Milepost 32 April 2011
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MILEPOST 32 APRIL 2011 TORNADO ON THE LSWR - See Page 48 Photo: Peter Smith RPS railway performance society www.railperf.org.uk Milepost 32 – April 2011 The Quarterly Magazine of the Railway Performance Society Honorary President: Gordon Pettitt, 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] 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 3 Fastest Times Martin Robertson 12 Pendolino Performance (Part 1) Robert Osborne 21 Class 378 David Ashley 31 To Uckfield Andrew James 34 On the 0729 Malcolm Simister 44 Oldest & Youngest Michael Rowe 48 Night Newpapers to Nottingham William Alcock 52 Riding the Alta Velocita Spine Alan Sprod 57 Letters 64 News 70 Enclosures (where subscribed): UK Distance Charts, UK Fastest Times, AGM Papers 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 32 2 April 2011 FROM THE CHAIRMAN There are a number of important updates to the Meetings and Events Calendar;- 2011 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING This will take place on Saturday 14th May – full papers either with this Magazine or available from the Website. After the meeting there will be a presentation from Ian Umpleby on the compilation of Distance Charts My apologies once again to everyone for the confusion over the date of this years AGM – while the correct date was referred to in the meetings section on the January Milepost, unfortunately the back cover and the Website continued to quote the incorrect date. If any member has bought as a result of the confusion an advance ticket to London for 7th May which they are unable to use or get refunded, please contact Peter Smith 2011 MASS TIMING DAY As a result of the Virgin – CLIC Sergeant Charity Day, the 2011 Mass Timing Day has been rescheduled to Saturday 3rd September 2011 It will use the same route as had been planned for the June date – Rugby – Wolverhampton. Full details will be in the July Milepost VIRGIN – CLIC SERGEANT CHARITY DAY I am delighted to be able to confirm that with the kind support of Virgin Trains we have been able to arrange a ‘Mileagathon’ in aid of the Children’s Cancer Charity CLIC Sergeant Basic details of the event are as follows;- • The aim of the event is to raise funds for the Children’s Cancer Charity CLIC Sergeant with the support of Virgin Trains • The objective is to see how many miles can be travelled on Virgin Trains in a 24 hour period by the participants • The event will take place on Saturday 18th June 2011 between 00.01 hrs and 23.59 hrs • Participants are free to use whatever itinerary they wish during the day so long as it uses only on Virgin West Coast Pendolino or Voyager services • Participants are encouraged to raise as much sponsorship as possible for the charity but there is a requirement of a minimum of £100/head to take part • Participants will be provided with a free first class pass for the day but must carry photo ID with them at all times on the day • We are looking to see if we can provide a prize for the participant who clocks up the greatest overall mileage on the day. The key points are;- • I will need full names and addresses of those taking part on the day NOT LATER THAN Saturday 4th June • You will need to carry PHOTO ID with you on the day to validate the pass • The free first class pass offer is on the basis of minimum funds raised per head of £100 – so I will also be requiring payment of £100 ‘up front’ please. Obviously you are free to raise or donate as much as you like over and above that if you wish! • I am anticipating producing a Sponsorship form – I appreciate that some will probably just make the donation personally, but the use of the form should enable CLIC Sergeant to claim Gift Aid relief on the donations and therefore boost the total raised Milepost 32 3 April 2011 • I will want all participants to submit evidence to support the mileage travelled – I suggest in the form of logs, from which we will then also compile a summary report of the day. • Virgin Trains will be wanting to get some publicity out of this – I am checking their requirements on this but please be prepared to adapt what you do to meet the publicity requirements. There should of course be some publicity coverage for the Society as well from this. Quite a lot of members have expressed an interest in this event already; what I am now looking for is firm commitment from those wishing to take part on the day. If you wish to take part therefore please contact me as soon as possible by post, email or phone Frank Collins – Chairman WELSH HIGHLAND RAILWAY – PERFORMANCE TRIALS The RPS has been invited to provide official timers for some performance trials which the WHR are looking to arrange this spring to compare the performance of different loco types on the 1/40 climb north of Beddgelert to Rhyd Ddu. Assistance has also been requested to help analysing the results afterwards. The timers and the after-the-event assistance do not necessarily have to be done by the same people A number of people have already expressed an interest in assisting with this project but if you would be willing to assist us with this – either by doing some of the timing (subject of course to dates) or the analysis afterwards please could you email either me or Sean Emmett ([email protected]) as soon as possible. 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.