Milepost 30½ – October 2009
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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.