Milepost 29¾ – January 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 218 WCML Upgrade Virgin Driver 225 The Driver & Train Timer Virgin Driver and John Heaton 227 91’s in ’91 David Adams 234 Fastest Times Martin Robertson 237 Network Developments Ian Umpleby 248,255 & 286 Confessions of a South Wales Explorer David Ashley 249 50 Years Ago – The Dunkley Collection Martin Barrett 256 Recorders Guide to SNCF Alan Varley 272 Around Ireland – Part 3 Martin Barrett 277 Letter to the Editor 285 News Alert 286

Front cover: D95 passing through Coaley, south of Gloucester in July 1963 – Bruce Nathan

Enclosures (where subscribed): UK & Foreign Distance Charts, 2007 MTD Sequel, 2008 MTD, Membership renewal forms

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 29¾ -218- January 2009

Chairman’s Foreword – January 2009

We live in challenging times. The RPS has not yet been hit by the Credit Crunch, or the recession in the UK economy – but nevertheless we have to be fast on our feet to ensure that the Society continues to deliver to the membership the services its member want, and provide value for money in the process

Within the Society we have a unique asset – the Society Archive. I can state with some confidence that this is almost certainly the largest collection of locomotive performance data ever assembled anywhere in the world – and it continues to grow rapidly at a pace dictated largely by the speed with which Lee Allsopp and his scanning team can deal with the data given to us.

Our main vehicle for making this vast bank of data readily accessible to the members is of course via the Society’s website. You can imagine our shock therefore when it was discovered, one Wednesday morning in July, that the access to this had been barred by our web-provider. Enquiry revealed that our database was simply too large for them to handle. My thanks therefore go to Baard Covington and Lee Allsopp for reacting very swiftly to the situation and finding us a new host within a couple of days. It took a week or two before everything was properly back up and running with our new hosts – testimony to the vast amount of data which had to be transferred and loaded. Thank you also to everyone for being patient and bearing with us during this period.

We do now have an ISP who is able to cope with us, albeit that we are now paying rather more for web hosting than we have done in the past. Watch the website over the next few months for further improvements to its layout, appearance and functionality.

Whilst some cost rises are inevitable, the Committee is always looking to contain costs where it can. One way we can do this is to avoid printing and postage costs where possible. Some years ago now we streamlined the mailings that go out in order to make these more cost-efficient. Recent changes to Company law however open up the possibility of making it possible to deliver official notification of General Meetings via the website. If all of the Members who have web access were to elect for this, it would save us a useful sum each year in printing the AGM papers and the Annual report. With this Magazine is notification of an EGM on November 1st to make some changes to the Constitution, partly with this in mind; your committee urges you to use your vote to support these changes.

Another way we can both economise and make data more widely available is by publishing certain things via the website. With this in mind, the Committee have restructured the subscriptions for 2009. Everything covered by the basic subscription will automatically be distributed in paper format, except for AGM papers where the Member elects to receive these electronically. All the additional services previously covered by the Full subscription – Overseas Line Charts, Overseas Fastest Times, Historic Fastest Times etc – will now be available to all members via the website free of charge. However, any member who prefers to have these in paper format may still do so for an additional £5, to cover the additional printing and postage costs associated with these. At just £18 per annum however I believe that the RPS subscription represents excellent value for money

Frank Collins Chairman, September 2008

Milepost 29¾ -219- January 2009 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.

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.

I am looking to have web only charts of certain little-frequented lines – more on this in due course, although for non-internet Members an s.a.e will provide the detail.

OVERSEAS CHARTS

SNCF issue this time, where subscribed.

David Sage January 2009

HISTORIC FASTEST TIMES

For members subscribing to Historical Fastest Times, the 2008 issue was included with the October 2008 issue of Milepost. Any contributions please to bevanprice@freeuk, or by post to Bevan Price, 24 Walmesley Rd, Eccleston, St Helens, Lancs WA10 5JT

Milepost 29¾ -220- January 2009

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 All orders 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. Many thanks to those who responded to my request for records achieved by the above classes. As stated in Milepost 23¾ it is the intention to track the development of records by these classes. The file will be passed to David sage for publication as circumstances allow.

At this stage I simply need a line of entry, preferably by e-mail or post, to showing Unit no/s. Vehicles/Recorder/Section*/From/To/Date and time.

* as per FT booklet. e.g. Paddington to Reading would be gw1, Euston-Coventry wc2. Any recognisable abbreviation is fine.

In order to save David a lot of work in processing records for these classes until standards are set, please send your contributions for these classes to - John Heaton, 57 West Cliff Park Drive, Dawlish, Devon, EX7 9ER or [email protected]

Milepost 29¾ -221- January 2009

“NEW” FASTEST TIMES

The collection of “new” fastest times has begun. Please refer to Milepost 29¼, page 78 for details.

THE MEETINGS SECTION

SATURDAY 31ST JANUARY 2009 THURSDAY 19TH FEBRUARY TUESDAY 24TH FEBRUARY 2009 2009 London Bristol Leeds 1200 for 1215 1700 1700 Karl Atkinson NEW!!!!!!!

Members Discussion Group Technical Riding Inspector, Members Discussion Group First Great Western

On Tuesday 10 February the RPS is giving a talk to the Abergavenny and District Steam Society. Should any member wish to support our speaker would they please contact Martin Barrett – [email protected]

Future Meeting dates.

09 May 2009 – AGM at Crewe. Speaker David Stannard

04 July 2009 – Mass Timing Day: St Pancras to Leicester

Autumn 2009 It is hoped to arrange a GPS forum to assist members in using this method of recording and to answer questions they may have.

We also hope to arrange a speaker from South West Trains.

DIRECTIONS TO THE VENUES

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]

LONDON – LAMBS PUBLIC HOUSE, Lambs Conduit Street, London WC1. From Russell Square Piccadilly Line station turn right, then turn first right into Grenville Street then first left into Guilford Street (Great Ormond Street Hospital on right), turn first right into Guilford Place (by the fountain and underground Gents toilet) and it is on the left - walking time about 5 minutes. OR. From King’s Cross station cross Euston Rd and turn left towards Grays Inn Road, where you turn right, and walk southwards down Grays Inn Rd to the junction with Guildford Street, where you turn right. Turn left at Guildford Place, and Lamb's is on the left. (About 10mins walk from King's Cross) We will use the Empire Theatre Bar / Dining Room upstairs

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]

Milepost 29¾ -222- January 2009 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.

Bristol Meetings

There was good attendance at the October Bristol Meeting with thirteen members present despite flooding in the West. We were delighted to welcome Brian Williams, attending his first RPS event, as a guest of David Burton. Brian has well over half a century of train timing experience and we hope to share his experience at future meetings.

There was the customary wide variety of material to discuss. Keith Farr entertained us with his recent trip from King’s Cross to Doncaster with A4 Bittern and Paul Walker presented a synopsis of an excellent week’s rail roving with many east coast highlights, especially with 2+9 HSTs.

There was a sad moment when Mark Warburton announced that he was giving up train timing after 62 years of activity, citing defensive driving and poor milepost visibility as the main reasons. He did assure everyone that he would still maintain a keen interest in the hobby and retain his membership.

David Adams distributed two runs he had with frustratingly slow Voyagers on the Chilterns between Euston and Birmingham. One member thanked David profusely, as he no longer felt compelled to try them out.

John Rishton discussed Pendolino and Voyager runs on the Trent Valley and offered a detailed analysis of the complications concerning the entrance to Lichfield, which will in future be reached via a turnout south of Tamworth, probably resulting in all Lichfield trains calling at Tamworth as well.

Michael Rowe discussed recent events on the West Somerset including a run with a USA 2-8-0, musing that if someone had told him in 1968 it would be possible to time this engine hauling 350tons gross, including a Bulleid, 40 years on from the end of BR steam he would not have believed it. Michael also circulated a book owned by Charles Rous Marten. Following CJA’s personal line chart book last time we await Michaels contribution to the February meeting with bated breath.

David Burton narrated some highs and lows of a recent Scottish holiday and his successful attempt to make train timers out of his non-railway tour party and I discussed some of the highs in the new Virgin timetable, believed to promise eighteen 100mph+ start to stop average runs per off peak hour.

Next Meeting

The next Bristol meeting is scheduled for Thurs 19th February at the GWRSA club on the station approach at Temple Meads (reached down stairs from footpath on right of approach as one leaves the station). Members should feel free to come and go as they wish but the party normally gathers on the concourse at 17.00. The meetings usually last from 17.15 to 19.1. Everyone, is welcome, veteran or inexperienced, members or non-members. As you can see from the above account, the meetings take the format of a short discussion of topics that members wish to raise, although there is no pressure to contribute in this way unless people wish to do so.

John Heaton Dawlish November 2008

MARTIN TASKER MEMORIAL LIBRARY

The Society holds a large number of books (~130) containing articles on performance, or containing

Milepost 29¾ -223- January 2009 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.

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!

• Having scanned Peter Semmens notebooks, work has now started on the A4 binders (about 30 of these). The first 5 have been completed, covering the years 1968 to 1977. • We are very fortunate to have access to the notebooks of the late Martin Tasker. There are in excess of a hundred of these, each of around 300 pages, and contain all Martin’s recordings including the ‘raw’ recording of milepost times. Work is continuing to scan these in and make them available on the web site. To date 62 books have been scanned 13,500 images have been scanned, there are many thousands more to go! Latest additions cover Martin’s travels based from Middlesbrough in 1986/1987. • Latest material from Lee Allsopp (including GPS track info) and Ian Umpleby. • Milepost 29½ • Peter Smiths commuting journeys in the 1970s and 1980s on the Southern and Great Eastern Lines, together with a wide range of journeys on the London Underground. • Latest book from Bruce Nathan including his All Line Railrover. • Early Southern Steam Runs (1946-1950) from Michael Hedges • Pages from Bryan Benn’s web site including 100mph with German Steam! • 2008 Historical Fastest Times • Latest submissions from David Sage’s database, about 2800 new entries, - last few months journeys plus runs from earlier years.

Lee Allsopp

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

Milepost 29¾ -224- January 2009 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

UK DISTANCE CHARTS This issue of Milepost marks an anniversary, the 50th issue of the Distance Charts. The evolving world of timing techniques using GPS data has led to an overhaul of the charts covering the lines from Paddington to Penzance, including via Bristol, and the Paignton branch, extended to Kingswear. Whether the GPS data will subsequently be included in the charts or dealt with separately remains to be determined. The East Coast Main Line charts, including Doncaster to Leeds, have also being updated and will appear with this issue. Work will commence on the West Coast Main Line charts with a view to a complete reissue in the next Milepost and the Midland Main Line chart south of Leicester will receive attention as this is the site for our next Mass Timing Day. A reminder to keep looking at the Infrastructure section of the web site Forum where the latest official changes to the network are entered as soon as they are received. Ian Umpleby

WCML upgrade update-December 2008 by Virgin Driver

Rugby Area

Up Direction. Approaching Rugby from Nuneaton, the Up Trent Valley Fast passes under the Coventry Flyover, uses the old Up island platform (now numbered 4), and continues under the Northampton flyover towards Weedon. PS speed is 100 and EPS speed for class 390s is 125. At two locations EPS for class 221s is 120. These are- 1) approaching the Coventry Flyover, from 84m14c to 83m48c and 2) from 82m16c, south of Rugby station, to 81m60c, south of the Northampton Flyover. The Up Trent Valley Slow has a PSR of 60 passing through the neutral section at 83m56c. At the area designated Rugby North Jn (82m70c) it becomes the Up Slow and continues towards platform 6 (the east face of the new island platform) at 60 mph. A crossing to the Up Northampton is also available at 60 mph. South of the platform it joins the Up Northampton at 40 mph. The Up Coventry line crosses the flyover at speeds of 60PS/75MU and 75EPS. At end of the flyover the Up Slow can be reached through a 60 mph crossing. The straight route becomes the Up Northampton at a PSR of 75, through platform 5 and continues south towards Northampton. Access to the Up Fast is available at Rugby North Jn using a 75 mph crossing.

Down Direction Trains on the Down Main from Weedon approach at 110PS/125EPS. From the Northampton Flyover, the speeds of 100PS, 115 for 221s and 125 for class390s applies to trains passing in either the Coventry or Nuneaton directions at Trent Valley Jn. Two preliminary route indicators advise drivers which way their train is being routed and allow sufficient braking distance to stop trains that are being wrongly routed. Trains stopping at the station can use either platform 1 through a 60 mph crossing with flashing yellows, or to platform 2 (the old down platform) at 40 mph with approach release if the line conditions allow. From both platforms, trains can join the down fast through 40 mph crossings or continue as follows- from platform 1 at 60 mph towards Coventry and from platform 2 towards Nuneaton on the Down Slow at 75 mph.

Milepost 29¾ -225- January 2009 Down Northampton trains have to reduce speed to 50 at 83m43c approaching Hillmorton Jn and to 40 starting to ascend the flyover. From the flyover, the line splits continuing as the Down Coventry to platform 1 or to platform 2 as the Down Slow.

TV4

Nuneaton. Speed on the Down Fast and Up Fast has been raised to 110PS/125EPS

Armitage to Colwich. The 110PS/125EPS on the Down Trent Valley Fast (inner line)is extended from Armitage to 126m59c, approximately1/2 mile from Colwich Jn.

Colwich to Stafford. EPS speed on sections of the line in both directions have been raised to 100. These are-in the Down direction- from the end of the 90PSR through Colwich Jn (127m13c) to 131m50c, just before the river viaduct. In the Up direction- from the river viaduct to 128m02c, which is approximately ½ mile south of Shugborough Tunnel.

Birmingham to Rugby

PS/HST differential speeds have been replaced by PS/MU/EPS signs and minor alterations made.

Up Direction. 100PS/110MU/110EPS is allowed from south of Stechford station at mp 109 to mp 94 ¾ , approximately ¾ mile north of Coventry station. Intermediate PSRs of 100 for all trains extend from 1) Marston Green (106m23c) to Birmingham International South Jn (104m20c) and 2) the approach side of Berkswell (99m46c) to the south end of beechwood Tunnel (98m23c). South of Coventry, EPS125 starts at 93m56c beyond the OB south of Coventry station to Long Lawford Jn (84m38c). Other speeds steps up, PS95 at 93m56c and to 100 (with MU125) at 93m14c.

Down Direction. 100PS/125MU/125EPS, starting from Trent Valley Jn, continues to 93m59c, approaching Coventry South Jn. At Berkswell speed changes to 100PS/110MU/110EPS and extends to 103m20c, approximately ¾ mile after passing Hampton In Arden station.

Infrastructure work between Kidsgrove and Stoke has enabled some speed increases. On the down line, speed from Newcastle Jn (19m31c) is 70PS/90EPS. After the site of Etruria station, the speed increases at 18m42c to 90PS/105PS. In the Up direction, changes allow 90PS/110EPS from 15m55c (before Bradwell on the Harecastle Deviation) to 18m06c, 1 mile after Longport station.

This view shows

the speed sign

just south of

Newbold Jn

approaching the

river viaduct on

the Up Trent

Valley Fast.

Milepost 29¾ -226- January 2009 THE DRIVER AND THE TRAIN TIMER

By Virgin Driver and John Heaton

John Heaton writes:

A discussion with Virgin Driver concerning the tilt controls on Class 221s elicited the fact that he was working the 19.38 Euston to Holyhead on a couple of evenings the following week, but not the Wednesday when I had to visit Huddersfield and intended to catch the 19.03 from King’s Cross. I suspected he might be on a more routine late turn Manchester job on the Wednesday when I intended to travel to Huddersfield using the 19.03 from King’s Cross and he was indeed booked for the 18.05 from Euston with Nuneaton, Stoke, Macclesfield and Stockport stops.

On the evening in question we had a brief discussion at the train side, concerning the high level of TSRs in force, before Virgin Driver made his way to the cab but it was not until I was ensconced in my seat that I discovered a text message that Virgin Driver had sent earlier saying the set was in ‘non-tilt’ mode and I might want to change my mind about the trip.

The purpose of the journey was to check the train timer’s interpretation of the run and how it differed from the driver’s perception so the lack of tilt was not the deciding factor. Whether I might miss my 20min TransPennine connection was a different matter, but it was too late now.

We were ½min late away but with the kind of initial pull I associate with the flagship 15.00 from King’s Cross, reaching 24mph by the time my coach passed the platform end before dropping to 17mph. It must be admitted that I have never mastered the labyrinthine departure options from Euston and after departure from Platform 12 I was even unsure of the nomenclature of the line we were on, but it felt like a TSR and the safety notices that I consulted after drafting these comments suggested a 20mph TSR for rail condition.

We entered Primrose Hill tunnel at 53mph and I half expected a running brake test at this point. The acceleration curve continued towards 80mph before levelling out as it has done on a number of recent occasions. I would not have been sufficiently confident to ascribe this to a TSR and certainly not one of 85mph but the safety notices confirmed that this was actually the case. Virgin Driver then chose to conduct the running brake test at this point, speed dropping to 75mph.

A time of 7min 2sec to Willesden West London Line Jct constituted a 1min loss on schedule and the 110mph limit would cause further time losses but the speed envelope was pushed out to 110-113mph. The Garmin Map 60 CSx GPS seems to a dot around a bit on Pendolinos, far more so than on other traction and more so in the higher speed ranges, so it is possible the 113s were electronic aberrations and a 115mph spike was therefore dismissed as was a puzzling 102mph at Bushey. GPS is great but if all it tells you is that you are somewhere around 110mph you can tell that by simply looking out of the window. Watford Jct was passed at 110mph and 114mph shown at Apsley which I resolved to examine on the upload. The first of the major TSRs appeared at Berkhamsted with a 50 taken at a minimum of 48mph. It was a bright sunny evening with a strong low sun so any criticism of the GPS should be taken in the context that the mileposts were invisible in the glare and trying to spot them would have been a miserable way to spend the journey.

I put the 89/92/87 that the GPS showed before, through and after Leighton Buzzard down to non-tilt but I did not have the RPS line chart with me. The GPS showed 112, briefly 113mph, before Bletchley before speed was reduced for the major engineering work at Milton Keynes

Milepost 29¾ -227- January 2009 Central where Network Rail is ‘doing a Rugby’. I showed a minimum of 49.4mph on the 50 TSR as we ran via the new down side platform face. Our acceleration stalled at around 80mph before it was resumed, reaching 111mph before Wolverton so I put it down as an 80mph TSR. There was no evidence in the notices to suggest that this was a correct assumption.

Virgin Driver kept the train on the non-tilt speeds to the outskirts of Rugby (with 99.3mph on the GPS on the Weedon ‘hundred’) where the 40mph restriction is permanent across the layout during the rebuilding period. The GPS registers a minimum of 39.2mph and a maximum of 40.9mph. Virgin Driver is well aware that it is necessary to keep the speed as near to the mark as possible on low value restricitions in order to minimise time loss and energy expenditure on acceleration.

Regaining 100mph at Brinklow we then ease to 90mph then 80mph. I am puzzled for a while as speed drops to 64mph at Bulkington before accelerating to 93mph. An up container train passes and I assume this has crossed from the down side at Nuneaton. Leaving the stop 5½min late the train pulls away far more strongly than is customary reaches 102mph in 144sec by Hartshill South Jct. reaching 111mph before easing for the ‘permanent’ speed restriction for the down fast/down slow temporary layout. The 50mph target board is prominent to a recorder on the down side so the recorder should not miss it.

We pass Elmshurst at an impatient 111mph, champing at the non-tilt bit in the horse’s mouth, before coming down to 21mph for signals. I spot a coal train entering the Rugeley power station line. We accelerate and then brake again to 34mph before getting away. We pass a down container train implying that it was in front of us but I am insufficiently familiar with the current layout to be sure of its guilt. It could have been between our Pendolino and the junction but I plump for a ‘double red’, the extra protection, post-Ealing, that Network Rail now uses to guard crossing movements on high speed lines. A delayed red to yellow aspect leads to the red protecting the junction.

After passing Colwich, speed hovers at 27mph before accelerating. I do not recall this featuring in past runs and I wonder whether there is some form of TASS control, clearing the junction by 15 vehicles perhaps, but we are non-tilt. There is another 50mph TSR at Wedgwood which I was expecting after recent cross country journeys, although I think it was 60mph last time.

We leave Stoke about 8min late which is far better than I would have predicted when we are at Euston. The pull away again demonstrates determination with 113mph shown at Mow Cop and 81mph at Congleton. Virgin Driver clearly now has a ‘within PPM’ arrival in his sights although I suspect he remains an unreconstituted ‘right time means right time’ individual. What’s that? The stopwatch shows 10min 22 sec Macclesfield to Stockport, 40sec in from Edgeley No. 2 and an all-comers record. Non- tilt! Wow!!

I suspect the subsequent start to Levenshulme 87mph (max 92mph) is my fastest ever but the brakes have to come on here and no doubt more delay will follow. 6min late at Slade Lane, the signaller will have PPM in his or her mind so a clear run is possible. In the end, the final signal remains stoically set against us. Virgin Driver decelerates later than is normal and reaches 6mph as the signal comes off to indicate an occupied platform. It seemed as if Virgin Driver knew just what would happen. There was no doubt he could have comfortably stopped at the signal but the brisk ‘brakes on and brakes off’ lost far less time than modern techniques achieve. We take only 7min 11sec from Stockport, a new Pendolino record, perhaps 6min 50sec net. With all those restrictions and signal checks and without tilt we are only 4½min late. The 135min, four-stop schedule suddenly looks extremely conservative.

Milepost 29¾ -228- January 2009 Euston to Manchester Piccadilly Loco 3900xx suppressed tilt inoperative Vehicles/tare/gross tonnes 9/460/475 Train 18.05 Euston to Manchester P. Date 2008 details suppressed Driver Virgin Driver Weather Low sun Rec/Pos/GPS? J. Heaton,6/9 Y M. Chns Dec. Mls Timing Point Sch. Min. Sec. M.P.H. Average 0 04 0.00 Euston d. 0 0 00 -/24/20mph tsr ½L 1 08 1.05 Camden S. Jct. 2½ 3 13 20 19.6 2 33 2.36 South Hampstead 4 49 60 49.2 3 01 2.96 Kilburn High Road 5 22 78/85tsr/86 65.5 3 55 3.64 Queens Park 5 52 83/75rbt 81.0 5 20 5.20 West London Jct. 6 7 02 86 80.4 8 04 8.00 Wembley Central 7½ 8 43 110/112 99.8 9 34 9.38 South Kenton 9 28 109/113 110.0 10 25 10.26 Kenton 9 57 111/112 110.2 11 31 11.34 Harrow and W. 9½ 10 32 110 110.6 12 47 12.54 Headstone Lane 11 11 111 110.8 14 57 14.66 Carpenders Park 12 20 110 110.9 16 00 15.95 Bushey 13 02 110 110.4 17 34 17.38 Watford Jct. 12½ 13 49 110 109.1 19 44 19.50 Watford TNP 14 58 109/108 110.9 20 76 20.90 King's Langley 15 44 112/113/109 109.6 23 07 23.04 Apsley 16 54 112/114/111 109.9 24 39 24.44 Hemel Hempstead 17 39 110/112 112.0 26 25 26.26 Bourne End 18 41 -/50tsr 106.0 27 73 27.86 Berkhamsted 20 16 60 60.6 31 56 31.65 Tring 20½ 22 44 112/109 92.1 33 79 33.94 Tring Cutting 23 59 110/111/107 109.8 36 09 36.06 Cheddington 25 08 112/113 110.9 37 40 37.45 Ledburn Jct. 22½ 25 53 104/107 111.0 40 13 40.11 Leighton Buzzard 27 24 93/87/113 105.3 46 52 46.60 Bletchley 27 31 13 110/111/50tsr49 102.0 49 66 49.78 Milton Keynes C. 28½ 33 55 51 70.6 52 33 52.36 Wolverton 36 02 99/111 73.3 54 58 54.70 Castlethorpe 37 19 110 109.3 56 58 56.70 Hanslope Jct. 31½ 38 25 110/112 109.1 59 65 59.79 Roade o/b 40 05 111/109/112 111.2 62 68 62.83 Blisworth 41 44 111/110 110.5 67 00 66.98 Heyford 43 59 111/99 110.7 69 63 69.76 Weedon Jct. 38 45 33 100/112 106.8 75 20 75.23 Welton [3] 48 35 110/112 108.0 76 64 76.78 Kilsby TSP 49 26 111 109.4 78 13 78.14 Kilsby TNP 50 10 111/112 111.5 80 24 80.28 Hillmorton 46½ 51 19 110/39 111.5 82 40 82.48 Rugby 48½ 53 24 41 63.4

Milepost 29¾ -229- January 2009 . M. Chns Dec. Mls Timing Point Sch. Min. Sec. M.P.H. Average 83 20 83.23 Trent V. Jct. 50 54 32 41 39.7 88 00 87.98 Brinklow 58 28 100 72.5 91 29 91.34 Shilton 60 30 sigs96 99.2 93 40 93.48 Bulkington <1> 62 08 64sigs/93 78.5 97 04 97.03 Nuneaton a. 59½ 65 32 62.6 97 04 0.00 d. 61½ 66 43 5½L 99 36 2.40 Hartshill S. 2 24 102/111 60.0 102 23 5.24 Atherstone 3 59 93/106 107.5 106 39 9.44 Polesworth 6 27 105 102.2 110 00 12.95 Tamworth 8 8 35 63 98.8 113 41 16.46 Hademore 11 20 104/105 76.6 116 20 19.20 Lichfield Trent V. 11½ 12 54 100/111 104.8 121 31 24.34 Armitage Jct. 13 15 45 110/sigs21 108.2 124 21 27.21 Rugeley [3] 19 14 71 49.5 127 09 30.06 Colwich 20½ 21 44 35/sigs27 68.4 38 59 30.06 35 20 33.55 Hixon 24 38 94/96/93 72.2 70tsr 27 08 41.70 Stone 28 30 28 70/69/93 83.8 24 45 44.24 Barlaston 32 14 86/50tsr50 86.2 23 76 44.85 Wedgwood 32 50 52/89 61.2 20 35 48.36 Stoke Jct. 31½ 35 44 59 72.7 19 77 48.84 Stoke a. 32½ 36 48 26.7 19 77 0.00 d. 34½ 37 49 -/61 10L 18 64 1.16 Etruria 1 53 59/92 37.0 17 04 2.91 Longport 3 08 91/93 84.0 13 60 6.21 Kidsgrove 6½ 5 32 75 82.5 11 30 8.59 Mow Cop 7 08 110/113 89.1 8 14 11.79 Congleton 9½ 8 57 82/81/113 105.7 0 25 19.65 Macclesfield a. 14½ 14 29 85.3 0 25 0.00 Macclesfield d. 16½ 15 52 -/97 8½L 0 00 0.31 [1] 9 37 0.31 <1> 7 08 2.67 Prestbury 2 47 92 50.9 5 16 4.57 Adlington 3 53 110 103.6 2 79 6.79 Poynton 5 11 95/98 102.1 1 49 8.16 Bramhall 6 04 92 93.4 180 59 9.77 181 44 10.58 Adswood Road 10½ 8 30 76/77 52.2 182 36 11.48 Edgeley No. 1 11½ 9 23 39/41 61.1 183 01 12.05 Stockport a. 13 10 22 34.3 183 01 0.00 d. 14½ 11 43 5½L Heaton Norris 183 63 0.78 Jct. 1 1 18 71 35.8 184 44 1.54 Heaton Chapel 1 54 84/92 76.3 186 00 2.99 Levenshulme 2 52 87 90.0 3 186 41 3.50 Slade Lane Jct. (½) 3 15 74 80.2 188 66 5.81 Manchester P.a. 8 7 11 35.3

Virgin Driver writes:

The train arrived late from Glasgow and I met it on arrival. A defect that developed on the up journey meant it was necessary to run non tilt. I sent a text to John advising of the platform

Milepost 29¾ -230- January 2009 and that the train would be non tilt in case he wanted to try other options, but he was crossing London by the tube and did not receive it until boarding at Euston.

The weather was mostly sunny with some cloud passing across the sky indicating at least a moderate breeze. Adhesion was not a problem in either acceleration or braking at any location. For much of the journey the train faced the sun and as it started to set the sun blinds became ineffective at preventing it shining directly into my face. Additionally, at this angle, any insect kill and smearing on the windscreen is highlighted. If there are any areas in shadow this makes forward visibility of the railway difficult. In these circumstances it is important that you have checked the weekly and late notices for the location of temporary speed restrictions. With the visibility problems described above, I made only selective notes for most of the journey.

We left platform 12 at Euston signalled to E line about ½ minute late. Using notch four I allowed speed to reach 25 mph (speedometer) before shutting off and braking to 20 mph passing through the first facing crossing. The movement of the train at this point is quite severe, so when there is a full catering service on the train I usually reduce speed to reduce the chance of staff losing balance. Just past the first signal after the station, an emergency 20 TSR is in force, which extends to the summit of Camden bank.

After Queens Park I made a running brake test down to 75 mph around mp 4 ½. A long standing 85 TSR is in force at from MP 5 to MP 5 ¾. Once past Willesden Jn on to the ‘bowling green’ the unit accelerates at the usual rate for 390s reaching 110 mph around Mp 7 ¼. I manually hold the speed between 109/111.The TMS shows the actual speed is 1 mph less than indicated on the speedometer. Using milepost times the average to MP 10 is 109.8. As a consequence of the emergency TSR we pass Watford 2 minutes late.

Between Bourne End and Berkhamsted a 50 TSR has been in place for track work since the week end so I have a good idea of the position of the commencement board. This enables me to make a precise brake application without relying on seeing it through the sunlight and dirty windscreen. The TSR extends for about ½ mile and uninterrupted acceleration back to 110. ‘Cruising’ speed is held manually again.

At Milton Keynes recent work has involved slewing the down fast across to a new formation on the west side of the station. A 50 TSR is in force in the station area and again using experience from earlier in the week I am able to judge the brake application effectively. By Hanslope Jn the train is 8 late.

Braking for Weedon was a little late but the curves were entered at the correct speed.

We pass through Rugby under green signals (unusual), but routed via the (new) down platform. This is possible as the speed is the same as using the through line. It is necessary to check that the signal at the end of the platform has a line and be prepared to stop if it is not displaying the number four route indicator necessary to access the Trent Valley.

After Rugby, PS speed is 100 to MP 89 and 110 forward. Acceleration to 110 is interrupted by the momentary sighting near the M1 overbridge of two yellows which change to green. I continued to press on to 110 hoping this was a lapse by the signalman, but rounding the corner more yellows are visible on the long straight section through Shilton. Assuming the train in front to be a freightliner or EWS intermodal, I reduced speed to around 70, then more to allow time for the route to be reset at Attleborough where the freight train should be turned slow line using a 75 mph crossing. This takes place efficiently and acceleration to 90 is possible before braking for the booked stop at Nuneaton.

Milepost 29¾ -231- January 2009 Away from Nuneaton notch 4 acceleration produced 100 at Hartshill. Braking from 110 for the 100 that commences near MP 101 ½ goes fine, but approaching Atherstone I temporarily forget that the train is non tilt, so end up braking late and hard when I realise that the train needs to be down to 90 for the curves in the station area. Suspecting some fatigue I used the speed set to maintain 105 to Tamworth. The average with the speed set device in use is 105.1 mph. This would give me more time to concentrate looking forward into the lowering sun. The train that had caused adverse signals before Nuneaton (a DRS class 66 hauled container train) was passed near Polesworth on the down slow.

North of Tamworth station there is currently 50 PSR where the existing Down Main is slewed into the new formation. A warning board has been placed in the vicinity of MP 109 giving sufficient braking distance. I used less brake force over a longer period than previously and reduced speed to 50 about a coach length from the commencement.

From here to Lichfield PS speed is 105. Again speed set was used, then braking for the 100 through Lichfield station was made on sighting the commencement board. A clear run would allow us to regain some of the lateness, but again a freight train was given priority. This time a Heavy Haul coal train for Rugeley power station was allowed to cross from the up to the Cannock line. A DRS container train appears to be similarly delayed on the down slow. There seemed to be no reason for the up line to be cleared in preference to the down, as I cannot recall that any trains passed us between Rugeley and Colwich on the Up. (possibly 325 units?)

At Colwich yet more signal checks followed, this time no explanation was apparent. With a clear route through the junction on to the branch, the signals on the down fast display flashing yellows to allow a high speed approach to the crossing from down fast to down slow. Here we were given steady yellows and the signal routing us to the down slow cleared to one yellow as we approached. The signal routing trains from the down slow to the branch also cleared to one yellow as we approached. The next signal, by the canal, had to be approached at caution as the previous sequence indicated that it would be at danger, but this was green when first sited. No further adverse signal were received. From Hixon the speed set gives an average of 93.5 mph when set to 95 mph.

Probably undetected by John, unless he saw the warning boards, is a short 70 ESR on the approach side of Meaford LC just before the permanent 75 over the junction at Stone.

So, a punctual arrival at Stoke had been possible due to generous timings, but instead we were about 10 late. This probably made the rest of the run more interesting as time recovery was still a priority, but arriving on time at Manchester would now be impossible. To Macclesfield the PS speeds are substantially lower at certain locations, so the advantage of having no TASS to restrict immediate acceleration after passing the termination of a speed restriction is usually recovered by Longport. The advantage would normally be around 1 minute overall for a train with TASS/TILT operative.

The section forward to Stockport had a clear run, but this was quite fortunate as after passing through Cheadle Hulme station the next signal visible (before Adswood Road) was at one yellow, but changed to green as the train came off the ladder of the junction. This enabled acceleration to 75 followed by heavy braking for the 40 PSR at Edgeley No.1 to give a fast non tilt time. Here the advantage of tilt is around 15 to 20s, gained from being able to accelerate up to 125 after Prestbury, and then braking to 110 instead of 95 before Poynton.

Leaving Stockport I had a minor aberration difficult to avoid after the mental effort needed after the end of a lengthy spell of driving coping with the glare of direct sunlight. Departure was nearly flat out, instead of an easing of 5 secs or so, normally required while the train clears the 25 PSR at the north end of the station. We continued at line speeds, unchecked

Milepost 29¾ -232- January 2009 until the final approach to Piccadilly, where our arrival platform (5) was occupied by a Northern 142. The signal cleared with a position light as we were on top of it.

Overall, it would have been possible for the train to be punctual north of Nuneaton without the regulating delays. The POIS list suggests recovery and pathing time approaching Colwich and Cheadle Hulme, which would contribute most to reaching Manchester on time. The additional time gained with a dry rail allowing maximum potential acceleration and effective brake applications, would be enough to be recover the entire deficit.

John Heaton responds:

Virgin Driver’s comments clearly show the nuances that a view from the cab can give a train timer, especially when it comes to speed-setting and minor checks. And of course, as Virgin Driver points out, low strong sunlight hampers the driver far more importantly than the timer! I clearly misinterpreted the Nuneaton check, probably a result of my relative unfamiliarity with the traffic patterns compared to the Western and Eastern. Virgin Driver confirms that the container train did not contribute to the Rugeley delay but it would be interested to know if it was a ‘double red’.

I was right to sense something unusual at Colwich but it also showed that the train timer has difficulty ascribing the correct cause to unusual delays. Yes, I missed the 70mph emergency restriction but I did record 70mph and wondered if my memory was failing me and that the psr was 70mph not 75mph. With another driver I might have just thought it was over-braking.

Virgin Driver’s comments on the comparison between tilt and non-tilt on restrictive short sections are well worth a close study by train timers (and train planners!). Virgin Driver confirms my views about the, shall we say, sprightly departure from Stockport and the dynamics of the Manchester approach.

Altogether, a worthwhile exercise from my viewpoint and a few lessons to be noted that should benefit even those who were not there.

Virgin Driver responds:

It is worth noting the discrepancies between the value of the GPS indicated speeds and those observed from the speedometer and the TMS sourced speeds. The fluctuations around the ‘cruising’ speeds of 110 in particular should be noted as there was nothing to suggest these variations from the cab instruments.

The interruption in acceleration after Milton Keynes was due to the dead section close to MP 51 ¼.

I suspect that the principle of double blocking is applied on the approach to Rugeley as John suggests. There is also a short signal section in the approach which requires two sets of double yellows to be displayed by the two signals after the River Trent overbridge after Armitage Jn. This can be a source of frustration when you are closely following another train on the down fast as the signals in front of you will not clear to green as they have been doing for the previous few miles of the journey, and a brake application will be necessary, followed by green signals and the train in front well ahead after Rugeley.

It is possible that the 1805 is targeted as the best method of getting a non tilt 390 to Longsight for attention. In 2007 I had two non tilt runs when working this train.

John Heaton comments:

Milepost 29¾ -233- January 2009

A subsequent experiment with the gps on the wcml confirmed that the speeds fluctuate with Pendolinos far more than other traction but this seems to be worse south of Tring. Why? Answers on a postcard please. The log has been left as I would have published it without Virgin Driver’s comments- with the GPS’s wilder suggestions removed but some excesses shown which clearly did not take place - even though they were able to be accommodated within the averages. I would ordinarily back gps versus a speedometer but not gps against the on train management system.

91’s in ‘91

When I took over editorship of the magazine, I was fortunate to take over a number of articles by David Adams mainly covering Heritage diesels from the first generation of modernisation stock. It was surprising when, five years later, I was preparing his article for printing, that I discovered it was somewhat unusual in that, whilst it started with a class 40 struggling on the East Coast Main Line, it then went on to show logs covering initial runs with the 91’s, which are way beyond our expectations nearly twenty years later. Coincidentally, I received a log from Ed Gardiner from the same era, which showed similar performance. It is interesting to consider what might have been ……. Ed

EAST COAST EXTREMES

David Adams

In 1966 there was absolutely no clue to suggest the dramatic progress in train performance that was to occur on this route during the next 25 years and any suggestion that speeds up Stoke bank would top the record 126 mph that “Mallard” achieved on the down grade would have been dismissed as just pie in the sky. Here are two runs of completely contrasting styles which illustrate that giant leap forward.

It was back in 1966 that I timed my first down run from Kings Cross to Doncaster which was also to be my one and only run behind a class 40 on this route. On arrival at Kings Cross in June of that year I was not too optimistic about the prospects for a good run when I found D398 at the head 10 coaches on the 11.00 departure. My main experience of these lumbering heavyweights had been on the West Coast main line south of Crewe. That was at a time when electrification work was in progress and schedules were less than demanding with excessive amounts of recovery time included. Most drivers also appeared reluctant to run “40’s” at more than about 80 mph and there was little to enthuse about their performances. However, I stuck with my planned itinerary which proved to be a wise decision in hindsight. Although the uphill work was naturally a little laboured some of the downhill running was far better than I had experienced on the LM region and I was quite impressed by the overall performance.

As the log in table 1 shows, the 1 in 200 climb to Potters Bar was made with a minimum of 59 mph but just as we were getting into our stride, speed having reaching 88 mph approaching Hitchin, signals frustratingly interrupted progress bringing speed down to 46 mph which cost nearly a minute in running time. This was most likely due to a train crossing from the down platform to join the Cambridge line, a not infrequent cause of delay to main line trains at this point. Despite this annoyance we were soon up into the high 80’s again and

Milepost 29¾ -234- January 2009 Table 1: Kings Cross-Doncaster Train/date 1100 Kings Cross/18-Jun-66 Loco/load e/f, Class 40, D398, 10/352/375 Position/Rec 2/11 D Adams Av Distance Sch Actual speed Spd Miles M. m.s mph mph 0.00 KINGS CROSS 0 0.00 2.43 Finsbury Park 5.55 40 24.6 4.91 Alexander Palace 8.35 62 55.8 9.09 New Barnet 12.45 59 60.1 attained a maximum of 91 mph 12.66 Potters Bar 16.22 60 59.2 at Biggleswade. The average 17.71 Hatfield 20.29 78/80 73.6 speed over the 14.7 miles from 20.24 Welwyn Garden City 22.26 77.5/75 77.8 24.94 Arlesey to St Neots was 87.1 Knebworth 26.08 78/84 76.2 mph and we were nearly 3 28.54 Stevenage (Old) 28.43 83/88 83.6 minutes up on schedule arriving 31.86 Hitchin 31.46 46* Sigs. 65.3 at Peterborough. 36.91 Arlesey 35.57 85/83 72.4 41.10 Biggleswade 38.49 91 87.6 44.04 Sandy 40.47 86 89.6 North of there speed rose to 76 47.39 Tempsford 43.07 87/83/86 86.1 mph beyond Tallington before 51.61 St Neots 46.04 85/88 85.8 falling away to 64 mph on the 55.81 Offord 49.09 67* 81.7 final 1 in 178 climb to Stoke 58.75 Huntingdon 51.33 75 73.5 summit. Once clear of the PSR 61.91 MP 62 54.07 72 73.8 through Grantham we 67.26 Connington South 58.04 87 81.2 accelerated to 91 mph again 69.24 Holme 59.34 70* 79.2 north of Barkston South 72.61 Yaxley 62.28 69/73 69.7 Junction. A TSR at Bawtry and 76.30 PETERBOROUGH 70 67.18 45.8 signals approaching Doncaster 0.00 0.00 cost 3 minutes but arrival at the 3.23 Werrington Jnc. 5.27 63 35.5 latter was still 2 minutes early. 5.51 Helpston 7.33 70 65.1 An overall net gain of 8.5 8.41 Tallington 10.00 74/76 71 minutes had been made on 12.20 Essendine 13.03 74/75 74.5 schedule and the respective net 15.83 Little Bytham 15.59 73/67.5 74.2 start to stop average speed for 20.70 Corby Glen 20.15 69 68.4 the two legs was 68.8 & 68.2 23.75 Stoke 22.58 64/85 67.3 mph. My opinions of class 40’s 29.05 GRANTHAM 27.10 67* 75.7 33.29 Barkston South Jnc. 30.37 86/91/84 73.7 were a little higher after this 39.05 Claypole 34.30 90 88.9 very satisfying run. 43.73 NEWARK 37.43 70*/59* 87.2 51.06 Crow Park 44.20 77.5 66.4 54.90 Dukeries Jnc. 47.25 71/79 74.7 62.23 RETFORD 53.25 57* 73.3 67.59 Ranskill 58.00 78 70.1 71.26 Bawtry 61.51 40* TSR 57.1 74.98 Rossington 65.53 65/* Sigs. 55.3 79.60 DONCASTER 75 73.00 38.9

Over the following years I had far more up than down runs over the ECML and generally the down runs, although producing some good performances from both class 47’s and 55’s, never gave me anything too exceptional. However, persistence was eventually rewarded after 25 years had elapsed and class 91’s had taken charge. My ultimate experience occurred in 1991 on the tightly timed 08.00 Kings Cross – Edinburgh formed by 91011 hauling just seven vehicles, which included the trailing “DVT”, when the running surpassed even the most optimistic expectations. Much of this run, albeit with a lighter load, even

Milepost 29¾ -235- January 2009 Table 2: Kings Cross-York Train/Date 08.00 Kings Cross - 1991 Loco/load/e/f 91011 6+DVT = 7/287/305 Speedo -7mph ? Position/Recorder 2/8 Dad Distance Sch Actual Speed Av Speed Miles m m.s Mph mph 0.00 KINGS CROSS 0 0.00 8L 2.43 Finsbury Park 4.5 4.05 88 35.7 4.91 Alexander Palace 6.5 5.40 102 93.9 9.09 New Barnet 7.59 116 108.2 12.66 Potters Bar 11 9.47 121/126/122 119.0 17.61 Hatfield 12.13 124/129 122.0 20.24 Welwyn Garden City 15 13.32 115*/56*sigs 119.8 24.94 Knebworth 17.04 70/75/56*sigs 79.8 27.51 Stevenage 18.5 19.14 78 71.1 31.86 Hitchin 20.5 21.38 125 108.7 36.91 Arlesey 23.58 131/134 129.8 41.10 Biggleswade 25.51 132 133.4 44.04 Sandy 26.5 27.12 130/133 130.6 47.39 Tempsford 28.44 130 131.0 51.61 St Neots 30.40 132 130.9 55.81 Offord 32.38 126* 128.1 58.75 Huntingdon 33.5 34.00 131 129.0 61.91 MP 62 35.26 133/135 132.2 67.26 Connington South 37.52 130 131.9 69.24 Holme 38.5 38.51 116* 120.8 72.61 Yaxley 40.33 121 118.9 76.25 PETERBOROUGH 42.5 42.27 112* 114.9 81.81 Helpston 45.06 132 125.8 84.71 Tallington 47 46.24 134 133.8 88.52 Essendine 48.05 136 135.8 92.13 Little Bytham 49.41 134 135.3 97.00 Corby Glen 51.51 135 134.8 100.05 Stoke 54 53.13 134 133.9 105.35 GRANTHAM 57 55.51 107*/75*sigs 120.7 109.59 Barkston South Jc. 59.5 58.36 102 92.5 115.25 Claypole 61.18 136 125.7 120.03 NEWARK 64.5 63.26 130/109* 134.4 127.36 Crow Park 66.58 132 124.4 131.20 Dukeries Jnc. 68.46 126 128.0 135.41 Gamston 70.49 121* 123.2 138.53 RETFORD 73.5 72.21 125/133 122.0 143.89 Ranskill -1 74.54 104*tsr/121 126.1 147.56 Bawtry 76.48 118* 115.8 151.28 Rossington 80.5 78.35 134 125.1 155.90 DONCASTER (Dn Fast) 83.5 81.49 Spec Stop 85.7 85.26 Fitter 160.20 Shaftholme Jnc. 85.5 89.09 106 69.4 165.80 Balne 92.04 128 115.2 169.16 Templehirst Jnc. 90 93.35 135 132.9 172.91 MP 173 95.14 138 136.3 176.91 MP 177 96.59 136 137.1 182.89 Colton Jnc. 97 99.38 135/*sigs 135.3 188.41 YORK 101.5 104.14 72.0

Milepost 29¾ -236- January 2009

upstages part of the high speed run detailed by Peter Semmens in the April 2003 edition of the “Railway Magazine” and it has remained in my “classified” file until now.

On arrival at Kings Cross at 07.40 there was no sign of my train. It eventually arrived at 07.53 having being used for an early morning Peterborough – Kings Cross commuter service. That was of course in the days when the best utilization of rolling stock was the norm and is something that would never happen in this post privatization day and age. By the time it had disgorged its load and seat reservation labels had been affixed it was after 08.00 before boarding commenced and we were 8 minutes late departing.

A study of the log in table 2 will reveal that the running was of a “supersonic” nature and that all permanent speed restrictions were taken consistently at 6-7 mph above the official limits as well as the line speed being exceeded by a similar margin or slightly over for much of the run and this would almost certainly be attributable to a slow reading speedometer. Potters Bar was passed at just over double the speed of D398 and timing this run required a high level of concentration.

Thankfully gauge corner cracking had yet to become a problem as “the” 115 mph curve approaching Hatfield, of more recent notoriety, was taken quite smoothly at 122 mph. In fact the riding throughout gave no hint that we were exceeding speed limits at any stage.

After accelerating to 129 mph signals checked progress through the bottleneck north of Welwyn Garden City and it was not until Stevenage that we had a clear road again. 125 mph was attained again by Hitchin and the 35.4 miles from there to Connington South, including the slowing to 126 mph at Offord, were covered at an average speed of 130.8 mph with brief maxima of 134 mph before Biggleswade and 135 mph near Abbots Ripton.

Peterborough was taken at 112 mph and the run up Stoke bank, if not much longer sections of the run, must qualify for some sort of record. Helpston was passed at 132 mph and after a maximum of 136 mph at Essendine there was only a slight drop to 134 mph at the summit. The average speed from Helpston to Stoke was an incredible 134.8 mph. I had now been up Stoke bank faster than I had ever been down it, a record which I had held for Shap since 1984 with a 118 mph ascent on an APT test run. That does of course leave the ultimate challenge, the Lickey incline! However, I have learnt never to dismiss such possibilities no matter how remote they may seem at the time. The 29.1 miles from Peterborough to Grantham, passed respectively at 112 & 107 mph, took under 13.5 minutes at an average speed of 130.29 mph and the 106.69 miles from Hitchin to Retford were run at an average of 126.2 mph not withstanding a 75 mph slowing for signals north of Grantham.

Following that slight delay speed was back up to 136 mph at Claypole. There were further slowings to 109 mph over the Trent Bridge at Newark, 121 mph approaching Retford and 104 mph for a TSR at Ranskill from which speed recovered respectively to 132, 133 and 134 mph. After a fairly fast approach we came to an unscheduled dead stand at the north end signal on the down main in Doncaster station in an incredible 81m.49s. from Kings Cross having suffered delays costing 3 minutes during the journey. The net start to stop time gives an average net speed of 118.7 mph. The stop was for fitter’s attention and he was already walking down the platform when we came to a stand so this was obviously arranged en route.

The Doncaster stop was under 4 minutes but cost a further 6 minutes in running time. We then ran onto York in 18m.48s. Speed briefly touched 138 mph on the Selby cut off (a personal British speed record which almost unbelievably was to be broken just a few hours

Milepost 29¾ -237- January 2009 later) and averaged 136.1 mph over the 13.73 miles from Templehirst Junction to Colton Junction. Despite a signal check approaching York, where I alighted, the actual average start to stop speed for the 32.51 miles from Doncaster was 103.7 mph. The net time of 95 minutes from Kings Cross gives an average start to stop speed of 118.99 mph against a net schedule demanding an average speed of 112.26 mph. Even more impressive was the net average speed of 125.63 mph (119.31 mph net scheduled speed) over the 177.98 miles from Alexander Palace to Colton Junction. Needless to say my subsequent class 91 runs have been like a damp squib after this breathtaking experience.

That day I returned south from York and timed a run from Doncaster to Kings Cross with 91009 propelling a “DVT” on a Leeds line semi-fast. Although some smart work was done with excellent intermediate net times, speed was generally kept close to that permitted. However, after Stoke summit the driver deliberately accelerated to 140 mph which was attained south of Corby Glen on the section specially passed for that speed but only applicable to test trains. After holding this speed briefly he covered his tracks by braking to 116 mph before resuming at near to line speed for the remainder of the journey. This speed reduction was judged almost to perfection, the average speed from Corby Glen to Helpston being 126.5 mph. The log of the relevant section is shown in table 3.

Table 3: Grantham-Peterborough Train/Date 1237 Doncaster – 1991 Loco/Load/e/f DVT 822xx+91009,9,367/385 Position/Recorder 9/9 D Adams Av Distance Actual Speed Speed Miles m.s mph mph 0.00 GRANTHAM 0.00 5.30 Stoke 4.47 106 66.4 8.35 Corby Glen 6.17 132/140 122.0 13.23 Little Bytham 8.29 116*brakes/129 133.0 16.84 Essendine 10.14 122/125 123.7 20.64 Tallington 12.05 123/125 123.2 23.54 Helpston 13.29 123 124.2 25.83 Werrington Jnc. 14.39 114* 117.7 29.12 PETERBOROUGH 18.16 54.5

So my earlier British speed record that morning in 1991 lasted less than 4 hours and remarkably was eclipsed by a push-pull train in “propelling” mode. CTRL excepted, it seems highly unlikely that it will be broken again.

Well, not exactly! About six weeks after David recorded his exceptional run, Ed Gardiner recorded 91021 on the 1100 ex Kings Cross in similar form. Speed rose to 137mph up Stoke Bank, fell back to 134 following the neutral section, and then increased again to 136mph, only falling to 128mph at the summit. Normal service returned around Grantham, but acceleration brought speeds of 140mph around Claypole and again north of Hambleton. In spite of two tsrs around Retford and Doncaster the train arrived in York 5 mins early after leaving Peterborough 6mins late. Ed reports that, even at these speeds, the riding of the mark 4 stock was excellent.

. .

Milepost 29¾ -238- January 2009 Date/day 1991 Miles M C location m s mph average Train 11.00 King's Cross to Edinburgh 51.71 128 00 MP128 26 34 133 131.8 Motive Power 91021 53.71 130 00 MP130 27 28 133.5 Load (tons) Class 91 plus 8 Mk4 trailers 55.71 132 00 MP132 28 25 1/2 125.3 Position 7/8 57.71 134 00 MP134 29 22 1/2 125.7 Recorder E O Gardiner 59.71 136 00 MP136 30 22 121.0 GPS: Y/N? No 61.71 138 00 MP138 31 38 tsr 80 94.7 Miles M C location m s mph average 63.71 140 00 MP140 32 47 1/2 103.8 0.00 76 23 Peterborough 0 00 6L 65.71 142 00 MP142 33 48 1/2 118.5 3.71 80 00 MP80 3 50 1/2 58.0 67.71 144 00 MP144 34 53 tsr 100 111.7 5.71 82 00 MP82 4 54 113.4 69.71 146 00 MP146 35 58 110.4 8.71 85 00 MP85 6 20 1/2 124.8 71.71 148 00 MP148 37 00 1/2 115.2 9.71 86 00 MP86 6 48 1/2 128.6 73.71 150 00 MP150 38 02 1/2 116.0 11.71 88 00 MP88 7 43 133 131.9 75.71 152 00 MP152 38 59 1/2 126.1 13.71 90 00 MP90 8 36 1/2 135 134.8 77.71 154 00 MP154 39 57 125.9 15.71 92 00 MP92 9 29 137 137.1 79.71 156 00 Doncaster 41 04 1/2 106.7 17.71 94 00 MP94 10 22 1/2 134 135.1 81.71 158 00 MP158 42 09 111.8 19.71 96 00 MP96 11 16 134 134.0 83.71 160 00 MP160 43 08 121.7 21.71 98 00 MP98 12 09 136 135.8 85.71 162 00 MP162 44 12 112.7 23.71 100 00 MP100 13 04 128 131.6 87.96 164 20 MP164 1/4 45 17 123.9 25.71 102 00 MP102 14 04 119.4 89.71 166 00 MP166 46 06 1/2 128.4 27.71 104 00 MP104 15 06 115.9 91.71 168 00 MP168 47 00 133.8 29.71 106 00 MP106 16 13 1/2 107.2 93.71 170 00 MP170 47 52 1/2 139 137.9 32.71 109 00 MP109 17 46 120 112.7 95.71 172 00 MP172 48 44 139 139.9 33.71 110 00 MP110 18 14 129 128.5 97.71 174 00 MP174 49 35 1/2 140 139.7 35.96 112 20 MP112 1/4 19 14 136 134.8 99.71 176 00 MP176 50 27 1/2 138 138.7 37.71 114 00 MP114 19 59 140 139.8 101.71 178 00 MP178 51 18 1/2 140 139.9 39.71 116 00 MP116 20 50 1/2 140 140.1 103.71 180 00 MP180 52 10 1/2 140 139.6 41.46 117 60 MP117 3/4 21 35 1/2 139 139.9 105.71 182 00 MP182 53 02 139.5 43.71 120 00 MP120 22 35 1/2 133 137.4 107.71 184 00 MP184 53 55 135.5 45.71 122 00 MP122 23 39 1/2 107 112.1 109.71 186 00 MP186 54 52 126.4 47.71 124 00 MP124 24 41 1/2 116.4 112.21 188 40 York 57 16 5E 62.5 49.71 126 00 MP126 25 39 1/2 124.2

Fastest Times Update

Martin Robertson

Welcome to another edition of Fastest Times Updates in which we have offerings from Glasgow and Edinburgh via the West Coast Main Line, with different train companies to West Wales services, via the Great eastern Line. My thanks to all those who have forwarded new fastest Times over the last few months, most of which will have appeared in print with this issue.

We start on the West Coast main Line with Sandy Smeaton continuing his near monopoly of Fastest Times between Glasgow and Carlisle. A recent addition to the EPS limits is an upgrading of the line in the northern part of the Clyde valley from Beattock Summit to Abington from 90mph to 110mph. Surprisingly the line limits for non tilting trains has been raised to 95mph. The upgrading for the Pendolinos should save approximately 55 seconds. However there is still no increase from the 95mph limit at Quintishill and the 90mph limit through the reverse curves at Abingdon also remain in force.

Milepost 29¾ -239- January 2009 Table 1 Date: Sun 31.8.08 Wed 8.10.08 Train: 13.41 Birmingham Int'l to Glasgow Central 09.39 Glasgow - London Euston Unit: 390.049 'Pendolino'; 25kV; 10,255hp 390.037 Load: 9 cars/ 452 tons tare/ 465 tons gross 9 cars/452/460 Weather: Mild and windless; Dry by Carlisle Dry throughout, mostly sunny Recorder/Method A.Smeaton/Times:stopwatch,3/9 A.Smeaton/Times sp'ds:st'watch,8/9 Mileage Ms Ch LOCATION Sch Mn Sc Av Spd Notes Sch Mn Sc Av Spd Notes 0.00 0 00 CARLISLE (Plat 1) 0 0 00 3L 68 66 37 20.5 P4 0.75 0 60 Caldew Jn 2 00 22.5 64 25 60.4 2.08 2 06 Kingmoor 3 16.30 62.5 63 06 114.3 4.08 4 06 Rockcliffe 4 26.04 103.2 62 03 124.9 6.09 6 07 Floriston 5 25.91 121.0 61 05 121.3 8.75 8 60 Gretna Jn 6 45.60 120.3 59 46 100.9 10.38 10 30 Quintinshill (OB) 7 45.50 97.7 psr 58 48 109.9 psr 13.00 13 00 Kirkpatrick 9 14.50 106.2 57 22 122.7 16.75 16 60 Kirtlebridge 11 05 122.2 55 32 118.7 20.21 20 17 Ecclefechan 12 54.20 114.1 53 47 115.8 22.18 22 14 Breconhill OB* 13 56.98 112.5 52 46 109.5 24.00 24 00 MP 51 46 120.3 24.96 24 77 Blackford Crossing 15 15.04 128.6 25.84 25 67 LOCKERBIE 15 49.08 117.6 50 51 123.6 28.69 28 55 Nethercleugh 17 11.50 124.5 49 28 123.5 31.78 31 62 Dinwoodie 18 41.64 123.3 47 58 124.7 34.51 34 41 Wamphray 20 01 124.2 46 39 123.3 36.88 36 70 Murthat 21 09 125.1 45 30 116.3 39.75 39 60 Beattock 22 33.80 122.1 44 01 108.9 42.99 42 79 Middlegill Rd UB* 24 09 122.4 42 14 104.6 45.14 45 11 Greskine (SS) 25 20.93 107.6 41 00 97.2 47.00 47 00 Harthope Viaduct 26 30.56 96.3 psr 39 51 90.8 psr 48.08 48 06 Bidehouse Knowe* 27 11.35 94.9 49.16 49 13 OB 258* 27 54.30 91.2 49.75 49 60 Beattock Summit 28 18.20 90.2 38 02 92.5 51.60 51 48 Bodsbury 29 26.88 97.0 36 50 104.1 52.61 52 49 Elvanfoot 30 00 101.2 36 15 109.2 55.10 55 08 Crawford 31 21.84 109.4 34 53 100.5 57.86 57 69 Abington 33 05 96.4 psr 33 14 90.5 59.00 59 00 Milepost 33 49.90 91.2 60.25 60 20 Wandelmill 34 33.47 97.2 31 39 117.4 63.25 63 20 Lamington 36 08 114.2 30 07 123.5 65.00 65 0 MP 29 16 123.5 66.61 66 49 Symington 37 47.20 122.0 28 29 121.3 68.50 68 40 Thankerton 38 41.66 124.8 27 33 121.3 70.05 70 04 Leggatfoot OB 39 26.75 123.8 26 47 111.6 71.60 71 48 Pettinain 40 16.38 112.4 25 57 95.3 73.61 73 49 CARSTAIRS 41 42.20 84.4 psr 24 41 93.4 psr 76.00 76 00 Lanark Jn 43 26.70 82.2 23 09 99.6 78.46 78 37 Craigenhill 44 57.40 97.7 21 40 93.1 80.69 80 55 Braidwood 46 19.55 97.5 20 14 91.8 81.94 81 75 CARLUKE 47 05 99.0 19 25 100.3 84.00 84 00 Law Jn 48 30.05 87.3 psr 18 11 61.4 84.75 84 60 Garriongill Jn 49 18.05 56.2 psr 17 27 61.7 86.46 86 37 Wishaw South (Sig) 50 42.70 72.8 15 47 90.9 87.75 87 60 SHIELDMUIR 51 28.95 100.2 14 56 86.8

Milepost 29¾ -240- January 2009 89.44 89 35 MOTHERWELL 52 38.30 87.6 13 46 84.1 91.75 91 60 Douglas Park 54 12.30 88.6 12 07 87.9 93.85 93 68 UDDINGSTON 55 35.60 90.8 10 41 87.7 95.75 95 60 NEWTON 56 51.10 90.6 9 23 51.3 tsr ? 97.28 97 22 CAMBUSLANG 58 01 78.5 7 36 70.0 98.33 98 26 Rutherglen East Jn 58 52.00 74.1 6 42 70.4 100.30 100 24 Polmadie Bridge 60 31.60 71.4 5 01 33.2 101.50 101 40 Eglinton Street Jn 62 37.10 34.4 2 51 16.1 102.00 102 00 Milepost 64 10.80 19.2 102.26 102 21 GLASGOW CEN 70 65 38.30 10.8 1¾ ely 0 0 0 (P2) Avge speed 93.5 92.1

Table 1 has the current Fastest Times in each direction between Glasgow and Carlisle both recorded recently by Sandy. There is a surprising difference of almost a minute between the two records with the faster time being northbound, which may be surprising with the generally tortuous entry into Glasgow Central. Sandy has recorded a faster time to Eglington Street Jn, passing there in 61m 57s but suffered a signal stop on the final approach to the terminus. A time of under 65 minutes is a realistic possibility under the present line limits. The northbound run appeared to suffer a tsr around Carstairs, possibly to 50 or 60mph, although Sandy does not make any comment on the reduction in the average speeds, below the 90mph limit. The southbound run should be capable of being improved upon with a faster start. NExp services will often pass Cambuslang in under seven minutes whereas Virgin services rarely better seven and a half minutes.

Table 2 has two HST records northbound from Carlisle, one recorded six years ago and the second during the weekend diversions of the NExp services for engineering work north of Newcastle on at least four successive weekends. Why can NExp provide an hourly service using Hst’s via Carlisle and an hourly service using Class 91’s to Morpeth, when Virgin have to resort to bus substitution north of Carlisle for Glasgow bound services.

The first run in table 2 was recorded in 2002 on a Cross Country service which had suffered severe delay due to a failed tamping machine south of Lancaster. The driver was in a hurry to reach Edinburgh with a series of illegal speeds in various places. There was 118mph after Lockerbie and 100mph plus on the descent from Cobbinshaw. We were lucky to obtain a clear entry into Haymarket station, being so far out of our scheduled path. A tsr after Castlemilk cost around 1m 40 sec in comparison with the second run, losing the one minute advantage which had been accrued by a faster start and running. The ascent of Beattock Bank was relatively poor with an output value of approximately 3130rhp.

Down the Clyde valley Run 1 was consistently twenty seconds behind the NExp service but better braking for Carstairs South Jn and a faster passage and acceleration from the severe psr’s meant that the run was 45 seconds ahead by Mp77. the advantage had increased to almost a minute by Slateford before braking for the Haymarket stop. The net time is equal to the current Voyager record held by Alan Varley of 69m 01s from 2003.

The Nexp service was the 10 30 KX-Inverness service which was one of the few direct services between London and Edinburgh. The run was also recorded at the end of the Edinburgh schools week holiday. The train was packed with every door aisle area occupied by people and luggage. There were a surprising number of people left the service at Carlisle, but the best I could achieve was standing in the middle of a coach interior. My Gps refused to work other than when we trundled round the Carstairs Junctions spur. There are therefore no actual speeds only averages. At the time I thought that the driver was having a real go but on analysing the log afterwards, he was frequently several mph below the line limits in the averages. We did top Beattock summit at 80mph which I considered to be excellent.

Milepost 29¾ -241- January 2009 Table 2 Run 1 2 Loco/Unit 43080/43086 43305/43238 Vehicles/tare/gross tonnes 7,238/250/395 9,305/340/485 Train 0720 Plymouth-Aberdeen 1030 KX-Inverness Date S 130702 S25-10-08 Rec/Pos/GPS? M Robertson M Robertson miles m c Location m s mph ave m s ave 0.00 0 00 Carlilse d 0 0 (-33) 0 0 T 1.98 2 06 Kingmoor 2 57.5 79 40.2 3 20.5 35.6 4.09 4 06 Rockcliffe 4 19 99 93.2 4 51 83.9 6.10 6 07 Floriston 5 29 109 103.4 6 05 97.8 8.59 8 47 Gretna 6 50.5 110 110.0 7 35 99.6 10.00 10 00 Quintishill 7 41.5 93* 99.5 8 27 97.6 11.50 11 40 Mp 11 1/2 8 37.5 96 96.4 9 22 98.2 13.01 13 00 Kirkpatrick 9 32.5 100 98.8 14.50 14 40 Brackenhill 10 26 104 100.3 16.62 16 50 Kirtlebridge 11 37 107.5 12 36 95.0 18.00 18 00 Mp 12 25 103.5 13 27 97.4 20.12 20 10 Eccelfechan 13 40.5 104 101.1 14 45.5 97.2 22.69 22 56 Castlemilk 15 08.5 108/36tsr 105.1 16 21.5 96.4 25.84 25 67 Lockerbie 18 14 74 61.1 18 12.5 102.2 28.69 28 55 Nethercleugh 20 08 102 90.0 19 46 109.7 31.78 31 62 Dinwoodie 21 51 113 108.0 21 25.5 111.8 34.50 34 40 Wamphray 23 16.5 118 114.5 22 54 110.6 37.01 37 00 Murthat 24 36.5 105/98 113.0 24 16 110.2 39.76 39 60 Beattock 26 15.5 100/103 100.0 25 53.5 101.5 43.01 43 00 Auchencastle 28 15 95 97.9 27 53 97.9 44.76 44 60 Greskine 29 23.5 90 92.0 29 03.5 89.4 48.01 48 00 Harthope 31 41 82 85.1 31 21.5 84.8 49.76 49 60 Summit 32 58.5 79/101 81.3 32 40.5 79.7 52.79 52 60 Elvanfoot 34 53 91 95.3 34 34.5 95.7 55.56 55 40 Crawford 36 37.5 97 95.4 36 20.5 94.1 58.05 58 00 Abington 38 15.5 80br 91.5 37 56.5 93.4 60.29 60 20 Wandelmill 39 43 105/111 92.2 39 23 93.2 63.30 63 20 Lamington 41 25 106 106.2 41 08 103.2 66.90 66 67 Symington 43 30 102 103.7 43 16.5 100.9 68.57 68 40 Thankerton 44 27.5 106 104.6 44 12 108.3 70.07 70 00 Leggatfoot 45 20.5 100/104 101.9 45 05 101.9 71.67 71 48 Pettinain 46 16 100br 103.8 46 14 83.5 73.27 73.16 Carstairs S J 48 43.5 15* 39.1 49 04.5 33.8 73.80 74 11 Carstairs E J 50 49 33* 15.2 51 00.5 16.4 74.84 75 14 Carnwath 52 05.5 59 48.9 52 40.5 37.4 76.66 77 00 Mp 53 35 86 73.2 54 19 66.5 79.09 79 34 Auchengray 55 09 94 93.1 55 56 90.2 80.66 81 00 Mp 56 07.5 97 96.6 56 55 95.8 82.26 82 48 Cobbinshaw 57 07.5 96/90 96.0 57 56 94.4 83.66 84 00 Mp 58 02 95/100 92.5 85.34 85 54 Harburn 59 02.5 102 100.0 59 49.5 97.7 86.66 87 00 Mp 59 47.5 105 105.6 60 38.5 97.0 88.14 88 38 Linhouse Viad 60 46.5 74* 90.3 61 39.5 87.3 89.41 89 60 Midcalder Jn 61 44 89 79.5 62 37 79.5 90.57 90 73 Kirknewton 62 27.5 103 96.0 63 22 92.8 93.16 93 40 Ravelrig 63 58 103 103.0 64 59.5 95.6

Milepost 29¾ -242- January 2009 . miles m c Location m s mph ave m s ave 95.16 95 40 Curriehill 65 08.5 104 102.1 66 16.5 93.5 96.84 97 14 Wester Hailes 66 29 70* 75.1 67 30.5 81.7 97.66 98 00 Kingsknowe 67 09.5 71 72.9 68 11.5 72.0 98.64 98 78 Slateford 68 00.5 68 69.2 69 02 69.9 100.34 100 54 Haymarket a 70 38 (-28) 38.9 71 08.5 48.4 101.57 0.00 Edinburgh Wav a 74 16 23.6 9E

Assuming we passed Beattock at 100mph, the output for the climb was a creditable 3800rhp.

A much slower approach to Carstairs South Jn, possibly due to Network Rail’s restrictive signalling practices and slow to accelerate away from Carstairs E Jn. An unchecked run through Haymarket West Jn, assisted by the Bathgate services not operating that day, also due to engineering work. The usual cautious approach into Edinburgh Waverly for a excellent 82mph average speed.

On my other trips over the two weekends the first southbound run had an intermittent fault in one power car which hampered accelerations, together a severe signal check at Midcalder Jn for the Glasgow stopping service via Shotts. 81m 39s just maintained the schedule. The second southbound run with the same set as in the northbound run detailed, had a Haymarket stop included in the timing. There was a slight check at Midcalder Jn, a very slow passage through the Carstairs Junctions then a severe check approaching Nethercleugh to allow a Network Rail track recording train hauled by a Class 31 to enter the loop at Lockerbie., for a final time of 76m 43s, well behind the current RPS record of 70m 11s.

Northbound a very lightly loaded Hst set suffered an unexplained check to 70mph at Kirkpatrick before catching the Tesco container train before Murthat with a subsequent check down to 23mph as it was recessed into Beattock loop. The ascent of Beattock bank was commenced at 70mph with speed rising to 79 on the easier grades to Greskine, before falling to 77mph on the 1:75 to the summit, which was passed at 80mph, worth around 3600rhp. Speedy progress down the Clyde Valley was cut short after Lamington with a signal checks down to 25mph until Carstairs Sth Jn although there was a new introduced 20mph tsr after Thankerton. There was no indication of the cause of the delay, but appalling operating procedures from Motherwell power box. Unchecked thereafter until a double yellow after Slateford, but we were not stopped at Haymarket Jn and eventually crawled into Edinburgh Waverly in 87m 20 seconds.

Table 3 has a run recorded by Chris Taylor between Bolton and Manchester Piccadilly, with a pair of Class 185 units. Speed reached 80mph at Kearsley before the tortuous approach to Manchester Piccadilly, with Chris’s comments included below:-

Travelled from Lockerbie on this train, ran okay as far as Lancaster on time. At Lancaster due to be overtaken by a 221 which we were, departing 1½ minutes after it passed us. Due to flooding near Bay Horse ( water above sleeper level and upsetting the track circuits) so trains been stopped and cautioned but we were badly delayed as the 221 was immediately in front. We departed Preston 12 minutes late. As Chorley arches were closed we were diverted via Wigan North Western. Usually these trains got stopped at Wigan North western (not calling) to let a Wallgate to Manchester train go in front, so the pathing was very poor. As we were late we got a clear run from Preston to Manchester Piccadilly. Bolton to Manchester had a clear run with the only adverse signals approaching Piccadilly station and

Milepost 29¾ -243- January 2009 Table 3 Date Thur 4 Sept 2008 Train 1452 Edinburgh to Manchester Piccadilly Loco 185107/147 Load 6c 326.8/335 recorder/ pos/GPS C.Taylor,2/6,Y miles m c location m s speed 0.00 10 50 BOLTON 0 00 12 late 0.63 10 00 MP 1 01 59 1.55 9 06 Moses Gate 1 54 64 2.23 8 32 Farnworth 2 28 78 2.91 7 57 Kearsley 3 00 80/77 4.63 6 00 MP 4 18 78 5.88 4 60 Clifton 5 17 75 7.34 3 32 Agecroft Jn 6 18 79/38 8.88 1 60 Salford Crescent 8 13 43 9.06 1 46 35 191 01 9.33 190 59 Liverpool Street 8 55 51 9.71 190 28 Ordsall Lane 9 25 30 10.35 189 57 Deansgate 10 36 34 10.71 189 28 Oxford Road 11 24 20/33 11.34 188 58 PICCADILLY 13 24 . Table 4 Date/day Sat 5-May-07 Train 1600 Harwich-Liverpool St Motive Power 360108 Load (tons) 8 Weather Sunny Rec/Pos/GPS? D Ashley,1/8,Y Miles M C location m s mph ave 0.00 46 53 MARKS TEY 0 00 /99 4.41 42 20 Kelvedon a 4 41 56.5 0.00 42 20 d 0 00 /96 3.68 38 46 Witham a 4 34 48.3 0.00 38 46 d 0 00 2.66 35 73 HatfieldPeverell 3 04 88/103 52.1 6.05 32 42 Boreham House 5 10 94 96.8 8.85 29 58 Chelmsford a 8 07 56.9 0.00 29 58 d 0 00 /90 6.14 23 47 Ingatestone 5 23 84 68.4 9.54 20 15 Shenfield a 8 44 60.9 0.00 20 15 d 0 00 /83 1.99 18 16 Brentwood 3 03 82/90 39.1 5.28 14 73 Harold Wood 5 15 89/88 89.7 6.70 13 39 Gidea Park 6 13 90/92/88 88.4 7.81 12 30 Romford 6 59 91 87.1 10.19 10 00 Chadwell Heath 8 34 91/93/84 90.0 11.63 8 45 Seven Kings 9 33 91/92/88 87.7 12.83 7 29 Ilford 10 23 90/87 86.4 13.94 6 20 Manor Park 11 08 91 89.0 14.89 5 24 Forest Gate 11 49 84/85 83.4 16.21 3 78 STRATFORD 13 31 1 Early 46.8

Milepost 29¾ -244- January 2009

Salford Crescent (probably approach control) where we used the through line. A slight excess of speeds but early evening (1917 at Bolton) we were lucky to get a clear run.

Table 4 has a recoding by David Ashley on the Great Eastern line between Marks Tey and Stratford on a Harwich to Liverpool Street service formed from a Class 360 unit. New Fastest Times were set on five consecutive sections after a four minute late start from Marks Tey. David’s comments are:- What is surprising is that, in spite of the recent intense coverage of the route on the2005 RPS Mass Timing Day, new fastest times were recorded on all the sections between Marks Tey and Stratford. However the reality is that the Harwich trains stopping pattern were not the preferred option for recorders, and those used, were during the afternoon when emergency speed restrictions were in force, due to heat. What is evident is that 90-100mph speeds are being recorded in spite of the short stop to start sections.

Table 5 has two short sections on either side of Swindon on which David Sage recorded fastest times in each direction. Run A on a Bristol-Paddington service achieved a fastest time from Chippenham to Swindon. David’s comments are:- I had met up with John Heaton at the GWRSA in Bristol for a bite to eat and a couple of drinks. John heading north for what would turn out to be a cancelled steam special, whilst I was pondering whether to go down to Taunton and up the Berks and Hants or direct to Reading. Decided on the latter. Checked behind the late 13.30 Cardiff/Portsmouth - not unusual on a xx.30 up from Bristol. 6 late from Bath as a result. Nothing special to Chippenham. Indeed nothing wonderful on to Swindon, but a new FT by all of 2 seconds all the same. A whole minute inside the net WTT schedule, although a time which I feel could be easily beaten. 'Par' runs on to Didcot and Reading saw a 2 late arrival at the latter. In theory a comfortable 28 mins. to Paddington would have seen a right time arrival.

Run 5B has a new Fastest Time from Didcot to Swindon, after suffering a severe signal check approaching Didcot. David’s comments are:- The HST to Oxford running ahead of us and equally late from Reading. I would imagine that this was the cause of our severe signal check before Moreton - the Oxford no doubt waiting for a path across Didcot East. An up HST passed us at full speed, which more or less confirmed my theory.

The FT section felt totally unremarkable at the time, and I was surprised that it was actually a new FT. The stop could have been brisker than it was - although 2 from 10 not the best place for a fast stop. With a following wind and a faster stop it should be quite easy to achieve a sub-15 time. A 2 + 7 formation could possibly manage this anyway.

Hard to calculate a net time for the run onwards to Chippenham - the 100 TSR at Christian Malford which we traversed at 99.5 being the reason for delay. This needed to have cost 28 seconds to get under Bruce Nathan's 11m 05 from 1983. It would probably have bettered the 11m 15 from Chris Napper under John Heaton's 're-zeroed' regime. Of my three down runs that day, this was the only one to apply power after the TSR.

Quite happy with the average speed column throughout - but some of the GPS speeds not quite in the zone. This is either a GPS issue, or because many of our timing points really need to be to quarter or half chains. Distances for our Continental charts, and indeed HS1, are quite often to the metre.

Tables 6 and 7 are runs in the west of Wales recorded by Ian Umpleby. Table 6 on a Cardiff- Fishguard service had a non stop run from Cardiff to Llanelli, omitting the usual stops and bypassing Swansea. The acceleration of the Class 175 units was well to the fore with the frequent psr’s which populate the route. Ninety miles per hour was reached twice on the descents. Ian does not include a schedule but the time of 56m 47s improved on the overall

Milepost 29¾ -245- January 2009 Table 5 Run A Date/day Thu 21/08/08 Train 1430 Bristol Temple Meads-Paddington Motive Power 43031/43063 Load (tons) 8/273/413/425 Position 3/10 Recorder D C Sage Weather Dry, bright. GPS: Y/N? Yes Miles M C location WTT m s mph average 0.00 93 77 CHIPPENHAM 0 0 00 1.29 92 54 Langley 1 54 70 40.7 4.05 89 73 Christian Malford 3 46 99 1/2 88.7 6.22 87 59 Dauntsey 5 02 110/113/110 103.0 9.96 84 00 Mp 84 7 02 115 112.4 10.55 83 33 OB 7 20 118/117 115.3 11.10 82 69 Wootton Bassett 8 7 37 118/121 117.0 12.49 81 38 Studley [1] 8 19 120 119.9 13.55 80 33 Wroughton Road 8 51 115 117.8 15.45 78 41 Rushey Platt 9 53 79 bks 110.9 16.55 77 23 SWINDON 14 12 05 30.0

Run B Date/day Thu 30/10/08 Train 1130 Paddington-Bristol Temple Meads Motive Power 43137/43024 Load (tons) 8/273/413/425 Position 2/10 Recorder D C Sage Weather Dry, bright, cool GPS: Y/N? Yes Miles M C Location WTT m s mph average 0.00 53 11 DIDCOT PARKWAY 0 00 0.61 53 60 Foxhall Jn 1 17 1/2 50 1/2 28.3 1.66 55 00 Milton 2 25 1/2 75 1/2 55.6 3.77 56 73 Causeway 3 44 94 96.5 7.21 60 28 Wantage Road 5 41 1/2 113 105.5 9.46 62 48 Circourt Road 6 50 1/2 120 117.3 10.70 63 67 Challow 7 27 1/2 123/125 120.7 13.40 66 43 Uffington 8 45 1/2 124/126 124.8 16.70 69 67 Ruffinswick Farm 10 21 123/125 124.8 19.24 72 30 Bourton 11 34 1/2 124 124.3 21.50 74 51 Marston Thornhill Road 12 40 1/2 123 122.9 22.21 75 28 FB 13 02 - 119.8 23.19 76 26 Highworth 13 40 1/2 83 1/2 101.7 24.15 77 23 SWINDON 15 06 40.6 schedule by five minutes. Ian included a run with a Class 142 unit in the opposite direction which took 64m 56s with no obvious checks, and still gained 16 minutes on the schedule!!.

Milepost 29¾ -246- January 2009 Table 6 Loco/Unit 175108 Vehicles/tare/gross tonnes 3/149/155 Train 1055 Cardff C-Fishguard Harbour Date Tues 8th April 2008 Weather Sunny Ints,odd shower Rec/Pos/GPS? IU;2/3;Y Dec. M. Chns Mls Timing Point Min. Sec. M.P.H. Av

170 28 0.00 Cardiff Central pfm 4 0 00 1L 171 48 1.25 Leckwith Junction RR 2 49 54 26.7 172 60 2.40 Ely ML 3 50 1/2 73/76 67.3 175 61 5.41 St Georges LC 6 19 1/2 70* 72.6 176 68 6.50 Peterston ob 7 15 1/2 70 70.2 178 39 8.14 Pontsarn LC 8 33 77/tsr45 75.9 181 41 11.16 Pontyclun fb 11 38 76 58.9 183 72 13.55 Llanharan fb 13 30 1/2 77/82 76.2 186 49 16.26 Pencoed shl 15 31 81 81.3 189 40 19.15 Tremains 17 45 1/2 70* 77.3 190 43 20.19 Bridgend fb 18 46 1/2 52* 60.9 192 00 21.65 MP 20 06 1/2 72 65.9 193 20 22.90 Laleston MP 21 07 76 74.1 194 60 24.40 Stormy Siding MP 22 14 86/90 80.7 196 35 26.09 Pyle fb 23 33 48sigs*/25* 77.0 197 40 27.15 Water Street Jn RR 25 08 57 40.3 199 60 29.40 Heol-y-Deliaid LC 26 53 1/2 90 76.6 200 64 30.45 Margam ob 27 37 86/sig41 87.6 202 54 32.33 Port Talbot Parkway 29 31 1/2 48 58.7 204 54 34.33 Baglan shl 31 29 1/2 74 61.2 206 36 36.10 Briton Ferry shl 33 30 1/2 30*/41 52.8 207 67 37.49 Dynevor Jn pts 35 45 1/2 29* 36.9 208 33 38.06 Jersey Marine N Jn ob 36 43 1/2 42 35.8 0 37 38.73 Llandarcy SB 37 30 52 51.3 1 50 39.89 Lonlas Tunnel WP 38 49 58 52.9 2 17 40.48 Felin Fran ub 39 25 60 59.3 4 04 42.31 Llangyfelach Tunnel EP 41 27 46* 54.1 5 13 43.43 Llangyfelach Tunnel WP 42 43 1/2 54 52.4 6 58 44.99 Penllergaer Tunnel WP 44 30 1/2 52 52.7 7 72 46.16 Pontlliw ub 45 55 50 50.1 9 27 47.60 Grovesend Coll.Lp Jn SB 47 42 37*/24* 48.3 10 64 49.06 Morlais Junction sign 49 59 44 38.4 2 78 49.70 Llangennech shl 50 44 1/2 53 50.5 1 06 51.60 Bynea shl 52 58 1/2 47* 51.1 0 02 52.65 Llandeilo Junction ob 54 26 37* 43.2 225 20 54.31 Llanelli 56 47 4E 42.4

Table 7 has a Class 175 unit on a Manchester to Milford Haven service with three consecutive Fastest Times heading west from Llanelli. Reasonable speeds achieved in short distances between the psr’s.

My thanks to all those whose contributions are featured. As usual, logs of new Fastest Times are welcomed by any means although an electronic copy in Word or Excel format is easiest to manipulate.

Milepost 29¾ -247- January 2009 Table 7 Loco/Unit 175009 Vehicles/tare/gross tonnes 2/102/105 Train 0638 Manchester-Milford Haven Date Weds 9th April 2008 Weather Sunny Ints Rec/Pos/GPS? IU;1/2 to Carm 2/2 after;Y Dec. M. Ch Mls Timing Point Min. Sec. mph Av 225 20 0.00 Llanelli 0 00 T 226 00 0.75 MP 1 23 1/2 56 32.4 228 00 2.75 MP 3 08 1/2 78 68.3 229 15 3.94 Pembrey 4 34 50.1 229 15 0.00 Pembrey 0 00 T 231 68 2.66 Penybedd LC 3 02 80/83 52.7 234 30 5.19 Kidwelly shl 4 59 1/2 76 77.2 235 60 6.56 Bertwyn LC 6 04 1/2 75 76.2 237 00 7.81 MP 7 06 70 73.3 238 50 9.44 Ferryside shl 8 34 1/2 61* 65.8 240 02 10.84 Cwmbwry No 1 LC 9 48 1/2 77/79 68.2 242 40 13.31 MP 12 04 1/2 22tsr*/52 65.5 22*psr/41 245 10 15.94 Carmarthen Junction SB 16 07 1/2 24* 38.9 245 27 16.15 Carmarthen North Jn ob 16 39 1/2 27 24.0 245 55 16.50 Carmarthen 17 50 2E 17.8 258 74 0.00 Whitland 0 00 2L 259 54 0.75 Llanboidy LC 1 23 54 32.5 262 00 3.07 MP 3 26 1/2 75 67.9 264 24 5.38 Clunderwen dn shl 5 36 25* 63.9 266 00 7.07 MP 7 24 1/2 78/80/73 56.2 268 00 9.07 MP 8 58 1/2 78 76.7 270 71 11.96 Clarbeston Road 12 02 1L 56.7

Network Developments since the last issue by Ian Umpleby

The West Coast Main Line has continued to dominate the infrastructure changes since the last Milepost and will continue to do so for a few months yet. Work on Milton Keynes station should be complete by the time this issue arrives and includes provision for any future extension of the Bedford to Bletchley service. Bletchley remained to be sorted out in December last year and the near 50 northbound miles of track available for 125mph running by class 390s between Watford and Weedon may be reflected in the southbound direction. If so this will take over the mantle of the longest continuous 125 mph track in the country from the East Coast Main Line between York (Skelton) and Darlington (Eryholme). However class 221s do have some minor additional restrictions unlike their ECML counterparts. The Rugby remodelling is complete with a 125mph connection to the Coventry line but only 75 mph in the up due to the constraints of Rugby Flyover. The Trent Valley has 125 mph slow lines as well as fast lines and many speed easements have been made over the line on to Glasgow including 100 mph over Weaver Junction to/from Liverpool. More work is being scheduled for Carlisle to Lockerbie in the early 2009 timetable so it may be Easter before the WCML upgrade is “complete”.

Milepost 29¾ -248- January 2009 CONFESSIONS OF A SOUTH WALES EXPLORER

David Ashley

Living in Worcester in the 1970’s, I became aware of a weekend South Wales Weekend Explorer ticket that covered an area from Swansea through the Valleys to Hereford, Worcester, Bristol and Newport. The ticket was available from 1800 on Friday until 2359 on Sunday. The “confession” in the title of this article, is that, at this time, you could construct an impressive itinerary of loco-hauled trains, without even entering the “Principality”, by concentrating on the Cheltenham-Bristol route.

Although the ticket was valid through Worcester, it wasn’t initially sold there, so purchasing involved a trip to Hereford on the Friday night to buy one, usually out on the 1720 ex Worcester (1500 Paddington) and back on the 1845 , usually a 47 or 50 on eight.

My initial preferred itinerary for the Saturday was: arr dep Worcester SH 0652 Cheltenham Spa 0719 0748 Bristol TM 0847 0856 Cheltenham Spa 0948 1010 Bristol TM 1116 1144 Worcester SH 1258 1320 Cheltenham Spa 1342 1408 Bristol TM 1520 The first train of the day was a dmu which connected at Cheltenham into the Glasgow/Edinburgh sleeper to Bristol. The rest of the morning was spent on the Cheltenham-Bristol route, until lunchtime when 1M72 – 1035 Taunton-Birmingham took me to Worcester to catch the 1320 back to Cheltenham. This was a strange train: it originated as the 0915 (SO) Paddington to Worcester, via Gloucester and returned as the 1320 Worcester to Cheltenham. It then set back into the siding to allow “The Devonian” through, and then continued as the 1408 Cheltenham to Bristol. After arrival at Bristol, northbound journeys to Cheltenham were limited, apart from a 1525 dmu, so I tended to travel into South Wales. After spending limited time in the Valleys, I was able to return to Worcester on the 1710 to Hereford (normally a 25 – but later 33), and then the 1845 from Hereford to Worcester.

In those days, services on Sundays were limited and unreliable, so a successful day was unlikely on the short section between Cheltenham and Bristol. Consequently, trips tended to be out-and-back: Worcester-Swansea, Worcester-Bristol etc.

At the time flexi-rovers were not available, so a weekend rover ticket was a novelty. Also, I realised that time was running out for loco-hauled travel on the line – although I would never have thought that limited loco-hauled opportunities would be available for the best part of another twenty years. I also thought that this was “as good as it was going to get”: HSTs would be cascaded to the route, and timing trains with a power: weight ratio of 6 (45 on 10) was far more interesting than one with 12 (and running at 25% below their maximum speed) (Hst on 7). I would never have thought that, 20 years on, the whole of the British “inter-city” network would be operated in a similar fashion – the power:weight ratio of a Voyager is 16. Equally surprising, is the fact that, whilst extra horse power has been supplied, so little attention has been given to the speed limits on the route. The locomotives twenty years ago were operating at speeds that represent the current speed limits and the only obvious improvement seems to be an increase from 60 to 70mph around Tuffley Junction. However,

Milepost 29¾ -249- January 2009 Reproduced from “BR Main Line Gradient Profiles: The Age of Steam”, published by Ian Allan Publishing by permission of the Publisher. All rights reserved. The publisher drawa your attention to the fact that the profiles cover the steam era, and that modern profiles may vary slightly where modernisation has taken place there have been modest improvements in the timetable: Cheltenham to Bristol (one intermediate stop) 49mins now against 54mins then, and in the opposite direction: 41mins now against 48mins then.

As gradient profiles are relevant when examining these types of runs, a copy of the gradient in the area is printed.

Going south from Cheltenham, the gradient is slightly downhill until the outskirts of Gloucester, where it starts rising at about 1in300 until Standish Junction. The route undulates until it starts rising at 1in181 from Charfield to beyond the southern end of Wickwar Tunnel. It then continues to rise until it reaches the South Wales main line at Westerleigh Junction and the gradient then falls gently until south of Filton where it steepens to 1in75 to Stapleton Road.

Looking at the logs, we start with three runs with the overnight Glasgow/Edinburgh sleeper. It may be coincidence, but all three runs are powered by “Peaks”. In spite of lengthy booked waits at Birmingham, punctuality was not particularly impressive, although there seems sufficient recovery to regain some of the lost time. It was always my hope that I could record a speed of 90mph on this service: if it was possible it would be on the slightly downward section towards Berkeley Road. As can be seen from the logs, the highest speed recorded was 88mph with run 3. There is a similarity when comparing the logs: the speeds to Berkeley Road are very similar, and the variations in the elapsed time to get there are mainly due to the differing driving techniques on the start from Cheltenham and the treatment of the psrs around Gloucester. Similarly, speeds after the climb to Wickwar are in the range 73-75mph.

Progress beyond there is dependent upon the traffic on the South Wales main line, and over the years, there were frequent signal checks between Yate and Westerleigh: run three suffered as a result of this, but it was significantly out of course. Continuation on to Temple Meads was normally uneventful.

We continue with two journeys on the 1408 Cheltenham-Bristol mentioned earlier. As can be seen from run 4, the driver seemed to be in a bit of a hurry. This was sometimes apparent earlier in the journey: the train was formed from the 1320 from Worcester, which had to run back into the siding to the north of the station to allow the Devonian to pass. The points were operated by a member of the station staff who walked from the platform to operate them: the drivers sometimes showed their impatience by blasting their horn at the poor staff member, in the hope of encouraging some signs of acceleration from him. There were also signs of urgency when running round at Gloucester. This impressive sense of punctuality may have been due to pride in the job. It may also be due to the fact that the driver had finished his driving duties on arrival at Bristol at 1520, and his return to Gloucester may have been preferred on the 1525 rather than following 1657! Whilst loads were limited, speeds were well in excess of what was common on the line in those days. 50024 achieved 100mph beyond Stonehouse and continued in the mid-90’s until Wickwar - and was still running at 90mph at the summit. After Westerleigh, speed rose

Milepost 29¾ -250- January 2009 Run No. 1 2 3 Date/day 1-Mar-80 28-Feb-81 30-Mar-81 Train (0748 Cheltenham-Bristol) (0748 Cheltenham-Bristol) (0747 Cheltenham-Bristol) Motive Power 46007 45148 45133 Load 15 16 16 Rec D Ashley D Ashley D Ashley Miles M C location m s mph ave m s mph ave m s mph ave 3L 16L 35L 0.00 86 58 CHELTENHAM 0 00 /75 0 00 /75 0 00 /68 5.53 92 20 Barnwood J 6 50 72/64 48.5 6 40 63/57 49.7 6 40 65/73 49.7 11.44 98 62 Haresfield 12 02 69 68.2 12 09 67/64 64.7 11 42 72 70.5 12.70 100 03 Standish J 13 06 71 71.0 13 17 68 66.8 12 44 74 73.3 14.39 101 58 Stonehouse 14 27 78 75.0 14 41 79 72.3 14 04 84/88 75.9 18.16 105 40 Coaley 17 15 87 80.9 17 33 85/87 79.0 16 44 87 84.9 20.51 107 68 Berkeley Rd 18 53 86/87 86.3 19 12 85/87 85.5 18 22 86/88 86.3 25.84 113 14 Charfield 22 34 82 86.7 22 54 80 86.4 22 01 82 87.5 27.93 115 21 Wickwar 24 11 78 77.5 24 33 75 75.9 23 39 76 76.7 29.91 117 20 117.25 25 48 73/75 73.8 26 11 73 73.0 25 15 74 74.5 32.46 119 64 Yate 28 00 60 Br 69.5 28 18 65 72.3 27 20 69/sig st 73.4 33.99 121 26 Westerleigh J 29 58 32 46.5 30 52 25 35.6 32 00 30 19.6 35.34 108 40 Coalpit Heath 32 00 50 39.8 32 35 57 47.2 34 03 53/59 39.5 36.66 109 66 Winterbourne 33 23 64 57.5 33 55 66 59.6 35 29 55 55.5 38.61 111 62 Bristol Parkway 36 23 39.0 36 30 45.3 38 30 38.8 0.00 111 62 Bristol Parkway 0 00 0 00 0 00 1.16 112 75 Filton J 2 24 40/63 29.1 2 24 42/56 29.1 2 22 42 29.5 4.22 1 50 Stapleton Rd 0 00 55 7 11 15 38.4 6 15 31 47.3 5.85 0 00 BRISTOL TM 9 15 7 Early 30.4 10 56 3L 26.0 10 40 24L 22.1

Run No. 4 5 6 Date/day 1-Mar-80 29-Mar-80 2-May-81 Train 1408 Cheltenham-Bristol 1408 Cheltenham-Bristol (1010 Cheltenham-Bristol) Motive Power 50024 46026 46016 Load 7 7 10 Rec D Ashley D Ashley D Ashley Miles M C location m s mph ave m s mph ave m s mph ave

0.00 91 82 GLOUCESTER 0 00 2L 0 00 23L 0 00 19L 6.14 98 62 Haresfield 6 21 84 58.1 7 00 81 52.7 7 22 73 50.0 7.41 100 03 Standish J 7 13 91 87.4 7 56 86 81.2 8 19 76 79.7 9.09 101 58 Stonehouse 8 17 98/100 94.9 9 02 95/93 92.0 9 37 86 77.9 12.87 105 40 Coaley 10 38 96 96.4 11 28 97/92 93.1 12 10 95/96 88.8 15.22 107 68 Berkeley Rd 12 06 96 96.1 12 58 94/96 94.0 13 40 94/97 94.0 20.54 113 14 Charfield 15 25 96 96.3 16 19 94 95.4 16 57 90 97.3 22.63 115 21 Wickwar 16 44 94 95.1 17 39 93 93.9 18 23 87 87.4 24.62 117 20 117.25 90 18 58 91/92 90.6 19 48 83/85 84.2 27.17 119 64 Yate 19 49 78 88.3 20 39 77 90.9 21 38 80 83.5 28.69 121 26 Westerleigh J 22 00 30 41.9 22 55 27 40.4 24 00 30 38.7 30.04 108 40 Coalpit Heath 23 49 62 44.6 24 31 63 50.6 25 42 58 47.6 31.37 109 66 Winterbourne 24 58 78/83 69.1 25 40 76 69.1 26 54 75/78 66.3 33.32 111 62 Bristol Parkway 26 59 58.0 28 40 Slow app 39.0 29 15 49.8 0.00 111 62 Bristol Parkway 0 00 1.16 112 75 Filton J 1 37 50 43.1 1 51 48/62 37.7 2 04 43/60 33.7 4.22 1 50 Stapleton Rd 5 02 64/sig st 2.5m 53.8 5 04 53 57.1 6 00 20/36 46.7 5.85 0 00 BRISTOL TM 11 45 5E 14.5 8 40 7L 27.1 10 40 14L 20.9

Milepost 29¾ -251- January 2009 to 83mph prior to the Bristol Parkway stop. The 19mins allowed from Parkway to Temple Meads indicates that “charter minutes” existed in 1980 – if not by name.

Three weeks later, run 5 shows 46026 on the same train. It left Worcester 10 minutes late and was 23mins late leaving Cheltenham. A “Peak” on this train was unusual, as I suspect they preferred the same locomotive to work from Paddington to Worcester and then back to Bristol. It is unlikely that 46026 worked through from Paddington, so the initial lateness may have been due to a shortage of locomotives at Gloucester followed by shuffling around of what stock was available. The increased lateness from Gloucester was probably due to the late-running of the Cross Country service at Cheltenham. Whilst departure from Gloucester was slower than run 4, once beyond Standish Junction speeds a times matched the earlier run, but a slow approach to Parkway resulted in a 1m41s slower time from Gloucester. However, a 23min late departure from Gloucester was turned into a 7min late arrival at Temple Meads.

Run 6 shows a 46 on another preferred train on this route: the 1010 from Cheltenham. It was loaded to 10 coaches, so wasn’t able to match the times and speeds of the other runs. Gravity helped speeds up to 97mph before starting the ascent to the summit – by which time speed had fallen to 83mph.

By the summer timetable of 1980, the return of the 0915 Paddington was no more – so alternative itineraries were required. Rather unusually, a pair of 25’s turned up on the 1453 Shrub Hill to Bristol on 9th August 1980 (run 7). Whilst rather sluggish when running singly, this pair showed an unusual turn of speed, and were up to 93mph around Berkeley Road, and 79mph at the summit.

Run 8 shows a non-stop run with a “Peak” which converted a 16min late departure into a 2min early arrival. Run 9 follows a similar pattern to earlier logs.

We now turn to the northbound direction. The speed interest here is down the 1in181 from Wickwar Tunnel through Charfield towards Berkeley Road. There is also a short downhill section at 1in300 through Haresfield, which followed an uphill section, and could inadvertently result in a sharp acceleration. This is probably in the area where a 14xx tank on an auto-train allegedly achieved unbelievable speeds many years earlier.

Run 10 kicks off with speeds from Parkway in the low 90’s which continued where possible to Cheltenham where arrival was 6 early. Run 11, with 50030 showing unnecessary urgency, with speeds up to 102mph, and arrival at Cheltenham 8mins early. Run 12 shows more restrained speeds, and 45112 was later hampered by signal checks in the Gloucester area.

Run 13 shows a non-stop service to Gloucester. Even in those days, an unchecked run through Bristol Parkway was a rarity, but this run achieved it. Speeds up to 97mph were recorded, but the run was hampered by signals on the approach to Gloucester. This was a common occurrence in those days, as they were operating a service with frequent locomotive changes on - effectively - one exceedingly long platform – platform 4 was not in use at this time.

Run 14 shows 47107 on the 1322 from Bristol. Whilst running at reasonable speeds, with no obvious restrictions, it was 3mins slower than run 11. Run 15 again shows speeds in the upper-90’s.

Just to prove I did venture into Wales, Runs 16 to 18 show performance on the “north and west” route in those days. Initially single 25’s were the order of the day, but by 1982 class

Milepost 29¾ -252- January 2009 Run No. 7 8 9 Date/day 9-Aug-80 2-May-81 25-Jun-82 Train (1453 Worcester-Bristol) (1357 Cheltenham-Bristol) (1402 Cheltenham-Bristol) Motive Power 25261/25267 45006 50002 Load (tons) 9 9 10 Rec D Ashley D Ashley D Ashley Miles M C location m s mph ave m s mph ave m s mph ave 20 L 16L 16L 0.00 86 58 CHELTENHAM 0 00 /84 0 00 /86 0 00 /81 5.53 92 20 Barnwood J 5 40 80/60 58.5 5 25 84/58 61.2 6 00 61 55.3 11.44 98 62 Haresfield 10 40 77 71.0 10 24 79 71.2 11 05 77 69.8 12.70 100 03 Standish J 11 39 80 77.0 11 20 82 81.2 12 02 80 79.7 14.39 101 58 Stonehouse 12 54 85 81.0 12 31 92/90 85.6 13 13 88/94 85.6 18.16 105 40 Coaley 15 28 93 88.2 15 01 93/92 90.6 15 44 92 90.0 20.51 107 68 Berkeley Rd 17 00 91/93 92.0 16 38 93/94 87.2 17 20 90/93 88.1 25.84 113 14 Charfield 20 29 87 91.7 20 03 89 93.5 20 44 89 94.0 27.93 115 21 Wickwar 21 57 83 85.4 21 29 85 87.4 22 13 85 84.4 29.91 117 20 117.25 23 26 79/80 80.4 22 54 84/86 84.2 23 39 82/84 83.2 32.46 119 64 Yate 25 25 74 77.1 24 44 67 83.5 25 35 70 79.1 33.99 121 26 Westerleigh J 28 10 32 33.3 26 47 33 44.6 28 04 30 36.8 35.34 108 40 Coalpit Heath 30 04 49 42.6 28 27 60 48.6 29 36 61 52.8 36.66 109 66 Winterbourne 31 35 65 52.4 29 40 75/79 65.3 30 49 77 65.3 38.61 111 62 Bristol Parkway 33 51 14 L 51.6 31 17 53 72.4 32 50 58.0 0.00 111 62 Bristol Parkway 31 17 53 0 00 1.16 112 75 Filton J 32 38 51/61 51.7 2 14 49/66 31.2 4.22 1 50 Stapleton Rd 36 30 25/35 47.5 6 04 28/40 47.9 5.85 0 00 BRISTOL TM 41 05 2E 21.3 9 14 7L 30.8

Run No. 10 11 12 Date/day 01-Mar-80 02-May-81 24-Jul-82 Train (0856 Bristol-Chelt) (0856 Bristol-Chelt) (1217 Parkway-Chelt) Motive Power 46009 50030 45112 Load (tons) 8 9 8 Rec D Ashley D Ashley D Ashley Miles M C location m s mph ave m s mph ave m s mph ave 1L 0.00 0 00 BRISTOL TM 0 00 2L 0 00 /42 1.63 1 50 Stapleton Rd 3 12 45/53/47 30.5 3 40 22tsr 26.6 4.69 112 75 Filton J 7 09 45 Br 46.5 8 42 54 36.5 5.85 111 62 Bristol Parkway 9 05 36.1 10 40 35.5 0.00 111 62 Bristol Parkway 0 00 0 00 0 00 1.95 109 66 Winterbourne 2 58 56 39.4 3 03 58 38.4 3 03 67 38.4 3.28 108 40 Coalpit Heath 4 26 62 54.2 4 22 65 60.4 4 14 68/sigs 67.2 4.63 121 26 Westerleigh J 6 23 30 41.5 6 04 33 47.6 6 40 32 33.3 6.15 119 64 Yate 8 41 59 39.8 8 10 60 43.6 8 20 63 54.9 10.69 115 21 Wickwar 12 10 90 78.2 11 38 96 78.5 11 40 88 81.7 18.10 107 68 Berkeley Rd 16 59 90 92.6 16 06 97/99 100.4 16 27 91 94.4 20.45 105 40 Coaley 18 33 93 90.0 17 33 98 97.2 18 00 91/86 91.0 24.23 101 58 Stonehouse 21 03 90 90.6 97 20 37 91 86.6 25.91 100 03 Standish J 22 11 87 89.3 21 03 90 93.6 21 46 87 88.0 27.18 98 62 Haresfield 23 03 90/93 87.4 21 52 94/98 92.8 22 39 82 85.8 33.70 92 20 Barnwood J 27 35 62/75 86.4 26 18 62/74 88.3 29 06 35sigs/62 60.7 39.23 86 58 CHELTENHAM 33 35 6E 55.3 31 50 8E 59.9 39 35 31.6

Milepost 29¾ -253- January 2009 . Run No. 13 14 15 Date/day 29-Mar-80 25-Jul-81 28-Feb-82 Train (1657 Bristol-Gloucester) (1322 Bristol-Cheltenham) (1622 Bristol-Cheltenham) Motive Power 46045 47107 50014 Load (tons) 11 10 9 Rec D Ashley D Ashley D Ashley Miles M C location m s mph ave m s mph ave m s mph ave 0.00 0 00 BRISTOL TM 0 00 1L 0 00 T 4.69 112 75 Filton J 7 04 50 47.7 8 29 40 34.2 5.85 111 62 Bristol Parkway 8 19 55 55.8 10 54 28.9 0.00 111 62 Bristol Parkway 8 19 55 0 00 0 00 4L 1.95 109 66 Winterbourne 10 09 68 63.8 3 05 48/50 37.9 2 49 59 41.5 3.28 108 40 Coalpit Heath 11 18 69/71 69.1 4 45 49/51 47.7 4 09 63 59.6 4.63 121 26 Westerleigh J 12 58 28 48.6 6 33 26 45.0 6 15 30 38.6 6.15 119 64 Yate 14 51 65 48.6 9 00 61 37.3 8 26 57 41.9 10.69 115 21 Wickwar 18 20 91 78.2 12 31 87 77.4 11 57 88 77.4 12.78 113 14 Charfield 19 42 95/97 91.6 13 54 94/98 90.5 13 16 96/93 95.1 18.10 107 68 Berkeley Rd 23 00 92 96.8 17 12 91 96.8 16 37 95 95.4 20.45 105 40 Coaley 24 31 95 93.0 18 45 93/87 91.0 18 06 98/99/95 95.1 24.23 101 58 Stonehouse 27 01 91 90.6 21 21 88 87.1 20 27 98 96.4 25.91 100 03 Standish J 28 11 86 86.8 22 33 84/86 84.4 21 33 92 92.0 89/93/sig 27.18 98 62 Haresfield 29 03 st1m 87.4 23 26 85/94 85.8 22 22 93/97 92.8 33.32 91 82 GLOUCESTER 36 50 4E 47.4 30 50 1E 49.8 28 35 1E 59.3

Run No. 16 17 18 Date/day 19-Mar-80 09-Aug-80 13-Apr-82 Train 1710 Cardiff-(Hereford) 1710 Cardiff-(Hereford) 1710 Cardiff-(Hereford) Motive Power 25220 25042 33015 Load (tons) 6 6 6 Miles M C location m s mph ave m s mph ave m s mph ave 12L T T 0.00 170 29 CARDIFF 0 00 /63 0 00 /80 0 00 /78 11.79 158 46 Newport 16 02 44.1 14 17 49.5 13 25 52.7 0.00 158 46 Newport 0 00 0 00 0 00 24L 2.70 39 40 Caerleon 5 07 44/51 31.7 5 38 47/56 28.8 5 36 45 28.9 5.89 36 25 Llantarnam 9 02 48 48.8 9 08 55 54.6 9 08 56 54.1 Lower 7.21 34 79 Pentnewydd 10 49 45/30tsr/32 44.6 47/37tsr 10 33 55/57 56.1 9.95 32 20 Pontypool Rd 15 59 31.8 14 39 44.2 14 25 42.5 0.00 32 20 Pontypool Rd 0 00 /65/59 0 00 /68/57/58 0 00 /73/63 4.15 28 08 Nantyderry 62/69 6 10 22tsr 40.4 4 40 65/69 53.4 6.75 25 40 Penpergwm 7 18 67 55.5 9 14 49/51 50.9 7 05 61/58/60 64.6 9.46 22 63 Abergavenny 10 30 50.9 12 52 44.8 10 20 50.1 0.00 22 63 Abergavenny 0 00 0 00 0 00 2.79 20 00 20 5 33 37 30.1 5 28 38 30.6 4 54 45 34.1 4.04 18 60 Llanfihangel 7 29 38 38.8 7 21 40 39.8 6 31 48 46.4 6.41 16 30 Pandy 9 49 76/78 61.1 9 34 77/79 64.3 80/64 11.58 11 17 Pontrilas 13 51 65/64 76.8 13 46 62 73.8 12 47 65 72.2 14.95 7 67 St Devereux 17 00 68 64.3 16 57 70/69 63.6 15 48 75/76 67.1 17.33 5 37 Tram Inn 19 04 70 69.0 18 59 71/73 70.1 17 41 74 75.7 20.86 1 74 Red Hill J 22 07 55 69.6 22 00 57 70.4 20 40 58/65 71.1 22.79 0 00 Rotherwas J 24 08 60 57.3 24 05 53 55.4 22 36 64 59.7 23.98 51 05 HEREFORD 26 16 8L 33.4 26 32 1 E 29.1 25 00 14L 29.7

Milepost 29¾ -254- January 2009

33’s were being used. The runs shown may not have been recorded using the South Wales Explorer ticket

The gradient on this route is covered in the Mass Timing Day supplement which accompanies this magazine, but briefly, it is uphill with gradients as steep as 1in95 to Pontypool Road, down with similar gradients to Penpergwm, up to Llanfihangel, down to Pontrilas and from Red Hill J into Hereford.

25220 in Run 16 was able to reach 51mph on the gradient to Pontypool Road, falling back to 45mph before a 30mph tsr hampered progress towards the station. Speed limits on the route were not as liberal as they are today, so speeds in the downhill sections could not be exploited as they are today. Speeds from Abergavenny to the summit, which was breached at 38mph, compare with 60mph with the 175’s today. The 75mph route speed limit was not exceeded to any significant extent, and a 26min time to Hereford compares with 22mins today. Run 17 follows a similar pattern to run 16, but with an additional tsr at Nantyderry.

Run 18 shows some improvements, following the transfer of 33’s to the route. The reason for the extended wait at Newport escapes me, but it gave an incentive to regain some time, and lateness was reduced from 24mins at Newport to 14mins at Hereford. Speed rose to 57mph on the climb to Pontypool Road, and 48mph to Llanfihangel. Downhill sections were at the 75mph line limit.

Whilst examination of these logs reveals a different world from what we recognise today, loco haulage on the route continued for a number of years – although with lighter loads than in the early 1980’s. We will examine some of these logs in later editions. For a preview, readers with access to the RPS may wish to look at the Bristol Parkway-Cheltenham section on 19th July 1988 with 47658.

Network Developments - continued

In Scotland the redoubling of the Bathgate branch was completed on time and concrete mast bases for its electrification have started to appear east of Newbridge Jn; Bathgate station should be relocated later this year and Laurencekirk station, south of Stonehaven, is set to reopen early this year. On the GSW route there is a possibility that Stewarton to Lugton could be redoubled soon. Work at Shields Jn, Glasgow has resulted in faster speeds towards Paisley Canal. In Northern England the Bradford Interchange remodelling was carried out on time and this has allowed the new semi-fast Calder Valley service to be timetabled as well as permit the opening of a new station at Low Moor in the future whilst maintaining the previous schedule. A side-effect of the scheme has been the erection of largely home-made mileposts between Leeds and Bradford Interchange where few originals remained; about half have been erected on the “wrong” up side. The 15mph curve at Guide Bridge West Jn has been remodelled for higher speeds which is permitting a minor speed-up of North Trans-Pennine trains. Manchester Airport has acquired its third platform which should improve punctuality there and work on track and signalling on the Blackburn to Hellifield line should assist reliability. In the Midlands work on the Matlock branch will allow loco-hauled trains to run once again and full use of the recently constructed Allington curve near Grantham finally comes into being with most Nottingham-Skegness services calling at Grantham. East Midlands Parkway may open in March but use of the available Corby station was still in doubt at the start of the year due to rolling stock procurement difficulties.

Milepost 29¾ -255- January 2009 50 YEARS AGO: MEMORIES FROM THE C.K.DUNKLEY COLLECTION: 1958

Martin Barrett

Welcome to the penultimate article in this series. It is held by many that 1958 was the last great year of steam with dieselisation starting to creep in. I think some of the running in this article will confirm that view.

We open, once again, with a few runs on the Bournemouth line. Of the four runs in the down direction, surprisingly the last, with a West Country, ends up being the best overall. Is it because less equals more – in other words a more evenly balanced run avoids all the checks and ends up getting a clear run? Anyway, driver Coward in Run 1 had two 15 mph tsrs to contend with plus one minor signal check. It was a very competent journey with 69 mph sustained up to MP31 and a good acceleration from the 15 mph tsr at Basingstoke to 52 mph by Wootton, followed by fast running down the bank. A further 15 mph tsr through Brockenhurst was an irritation but Bournemouth was reached on time. In run 2 Driver Sartin started so well on the 0820 that he got checked before Woking, but this only spurred him on to accelerate from 44 mph through Woking to 69 mph at MP31. Running continued at this higher level than run 1 until almost stopped at Worting Jn and then finally stopped at Wallers Ash. A very quick recovery to reach 87 mph after Shawford did not regain much time and the final effort to achieve an on time arrival was thwarted by a stop at Bournemouth Goods. In run 3 Driver Kelly employed a completely different driving technique. He went like a rocket to Hampton Court Jn, then appeared to set the controls and let the engine do the rest, hence the drops in speed at Weybridge and MP31. It certainly achieved the desired result with Basingstoke passed in under even time. He then eased back even further with speed dropping into the 40s until the falling grades allowed a maximum of 85 mph to be reached before Winchester. Unfortunately severe delays occurred beyond Allbrook. The running beyond Southampton was not sparkling, but adequate. Lastly Driver Gordon, in run 4, only has a West Country on 12. A much slower start but driven harder with 77 mph before Byfleet following which a slight easing, but enough to breast MP31 at 58 mph. Once again you get the impression the controls were left unaltered, with the gradients causing the speed fluctuations. A well judged run to reach Southampton in a few seconds over 80 minutes. Another good run beyond Southampton with speed only falling to 62 mph up the rise after Lymington Jn.

In runs 5 and 6 both trains were delayed between Bournemouth and Southampton, run 5 by a 15 mph tsr after Beaulieu Road and run 6 by a signal failure just before Woodfidley Gates. Actually the West Country in run 5 put up a much better performance than the MN in run 6 over this section. The difference between the two classes becomes apparent up the bank to Roundwood with the WC running up in the mid 50s dropping to 49 mph at Roundwood, whilst the MN, with 12 Pullmans, ran at the mid 50s all the way which showed more than 2 minutes benefit by Worting Jn. From there on both runs were similar and only a severe check at Queens Road stopped the Belle beating 80 minutes over the last stretch.

In run 7 we have one run with rebuilt MN 35014 over the Exeter line. Driver Sevier paced the journey very nicely, with speed only being allowed to reach 75 mph in the dip after Weybridge, but opened up sufficiently to carry MP31 at a very respectable 66 mph. Easing back, speed only reached the low 70’s and although Basingstoke was taken a little on the high side, it was obvious no adjustments were made to the controls, as speed dropped to 59 mph after Worting Jn, passed one minute early. However this progress was rudely interrupted at Hurstbourne where there was a stop for nearly 4 minutes. Despite a spirited run from there, 7 minutes were dropped to Salisbury. This gave Driver Belleys, with one coach less, something to aim at, and with only one moderate tsr, he recovered all the time lost with Semley breasted at 65 mph, followed by 85 mph through Gillingham and a

Milepost 29¾ -256- January 2009 Run No 1 2 3 4 Date 11 April 1958 16 July 1958 12 Sept 1958 16 Sept 1958 Train 1030 Waterloo 0820 Waterloo 1030 Waterloo 1030 Waterloo Loco 35016 (rebuilt 4/57) 35020 (rebuilt 4/56) 35030 (rebuilt 4/58) 34020 Load 11/403/430 11/369/390 12/401/425 12/399/425 Driver Coward Sartin (9E) Kelly (9E) Gordon dist location sch m s mph m s mph m s mph m s mph 0.0 Waterloo 0 0 00 0 00 0 00 0 00 1.3 Vauxhall 3 22 33/50 3 42 -/52 3 18 -/54 3 48 3.9 Clapham Jn 7 6 47 48/45 7 16 41 6 42 41 7 57 38 5.6 Earlsfield 9 01 48 9 30 48 8 56 50 10 32 44 7.3 Wimbledon 10 58 53 11 25 54 10 47 54 12 43 43 9.8 New Malden 13 33 64 13 58 64 13 14 66 15 30 60 13.3 Hampton Ct Jn 18 17 57 56 17 15 68 16 19 72 18 53 66 14.4 Esher tsr 15 71 74 17.1 Walton 22 27 52 20 28 69/66 19 30 69 22 08 72 19.1 Weybridge 24 42 55 22 18 69 21 19 66/72 23 56 68/77 21.7 West Byfleet 27 00 69 24 25 72/sigs 23 29 69 26 03 72 24.4 Woking 28 29 21 69/71 27 39 44 26 00 64 28 20 68 28.0 Brookwood 32 27 69 31 43 60 29 31 60 31 40 64 31.0 MP31 35 06 69 34 28 69 32 30 60 34 37 58 33.2 Farnborough 36 58 75 36 25 69 34 34 66 36 48 65/68 36.5 Fleet 39 37 75 39 11 75 37 22 72/75 39 44 66/69 39.8 Winchfield 42 18 70 41 52 74 40 05 69 42 44 66/64 42.2 Hook 44 21 69/70/tsr15 43 48 74/77 42 04 72/78 44 54 66/75 47.8 Basingstoke 49 41 48 18 69/sigs5 46 42 66/eased 49 48 69 50.3 Worting Jn 52 54 45 43 51 20 49 52 41 52 17 50 52.6 Wootton 57 35 52 55 50 43 53 11 45 55 10 46 56.3 Roundwood 61 18 66 60 05 58 57 12 60 59 05 62 58.1 Micheldever 62 53 75 61 47 72/79sig st 57s 58 52 75 60 46 70 61.8 Wallers Ash 65 37 83 61 35 82/85 64.5 Winchester Jn 66 67 32 86 71 37 60 63 30 82 65 48 80/83 66.6 Winchester 69 08 78 73 34 70 65 22 62 67 27 78/76 69.7 Shawford 71 31 82 75 56 84/87 67 57 75/82 69 50 80 sigs sigs 73.6 Eastleigh 73 74 32 62 78 47 64 71 43 39 72 46 75 75.7 Swaythling sigs sigs 77.3 St Denys 77 56 66 82 03 69 78 50 sigs 75 46 72 78.1 Northam Jn 78 79 12 83 22 82 05 sigs 77 15 79.2 Southampton 81 82 01 86 15 87 10 80 12 0.0 0 0 00 0 00 3 late/43sigs 0 00 0 00 2.7 Redbridge 5 5 17 48 5 18 40 4 53 47 5 33 42 6.2 Lyndhurst Road 9 22 58 9 37 58/66 9 00 54/62 10 12 50/60 8.9 Beaulieu Road 11 52 64 12 04 64 11 39 58 12 58 57 10.5 Woodfidley 13 13 75/tsr15 13 32 72/75 13 15 58/66 14 26 70/72 14.5 Lymington Jn 17 17 22 45/47 17 03 64/60 17 15 62/53 18 00 66/62 16.3 Sway 19 35 53 18 50 62 19 13 54 19 43 64 19.3 New Milton 22 24 66 21 23 72 22 02 66 22 08 75 21.8 Hinton Admiral 24 31 80 23 20 83/86 24 08 78/81 24 09 83 25.3 Christchurch 27 12 75 25 52 69 26 43 72 26 43 72 27.0 Pokesdown sigs sigs 27.5 Boscombe 29 50 28 14 54/sig st 58s 29 23 45 29 12 45 28.7 Bournemouth 34 32 16 31 31 31 40 31 35

Milepost 29¾ -257- January 2009 . Run No 5 6 Date 11 April 1958 16 July 1958 Train 1440 Bn'mouth 1640 Bournemouth Loco 34105 35010 (rebuilt 1/57) Load 12/401/435 12/498/525 dist location sch m s mph sch m s mph 0.0 Bournemouth 0 0 00 0 0 00 1.1 Boscombe 3 34 -/65 3 50 -/64 3.6 Christchurch 6 19 62 6 48 60 6.9 Hinton Admiral 9 45 55/50 10 32 49/45 9.4 New Milton 12 45 52 13 40 51 12.4 Sway 15 43 64 16 47 62 14.2 Lymington Jn 17 17 23 69/72 18 18 35 63/sig st 55s 15.1 Brockenhurst 66 18.2 Woodfidley Gates 20 57 69/72 24 20 19.8 Beaulieu Road 22 27 64/tsr15 28 40 30 22.5 Lyndhurst Road 26 48 48/68 32 11 53/64 25.4 Totton 29 48 60 35 08 50 26.0 Redbridge 36 03 42/48 27.8 Millbrook 32 48 49 38 20 45 28.7 Southampton 32 34 27 34 40 13 0.0 0 0 00 3 late 0 0 00 1.1 Northam Jn 3 35 3.5 3 12 3.3 Swaythling 7 42 45 7 12 46 5.6 Eastleigh 10 10 30 56 10 9 48 55 9.5 Shawford 14 38 56 13 48 58 12.6 Winchester 18 03 54 17 06 58 14.7 Winchester Jn 20 20 56 19 20 58 17.4 Wallers Ash 23 20 54 22 11 56 21.1 Micheldever 27 38 50 26 06 54 22.9 Roundwood 29 57 49 28 11 54 26.6 Wooton 33 49 64 31 54 66/69 28.9 Worting Jn 37 36 07 56 38 33 54 66 31.4 Basingstoke 38 23 70/77 36 09 70/74 37.0 Hook 43 00 72 40 50 69 39.4 Winchfield 44 58 74 42 53 69 42.7 Fleet 47 38 75 45 38 75 46.0 Farnborough 50 21 73 48 23 70 48.2 MP31 52 19 69 50 22 65 51.2 Brookwood 54 51 77 52 57 75/77 54.9 Woking 58 57 52 72 61 55 52 75 57.5 West Byfleet 59 53 80 57 57 76/78 60.1 Weybridge 61 52 78 60 00 70/69 62.1 Walton 63 29 75 61 47 72 65.9 Hampton Ct Jn 66 43 66/64 64 51 75 69.3 New Malden 70 03 66 67 52 72 71.9 Wimbledon 72 33 58 70 05 69 73.6 Earlsfield 74 22 60 71 34 66 75.2 Clapham Jn 77 76 07 44/54 80 73 30 43.sig sev 77.8 Vauxhall 80 28 79 37 79.2 Waterloo 84 82 30 87 82 24

Milepost 29¾ -258- January 2009 . Run No 7 Date 10 September 1958 Train 1100 Waterloo Loco 35014 (rebuilt 7/56) Load 13/434/465 to Salisbury 12/397/430 Salisbury to Sidmouth Jn 10/331/350 ex Sidmouth jn Driver Sevier (Salisbury) to Salisbury Belleys (Salisbury) forward dist loc sch m s mph sch m s mph 0.0 Waterloo 0 0 00 0.00 SALISBURY 0 0 00 1.3 Vauxhall 3 38 -/52 1.5 MP 85 3 16 33 3.9 Clapham Jn 7 7 12 28 2.5 Wilton 4 56 45/69 5.6 Earlsfield 10 00 43 8.3 Dinton 10 48 66/69 7.2 Wimbledon 12 07 50 12.6 Tisbury 14 35 67/69 9.8 New Malden 14 43 63 17.6 Semley 19 04 65 13.3 Hampton Ct Jn 18 18 03 64/69 21.7 Gillingham 22 12 85 17.1 Walton 21 27 67 24.0 MP 107.5 23 56 60/40tsr/72 19.1 Weybridge 23 16 68/75 28.5 Templecombe 28 39 60 21.7 Byfleet 25 22 72 30.0 MP 113.5 30 15 47/80 24.3 Woking 28 27 38 69 34.6 Sherborne 34 12 78/75 28.0 Brookwood 30 48 68 39.2 Yeovil Jn 39 37 48 78 31.0 MP 31 33 28 66 42.8 MP126.25 41 00 60/80 33.2 Farnborough 35 26 72/70 48.0 Crewkerne 45 13 75 36.5 Fleet 38 10 72/75 49.8 MP133.25 47 02 54 39.8 Winchfield 40 56 69 56.0 Chard Jn 51 59 85/75 42.2 Hook 42 56 72/76 61.1 Axminster 56 05 78/83 47.8 Basingstoke 47 31 72 64.4 Seaton Jn 58 32 72 50.3 Worting Jn 51 49 53 60/59 69.0 MP152.5 63 46 44/43 52.4 Oakley 51 59 62 70.0 MP153.5 65 11 44 55.6 Overton 54 47 75/78 71.3 Honiton 66 27 66/83 59.2 Whitchurch 58 12 30 sigs 75.9 Sidmouth Jn 79 71 20 61.1 Hurstbourne 62 37 sig 0.0 0 0 00 66 17 stop 3.8 Whimple 4 43 69/85 66.4 Andover 74 03 70/73 7.4 Broad Clyst 7 31 78 72.7 Grateley 79 45 64 11.1 Exmouth Jn 10 50 53 73.25 MP73.25 80 19 62 St.James Halt sig st 20s 75.6 Amesbury Jn 82 15 75 12.2 Exeter Central 14 15 28 78.2 Porton 84 16 82/86 82.6 Tunnel Jn 80.5 87 38 50 83.7 Salisbury 83 90 01 minimum of 60 mph at MP107½. Despite being hampered by the 40 mph tsr and only 72 mph being reached in the dip, MP113½ was passed at 47 mph with 80 mph thereafter. Sutton Bingham bank only reduced speed to 60 mph and another 80 mph followed. After falling to 54 mph at the top of the 1 in 80 after Crewekerne, 85 mph followed through Chard Jn. Honiton Bank only brought speed down to 43 mph and a flourish with 83 mph down the other side brought 1100 from Waterloo into Sidmouth Jn in only 71m20s. A pity that a stop outside Exeter prevented an on time arrival.

Runs 8, 9 and 10 detail runs on 1630 from Exeter. Runs 8 and 9 are a good indication of before and after rebuilding. 35011 in original condition would just about kept schedule if it hadn’t been for the 15 mph tsr going down Honiton bank, but compared with run 9 it was

Milepost 29¾ -259- January 2009 . Run No 8 9 Date 11 September 1958 30 May 1958 Train 1630 Exeter 1630 Exeter Loco 35011 35030 (rebuilt 4/58) Load 12/399/425 13/422/445 Driver Godvere dist location sch m s mph m s mph 0.0 Exeter Central 0 0 00 0 00 1.1 Exmouth Jn 3.5 3 53 4 03 4.8 Broad Clyst 8 44 64 8 18 72 8.5 Whimple 13 10 42 11 38 56 10.3 MP161.25 15 48 41 50 12.2 Sidmouth Jn 18 18 55/66 15 40 60/56/69 16.8 Honiton 23 23 44 20 12 52 18.1 MP153.5 25 02 41 21 40 45 19.1 MP152.5 27 28 22 54 56 tsr 15/78 23.8 Seaton Jn 32 33 75/79 26 50 78 25.6 MP146 28 13 83 27.0 Axminster 35 10 73 29 21 70 29.6 MP142 31 33 68/66 32.1 Chard Jn 39 54 62 33 49 69 35.6 MP136 37 01 64 38.3 MP.133.25 45 53 55 39 43 59 40.1 Crewkerne 47 34 75/88 41 21 75/84 45.3 MP126.25 51 35 63/72 45 37 62 46.7 Sutton Bingham 47 01 64 48.9 Yeovil Jn 54 55 35 50 06 distinctly below par. 35030, only one month out of works, gave a sparkling performance – and with one vehicle more. The impetus at the foot of the banks gave the edge, with 72 mph at Broad Clyst as opposed to 64 mph, 69 mph after Sidmouth Jn against 66 mph, though I think things were eased after Seaton Jn to avoid getting too far ahead of time. Despite that 35030 was 5½ minutes quicker than 35011 to Yeovil Jn. However beyond Yeovil Jn (runs 10 and 9) things were different. Unrebuilt 35003 put up a much better performance and there was little to choose between the runs. 35030 had a very unfortunate 15 mph in the middle of the 1 in 80 to Milborne Port, hence lost 4 minutes to Templecombe, but beyond there both locos performed similarly, although 35003 dealt with Porton bank a lot better. Conversely 35030 started out of Basingstoke very sprightly.

Run 11 shows the old and new with a competent run by King 6026 on the 4 hour non-stop run to Plymouth, followed by D600 forward to Truro. 6026 had a very well judged run keeping very well to the schedule. Speeds in the Reading area look suspect, I think speed between Reading and Southcote Jn must had been in the 30 mph area. Similarly the speed at Brewham summit looks high, 50 mph or lower looks more likely. Between Plymouth and Par we can see D600 managed well with a 10 coach load over the steeply graded route, with speed only dropping to 42 mph up the climb from St Germans and again only from 57 mph to 44 mph after Menheniot. The speeds over this section do not correspond with the averages very well. Once again D600 managed 41 mph up the climb out of Par through St Austell and was allowed to run over 60 mph down the 1 in 67 after Grampound Rd, but again this looks rather high. The return journey two days later from Plymouth had 6028 with 13/later 14 coaches which needed assistance over both the South Devon banks and also Brewham and Savernake banks. Driver Symons of Laira was in charge of 6028 and both

Milepost 29¾ -260- January 2009 Run No 10 9 Date 30 April 1958 30 May 1958 Train 1630 Exeter 1630 Exeter Loco 35003 35030 (rebuilt 4/58) Load 12/ 13/422/445 Driver King Gee (from Salisbury) 0.0 Yeovil Jn 0 0 00 0 00 1.9 Wyke Crossing 4 10 41 4 38 43/54 4.6 Sherborne 7 16 60 7 58 /tsr15 7.7 MP115 10 47 49 8.3 Milborne Port sigs sev 16 08 46/56 10.7 Templecombe 15 15 31 19 19 0.0 0 0 00 0 00 2.0 MP110 3 09 54 3 43 54 4.5 MP107.5 7 41 /tsr15 /tsr5 6.8 Gillingham 13 27 56 12 33 64 10.9 Semley 18 29 43/72 17 07 45 15.9 Tisbury 23 12 69 21 39 75/72 20.2 Dinton 26 54 72 25 13 75/78/72 25.9 Wilton 32 00 39 30 08 40 28.4 Salisbury 33 35 58 34 37 0.0 0 0 00 0 00 6 late 1.1 Tunnel Jn 3.5 3 55 -/47 3 40 5.5 Porton 10 14 44 10 21 43 8.1 Amesbury Jn 13 29 50 14 02 45 11.0 Grateley 16 37 64/84 17 22 60/78 16.0 Red Post Jn 20 33 72 21 28 69 17.4 Andover 23 22 17 23 19 0.0 0 0 00 0 00 3.8 MP62.5 7 13 44 42 5.3 Hurstbourne 8 56 58 9 17 59 7.2 Whitchurch 10 50 60/64 11 08 62 10.8 Overton 14 21 62 14 28 66/60 14.0 Oakley 17 18 69 17 24 66 16.1 Worting Jn 20 19 07 68/sigs 19 13 70/75 18.6 Basingstoke 24 22 24 21 40 0.0 0 0 00 0 00 5.6 Hook 8 05 64 7 10 66 7.9 Winchfield 10 11 69 9 13 72 11.3 Fleet 12 56 75 11 51 77/78 14.6 Farnborough 15 44 69 14 28 75 16.8 MP31 17 40 66 16 18 72 19.8 Brookwood 20 12 75 18 37 80 23.5 Woking 25 23 06 78 21 30 78 26.2 Byfleet 25 10 78 23 32 78 28.7 Weybridge 27 13 72/69 25 33 72/69 30.7 Walton 28 58 72 27 17 72 34.5 Hampton Ct Jn 35 32 08 75 30 27 69/64 37.9 New Malden 35 07 66 33 45 66 40.5 Wimbledon 37 30 64 36 11 64/tsr15 42.2 Earlsfield 39 02 62 38 59 33 43.8 Clapham Jn 44 41 03 38/54 41 26 44/50 46.4 Vauxhall 44 32 43 44 55 44 47.7 Waterloo 51 47 28 48 08

Milepost 29¾ -261- January 2009 . Run No 11 dist location sch m s mph Date 20 May 1958 144.7 Norton Fitzwarren 139 55 64/58 Train 1030 Paddington 149.8 Wellington 144 57 60/43 Loco 6026 to Plymouth 153.6 Whiteball 149 149 27 45 D600 ex Plymouth 158.6 Tiverton Jn 153 57 75 Load 10/354/380 160.9 Cullompton 155 44 75 165.1 Hele 159 41 64 170.1 Stoke Canon 164 08 69 172.2 Cowley Bdge Jn 165.5 166 11 58 dist location sch m s mph 173.5 Exeter 167.5 167 43 42 0.0 Paddington 0 0 00 178.3 Exminster 173 27 69 1.3 Westbourne Park 3 3 40 182.0 Starcross 175 59 47 3.3 Old Oak Cmn W Jn, 6 39 45 185.7 Dawlish 180 22 48 5.7 Ealing Broadway 9 23 58 188.5 Teignmouth 184 15 43 9.1 Southall 12.5 12 44 62 193.6 Newton Abbot 192 190 47 13.2 West Drayton 16 28 70 197.4 Dainton 198 03 21 18.5 Slough 21 20 44 74 202.2 Totnes 204 32 45 24.2 Maidenhead 26 25 38 68 204.0 Tigley 209 46 25 31.0 Twyford 32 31 27 68 205.9 Rattery 213 12 40 34.0 MP 34 04 72 208.2 Brent 216 13 53 36.0 Reading 37 36 15 48 210.4 Wrangaton 219 10 43 37.9 Southcote Jn 39 12 45 217.7 Hemerdon 230 14 -/51 41.3 Theale 42 50 64 220.4 Plympton 233 07 56 46.8 Midgham 47 52 66 225.3 Plymouth 240 241 45 53.1 Newbury 55 53 29 68 0.0 0 0 00 58.5 Kintbury 58 22 66 2.2 Keyham 4 49 42 61.5 Hungerford 61 13 62 4.2 Saltash 9 9 45 66.4 Bedwyn 68 65 50 64/tsr15 7.9 MP255 15 30 53 70.1 Savernake 72.5 70 12 9.3 St.Germans 17 19 43 75.0 Pewsey 76 43 66/78 10.9 MP258 19 44 42/57 81.1 Patney 81 23 75 14.7 Menheniot 24 11 50 86.9 Lavington 86 08 75 16.4 MP263.5 26 30 44 91.4 Edington 89 59 69 17.8 Liskeard 29 28 40 38 94.6 Heywood Rd Jn 93 92 48 68/tsr 19.9 MP267 31 27 45 97.0 Fairwood Jn 95 46 27 21.1 Doublebois 34 32 56 46/52 100.3 Clink Road Jn 100 18 47 26.9 Bodmin Road 41 40 15 48 102.3 Blatchbridge Jn 100.5 102 20 64 30.4 Lostwithiel 44 10 54 106.4 Witham 106 12 62 31.9 MP279 46 22 43/32/tsr15 108.2 Brewham(MP122.75) 108 13 56/72 34.7 Par 52 51 24 111.7 Bruton 111 10 66/58 0.0 0 0 00 115.2 Castle Cary 113.5 114 23 60 2.2 MP284 4 10 43 120.0 Keinton Mandeville 118 52 69/74 4.5 St.Austell 7 41 41 125.5 Somerton 123 32 67/60 6.9 Burngullow 10 56 49 130.8 Curry Rivel Jn 128 10 78 11.3 Grampound Road 16 29 46/66 134.7 Athelney 131 20 72 13.7 Probus 19 07 60 140.3 Creech Jn 134.5 135 56 72 15.7 MP297.5 21 27 39/tsr15 142.7 Taunton 137 138 00 69 19.0 Truro 29 28 29 locos managed a minimum of 17 mph up Hemerdon and 25 mph up Dainton. The speed through Ivybridge is too high. Despite the sectional times being almost adhered to, 8 minutes late from Plymouth had expanded to 11 minutes late at Exeter and no less than 23 minutes late by Taunton. Speeds in the Teignmouth/Dawlish area look far too high. At some point in time 5992 plus another coach was added – I suspect Taunton, but Mr Dunkley

Milepost 29¾ -262- January 2009 . Run No 12 dist location sch m s mph Date 22 May 1958 0.0 TAUNTON 0 0 00 23 late Train 1320 Penzance 2.4 Creech Jn 4 4 08 52/61 Loco 6028 8.0 Athelney 9 53 58 Pilot 4945 to Newton Abbot 11.9 Curry Rivel Jn 14 05 58 5992 Exeter or Taunton to Savernake 17.1 Somerton 20 03 54/64 Load 13/448/475 to Exeter or Taunton 20.4 Charlton Mackrell 23 20 58/60 14/482/515 ex Exeter or Taunton 25.5 Alford 28 30 58 Driver Symons(Laira) 27.7 Castle Cary 30 30 47 54 dist location sch m s mph 31.0 Bruton 34 30 54/48 0.0 Plymouth 0 0 00 8 late 36.3 Witham 40 32 64/69 1.5 Lipson Jn 4 4 27 40.4 Blatchbridge Jn 45 44 13 66 4.0 Plympton 7 52 50 42.4 Clink Road Jn 47 46 14 56/60 4.5 MP241.5 43 45.7 Fairwood Jn 50 49 47 47/tsr 5.5 MP240.5 10 36 17 48.1 Heywood Rd Jn 52.5 53 28 49 6.7 Hemerdon 15 14 53 18/tsr15 51.3 Edington 57 01 60 10.8 Ivybridge 22 43 50 55.8 Lavington 61 24 63 16.3 Brent 28.5 29 53 56 61.6 Patney 66.5 67 37 56 18.6 Rattery 31 32 28 53 63.8 Woodborough 69 55 60 23.1 Totnes 37 37 36 50 67.4 Pewsey 73 21 64 26.5 MP219.5 40 43 49 72.6 Savernake 78 79 18 pilot 28.0 Dainton 44 43 17 25 82 40 off 30.8 Aller Jn 49 46 58 45 76.3 Bedwyn 82 88 38 60 31.9 Newton Abbot 51 49 05 81.2 Hungerford 93 33 60 0.0 0 0 00 7 late 84.2 Kintbury 96 35 64 56 89.6 Newbury 95 101 23 69/66 5.1 Teignmouth 7 15 54 93.1 Thatcham 104 35 69 7.9 Dawlish 11 18 51/59 104.8 Southcote Jn 117 17 38 11.6 Starcross 15 27 55 106.7 Reading 115 120 54 40 15.3 Exminster 19 35 54/sig sev 108.7 Milepost 34 123 39 50 20.1 Exeter St D 26 26 50 111.7 Twyford 121 126 54 60 0.0 0 0 00 11 late 118.5 Maidenhead 128 133 22 65/50 1.3 Cowley Bridge Jn 3.5 3 35 124.2 Slough 134 139 55 54 3.5 Stoke Canon 6 32 47 126.5 Langley 142 13 60 7.2 Silverton 11 15 51 129.5 West Drayton 145 11 62 12.6 Cullompton 17 23 54 133.6 Southall 143 149 17 64 14.8 Tiverton Jn 20 08 45 137.0 Ealing Broadway 152 23 66 16.6 Sampford Peverel 22 17 54 139.4 Old Oak Common W 154 48 58/sig sev 19.9 Whiteball 27 27 19 29 141.4 Westbourne Park 151 158 54 23.7 Wellington 31 42 66 142.7 Paddington 155 162 55 28.8 Norton Fitzwarren 36 17 69 30.8 Taunton 39 39 07

doesn’t specify which. If so, 29 mph over Whiteball with 13 vehicles by 6028 was quite a good effort. With 14 vehicles, both locos made steady if unspectacular progress over the gently rising grades to Castle Cary, with speed barely exceeding 60 mph, but the climb to Brewham only brought speed down from 54 mph through Castle Cary (too low) to 48 mph at Brewham. Carrying on in the same vein, a very brisk 3½ minutes was taken to detach 5992 at Savernake, left 27½ minutes late on the passing time, but you get the impression 6028 was not performing very well as even on the gently falling grades speed never reached 70 mph and, indeed, fell to 50 mph after Maidenhead. Paddington was reached over 30 minutes late. This shows quite clearly how 8 minutes late from Plymouth turns into 31 minutes late at Paddington BUT only a net loss of 7 minutes to the loco/locos. Of course

Milepost 29¾ -263- January 2009 what would have happened if overtime at Taunton attaching the pilot had not been incurred is pure speculation! . Run No 13 14 15 15A 15B Date 05 March 1958 08 April 1958 09 July 1958 09 May 1964 Fastest recorded Train 1630 Bristol 1630 Bristol 1630 Bristol Ian Allan Special 1630 Bristol Loco 7015 7015 7018 5054 7018 Load 7/247/260 7/243/258 7/247/265 265 260 Driver AJones (Bath Rd) W Tanton (Bath Newbury Rd) dist location sch m s mph m s mph m s mph m s mph m s mph 0.0 Bristol TM 0 0 00 0 00 0 00 0 00 0 00 Dr Days Bdge Jn sigs 1.6 Stapleton Road 5 4 12 42 4 19 42 3 44 45 4 24 45 4 00 3.7 Horfield 7 40 33/32 7 54 31 6 59 37 4.8 Filton Jn 8.5 9 10 45 9 37 48 8 42 44 8 56 37 9 03 33 6.2 Stoke Gifford East 10 11 10 48 10 43 43 9.1 Coalpit Heath 14 32 62 14 35 57 14 12 60 13.0 Chipping Sodbury 18 09 66 18 31 61 17 54 64 17 12 70 17 25 17.6 Badminton 21.5 22 35 60 22 56 63 21 52 71 21 12 66 21 15 73 23.4 Hullavington 27 15 86 27 32 85 26 01 93 27.9 Little Somerford 30 18 97 30 35 90 28 47 100 28 30 94 28 05 100 30.6 Brinkworth 32 08 86 32 27 88 30 29 92 34.7 Wooton Bassett 34 35 32 62 35 48 62 33 54 60 33 28 65 32 48 40.3 Swindon 39 40 30 75 40 50 71 38 32 81 37 57 80 37 27 46.0 Shrivenham 44 47 86 45 18 80 42 37 85 42 04 86 41 40 85 51.0 Uffington 48 15 88 48 55 82 46 03 89 53.7 Challow 50 07 88 50 53 84 47 51 90 47 18 90 46 55 89 57.2 Wantage Road 52 30 88 53 18 84 50 06 92 61.1 Steventon 57.5 55 12 88 56 01 84 52 40 93 52 17 87 51 55 87 64.5 Didcot 59.5 57 38 86 58 27 85 54 55 92 54 36 87 54 15 86 1/2 69.1 Cholsey 61 05 82 61 45 83 57 59 90 72.9 Goring 64 03 75 64 26 82 60 27 90 60 37 80 59 57 89 76.1 Pangbourne 66 43 72 66 50 80 62 42 86 79.0 Tilehurst 69 03 72 69 01 80 64 42 86 65 08 78/84 64 13 83 81.6 Reading 71.5 71 10 78 71 24 60 66 42 78 67 05 80 66 11 80 86.6 Twyford 75 74 58 81 75 54 74 70 29 75 70 49 75 70 00 75 93.4 Maidenhead 80 79 48 85 81 03 79 75 33 83 75 48 86/83 75 03 84 99.1 Slough 84.5 84 03 84 85 24 80 79 57 80 79 58 85 79 07 85 104.4 West Drayton 87 58 82 89 27 75 83 48 82 83 38 84 82 47 84 108.5 Southall 91 91 11 80 92 45 75 86 53 79 86 36 85 85 45 85 111.9 Ealing Broadway 93 44 76 95 28 75 89 18 84 88 55 87 88 11 88 Old Oak Cmn 114.3 W.Jn 95 43 68 97 26 69 91 02 75 116.3 Westbourne Park 101 98 02 99 30 93 07 92 31 91 45 117.6 Paddington 105 101 17 102 27 95 55 95 33 93 50

Runs 15A and 15B from O.S.Nock's ' Sixty Years of Western Express Running published by Ian Allan Ltd in 1973

We now pass on to 3 runs on the Up Bristolian (runs 13 – 15), the last of which must rate as one of the best Bristolian runs ever made. For comparison I have included two other runs, one the Ian Allan special 0f 09 May 1964 and the other the fastest Bristolian run ever published, courtesy of O.S.Nock’s book 60 years of Western Express Running. All three of Mr Dunkley’s runs are of a high quality, run 13 just having the edge over run 14, 7015 being the loco in both cases, but different drivers. In run 13 I suspect the claimed 97 mph at Little

Milepost 29¾ -264- January 2009 Somerford was too high, as the averages seem to indicate around 90 mph maximum and indeed the time taken in run 14 between Hullavington and Brinkworth is only 2 seconds more. Run 13 seems to have eased for the troughs at Pangbourne whereas run 14 picked up 40 seconds here, only to lose it by going through Reading at only 60 mph – was this a check of some kind? Both runs were eased a little after Slough, but easily beat the 105 minute schedule. Now we come to runs 15, 15A and 15B – run 15 probably being one of the best runs Mr Dunkley ever recorded. The start was electric with Filton Jn being passed in only 8m42s, but I suspect Driver Newbury had overdone it a little here as, compared with runs 15A and 15B, the running was easier to Chipping Sodbury whilst the loco took a breather, so it was 30 to 40 seconds behind the two record journeys at this point. However from here to Maidenhead only ONE second separated this from run 15B and indeed was one minute faster than the Ian Allan special. Running was of the highest quality with 100 mph at Little Somerford being quite believable, but the 26.9 miles from Uffington to Goring averaged 91.2 mph faster than both the other runs. By Maidenhead Driver Newbury had gained ½ minute on the record run and was 20 seconds in advance of the Ian Allan special. Being now well ahead of time the train appeared to be eased from here and as a result ended up 2 minutes behind the record, but only 20 seconds behind the special – what a magnificent performance.

Before moving on to relatively uncharted waters between London and Birmingham, we just have time for two runs on the South Eastern. Run 16 is an interesting log as it is really quite impossible to decipher which loco it was – the figures having been altered numerous times and from my investigations it could have been any of the 3 shown as they all appeared to be South Eastern based at the time! For February, when the weather is generally at its worst, this was a good effort, with the schedule being adhered to very precisely beyond Ashford and only usual signal checks inwards from Hither Green ruined the journey. Once again some speeds seem high, or was it the times as it would be quite dark at this time of year. The climb from Tonbridge to weald looks particularly suspect, with the averages only justifying speeds in the upper 30s. Run 17 is interesting for what it doesn’t show. Plagued by a signal check and two tsrs together with a totally unexplained 15 mph through Chelsfield, over 10 minutes were dropped by Sevenoaks. However the loco didn’t seem at fault as a brisk run followed down the bank and beyond Tonbridge, with considerable effort reaching 80 mph after Staplehurst, 34021 managed an even time run to Ashford.

During 1958 Mr Dunkley made many visits to Birmingham, all but one using the former GW route to/from Paddington. Obviously he had a soft spot for Castles and Kings and by this time all the Kings shown on this route had double chimneys, whereas of the Castles only 7013 was so fitted. As you are aware the GW route can be quite testing and, unlike the first 85 miles of Brunel’s Bristol route, has some relatively stiff gradients straight from the start. Of the down runs detailed, 6 are on the 1010 with only one call at Banbury on a schedule of just over two hours, whilst the last was on 0910 calling at High Wycombe which was allowed 10 minutes more. Trying to reconcile Mr Dunkley’s timing points out of London was difficult, but in fact the time he showed at Greenford was in fact Greenford East Jn, more than ½ mile away from where he had shown it. None of the first 6 runs hit the 70 minute schedule to Banbury, although runs 18-21 always had a chance of doing so. They all managed to breast the summit at Beaconsfield in just over 25 minutes, the best running being by run 20 with 7013 on 8 instead of the usual 7, reaching 72 mph before the start of the climb. However this run was very slow through High Wycombe and thus lost any impetus up the bank to Saunderton. However fast running thereafter with 85 mph before Haddenham and a good climb to Ardley ensured it was the only of these 4 runs ahead of time by Aynho Jn, the others all having suffered tsrs en route. Unfortunately signals and tsrs followed. All of these four could be classified as good running. Run 22, coincidentally with 7013 again only 12 days later was distinctly below par with only 49 mph at Beaconsfield. It may have had a bad fire as running improved after that with 50 mph at Saunderton and a minimum of 62 mph at Ardley with running in the high 70s in between. Once again a severe tsr hampered any

Milepost 29¾ -265- January 2009 . Run No 16 17 Date 13 Feb 1958 24 July 1958 Train 1650 Folkestone 0915 Charing Cross Loco 34097 or 34085 or 34065! 34021 Load 12/397/420 12/398/425 dist location sch m s mph dist location sch m s mph 0.0 Folkestone 0 0 00 0.0 Waterloo 0 0 00 0.7 Shorncliffe 2 08 1.1 London Bridge 3.5 3 43 4.5 Sandling Jn 8 07 47 sigs slight 5.7 Westenhanger 9 33 54 4.1 New Cross 10.5 8 53 46 9.5 Smeeth 12 50 75/78 6.4 Hither Green 13 12 05 42 13.8 Ashford 19 17 44 tsr 25 0.0 0 0 00 9.6 Elmstead Woods 18 42 31 2.1 Chart Box 4 42 40 10.5 Chislehurst 18 20 20 41 5.7 Pluckley 8 59 62 tsr 20 10.9 Headcorn 13 34 77 13.0 Orpington 21 26 18 35 14.2 Staplehurst 16 12 75 14.5 Chelsfield 30 45 15 16.6 Marden 18 21 75/77 15.8 Knockholt 34 52 50 21.3 Paddock Wood 22 22 01 75/66 18.4 Polhill 37 35 63 26.6 Tonbridge 27 26 57 43 19.8 Dunton Green 38 51 69 29.1 Hildenborough 30 43 42 21.3 Sevenoaks 30.5 41 40 31.0 Weald 33 47 41 0.0 0 0 00 3.0 Weald 5 34 58 34.0 Sevenoaks 39 38 33 43 4.9 Hildenborough 7 15 75/77 35.5 Dunton Green 40 18 60 7.4 Tonbridge 10 10 16 36.9 Polhill 41 48 54 0.0 0 0 00 39.5 Knockholt 45 34 41 5.3 Paddock Wood 8 7 58 66 42.3 Orpington 49 48 23 66/tsr30 9.9 Marden 11 55 72 44.8 Chislehurst 51.5 51 47 35 12.3 Staplehurst 14 01 75/80 45.8 Elmstead Woods 53 07 45 15.6 Headcorn 16 37 78 47.1 Grove Park 62/sig sev 20.9 Pluckley 20 55 75 48.9 Hither Green 55 56 33 45 24.5 Chart 23 53 66 51.2 New Cross 58 60 41 42/49/sig sev 26.6 Ashford 31 26 23 54.3 London Bridge 62 65 49 55.4 Waterloo 65 69 14 recovery by Banbury. Run 23 outlines the only run recorded with a King on 1010. With no less than 4 tsrs before Banbury, two of them only 5 mph, it is no wonder nearly 9 minutes was lost, but Beaconsfield was breasted at a minimum of 58 mph and speed in the upper 80s was punctuated by a very fast 58 mph through Ashendon Jn. 6028 charged through Ardley at 75 mph, a remarkable effort. Despite this only ½ minute was gained, unchecked, between Princes Risborough and Aynho Jn! The schedule from Banbury to Snow Hill was much easier with between 49 and 51 minutes allowed for the 43 miles, the major climbs being out of Banbury past Cropredy and Hatton bank, the steepest on the route excepting Snow Hill tunnel. All of these runs did well up the bank, but 6028 was best of all with a sub 20 minute journey to Leamington. Run 20 was particularly unfortunate in being stopped just north of Banbury. 4 out of 6 runs had a clear run, which obviously assisted time recovery, the best being 6028 in run 23 which managed less than 43 minutes, but still not enough to recover time lost earlier in the journey. Anyway, back to Leamington where most runs had a good effort climbing Hatton bank, save run 21 which appears to have slowed to only 41 mph through Warwick, depriving it of a good run. I suppose that 45 mph at Hatton was good in the circumstances. Most runs ambled along in the mid 60s from Lapworth, although run 20 had a flourish of 77 mph after Solihull and run 22 finished with 75 mph through Tyseley.

Milepost 29¾ -266- January 2009 . Run 18 19 20 21 Date 12 Feb 1958 10 July 1958 18 September 1958 21 September 1958 Train 1010 Paddington 1010 Paddington 1010 Paddington 1010 Paddington Loco 7027 5040 7013 5007 Load 7/238/253 7/239/255 8/276/300 7/247/252 Driver Garbett (OOC) Byford (OOC) dist Location sch m s mph m s mph m s mph m s mph 0.0 Paddington 0 0 00 0 00 0 00 0 00 /sig slight 1.3 Westbourne Park 3 56 3 27 3 40 3 58 3.2 Old Oak Cmn W 7 6 57 44 6 18 41 6 48 46 7 28 43 sigs 4.8 Park Royal 9 05 46 8 45 8 57 45 9 27 53 7.2 Greenford E.Jn 13 11 48 62 11 44 62/58 11 56 64 11 56 64 10.0 Northolt Jn 15.5 14 37 62/69 14 40 60/68 14 35 60/72 14 36 64 14.6 Denham 18 40 67 18 54 64 18 40 69 18 48 69 17.2 Gerrards Cross 21 06 62 21 27 58 21 08 62 21 19 62 21.5 Beaconsfield 25 16 64/78 25 46 60/73 25 19 60/72 25 28 65/78 26.6 High Wycombe 30 29 42 41 30 43 38 30 07 31 29 58 37 28.8 West Wycombe 32 59 45 33 56 47 33 18 47 32 58 47 31.6 Saunderton 36 18 51 37 08 52/tsr 36 41 48 36 17 50/tsr40 34.8 Princes Risboro 42 39 34 72 40 39 45 40 05 72/85 40 09 60 40.1 Haddenham 43 44 84 45 54 75 44 13 81 44 35 81/82/tsr15 44.1 Ashendon Jn 50 47 19 40* 49 35 52* 47 33 54* 48 38 47.4 Brill 51 35 60/72/tsr25 53 12 66/78 51 07 65/78 52 57 62 50.4 Blackthorn 54 57 43 55 42 75 53 33 75 55 33 75 53.4 Bicester 57 58 22 56 58 07 69 55 57 70 58 01 66 57.2 Ardley 62 24 56/69 61 40 63/72 59 27 62/67 61 46 56/72 62.4 Aynho Jn 65 67 09 65 66 15 63 64 28 60 66 05 60 25/sig/str/52 tsr 15 67.5 Banbury 70 72 44 72 01 72 39 73 40 0.0 0 0 00 0 00 0 00 0 00 2 13 sig 4 56 stop 3.6 Cropredy 6 11 52 6 47 54 10 32 55 5 43 53/tsr15 8.8 Fenny Compton 11 27 69 12 06 69/77 15 33 66/72 13 34 40/75 13.7 Southam Road 15 18 80 16 05 75/78 19 48 66 18 01 72 16.2 Fosse Road 17 11 77 18 02 75 21 53 72 19 56 80 19.9 Leamington Spa 21 20 38 44/61 22 22 31 25 23 41 23 21 42/56 21.8 Warwick 22 45 59/54 24 46 54/46 27 39 58 25 50 41 26.0 Hatton 27 20 47/64 29 40 51 32 05 54/72/sig 31 20 45 30.2 Lapworth 31 43 60 34 00 62 36 25 35 35 38 62 32.8 Knowle 34 18 60 36 32 60 39 28 58 38 08 60 36.1 Solihull 37 34 65/tsr25 39 47 64 42 39 72/77/sigs 41 23 66 38.9 Acocks Green 40 25 45 42 16 72 44 55 54 43 47 75 39.9 Tyseley 46 41 48 54/58 43 07 64 46 01 60/69 44 38 69 43.1 Bham S.Hill 51 45 55 47 31 50 15 48 43 (sch 50)

Lastly in this direction we have 6000 on 9 (run 24). Time was just kept to High Wycombe with Beaconsfield being breasted at a respectable 60 mph. Fortunately the tsr at Saunderton caused little delay, so enough time was in hand by Bicester to offset the 5 mph

Milepost 29¾ -267- January 2009 . Run 22 23 24 Date 30 September 1958 06 November 1958 16 May 1958 Train 1010 Paddington 1010 Paddington 0900 Paddington Loco 7013 6028 6000 Load 7/237/252 7/241/255 9/312/335 Driver dist Location sch m s mph m s mph sch m s mph 0.0 Paddington 0 0 00 0 00 0 0 00 tsr 15 1.3 Westbourne Park 3 44 3 53 3 3 15 1.8 Ladbroke Grove tsr tsr 15 3.2 Old Oak Cmn W 7 7 23 41 9 05 15 7 6 53 4.8 Park Royal 9 39 43 11 22 43 9 15 43 7.2 Greenford E.Jn 13 12 54 60 14 13 62 12 13 62 10.0 Northolt Jn 15.5 15 36 60 17 06 64 15.5 14 51 66 14.6 Denham 20 18 60 21 08 69 19 03 69 17.2 Gerrards Cross 23 22 52 23 38 60/58 21 35 62/60 21.5 Beaconsfield 28 35 49/60 27 59 60/67 25 50 65/70 26.6 High Wycombe 31 31 04 30 34 01 43 33 16 43 0 0 00 28.8 West Wycombe 36 54 48 36 16 51/58/tsr 4 35 44/tsr39 31.6 Saunderton 40 10 50 40 17 5 8 23 34.8 Princes Risboro 42 43 40 65/77 46 07 69/88 15 12 13 60 40.1 Haddenham 48 09 75 50 07 85 16 48 76 44.1 Ashendon Jn 50 51 43 50* 53 22 58* 23 20 38 50* 47.4 Brill 55 14 66 56 37 75 24 03 69/78 50.4 Blackthorn 57 43 78 58 49 84/85 26 33 74 53.4 Bicester 57 60 09 75 60 58 78 32 29 02 69 57.2 Ardley 63 40 62/69/tsr 64 02 75 32 48 60/tsr5 62.4 Aynho Jn 65 68 48 15 68 27 50 41 41 35 55/60 tsr tsr 25 67.5 Banbury 70 76 59 78 54 0.0 0 0 00 0 00 47.5 47 25 40 3.6 Cropredy 5 25 58 5 08 64 51 40 48 8.8 Fenny Compton 10 23 69/75 9 30 78 56 48 69 13.7 Southam Road 14 42 66 13 50 62 61 25 60 16.2 Fosse Road 16 48 75 16 01 72 63 32 68 19.9 Leamington Spa 21 20 22 43/60 19 46 42 69 67 30 40 21.8 Warwick 22 29 58 22 03 55/57 69 50 60 26.0 Hatton 27 05 48/69 26 23 54/69 74 35 50/69 30.2 Lapworth 31 13 63 30 18 64 79 00 56/tsr30 32.8 Knowle 33 42 64 32 38 66/72 83 12 48 36.1 Solihull 36 51 66 35 33 66 86 53 64 38.9 Acocks Green 39 17 72 37 58 72 89 26 69 39.9 Tyseley 46 40 07 75 38 50 66 90 20 65 43.1 Bham S.Hill 51 43 42 42 57 98 94 47 (sch 49) (sch 49) tsr after Ardley. The run was well judged and with no excessive speeds, time was gradually gained and and early arrival ensued at Snow Hill.

Southbound I have documented 4 runs on the 1600, two hour service calling only at Leamington and one on 1500 with an additional stop at Banbury, but with a substantially

Milepost 29¾ -268- January 2009 . Run 25 26 27 Date 12 February 1958 18 September 1958 06 November 1958 Train 1600 Bham Shill 1600 Bham SH 1600 Bham SH Loco 7027 7013 6000 Load 8/272/285 8/272/285 9/318/335 (incl Royal saloon + Driver Perfect (OOC) brake) dist location sch m s mph m s mph m s mph 0.0 Bham Snow Hill 0 0 00 0 00 0 00 3.2 Tyseley 5 5 18 52 5 10 52/60 4 42 60 7.0 Solihull 9 22 56 9 08 58 8 01 72 10.3 Knowle 12 33 68 12 13 68 10 42 80 12.9 Lapworth 14 40 75/80 14 18 77/79 12 42 75/tsr 17.1 Hatton 19 18 17 64/69 18 13 50/72 16 43 25 21.3 Warwick 22 10 56 22 23 64 21 03 66 23.2 Leamington Spa 24 24 51 25 07 23 48 0.0 0 0 00 0 00 0 00 5 late 3.7 Fosse Road 6 26 47/46 6 16 51 5 53 58 6.2 Southam Road 9 32 47/59 9 04 55/tsr15 8 22 60/66/30tsr 11.1 Fenny Compton 14 50 55 15 46 49 15 13 50 16.3 Cropredy 19 51 70/78 21 25 64 20 22 69/72 19.9 Banbury 23 22 43 76 25 30 44/62/15tsr 23 59 15tsr 25.0 Aynho Jn 29 27 25 64/53 32 31 33 22 15 30.2 Ardley 32 43 60 39 17 60 39 42 66 34.0 Bicester 36 03 72/78 42 30 80/86 43 00 75 37.0 Blackthorn 38 23 75 44 38 81 45 20 78 40.0 Brill 40 53 62 46 54 75 47 48 69/tsr15 43.3 Ashendon Jn 46 44 18 45* 50 03 58* 54 08 47.3 Haddenham 49 56 60 53 55 65 58 45 64/75 52.6 Princes Risboro 56 55 20 58/47 59 21 58/48 63 28 60 55.8 Saunderton 58 48 55/64 63 01 58 66 40 60 58.6 West Wycombe 61 43 46 65 59 48/54 69 29 48 60.8 High Wycombe 65 64 43 41/56 68 55 41/62 72 47 33/67 65.9 Beaconsfield 70 36 52 74 09 60 77 59 60 70.2 Gerrards Cross 74 33 75 77 55 78 81 58 72 72.8 Denham 76 37 78 79 53 83/86 84 02 80/82/75 77.4 Northolt 81 80 38 65 83 21 79 87 43 78 79.6 Greenford 82 35 72 85 01 83 89 33 82 82.6 Park Royal 85 20 58 87 30 68 91 48 72 84.2 Old Oak Cmn W 85 87 20 42 89 15 44/54 93 40 39 Westbourne 86.1 Park 88 90 22 /sig slight 91 48 96 37 87.4 Paddington 92 92 57 94 32 99 30 heavier load. On a 24 minute booking to Leamington, you can’t afford to be tardy on starting so all 5 runs were quick ‘off the blocks’, but none more so than run 27 which reached 80 mph by Knowle – was the royal saloon occupied I wonder? This offset 25 mph tsr through Hatton quite well. I am a bit perplexed by the reduction to 31 mph through Hatton with run 29 – was this a tsr? The 92 minute booking from Leamington defeated all the four non-stop runs even almost unchecked run 25, though 27 minutes in from High Wycombe looks a particularly tight booking. 7027 in run 25 did nothing exceptional and kept very closely to the schedule passing through Banbury at 76 mph whereas all the other runs were much less. If there hadn’t been a distinct easing after High Wycombe time would have been kept. 7013 in run 26 had two tsrs to contend with, both in awkward places, before Fenny Compton and

Milepost 29¾ -269- January 2009 Run 28 29 Date 21 November 1958 30 September 1958 Train 1600 Bham Snow Hill 1500 Bham Loco 5007 6018 Load 7/247/252 12/404/425 Driver dist location sch m s mph sch m s mph 0.0 Bham Snow Hill 0 0 00 2 late 0 0 00 3.2 Tyseley 5 5 00 54 5 4 59 54 7.0 Solihull 9 11 56 8 52 60 10.3 Knowle 12 27 66 12.9 Lapworth 14 40 72 14 23 66 17.1 Hatton 19 18 34 54/75 18 51 31/66 21.3 Warwick 22 34 69/sigs 23 31 54 23.2 Leamington Spa 24 25 49 24 26 54 0.0 0 0 00 0 0 00 3.7 Fosse Road 6 15 49/47 6 01 54 6.2 Southam Road 9 21 48/60/tsr15 8 29 60/tsr5 11.1 Fenny Compton 15 37 45 17 20 43 16.3 Cropredy 21 27 64/69 22 53 60 19.9 Banbury 23 25 03 40 25 29 04 0 0 00 /54 25.0 Aynho Jn 29 31 01 64/53 9 22 /15tsr 30.2 Ardley 36 38 55 16 13 59 34.0 Bicester 39 57 78 19 22 80/84 37.0 Blackthorn 42 10 82 21 33 82/83 40.0 Brill 44 32 72/sig sev 23 49 70/50 43.3 Ashendon Jn 46 49 20 43* 27 29 54* 47.3 Haddenham 54 13 54/62 31 31 64 52.6 Princes Risboro 56 59 58 54/52 36 58 56/52 55.8 Saunderton 63 36 57 40 26 58/69 58.6 West Wycombe 66 44 50/53 43 28 38 60.8 High Wycombe 65 69 23 46/62 46 23 39 65.9 Beaconsfield 74 39 58 52 31 66/75 70.2 Gerrards Cross 78 31 75 56 13 69 72.8 Denham 80 31 84 58 22 78/81 77.4 Northolt 81 83 55 78 62 10 72 79.6 Greenford 85 53 82 63 59 78 82.6 Park Royal 88 23 66 66 34 66 84.2 Old Oak Cmn W 85 90 08 46/sigs 72 68 52 41 86.1 Westbourne Park 88 93 48 /sig st 1m50s 76 72 05 87.4 Paddington 92 99 35 79 74 10 worse still at Aynho Jn at the foot of the climb to Ardley. Despite speeds in the high 80s, only 1½ minutes could be regained between Ashendon Jn and Paddington. 6000 in run 27was not only hampered by being 5 minutes late from Leamington, but also 3 tsrs , one minor signal check and a 15 mph restriction through Banbury – presumably clearance problems with the royal saloon. This gave the driver little chance and it appears there might have been an inspector’s restraining hand involved as although speeds were very good uphill, 58 mph past Fosse Road, 66mph before Fenny Compton, 60 mph at Ardley, and the downhill speeds were only in the 70s except after Denham when the 82 mph maximum was swiftly reduced to 75 mph. In contrast 5007 in run 28 was quite lacklustre with a very average run with 2 signal checks to compound the late running. The higher downhill speeds were compensated by the lower uphill speeds – and with the lightest load as well. However

Milepost 29¾ -270- January 2009

Run 30 dist location m s mph Date 10 July 1958 34.1 Roade 38 23 72 Train 1630 Bham New St 39.2 Castlethorpe 42 20 84 Loco 45522 41.6 Wolverton 44 03 85 Load 11/378/400 46.1 Denbigh Hall 47 53 50sigs dist location m s mph 47.3 Bletchley 49 17 50 0.0 Bham New St 0 00 1 late 53.8 Leighton Buzzard 56 10 62/66 1.9 Adderley Park 4 25 41 57.9 Cheddington 60 04 62 3.8 Stechford 6 55 50 62.3 Tring 64 44 53 6.5 Marston Green 9 45 62/15tsr 66.0 Berkhamstead 68 20 75 10.1 Hampton-in-Arden 14 46 Boxmoor 60?? 13.4 Berkswell 19 25 45/tsr15 69.5 Hemel Hempstead 71 34 72/78 18.9 Coventry 27 51 73.1 Kings Langley 75 41 40 0.0 0 00 76.6 Watford Jn 79 48 56 4.9 Brandon 6 50 60/66 80.7 Hatch End 83 37 72 11.4 Rugby 14 05 - 82.6 Harrow & W 85 10 78 13.7 Hillmorton 17 48 45/41 85.9 Wembley 87 45 80/sig sev 17.7 Kilsby South 24 09 45 88.6 Willesden Jn 91 08 18.7 Welton 25 21 55 91.0 Kilburn Park 94 27 56 24.3 Weedon 30 18 75 92.9 Camden sigs sev 31.2 Blisworth 35 53 76 94.0 Euston 100 59 none of these runs comes anywhere near the run documented by Ronald Nelson in his book ‘Locomotive Performance – a footplate survey’ where 6025 achieved an unchecked run in 85m 34s! Lastly 6018 on the 1500 in run 29 was hit by a crippling 5 mph tsr before Fenny Compton which must have made it at least 7 minutes late departing Banbury. With a 15 mph after Aynho Jn, it did well to pass Ardley at 59 mph. After that it did the second fastest run to Paddington in almost even time with a minimum of 52 mph up Saunderton bank, on a par with the lighter trains. The speed at West Wycombe is decidedly suspect with the averages suggesting 48 mph rather than the 38 mph shown. This run compares very well with O.S.Nock’s run on this train with 6002, including a Dynamometer car, in 1956 (The GWR Stars, Castles and Kings) which took 75m 18s.

Lastly we have the sole run from Birmingham New Street to Euston. It appears Mr Dunkley had missed his usual 1600 from Snow Hill so made a quick dash to New Street for the 1630. The log is rather vague with no mileages and some of the timing points not precise enough, but I have put together what I think is a reasonable log of what happened. With rebuilt Patriot 45522 on a standard load of 11 vehicles, a good effort was made after a run plagued by two tsrs to Coventry. After a brisk 66 mph after Brandon, Rugby was passed at around 30 mph. This is where the log becomes rather vague and the climb past Hillmorton and through Kilsby Tunnel looks more likely to been just around the 40 mph mark rather than the 45 mph claimed. However once out of the tunnel a superb run followed with the romp through Wolverton at 85 mph cut short by the 50 mph check through Bletchley. This obviously affected the climb to Tring as speed had only recovered to 66 mph after Leighton Buzzard before the 8 mile slog brought 45522 down to 53 mph at the summit. I get the impression that the train was closely following another which would account for the reductions in speed to 60 mph at Boxmoor and 40 mph at Kings Langley, interspersed with speed in the mid 70s. The final dash through Wembley at 80 mph was cut short by 2 severe checks but in the circumstances 101 minutes was very respectable, but nowhere near the 94 minute booking and very far from the sub 90 minute times that could be achieved. For the last article in this series in 2009 we will cover the years 1959 to 1964 when the archive ceases. It will cover the usual routes again, but will include the early Warships on the Bristolian and culminating with 35007 on a non-stop run Brighton to Victoria on the Midhurst Belle.

Milepost 29¾ -271- January 2009 A Recorder’s Guide to the SNCF From TGV to MUD/E

Alan Varley

This article starts as a follow-up to my two previous contributions, first with a new record time on the LGV-Est, then with my first run on the latest and certainly most novel of SNCF’s multiple-units, the bi- modal AGC. The TGV run on the Lorraine-Champagne racing stretch was made on a train with a 37-minute schedule, including 1.5 minutes recovery time instead of the 1 minute of the former 36-minute timing. The train arrived a little early from Strasbourg with a good stop and left – unfortunately – spot on time. The start was moderate, corresponding to what seems to be a standard unhurried effort – three of my 5 starts from Lorraine with normally-powered sets have passed Prény in between 05 52 and 05 54. It was after this that the run became unusual: clearly the speedometer was under-reading slightly and the unit cruised at about 325 km/h on the easy stretches, touching fully 330 on several of the sharp downgrades. This resulted in the quite exceptional average of 322.5 km/h for over 113 km to Livry- Louvercy. But now the driver, mindful no doubt of the fact that he was almost a minute early with r1 to come, eased right back. A continuation of the same speeds to the normal point of slowing would surely have enabled us to keep the final pass-to-stop time for well under 35.5 mins overall; as it was we did 36 10, fractionally under 278 km/h average start-stop. This is perhaps the fastest start-stop run recorded in detail on a service train, but the time itself is not exceptional and should be equalled or bettered several times a week on these inter-regional services. It is however interesting to note that the combination of my fastest time to Prény (without calling on a still faster effort recorded by Paul Johnstone, with a TGV-POS set), the time of Run 1 from there to Livry, and my best stop, gives a time of exactly 35 minutes for this run, at an average of 287 km/h! But although 36 minutes overall may be an almost daily occurrence, a sub-23-minute time between Prény and Livry will surely be difficult to repeat. Table 1 Gare Lorraine – Gare Champagne

Run 1 1153 Strasbourg-Bordeaux, S 27.09.08, TGV-R 504, 2+8/383/395, A Varley, 7/10, fine PK Dist location sched m s speeds ave 281.32 00.00 Lorraine TGV 0 Run 1 RT 277.02 04.30 UB Motorway 02 36.5 205/276 268.05 13.27 OB Metz/Nancy Jct 4½ 04 47.7 259/245 254.4 263.44 17.88 SEI Prény 5½ 05 53.0 269/326/322 254.2 254.02 27.30 CAI 254 07 41.8 324/322/326 311.7 244.52 36.80 CAI 244 09 27.3 314/306/320/313/330 324.2 235.06 46.26 SEI Lamorville 11½ 11 14.1 322/326/320/326 318.9 224.31 57.01 CAI 224 13 14.1 304/326/320/330 322.5 213.57 67.75 Meuse TGV 15½ 15 15.4 327/317/320/313 318.7 204.25 77.07 CAI 204 16 59.3 327/323/326 322.9 197.92 83.40 OB r0.5 18 09.6 323/326/324 324.2 188.36 92.96 SEI Villers/Argonne 20½ 19 55.8 327/322 324.1 182.65 98.67 OB 20 58.9 324/309 325.8 178.03 03.29 CAI 178 21 50.9 324/315/327/323 319.8 166.80 14.52 SEI Tilloy 24½ 23 56.4 326/323/326 322.1 155.80 25.52 CAI 155 25 58.1 324/313 325.4 146.20 35.12 St-Hilaire 28½ 27 45.6 327/324/326 321.5 140.62 40.70 SEI Livry-Louvercy 29½ 28 47.5 322 324.5 133.32 48.00 Hut 30 16.5 280 295.3 124.16 57.16 OB r1 32 22.7 241 261.3 119.00 62.32 Tunnel W 33 45.1 208 225.4 113.77 67.55 Champagne TGV 37 36 10

Paris Est is also the terminus for a more mundane service that is however of considerable technical interest, for the Paris-Cumont Chalindrey semi-fasts and the Paris-Provins regional trains are now worked by the bi-modal version of the AGC multiple-unit manufactured by Bombardier, the diesel version of which featured in my last article. Table 2 presents three runs on the first leg of the Culmont-

Milepost 29¾ -272- January 2009 Chalindrey working, from Paris to Nogent-sur-Seine. Run 2 was made with one of the 3-car Alstom MUDs that have been working these trains for some time now; Run 3 was a first attempt at a bi-modal run, spoiled however by the fact that the Bi-Bi (bi-modal, bi-voltage) unit was coupled with a diesel set and therefore ran in diesel mode throughout; Run 4, finally, illustrates bi-modal working with a change from electric to diesel power after Roissy-en-Brie. Table 2 Paris Est-Nogent

Run 2: 1214 Paris-Culmont, W 28.07.04, XTER 72724/3, 3/161/170, A Varley, 1/3, Fine, light S wind Run 3: 1213 Paris-Culmont, Su 31.8.08, BiBi 82504/3+XGC 76706/05, 7/298/315, A Varley, 4/7, overcast Run 4: 0642 Paris-Culmont, W 15.10.08, BiBi 82508/7, 4/164/170, A Varley,1/4, overcast, damp m s km/h PK Dist m s km/h m s km/h 00.10 00.00 Paris Est Run 2 0.5 late Run 3 RT Run 4 RT 01.08 00.98 OB 02 53½ 25 02 56 27/25 02 37½ 28/24/29 04.46 04.36 Pantin 06 04 95/110 05 47½ 103/100 05 10 122/118/122 08.91 08.81 Noisy 08 36 106 08 25 103/102 07 25½ 119 11.22 11.12 Rosny-B-P 09 52½ 110 09 47 103/102 08 35 117 14.49 14.39 Val-de-Fontenay 11 35 116/112 11 40½ 103/102 10 14 118/120 18.47 18.37 Les Boullereaux 13 42 115 14 02½ 103/102 12 15 */55 sigs 20.74 20.64 Villiers 14 54½ 111 15 22 103/102 14 09 93/110/107 23.82 23.72 Les Yvris 16 30½ 127/133 17 10½ 103 15 44½ 133/138 27.24 27.14 Emerainville 18 03 131 19 09½ 103 18 22½ 58*XL 29.88 29.78 Roissy-en-Brie 19 17½ 126/125 20 41½ 103 20 20½ 90/85 34.21 34.11 Ozoir 21 18 135/137 23 00 114/112 22 38 138/135 38.32 38.22 Gretz 23 07½ 132/148 25 10½ 114/112 24 25½ 138/94*tsr 43.93 43.83 Villepatour 25 29 145/137 27 36½ 150/156 27 16 141/151 48.23 48.13 Ozouer 27 22 141 29 21 148/151/147 29 01 150 52.46 52.36 Verneuil 29 08 148/140/150 31 02½ 149 30 43½ 148/150/146 58.30 58.20 Mormant 31 32½ 145/144/147 33 19 155/161 33 02½ 157/161/157 64.76 64.66 Grandpuit 34 13½ 142 35 47½ 158/161 35 28½ 150/158/162 69.33 69.23 Nangis 36 11 135 37 35 135*/127 37 13½ 137/135 73.20 73.10 Rampillon 37 49½ 146 39 18½ 144/161 38 51 157/161 79.40 79.30 Maison-Rouge 40 24½ 142/140 41 41½ 157/159 41 13 159/160 85.60 85.50 Tunnel E 42 59 146/148 44 05½ 144* * 88.16 88.06 Longueville 44 02 144 45 07 148/143 47 30 Spl stop 92.66 92.56 Chalmaison 45 52½ 147 46 58 147/150 95.05 94.95 Flamboin 46 52 147 47 56½ 148 04 02 150/149 99.15 99.05 Hermé 48 26½ 157/160 49 31 159/158 05 35½ 159/161 104.34 104.24 Melz 50 24½ 156 51 28½ 159 07 33½ 158/161 108.68 108.58 OB 52 14 124* 53 09 140 09 12 148* 110.35 110.25 Nogent-s-Seine 53 56 54 16 10 46

Direct comparisons between electric and diesel working, or between the two types of diesel, are impossible, for as the logs show the driving styles were very different. Run 2 was a nicely-judged run on a 54-minute booking with a clear road; the most notable effort was a smart acceleration up the 7‰ grade after Villers where the MPS rises to 140 – otherwise the unit was kept comfortably below its maximum power and, generally, below line speed. On Run 3, on the contrary, it would seem that the driver was running to a recommended speed of 105 in the early stages, for we accelerated smartly to 103 as soon as we had cleared the 30 limit on the exit from Paris Est, and then held 102/103 over the undulations through the suburbs and up and onto the plateau at Roissy. Only after Gretz did we finally accelerate to line speed, and at this point we were over two minutes behind Run 2. The driver then stuck fairly close to the speed profile, apart from a very slow minimum on the 140 slack through Nangis, and made what must count these days as a pretty heroic stop – but final arrival was still a few seconds outside time. For Run 4 I was in Paris Est well before dawn on this autumn morning for the 0641 service; had the train again been worked with mixed sets I would have taken the 0658 ICE to Lorraine TGV, and this would perhaps have been a good alternative, as the 1008 back from there is reported to have made the Lorraine-Champagne run in around 35m 40s on this occasion. However, the Culmont train was formed of one BiBi set and I made it my choice. Note, by the way, that thanks to articulation and despite the complications of dual-mode equipment, the 4-coach Bombardier set is only marginally

Milepost 29¾ -273- January 2009 heavier than the 3-coach Alstom unit. This run made a notably faster start than the others and was already close to line speed in the early stages, though this simply earned us a signal check. As we recovered from this, noise and vibration from the diesel became apparent, making me wonder whether we were indeed running under electric power. However the rate of acceleration, and a speed drop over a neutral section, showed that we were still in electric mode; in fact the procedure laid down is that the diesel should be started up 6 minutes before the anticipated change-over, this in order to allow time for 3 attempts at starting in unfavourable conditions such as extremely cold weather. The change of traction mode in fact took place near Roissy-en-Brie, where we had been switched to the slow line, with a brief interruption of power similar to that required for negotiation of a neutral section. After a TSR through Gretz we were still 20 seconds ahead of run 3, and with better speeds through the Nangis slack this had increased to 30 seconds before the descent to Longueville. However, a special stop here spoiled the end of the run; net time would again have been close to 54 minutes. Table 3 introduces a change of scene. It is some while since I presented any running over the SE/Méditerranée LGV and there have in fact been no changes on this route: the short 320 km/h stretch south of Avignon was to have reverted to 300 km/h status at the beginning of 2008 but has finally been maintained, apparently at the instigation of SNCF Chairman G. Pépy himself. However, journey times over the LGV have been extended slightly by the addition of floating recovery time to take account of engineering work that is programmed over the next few years; the idea apparently is to provide a sufficient envelope to avoid minor changes from one timetable period to another (and perhaps the confusing profusion of dated variants that have always characterized SNCF timetables?). One result of this has been the disappearance of the 3-hour non-stop bookings between Paris and Marseille. In view of Chairman Pépy’s commitment to high speed it seems a pity that the opportunity was not taken to extend the 320 km/h limit over the quite substantial sections of the LGV where curvature allows this: TGV-R and D sets can of course run at these speeds and raising of the limit would only require reprogramming of the track-train signalling and speed control system. The gains would not be enormous, but would enable the 3-hr Marseille timings to be maintained. And for the moment there is certainly no need for extra recovery time. I have made several return trips between Nice and Paris recently, and while the up runs have not been spectacular this has been due to operating problems rather than engineering delays. In the southbound direction, though, I have recorded a series of runs that kept pretty close to limits and made surprising inroads into the applicable timings. In August, already, I made a run on the 1842 Paris-Nice that reached its first stop, Aix-en-Provence TGV, 3 early, having been a good 5 minutes early before a checked approach to the stop. This run started very slowly from platform J in the Gare de Lyon, almost the furthest west of the long platforms there, and the start was slow, further hindered by a p. way slack before the start of the LGV. So we took 22 01½ to Crisenoy, a time that can be bettered by 3½ minutes or more. But then with speeds occasionally shading over 300 km/h we regained all the lost time and more, in 52 30 to Pasilly and 91 45.5 Macon. After this the driver eased substantially, passing Valence in 128 05 and Avignon in 155 42, though we did then touch full line speed on the start of the 320 stretch. Time to Aix was 174 21, 3.5 inside schedule and a new fastest time. A few weeks later, though, I did better still (Run 6). This again started from platform J, but extremely quickly – only to lose 2m 35s to a signal check on the exit from Villecresnes Tunnel: perhaps a problem on the handover to the LGV cab signalling. Maxima this time were fractionally slower but speeds were well sustained: minima were 268 on the sharp climb before Vaumort, 254 on the 270 limit at PK 102, 254 on the summit after Le Creusot (from 255 through the station), 235 at PK 295 and a good 228 at PK 320. There was a slight easing after Macon and a check to 230 before the junction at Montanay where a Lyon-bound train was presumably turning off in front of us. High speed was resumed after St-Exupéry, with another good minimum of 226 at Primarette and 267 at St-Sorling, before Galaure tunnel. At Valence we must have been close behind a train that had stopped there for we were brought down to 230 by signals shortly afterwards, but our driver continued undeterred with running in the high 290s on the easy stretches, though there was nothing over 300 between Avignon and Aix. The result was an arrival in Aix fully 6 minutes early and a resounding record time: the net was about 164 45. Then came Run 7, made on a Marseille train which has quite substantial recovery time and which runs close behind an inter-regional TGV on the final stages from Avignon to Marseille. I was not therefore expecting anything in the nature of fireworks, and indeed the start was very subdued, over 80 seconds down on that of run 6. But following the latter’s signal check this turned into a lead of almost 80 seconds by Crisenoy, and with slightly higher speeds (max of 302-303 on some of the undulations) we continued to edge ahead, though a very cautious 224 at PK 102 cost us a few

Milepost 29¾ -274- January 2009 seconds. And on the 270 km/h sections between La Cour d’Arcenay and Macon speeds were lower, down to 240 or even less at times. But after Macon we speeded up again, min 225 at Primarette and 266 at St-Sorlin. Inevitably we were now close behind the inter-regional TGV, with a check to 200 before Valence, despite which our driver continued at only slightly easier speeds towards Avignon. Not surprisingly this resulted in a signal stop before Avignon, and further optimism on our driver’s part – 309 before Senas – earned another check before Aix. Table 3 Paris Lyon – Aix-en-Provence TGV/Marseille

Run 5: 1146 Paris-Nice, M 1.9.08, TGV-D 221/268 20/780/830, A Varley, 7/20, Overcast, damp Run 6: 1616 Paris-Toulon, F 17.10.08, TGV-D 703/269,20/780/860, A Varley, 7/20, Fine Run 7: 1742 Paris-Nice, F 24.10.08, TGV-D 212/282 20/780/860, A Varley, 17/20, Overcast, rain in S m s ave PK Dist m s ave m s ave 00.20 00.00 Paris Lyon Run 5 1 late Run 6 ½ late Run 7 19.5 late 06.23 06.03 Maisons Alfort 05 17½ 06 41½ 08 02½ 09.35 09.15 Bif Créteil (0.00) 06 41½ 133.7 08 04 136.1 09 25½ 135.3 04.22 13.37 Limeil T N 08 29 141.3 09 53 139.4 11 13½ 140.7 10.48 19.63 Villecresnes T S 11 05 144.5 12 29 144.5 13 46½ 147.3 21.07 30.22 Chevry-Cossigny 16 44½ 112.3 15 27 214.2 16 48 210.0 28.69 37.84 Solers 18 27½ 266.3 17 10 266.3 18 31½ 265.0 39.40 48.55 Crisenoy (17.09) 20 52 266.8 19 34 267.8 20 57½ 264.1 25.93 57.39 Le Châtelet 22 46½ 277.9 21 28 279.2 22 53 275.5 49.23 80.69 Marolles 27 30½ 295.4 26 11½ 295.9 27 40½ 291.8 61.30 92.76 Serbonnes 29 58½ 293.6 28 38½ 295.6 30 09 292.6 71.40 102.86 Cuy 32 04½ 288.6 30 43½ 290.9 32 14 290.9 92.78 124.24 Vaumort 36 31½ 288.3 35 06½ 292.7 36 41 288.3 117.09 148.55 Vergigny 41 39 284.6 40 24½ 275.2 42 13½ 263.2 139.82 171.28 Tonnerre 46 15 296.5 45 01 295.9 47 27½ 260.6 162.11 193.57 Pasilly 51 00 281.6 49 37½ 290.2 53 20 227.6 182.09 213.55 Toutry 55 05 293.6 53 43 293.0 57 33 284.3 202.37 233.83 Arcenay 59 21 285.2 57 54 290.9 61 42½ 292.6 225.81 257.27 Vianges 64 43½ 261.7 63 20½ 258.5 67 08 259.2 247.41 278.87 Sully 69 10 291.8 67 50½ 288.0 71 36½ 289.6 273.82 305.28 Le Creusot 75 13 261.9 73 57½ 259.1 77 38½ 262.6 292.97 324.43 Vaux-en-Pré 79 39 259.2 78 24½ 258.2 82 05½ 258.2 313.58 345.04 Cluny 84 26 258.5 83 21½ 249.8 86 56½ 255.0 333.98 365.44 Macon 89 12 256.8 88 27 240.4 91 47 252.8 342.37 373.83 Cormoranche 91 04 269.7 90 17 274.6 93 37½ 273.3 361.13 392.59 Cesseins 95 00 271.9 94 09½ 280.3 97 28½ 284.1 380.50 411.96 Bif Montanay 99 38½ 250.4 98 13 286.4 101 25 294.8 394.03 425.49 Cotière T S 103 11½ 228.7 101 27½ 250.4 104 13½ 289.1 409.70 441.16 St-Exupéry 106 45 264.2 104 51 277.2 108 37 214.1 425.18 456.64 Diémoz OB 109 58½ 288.0 108 03½ 289.5 113 00½ 211.5 440.57 472.03 Meyssiez T N 113 06 295.5 111 14½ 290.1 116 14½ 285.6 454.65 486.11 Lapeyrouse 116 16½ 266.1 114 26 264.7 119 25½ 265.4 468.03 499.49 Galaure T S 119 01½ 291.9 117 18 280.0 122 11 291.0 485.00 516.46 Herbasse V N 122 26½ 298.0 120 46 293.7 125 38 295.1 495.46 526.92 Valence 124 34 295.3 123 34½ 223.5 127 46½ 293.0 516.71 548.17 Upie 129 14½ 272.7 128 32½ 256.7 132 08 292.5 531.61 563.07 Tartaiguilles T N 132 37½ 264.2 131 44½ 279.4 135 16½ 284.6 541.47 572.93 Bonlieu 134 42½ 284.0 133 57 267.9 137 19 289.8 550.42 581.88 Espeluche 136 31½ 295.6 135 47 292.9 139 07 298.3 567.77 599.23 Lagarde 140 04 293.9 139 21 291.9 142 41½ 291.2 586.71 618.17 Mondragon 143 54 296.5 143 15½ 290.8 146 32 295.8 604.87 636.33 CAI 604 147 35 295.8 147 12½ 275.8 150 12½ 296.5 625.16 656.62 Avignon 151 43 294.5 157 26 119.1 154 22½ 292.2 637.22 668.68 Bonpas T N 154 07½ 300.5 160 22½ 246.0 156 46½ 301.5 655.40 686.86 Senas 157 52½ 290.9 163 58½ 303.0 668.11 699.57 Vinsargues T N 160 28 294.3 166 35½ 291.4 162 44 311.1 675.36 706.82 Lambesc 161 58½ 288.4 168 35½ 217.5 164 12 296.6 690.80 722.26 Ventabren 165 32½ 259.7 172 23½ 243.8 699.14 730.60 Aix TGV 168 42 174 22½ 252.3 170 25 861.89 749.78 Marseille 187 15

Milepost 29¾ -275- January 2009 These last two runs show that running well ahead of time, even when this will result in signal checks or prolonged station stops, is not impossible in France. It may be that on the schedules of these long- distance LGV-SE runs, where the additional recovery time is, I believe, present in the form of a large block, the traditional steady consumption of margins is more difficult. Run 7 was a different kettle of fish: on this Friday evening departures were all fully booked, there were crowds to board, and we were signalled away about 3 minutes after booked time. But the train immediately came to a stand and it was another quarter of an hour before we finally got away. Apparently the emergency signal had been triggered and police intervention was necessary to deal with a passenger who was obstructing the doors. On a Friday evening it is not only the station that is crowded; line capacity too is at a premium and we were theoretically in a tight situation, just behind the 1750 departure (stopping Macon at 1925 and then turning off to Bourg and the Alps), the 1754 to Lyon (stopping Le Creusot 1914-1917) and the 1758 to Dijon (turning off at Pasilly, but probably a 270 km/h SE set). One or more of these trains may in fact have left after mine; the 1754 was certainly not in its right path, for we ran through Le Creusot at full speed only 2 minutes after it was booked away from there. But we could well have been right on the heels of the 1758 as we had a signal stop at PK 1, and after a normal run to Vaumort (though with maxima that did not exceed the high 290s) the cab- signalling slowed us first to and then to 230 approaching Pasilly. After that we resumed normal running, though speeds were not well maintained on the 270 sections and minima on the major climbs were low – 236 after Le Creusot, 222 at PK 295 and 213 at PK 320. However we gained substantially over the other runs before the descent from the Dombs plateau over the Rhone where there used to be a 220 PSR (the only surviving example of such limits, which originally applied on most of the sharp summits on the LGV-SE). Many runs came down well below this (183 on the August run, 198 and 218 on runs 5 and 6), but the limit has just been raised, and on Run 7 the GPS showed only a fleeting minimum of 270. Run 7 was therefore a full 1½ minutes quicker than the record-breaking Run 5 between Macon and the Cotière viaduct and was now only 1 minute behind it: it seemed not at all impossible that we could make a still quicker time to Aix. But we came down to 153 through St- Exupéry, presumably for a TSR, and lost another 2m 15s. Otherwise we could indeed have overhauled Run 5; we almost matched its times to Valence with better minima (234 Primarette, 274 St-Sorlin) but slightly slower maxima, picked up 30 seconds when it was checked after Valence, and held our own on to Avignon. After that Run 7 made good use of the 320 MPS, running at 314-318, and picked up another minute compared to run 5, thereby reaching Aix only 10 minutes late, in a net time of around 163¼-163½ minutes. It is interesting to compare the best times achieved on these three runs with the theoretical running times for a TGV-D. Table 4 therefore shows the computer timings for a pair of TGV-D units and a compilation derived from the best sectional times of runs 5, 6 and 7. It can be seen that my runs lost time to the scratch schedule mainly on the Pasilly-Le Creusot-Macon sections. These are the zones with substantial stretches limited to 270 km/h. This confirms the impression one has when timing the train that speed is less well maintained on these sections, partly because of the frequent gradient changes but also (perhaps above all) because approaches to the limited sections and speed-limited descents are taken more cautiously by drivers than by the computer; similarly accelerations are slightly delayed compared to the ideal running times. Run 7 did well over the final stages, with a stop in Aix that was faster than the theoretical timings, which allow 6m 30s from Lambesc; times of 6 45 or so are not uncommon. Actual schedules with recovery are between 175 and 180 minutes overall, so the margins are quite substantial. Table 4 Paris-Aix summary

Timing point Net sched Compil Timing point Net sched Compil

Paris 0 0 Bif Montanay 94 96 04½ Bif Créteil 6.5 6 41½ St-Exupéry 100.5 102 16½ Bif Crisenoy 18 18 11½ Valence 118 120 04½ Pasilly 47.5 48 15 Avignon 144.5 146 38½ Le Creusot 71 72 27½ Aix 160.5 162 41 Macon 84.5 86 26½

Milepost 29¾ -276- January 2009 AROUND IRELAND WITH A STOPWATCH: AUGUST 2007

Part Three

Martin Barrett

Sunday 19 August

Having half a day to spare and being Sunday not too much going on, I thought I would revisit the line to Mullingar which I had difficulty seeing on the previous day. I joined the 4 car 29XXX unit at Pearse (run 27) which was an unusual working for a Sligo train in that it called at all stations. Whereas the running wasn’t spectacular, the unit had to work hard to keep the schedule. The prevalence of level crossings does see trains being checked more, especially stopping trains. We received no less than 4 checks in addition to the tsr at Clonsilla, which put us two minutes late from Maynooth. However brisk running with speeds in the low 70s between the stops soon recovered all that despite a signal check at Thomastown. An early arrival in Mullingar actually allowed a leisurely 7 minute change between trains. The return trip, again with a 4 car 29XXX (run 28) unit again resulted in an unscheduled stop in Killucan loop to allow 1705 from Connolly to pass - under 2 minutes was very slick working. Interestingly, the two runs I had over this section, both booked non- stop, had 3 minutes difference in the schedules. Presumably the Saturday train had 3 minutes ‘hidden’ time for the passing move at Killucan, whilst the Sunday train did not. Today’s train ran with much more vigour and was nearly 1½ minutes quicker Killucan to Maynooth. On Sundays the Sligo trains call at Drumcondra and once again a very brisk run saw the Sunday train one minute up on the Saturday train by Castleknock, but a severe check approaching Ashtown saw that all lost. Despite that the 3½ minute late departure from Maynooth was all recovered by Connolly.

Monday 20 August (Tables 1, 4, 7 and 10)

Today it was my intention to do the round trip to Rosslare Harbour, but before lunch I decided to sample the new Docklands line and also a local out to Balbriggan. Firstly, on foot off to the new Docklands station – presently a little lost in the new development, but in a couple of years it will be really buzzing, especially when the LUAS extension is completed. Anyway down to the concourse, 0820 train (29XXX unit) sat in platform, but no way to get from one side of the automatic barriers to the other – I’m not agile enough to vault them! At 0819 the person on duty sauntered down from the front of the train and seemed astonished that anyone would want to JOIN a train here – apparently in the morning peak everyone comes in and vice-versa in the evening. Luckily I managed to make a dash for the rear carriage and seconds later we were away. Journey barely worth recording (run 29) as we were stuck behind the late running 0805 from Pearse all the way to Clonsilla where we arrived 7 minutes late. Having had the entire train to myself outbound, it was different on the return, with passengers standing by Castleknock. The running was sprightly too, with the 4 minute late departure being reduced to 1 minute by Ashtown, though most of this was covered by the allowance for the stop at Phoenix Park which is still to open. On return to Docklands (run 30) I watched the working and within 2 minutes the station was absolutely deserted again. A quick walk to Connolly saw me on 0941 local to Balbriggan, (run 31) this time formed of 2 x 29XXX units. Thanks to some brilliant regulation, an ECS was put in front of us and we had barely cleared the platform before being stopped. Brisk running between stops just maintained the schedule, except for an unexplained check to 45 mph before Skerries. My return working had originated further north and was booked non-stop to Connolly (run 32). I wondered how a non-stop run for 21¾ miles could take 36½ minutes. We were 3½ minutes late off Balbriggan with another 8 car 29XXX set and with running in

Milepost 29¾ -277- January 2009 the mid 70s I though we were going to manage an even time run being under 10 minutes for the first 10½ miles. Only later did I Run 27 Run 28 Date 19 August 2007 Date 19 August 2007 Train 1610 Pearse Train 1748 Mullingar Loco/unit 29107 set Loco/unit 29105 set Load 4 load 4 Position 1/4 position 3/4 Weather sunny weather sunny pds m ch location sch m s mph 50 18 Mullingar 0 00 1 early/71 =99 77 Pearse 0 0 00 1/2 late 45 52 Downs Bog LC 5 23 67/69/17sigs 0 22 1/2 Tara Street 2 1 34 41 60 Killucan 11 45 1/2 20 2 1/2 2 50 SL 719 Sig 11 54 1/2 sig 0 69 Connolly 3 2 05 1/2 P7 end of loop 13 48 1/2 stop/76max 0 08 3 1/2 4 02 26 40 Enfield 28 04 43*/75 0 53 North Strand Jn 1 54 20/31 20 75 Ferns Lock LC 32 57 1/2 72 4 18 18 49 1/2 Kilcock 34 57 63/75 3 31 Drumcondra 3 1/2 3 52 14 72 Maynooth 38 33 4 4 29 41 32 /70max 2 54 1/2 Glasnevin Jn 2 1 26 1/2 34 12 24 Blakestown LC 3 10 1/2 46*/48 0 66 11 16 Leixlip LB 4 34 1/2 45* 0 00 Liffey Jn 10 20 Leixlip Confey 5 41 1/2 60/71/23tsr 1 33 7 10 1/2 Clonsilla 9 49 31 1 55 1/2 Broomebridge 4 1/2 3 45 5 56 Coolmine 11 29 62 /43/sigs 5 4 08 35 4 67 Castleknock 12 17 1/2 73 3 07 Ashtown 3 2 52 1/2 3 55 Phoenix Park /sigs 17 3 1/2 3 15 3 07 Ashtown 14 59 1/2 40/52 3 55 Phoenix Park 1 15 45 1 55 1/2 Broomebridge 16 44 34 4 67 Castleknock 3 3 07 =0 47 Glasnevin Jn 19 05 1/2 33 3 1/2 3 26 /35 2 54 1/2 5 56 Coolmine 2 1 54 3 31 Drumcondra 20 38 1/2 2 1/2 2 27 /sigs/49 21 43 North Strand 7 10 1/2 Clonsilla 2 2 51 1/2 4 18 Jn 2 1/2 3 14 /tsr/21/55 0 53 2 21 1/2 25 10 17 Leixlip Confey 4 1/2 4 46 0 08 Connolly 4 40 1/2 P3 5 5 08 /41 11 16 Leixlip LB 2 1/2 2 05 3 2 33 /25/21sigs 12 24 Blakestown LC 2 37 1/2 41/48 sigs 26/35 14 72 Maynooth 6 7 10 7 8 11 /72 18 49 1/2 Kilcock 6 5 08 1/2 6 1/2 5 35 20 75 Ferns Lock LC 3 20 65/73 26 37 1/2 Enfield 10 9 25 1/2 17 16 27 31 42 Ribbontail LC 5 11 1/2 74 33 45 Ballinabarney No.2 LC 6 54 71/73 sigs 38/65 41 60 Killucan 16 14 54 1/2 60/73 50 18 Mullingar 27 1/2 23 41 1/2 .

Milepost 29¾ -278- January 2009 Run 29 Run 30 Date 20 August 2007 Date 20 August 2007 Train 0820 Docklands Train 0845 Clonsilla Loco/unit 29117 set Loco/unit 29117 set load 4 load 4 position 4/4 position 1/4 weather showers weather showers sch m s mph m c sch m s mph 10 4 2 60 Docklands 0 0 00 1/2 late 7 1/2 Clonsilla 0 0 00 late/51 2 24 Newcomen Jn 1 1 10 1/2 /sig st 1m06s 5 56 Coolmine 3 2 40 1/2 14/sig st 0 55 Glasnevin Jn 3 8 17 1/2 11s/23 3 1/2 3 09 /40 0 00 Liffey Jn 4 67 Castleknock 2 1 51 1/2 1 33 2 1/2 2 18 1 55 1/2 Broomebridge 5 1/2 11 47 1/2 3 55 Phoenix Park (2 1/2- 3) 1 45 59 6 12 06 /43/sigs 29 3 07 Ashtown 5 2 48 3 07 Ashtown 3 2 57 5 1/2 3 13 /sigs/51 55 3 1/2 3 26 1 1/2 Broomebridge 2 1/2 2 31 3 55 Phoenix Park (1 1/2-2) 1 41 1/2 sigs 31/47 3 2 55 /35max 4 67 Castleknock 4 1/2 3 37 1/2 0 55 Glasnevin Jn 2 1/2 2 04 32/36 5 4 43 /39 2 24 Newcomen Jn 5 5 05 29 5 56 Coolmine 2 2 03 2 60 Docklands 6 1/2 6 48 1/2 2 1/2 2 20 /36/sigs14/27 7 10 1/2 Clonsilla 3 3 57 . Run 31 Run 32 Date 20 August 2007 Date 20 August 2007 Train 0941 Connolly Train 1028 1/2 Balbriggan Loco/unit 29112 +29108 sets Loco/unit 29123 + 29120 sets load 8 load 8 position 2/8 position 6/8 weather showers weather showers m c sch m s mph m ch location sch m s mph 21 60 Balbriggan 0 0 00 3 1/2 late 0 08 Connolly (P2) 0 0 00 T (P7) 17 77 1/2 Skerries 5 4 22 70/68 CY25 signal 3 19 1/2 sig 15 00 Summit 6 58 73/76 4 25 stop 13 71 Rush & Lusk 9 7 53 70/73 1 17 Clontarf Road 6 40 11 36 Donabate 12 9 56 1/2 70/sigs 3 56 1/2 Raheny 9 29 66/tsr 9 00 Malahide 16 1/2 13 15 1/2 40/68 4 65 Howth Jn 8 10 41 50/63/tsr 6 53 1/2 Portmarnock 20 15 51 1/2 61/sigs13/24 6 53 1/2 Portmarnock 10 1/2 13 08 4 65 Howth Jn 22 20 30 1/2 18/29/sigs 11 13 25 /61 3 56 1/2 Raheny 9 00 Malahide 4 4 03 3 00 Harmondstown 25 03 1/2 23/20 4 1/2 4 22 /67 2 29 Killester 26 59 1/2 26 11 36 Donabate 4 3 57 1/2 CY32 signal 33 48 1/2 sig 4 1/2 4 16 /61 34 07 stop 13 71 Rush & Lusk 4 3 45 1/2 0 08 Connolly 36 1/2 36 08 P4 4 1/2 4 15 /56 16 00 Summit 3 05 1/2 brkd45/70 17 77 1/2 Skerries 5 5 45 5 1/2 6 02 /71 21 60 Balbriggan 6 5 13

Milepost 29¾ -279- January 2009 . Run 33 Run 34 Date 20 August 2007 Date 20 August 2007 Train 1113 1/2 Connolly Train 1146 Howth Loco/unit 8119/8127/8132 Loco/unit 8132/8127/8119 load 6 load 6 position 5/6 position 3/6 weather showers weather showers m c m c location sch m s mph 0 09 Connolly P7 0 0 00 4 1/2 late 3 38 Howth 0 0 00 1/2 late/47 /tsr 1 00 Fairview Staff Halt 2 48 1/2 crew 1 59 Sutton & B 3 3 41 1/2 3 26 1/2 change 3 1/2 4 06 /35 1 17 Clontarf Road 3 1/2 4 19 1/2 0 69 Bayside 1 1/2 1 57 1/2 4 4 40 /56 2 2 31 /31 2 29 Killester 2 1 59 1/2 0 05 1/2 Howth Jn 3 2 19 2 1/2 2 21 /42 3 1/2 2 42 3 01 Harmondstown 2 1 23 0 00 2 1/2 1 40 /47 4 58 3 56 1/2 Raheny 1 1/2 1 20 4 39 Kilbarrack 1 1 11 1/2 2 1 40 /35 1 1/2 1 32 /49 4 39 Kilbarrack 1 1/2 1 44 1/2 3 56 1/2 Raheny 1 1/2 1 28 2 2 03 2 1 51 /43 4 58 3 01 Harmondstown 1 1/2 1 26 0 00 2 1 46 /44 0 05 1/2 Howth Jn 1 1 28 2 29 Killester 2 1 20 1/2 1 1/2 2 13 /34 2 1/2 1 53 /42 0 69 Bayside 2 1/2 2 06 1/2 1 17 Clontarf Road 3 2 16 3 2 41 /40 3 1/2 2 48 1 59 Sutton & B 1 1/2 1 50 1/2 1 00 Fairview Staff Halt 0 37 crew 2 2 26 /39 1 10 1/2 change/17tsr 3 03 1/2 Claremont LC 2 36 18 via DM 3 38 Howth 3 4 36 P1 0 09 Connolly 3 4 58 P6

realise that we were booked behind the all stations Malahide to Greystones electric and after Portmarnock the driver very skilfully regulated his speed so we ran steadily, albeit just over 20 mph, until finally stopped on the approach to Connolly. Booked time 36½ mins, actual 36m 08s – net result 3 minutes late! Finally before lunch a quick trip down to Howth Run 33). Apart from the rapid acceleration between stops, the most interesting aspect was the unscheduled stop at Fairview Halt to change drivers – just over ½ minute stop each way. This appears to allow a driver a 40 minute break as Fairview to Fairview took 46 minutes. Once again the schedules look a little erratic with ½ minutes being gained and lost on various sections. Obviously no allowance has been included for the restricted approach to Howth where 1½ minutes were lost. On the return (run 34), due to the up suburban being blocked for some welding, we were routed into Platform 6 via the Down Main.

After a superb lunch in the refreshment room, I joined1335 to Rosslare Harbour (sorry Europort!), 6 coaches, piles of luggage - a real boat I thought. How wrong I was as I discovered at Wexford where at least 3 coach loads of people detrained together with the luggage. The platform was packed with banner waving supporters who were there to welcome back their triumphant team – no hiring a team bus for this lot! By the time we reached Rosslare Europort there were about 6 left on the train – none for the boat at all – what a disappointment – in fact no boat for hours!

Milepost 29¾ -280- January 2009 Run 35 Run 36 Train 1335 Connolly Train 1740 Rosslare Ep Loco/unit 2812/11/08/07/16/15 Loco/unit 2815/16/07/08/11/12 load/position.weather 6,2/6,sunny pds load/position.weather 6,1/6,sunny periods m ch location sch m s mph m ch location sch m s mph 0 69 Connolly P5 0 0 00 1 late/21 114 06 Rosslare Europort 0 0 00 3 late/62 0 22.5 Tara Street 1.5 1 59 110 66 Rosslare Strand 5.5 5 39 2.5 2 56 6.5 6 31 /tsr20 =99 77 Pearse 2 1 22 3 18 Drinagh LC 4 34.5 67 0 03 3 2 17 along quay 5 1 10 Lansdowne Road 2 45.5 26/18sigs 6 19 Wexford 18.5 16 25.5 2 22.5 Sydney Parade 5 53 25/sig stp 3s 92 55 19.5 20 09 /55 4 07 Blackrock 10 09 57 90 23.5 Ferrycarrig Tnl Nth 3 30.5 47/50 6 04 Dun Laoghaire 8.5 13 14.5 86 61.5 Killurin Tnl Nth 7 59.5 41/58/37 9.5 14 06 81 07 Edermine Ferry LC 15 27 48/70 8 13 Dalkey 5.5 6 00 26/21 77 41.5 Enniscorthy 22 20 15.5 9 78 Killiney 9 43 44 23 23 03 /72 11 25 Shankill 11 09 62/42 59 46 Gorey 21.5 17 46 11 40 MP 13 19.5 46 22.5 18 38 /72/24sig/35 12 10 Bray 15 14 51.5 49 01 Arklow 12.5 11 51.5 12 18 17 15 50 /57max 16.5 16 35 17 12 Greystones 9 8 17.5 46 66.5 Shelton Bdge LC 2 53 61/47 17 05 10 9 19 44 65.5 Woodenbdge Jn 5 09 49/60 19 66.5 Kilcoole 3 26 69/70/10tsr 42 67 Avoca 7 19.5 49/47/59 28 20 Wicklow 13.5 13 20 37 25 Rathdrum 17 14 33.5 14.5 14 11 17.5 17 27 /69 30 62.5 Ballymerrigan LC 3 56 55 33 20 Glenealy 5 02.5 63 32 54.5 Ballymanus LC 6 07.5 48/69 30 62.5 Ballymerrigan LC 7 29 71/5sigs 36 40 MP 9 50.5 63 28 20 Wicklow 11.5 11 18.5 37 25 Rathdrum 12 11 33.5 13.5 15 13 /tsr 13 12 57 27 75 Chemical Yard LC 1 19 15/70 41 00 MP 4 52.5 61/44 19 66.5 Kilcoole 9 14 68/71 42 67 Avoca 7 13 52/61 17 05 Greystones 12 12 12 44 65.5 Woodenbridge Jn 9 22.5 47/61 17 12 12.5 13 02 /48/35*/sig 16 49 01 Arklow 15 15 07 12 18 Bray 9 9 54.5 22 21 14 12 10 10 10 54 50 60 Summit 3 04.5 51/72 11 23 Shankill 3 50 46/49 55 40 MP 7 24.5 62/71 9 78 Killiney 5 34 39/35/41 59 46 Gorey 12.5 11 51 8 13 Dalkey 8.5 9 01 19 13.5 13 06 7 20 Glengeary 11 25.5 22 62 20 MP 3 35.5 72/65/71 6 60 Sanycove 13 01 19/17 77 41.5 Enniscorthy 19 18 32.5 6 04 Dun Laoghaire 14 15 36.5 20 21 02 /69 15 16 23 81 07 Edermine Ferry LC 4 54.5 49/39 3 22.5 Booterstown 3 41 59/57 86 15 Killurin 11 29.5 61/41 2 20 Sydney Parade 4 43 60 90 23.5 Ferrycarrig Tnl Nth 16 42.5 50/52 1 10 Lansdowne Road 5 58.5 37 92 55 Wexford 23 20 36.5 0 40 Grand Canal Dock 7 21 22/26 6 19 24 24 03 0 03 Pearse 7.5 8 36.5 along quay 6 =99 77 8.5 9 29 3 18 Drinagh LC 10 18.5 69/20tsr/44 0 22.5 Tara Street 2 1 31 =99 75 Rosslare Strand 16.5 14 37.5 3 1 58 /20 110 66 17.5 15 52 /61 0 69 Connolly 3 2 11.5 P7 114 06 Rosslare Europort 7.5 6 12

Milepost 29¾ -281- January 2009

Anyway back to the run. The run out to Dun Laoghaire was plagued by many checks and then a stop Merrion level crossing – I think there were some CCTV problems as there were no problems after that. As far as Greystones the line is bedevilled with sharp curves and many psrs with only brief stretches where 60 mph may be reached, but once by the sea the running may be fairly boring at around 70 mph, but the scenery is stunning. Beyond Wicklow the hard work begins with steep grades up to Rathdrum and despite the 70 mph limit, the most the units could achieve up the 1 in 80 was 48 mph, though the short 1 in 140 down after Glenealy allowed speed to rise to 69 mph before the final climb to the summit pegged the speed back to 63 mph. After that it was basically all down hill to Arklow with the curves being the limiting factor. However the view along the river valley in the Vale of Avoca (Ballykissangel to those with a long memory) was a delight to behold. At Arklow we passed the 1340 from Rosslare which was also worked by 28XX units. The line on to Gorey is a bit of a switchback with sharp ups and downs, but once over the initial 1 in 80 out of Arklow, speed was into the 70s except for the short climb past Aughnamore Bridge where we dropped to 62 mph. The 18 miles on to Enniscorthy were covered in 18½ minutes with speed just over 70 mph although easing occurred at regular intervals. For some reason we had a prolonged stop at Enniscorthy and after the initial sprint to 69 mph, speed was restrained by the curves along the Slaney river valley all the way to Wexford, where we were greeted by a welcoming crowd 3 or 4 deep for the triumphal football team. The unloading of all the luggage together with the joyful festivities did not delay us much, as we had lopped 2½ minutes off the schedule from Enniscorthy. We now come to one of the most bizarre stretches of train operation in Ireland, where the train threads its way along the quayside at a stately 5 mph with cars to the right of us and cars to the left of us – and no one paying any attention whatsoever to the train. This, of course, makes sure the 6 or so miles to Rosslare Strand takes nearly 15 minutes to complete. The final sprint to the terminus clawed back the last minute lost so an on time arrival was achieved.

Rosslare Europort was like a ghost town and of the 6 alighting one was picked up by car, 4 were workers and me. The terminal was almost deserted with barely anyone around in the 70 minutes I spent there. Indeed I had to persuade a member of staff to unlock the access to the train so I, the only passenger, could board. 3 minutes late the train moved off without ceremony – not a soul around on the platform. In this direction running was a little more cautious, hence the 2 minutes extra taken from Rosslare Strand to Wexford, but after this things perked up with time being lopped off the schedule over all sections to Wicklow. At Arklow we crossed 1725 from Connolly and at Wicklow 1837 from Connolly both worked by 29XXX units. At Wicklow we left the last large pocket of semaphore signalling on a main line in Ireland behind. By now the conversion to colour light and centralised control will be all but complete – another bit of history gone. After the lax schedules further south, the stretch from Greystones to Dublin seems rather tight, although the curves round Dalkey, on slab track, were taken at 20 mph rather than the 30 mph in the mileage charts. Coupled with the extremely demanding schedule from Dun Laoghaire to Pearse, what was on time departure from Rathdrum ended up as 4 minutes late at Connolly.

Tuesday 21 August (Table 1)

Finally, the journey home: A short trip on the DART to Dun Laoghaire (run 37). This shows what these electrics can really do with really rapid acceleration and braking which turned 2 minutes late from Connolly to waiting time by Sydney Parade only 3 miles away! By actually leaving early from some stops we ended up no less than 2 minutes early by Dun Laoghaire – what a good way to end the week.

Milepost 29¾ -282- January 2009 Run 37 m ch location sch m s mph Date 21 August 2007 Grand Canal Dock 2 1 50 /29 Train 0925 Connolly 1 10 Lansdowne Road 2 1 34 Loco/unit 8634/33/36/35 2 1/2 2 07 /35 load 8 1 47 Sandymount 1 1/2 1 05 position 2/8 2 1 37 /sig29 weather bright 2 22 1/2 Sydney Parade 2 1 50 m ch location sch m s mph 2 1/2 2 34 /51 0.0 Connolly 0 0 00 2 late 3 20 Booterstown 2 1 38 0.58 Tara Street 2 1 56 18.0 2 1/2 2 05 /49 0.0 3 2 51 4 07 Blackrock 2 1 34 0.32 Pearse 1 1 02 18.5 2 1/2 2 04 /46 m c 4 58 Seapoint 1 1 15 0 03 3 1 53 /30 1 1/2 1 52 17 0 41 Grand Canal Dock 1 1/2 1 14 5 27 Salthill 1 1/2 1 1/2 2 1 46 /31 6 04 Dun Laoghaire 2 1/2 1 50

Summary

Is Ireland worth visiting? Well, yes, but don’t expect scintillating performance very often and the variety of traction is quickly being reduced, with the new Korean units soon to replace a lot of the MKII and Mark III loco-hauled stock, with the cascade of 29XXX units onto other routes.

Presently the IR lines are in the process of major upgrading with many station re-buildings and platform lengthening and some new stations as well in the Dublin area. There is much track renewal, indeed quadrupling out of Heuston starting around Inchicore. At the time of writing major work is taking place at Portarlington. Some schedules are extended by a huge amount, but it doesn’t always affect the running.

In the north, NIR routes are in poor condition in many places but some brisk running can be found.

Here is an overview of each route as I found it in August 2007.

Dublin – Rosslare: All DMU worked. A mixture of 28XX units and the newer 29XXX sets. Route maximum is only 70 mph. This is the last main line refuge for semaphore signalling but is in the process of being converted to colour lights.

Dublin – Cork: Mark IV sets + 201 class locos – 100 mph can be attained

Dublin – Waterford: Generally 201 class plus either Mark III coaches + EGV (90 mph) or Mark III + DVT (only 70 mph!)

Tralee branch: 27XX DMUs with one loco-hauled working each way. On the Sunday I was unfortunate enough to have a 201 + DVT set!

Mallow – Cork – Cobh locals: 26XX DMUs

Dublin – Limerick: 201 + Mark III with some 071 worked services. 27XX DMUs working Limerick Jn – Limerick shuttles

Limerick – Ennis: 27XX DMUs except for through train Fridays only from Dublin which is

Milepost 29¾ -283- January 2009 loco- hauled (which should be a 141/181/121 from Limerick)

Dublin – Galway: 201 + Mark III with some 071s (with Mark II if you are unlucky restricting you to 75 mph)

Dublin – Westport/Ballina: 201 + Mark III (some push-pull). DMU on Ballina shuttle but FO service from Dublin usually 071 worked

Dublin – Sligo: Mainly DMU worked with 29XXX units but one 071 turn reintroduced due to public complaints.

Dublin – Belfast: 201 + push pull stock – usually 90 mph running, but poor track conditions with long tsrs north of Portadown.

Dublin outer-suburban: Dublin – Drogheda/ Dundalk appear to be mainly 29XXX units Dublin to Carlow/Portlaoise and Athlone are mainly 201/071 with push/pull working Dublin – Maynooth and other locals usually 29XXX units Dublin – Kildare locals 29XXX units

Belfast – Londonderry/Portrush: 30XX units with fast 90 mph running Bleach Green to Antrim. Track condition west of Cullybacky absolutely terrible with line speed reduced to 60 mph, with 40 mph in places (except for Portrush branch) and also some tsrs as well.

Belfast – Bangor: 30XX units – peak hour fasts/semi-fasts are quite lively

Belfast – Larne: Ageing 84XX units predominate.

Portadown locals: Mainly 30XX units

Limerick Jn – Waterford and Ballybrophy – Limerick: DMU worked, but with 40 mph limit + lower tsrs probably not worth the effort

Things are changing quickly and there are many new Korean 22XXX units in the testing stage mostly based at Limerick but with some seen at Inchicore works. These are promised for the Sligo line in spring 2008 and other routes soon after.

PS

Lest one has the impression that exceptional performance is not on the agenda, below is a log that is somewhat unusual these days:

This was actually a challenge with a lower powered engine on the full 8 vehicles. The driver appreciated the problem and made every effort to regain time: 92 mph in the dip before Ballybrophy, 95 mph through Mountrath and 92 mph on the descent to Portarlington. However the schedules were so tight that time was lost on each section so that we were 7½ minutes late leaving Portarlington – even a 2XX would be pushed to keep those timings. The rise to Kildare only permitted 87 mph maximum and the approach control, once again, caused significant time loss into Kildare, from where we departed 9½ minutes late. Fortunately the 40½ minute schedule gave us hope of an on time arrival. After a brisk start to Newbridge where there was a 50 mph tsr, we had lost yet another 1½ minutes due to the completely unrealistic schedule. I feared the worst, but in fact there followed the most scintillating, and dare I say it almost scary running, I have had in years. From 54 mph through Newbridge the driver worked up to 93 mph before the brief rise at Sallins brought us back to 91 mph. We then powered away to reach the magic 100 mph after Straffan where there was a slight easing – job done I thought, but no power was applied again to reach 99

Milepost 29¾ -284- January 2009 mph through Clondalkin, less than 5 miles from Heuston. Thankfully we then reduced speed to ‘normal’ and arrived in Heuston in 26½ minutes, 4½ minutes early – what a magnificent run, even though we were 10 mph over the loco limit and also over the line limit at the Dublin end.

Loco/unit 077 m ch location sch m s mph load 8 Portarlington 11 1/2 11 33 /tsr30 position 8/9 40 00 MP 3 19 49 weather cloudy 36 48 1/2 Monasterevan 6 11 82/87 82/sigs m ch location sch m s mph 32 35 Cherryville Jn 8 9 08 1/2 ac 86 37 Thurles 45 48 15 /81 30 02 1/2 Kildare 10 1/2 13 22 78 59 Templemore 6 1/2 8 37 12 1/2 14 27 8 1/2 9 24 27 40 Curragh 2 1/2 3 46 1/2 65/76 72 40 Lisduff 5 7 02 1/2 76/92 25 37 1/2 Newbridge 4 5 32 54/93 66 49 1/2 Ballybrophy 10 12 10 1/2 17 72 Sallins 9 1/2 11 18 1/2 91 12 13 00 13 13 1/2 Straffan 14 15 1/2 99/100 59 28 Mounrath 7 11 1/2 95 9 79 Hazelhatch 16 16 11 1/2 95/93 50 72 Portlaoise 13 13 32 7 40 Adamstown 17 48 95 15 14 51 /92/18tsr 4 34 1/2 Clondalkin 19 43 1/2 99 41 50 1/2 Portarlington 9 1/2 10 29 3 11 Cherry Orchard 20 33 78 1 00 MP XDM 23 30 27 0 60 Islandbdge Jn 36 1/2 24 12 1/2 21 0 11 Heuston 40 1/2 26 29 1/2 P3

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

WTT COLLECTION

The time has come for my brother and I to dispose of the 1400 working timetables we have collected over the last forty years. Offering first choice to plug gaps in the national collections was met by impenetrable bureaucracy from Kew public record office and insouciant indifference form the NRM. In contrast, Newton Abbot Railway Studies Library offered to take the lot, no questions asked, other than how they were going to fund a new wing to a listed building.

As a result the whole collection can now be viewed on Wednesdays 10.00-13.00 and 14.00- 17.00, Thursdays 10.00-13.00 and Saturdays 10.00-13.00 and 14.00-16.00.

I recognise that this is hardly a central location, except to those of us who live on the South Western peninsula, but at least the information is now available to anyone who needs it.

Some timetables are on loan to RPS members, others are in my cupboard pending research and my current ones will be donated if replacements become available. I have asked Baard to publish the database of WTTs on the website and I shall endeavour to update this from time to time.

Please feel free to contact me with any queries.

John Heaton 01626 865526

Milepost 29¾ -285- January 2009 NEWS ALERT

ECONOMY WORKING WITH 185's

The 185's were first with a "eco-mode" (EM) system which automatically shuts down two of the three engines when the train was stationery for more than 6 minutes. Even with only one engine working all services on the train are working (brakes, lights, air conditioning etc) and just one engine is sufficient to move the train (possibly at reduced speed). The next stage was to encourage the drivers to drive economically with engines stopped on some sections of easier sections of the routes. The driver is able to stop one out of three engines and the system automatically rotates which engine is stopped to even out wear etc.. The sections of line where this is normally done are:- Doncaster to Cleethorpes, York to Scarborough, Leeds to Hull, Manchester to Liverpool, Preston to Blackpool, Carnforth to Barrow-in-Furness, Manchester Piccadilly to Manchester Airport. A further stage is being implemented with drivers encouraged to stop one engine when runiing down hill eg Marsden to Huddersfield. A further stage is being trialled with the fitting of cruise control whereby when the unit has reached the desired speed the system optimizes the engine speed to hold the selected speed. The problem for RPS members is that unless you are in the coach with the engine shut down you might not know that the train is running on reduced power. I have described the normal proceedure but as a contrast two runs this summer....Recently on a trip from Huddersfield to Seamer the driver shut down one engine at York but restarted it at Malton after suffering 10 minutes of delays. Conversely on two return late evening trips from York to Huddersfield the driver shut down one engine at York running on 2 engines the whole way back to Huddersfield even though the trains were running over 10 minutes late. All this to save fuel on units that are "fuel thirsty".

Chris Taylor

West Somerset Autumn Gala: Visiting locomotive USA 2-8-0 No 5197

Michael Rowe

There are many things in today’s steam scene that could have barely have been envisaged in 1968. The concept of a USA Army 2-8-0 imported from the PRC hauling passenger trains on the West Somerset Railway in 2008 would have seemed totally insane.

Number 5197: Built Lima USA 1945, sent to China, brought to UK 1995. Dimensions ex: “The Steam Locomotive in America” A W Bruce, New York 1952 Boiler pressure 225psi, Cylinders (os) 19”x26” Grate area 41.0sq ft, Heating surface evap 1,765 sq ft, superheater 471. Engine weight 161,000lb, tender 115,500lb

Date 02/10/2008 04/10/2008 05/10/2008 Load 6,208/215 6,207/220 7,244/255 Loco 5197 5197 5197 Miles m s speed m s speed m s speed 0.00 BLUE ANCHOR 0.00 /29 0.00 /30 0.00 /29 on 1in65 tsr 23/27 27 25/27 2.26 Washford 6.42 6.08 6.55 0.00 Williton 0.00 /25 0.00 /25 0.00 /30 3.26 Stogumber 9.37 /29/25 8.54 8.32 26 0.00 0.00 0.00 /28 8.32 26/28 2.71 Crowcombe 7.48 7.50 15.17

Milepost 29¾ -286- January 2009

Date 03/10/2008 03/10/2008 04/10/2008 05/10/2008 Load 6,207/215 6+34007,340/350 6,208/215 7,244/260 Loco 5197 5197 5197 5197 0.00 BISHOPS LYDEARD 0.00 0.00 0.75 mp 169 3.28 2.56 30 29tsr*1 33/14tsr 2.75 mp 171 9.10 7.55 31 3.85 Crowcombe 12.40 11.15 *2 0.00 Watchet 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 1st 1in76 14 15 16 10 *3 29 31 29 25 2nd 1in76 27 26 24/25 2.35 Washford 7.25 7.25 7.03 7.25 13 4.61 BLUE ANCHOR 14.47 *1 Sustained 26mph on 1/76 for three quarters then cylinders began to beat boiler *2 Slow finish; almost stopped as SB before moving to platform end *3 Very heavy rain

The only hard work was with 350 tons (34007 in light steam, drain cocks open) on 3rd October. At 26mph on the 1/76, 5197 developed an edhp in the range 1,075 to 1125

Andrew James has asked for a corrected section of his log of 67026 and 67003 on the East Coast Deviation (page 165) to be published. He also has asked for any logs that members have regarding running on the Leicester to Peterborough line

140 53 Botany Bay 36 03 5 97 97.0 138 49 Retford 38 36 5 22 42.7 137 37 Grove Road 41 13 5 41 30.2 124 55 Cromwell 51 26.0 92 96.7 123 00 Mp 52 30.0 98/99 94.9 120 12 Newark 54 15 5 96 97.3

Network Developments – continued

In the South the new station at Shepherds Bush on the West London line finally opened and work has started on Imperial Wharf station on the north bank of the River Thames. Aylesbury Vale Parkway, on a northwards extension of the Marylebone to Aylesbury line, opened at the start of the 2009 timetable. Use of the former Eurostar platform 20 at London Waterloo was expected at the start of the new timetable. Stratford Low Level was scheduled to close in January with North London line trains diverted to new platforms in the main station adjacent to the Tottenham line platforms. In March the terminal platforms at Blackfriars and the Farringdon to Moorgate line will close to permit work on the Thameslink upgrade. New stations on the Basingstoke line at Green Park Reading and at Southend Airport are planned to open in the next 12 months. Chiltern Trains plan a new chord at Bicester to link their line to the Bletchley to Oxford line and provide a Marylebone to Oxford service; the Bicester London Road to Oxford line would be upgraded. The Folkestone Harbour branch with its 1 in 30 gradient may yet survive into 2009 after EWS objected to National Rail’s closure proposal. A loop is planned in the Axminster area to permit an hourly Waterloo to Exeter service next year. The Falmouth and Merthyr Tydfil services will go half hourly in May following the commissioning of new passing loops. In the world of narrow gauge a significant event is the completion of the Welsh Highland Railway project in two stages the first of which is from Rhyd-Ddu to Beddgelert at Easter. This steep (up to 1/40) and curving line will be of interest to performance observers and the extension to Porthmadog in summer will see trains run once again through the Aberglaslyn Pass.

Milepost 29¾ -287- January 2009 SATURDAY 31ST JANUARY 2009

LONDON

Karl Atkinson – Technical Riding Inspector (First Great Western)

Talking on HST performance varies with different power units

TUESDAY 10th FEBRUARY – ABERGAVENNY – see meetings page for details

THURSDAY 19th FEBRUARY 2009

BRISTOL MEETING

1700 in GWRSA club

NEW!

TUESDAY 24th FEBRUARY 2009

LEEDS MEETING

First weekday members meeting in the north at the Grove Inn from 1700 to around 1900

Only 400 yards from Leeds station

SATURDAY 09th MAY 2009

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

CREWE

Speaker: David Stannard

MASS TIMING DAY 2009

Saturday 04th July 2009

St Pancras to Leicester

WANTED!!!!

Meetings Organiser

After 5 years I wish to relinquish this post to give others a chance of undertaking this prestigious role. Any ‘volunteers’ are asked to contact Martin Barrett

Milepost 29¾ -288- January 2009