]
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 is now open all day. Entrance is by key for members or by intercom on the door. It saves trouble if we all meet at 1700 on the concourse at Temple Meads and arrive together, but late comers can still get in by using the intercom. List of attending members no longer have to be furnished beforehand but it would help if those wishing to attend could let John Heaton know on 01626 865526 or [email protected]
FREE SOCIETY MEETINGS All society meetings are 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. The Society has a digital projector and if any member would like to give a short presentation at a society meeting using this projector (or without if they prefer), or if anyone has any topics for discussion at meetings please contact the Meetings Organiser.
LEEDS MEETING
A Leeds meeting took place on 28th July. with 8 members present. A variety of subjects were discussed. Firstly I presented some logs from the 1930's between Huddersfield and Leeds for comment. David Stannard presented a paper asking the question do the trains planners take into account the slight time penalty that different types of trains incur going through neutral sections (agreed that this was probably ignored), the statutory running brake test when changing drivers, direction etc and where was the optimum speed or place for a running brake test, whether defensive driving was taken into account. It was pointed out that during the Mass Timing Day between London Paddington and Reading the running brake test seem to be undertaken in different places. There then followed a discussion on eco- friendly driving with special reference to class 185's. Further discussion took place on the recently announced electrification schemes,hybrid trains and the riding qualities of class 185's
THE NEXT MEETING WILL BE ON TUESDAY 24th NOVEMBER IN THE GROVE, BACK LANE, OFF NEVILLE STREET, LEEDS 1700 to 1900.
IN COMMITTEE
The September committee meeting devoted some time to the TPS 30th birthday celebrations. It was decided to take up the TransPennine Express offer to host two sessions on their driving simulator at both York and Derby with a tour of the depots included. Cost is £10 (for TPE chosen charity) per person. First come, first serve, committee members to fill any otherwise empty places.
Milepost 30½ 187 October 2009
The possibility of hiring the Pretendolino for a Euston-Glasgow special was examined but ruled out due to the high financial risk. Possibilities of co-operating with tour operators on other ventures were considered. There was also the possibility of chartering a coach on a Cross Country HST on a low demand day – agreed in principle by XC but the cost might be prohibitive.
The 30th birthday milepost would take the form of one page article for each year of the existence with another page devoted to the log. David Ashley would like lots of volunteer authors to contact him with their preferred year.
It was decided to purchase a new screen for computer presentations to meetings; offers from members for the old one would be welcome.
The arrangements for the gps timing workshop were finalised and it was agreed to refine it to attract non-members at a future event.
The 2010 Mass Timing Day would probably be based on the Cheshire ranger and probably cover Manchester to Crewe and Stoke-on-Trent. The ‘Desiro Day’ logs would be published as a not-so-mass timing day supplement.
Further refinements and additions to the archive were discussed and ideas for publicising it were considered. Further contact with steam tour operators to promote the name of the RPS to their customers was being pursued.
John Heaton Dawlish Sept. 2009
MARTIN TASKER MEMORIAL LIBRARY
The Society holds a large number of books (~130) containing articles on performance, or containing information of use to Society Members. Full details of the books held are contained in past issues of Milepost.
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 length of the loan can be flexible by agreement.
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. The entire contents of the library will shortly be listed on the Society Website.
Lee Allsopp
RPS ARCHIVES – LATEST UPDATES
The RPS Archive consists of material collected over the years from submissions and donations of material and collections by members. We are also indebted to the Steam Railway Research Society (SRRS), and the Stephenson Locomotive Society (SLS) for giving us the opportunity to scan some of their material for inclusion in our archive.
Milepost 30½ 188 October 2009 The following is a short summary of the material that is has been added to the Archive on our Website since the last issue of Milepost. The Website is generally updated on a monthly basis, normally the first Sunday in the month. It you haven’t had a look yet, then please give it a try!
The following has been added since the last meeting, now over 240000 entries
• Ian Umpleby – latest material • Lee Allsopp – latest material • Milepost 30¼ • Martin Tasker Notebooks Folders + Foreign Material • Peter Semmens folders 1986-1990 • Latest FTs • Kenneth Rider Notebooks 1993-1995 • Bevan Price ~ 1500 logs • B D J Walsh – 6 notebooks • Bruce Nathan Book 78 • 2009 Foreign Fastest Times
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 on the website, 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! Lee Allsopp
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 any members who may 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 150 dpi gives perfectly acceptable results, while producing files of a reasonable size (200KB-1MB depending on size of paper, density of printing etc)
Lee Allsopp
Distance Chart Editor’s Report
Work on the expansion of the HS1 website section, which will bring together all charts on the London to Paris/Brussels lines under one umbrella, has been completed. No brand new UK distance charts this time but a selection of updated draft charts. Unfortunately the Carlisle-Glasgow chart needs more time for completion and will not appear with this issue.
Ian Umpleby. September 2009
Milepost 30½ 189 October 2009
A DAUNTING TASK
By John Heaton FCILT
There was a period during the process of converting FGW power cars to MTU engines when I became struck by the wide variety of performance I was recording between Chippenham and Swindon, a range of times that did not seem to apply elsewhere.
At that time it seemed hard to tell which power cars had been converted to MTUs. The engine noise was distinctive from the platform if you had time to go and listen and it transpired that the livery was also an indication but that was no help to a recorder who was too lazy or pressed for time to wander the length of the train, so the mix of VP185s and MTUs eluded posterity’s analysis.
A casual remark at a Bristol RPS meeting that we could conduct a mini mass timing day to record consecutive trains under similar weather conditions met with unexpected enthusiasm and on the third prompting Paul Walker and David Sage elicited some action.
This initiative was spurred by an excellent performance that I experienced, followed quickly by a new record by David Sage that was then immediately bettered by Clive Dale. Remember that this was against a background where many HST records seemed unassailable. The MTU conversion programme had been completed so it was too late to draw any conclusions concerning the mix of engines but there was still time to put a body of data into the archive.
The Chippenham-Swindon section is 16.66miles starting with 6½miles miles at 1-in- 660down/660up to Dauntsey where the line rises from the Wiltshire Plain at 1-in-100 for 1½miles to MP 86 before continuing at 1-in-660up through Wootton Bassett Jct, where it joins the South Wales main line. After the junction there is still time to accelerate up the 1-in- 660 to the level stretch at Hay Lane (MP80) followed by another brief 1-in-660up before entering Swindon’s up island platforms. For many years this was a frustrating experience as a tangle of up and down trains competed for platform space across shared connections to the detriment of timekeeping.
The construction of a new down main platform face took four down trains per hour out of the track capacity conundrum and a new set of 75mph points at Rushey Platt meant that up trains could enter the station unhindered by control approach signalling. This was achieved by stepping the 75mph turnout down through an 85mph restriction before the new points.
This theoretical benefit is frequently squandered as trains routed into Platform 3 clash with the large number using Platform 1, and Cheltenham line trains. Westbound freights (including coal empties from Didcot to Avonmouth) often use the down main platform causing down HSTs overtake via Platform 3.
If a train is running into Platform 1 from the east, the overlap from the Platform 3 starting signal is too tight even to be counted as ‘shared’. It does not even qualify for a ‘delayed aspect’ so trains are held at the signal in rear causing a check two signals before Rushey Platt. Trains departing Platform 1 to the east use a different connection with a longer overlap from the Platform 3 starter but this signal obviously remains ‘on’, checking approaching trains at Rushey Platt. When drivers see double yellow signals they react, as now instructed, by applying the brake even earlier than they would to halt at the Platform 3 stop board (which is of course nearer!). There are also many other reasons why the Platform 3 starting signal is not cleared for approaching trains, all resulting in a slow approach. But when a
Milepost 30½ 190 October 2009 driver receives an unchecked run, the entry can be spectacularly fast. Nevertheless, the mix of contingencies results in a wide variation of time over this last leg.
Table 1A Chippenham-Swindon Date/day 4/12/99 Train 09.45 Bristol TM-Paddington Motive Power 43175/43xxx Load (tons) 2+8 Position 2/10 Recorder J.Heaton GPS: Y/N? Yes Miles M C location Sch m s MPH average 0.00 93 76 CHIPPENHAM 0 0 00 1L 6.15 87 64 Dauntsey 5 20 98/102 69.0 8.66 85 23 Wootton Bassett Incline [1] 6 49 101/100 101.5 10.86 83 07 Wootton Bassett J. 8 8 06 105 102.9 13.95 80 00 Hay Lane 9 50 108 107.0 16.66 77 23 SWINDON 14 13 44 41.7 . Table 1B Chippenham-Swindon In recent years, embankment Date/day Thu 21/08/08 work on Dauntsey bank and Train 1430 Bristol TM-Paddington a 100mph temporary speed Motive Power 43031/43063 restriction across Wootton Load (tons) 8/273/413/425 Bassett Jct has inhibited Position 3/10 potential performance. Table Recorder D C Sage 1A shows a typically flat and Weather Dry, bright. unexciting run of this period GPS: Y/N? Yes but Table 1B shows the Miles M C location WTT m s mph average record by David Sage and 0.00 93 77 CHIPPENHAM 0 0 00 Table 1C shows the current 1.29 92 54 Langley 1 54 70 40.6 overall record by Clive Dale. 4.05 89 73 Christian Malford 3 46 99 1/2 88.8 Clive was travelling in 6.23 87 59 Dauntsey 5 02 110/113/110 103.2 company so did not manage 9.96 84 00 Mp 84 7 02 115 112.3 his customary level of detail 10.55 83 33 OB 7 20 118/117 114.8 and is unsure whether this 11.10 82 69 Wootton Bassett 8 7 37 118/121 117.0 was a 2+7 or 2+8 set, the 12.49 81 38 Studley [1] 8 19 120 119.7 latest variable to affect 13.55 80 33 Wroughton Road 8 51 115 118.1 Chippenham-Swindon 15.45 78 41 Rushey Platt 9 53 79 bks 110.9 performance. However, the 16.68 77 23 SWINDON 14 12 05 33.4 statistics suggest the former.
Table 2 shows the trains recorded on the first of the mini mass timing days. If anyone pauses to wonder why the organiser only managed one trip, he was stranded in Exeter by flooding, eventually made Westbury via Yeovil but was further delayed by a bridge strike. A woebegone day ended on a 3+2 seating school contract bus from Bristol to Exeter. Nevertheless, this was one more trip than he completed on the second mini mass timing day (11th December, Table 3) a teacher’s note pleading emergency filial duties in Yorkshire. Fortunately, Chris Napper was able to substitute on December 11. Actually, he did far more than that, taking over my roster and adding a few extra runs on top.
Milepost 30½ 191 October 2009
Table 1C Chippenham-Swindon Date/day 15.10.08 Train 1700 Bristol TM-Paddington Motive Power HST43023/43069 Load (tons) 10? Position 4/10 Recorder CD Weather Cool,SW1-2,clear GPS: Y/N? N Miles M C location Sch m s average 0.00 93 76 CHIPPENHAM 0 0 00 0.88 93 06 OB 1 21 1/2 38.6 1.28 92 54 FB 1 48 54.9 6.21 87 59 OB 4 47 1/2 98.9 6.95 87 00 mp 5 11 1/2 112.0 10.86 83 07 Wootton Bassett J. 8 [1] 7 14 114.8 16.66 77 23 SWINDON 14 11 47 1/2 76.3 . Table 2A Chippenham -Swindon 30 October 2008 D. C. Sage Train 1030 Bristol TM-Paddington 1230 Bristol TM-Paddington 1400 Bristol TM-Paddington Motive Power 43140/43141 43069/43187 43024/43137 Load (tons) 8/273/413/447 8/273/413/438 8/273/413/438 Position 9/10 2/10 8/10 Recorder D C Sage D C Sage D C Sage Weather Coldish, bright Coldish, bright Coldish, bright GPS: Y/N? No Yes Yes Miles M C location WTT m s average m s mph average m s mph average 0.00 93 77 CHIPPENHAM 0 0 00 6.5 L 0 00 Late 5.5 0 00 Late 7 1.29 92 54 Langley 2 15 1/2 34.2 2 03 68 1/2 37.8 2 13 1/2 70 34.7 1.71 92 20 Mp/UB 2 36 74.7 2 34 77 74.9 4.05 89 73 Christian Malford 4 10 1/2 88.9 3 57 87.1 4 06 91.6 5.14 88 66 OB 4 50 1/2 99.1 4 37 102 97.1 4 45 104 99.4 5.59 88 30 OB 5 06 1/2 99.8 4 53 103 101.4 5 01 102.6 6.23 87 59 Dauntsey 5 28 1/2 104.2 5 15 107/110 106.1 5 22 1/2 108/111 107.4 8.15 85 65 Trow Lane 6 19 107 108.3 6 25 109 110.1 8.35 85 49 OB 6 40 1/2 106.4 8.68 85 23 Incline box 6 51 1/2 103.5 109 -/26.7 sigs* 10.55 83 33 OB 7 53 1/2 108.9 7 37 1/2 112 109.6 9 12 1/2 33 51.7 11.10 82 69 Wootton Bassett 8 8 11 1/2 109.9 7 55 1/2 114 111.7 9 52 57 49.7 12.49 81 38 Studley [1] 8 55 1/2 114.2 8 39 117/120 115.3 11 04 77 1/2 69.4 13.55 80 33 Wroughton Road 9 30 111.3 9 11 118 118.5 11 49 1/2 77.5/82.1 84.1 15.45 78 41 Rushey Platt 11 01 75.2 10 34 1/2 43 81.7 13 40 1/2 55 1/2 61.6 16.68 77 23 SWINDON 14 13 28 P 3 30.0 13 22 1/2 Plat 3 26.3 16 23 1/2 Plat 1 27.1
After some experimentation it has been decided to present the tables as submitted by each recorder since the differences in timing points, detail and position in the train caused so many adjustments to be made in the search for reconciliation that there was a danger of the logs losing touch with reality. A handful of times have been slightly adjusted. However, the subsequent analysis of average times to reach Wootton Bassett Jct has used ‘front of train’ estimates, as this is the basis of sectional running times.
Milepost 30½ 192 October 2009
Table 2B Chippenham to Swindon October 30 2008 G. P. Walker Date/day Thu 30/10/08 Thu 30/10/08 Thu 30/10/08 Train 1130 Bristol TM-Paddington 1330 Bristol TM-Paddington 1930 Bristol TM-Paddington Motive Power 43025/43040 43093/43190 43194/43179 Load (tons) 8 8 8 Position 8/10 8/10 2/10 Recorder pw pw pw Weather Coldish, bright Coldish, bright Coldish, bright GPS: Y/N? Y Y Y Miles M C location WTT m s mph average m s mph average m s mph average 0.00 93 77 CHIPPENHAM 0 0 00 8½L 0 00 16L 0 00 7L 1.71 92 20 Mp/UB 2 37 78 39.3 2 38 79 39.0 2 27 1/2 78 41.8 4.01 89 76 Christian Malford 4 09 98½ 90.0 4 09 99 91.0 3 59 1/2 98 90.0 6.23 87 59 Dauntsey 5 26 108 / 110 103.4 5 25 109½/111½108 104.8 5 17 1/2 106109 102.1 8.68 85 23 Incline box 6 47 107 108.9 6 45 1/2 109 109.6 6 40 1/2 105½ 106.3 10.87 83 07 Wootton Bassett 8 7 58 1/2 114 /118 110.5 7 55 1/2 115½/121 112.9 7 50 1/2 113/116½ 112.9 13.87 80 08 M4 OB (W) 9 30 115 118.3 9 26 119½ 119.3 9 25 104 114.3 15.45 78 41 Rushey Platt 10 32 1/2 73 / (72½c) 90.7 10 33 54 sigs (51c) 84.9 10 35 72 (71c) 81.3 16.68 77 23 SWINDON 14 12 38 Plat 3 35.1 13 05 Plat 3 29.0 13 10 Plat 1 28.5 . Table 3A Chippenham to Swindon 11 December 2008 D. C. Sage Train 1030 Bristol TM-Paddington 1230 Bristol TM-Paddington 1430 Bristol TM-Paddington Motive Power 43016/43177 43179/43169 43149/43156 Load (tons) 8/273/413/435 8/273/413/430 8/273/413/432 Position 7/10 9/10 4/10 Recorder D C Sage D C Sage D C Sage Weather Coldish, bright Coldish, bright Coldish, bright GPS: Y/N? Yes Yes Yes Miles M C location WTT m s mph average m s mph average m s mph average 0.00 93 77 CHIPPENHAM 0 0 00 Late 1 0 00 RT 0 00 Late 3 1.29 92 54 Langley 2 11 70.2 35.4 2 14 69 34.6 2 09 1/2 68 35.8 1.71 92 20 Mp/UB 2 31 1/2 75.6 75.0 2 35 77 73.6 2 30 77 74.2 4.05 89 73 Christian Malford 4 04 98 90.9 4 07 1/2 99 91.1 4 02 1/2 98 1/2 91.0 6.23 87 59 Dauntsey 5 21 108/110 101.7 5 23 1/2 109/113 102.8 5 19 1/2 108/110 101.8 8.15 85 65 Trow Lane 6 24 1/2 108 108.8 6 26 109 110.5 6 23 108 108.9 8.68 85 23 Incline box 6 42 1/2 108 106.7 6 43 1/2 110 108.6 6 40 1/2 108 108.8 10.55 83 33 OB 7 43 114 111.4 7 43 116 112.3 7 41 114 111.8 10.88 83 07 Wootton Bassett 8 7 53 116 114.2 7 51 115 112.7 11.10 82 69 Wootton Bassett 8 00 1/2 115 113.9 8 00 1/2 117 115.9 7 58 115 114.5 12.49 81 38 Studley [1] 8 43 118/119 116.8 8 42 1/2 120 118.1 8 41 118/119 116.7 13.55 80 33 Wroughton Road 9 15 118 119.7 9 14 121 121.8 9 13 118 120.0 13.96 80 00 Mp 80 116 9 26 122/123 121.4 9 26 112 113.4 15.45 78 41 Rushey Platt 10 30 1/2 60.8 90.6 10 23 1/2 70 98.4 10 29 1/2 66 1/2 84.3 SN61 11 35 1/2 37.1 11 15 26 1/2 11 16 42 1/2 16.68 77 23 SWINDON 14 13 04 Plat 3 28.7 12 57 Plat 1 28.7 12 42 Plat 3 33.3
Once the MTU/VP185 mix had disappeared, the objectives were to examine the differences in running times caused by the new Swindon approach, to assess what constituted a ‘typical’ maximum and minimum on Dauntsey and find the normal maximum speed after Wootton Bassett Jct. These figures would act as a measure for grading future runs.
On the first day, the range of maximum speeds on Dauntsey was 110-113mph falling to 102-
Milepost 30½ 193 October 2009 111mph, giving arithmetic means of 111mph and 107mph. All six trains were more than one minute late from Chippenham with 1min recovery time to Swindon, so it is contended that there would have been few occasions of drivers failing to run hard on this section. The range of maximum speeds after Wootton Bassett Jct was 117-123mph with an arithmetic mean of 120mph. David Sage’s logs are shown in Table 2B and Paul Walker’s in Table 2C.
These figures are impressive by any standards, but there was disappointment ahead with the new Rushey Platt points being taken at 43-73mph. There are clearly issues to be addressed here, but perhaps the greatest is punctual presentation of trains, since the highest speeds were recorded by the trains closest to their booked path.
Table 3B Chippenham-Swindon December 11 2008 Train 11.30 Bristol TM-Paddington 13.30 Bristol TM-Paddington Motive Power 43194/43031 43078/43158 Load (tons) 8 8 Position 2/10 2/10 Recorder pw pw Weather Cold, bright Cold, bright GPS: Y/N? Y Y Miles M C location m s mph average m s mph average 0.00 93 77 CHIPPENHAM 0 00 2L 0 00 T 1.71 92 20 Mp/UB 2 34 1/2 74 39.9 2 36 74 39.5 4.01 89 76 Christian Malford 4 10 1/2 94 86.2 4 10 1/2 97 87.6 6.23 87 59 Dauntsey 5 30 1/2 103½/106/102½ 99.6 5 28 1/2 107½/110/107 102.1 8.68 85 23 Incline box 6 55 103½ 104.4 6 50 107½ 108.2 10.87 83 07 Wootton Bassett 8 8 08 1/2 109½ /114 107.5 8 00 1/2 114½/118 112.1 13.55 80 33 Wroughton Road 9 34 113 112.8 9 23 1/2 110 116.2 15.45 78 41 Rushey Platt 10 49 1/2 74 / (74c) 90.6 10 47 1/2 61sigs (59c) 81.4 16.68 77 23 SWINDON 14 12 58 Plat 3 34.3 13 17 Plat 3 29.5 Train 15.30 Bristol TM-Paddington Motive Power 43016/43177 Load (tons) 8 Position 2/10 Recorder pw Weather Cold, dull GPS: Y/N? Y Miles M C location WTT m s mph average 0.00 93 77 CHIPPENHAM 0 00 ½E 1.71 92 20 Mp/UB 2 21 77 43.7 4.01 89 76 Christian Malford 3 54 98 89.0 6.23 87 59 Dauntsey 5 11 107/109½/106½ 103.4 8.68 85 23 Incline box 6 33 107½ 107.6 10.87 83 07 Wootton Bassett 8 7 44 114 111.3 13.55 80 33 Wroughton Road 9 06 119/119½ 117.7 15.45 78 41 Rushey Platt 10 24 sigs48 (47c)/16/33 87.7 16.68 77 23 SWINDON 14 13 40 Plat 3 22.5
There were two TSRs in force between Bath and Chippenham causing late departures from Chippenham and the working times contained 1min recovery time.
All six trains had an unchecked run to Wootton Bassett Jct in Table 2 and beat the 8min allowance but only one reached Swindon within the net 13min timing, although two were within 13min 10sec. Turning to the second timing day, thirteen trains were covered, including twelve of the thirteen Bristol TM departures from 10.30 to 16.00. The organiser was
Milepost 30½ 194 October 2009 supposed to be on the uncovered 13.00 Twelve of the thirteen timed trains were 2+8 sets so the 2+7 set on the 15.00 has been excluded from the averages. David Sage’s runs appear in Table 3A, Paul Walker’s in Table 3B and Chris Napper’s in Table 3C
Table 3C Chippenham-Swindon December 11 2008 C. M. Napper Train 11.00 Bristol - Paddington 07.43 Penzance - Paddington 14.00 Bristol TM-Paddington Loco 43144, 43004 43143, 43164 43134, 43135 Load(trail) 8 coaches, 282/295 tonnes 8 coaches, 283/305 tonnes 8 coaches, 283/300 tonnes Load(all) 435 tonnes 445 tonnes 440 tonnes Position/Recorder/GPS 8/8. 5/8. 8/8.
Miles Sch m s Speeds Av.spd m s Speeds Av.spd M s Speeds Av.spd 0.00 Chippenham 0 0 00 ½L 0 00 20L 2L 0.57 Cocklebury Lane OB 1 25 54 24.1 1 28 49 23.3 1 32 52.. 22.3 1.28 Langley 2 07 70 60.9 2 18 68 51.1 2 14 71.. 60.9 2.99 River Avon 3 20 91 84.3 3 32 90 83.2 3 26 92.. 85.5 4.63 Friday Street UB 4 22 102 95.2 4 35 101 93.7 4 27 103.. 96.8 6.22 Dauntsey OB 5 16 108/111 106.0 5 29 107/110 106.0 5 21 109/111 106.0 7.72 Bowd's Farm UB 6 05 109/108 110.2 6 18 109/107 110.2 6 10 110/108 110.2 8.67 Wootton Bassett Incline 6 37 109 106.9 6 50 108/sigs 59 106.9 6 41 109.. 110.3 9.87 Timber Yard UB 7 16 113 110.8 11.07 Wootton Bassett (pub) 8 7 54 116 113.7 8 48 69 73.2 7 58 115.. 112.2 12.48 Studley OB 8 37 119 118.0 9 53 80/76/sigs 27 78.1 13.87 M4 OB [1] 9 19 121/120 119.1 11 50 43 42.8 9 23 120/116 118.6 15.45 A3102 UB 10 27 *55 83.6 13 25 56 59.9 10 25 *74 91.7 sigs. *22/31 16.67 Swindon 14 13 31 23.9 16 43 - 22.2 12 36 - 33.5
Train 15.00 Bristol - Paddington 16.00 Bristol - Paddington 17.00 Bristol - Paddington Loco 43079, 43124 43189, 43033 43179, 43169 Load(trail) 7 coaches, 248/270 tonnes 8 coaches, 282/300 tonnes 8 coaches, 283/300 tonnes Load(all) 410 tonnes 440 tonnes 440 tonnes Position/Recorder/GPS 7/7. 8/8. 8/8.
Miles m s Speeds Av.spd m s Speeds Av.spd m s Speeds Av.spd 0.00 Chippenham 0 00 1L 0 00 1L 0 00 15L 0.57 Cocklebury Lane OB 1 32 53 22.3 1 29 51 23.1 1 35 52 21.6 1.28 Langley 2 13 73 62.3 2 11 70 60.9 2 16 71 62.3 2.99 River Avon 3 23 95 87.9 3 25 91 83.2 3 29 91 84.3 4.63 Friday Street UB 4 22 106 100.1 4 27 101 95.2 4 32 103 93.7 6.22 Dauntsey OB 5 14 113/116 110.1 5 22 107/110 104.1 5 25 109/112 108.0 7.72 Bowd's Farm UB 6 14 108 110.2 8.67 Wootton Bassett Incline box 6 32 113/115 113.1 6 44 108 107.6 9.87 Timber Yard UB 11.07 Wootton Bassett (pub) 7 44 121 120.0 8 00 114/117 113.7 8 01 117 112.7 12.48 Studley OB 8 25 124/125 123.8 8 44 119 118.0 13.87 M4 OB 9 08 *110/sigs 120.0 9 27 110 115.9 9 27 116 116.4 15.45 A3102 UB 10 36 *41 64.6 10 30 *74 90.3 10 28 *71 93.2 sigs. *20/30 16.67 Swindon 13 53 - 22.3 12 26 - 37.9 12 24 - 37.9
Milepost 30½ 195 October 2009
Train 18.00 Bristol - Paddington Loco 43194, 43031 The maximum on Dauntsey was Load(trail) 8 coaches, 283/300 tonnes 110-113, the minimum 103-108 Load(all) 440 tonnes and the arithmetic means were Position/Recorder/GPS 8/8. 111 and 107mph, confirming the previous exercise. After Wootton Miles m s Speeds Av.spd Bassett Jct the range was 114- 0.00 Chippenham 0 00 5L 123mph with a slightly lower 0.57 Cocklebury Lane OB 1 28 52 23.3 average of 119mph. The 1.28 Langley 2 09 71 62.3 114mph dragged the average 2.99 River Avon 3 23 92 83.2 down 1mph below the previous 4.63 Friday Street UB 4 24 101 96.8 figure. Now compare the figures 6.22 Dauntsey OB 5 18 108/110 106.0 with the single 2+7 run where 8.67 Wootton Bassett Incline box 6 40 107/108 107.6 Chris Napper recorded 11.07 Wootton Bassett (pub) 7 57 113 112.2 116/113/125. 12.48 Studley OB 8 41 117/118 115.4 13.87 M4 OB 9 23 117 117.2 15.45 A3102 UB 10 29 69 86.2 16.67 Swindon 12 46 - 32.1
Wow! I am reluctant to ascribe the difference to the absence of a single coach, perhaps the driver was just trying his best with the shorter formation to see what it could do. Yet Clive Dale’s record was ½min faster to Wootton Bassett Jct.
Another batch of fifteen runs (a mixture of my unchecked runs and some submitted by Chris Napper) indicated averages of 110/106/118 with seven of the thirteen runs where the Rushey Platt speed was recorded receiving a clear run. Ten of the twelve were on time and seven out of fifteen took 13min or less with another within 13min 10sec.
So recorders can judge their train’s performance against an expectation of a 111/107/119mph profile, a running time of under 12½min for a clear run with a 70+mph run through Rushey Platt. With the 1min recovery time and a little spare time in the sectional running times, perhaps the ideal run would be 2min late from Chippenham.
Table 4 shows a sparkling Adelante run that I timed from the cab. Throughout most of the period they worked Bristol line trains there were TSRs in force on the embankments above Dauntsey, or through Wootton Bassett Jct, sometimes both. But this run captured a glimpse of what was possible with all engines working on No. 180109, passing Dauntsey station at 124mph in 4min 25sec and averaging 120mph to Wootton Bassett Incline before an inevitable TSR intervened.
Table 4 Chippenham-Swindon Date/day 1/5/03 Train 09.40 Bristol TM-Paddington Motive Power 180109 Load (tons) 5 Recorder position GPS J.Heaton 1/5 Yes Miles M C location Sch m s MPH average 0.00 93 76 CHIPPENHAM 0 0 00 1L 6.15 87 64 Dauntsey 4 25 124 83.5 8.66 85 23 Wootton Bassett Incline 5 40 118 120.5 10.86 83 07 Wootton Bassett J. 8 6 49 100tsr 98 114.8 13.95 80 00 Hay Lane [1] >½> 8 36 110 104.0 16.66 77 23 SWINDON 14½ 13 44 31.7
Milepost 30½ 196 October 2009 North West Rover 2008.
Bevan Price.
In Milepost 28, I looked at some of the secondary services on the WCML between Wigan, Preston and Lancaster. Class 185 was excluded, as it was only in the course of introduction when that article was completed. This survey now includes Class 185 performances that can be compared with other classes as far as Lancaster, and then extends the coverage to Carlisle. Many of the new logs were recorded whilst using a North West Rover ticket, but some were obtained whilst using a Lancashire Day Ranger ticket.
I will be looking at the Manchester to Blackpool line in a later article, so we start our journey at Wigan North Western. In the Summer 2008 timetable, only one class 185 per week was booked to use the Wigan to Preston section. However, thanks to engineering work north of Chorley, many services from Manchester Airport to Preston & beyond were diverted via Wigan for several weeks. Most of these ran via Bolton, but a few northbound services ran via Atherton - the sections of logs between Manchester / Bolton - Wigan will be featured in a later article. Table 1 features three Class 185 trips (logs 1 - 3) between Wigan and Preston. All trains (in both directions) can only use Platform 1 at Wigan North Western, which involves a 10 mph restriction over the junction at the north end of the station. Compared with Class 175 (Milepost 28, log no.6), the starts to Boars Head were comparable, but after Boars Head, the superior acceleration of Class 185 is clearly evident. All the 2008 runs were affected by a 80 mph tsr at Euxton Junction, but between Boars Head and Euxton Balshaw Lane, Class 185 was about 30 seconds faster than a Class 175. Only run no.1 had a clear entry into Preston. Run no.2 called at Leyland and then crossed to the slow line outside Preston station. Run no.3 terminated at Preston due to engineering work, and crawled into the south end bay platform (4c).
Table 1, Wigan to Preston. Run 1 2 3 Date 16 Aug. 2008 16 Aug. 2008 Sun 13 July 2008 Train 11 27 Manc. Air 15 47 Manc. Air 09 21 Manc. Picc Edinburgh Blackpool N Preston Loco 185.131 /151 185.138 185.133 Load 6/326/346 3/163/169 3/163/166 Recorder location GPS B. Price, 5/6 Y B. Price, 1/3 Y B. Price, 1/3 Y Miles m c Location m s mph m s mph m s mph Manc. Oxford Rd 0 00 Bolton 0 00 RT 0.00 6 50 WIGAN (N.W.) 24 42.0 9* 14 42.0 8* 0 00 2L 2.13 8 60 Boars Head Jcn 28 02.9 74 18 21.3 77 3 37.9 79 3.21 9 67 Standish Jcn 28 49.3 90 19 07.6 91 4 23.7 90 5.05 11 54 Coppull Moor 29 57.5 100 20 15.9 99 5 32.0 100 5.84 12 37 Coppull 30 25.5 100 20 44.4 99 5 59.9 101 7.55 14 14 Balshaw Lane Jcn 31 26.0 103 21 45.8 100 7 00.7 102 8.38 15 00 EUXTON BALSHAW LANE 31 55.0 100 22 15.8 98 7 30.9 99 9.59 16 17 Euxton Jcn 32 42.8 tsr 81 23 03.3 tsr 79 8 18.2 tsr 79 11.11 17 59 LEYLAND 33 43.7 100 25 05 9 20.3 101 12.33 18 76 Farington Jcn 34 26.9 99 1 33.0 78/81 10 03.3 100 12.95 19 46 Coote Lane, Farington. 34 50.0 97 2 01.6 74 10 26.8 92 13.51 20 11 Farington Curve Jcn 35 11.5 87 2 34.6 50 10 51.6 76 SL sigs sigs 15.09 21 57 PRESTON 37 20 6 31 P. 1 14 02 P. 4c
Milepost 30½ 197 October 2009
Table 2 covers Preston to Lancaster. It took numerous attempts before I obtained an unchecked northbound Class 185 run over this section. (logs.4 & 5), whilst log 6 is a recent run with a Class 390. I suspect that in run no.4 the 185 was operating in the "ECO" fuel economy mode, with speed falling from 100 to 95 mph north of Garstang. When full power is not required, the engine on one coach can be shut down to save fuel. The computer ensures that the shut-downs are spread over all three coaches as the journey progresses, in order to (approximately) equalise fuel consumption by each coach. First Trans Pennine has reported substantial fuel savings by using this technique. This run was only marginally faster than the Class 175 runs (Milepost 28, logs 19 & 20), whilst run no.5 reduced the journey time to 14m 42s. For comparison, my current best Class 390 time (log 6) is 14m 04s - the slowing to 111 mph near Bay Horse may have been a slight tsr.
Table 2, Preston to Lancaster Run 4 5 6 Date 16 Aug. 2008 16 Aug. 2008 26 July 2008 Train 08 27 Manc. Air 12 27 Manc. Air (09 19 Preston) - Barrow - Barrow -Glasgow Cen. Loco 185.120 185,121 390.034 Load 3/163/168 3/163/172 9/- Recorder,position, GPS B. Price, 1/3 Y B. Price, 1/3 Y B. Price, 1/9 Y Miles m c Location m s mph m s mph m s mph
0.00 0 00 PRESTON 0 00.0 RT 0 00.0 0 00.0 4L 1.34 1 27 Oxheys 1 52.3 71 1 58.1 70 2 10.2 71 4.74 4 59 Barton 4 11.3 99 4 14.3 101 4 16.7 109 7.45 7 36 Brock 5 48.6 100 5 50.2 102/100 5 39.4 125 9.44 9 35 Garstang 7 00.0 100 7 01.2 101 6 38.9 110 12.73 12 58 Scorton 9 01.5 95 8 58.5 101 8 18.0 124 15.29 15 23 Bay Horse 10 37.5 95 10 28.7 101 9 35.3 111 16.68 16 54 Galgate 11 30.1 95 11 18.3 101 10 18.2 122 17.80 17 64 Oubeck 12 12.0 96 11 57.9 101 10 51.8 110 20.03 20 02 Bridge (MP20) 13 54.5 50 13 23.9 78 12 19.1 71 20.99 20 79 LANCASTER 15 20.0 14 46.0 14 04.0
Table 3 covers Lancaster to Oxenholme. This was the northern limit of Class 175 operation on the WCML, and the Windermere services are all checked south of Oxenholme, prior to entering the branch platform. Before this check, the Class 175 (log 7) was about 30 seconds slower than the Class 185 (log 8) from Lancaster to passing Hincaster Junction. However, both were much slower than a Class 221 using tilt mode (log 9). Some speeds in this log were obtained using a Garmin GPS map 76csx, which I recently discovered can sometimes receive enough signal inside Voyagers to show speed measurements at a few favourable locations, e.g. open country, few trees, no cuttings, but coverage is unpredictable and sometimes unobtainable.
Table 4 shows logs between Oxenholme, Penrith and Carlisle. Logs 8 and 9 are continuations of the Class 185 and 221 journeys shown in Table 3, whilst log 10 shows a 2+5 HST formation in 2003. At the time of writing, run no.9 holds the fastest Class 221 records for all three sections between Lancaster and Carlisle. Over the hilly section between Oxenholme and Penrith, none of the times are significantly better than had been achieved by electric locos. However, the schedules were easy enough for 185.130 to reduce the 19 minute lateness at Lancaster to 10 minutes late into Carlisle.
Milepost 30½ 198 October 2009 Table 3, Lancaster to Oxenholme Run 7 8 9 Date 17 Oct. 2005 17 July 2008 16 July 2008 Train 09:27 Manc. Air 09 27 Manc. Airp 08:03 Birmingham -Windermere - Glasgow Cen. -Edinburgh W Loco 175.107 185.130 221.107 Load 3/146/150 3/163/176 5/283/295 Recorder,position, GPS B. Price, 2/3 Y B. Price, 2/3 Y B. Price, 2/5 Partial
Miles m c Location m s mph m s mph m s mph 0.00 0 00 LANCASTER 0 00.0 4L 0 00.0 19L 0 00.0 4L 1.75 1 60 Morecambe S Jcn 2 36.6 70 2 13.9 79 2 09.0 82 3.14 3 11 Hest Bank 3 39.6 86 3 09.6 96/102 3 04.1 100 4.39 4 31 Bolton-le-Sands 4 29.6 93 3 55.2 100 3 46.4 111/115 6.29 6 23 Carnforth 5 40.9 99/100 5 06.3 98 4 48.3 110 8.28 8 22 OB (A6) 6 51.6 99/98 6 19.7 90 5 50.5 115 10.75 10 60 Burton & Holme 8 22.9 99 7 52.0 101 7 06.1 121 13.58 13 46 Milnthorpe 10 05.8 101 9 33.2 98 8 28.6 126 15.50 15 40 Hincaster Jcn 11 13.8 99 10 41.9 100 9 29.4 102 17.75 17 60 OB 12 52.5 55/sigs 12 04.1 99 10 45.2 110 19.10 19 08 OXENHOLME 16 00.0 13 38.0 12 11.0 . Table 4, Oxenholme to Carlisle. Run 10 8 9 Date 2 May 2003 17 July 2008 16 July 2008 Train 07 11 Bristol TM - 09 27 Manc. Airport 08:03 Birmingham NS Glasgow Cen - Glasgow Cen. -Edinburgh W Loco 43158 + 43067 185.130 221.107 Load 5/178/188 3/163/176 5/283/295 Recorder,position, GPS B. Price, 4/7 Y B. Price, 2/3 Y B. Price, 2/5 Partial
Miles m c Location m s mph m s mph m s mph 0.00 19 08 OXENHOLME 0 00.0 0 00.0 16L 0 00.0 3L 3.38 22 38 Hay Fell 3 35.2 84 3 36.3 83/85 3 18.5 85 5.15 24 20 Lambrigg 4 49.4 89 4 52.4 84 4 30.7 92/96 7.06 26 13 Grayrigg 6 08.3 79 6 14.5 79 5 44.7 87/91 8.79 27 71 Low Gill 7 17.9 81 7 25.1 80/101 6 47.4 89 13.11 32 17 Tebay 10 04.2 107/109 10 17.9 99 9 35.4 103 16.05 35 12 Scout Green 11 42.6 105 12 05.6 94 11 16.2 109 18.51 37 49 Shap Summit 13 20.7 72/tsr 18 13 52.8 79 12 59.8 78 20.61 39 57 Shap 16 11.3 74 15 13.3 98 14 23.3 102 22.56 41 53 Harrisons Sdg 17 29.4 93/76 16 26.5 92 15 32.0 90 23.65 42 60 M6 Bridge (Thrimby Gr) 18 19.9 81/79 17 16.8 80 16 22.1 78 27.89 46 79 Clifton 21 09.8 104 20 07.5 100 19 16.1 100 28.90 48 00 Eden Valley Jcn 21 44.8 105 20 44.4 101 19 52.7 102 32.16 51 21 PENRITH 24 41.0 23 35.0 22 47.0 32.16 51 21 PENRITH 0 00.0 0 00.0 14L 0 00.0 3L 36.96 56 05 Plumpton 3 53.3 113 4 04.9 100 3 47.9 113 39.29 58 31 Calthwaite 5 06.3 117 5 28.2 101/102 5 00.9 114 42.59 61 55 Southwaite 6 47.6 113/80* 7 24.8 98 6 38.4 124 45.06 64 13 Wreay 8 20.9 85 9 01.3 85 8 05.7 83 46.74 65 67 Brisco 9 27.3 94 10 08.0 93 9 09.4 106/111 48.64 67 59 Upperby Bridge Jcn 10 39.0 85 11 23.9 79 10 15.5 82 50.00 69 08 CARLISLE 13 11.0 13 53.0 10L 12 46.0 RT
Milepost 30½ 199 October 2009 The North West Rover includes Carlisle to Lockerbie, but with only one northbound Class 185 run to date, I will omit that section at present. My southbound return from Lockerbie was with a Class 221, which reached Carlisle in 16m 06s. Table 5 features Carlisle to Penrith and Oxenholme. There are two runs with Class 185 (logs 11 & 12), and one with a Class 221 (log 13). At the time of writing, the latter holds the 221 fastest times records for both sections, but the Penrith to Oxenholme time should be beaten when the tsr at Grayrigg has been removed. Of the Class 185 runs, log 11 had a slow start out of Carlisle, which I have attributed to a tsr. Otherwise, there were only minor differences between the two Class 185 runs, although both were slower than the Class 221 with tilt mode available. However, it is worth noting that the Class 221 time from Penrith to Oxenholme is slower than Bill Long's electric loco record of 22m 21s with 90021 in 1993.
Table 5, Carlisle to Oxenholme. Run 11 12 13 Date 12 July 2008 15 July 2008 16 July 2008 Train 15:52 Edinburgh 13:40 Glasgow C 14:52 Edinburgh W - Manc. Airport - Manc. Airport _ Birmingham NS Loco 185.112 185.151 221.112 Load 3/163/175 3/163/166 5/283/295 Recorder,position B. Price, 1/3 B. Price, 1/3 B. Price, 4/5
Miles m c Location m s mph m s mph m s mph 0.00 69 08 CARLISLE 0 00.0 RT 0 00.0 RT 0 00.0 3L tsr 17 1.36 67 59 Upperby Bridge Jcn 2 42.7 63 2 32.7 68 2 24.6 68 3.26 65 67 Brisco 4 11.9 86/89 3 58.1 87/91 3 51.3 89 4.94 64 13 Wreay 5 20.9 80 5 07.6 81 4 56.4 99 7.41 61 55 Southwaite 7 03.8 97/101 6 46.3 101 6 25.3 108 10.71 58 31 Calthwaite 9 03.7 97 8 44.3 99 8 10.6 116 13.04 56 05 Plumpton 10 27.6 101 10 07.6 100 9 23.1 107 17.84 51 21 PENRITH 14 21.0 13 53.0 12 28.0 0.00 51 21 PENRITH 0 00.0 0 00.0 0 00.0 3.26 48 00 Eden Valley Jcn 3 00.7 86 2 59.6 88 2 59.3 90 4.28 46 79 Clifton 3 43.3 88/95 3 40.3 92/93 3 38.8 96 8.51 42 60 M6 Bridge (Thrimby Gr) 6 43.3 75 6 40.0 81 6 27.1 87 9.60 41 53 Harrisons Sdg 7 35.2 82 7 32.5 78 7 14.6 86 11.55 39 57 Shap 8 53.6 96 8 53.2 95 8 28.9 100 13.65 37 49 Shap Summit 10 16.4 79 10 14.1 78/103 9 50.3 81 16.11 35 12 Scout Green 11 53.3 103 11 52.3 101 11 27.2 110/114 19.05 32 17 Tebay 13 37.5 99 13 36.6 99 13 02.7 112 23.38 27 71 Low Gill 16 30.9 77 16 33.9 78 15 48.0 81 25.10 26 13 Grayrigg 18 02.4 tsr 48 18 15.0 tsr 45 17 11.7 tsr 50 27.01 24 20 Lambrigg 19 32.7 87 19 44.8 85/87 18 38.3 87 28.79 22 38 Hay Fell 20 46.5 84 20 58.2 84 19 44.7 96 32.16 19 08 OXENHOLME 23 56.0 24 08.0 22 25.0
Table 6 covers Oxenholme to Lancaster. Log 14 shows a Class 175 run on a Windermere to Manchester Airport service. The slow start out of the branch platform probably costs about 60 seconds, compared with trains departing from the up main platform. Further comparison with Class 185 (log.11) and 221 (log 12) was hindered in July 2008 by the presence of a tsr south of Milnthorpe, but indications are that on this mainly downhill section, Class 175 was only marginally slower than Class 185.
Table 7 shows runs from Lancaster to Preston. Unchecked runs over this section have been elusive, but the two Class 185 runs (logs 15 & 16) can be compared with two Class 175 runs
Milepost 30½ 200 October 2009 Table 6, Oxenholme to Lancaster. Run 14 12 13 Date 24 Aug. 2001 17 July 2008 16 July 2008 Train 18:10 Windermere 13:40 Glasgow 14:52 Edinburgh Manc, Airport - Manc. Airport - Birmingham NS Loco 175.110 185.130 221.112 Load 3/146/149 3/163/173 5/283/295 Recorder,position GPS B. Price, 1/3 Y B. Price, 2/3 Y B. Price, 4/5 Partial
Miles m c Location m s mph m s mph m s mph 0.00 19 08 OXENHOLME 0 00.0 4L 0 00.0 RT 0 00.0 2L 1.35 17 60 OB 2 51.4 66 1 43.1 80 1 38.4 85 3.60 15 40 Hincaster Jcn 4 29.6 86 3 09.2 101 2 59.7 112 5.53 13 46 Milnthorpe 5 39.8 98 4 18.1 101 3 59.3 119 tsr 47 tsr 66 8.35 10 60 Burton & Holme 7 23.0 97 6 36.7 75 5 53.3 83 10.83 8 22 OB (A6) 8 54.9 98 8 19.4 101 7 26.2 114 12.81 6 23 Carnforth 10 08.1 97/99 9 30.1 94 8 28.0 110 14.71 4 31 Bolton-le-Sands 11 17.4 98 10 41.9 100 9 27.8 117 15.96 3 11 Hest Bank 12 03.4 97 11 27.0 99 10 04.6 120 17.35 1 60 Morecambe S Jcn 12 57.8 85 12 15.9 99 10 50.3 98 19.10 0 00 LANCASTER 15 28.0 14 08.0 12 42.0 in Milepost 28 (logs 31 & 32). The Class 175 runs were afflicted by the slow exit then applicable for southbound trains leaving Lancaster, which probably cost about 60 seconds. Once clear of Lancaster, the Class 185's had better acceleration, but both types of unit were capable of running at close to their 100 mph limit until the approach to Preston. Included is a Class 221 run (log 17), which had a slight tsr between Scorton & Garstang, but was still over one minutes faster than my best time with Class 185.
Table 7, Lancaster to Preston. Run 15 16 17 Date 1 March 2008 1 March 2008 14 June 2008 Train 10:18 Windermere 11:18 Barrow - 14 52 Edinburgh - Manc. Airport Manc. Airport Birmingham N. St. Loco 185.150 185.143 221.104 Load 3/163/173 3/163/175 5/283/288 Recorder,position GPS B. Price, 1/3 N B. Price, 1/3 N B. Price, -4/5 Partial
Miles m c Location m s mph m s mph m s mph 0.00 20 79 LANCASTER 0 00.0 RT 0 00.0 3L 0 00.0 RT 0.96 20 02 Lancaster No.1 1 36.6 60 1 35.3 60 1 33.8 61 3.19 17 64 Oubeck 3 20.4 93 3 18.8 93 3 14.6 91 4.31 16 54 Galgate 4 01.7 100/90 3 59.6 100/90 3 57.3 99 5.70 15 23 Bay Horse 4 54.7 100 4 54.2 98 4 45.3 114 8.26 12 58 Scorton 6 25.9 100 6 25.9 101 6 03.2 120/94* 11.55 9 35 Garstang 8 24.0 100 8 23.3 100 7 55.7 110 13.54 7 36 Brock 9 35.3 100 9 34.2 100 8 58.8 119 16.25 4 59 Barton 11 12.5 100 11 10.8 101 10 21.1 108 19.65 1 27 Oxheys 13 22.1 78 13 18.6 72 12 17.7 78 20.99 0 00 PRESTON 15 36.0 15 32.0 14 26.0
Finally, Table 8 includes two Class 185 runs (logs 18 & 19) between Preston and Wigan, which may be compared with the Class 175 run in Milepost 28 (log 16). The Class 185 runs were fairly similar, both being about 1 minute faster than the Class 175 from Preston to
Milepost 30½ 201 October 2009
Table 8, Preston to Wigan. Run 18 19 20 Date 16 Aug. 2008 16 Aug. 2008 14July 2008 Train 09 15 Barrow - 14 18 Windermere 15 10 Glasgow Manc.Oxford Road Manc. Oxford Rd. - London Euston Loco 185.101 185.109 390.017 Load 3/163/170 3/163/169 9/- Recorder,position GPS B.Price, 1/3 Y B. Price, 1/3 Y B. Price, 9/9 Y
Miles m c Location m s mph m s mph m s mph 0.00 21 57 PRESTON 0 00.0 0 00.0 RT 0 00.0 8L 1.58 20 11 Farington Curve Jcn 2 04.6 76 1 59.7 76 2 11.6 84 2.14 19 46 Coote Lane 2 29.7 82 2 25.1 81 2 34.9 90 2.76 18 76 Farington Jcn 2 56.5 88 2 52.0 88 2 58.7 99 3.98 17 59 LEYLAND 3 43.1 95/93 3 38.5 95/92 3 40.2 107 5.50 16 17 Euxton Jcn 4 39.6 101 4 36.0 99 4 30.1 115 6.71 15 00 EUXTON BALSHAW LANE 5 23.0 97 5 18.9 100 5 07.0 122 7.54 14 14 Balshaw Lane Jcn 5 54.0 98/100 5 49.0 98 5 31.5 124 9.25 12 37 Coppull 6 55.9 99 6 51.3 98 6 20.6 126 10.04 11 54 Coppull Moor 7 24.3 100/101 7 19.9 99/100 6 43.0 127 11.88 9 67 Standish Jcn 8 30.0 99 8 26.5 96 7 35.0 128 12.96 8 60 Boars Head Jcn 9 11.8 86 9 09.4 79 8 05.6 127 sigs 12:26 - 17:10 15.09 6 50 WIGAN (N.W.) 19 19.0 10* sig 14:59 - 19:48 10 01.0 Bolton arr 35 37.0 39 53.0 passing Standish Junction. However, fast running was of little benefit. Run no.18 was held for over 4 minutes whilst two northbound services passed through Platform 1 at Wigan North Western, and run no.19 was stopped in the platform, awaiting a path onto the Bolton line. Finally, log 20 shows a record Class 390 run from Preston to Wigan. Starting from Platform 6 at Preston, I had not expected anything special, but surprises do happen occasionally. The start to Farington Curve Junction was brisk, although I have bettered the start with a Class 221. Then, slightly exceeding the limit south of Coppull, the run concluded with near perfect braking, the time from passing Boars Head to stopping in Wigan was 1m 55s for 2.13 miles - almost 20 seconds better than anything else I have recorded at this location.
The overall impression is of good performance by Class 185. With 100 mph maximum, they cannot compete with tilt enabled Class 221 units, but with current stopping patterns between Preston and Carlisle, they should be only 6 to 7 minutes slower than a Class 221. However, between Preston & Carlisle, even tilt-enabled trains have not so far made major improvements to running times, compared with what was achieved by electric locomotives.
From a passenger's viewpoint, Class 185 are a nice train - pleasant environment, good views out of windows from most seats, and quite comfortable. However, I think there are two major problems. Firstly, they are much too small, and on several occasions, I chose to wait for the next train rather than stand in an overcrowded Class 185. Trans Pennine would like to add an extra coach, but in my experience, many of the trains really need an extra 2 or 3 coaches. Secondly, except on the Anglo - Scottish services, in the writer's opinion the first class section looks like wasted space and has dubious value on services to Blackpool, Barrow or Windermere. A Class 185 contains about 40 fewer standard class seats than the 3 car Class 175's previously used on some of these services, resulting in worse overcrowding on some of the busier trains. It would benefit the vast majority of passengers if there was a batch of "standard class only" units for these short distance services, although I appreciate this might cause problems with unit diagramming.
Milepost 30½ 202 October 2009 FASTEST TIMES UPDATE
Martin Robertson
Welcome to another fastest Times Update where the West Coast Main Line continues to produce Fastest Times as the VHF service beds down. There are contributions from the Midland Main Line through Richard Knight, Brian Milner and John Heaton and a very rare Fastest Time run into Glasgow Queen Street from Sandy Smeaton. The GWR is not forgotten with a brief snippet from David Adams of an excellent HST performance together with another excellent HST on a Cross Country service into Derby.
We start with two northbound runs from Euston on a Glasgow service, to Warrington and Preston. Lee Allsopp had recently forwarded a run recorded in late June in a time of 104m 09s minutes, which was the first run I had seen of a non stop run to Warrington, despite it being the standard first calling point for the Glasgow services. Lee followed this with a run by Paul Johnstone which reduced the time to 102m 22s.
I had arranged two trips to London coming south on the overnight service and returning on the 8 30 from Euston on which Virgin are offering a single to Glasgow for £17.50, which is excellent value. This was my first visit to the southern end of the Wcml since 2001. A two and three quarter minute late start was an incentive for the driver to make a determined effort to regain time. With my first generation gps unit refusing to provide any readout of speeds, I resorted to taking times to passing points only. My thanks to Ian Umpleby for his very comprehensive mileage chart of the complete line, without which I could not have obtained such a detailed recording.
The driver undertook a running brake test after leaving Primrose Hill Tunnel and there may have been a slight easing at Willesdon Jn. Thereafter we were unchecked until a double yellow was sighted approaching Queensville, possibly from the 9 20 Birmingham to Glasgow Voyager service. This was also the probable cause of the signal check approaching Crewe, where the Voyager was passed. Neither check was particularly severe in terms of losing time. We obtained a clear road thereafter to reach Warrington in 97m 21s, an excellent average of 112.1mph. The public timetable shows the departure from Warrington as being in 104 minutes, which suggests a running time allowance of around 102minutes, which is a very sharp timing.
The point to point average speeds over the 125mph permitted sections were generally slightly above 125, a testament to the determined effort being made by the driver. We were fortunate that there were no significant psr’s on the route and that the two signal checks encountered both only lost a matter of seconds. An excellent run, which may remain as a Fastest Time for some time. North of Preston we achieved we ran from Oxenholme to Carlisle in 33m 36s for a second Fastest Time. Ed Gardiner has forwarded a Euston-Preston run in a time of 115m 01s, which passed Warrington in approximately 97m 50s. There appeared to be only one intermediate check but running was generally at around 123- 124mph.
My second run was made a fortnight later, this time with a punctual departure. We were a minute down on the run shown by Willesdon and two and a quarter minutes down by Colwich after which we suffered a series of checks including running on the slow line from Stafford to Crewe. Despite being 9 minutes late at Lancaster we arrived in Glasgow only 30 seconds late.
The second run in Table 1 was recorded on the 16 30 from Euston which only calls at Preston en route to Glasgow. By 16 25 there was still no advice on the departure platform
Milepost 30½ 203 October 2009 Table 1 Date/day S 25-Jul-09 Th 3-Mar-09 Train 0830 Euston-Glasgow 1630 Euston-Glasgow Motive Power 390010 390046 Load (tons) 9,462/475 9,462/480 Weather Fine Fine Recorder / Position / GPS M Robertson 4/9 No M Robertson 5/9 N Miles m c Location Sch m s Ave m s mph Ave 0.00 0 04 London Euston d(P12) 0 0 00.0 -2 3/4 0 00.0 -11 1.05 1 08 Camden S Jn 2 09.5 29.2 2 33.0 24.7 1.63 1 54 Primrose Hill T'l (in) 2 48.5 53.1 3 13.5 51.1 3.64 3 55 Queens Park 4 43.5 63.0 5 10.0 62.2 5.48 5 42 Willesdon Jn (A4000) 5 51.5 97.3 6 24.5 88.8 8.01 8 05 Wembly Central 7 27.5 95.2 7 52.5 103.8 9.38 9 34 South Kenton 8 10.0 115.4 8 37.5 109.0 11.34 11 31 Harrow & Wealdstone Sfb 9 07.5 122.9 9 42.0 109.5 13.23 13 22 Hatch End 10 01.0 127.0 10 44.5 108.7 14.68 14 58 Carpenters Park 10 43.0 124.3 11 32.5 108.8 15.94 15 79 Bushey 11 23.5 112.2 12 13.5 110.9 17.40 17 36 Watford Jn (Sub) 12 10.0 113.2 13 00.0 113.2 18.43 18 38 Watford T'l (in) 12 43.5 110.1 13 34.0 108.5 20.89 20 75 Kings Langley (sub) 13 59.0 117.4 14 55.0 109.4 23.05 23 08 Apsley (Sfb) 15 00.5 126.6 16 05.0 111.2 24.44 24 39 Hemel Hempstead (Sub) 15 40.5 124.9 16 50.5 109.8 26.28 26 26 Bourne End 16 32.0 128.4 17 51.0 109.3 27.86 27 73 Berkhamstead (Sub) 17 18.0 124.2 18 43.5 108.9 30.10 30 12 Northchurch ob 18 22.0 125.9 19 56.5 110.3 31.65 31 56 Tring (Sfb) 19 06.0 126.8 20 47.0 110.5 33.94 33 79 Tring Cutting ob 20 11.5 125.7 22 01.5 110.5 36.06 36 09 Cheddington (Sfb) 21 11.5 127.5 23 10.0 111.7 37.23 37 22 Ledburn Jn sign 21 45.0 124.9 23 47.0 113.1 40.13 40 14 Leigton Buzzard (Sfb)} 23 08.0 125.8 25 22.5 109.3 42.20 42 20 Chlemscote Br ob 24 07.5 125.5 26 31.5 108.3 43.95 44 00 Stoke Hammond ob 24 57.5 126.0 27 28.0 111.5 46.60 46 52 Bletchley(Sfb) 26 13.0 126.4 28 55.0 109.7 49.78 49 66 Milton Keynes (Sfb) 27 44.0 125.6 30 38.0 111.0 52.35 52 32 Wolverton (Sfb) 28 57.0 127.0 32 02.0 110.4 56.48 56 40 Hanslope Jn new RR 30 55.0 126.0 34 18.0 109.3 59.79 59 65 Roade fb 32 29.5 126.0 36 06.5 109.7 62.84 62 69 Blisworth (RR) 33 56.0 126.9 37 47.0 109.3 64.43 64 36 Banbury Lane ob 34 41.5 125.6 38 39.5 108.9 67.58 67 48 Heyford RR 36 12.0 125.3 40 22.0 110.6 69.63 69 52 Weedon ob 37 12.5 122.0 41 29.0 110.1 73.09 73 09 G U Canal ub 38 52.0 125.3 43 23.0 109.3 76.76 76 63 Kilsby T'l (in) 40 39.0 123.6 45 36.5 tsr 99.1 78.14 78 13 Kilsby T'l (out) 41 24.0 110.0 46 38.0 80.5 80.28 80 24 Hilmorton ub 42 29.0 118.4 47 58.5 95.6 82.45 82 38 Rugby Buffet 43 30.5 127.3 49 10.0 109.5 85.68 85 56 Oxford Canal 45 01.5 127.6 50 55.5 110.0 87.84 87 69 Brinklow Jn sign 46 03.0 126.6 52 06.0 110.4 89.98 90 00 Mp 90 47 04.0 126.1 53 15.5 110.7 93.48 93 40 Bulkington ob 48 43.5 126.6 55 09.0 111.0 97.03 97 04 Nuneaton Sfb 50 25.5 125.3 57 05.0 110.2 100.00 100 02 Nuneaton Road 51 50.5 126.0 58 42.0 110 110.4
Milepost 30½ 204 October 2009 Miles m c Location Sch m s Ave m s mph Ave 102.28 102 24 Atherstone Sfb 53 05.0 109.9 60 00.5 102* 104.3 106.48 106 40 Polesworth Mp 55 13.0 118.1 62 20.0 111 108.4 110.00 110 02 Tamworth exit 56 53.5 126.3 64 17.0 110 108.5 112.38 112 32 R Tarne Viad (s) 58 01.5 125.7 65 35.0 110 109.6 114.48 114 40 Burton Road ub 59 01.5 126.0 66 43.5 110 110.4 116.23 116 20 Lichfield TV bdg 59 51.0 127.3 67 41.5 108 108.6 119.11 119 11 A515 o/b 61 14.5 124.5 69 16.5 110 109.4 121.05 121 06 Armitage ub 62 10.0 125.7 70 20.5 112 109.0 124.26 124 23 Rugley TV sfb 63 43.0 124.4 72 05.0 110 110.7 127.04 127 05 Colwich Jn pts 65 29.5 93.8 73 57.0 60tsr 89.2 128.99 129 01 Shugburgh T'l (N) 66 57.0 80.2 75 06.5 101.0 130.56 130 47 Whitehouse Jn pts 67 59.5 90.7 76 13.0 85.3 132.29 132 25 Queensville ob 69 11.5 86.2 77 29.5 86 81.2 133.50 133 42 Stafford Sfb 70 02.5 85.6 78 20.5 88 85.6 136.85 136 70 Great Bridgeford 72 04.0 99.3 80 21.0 109 100.1 138.83 138 68 Norton Bridge shl* 73 20.5 92.9 81 34.0 90* 97.4 141.09 141 09 Badnall ob 74 43.0 98.7 82 56.0 109 99.3 143.35 143 30 Standon Br ob 75 51.0 119.8 84 09.0 111 111.6 145.76 145 63 Stableford ob 77 00.0 125.9 85 28.0 111 109.9 147.48 147 40 Whitmore ob 77 50.0 123.3 86 24.0 110 110.1 150.15 150 14 Madeley ob 79 07.0 125.1 87 50.5 110 111.3 153.23 153 20 Betley Road ob 80 35.0 125.8 89 30.0 111 111.3 156.26 156 23 Basford Hall Sig Box* 82 14.0 110.5 91 09.5 109 109.9 157.99 158 01 Crewe Sfb 83 40.5 71.8 92 23.0 80* 84.5 158.83 158 68 Crewe Coal Yard Box* 84 17.0 82.6 92 58.5 85 84.9 161.16 161 15 Coppenhall Jn ob 85 48.0 92.5 94 29.5 106 92.5 162.90 162 74 Minshull Vernon ob 86 41.0 118.0 95 27.5 107 107.8 165.45 165 38 Winsford Sfb 87 55.0 124.1 96 51.0 111 109.9 169.83 169 68 Hartford Sfb 89 59.5 126.5 99 14.5 109 109.8 172.49 172 41 Acton Bridge Sfb 91 16.5 124.5 100 40.5 112 111.5 174.49 174 41 Weaver Jn RR* 92 14.0 125.2 101 46.0 110 109.9 176.03 176 04 Preston Brook T'l (S) 92 58.0 125.8 102 36.5 109 109.6 177.49 177 41 Norton Pc 93 40.5 123.9 103 24.0 109 110.8 179.80 179 66 Moore Lane ob 94 52.5 115.6 104 40.5 108.8 180.43 180 36 Acton Grange GF No.1 95 13.5 107.1 105 02.5 98 102.3 182.10 182 12 Warrington 102 97 21.0 47.3 106 06.5 90 94.2 184.33 184 30 Winwick Quay 107 42.0 90 83.9 185.50 185 44 Winwick Jn 108 31.5 79* 85.5 187.44 187 39 M6 o/b 109 56.5 82.1 189.04 1 63 Golbourne 111 02.0 96 88.1 191.48 4 18 Bamfurmlong Jn 112 25.0 109 105.7 192.57 5 25 Springs Br Jn 113 01.0 95 108.8 193.88 6 50 Wigan 114 00.0 64sc 80.1 196.00 8 60 Boars Head 115 45.5 72.5 197.09 9 67 Standish 116 45.5 60sc 65.3 199.72 12 37 Coppul 118 59.5 78 70.5 202.20 14 76 Euxton Balshaw Lane 120 31.5 110 97.3 203.47 16 17 Euxton Jn 121 13.5 104 108.2 204.99 17 59 Leyland 122 07.5 102 101.7 206.28 19 02 Farringdon Jn 122 50.0 99 109.1 207.38 20 10 Farringdon Curve Jn 123 37.5 75sc 83.4 208.52 21 21 Ribble Viad (S) 124 46.5 35/20ts 59.3 208.97 21 57 Preston arr. 126 08.0 19.9
Milepost 30½ 205 October 2009 Table 2 with an Date/day Fri 14-Jul-09 announcement that Train 1340 Glasgow-Euston a fitter was Motive Power 390015 attending to the Load (tons) 9,452/475 train. The platform Recorder / Position / GPS A Smeaton 3/9 N was advised at 16 Av 31 from which we Mileage Ms Ch LOCATION Mn Sc Spd Remarks departed at 16 41, 0.00 21 57 PRESTON d Plat 6 0 00.0 ~ (-10 3/4) eleven minutes late. 2.71 19 00 Farington Jn 3 42.5 43.9 The 16 33 to 3.98 17 59 LEYLAND 4 27.3 101.5 Lancaster had left 5.51 16 16 Euxton Jn 5 16.0 113.7 on time and the 16 6.76 14 76 EUXTON BALSHAW LANE 5 52.7 122.6 40 to Manchester 7.71 14 00 MP 6 21.8 117.5 was seen departing 9.71 12 00 " 7 19.8 124.1 from the east side 11.71 10 00 " 8 17.1 125.7 of Euston at 16 40. 12.96 8 60 Boars Head 8 52.7 126.4 It was held outside 15.09 6 50 WIGAN N.W. 10 16.9 90.9 Sigs Euston to allow us 16.46 5 20 Springs Branch Jn (MP) 11 13.8 87.0 to run ahead, 17.71 4 00 Bamfurlong Jn (RR) 11 55.8 107.1 despite the 19.21 2 40 Haydock Branch Jn 12 43.9 112.3 Manchester 20.71 1 00 MP 13 38.7 98.5 service’s first call 21.51 187 40 MP 14 10.1 91.4 being Crewe. A 23.45 185 45 Winwick Jn 15 28.3 89.2 relatively slow start 25.01 184 00 MP 16 31.3 89.3 to Primrose Hill 26.86 182 12 WARRINGTON B.Q. 17 49.5 85.1 Tunnel, losing 28.53 180 36 Acton Grange GF No.1 18 53.4 94.1 almost 30 seconds 29.98 179 00 MP 19 41.8 107.9 against the first run. 31.48 177 40 Norton 20 26.5 120.8 Once clear of 32.89 176 07 Preston Brook Tnl N 21 07 125.6 Wembley it was 34.47 174 41 Weaver Jn (RR) 21 53.1 123.0 clear that we 36.47 172 41 ACTON BRIDGE 22 50.0 126.5 running at 110mph, 39.14 169 67 HARTFORD 24 06 126.7 which if nothing else 40.98 168 00 MP 24 59.0 124.8 provided a 43.49 165 39 WINSFORD 26 10.8 126.0 smoother ride than 44.98 164 00 Minshull Vernon (MP) 26 53.2 126.3 a 125mph run. 46.98 162 00 MP 27 50.7 125.2 50.13 158 68 Crewe Coal Yard 29 31.8 112.2 There was an 50.94 158 03 CREWE 30 08 80.7 80mph tsr at Kisbly 52.98 156 00 MP 31 29.0 90.6 Tunnel which Run 1 54.98 154 00 " 32 33.1 112.2 missed, by which 55.73 153 20 Betley Road (OB) 32 55.1 122.7 time we were five 57.73 151 20 Wrine Hill (MP) 33 52.7 125.0 minutes behind. By 59.98 149 00 MP 34 57.0 126.1 Crewe this had 61.48 147 40 Whitmore 35 39.6 126.6 reached almost 9 62.98 146 00 MP 36 22.3 126.5 minutes and at 64.98 144 00 " 37 19.4 126.1 Acton Grange we 66.98 142 00 " 38 16.3 126.5 were 10 minutes 68.98 140 00 " 39 22.1 109.4 adrift of Run 1. We 70.13 138 68 NORTON BRIDGE 40 10.8 99.0 suffered a series of 71.98 137 00 MP 41 20.0 96.2 signal checks to 73.98 135 00 " 42 24.3 112.0 around 60mph after 75.44 133 43 STAFFORD 43 13.9 106.1 Wigan as a Class 76.48 132 40 MP 43 55.2 90.5 156 unit cleared the 79.97 129 01 Shugborough Tunnel N 47 15.1 62.8 Sigs
Milepost 30½ 206 October 2009 Av Remarks two track section to Mileage Ms Ch LOCATION Mn Sc Spd Euxton Balshaw Lane. 81.83 127 12 Colwich 48 38.7 80.2 Sigs There may have been a 82.98 126 00 MP 49 35.0 73.5 signal check or tsr on the 84.73 124 20 RUGELEY T.V. 50 35.0 89.8 final approach to Preston 85.98 123 00 MP 51 15.4 107.6 where we arrived in 126 87.98 121 00 Armitage (MP) 52 18 113.6 minutes, a loss of 6 89.98 119 00 MP 53 16.6 122.9 minutes to the schedule. 92.73 116 20 LICHFIELD T.V. 54 35.8 125.1 The northern half of the 93.98 115 00 MP 55 10.8 128.4 run allowed 2 ½ minutes 95.98 113 00 Milepost 56 08 125.9 to be regained to arrive 98.96 110 02 TAMWORTH 57 34.7 123.5 in Glasgow 14 1/2 100.98 108 00 MP 58 31.2 129.0 minutes late, a loss of 102.48 106 40 POLESWORTH 59 14.1 127.7 only 3 ½ minutes to the 104.98 104 00 MP 60 25.5 126.1 fastest schedule of the 106.69 102 23 ATHERSTONE 61 24.8 104.1 day. 107.98 101 00 MP 62 10.0 102.4 109.98 99 00 " 63 09 122.0 Table 2 has a run from 111.93 97 04 NUNEATON 64 05 125.4 Preston to Euston 113.98 95 00 " 65 04 125.1 recorded by Sandy 115.98 93 00 " 66 01 126.3 Smeaton which 117.98 91 00 " 66 58.2 126.0 substantially eclipsed a 120.98 88 00 " 68 23.8 126.1 run by John Heaton of 122.98 86 00 " 69 21.0 125.9 118m 37s, which was 124.64 84 27 Newbold Jn 70 08 126.3 recorded two days after 126.48 82 40 RUGBY 71 00 127.2 Sandy’s trip. Sandy’s 127.98 81 00 MP 71 44.4 121.6 comments are:- The 130.82 78 13 Kilsby Tunnel N 73 09 120.7 incentive for this 132.18 76 64 Kilsby Tunnel S 73 52.8 112.1 excellent run was the 133.98 75 00 MP 74 46.5 120.6 late start from Glasgow 135.98 73 00 " 75 43.2 127.1 for reasons unknown. 137.98 71 00 Weedon (MP) 76 40.5 125.5 Motherwell was passed 140.58 68 32 Stowe Hill Tunnel N 77 58.6 119.9 in a fast 12m 15s with, 141.98 67 00 MP 78 38.7 125.5 amazingly, no checks. 143.98 65 00 " 79 36.3 125.0 The run on to Carlisle 145.98 63 00 " 80 33.3 126.4 gradually gained on the 149.48 59 40 " 82 13.1 126.2 previous record of 66m 152.48 56 40 Hanslope Jn 83 38.3 126.5 37s to stop in Carlisle, 153.98 55 00 Milepost 84 21.0 126.5 1m 46s faster in 64m 156.50 52 40 WOLVERTON 85 32.8 126.4 51s. 158.00 51 00 MP 86 15.6 126.2 159.18 49 66 MILTON KEYNES CENTRAL 86 51.9 121.7 Onto Oxenholme 1m 42 161.00 48 00 " 88 20.4 74.2 Sigs s were dropped on the 162.35 46 52 BLETCHLEY 89 09 100.0 impossible 33 minute 165.00 44 00 " 90 31.6 115.5 timing, with no checks. 167.00 42 00 " 91 28.6 126.3 One minute was 168.84 40 13 LEIGHTON BUZZARD 92 20.9 126.4 regained to Preston, but 171.73 37 22 Ledburn Jn 93 44.6 124.2 we departed 10 ½ 172.89 36 09 CHEDDINGTON 94 16.6 130.8 minutes late, showing 174.00 35 00 MP 94 48.4 125.9 how difficult it is to 176.00 33 00 " 95 45.1 127.0 maintain the schedule 177.30 31 56 TRING 96 21.7 127.3 over the northern fells. 179.85 29 12 Northchurch Tunnel N 97 34.4 126.4 181.09 27 73 BERKHAMPSTEAD 98 10.2 124.3 183.46 25 43 Bourne End Jn 99 18.2 125.8
Milepost 30½ 207 October 2009 Av Remarks The final 209 miles Mileage Ms Ch LOCATION Mn Sc Spd to Euston saw only 184.50 24 40 HEMEL HEMPSTEAD 99 47.2 128.6 three slight checks 185.91 23 07 APSLEY 100 27.3 126.8 approaching Wigan, 188.05 20 76 KINGS LANGLEY 101 28.7 125.3 Colwich and after 189.50 19 40 MP 102 12.6 118.9 Milton Keynes. The 191.50 17 40 WATFORD JN 103 17.1 114.6 arrival in Euston was 194.29 14 57 CARPENDER'S PARK 104 43.6 116.0 4 ¾ minutes early, a 196.41 12 47 HEADSTONE LANE 105 44.5 125.6 fine conclusion to 198.69 10 25 KENTON 106 49.7 125.6 the run, stopping in 199.58 9 34 SOUTH KENTON 107 14.7 127.8 115m 47s, 32 201.00 8 00 WEMBLEY CENTRAL 107 55.6 125.4 seconds less than 203.00 6 00 MP 108 58.7 114.2 the Special non-stop 204.26 4 59 Kensal Green Tunnel N 109 48.9 90.4 run of September 206.00 3 00 KILBURN HIGH ROAD (MP) 111 04 83.3 2006. 206.66 2 27 Primrose Hill Tunnel N 111 40.3 65.7 207.33 1 54 Primrose Tunnel S 112 25.4 52.9 207.90 1 08 Camden S Jn 113 07 49.8 208.95 0 04 LONDON EUSTON (Pl 1) 115 47.2 23.6 4¾ ely ‘ Table 3 Miles M C location m s average Date/day Fri 26th June 2009 49.95 50 00 MP50 28 01 123.0 Train 1757 Euston to Glasgow 51.95 52 00 MP52 28 59 1/2 123.2 Motive Power 390023 53.92 54 00 MP54 29 58 121.0 Load (tons) 9/460/475 56.12 56 20 MP56 1/4 31 03 1/2 121.0 Recorder / Position / GPS E O Gardiner 59.52 59 60 MP59 3/4 32 45 1/2 120.2 Weather Fair 61.92 62 00 MP62 33 50 1/2 132.2 Miles M C location m s average 63.92 64 00 MP64 34 48 1/2 124.3 0.05 0 00 Euston 0 00 65.92 66 00 MP66 35 46 1/2 124.1 5.95 6 00 MP6 6 19 1/2 56.0 67.92 68 00 MP68 36 44 1/2 124.5 7.95 8 00 MP8 7 21 117.6 71.92 72 00 MP72 38 44 120.5 9.95 10 00 MP10 8 19 1/2 122.8 73.92 74 00 MP74 39 42 1/2 123.3 15.95 16 00 MP16 11 19 1/2 120.1 75.92 76 00 MP76 40 40 1/2 123.9 17.95 18 00 MP18 12 25 109.7 79.92 80 00 MP80 42 45 1/2 115.0 19.95 20 00 MP20 13 29 112.7 81.92 82 00 MP82 43 43 1/2 124.7 23.95 24 00 MP24 15 25 1/2 123.6 83.92 84 00 MP84 44 41 1/2 124.1 25.95 26 00 MP26 16 23 1/2 123.6 85.92 86 00 MP86 45 40 123.3 27.95 28 00 MP28 17 22 1/2 122.5 87.92 88 00 MP88 46 38 124.1 29.95 30 00 MP30 18 21 123.0 89.92 90 00 MP90 47 36 124.1 31.95 32 00 MP32 19 19 1/2 123.4 93.42 93 40 MP93 1/2 49 18 123.6 33.95 34 00 MP34 20 17 124.4 95.92 96 00 MP96 50 30 1/2 124.3 35.95 36 00 MP36 21 15 124.1 97.92 98 00 MP98 51 28 124.5 37.95 38 00 MP38 22 13 124.7 99.92 100 00 MP100 52 26 1/2 123.6 39.95 40 00 MP40 23 11 123.7 101.92 102 00 MP102 53 31 1/2 110.6 43.95 44 00 MP44 25 07 124.3 103.92 104 00 MP104 54 38 1/2 107.5 45.95 46 00 MP46 26 05 124.4 105.92 106 00 MP106 55 36 1/2 123.6 47.95 48 00 MP48 27 02 1/2 125.2 107.92 108 00 MP108 56 37 119.7 109.92 110 00 Tamworth 58 39 58.9
I suspect the 130.8mph average at Cheddington is a timing error as 390’s seldom exceed the maximum 125m/h limit by as much as 5m/h. The runs does show the benefit of a service where all trains should be running at the same line speed, if running out of the booked path.
Table 3 has a run from Ed Gardiner recorded on the 17 57 Euston –Glasgow service which appears to be Ed’s regular northbound service, alighting at Tamworth. The run was recorded
Milepost 30½ 208 October 2009 TABLE 4 Km location m s average Run No. EG0824 214.00 KP 198 50 28 1/2 229.7 Date/day 170808 225.10 Lille 53 47 201.3 Train 14.13 Paris to London 326.00 Calais Frethun 76 52 262.3 Motive Power Eurostar 3209/3210 328.60 Channel Tunnel Sth 78 08 123.2 Position 5/18 344.30 Southern Crossover 84 06 1/2 157.7 Recorder E O Gardiner 361.90 Northern Crossover 90 47 158.2 Weather Dry 379.10 Channel Tunnel Nth 97 19 158.0 GPS: Y/N? No 385.70 KP 105 99 46 1/2 161.1 Km location m s average 390.70 KP 100 101 10 1/2 214.8 0.00 Paris G du N 0 00 400.50 Ashford 103 30 252.9 16.00 KP 16 8 39 111.0 411.70 KP 79 106 03 263.5 60.00 KP 44 19 11 1/2 250.5 415.70 KP 75 106 56 271.2 66.00 KP 50 20 23 1/2 299.6 420.70 KP 70 107 58 1/2 288.5 168.00 KP 152 41 00 1/2 296.8 425.70 KP 65 108 59 1/2 295.1 172.00 KP 156 41 48 1/2 298.3 430.70 KP 60 110 01 1/2 288.5 176.00 KP 160 42 37 296.7 436.70 KP 54 111 15 1/2 292.7 181.00 KP 165 43 38 295.9 440.70 KP 50 112 04 295.6 186.00 KP 170 44 38 300.2 444.70 KP 46 112 55 1/2 279.7 191.00 KP 175 45 38 1/2 298.4 448.70 KP 42 113 56 1/2 236.1 196.00 KP 180 46 38 1/2 299.1 454.30 Ebbsfleet 115 21 238.9 201.00 KP 185 47 39 297.0 481.60 Stratford 122 26 1/2 231.0 206.00 KP 190 48 39 299.7 490.70 London St Pancras 128 36 88.7 211.00 KP 195 49 41 1/2 288.9 in late June when there appeared to be no tsr’s between Euston and Tamworth and the run avoided any signal checks. Ed’s comments are included below:- I attach a copy of a run on 26th June on the 17.57 Euston to Glasgow for the section between London and Tamworth, which is my regular commuting train home. Over the last few months I have regularly been recording times of just under an hour on this section, but the attached run I think will be hard to beat. There was a relatively fast exit from Euston and we had reached 120mph by the time we passed Wembley. There were no temporary speed restrictions or signal checks, and 390 023 cruised at around 124 mph. The overall time of 58 min 39 seconds was a good minute below my previous best, and represents an average speed of 112.5mph from Euston.
Ed times to whole mileposts generally which northbound from Euston, to Rugby, are often difficult to spot, unless he knows where they are.
Loco 43185/43179 Table 4 has a run on a Paris to Vehicles/tare/gross tonnes 2+8 269/285 London Eurostar service recorded by Train 1430 Bristol-Paddington Ed Gardiner which achieved a Date Wed 25-Jun-09 Fastest Time from Paris to the Rec/Pos/GPS? D Adams Y southern portal of the Channel av Tunnel. Ed does not offer any miles m.c m s mph spd comments on the standard of 0.00 77.23 SWINDON 0.00 (3½ LATE) running. 0.71 77.85 MP 78 1.28½ 55 28.9 2.71 79.85 Hay Lane 3.06½ 88 73.5 Table 5 has a short snippet on the 5.57 82.69 Wootton Bassett 4.49½ 110 100.0 Great Western Main line between 7.71 84.85 MP 85 5.55½ 121/127 116.7 Swindon and Chippenham, recorded 10.45 87.59 Dauntsey 7.15 124 124.1 by David Adams. David was 12.66 89.76 Christian Malford 8.19 125 124.3 enthusiastic on the performance of 15.39 92.54 Langley 9.38 118 124.4 the driver and the Hst which 16.66 93.76 CHIPPENHAM 10.50 ® 63.5
Milepost 30½ 209 October 2009 Table 6 Loco 222002 Max 6PC 222002 Vehicles/tare/gross tonnes 7/-/- 7:338/350 Train 13.55 St. Pancras-Sheffield 10 27 Sheffield-St Pancras Date 5/6/09 07 April 2009 Rec/Pos/GPS? J. Heaton B Milner M. Chns Mls Timing Point Sch. Min. Sec. M.P.H. Ave. Min. Sec. M.P.H. Ave. 99 07 0.00 Leicester d. 0 0 00 1L 21 47 RT 42.0 100 18 1.14 Humberstone Rd Jn 20 10 85 92.3 101 60 2.67 Thurmaston 19 10 95 100.6 103 68 4.76 Syston S. Jct 4 4 11 68.3 17 45 106 108.5 107 00 7.91 Sileby Jct 6½ 5 53 111.2 16 10 104/112 100.9 108 50 9.54 Barrow-on-Soar 6 50 102.6 15 12 100 110..0 110 00 10.91 Mp 14 27 112/113 111.0 111 47 12.50 Loughborough 8 8 35 101.6 13 36 108 107.1 113 00 13.91 Mp 12 48 108 107.2 114 32 15.31 Hathern 12 01 105 99.7 116 26 17.24 Kegworth 10 52 95 82.1 118 19 19.15 East Midlands P. 12 22 105.5 119 18 20.14 Trent S. Jct 12½ 13 08 77.3 8 47 66 67.1 119 60 20.66 Sheet Stores Jct. 13 13 36 67.5 8 16 68 72.7 120 27 21.25 Long Eaton 14 08 66.1 121 39 22.40 Sawley 15 01 78.1 6 50 78 87.8 124 00 24.91 Mp 5 07 97 87.1 17 125 70 26.79 Spondon [1] 17 51 92.9 3 50 79 70.2 127 20 28.16 Mp 2 39 61 27.5 128 37 29.38 Derby a. 22 22 30 33.4 0 00 RT Sharp schedule 1½min too tight for this set with at least one engine out, fortunately my coach Derby mileage equated. Speeds not taken Unit 43357/43304 Train 06.32 Dundee-Plymouth Load 2+8 Date 6/7/09 Recorder/pos/gps Jhe Miles Ch. Miles Timing Point Sch Min Sec M.P.H. Ave 128 35 0.00 Derby d. 0 0 00 19½L T 128 23 1.40 Peartree 2 43 66 30.9 1 20 4.77 Stenson Jct. 5 5 04 105 86.0 6 11 6.29 Willington 5 55 111 107.3 8 54 8.82 Clay Mills LC 7 7 12 122 118.3 10 66 10.97 Burton on Trent a. 9 8 55 52 75.1 16 21 16.41 Wichnor Jct 13 12 51 108/119 83.0 19 34 19.57 Elford 14 30 117/123 114.9 23 56 23.85 Tamworth 18 17 50 77.0 comprehensively bettered the former Hst record and the modern record. David’s comments are:- I was so impressed with the driver's handling, a rarity in my experience on the FGW, throughout between Paddington & Bristol that I am considering putting an article together and comparing my run with Martin Barrett's "abysmal" run on the following 15.00 and John Heaton's run from Swindon to Bristol on the preceding 14.00 Paddington.
Table 6 has two logs from John Heaton, both featuring Derby. Firstly an underpowered Meridian unit still managed to better the current Leicester to Derby time, with John’s comments noted below:- New MU record attached. I estimated a few speeds but have
Milepost 30½ 210 October 2009 Table 7 omitted them from the attached log. Date: 18-Jul-06 At least 1 engine not working but Train: 0925 St Pancras-Sheffield still a sharp timing. Brian’s Unit: 222006 comments on his southbound run Load: 9,444,460 over the same stretch, with the same unit are:- A good run Recorder/Method/Position B Milner throughout with a brief maximum of Miles M C Location 222 m s mph ave. 113 mph. The net schedule of 20.5 0.00 30 19 LUTON 0.0 0 0.0 RT minutes looks very tight but 1.31 31 44 Limbury Road No.1 1 36.5 76 49.0 improvements to this RPS record 3.01 33 20 Leagrave Jn 2.5 2 44.5 102/114 90.0 can be expected. 5.45 35 55 Sundon 4 04.5 112/113 109.7 7.01 37 20 HARLINGTON 4 55.0 110/ 80 111.4 The second run is on a Cross 9.96 40 16 FLITWICK 6.5 6 49.5 90 92.8 Country service from Derby to 11.51 41 60 Ampthill 7 45.0 109/100 100.5 Tamworth, John’s comments were 13.51 43 60 Millbrook 8 53.5 112/113 105.1 :- Think this is an all comers. Not 15.91 46 12 Houghton Conquest [1.0] 10 11.0 110/113 111.5 timing very carefully, trying to 18.51 48 60 Bedford South Jn 12.5 11 36.0 107/102 110.1 complete the MTD spreadsheet but 19.65 49 71 BEDFORD 13.0 12 15.5 103 103.7 when speed was reduced at Elford I 20.26 50 40 Bedford North Jn 13.5 12 36.5 109 105.0 thought we would not get a fast time. Slow start from Derby seemed 22.71 52 76 Oakley 1356.0 113 110.9 hindered by station re-building but 24.76 55 00 Milepost 1503.0 107 110.1 that might have been my 26.41 56 52 Sharnbrook Jn 17.0 15 58.0 110 108.0 imagination. The HST did not quite 27.76 58 00 Milepost 1642.0 113/114 110.5 reach 125mph either side of The 29.51 59 60 Sharnbrook Summit 1738.5 108 111.5 psr at Burton on Trent, but what a 31.51 61 60 Milepost 1843.0 113 111.6 waste of energy in slowing to 33.51 63 60 Irchester Jn 19 51.5 79/ 62 105.1 50mph then accelerating to 125mph 34.81 65 04 WELLINGBOROUGH 22.0 21 04.0 68 64.6 again. Surely a priority for Network 36.76 67 00 Harrowden Jn 22 30.5 99/111 81.2 Rail to remodel the station, and 39.11 69 28 Burton Latimer 2349.5 108 107.1 realign the tracks. 41.76 72 00 KETTERING 26.5 25 28.0 92/ 91 96.9 43.76 74 00 Kettering North Jn 26 45.0 99/103 93.5 Table 7 has two offerings on the 45.33 75 45 Glendon 27 40.0 99/ 97 102.3 Midland Main Line recorded by 46.76 77 00 Milepost 2832.5 101/ 94 98.6 Brian Milner northbound and 48.25 78 39 Desborough Summit 2927.0 100 98.3 Richard Knight southbound between Luton and Leicester. 50.76 81 00 Milepost 3055.5 104 102.2 Brian’s run was unchecked and 52.70 82 75 MARKET HARB'OUGH 33.5 32 25.0 59 77.9 therefore provided a faster time 54.26 84 40 Great Bowden 33 43.5 88/103 71.7 than Richard’s run which suffered 56.26 86 40 East Langton 34 56.5 96 98.6 two tsr’s and a signal check. Brian’s 57.51 87 60 Gumley 3542.0 102/108 98.9 comments are:- Until the December 59.44 89 54 Kibworth Summit 36 49.5 99/102 102.7 2008 timetable transformed the 61.30 91 43 Great Glen 3756.0 101/ 95 100.8 situation, there was only one 63.26 93 40 Kilby Bridge Jn [2.0] 39 09.0 98/100 96.8 Meridian roster between St Pancras 65.79 96 02 Wigston North Jn 43.5 40 48.0 79/ 90 91.8 and Sheffield if we ignore those that 67.76 98 00 Milepost 4214.5 60 82.2 went via Nottingham. 68.85 99 07 LEICESTER 47.0 44 33.0 2.0 E 28.3
This is an example, taken on the 09-25 from St Pancras, with one of the original nine coach units. The net schedules are very tight – even with some small excess over the speed limits, the net schedules were not quite met. The constant changes of speed limit and gradient must be a challenge for the driver. The fastest speed (115 mph) was achieved on the steep upgrade before Scratchwood but the result was just over a minute slower than the RPS
Milepost 30½ 211 October 2009 Date: 26-May-09 record to Luton. On the restart Train: 1627 Sheffield-St Pancras from Luton, 114 mph was Unit: 222005 achieved within five miles but this Load: 7,334/345 was followed by a 80 mph Recorder R Knight temporary speed restriction 0.00 99 07 LEICESTER 0 00.0 before Flitwick. Every opportunity 1.09 98 00 Milepost 2 12.0 26.5 was taken to run at or just over 3.06 96 02 Wigston North Jn 3 50.0 77.9 the speed limits, even on very 5.59 93 40 Kilby Bridge Jn 5 30.5 90.4 steep climbs. 114 mph was 7.55 91 43 Great Glen 6 40.5 97.1 achieved on the climb to 9.41 89 54 Kibworth Summit 7 48.5 100.7 Sharnbrook Summit followed by 12.59 86 40 East Langton 9 41.0 101.0 62 mph on the approach to 14.59 84 40 Great Bowden 10 56.0 96.4 Wellingborough. The speed 16.15 82 75 MARKET HARB'OUGH 12 18.5 68.2 limits are at most 100 mph 16.68 82 33 Little Bowden 12 47.5 65.4 between Wellingborough and 18.66 80 34 Braybrook 14 13.0 Leicester but 111 mph was 20.83 78 21 Desborough North 15 32.0 98.6 achieved before Kettering and 22.09 77 00 Milepost 16 17.0 101.1 108 mph on the climb to Kibworth 24.09 75 00 Glendon N'th Jn 17 28.0 100.9 – such is the power available on 25.09 74 00 Kettering North Jn 18 03.0 101.0 these trains that the gradients 27.09 72 00 KETTERING 19 20.5 93.9 appear to have little effect. The 29.74 69 28 Burton Latimer 20 59.0 97.1 result was sufficient to produce a 32.09 67 00 Harrowden Jn 22 22.5 101.2 RPS record from Luton to 34.04 65 04 WELLINGBOROUGH 23 50.0 79.3 Leicester. 35.34 63 60 Irchester Jn 24 47.5 81.8 38.35 60 59 Sig Post 26 33.0 105.4 Richard’s comments are:- A log 39.34 59 60 Sharnbrook Summit 27 05.5 109.2 of my southbound Meridian run 42.44 56 52 Sharnbrook Jn 29 24.0 80.7tsr from Leicester to Luton is 46.14 52 76 Oakley 32 04.5 82.4 attached. Just over a minute late 47.68 51 33 Oakley Jn 32 56.0 112.1 from Leicester, with a faster than 49.20 49 71 BEDFORD 33 46.5 108.0 average start to Harborough. 50.34 48 60 Bedford South Jn 34 23.5 111.5 Some slight overspeeding (and 51.84 47 20 Elstow 35 12.5 110.0 maybe some dodgy times in the 54.09 45 00 MP 36 27.5 108.0 Harrowden area: I was in a rear 55.34 43 60 Millbrook 37 09.5 107.0 facing seat), but then a tsr for 57.34 41 60 Ampthill 38 20.5 101.0 renewal of pointwork at 58.89 40 16 FLITWICK 39 12.5 108.0 Sharnbrook and sigs from a down 61.84 37 20 HARLINGTON 40 50.0 109.0 Thameslink crossing at Leagrave Junction, together with an 63.40 35 55 Sundon 41 41.0 109.4 unhurried stop at Luton left us 2.5 65.84 33 20 Leagrave Jn sigs minutes over the HST FT. 66.31 32 62 LEAGRAVE 44 17.5 67.1
68.85 30 19 LUTON 47 15.0 51.4
Finally a run recorded by Sandy Smeaton between Perth and Glasgow Queen Street. For those of who do not know Perth station, it has suffered from 15/30mph restrictions for southbound departures for several years now, which have prevented any Fastest Times from Perth. The driver took a liberal view of the initial restrictions to pass Hilton Jn in 3m 24s, a good 30 seconds faster than an average time. The unit 170420 proved to be in excellent condition with 101mph reached before Dunning where the gradients steepen to 1:121 then 1:100 for the final two miles to Mp 135. The summit was topped at 83mph with the driver respecting the line limits thereafter to reach Stirling in 26m 18s, well adrift of my 25m 19s run of 1985. The current Fastest Times list does not include an entry for multiple units.
Milepost 30½ 212 October 2009 Table 8 From Stirling Date: Sat 4.7.08 another excellent Train: 1T48 19.46 Aberdeen - Glasgow Queen St ascent to Plean Unit: 170.420; Class 170/4; 1,266 hp which was passed Load: 3 cars/133 tonnes tare/142 tonnes gross at 75mph. The Weather: Cloudy, warm, dry and no wind 100mph line limit Recorder/Method/Position A.Smeaton/GPS/ 1/3 was not quite Miles Ms Ch LOCATION Sch* Mn Sc Speeds Av Spd reached before 0.00 151 19 PERTH (Plat 1) 0 0 00.0 RT ~ braking for the 1.15 150 29 Friarton (FB) 2 08.0 43½ 32.3 restrictions through 2.30 149 17 Hilton Jn 4 3 23.5 67 54.8 Larbert and the 4.14 147 30 Forgandenny (Bdg) 4 49.6 85½ 76.8 following junctions. 7.01 144 40 Forteviot 6 42.4 96½ 91.8 The running along 9.81 141 56 Dunning (Box site) 8 24.4 99½ 98.8 the E&G line was 11.21 140 24 Whitemoss LC 9 15.7 96 98.2 up to the 100mph 12.51 139 00 MP 10 06.0 92½ 93.0 line limit, which 13.95 137 45 Auchterarder (Box) 11 03.0 88½ 91.8 gained 1 minute to 15.88 135 51 Gleneagles (SFB) 12 24.7 84 84.8 the schedule by 16.51 135 00 Summit MP 12 51.5 83 85.6 Bishopbriggs. The 18.18 133 27 Blackford (SB) 15½ 14 00.0 89/90½ 87.4 run had the rare 20.43 131 07 Carsebreck (OA) 15 31.7 87 88.3 luxury of a check 22.28 129 19 Greenloaning (Box) 16 49.0 90 86.2 free entry into 24.14 127 30 Balhaldie (OB) 18 04.0 87 89.4 Glasgow Queen 25.64 125 70 Kinbuck (Bdg) 19 07.0 77½ 85.7 Street from 28.26 123 20 DUNBLANE 22½ 21 18.1 75/69½ 72.1 Bishopbriggs with 30.39 121 10 BRIDGE OF ALLAN (Shl) 23 04.0 70½ 72.3 the driver avoiding the all too frequent, 31.39 120 10 Cornton LC 23 56.1 68 69.1 walking pace crawl 33.21 118 24 STIRLING (Plat 3) 27 26 18.2 .5m early 46.2 up the length of the 0.20 118 08 Stirling Middle 0 40.4 31½ 17.8 platform, to 1.80 116 40 Polmaise (OB) 2 27.6 68 53.7 produce a time of 3.30 115 00 MP 3 45.7 71 69.1 25m 30s which will 3.99 114 25 Plean Jn (Box) 4 20.1 75 71.9 be hard to better. 6.05 112 20 MP 5 44.9 99½ 87.6 This 8.09 110 17 LARBERT 7 09.0 Psr 65 87.2 comprehensively 9.30 109 00 Carmuirs West Jn 8½ 8 21.0 Psr 47½ 60.6 eclipses Frank 10.30 108 00 MP 9 25.2 59½ 56.1 Collins time of 26m 11.76 106 43 Greenhill Lower Jn (OB) 11 10 50.9 65 61.5 43s from 1991. 12.27 17 28 Greenhill Upper Jn 12 11 19.2 67½ 64.6
14.12 15 40 Castlecary 12 46.8 83½ 76.0 My thanks to all 15.62 14 00 MP 13 48.4 91½ 87.6 those who have 16.75 12 70 Dullatur (UB) 14 31.8 96 93.3 forwarded runs 18.12 11 40 CROY 16 15 22.2 102 98.3 over the last few 19.20 10 34 Gartshore (RR) 16 01.0 98½ 99.6 months. As always 21.62 8 00 MP 17 27.7 101 100.7 I am interested in 23.37 6 20 LENZIE (SFB) 19½ 18 30.4 100 100.5 receiving logs of 24.12 5 40 Cadder 18 57.3 98½ 100.4 any new fastest 26.37 3 20 BISHOPBRIGGS (SFB) 21½ 20 19.9 81 98.1 Times runs either [2] electronically or by 27.78 1 67 Cowlairs West Jn 25 21 42.6 48 61.5 post. 28.87 0 60 Queen St Tnl North [1] 23 20.5 28 40.0 29.43 0 15 Queen St Tnl South (½) 24 37.3 ~ 26.4 29.60 0 02 QUEEN STREET (Plat 4) 30½ 25 30.4 5.5m early 11.0 *Schedule taken from 14 Dec 08 to May 09 WTT .
Milepost 30½ 213 October 2009 The Blue Pullman: Further Revelations!
Martin Barrett
Following the letter from Andrew Hickson in Milepost 30¼, I thought I remembered seeing a paper in my archives relating to diesel units on the ECML. On further investigation it turned out that when the timing office of British Railways moved from London to York in 1968 a lot of old papers and reports were thrown away and I had picked this up from the waste bin with one or two others and filed it away, thinking no more about it. This report consists of no more than two sheets of paper and four performance graphs.
Meanwhile the Editor was contacted by John Gough, one of our York members, who referred us to an article he wrote in April 1975 Railway World entitled ‘A Blue Pullman for the Great Central?’ It appears he also worked from a similar report prepared in 1957 by the Eastern & North Eastern Region’s Dynamometer Car Section of the CM&EE. So unbeknown to us not one but two options were examined in detail for the deployment of these new units, neither of which came to fruition.
With John’s permission we now reprint his complete article of 1975 with almost no amendments which outlines the Great Central/Midland Main Line options.
A Blue Pullman for the Great Central? (published in Railway World April 1975) J.V.Gough
May 1973 saw the ending of Pullman services on the Western Region and the withdrawal of the Blue Pullman dmu sets. The only other region on which these sets had worked was the London Midland, where from 1960 until 1966 the Midland Pullman provided the fastest ever pre-electrification service between London and Manchester. The Western Region sets were of eight vehicles with a tare weight of 364 tons, and carried first and second class passengers, but the London Midland sets were of six vehicles only, with a tare weight of 299 tons, and were for first class passengers only. Both types of set were driven by two 1000hp diesel engines (with electric transmission), one in each of the two end vehicles of the set. The higher power-weight ratio of the LMR sets was necessary in order to travel as fast as possible over the severe gradients of the Midland main line between Derby and Manchester. It is interesting to note the similarity of design to the new HSDT sets, where the installed power has been raised to 4500hp.
Tests of the dmu Pullman sets were carried out on the Eastern Region, but no service was ever provided by them in that region. One of the services that might have been suitable for a Blue Pullman was that between London and Sheffield, where from 1958 onwards a six- coach locomotive hauled set operated The Master Cutler from Kings Cross to Sheffield Victoria. The name of this train had belonged from 1947 to a London/Sheffield service operated over the Great Central main line, which until February 1, 1958 was run by the Eastern Region. The name is now borne by the fastest-ever London/Sheffield service, running between St Pancras and Sheffield Midland – the route now used by all through London/Sheffield services. The timings are 2hr 30 min up and 2hr 29min down, including stops at Leicester and Chesterfield. The route of the original Master Cutler from Marylebone has now ceased to exist for most of its length.
In early 1957 – before diversion of The Master Cutler from the Great Central to the Great Northern route – and while the Eastern Region still controlled the Great Central line – the Dynamometer Car Section of the CM&EE’s Department of the North Eastern Region prepared a report giving possible schedules for a diesel-electric multiple-unit train of six or
Milepost 30½ 214 October 2009 eight coaches (tare weight 240 tons or 300 tons) and 2000hp running non-stop between Marylebone and Sheffield Victoria. It does not seem fanciful to assume that these dmu sets would have been of the Blue Pullman type. The details of the schedules are interesting in showing just what might have been done with the Great Central line, and for the comparison they afford with the high-speed schedules on the parallel Midland line, especially with the timings of the Midland Pullman. But with the change of control of the GC route to the LMR and the clear speed superiority of the Great Northern they remain a might-have-been.
Table 1 GC route particulars Schedules were prepared for non-stop running Line speed mph in both directions, and allowed for the use of Marylebone – Harrow 70 either route between Marylebone and Grendon Harrow – Rickmansworth 60 Underwood Jn. They also allowed for the Rickmansworth – Aylesbury 70 Aylesbury – Nottingham 80 severe effects of colliery subsidence north of Nottingham – Woodhouse E Jn 70 Nottingham, which affected the Great Central Woodhouse E Jn – Sheffield 60 even more than the nearby Midland. Permanent
Neasden Sth Jn – Northolt E Jn 70 speed restrictions were allowed for, not as they Northolt E Jn – Ashendon Jn 90 were in 1957 but as they were expected to be in Ashendon Jn – Grendon Underwood Jn 80 two or three years from then- an interesting Intermediate restrictions Down Up Wellington Place – Canfield Place - 40 point in view of the fact that the Blue Pullman Canfield Place – Willesden Green - 50 sets were introduced in 1959 and came into Harrow 40 40 service in 1960- but no recovery allowance was Watford South Jn 50 50 incorporated. These schedules appear in Rickmansworth 35 35 Aylesbury 50 50 Tables II and III, the speeds being taken from Quainton Road, curve near 44½mp 70 70 the speed/distance charts prepared for the Grendon Underwood Jn 60 50 reportTable I lists the speed restrictions Leicester 25 25 Arkwright Street 40 40 assumed in the schedules and also the Nottingham 10 10 subsidence restrictions. It can be seen clearly Nottingham – Carrington Street - 30 that between either Aylesbury or High Wycombe Woodhouse E Jn 50 50 Down Up and Nottingham the Great Central offered the Neasden Sth Jn (to Northolt) 45 45 possibility of sustained high-speed running, but Northolt East Jn 25 35 both exits from London were slow, and that High Wycombe 16¼mp – 17¼mp 35 35 West Wycombe Station – 18¾ mp 45 45 north of Nottingham in the colliery area only very Ashendon Jn 40 - slow progress was possible. Grendon Underwood Jn 60 50
Nottingham to Sheffield subsidence restrictions 0.35miles 15 1.6 miles 20 20 5.5 miles 30 30 0.35 miles 35 -
The maximum speed proposed on the main line south of Nottingham was 80mph, although the dmu sets were designed for 90mph, and one cannot help wondering if a
Milepost 30½ 215 October 2009 Tables II and III Proposed Marylebone – Sheffield DMU schedules Six-coach Eight-coach 90mph maximum may have been miles Min Mph Min Mph ruled out because of the curvature 0.00 London Marylebone 0.0 - 0.0 - past the island platforms of the 5.15 Neasden South Jn 5.7 70 6.1 70 9.15 Harrow 9.5 40 9.9 40 London Extension stations. A point of 16.00 Watford South Jn 16.9 50 17.3 50 considerable interest is posed by the 17.10 Rickmansworth 18.4 35 18.8 35 subsidences. The Midland line 19.30 Chorleywood 58 53 between Nottingham and Sheffield is 21.50 Chalfont 23.3 63 24.2 55 23.60 Amersham 65 56 now free of all subsidence slacks. Is it 28.75 Great Missenden 29.8 70 31.2 70 possible the Great Central too would 37.85 Aylesbury 37.9 50/80 39.3 50/74 have improved, or is it sufficiently far 44.00 Quainton Road 43.2 70/80 44.8 70/78 46.80 Grendon Underwood Jn 45.5 60 47.1 60 to the east of the Midland still to fall 48.75 Calvert 75 70 within the subsidence area? 67.25 Culworth Jn 61.6 80 63.6 80 69.00 Woodford Halse 63.0 80 65.0 79 83.15 Rugby 73.9 80 75.9 77 The logs show clearly that the 103.05 Leicester 89.9 25 92.0 25 difference between the performance of 108.05 Rothley 79 78 the 240-ton and 300-ton units would 112.95 Loughborough 98.6 80 101.0 80 126.50 Nottingham 112.1 10 114.5 10 not have been very great. But a much 128.60 Bagthorpe Jn 115.8 57 118.3 53 more interesting comparison is 137.25 Kirby South Jn 127.2 67 130.3 57 between the performance of the 300- 146.75 Heath 142.5 70 145.7 70 ton eight coach 200hp unit with a 299- 152.50 Staveley Central 149.4 43 152.6 40 159.25 Woodhouse East Jn 160.7 50 163.9 48 ton six coach six-coach 2000hp 162.65 Darnall 60 60 Midland Pullman unit. In table IV I 164.65 Sheffield 168.2 171.4 have set out details of the fastest
0.00 London Marylebone 0.0 0.0 current schedules (D280 on the 70 70 Midland main line north from Trent to 5.15 Neasden South Jn 5.9 45 6.2 45 Sheffield. It may be assumed that the 9.85 Northolt Park 70 70 11.45 Northolt East Jn 12.6 25 13.1 25 Pullman set would have 16.20 Denham 80/90 73/90 27.95 High Wycombe 26.4 35 27.8 35 36.05 Princes Risborough 35.4 90 37.2 88 45.45 Ashendon Jn 42.2 40/80 44.0 40/75 51.40 Grendon Underwood Jn 47.9 60 49.9 60
been a little faster than the D280 timings, on account of its higher power/weight ratio.
Before pursuing the comparison with the Midland it is interesting to look back at the history of the Great Central. For a short period from the summer of 1905 that railway ran its mid- afternoon London to Sheffield express to a 170-minute timing, non-stop but slipping a coach for Leicester. The train was booked to pass Quainton Road in 50min, Nottingham in 127min reaching Sheffield in 170min. A run noted by Rous-Marten in The Railway Magazine as a trial for this schedule had the train passing Leicester in 101½min, Nottingham in 123¾min and arriving Sheffield in 168min, giving a net time of 165½min. The pace proved too hot, and the schedule was eased back to the earlier 177min after some months. But the 170min was a timing falling exactly between the 168min calculated for the 6 coach diesel unit and the 171½ minutes for the eight coach set. Fifty years progress nullified by the effect of the subsidence in the coalfield area.
From Table IV it will be seen that the Midland Pullman had an advantage of 14min to passing Leicester over the eight-coach Great Central timing. The disadvantage of the GC is attributable almost entirely to the slower route out of London, and only partly to the fact that from Hendon the Midland allowed 90mph running, for the Midland line requires speed restrictions for a number of awkward curves between
Milepost 30½ 216 October 2009
Six-coach Eight-coach 0.00 Sheffield 0.0 - 0.0 - Sharnbrook and Leicester, over the 2.00 Darnall 60 60 one-time Leicester & Hitchin line. 5.40 Woodhouse East Jn 7.4 50 7.5 50 From Leicester to Nottingham the 12.15 Staveley Central 18.6 43 19.3 43 advantage was with the Great 17.90 Heath 26.3 66 27.6 58 27.40 Kirby South Jn 41.9 62 43.4 58 Central, which had a shorter and 36.05 Bagthorpe Jn 53.9 61 55.4 56 unrestricted route, whereas Midland 38.15 Nottingham 57.9 10 59.4 10 trains had until the late 1960s to face 42.55 Ruddington 80 75 51.70 Loughborough 71.7 80 73.6 80 the 15mph negotiation of Trent 61.60 Leicester 80.1 25 82.1 25 station. Nevertheless, so great was 66.30 Whetstone 77 69 the advantage of the Midland south 81.50 Rugby 96.7 78 99.6 76 95.65 Woodford Halse 107.7 80 110.9 80 of Leicester that it still had an 11min 97.40 Culworth Jn 109.1 80 112.3 80 advantage to Nottingham. 117.85 Grendon Underwood Jn 125.1 50/74 128.3 50 120.65 Quainton Road 127.7 70 131.0 70 North of Nottingham the basis of 126.80 Aylesbury 132.7 50 136.0 50 135.90 Great Missenden 141.4 70 145.5 70/67 comparison is different. Midland 141.05 Amersham 70 70 trains for Sheffield running via 143.15 Chalfont 147.8 70 151.9 70 Leicester used either the route via 147.55 Rickmansworth 152.0 35 156.1 35 148.65 Watford South Jn 153.5 50/60 157.6 50/60 Derby or the direct line up the 155.50 Harrow 160.9 40 165.0 40 Erewash Valley from Trent. This 159.50 Neasden South Jn 164.7 70 168.8 70 latter is six miles shorter than the 40 40 164.65 London Marylebone 172.2 176.3 Derby route, but until recently subsidence slacks meant that times 117.85 Grendon Underwood Jn 125.1 50 128.3 50 were virtually identical both ways. 123.80 Ashendon Jn 130.1 80 133.4 80 127.75 Haddenham 89 85 The Great Central schedule allows 133.20 Princes Risborough 136.8 84/90 140.3 79/88 57mins from 141.30 High Wycombe 145.0 35/90 148.7 35/90 157.30 Northolt East Jn 158.0 35 162.2 35 158.85 Sudbury Hill 69 65 164.10 Neasden South Jn 164.7 45 169.1 45 169.25 London Marylebone 172.7 177.1 passing Nottingham to arriving in Sheffield, or 79½min from passing Leicester.
When routed via Derby station the Master Cutler was allowed a net time of 64min from Leicester to Sheffield non-stop (see Table IV). In the early 1960s an extra 3min would have been needed on the account of subsidence at Hasland. The train is now allowed a net time of 57min only, inclusive of a 1min stop at Chesterfield, via the Erewash Valley line. But again some 9min for subsidence and about 1min for the slower negotiation of Trent station would have been needed in the early years of the last decade. So by both routes a considerable advantage must have lain with the Midland. There were occasions when the Midland Pullman was diverted from its normal route to run via Dore South Jn and the Hope Valley line, thus bringing it within five miles of Sheffield station. It would be most interesting to know what timings applied when this diversion operated, and whether the train ran via Derby or the Erewash Valley line. Actual logs would make an informative comparison with the Great Central schedules here given.
So it may be seen that the speed advantage lay conclusively with the Midland- to Leicester, to Nottingham, or to Sheffield. But the Midland’s problem was that no one train could serve all three cities without the time-consuming process of reversal in Nottingham followed by the slow route used to regain the Erewash Valley line at Trowell. On the other hand, Midland trains could easily serve Derby as an
Milepost 30½ 217 October 2009
Table IV Midland route timings The Midland Pullman Miles Min alternative to Nottingham, and they also ran through 0.00 London St Pancras 0 Chesterfield and thus were able to serve a town that 3.55 Finchley Road 5 the Great Central by-passed. And I think there would 6.95 Hendon 8 19.85 St Albans 17½ be few who would dispute that south of Leicester it 30.25 Luton 25½ was the Midland that served the more important and 49.85 Bedford 39½ populous towns. In the last analysis virtually all the 59.65 Sharnbrook Summit 46½ 65.05 Wellingborough 50½ advantages lay with the Midland route, and it is not 72.00 Kettering 56 surprising that that was the one to be developed, 78.50 Desborough North 61 leaving the Great Central line to decline and finally 82.95 Market Harborough 64½ 89.75 Kibworth North 70 be closed- especially after both routes came under 95.90 Wigston Nth Jn 75 control of the LMR. 99.10 Leicester 78 103.80 Syston Station 82½ What further possibilities of acceleration might there 111.65 Loughborough 88½ 119.75 Sheet Stores Jn 94½ have been on the Marylebone route? Probably not 126.35 Spondon Jn 100 many, for it seems unlikely that the one-time 128.40 Derby North Jn 106 Metropolitan route out of London could have been 138.20 Ambergate (pass) 115½ much improved, and the High Wycombe line involved The Master Cutler (D280) both extra distance and the slow negotiation of curves through High Wycombe and West Wycombe. 99.10 Leicester 0 103.95 Syston South Jn 5½ Had it been possible a line speed of 90mph north of 111.65 Loughborough 11 Aylesbury or Ashendon Jn would have saved a few 119.25 Trent Jn 16½ minutes. But even so, the route could never have 119.90 Trent 17½ 121.80 Toton centre 19½ competed with the Midland to Leicester and 125.10 Trowell Jn 22½ Nottingham. If all subsidence had ceased north of 133.75 Pye Bridge Jn 30 Nottingham there would perhaps been a saving of 139.00 Morton 34 about 15min, but even so it is hard to 142.00 Clay Cross South Jn 37 146.25 Chesterfield a41½ d42½ 151.55 Dronfield 49 154.25 Dore 52 158.50 Sheffield 57
believe that a time to Sheffield could ever have come down below 150min. And on the Midland a net time of 133min between St Pancras and Sheffield is now possible. There are prospects of further improvements. One moral would seem to be that if Watkin had really wanted to build a railway that could compete he should not have joined his superbly- engineered London Extension to the tortuous Metropolitan branch from Baker Street. Given a line as good south of Quainton Road as north of that junction the picture might have been different-but the initial cost would have been vastly greater and probably far beyond what even the Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway thought it could afford to pay for its ambitions.
The ECML Option
Martin Barrett
The report I have taken this information was also prepared in 1957 by the CM&EE to consider the performance of high speed Diesel Multiple Units operating non-stop between Kings Cross and Sheffield. As in John’s article the sets were 6 cars (240 tons tare) and 8 cars (307 tons tare -7 tons more?). The performance was based on the current speed restrictions in force at the time (1957) – no expected speed
Milepost 30½ 218 October 2009
Table V increases allowed for, except the 60 ECML PSRs 1957 Mph mph restrictions over the water Kings Cross – Copenhagen Tunnel South 8 down troughs were ignored. The data MP1½ - Kings Cross 40 up below in Tables V – VII are taken Copenhagen Tunnel South – Hatfield (MP18) 60 from the speed/distance charts so Hatfield – Woolmer Green 70 Woolmer Green – Cadwell (MP33) 85 may be the odd mph out when not Cadwell – MP38 90 running at maximum line speed. MP38 – Sandy (nth) MP45 85 Sandy Nth – Offord 90 Offord Curves 70 1957 was 5 years before I began Offord curves – Huntingdon (south) 85 train recording, so I cannot Huntingdon 70 remember just how low some of the Huntingdon North – MP62¾ 85 MP62¾ - Abbots Ripton (MP64) 80 line speeds were on ECML, Abbots Ripton – Holme (MP69) 85 especially 60 mph out to Hatfield, 70 Stilton Fen (MP69-72) 65 mph to Woolmer Green and only Yaxley (MP72) – Fletton (MP75) 85 from there 85/90 mph ruled. Most of Fletton – Peterborough South 60 Peterborough 20 the intermediate restrictions I can Peterborough North – MP80¼ 60 see a reason for, but 70 mph from MP80¼ - 80¾ 85 MP113¾ to 114¾ and from Newark MP80¾ - Grantham South 90 Grantham 70 to Egmanton leaves me asking if Grantham North – MP113¾ 85 these were colliery restrictions or MP113¾ -MP114¾ 70 not? MP114¾ - Newark South 85 Newark South – Egmanton (MP129½ on up) 70 Egmanton – Retford 80 Over the ECML the eight coach train Whisker Hill Curve 10 was significantly slower up the hills MP64 – Sheffield 60 than the 6 coach one, but overall to Intermediate restrictions Retford – Sheffield Sheffield it only made 3.3 mins difference northbound and 4 mins Shireoaks (¼ mile) 30 southbound. When you compare the MP48¾ - MP47½ 40 Woodhouse East Jn 40 times from Kings Cross (161.75 MP45¼ - MP44¾ 30 miles) 143.7 mins northbound, 145 . mins southbound with the fastest GC Table VI option (164.65 miles) 168.2 mins Proposed schedule Kings Cross to Sheffield Six-coach Eight-coach northbound, 172.7 southbound) and Miles Min Mph Min Mph the Midland option (158.5 miles) 132 0.00 Kings Cross 0 - 0 - mins northbound the Midland comes 17.7 Hatfield 19.9 60 20.1 60/85 out top, BUT the fastest route via the 28.6 Stevenage 85 82 31.95 Hitchin 31.1 85/90 31.5 85/90 Erewash also had the most colliery 44.1 Sandy 39.6 85/90 40.1 85/89 slacks (on a sample run in 1967 51.75 St Neots 88 84 there were 3 between Chesterfield 55.95 Offord 70/76 70/73 58.9 Huntingdon 50.2 70 50.8 70 and Trowell Jn of 20,10 and 20 mph) 62.0 MP 62 77/85 72/85 only one of which applied via Derby 69.35 Holme 65/77 65/74 so the Derby option taking 6 minutes 76.35 Peterborough 65 20 65.8 20 84.85 Tallington 86/90 80/82 longer would probably end up 88.65 Essendine 76.3 89/90 77.5 79/81 100.1 Stoke SB 84.3 81/90 86.5 72/90 105.5 Grantham 88.0 70 90.4 70 85/70/85 85/70/85 120.1 Newark 99.0 70/80 101.6 70/80 138.65 Retford 114.7 10 117.5 10 146.4 Worksop 124.6 60 127.6 60 149.4 Shireoaks 30/60 30/60 156.45 Woodhouse E.Jn 136.2 40/60 139.4 40/60 161.75 Sheffield 143.7 147.0
with a similar overall time (say 138 mins St Pancras to Sheffield non-stop).
Milepost 30½ 219 October 2009 Table VII Six-coach Eight-coach Also bear in mind that a non-stop Miles Mins Mph Mins mph journey was not really ‘commercial’ 0.0 Sheffield 0 - 0 - 2.1 Darnall 60 57 and whilst Chesterfield and Derby 5.3 Woodhouse E Jn 7.4 40/60 7.5 40/60 or Leicester would look attractive 12.35 Shireoaks 30 30 on the Midland – the journey time 15.35 Worksop 19.3 60 19.6 60 penalty via Nottingham being 23.1 Retford 29.0 10 29.3 10 27.25 Askham Tunnel (MP134½) 75/80 65/80 prohibitive, the ECML, like the GC, 41.65 Newark 45.2 70 46.1 70 had not really a lot to offer (Retford, 46.4 Claypole 85 80 Newark, Grantham and 70 70 54.75 MP107 85 78 Peterborough not being of such 56.25 Grantham 56.5 70 58.1 70 consequence in around 1960). 60.65 Stoke SB 60.9 79 62.7 71 73.1 Essendine 68.7 90 70.6 90 85.4 Peterborough 79.4 20 81.3 20 So the ECML option died a death 89.15 Yaxley 80 76 before it ever took off. It is a might 92.4 Holme 65 65/77 have been and the Master Cutler 98.25 Abbots Ripton 80/85 72/85 carried on as loco-hauled to/from 102.85 Huntingdon 94.4 70/83 97.0 70/80 105.8 Offord 70/87 70/76 Kings Cross 110.0 St Neots 82/90 74/88 117.65 Sandy 105.2 85 108.4 84 129.8 Hitchin 114.0 84 117.6 75 133.15 Stevenage 80/85 73/83 144.05 Hatfield 125.2 60 129.2 60 161.75 Kings Cross 145.0 149.0 . Table VIII m c location m s mph Date 27 Dec 1967 55 72 Offord 43 26 65* Train 1050 KX-Sheffield 58 67 Huntingdon 45 46 83/87 Motive Power D1902(86A) 62 00 Leys Summit 48 00 85 Load 6+BG/273/280 63 40 Abbots Ripton 49 01 90/94 Recorder Martin Barrett 69 26 Holme 53 01 67* m c location m s mph 72 63 Yaxley 55 59 72/78 0 04 Kings Cross 0 00 5 L/tsr 75 00 Fletton Jn 57 55 71 2 41 Finsbury Park 5 20 55 76 27 Peterborough 60 57 3 33 Harringay 6 18 58 62 53 /64 4 00 Hornsey 6 55 59 79 40 Werrington Jn 4 33 60 5 00 Wood Green 7 48 57 81 72 Helpston 6 45 73 6 37 New Southgate 9 10 65 84 64 Tallington 8 56 83/92 8 28 Oakleigh Park 10 50 68 88 60 Essendine 11 37 88/91 9 14 New Barnet 11 30 72 92 17 Little Bytham 17 36 sig 10 44 Hadley Wood 12 40 75 18 02 stop 12 60 Potters Bar 14 21 77/80 97 07 Corby Glen 24 22 75/80 14 40 Brookmans Park 15 38 79/73* 101 11 Stoke Smt 26 42 76/89 17 56 Hatfield 18 10 82/89 105 35 Grantham 31 30 20 20 Welwyn GC 20 00 85 33 00 22 00 Welwyn North 21 14 81 109 54 Barkston South Jn 4 46 85 23 40 Woolmer Green 22 16 82 111 40 Hougham 5 57 93/97 25 23 Knebworth 23 19 89/92 115 27 Claypole 8 21 95/96 28 40 Stevenage 25 40 87/92 120 09 Newark NG 11 34 84 32 00 Hitchin 27 55 90/100 120 63 Newark Crossing 12 06 62/59 37 00 Arlesey 31 10 92/98 123 00 Bathley Lane 14 10 72/84 41 15 Biggleswade 33 48 94 126 25 Carlton 16 41 82/77 44 10 Sandy 35 40 94 130 29 Egmanton 19 41 82/84 47 38 Tempsford 37 50 98/88 134 00 Markham Summit 22 22 74/85 51 60 St.Neots 40 35 96 138 49 Retford 27 18
Milepost 30½ 220 October 2009 . m c location m s mph m c location m s mph 64 32 Retford 18 11 46 52 Woodhouse E Jn 20 54 40 63 46 Whisker Hill Jn 3 23 -/65 sigs 15 Orgreaves 58 54 Manton Wood Jn 8 31 60 45 10 Colliery 23 54 47/54 56 58 Worksop 10 31 55/60 43 23 Darnall 25 56 50/tsr 55 62 Shireoaks E Jn 11 33 59 42 29 Woodburn Jn 27 11 30 54 52 Shireoaks 12 37 59/60 41 68 Nunnery Jn 28 13 53 57 Brancliffe E Jn 13 36 55 159 33 sigs 10 51 50 Kiveton Park 15 43 59/60 158 75 Nunnery ML Jn 30 04 50 34 Kiveton Bridge 16 53 57/64 158 60 Sheffield Mid 32 46 48 60 Waleswood Jn 18 28 59/62 until 1968 when the Midland had ultimate control over the London to Sheffield business, until ECML electrification when you could (and still can) get to Sheffield in under two hours by changing at Doncaster)
And what really happened on the ECML ‘withered arm’? Well attached (Table VIII) as a reminder is a journey on 1050 Kings Cross to Sheffield I recorded on 27 December 1967. As may be imagined there was very little traffic on offer, but the journey was sprightly with stops at Peterborough, Grantham and Retford ) plus the signal stop at Little Bytham). With speeds in the upper 90s and indeed one 100mph maximum, it easily outpaced the Blue Pullman, albeit with higher line speeds. The overall journey including all stops and checks was 156mins 50 secs, net time non-stop 140 mins, not really that much difference from the Blue Pullman of 1957!
And what of the Midland in 1967? Well returning to London on 1355 Sheffield to St Pancras with 10 coaches and three stops took 211mins 20secs, albeit with an eight minute reversal at Nottingham and a 5¾ minute signal stop at Millbrook (Bedford North to St Pancras 58m50s). The speed rarely exceeded 80 mph. However if you refer back to Bruce Nathan’s article on Blue Pullmans in Milepost 26, the five Leicester to Bedford North journeys took between 42m14s (unchecked) and 45m18s (2 tsrs), and 1967 Class 45 on 10 43m55s (unchecked). So really there was little difference. Shall we bring back the Blue Pullmans?
Power consumption by class 390s on the WCML
Virgin Driver
A recent train management system upgrade has resulted in the power consumption being displayed on the TMS screen in the driving cab at the end of the driver’s journey. The information is shown when the driver logs himself out of the system. In most cases, the diagrams worked by the author involve driving from the commencement to the destination, so the figures for journeys with identical stopping patterns and distances can be compared.
Most of the down Manchester services have make three stops during their journey, two of the ‘clock face’ departures being routed via Stoke, the xx20 stopping at Milton Keynes, Stoke and Stockport (missing Macclesfield), while the xx00 departure stops at Stoke, Macclesfield and Stockport. The xx40 also has three stops but is routed via Crewe, Wimslow and Stockport, all booked stops. The overall journey times for the regular daytime departures are the same. In the period under review down trains are booked to pick up at Stockport, so the amount recovery time allocated in the schedules after Macclesfield and Wimslow, if not used up, will be spent waiting time at Stockport. As outlined in a previous article in Milepost on the VHF timetable, (April 2009) conflicting movements will occur at various locations when
Milepost 30½ 221 October 2009 running ahead of schedule, so when the route is clear of TSRs and no signal checks or slow line diversions are experienced an ‘economy run’ can be achieved without adversely affecting punctuality. This also benefits the staff working in the train as there have been many complaints of rough riding. Some of the Preston on board staff who work over the full length of the WCML claim the ride is worse south of Preston than north, which I find surprising, but I am unable to comment as my last journey north was made on a class 86/2 on an XC service.
The power consumption data (in kw/h) was taken from 25 journeys the period from June to September. A summary of the data reads as follows-: xx.00 stops-Stoke,Macclesfield,Stockport. 13 runs-lowest 3156/highest 3605/avge 3285. xx.20 stops-Milton Keynes Stoke,Stockport.7 runs-lowest 3113/highest 3922/avge 3430. xx.40 stops-Crewe,Wimslow,Stockport. 3 runs-figures 3335/3555/3630.
On two occasions, whilst working an xx.00 and xx.40 service after severe disruption, stop orders were issued for Milton Keynes. The extra energy required accelerating from the additional stop and the need to maintain linespeed to recover time lost significantly raised the power used to over 4100 in both cases.
Examining the data from the xx.00 trains in detail as they form the largest group, the following comments explain some of the variations in power used-:
Two xx.00 runs were made working to permissible speed due to the tilt system being defective. One arrived 1 late at Manchester but was delayed approaching Cheadle Hulme slightly late by a train running early which should have followed it into Stockport. This run needed the least power of those xx.00 departures recorded.
There are 5 tilt operative runs that give power consumption figures between approximately 3200-3300. This seems to be the ‘norm’ for an attempt at an ‘eco’ run. These experienced TSRs which needed only minor speed reductions and relatively light signal checks, mostly from following an XC train from Stone to Manchester. After Stoke the XC train does not call at Macclesfield, but will check the xx.00 train from North Rode to Macclesfield if the margin between the two is 3-4 mins or less, due to the performance difference between a class 220/221 operating at PS and a 390 working to EPS limits. To avoid this, the 390 driver must dissipate some time coasting or running below line speed.
A run that required approx 3600 kw/h was driven at EPS speeds from Euston to Colwich with no signal checks and coasting (reaching Lichfield North Jn in under 1 hour), then proceeded to ‘time waste’ for the rest of the journey to negate the effect of what would be the inevitable signal checks.
The effect of severe signal checks and diversions to the slow line requiring harder running to regain time makes a significant difference to the power consumption. Two xx.20 runs made in the same week subject to identical TSRs had a difference of 800 kw/h in power used. The run requiring the most kw/h lost of 3 mins running time to Milton Keynes and 2 mins to Stoke, due to signal checks and slow line running. Arrival in Manchester was 4 mins late by the working times, but attempts to recover more were thwarted by more signal checks.
In the up direction the author had two consecutive days working the same train xx.35 departure from Manchester with the same unit. In both instances the passenger loading was moderate, but on the second day the train was being monitored by Alstom maintenance staff after repeated reports of rough riding. To try to ensure some success it was necessary (with full encouragement from the on board staff) to run at linespeed wherever possible. The pathing of xx.35 trains was mentioned by John Heaton in a log between Stoke and Euston in
Milepost 30½ 222 October 2009 a recent ‘Fastest Times Update’. A Chester/N Wales service is booked to call at Milton Keynes to set down at xx.00, so in most instances the result of continuing at ‘full chat’ with the xx.35 is severe signal checks after Wolverton.
On the first day the author set out to avoid the inevitable by coasting where possible when running ahead of time. A RT departure from Piccadilly became 1L from Stockport caused by signals between Heaton Chapel and Stockport. Back to RT at Macclesfield, then 1E by WTT times leaving Stoke. We ran just inside the schedule until being checked by the Chester train ahead, and then for a 75 TSR under Bletchley flyover. Further signals were experienced approaching Watford time, but the time lost was compensated for by recovery time in the schedule after Wembley. Arrival in Euston was 1E by WTT times and 4E by GBRTT. The power consumption for the journey was 2984kw/h with 15% regenerated.
The second journey left Piccadilly 2 late waiting for incoming trains to clear the Up Fast. Stockport and Macclesfield were left 2L by the WTT times. By Stoke it was down to 1L and Colwich was passed before time. At Hanslope we were 2E; then we ran under yellows while the voyager got away from Milton Keynes and the Bletchley TSR. After that I ran at EPS limits where possible, with double yellows often visible stepping up to green, but this required heavy braking approaching Watford to comply with restrictive signals from the 221 ahead (due to the irregular signal spacing). Dropping down the bank into Euston on ‘A’ line more signal checks cost approximately 45s, arrival was 2E in 82m47s from Stoke. For this journey the power consumption figures displayed on the TMS were 3566kw/h with 15.8% regenerated, almost 600kw/h more than the previous day.
At the moment most drivers view the power consumption figures displayed at the end of the journey as a humorous irrelevance, a typical comment being that a slot should be installed next to the TMS display refunding the appropriate amount to the driver when an economical run is achieved. To me it is a source of passing interest (though the novelty will probably wear off) working out how to reduce the power consumed by changing the driving style and checking the progress of the train against the schedule. I expect that this will come to an end when specific instructions are issued on how to drive in an economic manner, inevitable when the potential for cost reduction is realised. The lack of insight into driving methods by those who create these policies will result in simplistic instructions. The result will be further disengagement of drivers by eliminating the thinking processes involved. There has been a section of the railway industry created to analyse and combat the problems of SPADS and station over runs/fail and it is has yet to recognise and acknowledge that the degradation of the task of driving through reduction of input by the driver, providing the minimum possible information about the operative condition of the train, and loss of fine control of power application/braking has adversely affected the drivers’ ability to maintain concentration.
Milepost 30½ 223 October 2009 50 Years On Bruce Nathan (This is a revised version of an article which appeared in the SLS Journal July/August 2009) One of the the most memorable runs that I have timed was on SLS Golden Jubilee Special from Kings Cross to Doncaster and back on 23 May 1959 when A4 4-6-2 60007 Sir Nigel Gresley with Bill Hoole at the regulator achieved a post-war speed record of 112mph down Stoke bank as well as exceeding 100mph at two other points on the tour. To mark the 50th anniversary of this run, Steam Dreams organised a special train on Saturday 23 May 2009 from King’s Cross to York, hauled on the outward journey by the new A1 60163 Tornado and on the return by Sir Nigel Gresley. By the time details became public, all seats had already been sold but a friend was able to obtain a table for four and I was able to join him to enjoy the trip. My impressions of the day follow. The train was due to leave King’s Cross at 08.18 and call at Potters Bar, Stevenage and Peterborough to pick up passengers. I could not get to King’s Cross without an impossibly early start, so I drove round the M25 to join the train at Potters Bar. From the platform at Potters Bar there was great excitement as a wisp of steam could be seen and soon after the apple green locomotive appeared on the slow line with the ‘Cathedrals Express’ headboard on the smokebox door. It was a heavy train: 13 coaches provided by Riviera Trains, mainly Mark I with a single Mark II, in varied liveries. The first class coaches at the front of the train were part of the ‘Royal Scot’ set in carmine and cream, other coaches were in the Great Western chocolate and cream with the leading support coach in maroon.
Table 1 Date/day Saturday 23 May 2009 Train 8.18 Kings Cross - York Motive Power A1 4-6-2 60163 Tornado Load (tonnes) 13 coaches 460/490 tons Weather Overcast Rec/Pos/GPS? B.I.Nathan/11 of 14/N Miles M C location WTT m s mph ave 0.00 12 57 POTTERS BAR 0 0 00 1E X to fast 1.78 14 39 BROOKMANS PARK 3 21 1/2 53 31.7 2.86 15 46 WELHAM GREEN 4 28 63 59.0 4.99 17 56 HATFIELD 6 20 1/2 73/75 68.0 7.61 20 26 WELWYN GARDEN CITY 8 8 30 68 72.9 9.24 21 76 WELWYN NORTH 9 55 70 69.1 11.10 23 65 Woolmer Green 11 11 34 64/X to slow 67.6 12.33 25 03 KNEBWORTH 12 44 1/2 61/71 62.7 14.89 27 48 STEVENAGE 16 15 52 1E 49.1 0.00 27 48 18 19 35 .5m L 4.35 31 76 HITCHIN 4 6 19 1/2 75 41.2 9.40 37 00 ARLESEY 10 24 73/71 74.4 13.59 41 15 BIGGLESWADE 13 49 76 73.6 16.53 44 10 SANDY 16 16 11 74/tsr 36 74.5 19.88 47 38 Tempsford 20 26 1/2 49 47.1 24.10 51 56 ST NEOTS 24 53 1/2 63 56.9 28.30 55 72 Offord 28 23 1/2 76 72.1 31.20 58 64 HUNTINGDON 34 32 05 sig 47.1 58 64 35 19 stop 34.40 62 00 Milepost 41 18 53 32.1
Milepost 30½ 224 October 2009 Miles M C location WTT m s mph ave 38.40 66 00 Woodwalton 45 13 75 61.3 41.73 69 26 Holme 48 48 52 48* 54.6 45.19 72 63 Yaxley 52 12 62.3 47.40 75 00 Fletton Junction 54 27 1/2 58.8 48.79 76 31 PETERBOROUGH 55 57 01 2.5m L 32.6 0.00 76 31 57 59 36 2mL 1.61 78 00 New England North 4 01 45 x to fast 24.1 3.22 79 49 Werrington Junction 5 41 1/2 64 57.6 5.50 81 71 Helpston 7 40 1/2 70 68.9 8.41 84 64 Tallington 8 10 06 1/2 74/75 71.8 12.40 88 63 Essendine 13 21 72 73.7 15.83 92 17 Little Bytham 16 07 75 74.3 19.36 95 60 Milepost 19 03 71 72.3 20.76 97 12 Corby Glen 20 13 74 72.3 23.75 100 11 Stoke Summit 21 22 42 71 72.1 25.74 102 10 Great Ponton 24 17 77 75.4 29.06 105 36 GRANTHAM Goods Loop 26 29 19 5.5m late 39.6 0.00 105 36 50 49 08 1m late 4.22 109 54 Barkston 8 02 71 31.5 9.89 115 27 Claypole 10 12 39 74/75 73.6 12.80 118 20 Milepost 15 00 1/2 73 74.3 14.70 120 12 NEWARK NORTH GATE 15 16 32 76 74.8 16.80 122 20 Milepost 18 16 72/75 72.6 20.55 126 00 Carlton-on-Trent loop 23 23 18 1.5m late 44.7 0.00 126 00 29 25 32 2m early 1.45 127 36 Crow Park 3 18 1/2 44 26.3 5.94 131 75 Tuxford North 8 33 1/2 56 51.3 7.75 133 60 Markham Summit 10 22 62 60.2 12.61 138 49 RETFORD 14 14 25 75/70 72.0 17.98 143 78 Ranskill 18 48 73/75 73.3 21.65 147 52 Bawtry 21 49 70 73.2 23.50 149 40 Pipers Wood Summit 23 30 63 65.8 25.36 151 29 Rossington 25 06 75 69.8 27.25 153 20 Black Carr Junction 28 26 37 72 74.6 29.99 155 79 DONCASTER 36 29 02 1/2 66 67.9 32.03 158 02 Arksey 30 45 74 71.4 34.29 160 23 Shaftholme Junction 40 32 35 73 74.0 37.00 163 00 Moss 35 21 1/2 sigs 47 58.8 39.93 165 74 Balne 38 57 53 48.8 43.25 169 20 Templehirst Junction 48 42 09 1/2 67/73 62.1 46.50 172 40 Milepost 45 32 1/2 sigs 37 57.7 49.00 175 00 Hambleton North Junction 53 48 39 59 48.2 54.36 180 29 Ryther Viaduct N 53 16 1/2 74/72 69.6 56.98 182 78 Colton Junction 60 55 26 74 72.6 58.79 184 63 Copmanthorpe 56 54 74 74.2 60.50 186 40 Chaloners Whin (MP 2) 58 32 58 63.0 62.43 188 34 YORK (Plat 10) 66 62 18 6 early 30.7
The 3-minutes allowed for the Potters Bar stop were more than adequate and we were away a minute early, immediately crossing over to the fast line. The next section is on a falling gradient and we steadily accelerated to 75mph after Hatfield before the climbing resumed. However, we were still doing 70mph before we slowed slightly to take the slow line at
Milepost 30½ 225 October 2009 Woolmer Green after the Welwyn bottleneck. The 16 minute timing to Stevenage was kept and we left there on time. We remained on the slow line where the speed is mostly restricted to 75mph, but as the A1 is also limited to this speed, it was no problem. On the ensuing descent to the Ouse valley we maintained 74-75mph for some distance until checked at Sandy. At Huntingdon we were brought to a stand for three minutes and had further checks on to Peterborough where we arrived 2½ minutes late. The time allowed for the 29.1 miles from Peterborough to Grantham was 26 minutes. Bearing in mind that much of this section is the climb at 1 in 200/178 to Stoke Summit, this is virtually impossible with steam, particularly with a 13 coach train. The best time allowed in steam days was 29 minutes with a load limited to 9 coaches and the fastest steam time noted in the RPS database is 26m 06s behind Sir Nigel Gresley, the log of which appears in the ‘Railway Magazine’ of February 1963. Nevertheless Tornado put up a very creditable performance reaching the 75mph limit before the climbing started and topping the summit at 71mph. Doug Landau estimates the drawbar horsepower to be 2210 on the final section to the summit. Our overall start to stop time was 29m 19s, only just under even time. My only previous experience with a similarly loaded A1 on this section was on 7 January 1956 when 60149 Amadis hauling 13 coaches took 44m 01s although checked but only reached 58 mph before the climb, accelerated from 16mph at Little Bytham to 50mph at Corby Glen and went over the summit at 45mph. This perhaps was not typical but left me with a poor impression of A1s. We ran into the goods loop at Grantham to take water whilst the NXEC 09.30 King’s Cross- Edinburgh and Hull Trains 09.34 King’s Cross-Hull Adelante, both of which call at Grantham, went ahead of us. There was a slow start as we crossed back on to the main line but 75mph was achieved again on the descent to the Trent valley at Newark. We were diverted into the loop at Carlton-on-Trent to allow the 10.00 from King’s Cross ‘Flying Scotsman’ to overtake. This was right behind us as we stopped for little over 2 minutes before we were away 2 minutes early with the next stop York. Climbing began again soon after we were out of the loop but we had reached 62mph by Markham summit and then on the descent through Retford and subsequent level section were again maintaining speeds close to 75mph. The schedule allowed 22 minutes pass-to- pass for the 17.38 miles between Retford and Doncaster but we cut this to 14½ minutes and passed through the latter 9 minutes early at 66mph. Running ahead of time, we were checked by signals after Shaftholme Junction and again on the Selby diversion line after Templehirst Junction. I have no idea of the cause since we should not have suffered any delays by following a 125mph Class 91 or HST. However we remained ahead of schedule and came into platform 10 of York station at 12.19, six minutes early. The full log appears in Table 1. Some 4½ hours were allowed in York which gave us time for a leisurely lunch and a visit to the National Railway Museum where we were able to see 6229 Duchess of Hamilton which had just been returned to the museum with its streamlined casing and formed part of a special streamlining exhibition. On returning to the station, the train was waiting in platform 10, now with Sir Nigel Gresley at the head looking very smart in the early BR blue livery with a ‘Golden Jubilee’ headboard. We were away on time at 17.02 and soon travelling at speeds in the 73-75mph range broken only by an easing to 67mph through Doncaster station and again over Pipers Wood summit. At Doncaster we passed the ‘Northern Belle’ Pullman train with Class 67 power. The first scheduled stop was at Retford to take water and we arrived there 3½ minutes early with a start to stop average speed of over 64mph. The train stopped in the platform and there was an opportunity to stretch one’s legs and take photographs. Whilst it had been overcast earlier in the day, the sun was now shining and all along the route people had come out at almost every bridge and level crossing to view and photograph the train, a few even trespassing on the lineside.
Milepost 30½ 226 October 2009 Table 2 Date/day Saturday 23 May 2009 Train 17.02 York - Kings Cross Motive Power A4 4-6-2 60007 Sir Nigel Gresley Load (tonnes) 13 coaches 460/490 tons Weather Sunny Rec/Pos/GPS? B.I.Nathan/6 of 14/N Miles M C location WTT m s mph ave
0.00 188 34 YORK (Plat 10) 0 0 00 T 1.93 186 40 Chaloners Whin (MP 2) 4 40 1/2 53 24.7 5.45 182 78 Colton Junction 7 8 09 1/2 64 60.6 8.06 180 29 Ryther Viaduct N 10 26 73/71 69.1 13.43 175 00 Hambleton North Junction 15 14 53 72/74 72.3 19.18 169 20 Templehirst Junction 21 19 36 71 73.2 22.50 165 74 Balne 22 20 75 72.9 25.43 163 00 Moss 24 40 1/2 75 75.1 28.14 160 23 Shaftholme Junction 29 26 51 1/2 73/75 74.3 30.40 158 02 Arksey 28 42 74 73.9 32.44 155 79 DONCASTER 33 30 26 1/2 67/74 70.2 37.06 151 29 Rossington 34 20 72 71.2 38.93 149 40 Pipers Wood Summit 35 58 67 68.6 40.78 147 52 Bawtry 37 30 1/2 74 71.9 44.45 143 78 Ranskill 40 36 69/66 71.4 46.73 141 56 Sutton 42 36 1/2 70 67.7 49.81 138 49 RETFORD 50 46 40 3.5m E 45.7 0.00 138 49 70 72 14 2m L 2.43 136 15 Gamston 5 38 42 25.8 4.86 133 60 Markham Summit 8 50 49 45.7 6.68 131 75 Tuxford North 10 41 63/75 58.7 11.16 127 36 Crow Park 14 24 73 72.4 15.61 123 00 Milepost 17 58 76 74.8 18.46 120 12 NEWARK NORTH GATE 16 20 17 1/2 73/76 73.7 23.28 115 27 Claypole 22 24 07 1/2 74 75.4 28.94 109 54 Barkston 28 51 70 71.9 33.18 105 35 GRANTHAM 32 34 39 1/2 sigs 17 43.8 36.49 102 10 Great Ponton 40 00 1/2 50 37.1 38.48 100 11 Stoke Summit 37 42 17 1/2 54/X Fast 52.3 41.46 97 12 Corby Glen 45 00 1/2 75/73 66.1 46.40 92 17 Little Bytham 48 58 75 74.8 49.83 88 63 Essendine 51 51 1/2 64 70.9 53.81 84 64 Tallington 50 56 33 1/2 46/Slow 50.9 59.00 79 49 Werrington Junction 62 49 1/2 55/sigs 49.7 62.29 76 26 PETERBOROUGH 65 72 27 9.5m Late 20.5 0.00 76 25 69 74 12 7.5m Late 1.31 75 00 Fletton Junction 3 52 1/2 43 20.3 3.53 72 63 Yaxley 6 40 1/2 56 47.3 6.99 69 26 Holme 9 57 67 63.5 9.31 67 00 Connington South Loop 14 13 43 7L 37.0 0.00 67 00 44 31 24 5E 1.00 66 00 Woodwalton 3 54 15.4 3.61 63 31 Abbots Ripton 8 06 1/2 46 37.3 5.00 62 00 Milepost 9 47 1/2 53 49.5 8.16 58 67 HUNTINGDON 11 12 52 68 61.6
Milepost 30½ 227 October 2009 Miles M C location WTT m s mph ave 11.10 55 72 Offord 15 23 73 69.9 15.30 51 56 ST NEOTS 19 04 1/2 66 68.3 19.53 47 38 Tempsford 22 38 73/67 71.3 22.88 44 10 SANDY 24 25 34 1/2 70/72 68.4 25.81 41 15 BIGGLESWADE 28 04 1/2 70 70.4 30.00 37 00 ARLESEY 31 52 1/2 66/58 66.1 35.05 31 76 HITCHIN 35 36 47 62 61.7 38.00 29 00 Milepost 40 59 1/2 sigs 25 42.1 39.43 27 46 STEVENAGE 40 44 55 T 21.8 0.00 27 46 42 46 40 .5m E 2.58 25 00 KNEBWORTH 4 33 1/2 50 33.9 3.76 23 65 Woolmer Green 5 5 53 1/2 55 53.5 5.63 21 76 WELWYN NORTH 7 39 65 63.5 6.58 21 00 Digswell 7 8 43 50/X slow 53.6 7.25 20 26 WELWYN GARDEN CITY 8 9 34 1/2 56/63 47.3 9.88 17 56 HATFIELD 12 09 1/2 54/50 60.9 12.00 15 46 WELHAM GREEN 14 39 53 51.1 13.09 14 39 BROOKMANS PARK 15 56 49 51.0 14.86 12 57 POTTERS BAR 16 20 07 3.5m L 25.4
We had to wait at Retford until an NXEC express had passed on the through road and we were away 2 minutes late. As we were in Mark I stock we had the window vent open (unlike modern hermetically-sealed coaches) and from the fifth coach we could hear sweet music from the locomotive as we climbed the 1 in 178/200 to Askham Tunnel and speed built up to 49mph. Once over Markham Summit we again maintained speeds in the 70s until we were checked on the approach to Grantham and speed came down to 17mph. We were thus unable to take a run at Stoke Bank but we heard some more fine music from the locomotive and we breasted the summit at 53mph. We were on the fast line down the bank but with the locomotive restricted to 75mph, it was inevitable that we would not reach the 112mph of fifty years ago. We maintained a steady 75mph until we were switched to the slow line at Tallington allow another NXEC train to pass. This may have delayed us on the approach to Peterborough station where we were now 9½ minutes late. Tornado’s tender had been built with an increased water capacity of 6,000 gallons and thus we only needed one water stop on the outward journey. Sir Nigel Gresley’s tender can only hold 5,000 gallons and so two water stops were required on the return. It was little over 9 miles from Peterborough to the second of these in Connington Loop where we were booked to stop for 30 minutes. This was alongside the one-time tip and we noticed a number of disused sidings. The tender was quickly refilled and once a First Capital Connect (FCC) local service and an NXEC express had passed, we were away 5 minutes early although matters were taken very cautiously until we came out of the loop on to the main line. We were now climbing again on the 1 in 200 to the summit beyond Abbots Ripton with some more fine music from the loco. The subsequent running was not quite as fast as earlier but we occasionally exceeded 70mph falling to around 60mph on the climb through Hitchin until we were checked on the approach to Stevenage. We were by now following a FCC service calling at most stations which appeared to have been put on the fast line whilst a Hull Trains Adelante overtook us on the slow line. After the Welwyn bottleneck we went on the slow line and suffered further checks prior to the Potters Bar stop, possibly following a FCC all stations service. I left the train at Potters Bar where we were 3½ minutes late. However, I understand that King’s Cross was reached on time. The log of the return journey is in Table 2. To sum up, it had been an excellent day with both steam locomotives performing well and
Milepost 30½ 228 October 2009 surely better than those in everyday service in the 1950s. We did not of course achieve the speeds attained by Sir Nigel Gresley in 1959 but the load was substantially heavier. Ten years ago on 23 May 1999 another special was arranged behind Sir Nigel Gresley to mark the 40th anniversary of the record run. Speed seldom exceeded 60mph although there was some good uphill work possibly assisted by the diesel locomotive which was at the rear of the train, The tour was reported by Peter Semmens in the August 1999 ‘Railway Magazine’, who concluded his article thus:
Hopefully by 2009, the East Coast route will have been upgraded and the extra capacity may then give scope for an even faster re-run on the occasion of the golden jubilee of the 1959 special and the centenary of the Stephenson Locomotive Society which sponsored it. There is little extra capacity on the East Coast route in 2009, but as our late President hoped, the re-run was faster than that in 1999.
60163 Tornado at York on 23rd May 2009 Photo Bruce Nathan
From the Editor: For those not familiar with the 1959 run, we print Bruce Nathan’s log from the RPS archive. He says that as he was in the company of a distracting companion, there may be some differences between this log and those of other recorders. Also,there may be differences between timing points over the 50 years, which could be account for a few average speed discrepancies. Readers of a nervous disposition should look away now!
Milepost 30½ 229 October 2009
Date/day Saturday 23 May 1959 Train 5.46pm Doncaster-Kings Cross Motive Power A4 4-6-2 60007 Sir Nigel Gresley Driver W Hoole Load (tonnes) 8 coaches 264/285 tons Rec B.I.Nathan Miles M C location m s mph ave 0.00 155 79 DONCASTER 0 00 2L 4.63 151 29 Rossington 6 20 67 43.8 6.49 149 40 Pipers Wood Summit 7 57 72 69.1 8.34 147 52 Bawtry 9 37 41tsr 66.6 12.01 143 78 Ranskill 13 34 75/80 55.8 17.38 138 49 RETFORD 17 50 65 75.4 24.05 131 75 Tuxford North 23 25 79/82 71.7 28.54 127 36 Crow Park 26 53 77/81 77.7 35.84 120 12 NEWARK NORTH GATE 32 44 39tsr/29 74.9 40.65 115 27 Claypole 39 28 54/68 42.9 46.31 109 54 Barkston 44 50 67 63.3 50.55 105 35 GRANTHAM 48 21 79 72.3 53.86 102 10 Great Ponton 50 58 75 76.0 55.85 100 11 Stoke Summit 52 30 83 77.8 58.84 97 12 Corby Glen 54 26 96 92.7 63.78 92 17 Little Bytham 57 25 109/111 99.3 67.20 88 63 Essendine 59 23 102 104.5 71.19 84 64 Tallington 61 41 93 104.0 76.38 79 49 Werrington Junction 67 05 36/47 57.6 79.66 76 26 PETERBOROUGH 71 50 31 41.5 80.99 75 00 Fletton Junction 74 12 54 33.6 83.20 72 63 Yaxley 76 36 67 55.3 86.66 69 26 Holme 79 26 69 73.3 88.61 67 30 Connington South 81 07 77/73 69.5 92.60 63 31 Abbots Ripton 84 07 75 79.7 97.15 58 67 HUNTINGDON 87 49 69/66 73.8 100.09 55 72 Offord 90 21 69 69.6 104.29 51 56 ST NEOTS 93 43 87 74.9 108.51 47 38 Tempsford 96 30 98 91.1 111.86 44 10 SANDY 98 33 96 98.0 114.80 41 15 BIGGLESWADE 100 30 89 90.4 118.99 37 00 ARLESEY 103 21 86 88.2 124.04 31 76 HITCHIN 107 04 79 81.5 127.36 28 50 Stevenage (old) 109 36 77 78.8 130.99 25 00 KNEBWORTH 112 25 76 77.2 132.18 23 65 Woolmer Green 113 43 70/75 54.8 134.04 21 76 WELWYN NORTH 114 59 70 88.2 135.66 20 26 WELWYN GARDEN CITY 116 24 72 68.8 138.29 17 56 HATFIELD 118 37 71 71.1 141.50 14 39 BROOKMANS PARK 121 19 71 71.4 143.28 12 57 POTTERS BAR 122 51 61/67 69.5 146.80 9 15 NEW BARNET 126 13 65 62.8 149.53 6 37 NEW SOUTHGATE 128 48 63 63.3 150.99 5 00 WOOD GREEN 130 11 64 63.4 153.48 2 41 FINSBURY PARK 132 37 34tsr 61.3 155.99 0 00 KINGS CROSS 137 42 14E 29.7
Milepost 30½ 230 October 2009 THE RHONE VALLEY
Mountains without Hills
Frank Collins
Think of Switzerland and railways and what comes to mind? Frequency, efficiency, reliability, an all-electric operation; mountains and spectacular Alpine scenery, dramatic engineering, tunnels, severe curves and gradients perhaps?
All of that would of course be completely true in many parts of the country – a country where one begins to exhausted the Oxford English Dictionary’s supply of superlatives. My image of Switzerland was formed by a family holiday there in 1971 as a boy, when all travel was done by train and lake steamer, mountains were climbed almost exclusively it seemed by rack railways, and getting anywhere by train from our base at Hergiswil on the shores of Lake Luzern involved use of the metre gauge Brunig Bahn. This was all long before my interest in train timing commenced, so the performance of Swiss trains remained something of a mystery to me.
After that family holiday, I did not set foot in Switzerland again for 30 years; deterred in part by its’ reputation in the 1980s especially as being a very expensive destination for the British visitor. Since the turn of the 21st Century however I have either passed through or visited Switzerland on six occasions, all of which have built upon my boyhood memories of the country as a wonderful place to visit – as well as considerably enhanced my knowledge of Swiss Railways. Two of these trips have been week long rail-based holidays, which have also demonstrated that as a destination Switzerland need not be expensive. Aided by careful shopping on the Internet, comfortable hotel rooms can easily be had for no more than one would pay in Britain or France and certainly Ireland; in 2006 a single room in a 4 star hotel in the heart of Luzern, 5 minutes walk from the station and the Old Town, was obtained for less than £45/night bed and breakfast, and decent evening meals out cost no more per head than in a reasonable restaurant or pub in the UK.
Topographically, Switzerland divides broadly into two. The northern side of the country is generally flatter and consequently more populous, but characterised also by gently rolling hills and lakes, so the traditional rail network tends to be sinuous, with sharp grades in places. With all-electric operation however it is the curvature rather than the grade which holds speeds down and it has taken the construction of the new 200 km/h direct route between Bern and Olten – crucial to the strategic objective of bringing Bern – Basel, Bern – Zurich and Bern – Luzern journeys each down to under one hour – to get any speeds north of the Alpine areas above 140 km/h. Needless to say that has only been achieved by cutting across the topography – so the new high speed line involves a lot of tunnels.
The southern half of the country is of course dominated by the Alps, with all that is renowned for in railway terms. One route however into the heart of the Alps is different – the Rhone Valley route from Genève through Lausanne to Brig, and the Simplon Tunnel route to Milan and Italy. Most of the long-distance domestic and International services on this route originate at Genève Aeroport, and start by heading south west on a big loop to the main City Centre station at Geneve-Cornavin. On leaving there, the line continues to swing round to the north-east – in the process passing the eastern entrance to the Airport and having turned over 180 degrees since the start of the journey. Genève as Canton has the unusual distinction of having well over 95% of its boundary as an international frontier with France – and only about 5km of land border with the rest of Switzerland.
Milepost 30½ 231 October 2009 The route from Genève to Lausanne follows a broad sweep north of the Lake – never along the shore, but often with view across the lake in the distance on the south side. The suburbs of Genève need to carry a particular health warning for the train timer; this appears to be a 3-tracked section for roughly the first 13km out of the city, and many of the suburban stations seem to be on one side only – the south – and are very easily missed. Conventional lineside posts appears to be missing entirely from this section too, which does not assist matters. (Further along this route the classic Swiss timer’s tease is found in abundance; kilometre posts switching sides regularly for no immediately obvious reason. There are about 5 or 6 such switches between Genève and Brig!) Once clear of the city however this section of the route is very straightforward, with no tunnels or major gradients, and line speed of 140 km/h (160 km/h for tilting trains) until the complex of junctions are yards on the approach to Lausanne.
The station here is around 2km inland and a good 70 metres above the Lake, with the city centre being further inland and higher up the hills. The Bern and Brig routes separate at the eastern end of the station; the former climbing immediately, and the Brig route dropping sharply at up to 1/80 down towards the Lake. For nearly the first 30 km, until Villeneuve, the line has to squeeze into the narrow strip of land between the mountains and the Lake shore, often close to the waters edge, threading through the towns of Vevey and Montreux en route. Consequent on this is curvature which restricts the Lausanne – Vevey section to mostly 100 km/h for hauled trains, and again between Montreux and Villeneuve. The lakeside section ends dramatically just before Villeneuve as the line threads through a narrow gap between the mountains and the spectacular Chateau de Chillon on the lake shore; it is easy to understand why the Chateau was for so long of major strategic importance.
The Lake ends here; and the line instead gains the wide, very flat valley bottom which it follows for the remaining 115 km or so to Brig. As a result there are no gradients of any significance either until between Sierre and Leuk; the line climbs just 116 metres in the 33 km from Villeneuve to Sion. Brig is only 300 metres above Villeneuve, with almost a third of that being gained in the 9km between Sierre and Leuk. Speeds therefore for the most part are 140 km/h for loco-hauled trains, with some sections of 160 km/h in the upper valley above Martigny. The station and yards around Bex/St Maurice impose a 100 km/h restriction, whilst at Martigny itself the line executes a majestic 90 degree turn as the valley changes from a south-easterly to north-easterly heading.
This is a route which continues to see development. At the time of my first visit in 2004, the section between Salgesch and Leuk was still single track, with the line over these 5kms following a meandering course by the side of the river imposing an 80 km/h restriction. By the time of my 2006 visit, this section had been doubled – but on a completely new alignment comprising a tunnel of 2799 metres followed immediately by a second of 1365 metres. On exiting the second of these the new route bisects the line of the old; one consequence of this is that Leuk gained a completely new station in a different location; the new alignment regains the old a little way east of the new Leuk station. Logic would therefore say that there must be a distance discrepancy somewhere in the middle of all this as the new alignment would appear to be rather more direct than the old one; but the tunnels coupled with a lack of lineside posts on the new section of route makes this impossible to verify from the train.
Another big change has come to the route in 2007; while the classic route over the Lotschberg pass trails in at Brig station itself, the line for the newly opened Base Tunnel joins the Rhone Valley line on a series of flying junctions several kilometres west of Visp. The last 15 km or so has therefore seen further upgrading work – Pendolinos will be running through the new tunnel at up to 230 km/h – and Visp station itself has been completely
Milepost 30½ 232 October 2009 TABLE 1 Run No. 1 2 Date/day Mon 14/06/2004 Sat 15/04/2006 Train 12.09 Geneve Aero - Milano C 11.01 Geneve Aero- Milano C Motive Power 460002 484015 Load (tons) 7/ 315/320 7/ 315/320 Rec/Pos/GPS? F G Collins/ 2/8 /No GPS F G Collins/ 7/8 /No GPS km pk location Sch m s km/h av Sch m s km/h av 60.26 0.00 Geneve 0 0 00 1 late 0 0 00 56.62 3.64 Chambesy 3 05 1/2 70.6 54.77 5.49 Genthod 3 56 1/2 -/br 130.6 3 43 88.6 51.95 8.31 Versoix 5 25 114.7 5 13 1/2 112.2 49.46 10.80 Mies 6 50 1/2 104.8 47.00 13.26 Cappet 8 16 1/2 tsr 103.0 7 41 120.8 44.83 15.43 Founex 9 52 81.8 8 37 139.5 41.92 18.34 Crans 11 09 136.1 38.53 21.73 Nyon 13 13 05 105.2 14 14 02 11 24 1/2 135.4 37.04 23.22 Promgins 1 12 74.5 12 06 129.3 33.79 26.47 Gland 2 39 134.5 13 44 -/tsr 119.4 29.70 30.56 Gilly-Bursinel 4 28 135.1 16 49 1/2 79.4 26.66 33.60 Rolle 5 48 1/2 136.0 18 29 110.0 24.39 35.87 Perroy 6 49 1/2 134.0 19 29 1/2 135.1 21.48 38.78 Allaman 8 07 1/2 134.3 20 42 144.5 19.35 40.91 Etoy 9 05 133.4 21 37 139.4 16.91 43.35 St Prex 10 11 133.1 22 39 141.7 14.72 45.54 Tolochenoz 11 14 1/2 124.2 23 38 133.6 12.50 47.76 Morges 14 12 54 80.3 15 14 35 24 36 137.8 11.16 49.10 Morges St Jean 1 05 1/2 73.6 25 11 1/2 135.9 10.12 50.14 Lonay-Preverenges 1 35 126.9 25 39 136.1 - 8.38 51.88 Denges 2 23 130.5 26 25 1/2 /sigs 134.7 4.51 55.75 Renens 4 24 115.1 29 31 75.1 2.00 58.26 KP 5 35 1/2 127 126.4 sigs sev 0.00 60.26 Lausannne 10 7 50 53.5 36 58
rebuilt. Visp is also likely to gain in importance from this, at the expense of Brig, as the interchange for Zermatt.
I have divided the logs into 4 tables; Table 1 illustrates the Genève – Lausanne stretch. Run 1 is the run from my first timing visit in 2004; in fact on this occasion I was merely ‘passing through’ Switzerland, having flown from Gatwick to Genève en route to Milano and ultimately Firenze for the night. Loco was the near-universal provision of a class 460, which was never going to be troubled by this load. Unfortunately I was wrong-sided and had not brought my GPS so speeds are averages only. What is clear is that despite the check on the first section and not running up to full speed there was plenty in hand, and we arrived a couple of minutes early into Lausanne.
Run 2 moves us forwards nearly 2 years to the equivalent train; this time I had flown in from Bristol on probably the bumpiest commercial airline flight I can remember! The load was similar but two things had changed. Firstly, the traction; these International services are run
Milepost 30½ 233 October 2009 Run No. 3 not by Swiss railways but by a Date/day Sun 08/04/2007 separate Company, Cisalpino, Train 14.19 Morges - Geneve Aeroport and by this stage they had Motive Power ICN 500 013 dispensed with using Swiss Load (tons) 7, traction and had acquired a batch Rec/Pos/GPS? F G Collins/ 4/7 / GPS of Bombardier Traxx locos in the km pk location Sch m s km/h av form of class 484, with the 12.50 0.00 Morges 0 0 00 1 late intention I believe of having the 13.50 1.00 PK 1 05 113 55.4 capability to work through to 14.72 2.22 Tolochenoz 1 38 1/2 136/159 131.1 Milano and avoid the loco change 16.91 4.41 St Prex 2 31 1/2 158 148.8 at Domodossala. Secondly, the 19.35 6.85 Etoy 3 27 160 158.3 service had much more of an air 21.48 8.98 Allaman 4 15 159 159.8 of a long-distance international 23.00 10.50 PK 4 49 160/161 160.9 express about it, in that most of 24.39 11.89 Perroy 5 20 1/2 160 158.9 the intermediate stops had been 26.66 14.16 Rolle 6 13 1/2 144/148 154.2 cut from the schedule. I was 29.70 17.20 Gilly-Bursinel 7 27 1/2 141/131 147.9 again wrong sided – and had 32.00 19.50 PK 8 28 136.9 difficulty with the suburban 33.79 21.29 Gland 9 15 1/2 140 135.7 stations coming out of Genève 35.50 23.00 PK 9 58 1/2 155 143.2 too – but this was an altogether 95/48 livelier affair, despite the tsr and 37.04 24.54 Promgins 10 42 tsr 127.4 the check approaching 38.53 26.03 Nyon 12 52 41.3 Lausanne. 14 13 40.00 1.47 PK 1 12 139 73.5 Finally for this Table, in run 3, we 41.92 3.39 Crans 1 57 159 153.6 have a run in the opposite 43.45 4.92 Celigny 2 32 154/160 157.4 direction. This is with one of the 44.83 6.30 Founex 3 03 1/2 156 157.7 ICN units – essentially a Swiss 47.00 8.47 Cappet 3 53 158 157.8 domestic tilting train, though in 51.06 12.53 Pont Cenard 5 35 1/2 115 142.6 profile much closer to full loading 51.95 13.42 Versoix 6 03 1/2 115 114.4 gauge than one might expect. 54.77 16.24 Genthod 7 23 137 127.7 55.78 17.25 Les Tuileries 7 49 140 139.8 56.62 18.09 Chambesy 8 11 135 137.5 Secheron 9 14 1/2 97 60.26 21.73 Geneve 10 52 These 7-car sets are used, sometimes singly, often in pairs, principally on the route from Genève through Neuchatel to Basel and Zurich, where the sinuous nature of the routes and the speed differentials made possible by tilt offer useful time savings. I had boarded this service at Biel/Bienne, and it was one of those services which runs direct from Neuchatel to Genève avoiding Lausanne by the north to west curve which joins the Genève – Lausanne line at Denges. I have therefore started the run at Morges, being the first stop after the junction. There are two features of particular note here. Firstly, full use of the 160 km/h differential speed limits – rather more interesting than the normal 140 km/h offering. Secondly, the very rapid acceleration. Out of Morges we managed 0-136 in 98.5 seconds and 2.22 km. Looking at the averages, I suspect the acceleration through Tolochenoz may have been a 2 stage affair, with power being eased before Tolochenoz to comply with the speed limit, and the 160 differential perhaps not starting until west of the station. This is borne out by the acceleration from Nyon; 0-139 (86 mph) in 72 seconds and 1.50 km (under a mile) with the train passing Crans (3.39 km) in under 2 minutes from rest at 159km/h having already been eased. These are I suspect units to sample more!
With Tables 2 and 3 I turn now to the Lausanne-Brig section. Table 2 deals with services on the stopping pattern of the regular-interval domestic Inter City services. I use those words carefully since run 4 is of course the continuation of run 1 – but with a very domestic
Milepost 30½ 234 October 2009 TABLE 2 Run No. 4 5 6 Date/day Mon 14/06/2004 Sat 31/03/2007 Mon 02/04/2007 Train 12.09 Geneve Apt-Milano 17.20 ex Lausanne 08.34 ex Vevey Motive Power 460002 460044 460091 Load (tons) 7/ 10, 12, Rec/Pos/GPS? F G Collins/ 2/8 /No GPS F G Collins/ 3/11 /Yes F G Collins/ 3/13 / Yes km pk location Sch m s km/h av Sch m s km/h av RUN 0.00 0.00 Lausanne RUN4 0 00 1/2 late 5 0 00 1 1/2 late 1.00 1.00 PK 1 27 41.4 1 35 59 37.9 2.51 2.51 Pully 2 23 97.1 2 34 104 92.1 5.07 5.07 Lutry 3 51 104.7 4 07 99 99.1 6.68 6.68 Villette 4 46 104 105.4 5 05 100/98 99.9 8.52 8.52 Cully 5 52 100.4 6 11 1/2 101 99.6 9.98 9.98 Epesses 6 45 101 99.2 7 04 1/2 101 99.2 12.00 12.00 PK 7 57 99 101.0 8 17 99/101 100.3 13.55 13.55 Rivoz 8 53 101 99.6 9 13 1/2 100 98.8 15.00 15.00 PK 9 45 99 100.4 10 05 99 101.4 17.00 17.00 PK 10 57 100 100.0 11 17 102 100.0 18.40 18.40 Vevey 13 12 09 70.0 12 37 RUN 14 13 57 1/2 late 6 0 00 2 1/2 late 19.90 1.50 La Tour de Peritz 1 17 121 70.1 2 07 86 42.5 21.53 3.13 Burier 2 07 107 117.4 3 07 99/102 97.8 23.10 4.70 Clarens 2 59 1/2 107 107.7 4 03 1/2 99 100.0 24.54 6.14 Montreux 4 15 68.7 5 22 66.0 6 08 6 50 26.02 1.48 Territet 1 15 1/2 98 70.6 1 44 97 51.2 27.09 2.55 Veytaux-Chillon 1 55 1/2 98 96.3 2 21 1/2 98/100 102.7 29.34 4.80 Villeneuve 3 13 113/140 104.5 3 44 99/138 98.2 32.00 7.46 PK 4 26 1/2 136 130.3 5 02 136/138 122.8 33.84 9.30 Rache 5 15 140 136.6 5 51 1/2 134 133.8 36.00 11.46 PK 6 10 1/2 141 140.1 6 49 135 135.2 37.71 13.17 Yvorne 6 57 122 132.4 7 35 1/2 128 132.4 39.31 14.77 Aigle 8 10 78.9 9 10 11 04 10 38 40.50 1.19 PK 1 04 -/140 66.9 1 34 1/2 90 45.3 42.00 2.69 PK 1 43 1/2 137 136.7 2 23 127 111.3 43.60 4.29 St Triphon 2 27 129 132.4 3 06 139 134.0 46.00 6.69 PK 3 33 128 130.9 4 08 1/2 139 138.2 47.56 8.25 Bex 4 22 1/2 102 113.5 4 58 105 113.5 50.07 10.76 Les Paluds 5 48 1/2 105.1 6 35 1/2 52 tsr 92.7 51.57 12.26 St Maurice 6 41 1/2 101.9 8 18 50 tsr 52.7 54.00 14.69 PK 8 05 130 104.8 9 46 124 99.4 56.00 16.69 PK 9 02 123 126.3 10 44 127 124.1 57.86 18.55 Evionnaz 9 57 1/2 118 120.6 11 37 1/2 125 125.2 60.00 20.69 PK 11 02 1/2 125 118.5 12 39 127 125.3 61.51 22.20 Vernayoz 11 44 130 131.0 13 21 137/139 129.4 64.00 24.69 PK 12 49 130 137.9 14 24 134 142.3 66.50 27.19 Martigny 14 30 89.1 16 16 16 56 19 17 68.00 1.50 PK 1 13 74.0 1 38 114 70.86 4.36 Charrat 2 20 158 153.7 2 56 134/140 132.0 73.00 6.50 PK 3 07 1/2 160 162.2 3 51 139 140.1
Milepost 30½ 235 October 2009 km pk location Sch m s km/h av Sch m s km/h av 75.27 8.77 Saxon 3 59 1/2 157.2 4 49 1/2 140 139.7 78.00 11.50 PK 5 00 1/2 160 161.1 5 59 1/2 140 140.4 79.57 13.07 Riddes 5 36 1/2 160 157.0 6 40 140 139.6 82.12 15.62 Charmaison 6 34 159.7 7 46 139 139.1 85.31 18.81 Ardon 7 58 120 136.7 9 16 1/2 110 126.9 88.07 21.57 Chateuneuf 9 13 1/2 142 131.6 10 36 1/2 140 124.2 90.00 23.50 PK 10 04 1/2 136 136.2 11 27 134 92.43 25.93 Sion 13 11 39 92.6 13 12 14 14 04 1/2 late 17 27 96.00 3.57 PK 2 22 141 90.5 2 28 1/2 139 86.5 98.15 5.72 St Leonard 3 17 1/2 139 139.5 3 24 1/2 141/144 138.2 101.56 9.13 Granges-Lens 4 46 140 138.7 4 53 1/2 139 137.9 104.00 11.57 KP 5 48 1/2 141 140.5 5 56 140 140.5 106.00 13.57 KP 6 40 1/2 136/tsr 138.5 6 49 1/2 117 134.6 108.13 15.70 Sierre/Siders 9 8 12 83.8 8 27 78.6 10 10 51 1 1/2 late 9 31 110.00 1.87 KP 2 14 1/2 30 tsr 50.1 2 08 1/2 108 112.32 4.19 Salgesch 4 22 78 65.5 3 15 1/2 127 77.2 115.00 6.87 KP 6 20 92 81.8 117.53 9.40 Leuk 6 20 8 03 88.4 0 00 120.00 11.87 KP 9 40 121 91.7 2 05 1/2 111/XL 70.8 122.11 13.98 Turtmann 10 28 1/2 158 156.6 4 07 60 XL 62.6 124.00 15.87 KP 11 12 160 156.4 5 40 1/2 105 72.8 125.87 17.74 Gampel-Steg 11 53 1/2 160 162.2 7 03 1/2 80 tsr 81.1 128.00 19.87 KP 12 42 156 158.1 8 31 1/2 115/139 87.1 130.09 21.96 Raron 13 33 151 147.5 9 29 137 130.9 132.00 23.87 KP 14 19 144/tsr 149.5 10 20 1/2 131 133.5 134.00 25.87 KP 11 16 127 136.66 28.53 Visp 17 24 90.7 13 31 88.1 139.00 30.87 KP 18 30 1/2 141 126.7 141.00 32.87 KP 19 22 140 139.8 143.00 34.87 KP 20 14 140 138.5 145.55 37.42 Brig 22 43 61.6
stopping pattern at the time. The opening section to Vevey is largely about admiring the scenery; there is a short section of 105 km/h around Villette for the driver desperate for a few seconds. Run 4 used it, run 5 didn’t really and neither needed to to keep time. Going forwards, run 6 had much the greater load; but on this route and with this traction this does not account for all of the differential between them. Run 4 took advantage of the relatively straight alignment between Vevey and Montreux; run 6 was positively pedestrian here despite the late start. This set the pattern for the rest of both runs. The driver in run 4 was in good attacking mode despite in punctuality terms of having no real need to hurry. Note especially the very fast acceleration to 160 out of Martigny. At the time of this run of course the old single line between Salgesch and Leuk was in use, which explains the differential here. Run 6 on the other hand had some time to make up, but displayed no urgency and made no use of the 160 sections, which might perhaps suggest a 140 km/h vehicle somewhere in the formation. Work on the upgrade was very much continuing east of Leuk; note the chicane through Turtmann where we crossed over west of the station, ran through wrong line and promptly crossed back again – simply to allow a couple of men and a wheelbarrow access to work on the platform wall on our normal line. It’s hard to imagine such a simple and practical arrangement pertaining in Britain!
Milepost 30½ 236 October 2009 TABLE 3 Run No. 7 8 9 Date/day Sat 15/04/2006 Weds 04/04/2007 Sat 05/05/2007 Train 11.01 Geneve Aprt - Milano Cen 09.27 ex Lausanne 09.27 ex Lausanne Motive Power 484015 ETR 470 005 ETR 470 004 Load (tons) 7/ 315/320 9, 9, Rec/Pos/GPS? F G Collins/ 7/8 /No GPS F G Collins/ 1/9 / Intermittent) J Morgan/ ?/? km pk location m s km/h av m s km/h av m s av 0.00 0.00 Lausanne 0 00 7 late 0 00 1 late 0 00 3 late 1.00 1.00 PK 1 39 1/2 88 36.2 1 46 34.0 2.51 2.51 Pully 2 32 106 103.5 2 39 133 102.6 2 45 54.8 5.07 5.07 Lutry 3 59 1/2 105 105.3 3 49 129 131.7 3 55 131.7 6.68 6.68 Villette 4 54 1/2 103 105.4 4 36 110 123.3 4 40 128.8 93/89 8.52 8.52 Cully 6 01 101 99.6 5 43 1/2 sigs 98.1 5 45 101.9 9.98 9.98 Epesses 6 53 101 101.1 6 32 121 108.4 6 37 101.1 12.00 12.00 PK 8 05 100 101.0 7 32 1/2 120 120.2 13.55 13.55 Rivoz 9 01 101 99.6 8 25 1/2 105.3 8 47 98.9 15.00 15.00 PK 9 52 1/2 100 101.4 9 15 1/2 99 104.4 17.00 17.00 PK 11 04 1/2 101 100.0 10 28 94 99.3 18.40 18.40 Vevey 11 55 1/2 108 98.8 11 18 112 100.8 11 36 103.3 19.90 19.90 La Tour de Peritz 12 41 125 118.7 12 01 1/2 130/131 124.1 12 32 96.4 21.53 21.53 Burier 13 29 113 122.3 12 46 128 131.9 13 20 122.3 23.10 23.10 Clarens 14 22 1/2 103 105.6 13 34 br 117.8 14 06 122.9 24.54 24.54 Montreux 15 43 64.4 16 43 14 26 1/2 101 98.7 14 54 108.0 26.02 26.02 Territet 1 25 100 62.7 15 20 105 99.6 15 50 95.1 27.09 27.09 Veytaux-Chillon 2 04 98.8 15 56 1/2 109 105.5 16 22 120.4 29.34 29.34 Villeneuve 3 20 1/2 110/141 105.9 17 05 1/2 119 117.4 17 31 117.4 32.00 32.00 PK 4 32 1/2 137 133.0 18 17 138 133.9 33.84 33.84 Rache 5 21 140 136.6 19 08 126 129.9 19 32 133.9 36.00 36.00 PK 6 17 141 138.9 20 05 1/2 148 135.2 37.71 37.71 Yvorne 7 02 129 136.8 20 47 1/2 140 146.6 39.31 39.31 Aigle 7 50 114 120.0 21 57 1/2 50 tsr 82.3 21 59 134.0 42.00 42.00 PK 9 05 1/2 140 128.3 23 54 1/2 141 82.8 43.60 43.60 St Triphon 9 47 141 138.8 24 36 142 138.8 23 54 134.3 46.00 46.00 PK 10 51 1/2 121 134.0 25 39 1/2 136.1 47.56 47.56 Bex 11 44 105 107.0 26 29 1/2 105 112.3 25 44 129.6 50.07 50.07 Les Paluds 13 09 1/2 105.7 27 52 1/2 50 tsr 108.9 51.57 51.57 St Maurice 14 03 1/2 100.0 29 41 49.8 27 45 119.3 54.00 54.00 PK 15 24 1/2 120 108.0 31 02 108.0 56.00 56.00 PK 16 25 120 119.0 57.86 57.86 Evionnaz 17 20 120 121.7 32 36 147 147.8 30 43 127.2 60.00 60.00 PK 18 20 1/2 134 127.3 33 28 1/2 146.7 61.51 61.51 Vernayoz 19 02 149 131.0 34 05 1/2 146.9 32 18 138.3 64.00 64.00 PK 20 05 1/2 117 141.2 35 07 1/2 137 144.6 66.50 66.50 Martigny 21 21 114 119.2 36 24 109 117.6 34 37 129.2 68.00 68.00 PK 22 05 1/2 136 121.3 37 12 1/2 111.3 70.86 70.86 Charrat 23 19 1/2 141 139.1 38 22 148.1 36 31 137.7 75.27 75.27 Saxon 25 13 1/2 139.3 40 01 160 160.4 38 13 155.6 78.00 78.00 PK 26 23 141.4 41 02 161 161.1 79.57 79.57 Riddes 27 03 141.3 41 37 161 161.5 39 53 154.8 82.12 82.12 Charmaison 28 08 -/tsr 141.2 42 34 1/2 151 159.7 40 53 153.0 85.31 85.31 Ardon 29 40 1/2 113 124.2 44 01 118 132.8 42 16 138.4 88.07 88.07 Chateuneuf 30 57 1/2 140 129.0 45 20 1/2 130 125.0 43 28 138.0
Milepost 30½ 237 October 2009 km pk location m s km/h av m s km/h av m s av 90.00 90.00 PK 46 13 1/2 140 92.43 92.43 Sion 33 17 48 11 sch 48 46 03 101.3 34 47 50 15 sch 50 sch 48 1 late 96.00 3.57 PK 2 25 1/2 141 88.3 3 17 65.2 98.15 5.72 St Leonard 3 21 140 139.5 4 16 139 131.2 3 50 89.5 101.56 9.13 Granges-Lens 4 50 136 137.9 5 38 141 149.7 5 14 146.1 104.00 11.57 KP 5 53 1/2 141 138.3 6 42 1/2 138 136.2 106.00 13.57 KP 6 52 123.1 7 31 1/2 133 146.9 108.13 15.70 Sierre/Siders 8 25 82.5 10 08 8 48 -/127 100.2 8 28 121.9 112.32 19.89 Salgesch 2 46 1/2 90.6 11 09 1/2 -/sigs 106.6 10 40 114.3 117.53 25.10 Leuk 5 07 1/2 -/140 133.0 14 40 1/2 88.9 12 54 140.0 120.00 27.57 KP 6 08 br/ 80 tsr 147.0 16 00 br/xl 111.8 122.11 29.68 Turtmann 7 36 98 86.3 17 35 1/2 55/xl 79.5 14 38 158.5 124.00 31.57 KP 8 29 101 128.4 19 17 67.0 125.87 33.44 Gampel-Steg 9 17 144 140.3 20 30 1/2 74/tsr 91.6 16 06 153.8 128.00 35.57 KP 10 11 1/2 140 140.7 22 00 85.7 130.09 37.66 Raron 11 05 139 140.6 22 58 129.7 17 43 156.6 132.00 39.57 KP 11 51 1/2 139 147.9 23 45 146.3 134.00 41.57 KP 24 31 1/2 154.8 136.66 44.23 Visp 13 53 1/2 137.5 26 17 1/2 -/xl 90.3 21 31 103.7 139.00 46.57 KP 27 52 1/2 88.7 tsr 141.00 48.57 KP 28 50 1/2 124.1 143.00 50.57 KP 29 40 1/2 144.0 145.55 53.12 Brig 19 32 RT 32 53 5 late 47.7 27 56 83.1 sch 29 sch 29 RT Table 3 deals with fast International services – with Cisalpino having taken over running the Switzerland – Italy service through the Simplon, these are now run as separate limited stop services rather than as extensions of domestic trains as previously. Some are formed of hauled stock whilst others are 9-car ETR 470 titling trains – the alpine version of the original Italian Pendolino. Run 7 is the continuation of Run 2 – which having arrived at Lausanne on time, had to be held for a late running connection and so left 7 minutes late (for those who have not experienced Swiss rail, the system is amazingly efficient at running large numbers of trains with great precision and great punctuality. That said punctuality is not quite as total as it once was, but this 7 minute delay is pretty unusual. On arriving at Brig I boarded a Lotschberg train for Bern, which was running over 45 minutes late, to the despair of the Swiss staff. When asked what the cause of the delay was they shrugged their shoulders and said something to the effect of ‘it came from Italy’!). Full advantage was therefore taken of the speed profile for a very brisk run to Montreux. The run forwards was also brisk, though with a virtually clear road to Sion bar a minor tsr at Ardon, there was sufficient in hand to to have to worry too much about the 160 sections. Overall the effort was sufficient to have completely recouped the Lausanne delay by arrival at Brig despite a couple of minor tsrs en route.
Runs 8 and 9 illustrate runs with ETR470 tilting sets. The morning service now runs to Brig with a stop only at Sion which leads to some interesting potential pathing conflicts trying to thread these services through the intense regular interval pattern of stopping and inter-city services out as far as Villeneuve – this is after all only a two track railway. Such is the efficiency of the Swiss system that this is achieved by no more than a minor retiming of the train that would normally be due off Montreux at 09.41 to enable it to use the loop platform there and be overtaken by the Cisalpino whilst making its station stop. Neither run 8 or 9 received any check at Montreux from this move. The speed differentials allowed on the twisting opening section look dramatic – sections of 120 and 130 km/h against the normal
Milepost 30½ 238 October 2009 TABLE 4 Run No. 10 11 Date/day Mon 02/04/2007 Sat 12/05/2007 Train 18.02 Visp - Vevey 17.00 Brig (17.07 Visp) Motive Power 460097 (propelling) 465009 (propelling) Load (tons) 8/ 8/ Rec/Pos/GPS? F G Collins/ 7/9 /No GPS J Morgan/ not known km pk location Sch m s km/h av Sch m s km/h av 136.66 0.00 Visp 0 00 1 1/2 late 0 0 00 1 1/2 late 134.00 2.66 KP 2 14 1/2 144 71.2 2 29 64.3 132.00 4.66 KP 3 00 1/2 160 156.5 130.09 6.57 Raron 3 46 140/141 151.1 4 00 161 154.7 128.00 8.66 KP 4 39 1/2 138 140.6 125.87 10.79 Gampel-Steg 6 03 80 tsr 91.8 5 35 161/154 159.9 124.00 12.66 KP 7 13 1/2 133/140 95.5 122.11 14.55 Turtmann 8 02 1/2 139/150 138.9 7 04 160 152.1 120.00 16.66 KP 8 55 149 144.7 117.53 19.13 Leuk 10 36 88.0 10 9 34 11 47 -/125 11 0 00 -/116 1 late 112.32 5.21 Salgesch 2 51 121 109.7 3 06 105 100.8 110.00 7.53 KP 3 58 125 124.7 108.13 9.40 Sierre/Siders 5 20 82.1 7 5 46 7 00 8 0 00 1 late 106.00 2.13 KP 1 43 136 74.4 104.00 4.13 KP 2 30 1/2 155 151.6 101.56 6.57 Granges-Lens 3 31 1/2 139 144.0 3 37 143 109.0 98.15 9.98 St Leonard 4 59 1/2 134 139.5 5 07 154 136.4 96.00 12.13 PK 5 56 1/2 136 135.8 92.43 15.70 Sion 8 18 90.8 10 8 35 10 47 11 0 00 1 1/2 late 90.00 2.43 PK 1 50 140/139 79.5 88.07 4.36 Chateuneuf 2 41 141/109 136.2 2 45 140 95.1 85.31 7.12 Ardon 4 01 110/143 124.2 4 06 111 122.7 82.12 10.31 Charmaison 5 29 139/141 130.5 5 37 141 126.2 79.57 12.86 Riddes 6 34 1/2 139/141 140.2 6 39 158 148.1 78.00 14.43 PK 7 15 139 139.6 75.27 17.16 Saxon 8 25 1/2 138/136 139.4 8 17 155 158.0 73.00 19.43 PK 9 23 1/2 140 140.9 70.86 21.57 Charrat 10 19 1/2 140 137.6 10 02 149 151.2 69.00 23.43 PK 11 07 138 141.0 66.50 25.93 Martigny 12 43 93.8 13 12 46 14 05 14 0 00 1 1/2 late 64.00 2.50 PK 1 53 144/152 79.6 61.51 4.99 Vernayoz 2 57 1/2 140 139.0 2 58 139/117 100.9 60.00 6.50 PK 3 39 128 131.0 57.86 8.64 Evionnaz 4 42 1/2 120/117 121.3 4 42 132 126.3 56.00 10.50 PK 5 36 1/2 133 124.0 54.00 12.50 PK 6 35 118 123.1 51.57 14.93 St Maurice 8 31 75.4 10 17 -/50 tsr 8 09 91 109.4 50.07 1.50 Les Paluds 2 09 68/115 41.9 9 08 96 91.5 47.56 4.01 Bex 3 57 83.7 4 51 10 33 108 106.3 47.00 0.56 PK 0 51 1/2 90 39.1
Milepost 30½ 239 October 2009 km pk location Sch m s km/h av Sch m s km/h av 45.00 2.56 PK 1 54 133 115.2 43.60 3.96 St Triphon 2 43 65 tsr/138 102.9 12 26 126 126.2 41.00 6.56 PK 4 06 130 112.8 39.31 8.25 Aigle 5 21 81.1 16 15 01 6 51 17 0 00 1 1/2 late 37.71 1.60 Yvorne 1 26 137 67.0 36.00 3.31 PK 2 12 1/2 140/142 132.4 33.84 5.47 Rache 3 06 141 145.3 3 05 106 106.4 32.00 7.31 PK 3 55 139 135.2 29.34 9.97 Villeneuve 5 07 1/2 108 132.1 5 10 129 129.6 27.09 12.22 Veytaux-Chillon 6 23 99 107.3 6 29 101 102.5 26.02 13.29 Territet 7 02 100 98.8 7 11 92 91.7 24.54 14.77 Montreux 8 27 62.7 10 8 52 52.8 11 23 11 0 00 2 late 23.10 1.44 Clarens 1 37 1/2 101/107 53.2 1 41 51.3 21.53 3.01 Burier 2 31 1/2 102/122 104.7 2 36 102.8 19.90 4.64 La Tour de Peritz 3 21 1/2 116 117.4 3 27 115.1 18.40 6.14 Vevey 4 31 77.7 6 4 35 79.4 100/105 – but of course the distances concerned are so short that the time gain is not huge; I suspect even with a clear road the advantage is barely a minute over loco-hauled timings. I do not have details of the differential limits otherwise than from observation; but it would appear from the evidence of both runs that east of Villeneuve there is little if anything in force. My run had the misfortune to suffer two tsrs before Sion, which did not help – but even so was only just able to keep time on this section. John Morgan’s run made a less enthusiastic start – perhaps some ‘hanging back’ to avoid running down the regular-interval service – but then had a completely clear run and gained 2 minutes to the Sion stop.
My run then unfortunately caught more than its fair share of delays from the upgrading works; a signal check, followed by the weave again through Turtmann, a tsr at Gampel-Steg and another through the Visp station area – which at this time was effectively operating as a single line with a passing loop on the one of the two island platforms that was in use; as a consequence we lost 5 minutes. John Morgan however was blessed with a clear run apart from the work at Visp which enabled time to be kept. A word of warning though; the ETR 470s can be a bit of a timing challenge with the tilt and higher speed making kilometre post sighting challenging (not aided by the regular switching of sides on a busy train); whilst, like their British cousins, GPS is technically challenged. Even my Garmin fitted with a Sirfstar III chip struggled to get a consistent signal – not aided I suspect by the presence of the high mountains on either side of the valley.
Finally, in Table 4, we have a couple of runs in the opposite direction on the regular interval service. Mr Morgan’s unusually, appears to have been powered by one of the BLS class 465s; similar to, but more powerful than, the Swiss railways 460s. The driver on my run (run 10) was determined to really go for it, reducing the impact of the Gampel-Steg 80 km/h tsr – otherwise in the middle of a 160 section – to about 1 minute. My driver continued to press on with great enthusiasm, even though, after the opening spurt, he showed no inclination to make use of the 160 km/h sections. Compare in particular the two runs between Sion and Martigny; run 10 ran hard throughout but with nothing over 141; run 11 took advantage of the 160 section to gain about 20 seconds but was comprehensively beaten by run 10 on braking. On the penultimate section, I suspect the speed shown in run 11 at Rache is not correct when comparing this to the averages but the solution is not obvious so I have left the data unaltered. The more vigorous driving style in run 10 however remains very notable throughout.
Milepost 30½ 240 October 2009 I hope that this small selection of runs will encourage more interest in timing in Switzerland. Since my 2007 visit both the Bern-Olten new line has been upgraded to 200 km/h and the Lotschberg Base tunnel has opened giving further opportunities for high speed running. The Swiss certainly deserve to be the model for the western world in terms of the efficiency and reliability of the train service, the intensity of the service and the levels of patronage achieved. LETTERS
Dear Editor, As a regular traveller along the Coventry corridor I was very interested to note Martin Barrett’s observations which he related in his article “Class 90’s return to Birmingham”, Milepost 30/1. The operation of this section is rather complex and only my regular use of the line has allowed me to understand the fine detail that lies behind some of the operating practices that have taken place since the introduction of Virgin’s VHF timetable. I therefore thought that the following supplementary information might be of interest to some members.
It is unfortunately a fact that the down fast at Birmingham International is used as a turn back siding by the class 323 operated terminating services from Birmingham New St which effectively occupy that line for 30 minutes in each hour, allowing for their arrival and departure. Hence all through down trains have to use the platform 2 loop with a 40 mph entrance and exit during that time. The reason for this is that the xx.43 390 from Euston departs at xy.53 while the 323 from New St arrives at xy.54, both on the down side. To allow this to happen a new crossover was commissioned between the up and down fast just off the platform ends at the north end allowing the Euston 390 to depart platform 2 while the 323 was arriving from the opposite direction into platform 3. The down Cross Country Voyagers which follow a 390 from Coventry also use platform 2 more often than not making a total of 4 trains per hour using that platform. Even when the 323 has been cancelled on odd occasions the route through platform 2 has still been used, presumably because it is timetabled.
At the start of the timetable this arrangement was short lived and the 323 started terminating in platform 5. The problem here was that at xx.19 when the 323 departed northbound the xx.10 390 from New St would be arriving on platform 4 thereby making a right time departure for the 323 impossible. This arrangement continued for quite some time and may have been due in part to the failure of the new points. In recent weeks the 323’s have again been terminating in platform 3. The Arriva 158’s were turning back in platform 2 while the 323 were accommodated on platform 5 but they now use platform 1 leaving platform 2 free for through trains.
There is no doubt that the line is run at virtual capacity all day and the timings for the 390’s could be quicker if they were not so close behind another service. The effect of Virgin’s VHF timetable on this section has seriously impacted on the LM stopping services. The former 30 minute interval stopping service has been lost with an ad hoc arrangement now applying whereby trains omit one or more stops leaving some stations with only an hourly service and some others with two unequally spaced services per hour. There has also been a propensity of 321’s operating the LM services on M – F which are noticeably slower off the mark than a 350 but as the delivery of 350/2’s continues (350264 the latest in traffic on 16/07/09) then the 321’s will diminish but not go completely as 321412 now sports LM livery.
There are days when everything seems to work like clockwork but, as Martin points out, once a delay to just one train occurs, by as little as 3-5 minutes in my experience, it can disrupt following services for a considerable time.
David Adams, Solihull
Milepost 30½ 241 October 2009 Dear David,
Ref p 139, log of 35010 on 31/8/1955. the load ie 11/368/390 has been omitted.
Michael Rowe David
‘Travelling on the Great Eastern main line to Norwich recently, I noticed that new yellow quarter mileposts had been installed north from Haughley Junction to beyond Diss – roughly Mileposts 83 to 98. For those of us who have not succumbed to GPS they make timing much easier compared to the small Great Eastern posts that were very hard to identify at speed, where they still existed. A small number of new posts were installed beyond Shenfield a few years ago and we hope the remainder of the line will be dealt with before long.
Bruce Nathan, Crowthorne
From Michael Rowe
Re: Coventry Euston Milepost 30
I received the attached letter which I hope will be interesting.
“Dear, Michael Rowe
As a new member of the RPS I wonder if I can seek your help on a “lost log” of a run between Euston and Coventry made on August 1st 1958.
In Milepost 30, Mr K.R.Philips says virtually nothing was printed in magazines on the London and Birmingham expresses in the period 1953 to 58. From April 1957 to December 1958 I travelled weekly between Coventry and Euston [on Fridays], returning to Coventry each Sunday and although I kept logs of about every run there was nothing of note to record. The 6.44 Rugby to Euston called Watford Junction [allowed 72 minutes] and the 6.55 pm Euston to Coventry on Sundays with a 14 coach load was allowed 108 minutes for the 94 miles.
On Bank Holidays I travelled north on Monday evening when the 6.55pm was only allowed 94 minutes to Coventry. On Monday 4th August the train had 11 vehicles with all seats taken as there had been a scout jamboree in Hyde Park and hundreds of scouts added to what, was already a popular train. I calculate the gross load at 350 tons [I think] and the first thing to note was there was no banking engine as the stock had been backed into the platform road by the train engine No.45737 “Atlas” of Bushbury Shed.
A very energetic start to Kilburn was followed by, or so it seemed, the engine being set at a continuous rate of steaming until the driver shut off for Rugby passed in 73 minutes 15 seconds and then we ran easily to Coventry arrival in 86 minutes 57 seconds. The next best run I clocked on this schedule was 92 minutes when we were double headed with a Class ‘5’ as pilot.
The driver said to me “Don’t report us for speeding” The crew were Driver Bird and Driver Freeman both in the No.1 link at Bushbury. Presumably the rosters for Bank Holiday Monday had a voluntary element. Why anyone would want to enter the single bore at Linslade Tunnel at 89 other than for the pure joy of “speeding” when running before time is hard to imagine.
Milepost 30½ 242 October 2009 I sent the log to Cecil J.Allen who acknowledged it in the October issue of the ‘Railway Magazine’ In December he ended his ‘45 year’ column but continued to write for Trains Illustrated.
I saw my log in print and remembered his account saying ‘Atlas whilst not having the world on his shoulders ……’ but researching both magazines in the Newton Abbott Railway Collection I cannot find it. I am sure it is in the Society’s data base, or ought to be!
I can remember some passing times with 21 minutes Tring to Roade; quite exceptional in my experience. I mentioned the run to a Bushbury Fireman later. ‘What was the engine?’ he asked. I told him 45737. ‘Oh Atlas’ he said ‘She’s a beaut!’ Generally I think K.J.P. is right. Unchecked runs were rare coming southbound and going north the effort usually made was not more than required for timekeeping.
As a recorder in those days Bank Holiday’s were usually to be avoided if possible which makes Drivers Bird and Freeman’s effort all the more remarkable. Living at Coventry I did not see any of the London trains arrive 7 minutes early and calls into question the common use of double-heading on 11 coach trains. ‘5737’ was clearly equal to a rebuilt ‘Scot’ and, travelling as I was, in the first coach as I usually did, we had a very smooth ride. Quite amazing!
Yours sincerely, Bill Crosbie-Hill “
Bill subsequently writes:
I have recently read the “lost log” reproduced in Keith Terry’s book “On the Footplate at Bushbury 1947-1962” (Oakwood Press). Keith was the fireman on 45688 on the run listed by Cecil J Allen as Number 1 in his article in the in the Trains Illustrated of 1959, which was timed by Ken Phillips! They were all good runs but 45737’s was considered the best of the series.
I met S Freeman in October 1958 when he drove the early Saturday express from Wolverhampton to Euston, which was how I knew he was a driver. Keith Terry’s book is very well written but he gives scant mention of any other footplate-men at “3B” at that time.
Michael Rowe writes:
Bill’s log is not on the RPS data base but I have located it in the December 1959 Trains Illustrated. CJA wrote “I cannot unfortunately give the recorder’s name, for he did not append it to his log, but fortunately he did give the names of Driver J.Bird and Fireman S.Freeman.“ I suspect that CJA lost a covering letter when transferring his correspondence from the RM’s offices to those of TI, or is that a mischievous thought. . CJA included a table giving times for 6 runs [4 Jubilees, 1 Class 5 and 1 Royal Scot] in his December article with speeds mentioned in his commentary. No.45737 was by far the best in the Table and as CJA wrote “By comparison, the ‘Royal Scot’ in the last column, with the same load, is almost an anti- climax.”
I have reproduced the passing times with speeds added where available from the commentary. CJA thought Bill’s 89 was a “shade on the high side” but noted “an average of 80.9 m.p.h certainly was maintained over the 20.9 miles from Tring to Wolverton”
I can well imagine two top link Drivers egging each other on, certainly a rousing effort for a Class 6P loco. It would appear the EDHP was in the 1,200 to 1,300 range for much of the time from Wembley to Tring.
Milepost 30½ 243 October 2009 Michael Rowe
Engine 45737 Class 6P Load 350/380 Dist Miles Sched m s CJA's comments 0.0 Euston 0 0 00 1.0 Camden No1 3 26 67mph to 63mph sustained on 1/330 5.4 Willesden J 9 9 19 from Wembley to Carpenters Park 8.1 Wembley 11 50 11.4 Harrow 14 48 13.3 Hatch End 16 39 17.4 Watford J 23 20 23 Drop from 70mph Kings Langley to 20.9 Kings Langley 23 23 Tring 24.5 Hemel Hempstead 26 30 28.0 Berkhamsted 29 46 31.7 Tring 35 33 19 36.1 Cheddington 36 50 40.2 Leighton Buzzard 39 44 89mph max at Leighton Buzzard 46.7 Bletchley 47 44 24 52.4 Wolverton 48 39 54.8 Castlethorpe 50 27 59.9 Roade 58 54 45 70mph min at Roade 62.8 Blisworth 61 57 14 69.7 Weedon 67 62 39 75mph at Weedon 75.3 Welton 67 15 80.3 Hillmorton 71 36 66mph min up to Kilsby Tunnel 82.6 Rugby 79 73 57 89.1 Brandon (*3) 81 23 92.8 Humber Rd J 84 58 94.0 Coventry 94 86 57 “a most notable effort"
Liphook, Hants
Dear David
Reading Milepost 30¼ I have been struck by two related items: (i) Michael Rowe’s highlight of comparisons between performances by preserved and routine-service steam locomotives (i.e. pre-1968 performances) and (ii) Sandy Smeaton’s very interesting piece on Peppercorn Pacifics on Beattock.
Regarding the first, I find the outstanding performances put up by certain preserved locomotives very remarkable – but not, on reflection, surprising. Quite clearly, there is a world difference between the conditions in the “changes and chances” of ordinary routine operational service, and conditions when every effort is being focussed on optimising the performance with careful pre-planning, quality of coal and the main aim is to achieve a peak
Milepost 30½ 244 October 2009 power output. By and large, the performances which have been achieved are about the level which I once hoped and imagined might from time to time be achieved! I only hope that those who plan them will not overlook the fundamental fact that there is, at the end of the day, a limit to what materials and structures will stand!
Regarding the second item, I am afraid I am behind hand in appreciating that A2 60532 Blue Peter climbed Beattock in March 1998 with 390tons in 10m05s. This is pretty remarkable, although - as a deliberately-purposed and prepared for achievement, not absolutely surprising. As somebody who has known Beattock Bank since 1939 perhaps I could comment briefly on steam performances of the past. My own best runs were a pair which curiously took precisely the same time from passing Beattock to the summit -15m31s. The first took place on 10th April 1947 with 6220 Coronation and 370 tons (Ref Milepost 25¼ p 129). The second was on Sat 13th October 1951, with 46234 Duchess of Abercorn and 445 tons. In both cases the locomotive had come all the way from Euston. Times to the summit were 53m46s and 55m29s respectively. Regarding heavy-load runs, I remember as a schoolboy in 1940, before bankers became de rigeur, the Duchess taking 16 or 17 coaches up unassisted – and certainly they never fell to a speed as low as 14mph! I should remember too, that in August 1943, when for once, we had 5665 Lord Rutherford of Nelson on the Royal Scot after Crewe with 17 coaches we got to the top all right with the banker (admittedly and hour late) I am sure we never fell below 2, let alone 14!
The only times in my experience (twice only) when speed has fallen below 20 were when we had actually been stopped by signal on the bank: on both occasions the Duchess managed to restart.
Regarding high speed climbs, I have never had the fortune to time a really fast one myself. On 2nd November 1959, however, my father (who was not a practiced timer) clocked 46242 City of Glasgow on the 0935 ex Euston Royal Scot with 8/270tons to pass the summit in 10m30s from Beattock and 44m30s from Carlisle (Ref Milepost 25¼ p129). Although my father’s timings were to the nearest half-minute, credibility is given to his figures by two similar runs: first 46236’s run mentioned by Sandy Smeaton on the same train a month later on 5th December 1959 with 44m55s to the summit, and a run by 46229 with 275 tons in 10m29s in the RM (LPP) January 1958 p45.
I would have thought that a tuned up Duchess could probably beat Blue Peter’s 10m05s, although I certainly don’t underestimate the Peppercorn A1’s nor A2’s: my eye opener to the A2’s came on the summer’s eve of 28th July 1950 when 60539 Bronzino took the 620/660 ton Aberdonian from passing Tallington at 62 right up to Stoke at a minimum of 53 in 15m32s. At their best - formidable machines.
Yours sincerely
William J Alcock
Dear Editor
I recently received the following e-mail from Virgin trains Communications Director Allan Mclean and would be grateful for observations from members - to Milepost and direct to me on 01626 865526 or [email protected] please:
Faulty fire alarm caused 48 mins closure of Euston at morning peak today.
Part of resulting disruption involved 13 mins late start for 0907 EUS-LIV which reached Lime St 3 mins late by the public book in 118 mins from Euston. Average 98.1mph.
Milepost 30½ 245 October 2009
Is this a record in that direction for a train making booked calls at Stafford and Runcorn?
It was still 12 down at Stafford but passed Crewe Coal Yard 10 late and Edge Hill 6 late.
I would be interested to know of record comparison.
Cheers
ALLAN McLEAN Communications Manager, Scotland & N. England VIRGIN TRAINS Dunblane 21st July 2009
Dear Mr Ashley
With reference to the log attributed to Peter Darke of 71000 on 16th April 2008 and quoted by Michael Rowe in his article in Milepost 30¼ pp 121,122, there are substantial discrepancies, both as to load and the speed at the Beattock summit, between what Milepost published and the train I was travelling in.
Date/day Wed 16-Apr-08 Maxima speeds were 81.4mph before post 35 and 79.8 at Train 0620 Glasgow Cen-Kings Cross post 31. Motive Power 71000 Duke of Gloucester Duke of Gloucester was Load (tons) 13,464/490 clearly opened hard about post Weather Cool, bright, earlier frost 54, then gave an excellent Rec/Pos/GPS? G A Wood Y climb to the summit, but speed fell from 59.4mph to 49.5mph. ` We had an extended water P5 stop at Abington loop and so Miles M C location Sch m s mph ave were held for a Voyager to pass at 08:26; we set off after 0.00 58 00 Abington 0 0 00 16 Late it at 08:27, and so avoided the pathing stop in Beattock 0.25 57 60 mp 1 48 17.1 8.3 summit loop. 1.00 57 00 mp 3 33 32 25.7 (I leave it to you to set the 2.00 56 00 mp 5 12 41.1 36.4 record straight but) 71000 3.00 55 00 Crawford 6 33 46.7 44.4 didn’t achieve 2650-2750edhp th 4.00 54 00 mp 7 51 47/46.7 46.2 up to Beattock summit on 16 4.50 53 40 mp 8 28 48 48.6 April 2008 5.25 52 60 Elvanfoot 9 22 56.4 50.0 6.00 52 00 mp 10 08 59.4max/58.8 58.7 7.00 51 00 mp 11 12 54.7 56.3 7.50 50 40 mp 11 45 52.6 54.5 8.25 49 60 Summit 12 37 49.5 51.9
Sincerely Alastair Wood
Milepost 30½ 246 October 2009 Burley Cottage, July 26. 2009. Dear David,
Thank you for the sight of Alastair Wood’s letter. Mia Culpa!! Peter Darke told me he was poorly positioned within the train and had some concerns re the resultant log. He at the bottom of the log wrote “Mainly timed from structures, (sited in decimal miles) and by digital stop watch.” he also added perhaps wisely “NB: Maximum speed generally limited to 75 mph”.
Despite Peter’s reservations when I looked at the log and saw 50 mph at Elvanfoot, 56 at Beattock Summit, calculated the average between the two points to be 54.3 and the resultant EDHP to be at a level previously reported with No.71000, I erroneously as it transpires, surmised the evidence “stacked up”.
Looking at Alistair’s figures I deduce that Peter’s 50 mph was at MP53¼, not 52¾ and the 56 at 51¼ not 49¾. [As a matter of interest Peter, who was sitting in coach 7, gives departure time 08.27.12 and passing times to Crawford, Elvanfoot and Beattock of 6 minute-32 seconds, 9-25 and 12-36 compared with Alastair’s 6-33, 9-22 and 12-37.]
Alistair correctly states that ‘71000’ did not develop 2,650-2,750 EDHP. As he says the effort increased at MP54, if I interpret his figures correctly an acceleration from 46.7 mph to 48.0 in ½ mile at 1/152 with a further increase to 59.4 on the level stretch past Elvanfoot before the 1/99 to the Summit. The rate of deceleration per mile equivalent on the 1/99 from MP52 to 51, to 50½ to 49¾ appears to be 7.0%, 7.7% and 7.9% respectively suggesting that either the driver “eased off” at MP51, the boiler pressure was falling or a combination of both. It would seem likely the maximum power was developed between MP’s 54 and 51, bearing in mind my previous error I am not offering a figure other than to say it was at least equal to that of No.46231. Apologies for my previous rash conclusions, I trust I have not compounded them and thanks for Alistair’s detailed log.
Michael Rowe
Preserved steam on the main line, how good?
Much as I admire 71000’s achievements since its return to the mainline, the run on the ‘North Briton’ down the Scottish end of the WCML in 2008 was good, but not quite as good as the log on Page 122 of Milepost 30¼ suggests. Speed rose to 59½ on the short level past Elvanfoot and fell to a minimum of 49½ at MP50 just before the Summit. This implies an output of about 1,900edbhp between Posts 52 and 51 and just under 1,800 between 51 and 50. My log of the climb is shown below. Included is the climb to Castlemilk for interest. The booked stops at Beattock Summit and Lockerbie were fortunately not needed.
Milepost 30½ 247 October 2009 Log No: 2601a Date: Wed 16.4.08 Train: 1Z28 06.20 Glasgow Central - York Loco: 71000 'Duke of Gloucester' 8P 4-6-2 Caprotti Load: 13 coaches/468 tons tare/495 tons gross Crew: Driver/Fireman Sutton/Chipperfield (EWS) Weather: Cold and dry Recorder/Method: A.Smeaton/GPS Position: 8/14 Av Mileage Ms Ch LOCATION Sch Mn Sc Spd Speeds Lateness 0.00 58 00 Abington UPL 0 0 00 ~ ~ 16L 0.14 57 69 Abington RR 1 20 6.2 11 1.00 57 00 MP 3 35 23.0 32½ 2.00 56 00 " 5 13 37.0 41 2.90 55 08 Crawford 6 27 43.8 46½/47 4.00 54 00 MP 7 52 46.5 46½ 5.00 53 00 " 9 06 48.6 54 5.39 52 49 Elvanfoot 9 31 56.7 57½/59½ 6.00 52 00 MP 10 09 57.4 58½ 6.40 51 48 Bodsbury Xg 10 34 58.1 56½ 7.00 51 00 MP 11 12 56.3 54½ 8.00 50 00 " 12 20 53.2 49½ 8.25 49 60 Beattock Summit 20/29 12 39 47.9 51/63/62 32.16 25 67 LOCKERBIE 59/67 33 16 ~ 67½ 33.00 25 00 MP 34 01 67.3 67½ 34.00 24 00 " 34 55 67.2 67 35.00 23 00 " 35 49 65.8 64/62 36.00 22 00 Castlemilk Summit 36 46 63.3 62½
56.50 1 40 Kingmoor UPL (W) 96 66 27 41.4 ~ 3 ely
NEWS ALERT
Network Developments
The last three months have been relatively quiet with nothing to report on the West Coast Main Line. The December timetable change will see the opening of a new line from just inside the Thames Tunnel East Portal through Ebbsfleet High Level to Springhead Road Jns west of Gravesend. This will be used by the new St Pancras International to Faversham services; Stratford International will open at the same time. Daytime use of the Shaftholme Jn (Doncaster) to Knottingley line by the Grand Union Bradford to London service has been deferred to May 2010. The Colchester resignalling scheme is now complete, the last stage allowing bi-directional working from Marks Tey to Colchester. A small part of the Erewash Valley resignalling project will be commissioned in mid-October affecting the area for a few miles around Toton, but PSRs may well be unaffected. Healey Mills Signal Box took over the area controlled by Elland and Greetland Signal Boxes..The preparations for the Cambrian European Signalling Trial continue with no implementation date yet known. The resignalling/remodelling of the area around Severn Tunnel Jn should be complete after the Xmas/New Year holiday.
In the south of England the new Axminster loop is on course for completion by December to allow an hourly Waterloo to Exeter service to be introduced. Imperial Wharf station on the
Milepost 30½ 248 October 2009 West London Line has still to open and construction of Reading Green Park has still not started. The enabling works for the doubling of parts of the Oxford to Worcester line were completed on time but with no alteration to PSRs advised by press date. A feature of the last period has been the commissioning of new turnback sidings and connections for the East London Line (due to open in June 2010), including a reactivated bay platform at Crystal Palace.
In the north of England two trouble spots of long standing have been rectified. The 30 PSR at Kirkby Thore, north of Appleby on the Settle and Carlisle, has possibly been the longest- standing sub-standard PSR on any straight track on the Network- it was there over 40 years ago at least. That at Medge Hall on the Doncaster to Scunthorpe has been problematic for less time but both needed innovative solutions to restore the areas at risk of subsidence to line speed, which will hopefully be shortly. Thorne Junction has been remodelled but the current 35 mph restriction remains. The 70 mph crossovers north of Church Fenton (facing from Leeds towards Ulleskelf) have been commissioned and, after a long delay, the 30 mph (formerly 15mph) northbound PSR at Guide Bridge towards Stalybridge in mid-September. The Oldham Loop has closed for tramway conversion and Wigan-Kirkby is being completely relaid with CWR using a seven week period of overnight possessions. The construction of Buckshaw Village station between Chorley and Euxton Jn has been funded, subject to final planning permission. In Wales a funding dispute has deferred the extension of Welsh Highland services to Porthmadog for an indefinite time.
In Scotland the redoubling of part of the Kilmarnock to Barrhead line should be complete by the December timetable change allowing a half-hourly local service to operate.
In Ireland the collapse of a section of Malahide Viaduct means no trains will operate over it until 2010 at the earliest. On a brighter note the Kildare Route Project (quadrupling from Dublin (exc) to Hazelhatch) should be complete for the December timetable change as will, hopefully, the Ennis to Athenry line, deferred from “summer”. Cork to Midleton trains started running at the end of July. Completed relaying work between between Antrim and Coleraine should see a restoration of 70 mph running and an accelerated timetable in the “autumn”. Ian Umpleby September 2009
Preserved Steam on the Main Line. How good?
On July 9th this year Battle of Britain Class 4-6-2 No.34067 “Tangmere”, due to the non availability of a diesel locomotive hauled the Steam Dreams “Sunny South Express”, an 11 coach train [390 tons Gross], from Weymouth unassisted. This naturally attracted considerable attention bearing in mind the maximum permitted loading for a WC/BB under BR auspices from Weymouth was 288 tons. Indeed assistance was invariably provided for lighter trains eg personal experiences included 20/5/66 Nos.73016/34036 with 7/235/270 tons on the Up Mail and 22/5/66 Nos.75065/34098 with 8/266/295 on the Sunday 17.50. The Bulleid Pacific propensity to slip is illustrated by the inaugural Up “Royal Wessex” on 3/5/51 when 34105 lost time due to slipping in Bincombe Tunnel with the normal five coach load. Later in the year No.34110 slipped to a halt in the Tunnel on the same train.
David Ashley advised me that there was a video of No.34067’s exploit on U tube and indeed there were two videos both taken from the Downside carriage window ie milepost side. Unfortunately it was not easy to pick out the mileposts plus as both cameramen could not resist the temptation to aim their video equipment at the adjacent new road works. However after several viewings the best evaluation suggested 34 mph max, 3½ minutes Upwey pass BUT plus a Standard Class 4 2-6-0 as pilot with the Sunday 17.50 return Excursion.to entering tunnel with a 46 seconds quarter immediately before the tunnel. [Both videos an absolute minimum speed of 17] It was disappointing that further to John Heaton recording
Milepost 30½ 249 October 2009 the Up Caledonian Sleeper whilst asleep it was not possible to create a credible log of a train when not even present. Subsequently Mike Nottley in September’s Steam Railway gave a fall from 34 to 31 on the 1.5 miles at 1/74, 18 out of Bincombe No.2 on the 1/50, 16 on the 1/52 and 14½ absolute minimum. He did not include a log so if any member has one it would be much appreciated. How good a performance was this, the passengers reportedly applauded as the summit was passed.. For comparison I append a log of No.34073 [also unrebuilt] with a 400 ton train Date 01-Sep-63 Locos 76056/34073 Load 11,368/400 Recorder M J Rowe Miles sch m s speeds 0- 0 Weymouth 0 0-00 0 1.1 Radipole Halt 2-56 31 2.4 Upwey and Broadway 5-51 28 3.6 Upwey W.Well halt 8-46 22 Through Tunnels on 1/50 1/52 22 5.7 Monkton and Came 12-44 57 6.6 Dorchester Jct 12 14-08 7.1 Dorchester [stop to set back] 15 15-32
How well did the Bulleid Pacific’s perform on 1/50 gradients? Fortunately perhaps they were not exposed to such challenges very often. One Southern route which combined 1/50 plus tight curves was the single line twixt Eridge and Hailsham and specifically the section from Redgate Mill Junction to Heathfield. WC/BB’s occasionally ventured over this route with special workings.
Date 13-Apr-61 11-Jul-61 22-Mar-64 Loco 80068 80064 34066 Load 6,193,200 7,222,230 9,302/330 Train 16.57 ex Eridge 1147 ex Erdige LCGB Recorder M J Rowe M J Rowe M J Rowe m c sch m s sch m s sch m s 0-00 Mayfield 0 0.00 0 0.00 0 33.12 Successive quarter miles 39,32,26,26 25,21.5 before tunnel on 1/50 23,21,21,21 20,20,19,18.5 14.5,15,15,15.5 3-62 Heathfield 10 7.48 10 9.36 45.04 EDHP 760-790 710-740 890-920 The performance of unrebuilt No.34066 with the LCGB “Sussex Downsman” [running non stop from Tunbridge Wells West to Hailsham] is compared with two runs behind Standard Class 4 2-6-4 Tank’s between Mayfield and Heathfield. Mayfield station was on a short level stretch immediately followed by 1 3/8 mile down at 1/50, a short level with a 24 chain curve and a 30 mph speed restriction, and then a rise at 1/50 for 2¼ miles with a 28 and 24 chain curve half way up. The 1/50 finished at the entrance to Heathfield tunnel [266 yards long falling at 1/304].. Perhaps one of the best performances by an unrebuilt WC/BB on a very steep gradient, albeit not on the Southern, was that recorded by S.C.Nash and available on the RPS data base. Number.34023 on 24/7/57 with 9/ 291/330 on the 16.32 ex Plymouth ran the 4.3 miles from Plympton to Cornwood in 9 minutes – 42 seconds start to stop with speed on the 1/42 of Hemerdon bank falling from 28 to 23 and further to 22 mph over the last ½ mile suggesting an EDHP in the range 1,400- 1,500. One suspects a sunny day with dry clean rails! M.J.Rowe 26/08/09
Milepost 30½ 250 October 2009 SOUTHEASTERN HIGH SPEED
Southeastern have now expanded their preview services, but still only Monday to Fridays.
Up half-hourly rush-hour services now start back from either Dover (one has been expanded to 12 coaches) or Ramsgate and return hourly in the evening. Off-peak services now run from St Pancras at 0841 and 1137 and from Ashford at 1220 and 1620, providing day-return ticketing. Ebbsfleet trains run throughout the day
CLUB 55 IS BACK
For members over a certain age (55), Club 55 is back. This is the ticket that allows a return trip anywhere on the specified train operator’s service for a fixed price, without the need to pre-book. There are some peak time restrictions. Proof of age should be carried at all times.
At the time of writing, the following tickets are available:
First Great Western: £25 standard class, £45 first class, and a £5 discount for Senior Railcard holders, and an Arriva add-on into South Wales at £5 for journeys south of Ludlow and Llandeilo. Available for outward journeys to 13th November and return up to 12th December
Arriva Train Wales: £15 and a £2 Senior Railcard discount. Add-ons are available with other operators. Available until December 12, but not to Cardiff on Saturdays in November.
First TransPennine: Zonal fares apply – Available until 30th October
Scotrail: £15 standard, and a £2 Senior Railcard discount. £19 first class, but pre-book only. To 13th December.
GPS WAYPOINTS
Former Committee member Sean Emmett has offered to produce .gpx files covering all timing points in the RPS line charts using a combination data sourced from maps, map software, Google Earth and “field trips”. This is a considerable task and any offers of help would be greatly appreciated. He will produce an article explaining the concepts in a future magazine.
ANYBODY WANT A PROJECTOR SCREEN?
After struggling for a number of years lugging the screen to meetings, I am pleased to announce that the Society has acquired a more portable screen. Offers for the old screen would be welcomed by the Editor.
30th ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL ISSUE
1981 to 1986, 1988,1990,1992,1993,1995,1996,2000,2009 have been allocated, so there are still plenty of opportunities available. Details were given in the July magazine (page 125). Publication is planned for mid-2010. Further “reservations” would be appreciated
Milepost 30½ 251 October 2009 THURSDAY 29th OCTOBER 2009
BRISTOL MEETING
1700 in the GWRSA club
TUESDAY 24th NOVEMBER 2009
LEEDS MEETING
1700 in the Grove Inn
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2010
LONDON
Speaker to be arranged
MARCH/APRIL 2010
Visit to First TransPennine driving simulators at York and Ardwick
More details later – cost £10
08 MAY 2010
Annual General Meeting
York
19 JUNE 2010
Mass Timing Day
Manchester to Stoke-on-Trent/Crewe
STILL WANTED!!!!
Meetings Organiser
Wanted for 2010 AGM – still no offers
Milepost 30½ 252 October 2009