31 MILEPOST JANUARY 2011 III

28

Euston-Milton Keynes records shattered – see page 255 RPS railway performance society www.railperf.org.uk

Milepost 31¾ 246 January 2011 Milepost 31¾ – January 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 248 Fastest Times Martin Robertson 255 Plymouth-Paddington – non-stop John Heaton 264 Grand Central Experience Martin Barrett 265 Did you say Eco? Alan Varley 267 Supermarket Sweep John Heaton 270 Arriva Trains Northern Martin Barrett 275 A-B Martin Robertson 280 4-LAVs on the Brighton line Andrew James 283 6&7Ps on the Caledonian Main Line Sandy Smeaton 287 Scotland 1965/66 David Lloyd Roberts 299 A Recorder‟s Guide to SNCF Alan Varley 305 Letters 311 News 316

Enclosures (where subscribed): UK Distance Charts, Overseas Distance Charts, MTD 2010, Membership renewal 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 31¾ 247 January 2011 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.

DISTANCE CHART EDITOR’S REPORT

A smaller issue this time as a family illness has impacted on my spare time since late November and is continuing at the time of writing. Three new prints are included, Ascot-Guidford via Aldershot, Brookwood-Alton and Gospel Oak-Barking/ connecting lines. The Moorgate to Finsbury Park line has been added to an updated Hertford Loop chart and there has been a complete revision of the Kings Cross-Cambridge-Kings Lynn and Glasgow to Stranraer charts. I had hoped to get a chart out covering the new line from Bathgate to Airdrie but the severe weather has put paid to this. Thanks again to those members who have sent contributions and keep looking at the website for infrastructure updates.

Ian Umpleby

FASTEST TIMES

From the GB Annual edition issued with the April Milepost, Fastest Times will be in loose leaf format. Hopefully this will be in landscape with a sufficient margin for holes to be pre-punched by the printer.

There are many areas where new times are few and far between and the higher initial cost of the new style should result in an overall downstream cost saving for the RPS.

It is intended that Overseas Fastest Times will be similarly changed in July.

An advantage of the change in style is that lines which have never previously featured can be issued at any time – printing constraints limit publications to 72 pages.

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.

Milepost 31¾ 248 January 2011

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.

Please note: Can Members who submit times to John Heaton‟s „new‟ GW, ECML and GE times please check to see if they are overall FTs as well, and forward additionally to me. Thank you.

OVERSEAS CHARTS

With this edition we have two new SNCF charts – Poitiers to La Rochelle and Bourg en Bresse to Bellegarde. There are re-issues of other assorted LGV charts – some tweaks to the profiles and assorted new timing points.

David Sage January 2011

HISTORIC FASTEST TIMES

Any new records, or suggestions for the 2011 issue may be sent to Bevan Price at [email protected], or by post to me at 24 Walmeseley Road, Eccleston, St. Helens, Lancs., WA10 5JT

Bevan Price

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.

Milepost 31¾ 249 January 2011 Individual new and revised charts are distributed occasionally with Milepost to those members who have paid a small supllementary membership fee.

Overseas Distance Supplement (Section 2 Ireland): £7.50

The complete set of Irish distance charts as published in 2005/6. If any revised charts are published they will be distributed with Milepost to those members who have paid a small supllementary membership fee. Historical Fastest Times 2004, 2006 Editions: £2.00 each; 2004/6/7 pack: £7.50 Orders for all above sales items please to Peter Smith. All prices include postage. Please enclose the correct remittance with your order and allow 28 days for delivery.

VOYAGER / ADELANTE / CHALLENGER / PENDOLINO RECORDS.

"The notice of members is drawn to the monthly e-mail update of Fastest times for Classes 180/220/221/220+221/222/390 and the re-opened lists for FGW/ecml and GE. If anyone would like to start receiving these lists please let me know by e-mail to [email protected]. Equally, if a current recipient wishes to withdraw his name, please let me know.

For the benefit of new members the re-opened lists refer to the fastest performances recorded on and from the arbitrary start date of 18/5/08 These are usually but necessarily slower than the printed book Fastest Times, many of which were achieved pre-data recorders and involved speeds that are unlikely to be repeated. The re-opened records are for HSTs from FGW services plus Wakefield Westgate to Penzance, Class 91s and HSTs on Fastest Time book 'ecml' sections and for Class 90s on GE sections.

Submissions must be made in excel or works spreadsheet and the format used on the lists issued, unless the member does not have access to the technology. This is to minimise copying errors and compilation time. It would be a good idea therefore for new members to wait until they have received an issue of the lists before participating to save them from indulging in unnecessary detail. No logs are needed for this exercise, although David Sage and Martin Robertson would appreciate a copy if the record is also a new Fastest Times book entry, as opposed to just a re-opened one.

If in doubt please do not hesitate to contact me on the above e-mail address, by phone on 01626 865526 or letter to 57 West Cliff Park Drive, Dawlish, Devon, EX7 9ER"

John Heaton

THE MEETINGS SECTION

WEDNESDAY 19TH THURSDAY 24TH TUESDAY 29TH SATURDAY 2ND JANUARY 2011 FEBRUARY 2011 MARCH 2011 APRIL 2011 LONDON BRISTOL LEEDS LONDON

1700 1700 1700 1200 for 1215 NEW - Area Area Meeting Area Meeting 21st Century Meeting at Royal Seminar – East Oak, nr London Coast v West Coast Bridge

AGM is on Saturday 14th May at The Calthorpe Arms at 1200 for 1215 – speaker Ian Umpleby on the process involved in compiling distance charts.

DIRECTIONS TO THE VENUES

LONDON – The Royal Oak, 44 Tabard Street, London SE1 4JU. From Borough tube station, turn left and at first road junction turn right into Great Dover Street and the almost immediately left into

Milepost 31¾ 250 January 2011 Long Lane. Tabard Street is a few yards on the right (5 minutes walk). OR from London Bridge walk down approach road and turn left into Borough High Street, Turn left by Southwark Local Studies Library, with St Georges Church on right, into Tabard Street. Cross Long Lane and continue down Tabard Street with Royal Oak on right (just over 10 minutes). Please let Richard Howlett know if you are coming on 020 8394 0340 or [email protected]

LONDON – The Calthorpe Arms, 252 Grays Inn Road, London WC1. 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. The Calthorpe Arms is on the left (About 10mins walk from King's Cross) OR 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) and walk to the end of Guildford Street where it meets Grays Inn Road. The Calthorpe Arms is diagonally left from the end of Guildford Street. We will use the 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 meeting, it would help if you can let Chris Taylor know on 07941 315846 or [email protected]

BRISTOL - Temple Meads Station Meet at 1700 on the concourse at Temple Meads. Please advise John Heaton on 01626 865526 or [email protected] if you are coming

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 Meeting: October 2010

The Bristol Group held its first meeting in its new venue of the former first class waiting room on Platforms 9/11 at Bristol Temple Meads. Although there was some extraneous noise from platform announcements, it proved to be successful. There were also distractions from four up freight trains (scrap, cars, coal, intermodal) and there was an adjournment to watch an unspectacular departure by „Bittern‟.

Capacity is relatively limited and extra chairs would have been needed if the attendance had exceeded 12 (which is often the case at Bristol) but it comfortably accommodated the ten members who did come.

Once again, very few members had brought their own material to discuss, which is not usually the case at the end of the summer season, and it is hoped this trend is not indicative. For the group to thrive, it is necessary to have a mix of material….and voices. Having said that, there is no compunction to present anything, and far less so for less confident or newer members. We welcomed Ben Stone, who had travelled from Huddersfield to attend his first meeting.

John Sparkes introduced a run with the Paignton Class 67 turn that had claimed the loco-hauled Taunton to Exeter St. David‟s record and members related their experiences on other trips, including David Adams who had found the meeting chairman and a driver instructor in the cab on one of his visits, which duly spoilt the performance.

Milepost 31¾ 251 January 2011

Michael Rowe discussed the difficulties of making past and present journeys across country, especially via Redhill, compared to „via London‟.

Some fast Adelante runs on the east coast had also been experienced lately, with one run clocking no fewer than 20 maxima of 127 or 128 (and mainly the latter) from Stevenage to Temple Hirst.

The next meeting will be held in the same location on Thursday 24th February 2011 at 17.00, assembling first on the station concourse. Members should feel free to come or go during the meeting. Anyone attending for the first time, or guests, is most welcome.

John Heaton

Leeds Meeting Report

The November Leeds meeting was held at The Grove on Tuesday 16th November with 11 people present (including one prospective new member). A discussion took place (on a damp autumnal day) on driving techniques and traction characteristics when the rail head was slippy. The 323 EMU's are prone to slipping on poor rail head conditions. It was reported that members had known a class 87 slip on climbing Shap and a class 91 slip on climbing Stoke both at high speed. With modern electronics wheel slip is controlled better e.g. on Pendolinos the electronics will reduce power to the motors under the front of the train. It was reported that Alstom and Virgin Trains had been experimenting with energy reduction measures on Pendolinos. It was said in 2008 that a 5% saving could be made but experimenting in 2010 with 10 sets by using only the traction packages under 5 out the 6 coaches so equipped (or equivalent) produced an energy saving of 1-2%. The West Coast Voyagers had had the power outputs reduced to 700 hp from 750 hp with little effect of train running. Martin Barrett produced a roll of paper over 2½ metres long of the logs in one direction of the recent Mass Timing Day (Stoke to Manchester). A discussion on the HS2 proposed line from London to Birmingham with consultants reporting that the difference in a running from London to Birmingham in 44 minutes as against 48 minutes resulted in an increase in energy consumption of 23% (i.e. running at a higher speed). The use of regenerative braking was marginal in the use of energy. Finally discussion on the running brake test. After leaving King's Cross the meeting agreed that the ideal location was around Finsbury Park, i.e. at the top of the climb but still at high speed, but often it was done at Alexandra Palace which could result in a significant reduction in speed due the proximity of the neutral section

MARTIN TASKER MEMORIAL LIBRARY

The Society holds a large number of books (~150) containing articles on performance, or containing information of use to Society Members. Full details of the books held are contained in past issues of Milepost.

The books are available for borrowing by contacting me by letter, phone or E-Mail. The borrower will be responsible for postage in both directions. It will be possible in many cases for arrangements to be made to pass books on at Society Meetings to avoid postage costs in one direction at least. The length of the loan can be flexible by agreement.

The Society will be happy to receive donations to the Library. Items should be related to Railway Performance (no Magazine Collections please). Again please contact me regarding this. New items received into the Library will be notified in updates published in Milepost. The entire contents of the library will shortly be listed on the Society Website.

Lee Allsopp

RPS ARCHIVES – LATEST UPDATES

The RPS Archive consists of material collected over the years from submissions and donations of material and collections by members. We are also indebted to the Steam Railway Research Society (SRRS), and the Stephenson Locomotive Society (SLS) for giving us the opportunity to scan some of their material for inclusion in our archive.

Milepost 31¾ 252 January 2011

After the deluge of material at the end of September, things have quietened down with only the steady stream of material via the internet to contend with. Around 9,500 pages have been scanned so far from the material provided by Ben Stone, Noel Proudlock and Martin Barrett!

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!

 Latest material from Lee Allsopp (including GPS track info) and Ian Umpleby.  Latest UK Fastest Times added  Latest logs from Peter Smith covering 2010 to date  David Adams logs from the third quarter of 2010  Milepost 31½  A further 8 books from Noel Proudlock, covering his travels with steam and the start of the diesel era from 1953 to 1960  Martin Barrett‟s written up logs from 1965/1969/1970/1971/1973/1974/1976/1980/1982-1986  Latest runs from David Sage‟s database, and the images from another of his notebooks.  More Historical Fastest times from the 2010 edition  Latest runs from Bob Jennings, Charles Foss and Richard Howlett  The first 6 notebooks and 6 large A4 folders from Ben Stone covering his commuting from Alvechurch/Blackwell to Birmingham, and travel from 1953 to 1997

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 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

IN COMMITTEE: NOVEMBER 2010

Discussion took place concerning the way the publicity and website duties would be split pending the search for a new publicity officer following Baard Covington‟s unfortunate resignation on personal grounds. Lee would update the archive and David Ashley would deal with general website updating and the issue of passwords. Michael Rowe had prepared a press release concerning the expansion of the website. Lee also listed his current substantial workload of collections that he was adding to the archive.

Martin Barrett would be unable to complete secretarial duties next spring due to ill health, so the

Milepost 31¾ 253 January 2011 committee would be further stretched to cover bookings and agenda/minute issues during the time he was to be incapacitated. The committee gave Martin their best wishes for the period of his treatment.

Michael Rowe suggested a modern traction meeting on the lines of the steam forum that everyone had so much enjoyed. Frank Collins agreed to chair the meeting and develop ideas, perhaps a series of brief papers on modern traction topics or a debate, such as the current merits of the east and west coast. Perhaps an ungrammatical „Which is Best, East or West?‟

After thoughts had been expressed about the merits of the Brighton Line concerning ticket costs and variety, it was decided that the 2011 Mass Timing day would take place on he Wolverhampton- Coventry corridor on 18th June. It was recognised that the chief interest was likely to be the interaction of trains rather than fast running.

Future subscription levels were considered and it was decided to maintain the status quo for the coming year. The possibility of dropping the paper issues of some publications which stimulated only limited participation (Overseas Fastest Times for instance) was suggested but it was agreed there would be no change this coming year. It was, however, decided that David Sage would take steps towards converting UK Annual fastest Times to a loose leaf format to save printing and postage costs.

David Hobbs expressed his misgivings about some technical views that had been published concerning economical driving and it was decided that he would air the matters in Milepost. It was the intention to invite comments from the Institute of Mechanical and Electrical Engineers who had been involved with the original paper.

John Heaton

E-mail communications

The RPS sometimes e-mails details of meetings etc to members. Some ISPs treat bulk mailings as “spam”, so members should view their “spam” mailboxes to ensure they receive all communications.

RPS WEBSITE NEWS

Members who have visited the forum area of the website have probably concluded that it doesn‟t hold the world record for internet hits and postings. This is a pity, as we held high hopes for a significant level of interest and interaction in this part of the website.

At a recent committee meeting, it was agreed to encourage more postings and to try and generate interest in the site and simplify access.

It has been decided to restrict the number of topics on the site, and to retain only the General, Database, Distance Charts, Infrastructure and News areas and to remove all other topics after six months of inactivity. In future, postings should be limited to the topics listed above.

Committee members will try to increase the number of postings and we encourage all members to make contributions, supply appropriate links and add to existing threads.

As stated in the October magazine, we are looking for a member who is able to assist the committee in website duties. Please contact the Chairman, Frank Collins, if you are able to help

Note from the Editor

There are indications that stock of material on hand for future publications is starting to reduce – particularly in the heritage and steam areas. Overseas articles are always required. All contributions will be gratefully received

Happy New Year

David Ashley

Milepost 31¾ 254 January 2011 Fastest Times Update

Martin Robertson

Welcome to another Fastest Times Update with my particular thanks to all those who have contributed material in the last three months. I have been positively deluged with new fastest times and probably have sufficient runs to compile at least another article of the same length. I have endeavoured to include something from all those who have contributed, and welcome John Sparkes for his first run in these articles. I have also been fortunate to have several pairs of runs, either in the same direction or in opposite directions, over the same section which provides an interesting comparison.

Table 1 Date xx/09/10 Date xx/xx/10 Train xx xx Euston-Manchester Train xx xx Manchester-Euston Load Pendolino 9/458/470 Load Pendolino 9/458/475 Loco 390 xxx Loco 390 xxx Recorder,position,GPS A Varley 7/9 GPS Recorder,position,GPS J Heaton 3/9 GPS Weather Fine, calm Weather miles m c Location m s Speeds Ave miles m c Location m s Speeds ave 0.00 00 04 Euston 0 00.0 ½ E, plat 7 0.00 49 66 Milton Keynes 0 00.0 0.95 01 00 MP 1 2 46.0 20.6 3.18 46 52 Bletchley 2 59.0 110/128 63.9 2.29 02 27 Pr Hill T N 4 20.5 RBT/56 51.0 9.67 40 13 Leighton B 6 07.0 127/128 124.2 4.17 04 17 Ch Rd OB 5 45.5 100/101 79.6 11.50 38 26 Ledburn 7 30.0 125 125.2 5.48 05 42 Willesden OB 6 32.5 97 100.3 13.72 36 09 Cheddington 8 03.0 127 125.7 8.00 08 04 Wembley 7 52.5 127/125 113.4 15.84 33 79 Tring Cutting 9 03.0 128 127.5 9.38 09 34 Sth Kenton 8 32.0 126 125.8 18.13 31 56 Tring 10 08.0 126 126.7 11.34 11 31 Harrow 9 28.0 126/127 126.0 21.92 27 73 Berkhamstead 11 55.0 128 127.4 13.23 13 22 Hatch End 10 22.0 125/124 126.0 23.52 26 25 Bourne End 13 02.0 127 127.6 14.68 14 58 Carpender's Pk 11 03.5 126 125.8 25.34 24 39 Hemel H 13 31.0 128 128.8 15.95 16 00 Bushey 11 44.5 108* 111.5 26.73 23 08 Apsley 14 11.0 127/126 127.1 17.39 17 35 Watford Jc 12 31.5 111 110.3 28.89 20 75 King's Langley 15 12.0 128 126.1 19.45 19 40 Watford Tunn N 13 37.0 113.2 30.33 19 40 Watford Tunn N 15 55.0 110 121.4 20.89 20 75 King's Langley 14 18.5 126/127 124.9 32.39 17 35 Watford Jc 17 03.0 110 109.9 23.05 23 08 Apsley 15 20.0 126 126.4 33.83 16 00 Bushey 17 49.0 112 111.5 24.44 24 39 Hemel H 15 59.5 127 126.7 36.55 13 22 Hatch End 19 08.0 128 124.2 26.26 26 25 Bourne End 16 51.5 125/122 126.0 38.44 11 31 Harrow 20 01.0 128 128.2 27.86 27 73 Berkhamstead 17 38.5 123 122.6 41.78 08 04 Wembley 21 37.0 125/91tsr 127 30.10 30 12 Northchurch 18 42.0 127 127.0 44.30 05 42 Willesden OB 23 10.0 95/102 106.5 31.65 31 56 Tring 19 26.0 127 126.8 47.42 02 33 South Hampstead 25 10.0 53 85.1 33.94 33 79 Tring Cutting 20 30.5 128 127.8 48.73 01 08 Camden S Jn 26 42.0 48 51.4 36.06 36 09 Cheddington 21 30.0 128 128.3 49.78 00 04 Euston 29 06.0 37 38.28 38 26 Ledburn 22 33.0 126 126.9 40.11 40 13 Leighton B 23 25.0 127 126.7 42.20 42 20 Chelmscote Br 24 24.0 127 127.5 43.95 44 00 Stoke Hammond 25 13.5 127 127.3 46.60 46 52 Bletchley 26 28.5 127 127.2 48.45 48 40 OB 27 21.0 127/* 126.9 49.78 49 66 Milton Keynes 28 46.0 1,5 early 56.3

We start on the southern end of the West Coast Main Line (WCML) with new fastest times in either direction between Euston and Milton Keynes. Alan Varley contributed the northbound run and John Heaton the southbound run. Alan‟s run is slightly faster, which is possibly understandable as entries into major termini tend to be relatively slow these days. However, John‟s inbound run was over half a minute faster than Alan‟s from Willesden to Euston. Alan

Milepost 31¾ 255 January 2011 noted a running brake test which may have inflated the exit time. Note the very fast time from Bletchley to the stop in Milton Keynes, of 2m 18s for the 3.2 miles, very impressive, as was the 127mph at Alan‟s last timing point before the stop at Milton Keynes. Both runs featured running up to 128mph, so the date, services and unit numbers have been omitted.

Alan‟s comments: This is one of the Euston-Manchester trains that are normally non-stop to Crewe at XX40 but this one starts 5 minutes earlier and stops at Milton Keynes. I had my eye on the Milton Keynes - Crewe time but didn’t expect to be 1.5 minutes early into Milton Keynes! The train started 18 secs early from platform seven, via the dive-under, and ran briskly in 02m 46s to MP 1 with a light running brake test into Primrose Hill. Then: 101/97 mph at Willesden OB in 6m 32s; average 126.0 mph Wembley-Carpenders Park; 108 mph at Bushey; 12m 31s at Watford; 126.8 mph average Kings Langley-Bletchley; several 128 mph maximum speeds; 122 minima on neutral sections; through Bletchley in 26m 28.5s and it was clear we would make a fast time. With hard braking through Denbeigh Hall and despite a gentle final stop, we arrived in 28m 46s. Compared with other runs this one gained by high speeds and two other features: very prompt and hard acceleration out of Primrose Hill tunnel, and very firm brakes at Denbigh Hall – though they could have been eased 5-10 secs earlier for a faster approach.

John forwarded his run initially without any comments but after subsequently checking the Garmin downloads he advised that there had been a 90mph tsr before Willesden Junction. Virgin Driver points out there was a 90 mph tsr at Willesden and on reviewing the uploaded Garmin track I see we came down to 91mph there, which I must have missed on the day.

Table 2 has contributions from John Heaton and Alistair Wood between Crewe and Warrington, both recorded on the Birmingham to Glasgow/Edinburgh services. I have used these on several occasions this summer and the standard of running is very good, with the dedicated Voyager units performing as they should, with tilt and 125mph running.

Table 2 Run 1 2 Date Sat 29-01-10 Th 18-03-10 Train 1420 Bham-Ed 1052 Edin-Bham Loco 221112 221113 Load 5,268/2xx 5,268/2xx Recorder, pos, GPS J Heaton 1/5 N G Wood 2/5 N miles m c Location m s ave miles m c m s Speeds

0 158 03 Crewe d 0 00 0.00 182 10 Warrington d 0 00 (2L) 0.81 158 68 Coal Yard Box 1 52 26.1 1.13 181 00 Mp 1 33 67 7.44 165 38 Winsford 5 58 97.0 2.13 180 00 Mp 2 21 89 11.81 169 68 Hartford 8 04 125.0 3.13 179 00 Mp 2 58 101 14.48 172 41 Acton Bridge 9 20 126.1 4.62 177 41 Norton PC 3 51 104 18.01 176 04 Preston Br'k N 11 04 122.5 6.08 176 04 Preston Br'k N 4 38 110 22.12 180 13 Acton Gr Jn. 13 07 7.63 174 40 Weaver Jn 5 28 117 24.09 182 10 Warrington a 14 52 9.61 172 41 Acton Bridge 6 24 124 11.13 171 00 Mp 7 08 125 12.28 169 68 Hartford 7 47 123 15.3 166 66 Winsford Jn Sb 9 11 124 16.65 165 38 Winsford 9 49 121 20.13 162 00 Mp 11 31 123/109br 22.13 160 00 Mp 12 36 110 23.28 158 68 Coal Yard Box 13 18 74 24.09 158 03 Crewe a 14 43

Milepost 31¾ 256 January 2011 Incidentally it appears that the units which form the two early morning departures, the 05 50 ex Glasgow and the 05 57 ex Crewe, both do four separate trips in a day, almost 1,200 miles, which is very impressive. Turnarounds in Glasgow are a leisurely 45 minutes but at Edinburgh it is 30 minutes and in Birmingham a tight 25 minutes.

John recorded the northbound run and Alistair the southbound, which is the slightly faster of the two. John had no comments but Alistair‟s were: An enjoyable run after I had endured a non tilt Pendolino on the 10 40 ex Glasgow, which dropped 10 minutes on a clear road to Warrington.

Table 3 features an exceptional effort recorded by John Rishton between Stockport and Stoke on Trent and my northbound run over the same section which equalled the fastest time recorded by A. Burns. John‟s comments are: I have been making the journey once or twice each week for the last 18 months. This is the fastest to date by a large margin. My run was recorded during the mass timing day, on my first northbound run from Stoke-on-Trent. I appear to have just been lucky. John Heaton holds the current diesel record northbound which is one second faster than the Pendolino‟s; an excellent effort, with a Class 220 unit.

Table 3 Day/Date Thursday 22nd October 2009 Sat 19.06.10 Train 15:15 Man Picc. - Euston 10 20 Euston-Man Motive Power 390 390 049 Load (tons) 460/480 = 16.6hp/ton 9:462/472 Weather sunny Dry, overcast M Robertson - 4/9 - Rec. Pos. GPS J Rishton - 3/9 - Stopwatch Gps Miles mm cc location Sch mm:s s avge Miles mm cc location m s mph 0.00 183 00 Stockport 0 00:00 2 late 0.0 0.00 19 78 Stoke-on-Trent 0 0 (-3) 0.33 182 54 Edgeley No. 2 00:48 24.8 0.78 19 16 Cliffe 1 22 62 0.55 182 36 Edgeley No. 1 01:07 41.6 1.68 18 24 Grange 2 06 82 1.43 181 46 Adswood Road 02:08 52.0 2.88 17 08 Longport 2 54.5 99 2.26 180 59 Cheadle Hulme 02:56 62.3 3.95 16 02 Overbridge 3 31 109 3.89 1 50 Bramhall 04:35 59.3 5.83 14 27 Harecastle Tnl 4 43 76\73* 5.28 3 01 Poynton 05:28 94.3 6.31 13 68 Kidsgrove 5 08.5 75* 7.46 5 16 Adlington 06:37 113.7 8.79 11 30 Mow Cop 6 49.5 105 9.36 7 08 Prestbury 07:42 105.3 10.29 9 70 Watery Lane 7 38.5 119\122 11.41 9 12 Hibel Road Tnl 09:21 74.5 11.99 8 14 Congleton 8 31.5 113 12.00 0 22 Macclesfield 10:07 46.2 14.04 6 10 Peover Lane 9 40 95 14.09 2 29 Maccl'sfld Moss 11:39 81.8 16.66 3 40 Overbridge 10 59 122 16.53 4 64 North Rode 12:55 1/2 114.8 17.80 2 29 Maccl‟sfld Moss 11 39.5 91 19.90 8 14 Congleton 14:51 105.0 19.89 0 22 Macclesfield 13 29 49* 23.10 11 30 Mow Cop 16:31 115.2 20.48 9 12 Hibel Road Tnl 14 00.5 43* 25.58 13 68 Kidsgrove 18:05 95.0 22.53 7 08 Prestbury 15 57 95 26.06 14 27 Harecastle Tnl 18:27 1/2 76.7 24.43 5 16 Adlington 17 03.5 115 29.01 17 08 Longport 20:15 98.8 25.59 4 03 London Road 17 32 122 30.66 18 60 Etruria 21:22 88.6 26.61 3 01 Poynton 18 11.5 111 31.89 19 78 Stoke-on-Trent 25 22:57 r/time 46.6 28.00 1 50 Bramhall 18 58.5 100br 29.63 180 59 Cheadle Hulme 20 18 41* 30.46 181 46 Adswood Road 21 50.5 44sc 31.34 182 36 Edgeley No. 1 22 55.5 40 31.89 183 00 Stockport 24 09

Table 4 has short offerings from David Adams and John Rishton over widely varying sections of the WCML. David was up early to record a fine FT into Birmingham New Street

Milepost 31¾ 257 January 2011 on the 06 10 ex Coventry (run C). David noted that the late departure was due to a preceding Freightliner service.

Table 4 In the Trent Valley John Run A was enthused about the Day/Date Wednesday 8th September 2010 driver‟s handling of his Train 14.33 Crewe - Euston Class 350 emu in run A Motive Power 350.127 which culminated in a Load (tons) 166/175 = 15.3hp/ton new FT from Rugeley Weather dry Trent Valley to Lichfield Rec. Pos. GPS J Rishton - 2/4 - Stopwatch Trent Valley as a result WTT of excellent braking. Miles mm cc location Sch mm:s s avge John‟s comments are: 0.00 124 21 Rugeley Trent Valley 0 00:00 3 late 0.0 A magnificent stop! I 1.37 122 71 Carwardine Cutting 01:30 up slow 54.8 had joined the train at 3.25 121 00 MP 121 02:55 79.6 Stoke. As soon as we 3.45 120 64 Armitage 3 03:02 1/2 92.5 cleared the station I 5.42 118 67 Elmhurst 04:18 94.3 realised this was going 6.75 117 40 MP 117.5 05:07 97.7 to be a record run with 8.02 116 19 Lichfield Trent Valley 8 06:18 64.4 an elastic band Run B connected to Stone Day/Date Thursday 22nd July 2010 station pulling us in. Train 16:40 Glasgow Central - Euston However, well before Motive Power 390.014 Wedgewood the brakes Load (tons) 460/480 = 16.6hp/ton went on. Presumably Weather sunny the barriers had been Rec. Pos. GPS J Rishton - 2/9 - Stopwatch raised between the Miles mm cc location PTT Sch mm:s s avge Pendolino in front, and 0.00 102 21 Glasgow Central 0 00:00 r/t 0.0 our approach; run 0.76 101 40 Eglinton Street 02:18 19.8 spoilt. 3.21 99 04 Rutherglen 05:05 52.8 4.99 97 22 Cambuslang 06:36 70.4 Leaving Stone was 7.11 95 16 Newton 08:09 82.1 good but the road was 8.43 93 16 Uddingston 09:03 88.0 not clear at Norton 10.51 91 60 Douglas Park 10:24 92.4 Bridge; run spoilt. 12.35 89 77 Logans Road 11:44 82.8 Approaching Colwich 12.89 89 30 Motherwell 13 12:43 32.9 we were stopped for Run C two minutes whilst a Day/Date Thursday 7th October 2010 Pendolino crossed in Train 06 10 Coventry-Birmingham front of us; run spoilt. Motive Power 350244 On each of the above Load (tons) 4:179/183 sections acceleration Weather was excellent, as was Rec. Pos. GPS D. Adams the braking. On my WTT outward trip we made Miles mm cc location Sch mm:s s avge good progress until the 0.00 106 32 Marston Green d 0 00:00 0.0 platform ends and then 1.57 107 79 Lea Hall 01:46 1/2 53.1 walking pace until 2.69 109 07 Stechford 02:31 90.6 nearing the stop sign. 4.60 111 00 Adderley Park 03:46 91.2 5.80 112 15 Proof House Jn 05:01 1/2 57.2 6.51 112 73 B'ham New St a 07:09 20.0 This return trip was more of “enter platform as part of a planned one-hard-braking- application and ease just before stopping” style. And it was well judged.

Milepost 31¾ 258 January 2011 Leaving Rugeley we powered up to the original four-track line speed and reapplied power around MP 121.75 for the newly installed tracks’ higher line maximum. Power was shut off at 100mph near MP 117.5 and we coasted on towards Lichfield, just 0.75 miles away. Brakes were finally applied as we passed the stop blocks of the up Engineers sidings and we entered the station at over 40mph. The units stopped with the front cab level with the mid platform over bridge. Perfect!!

The final offering on the WCML is John‟s Glasgow Central to Motherwell time (run B), which bettered the difficult 13 minute schedule. The time of 6m 36s to Cambuslang is excellent, particularly from Platform 1 of Glasgow Central. Many Virgin runs will take a minute longer, which is difficult to recoup later in the run to Carlisle.

John‟s comments are: A train I did not intend to travel on and a route I am not familiar with, but a good improvement on the previous section record. I try to make a trip to Scotland each summer to travel over those annoying sections of line that I have not previously traversed. This trip was to include the Lanark branch and Motherwell to Holytown, the two nearest sections of “new (passenger) line” in the country to my home.

The itinerary was planned for late May but I had to postpone and did not bother to recheck the timings. Only during the day when on the Whifflet to Motherwell train passing under the Glasgow –Shotts line did the sight of a tamper on each track above suggest a possible problem. The lack of the 12 42 Motherwell-Lanark service on the departure screen at Motherwell confirmed it! So, I was back in Glasgow an hour earlier than intended (but with no time to do the Balloch branch - also needed) - so instead went home.

A punctual start from Glasgow Central Platform 1, so there were no conflicts ahead, and by the time the middle of the train was passing the “20mph all lines” sign we were accelerating to 20mph. Passing the old signal box, there was a further brief acceleration and again just beyond Eglington Street. Power was applied for much longer shortly after post 101, bringing us to 75mph by Rutherglen. I did not notice a running brake test and my notes also suggested the driver may have thought he only had five coaches behind him judging from where he applied power after the speed restrictions. The run to Motherwell continued without any further appended notes to my recording of timings, except that the stop appeared to be well judged.

Table 5 has two runs between Newark and Wakefield Westgate. I also received a run from Alan Varley on the same section, which bettered the former fastest time, but suffered slight signal checks before Doncaster when it was around 15 second up on Chris Taylor‟s run. I had received Ian Umpleby‟s run first, despite it being recorded after Chris‟s travel.

In comparing the two runs, which were both recorded on the 16 10 ex Kings Cross, the times to Askham Tunnel were virtually identical. Chris‟s run then reached the 125mph line speed past Retford, whereas Ian‟s run kept to 115mph, to lose 8 seconds by Rossington. Ian‟s driver appeared to judge the restrictions through the Doncaster area better than Chris‟s, despite Ian noting a minor tsr. However the advantage was regained by Chris‟s driver with a faster acceleration from Doncaster, but still with only a three second differential at Fitzwilliam. Ian‟s driver braked earlier to be twelve seconds down at Sandal and Agbrigg and a better stop into Wakefield station from Chris‟s driver resulted in a seventeen second difference.

Milepost 31¾ 259 January 2011

Table 5 Loco/Unit 91126 911xx Vehicles/tare/gross tonnes 10/415/440 10/418/438 Train 1610 Kings Cross - Leeds 16 10 KX-Leeds Date Weds 9th September 2010 Th 12th July 2010 Weather Sunny Ints Rec/Pos/GPS? I Umpleby;4/11;Y C Taylor: 4/11 Dec. Mls M. Chns Timing Point Min. Sec. M.P.H. Average Min. Sec. M.P.H.

0.00 120 12 Newark NG 0 00 4L 0 00 7L 0.64 120 63 Newark LC 1 34 1/2 50 24.3 1 34 51 2.82 122 78 Bathley Lane LC 3 19 1/2 96 74.9 3 19 94 4.56 124 56 Cromwell 4 22 103 6.18 126 26 Carlton LC 5 15 116 104.3 5 15 114 10.23 130 29 Egmanton 7 17 121 11.78 131 74 Tuxford ob 8 04 121 119.4 8 03 120 12.85 133 00 Lincoln Road 8 37 120 14.31 134 37 Askham Tunnel SP 9 20 1/2 115* 119.5 9 20 114 16.04 136 15 Gamston ob 10 14 115 115.5 16.40 136 44 Eaton Lane 10 26 116 17.30 137 36 Grove Road 10 53 121 18.48 138 50 Retford sub 11 30 1/2 115 114.8 11 27 121 21.56 141 56 Sutton 12 57 125 23.83 143 78 Ranskill LC 14 10 125 120.9 14 03 126 27.49 147 51 Bawtry ub 16 02 1/2 109* 117.1 29.35 146 40 Pipers Wood S'mt 16 55 106 31.20 151 28 Rossington LC 18 00 123 113.5 17 52 121 t sr 100*/111 33.12 154 00 Black Carr Jn 18 59 89 35.31 155 37 Bridge Jc obN 20 23 72* 103.6 35.84 155 79 Doncaster sub 20 49 70 72.9 20 53 78/70* 36.63 156 62 Dock Hills LC 21 30 1/2 69 68.2 21 32 73 37.50 157 52 Bentley LC 22 10 1/2 89 79.0 22 10 88 39.73 159 70 Adwick fb 23 32 1/2 100 97.5 23 31 101 42.73 162 70 Hampole ob 25 20 100 100.7 44.45 164 48 S Elmsall shl 26 21 1/2 100/98 100.6 26 19 101/97 45.85 166 00 South Kirkby Jc ub 27 12 1/2 100 99.1 27 09 98 47.55 167 56 Hemsworth ob 28 13 1/2 99 100.0 28 11 98 49.04 169 15 Fitzwilliam shl 29 08 1/2 99 98.0 29 05 100 51.73 171 70 Hare Park ob 30 47 99 98.3 30 05 101 53.99 174 11 Sandal shl 32 12 69* 95.4 32 00 74 55.68 175 66 Wakefield W 34 58 3L 36.6 34 41

Ian‟s comments are: After the last run I sent, (a Wakefield-Peterborough offering, which will appear in the Spring issue), it was surprising to get another absolute record on another stretch over which I have had quite a few run:, that from Newark to Wakefield. This was a perfectly legal run unchecked apart from the longstanding tsr after Rossington - which had been raised from 90 to 100 mph shortly before the run. As this is on a 125 mph stretch this run is far from unbeatable - legally! Alan Varley beat the previous record two days before my run but still 45 secs slower than mine.

Chris‟s comments are: I was returning from Paris and we were delayed just south of Newark Northgate station (presumably whilst a freight train was looped out of our way at Newark).

Milepost 31¾ 260 January 2011 Just a good competent run with the only delays being the tsr around Black Carr Junction/ Decoy yards approaching Doncaster and a cautious approach to Marshgate Junction with 78 mph through Doncaster station. This beat the previous record by over 2 minutes. Having used Eurostar from Paris to London I travelled from Paris Gare du Nord to Wakefield Westgate in just under 5 hours, an average speed of 96.32 mph.

If only all station to station connections were as efficient as St Pancras to Kings Cross, and trains ran on time, why would we use air transport for such relatively short journeys?

Table 6 has a fine offering from Ian Umpleby, this time heading south from Wakefield Westgate to Peterborough with a Class 91 formation. The run was free of checks other than the usual approach-control signalling for the entry to Peterborough station. The driver ran up to the line limits and converted a slightly late departure into a two minute early arrival. Ian‟s comments are: Went down on the 0720 from Leeds to London and noticed that we made a swift start and broke the fastest time to Wakefield in John Heaton's list. The driver was in excellent form and apart from an easing through Adwick, which may have been due to adverse sigs in the distance, received an apparently clear road to the unavoidable approach control into Peterborough. The previous fastest recorded time was broken by 30 secs with, most importantly, hardly any excess over the permitted speeds.

Table 6 Dec. Mls M. Chns Timing Point Min. Sec. M.P.H. Avge Loco/Unit 91120 pushing 34.11 141 56 Sutton LC 22 12 1/2 126 123.8 Vehicles/tare/gross tonnes 10/415/430 37.19 138 50 Retford sub 23 41 121* 124.8 Train 0720 Leeds-London KX 39.63 136 15 Gamston ob 24 56 113* 116.7 Date Thurs 12th August 2010 41.35 134 37 Askham Tunnel SP 25 50 1/2 115 114.3 Weather Show ers 43.89 131 74 Tuxford ob 27 10 114 115.0 Rec/Pos/GPS? I Umpleby;5/11;Y 49.49 126 26 Carlton LC 29 57 1/2 125 120.4 Dec. Mls M. Chns Timing Point Min. Sec. M.P.H. Avge 52.84 122 78 Bathley Lane LC 31 35 123 123.7 55.03 120 63 New ark LC 32 44 98* 114.2 0.00 175 65 Wakefield W 0 00 1L 55.66 120 12 New ark NG fb 33 07 102 99.6 1.68 174 11 Sandal shl 2 38 1/2 69 38.1 60.48 115 27 Claypole LC 35 35 1/2 126 116.4 3.94 171 70 Hare Park Jc ob 4 14 1/2 96/100 84.8 64.16 111 52 Hougham ob 37 21 1/2 126 125.7 6.63 169 15 Fitzw illiam shl 5 53 98 98.3 66.14 109 54 Barkston S Jc ub 38 20 112* 121.0 8.11 167 56 Hemsw orth ob 6 46 100/98 100.6 68.00 107 65 Peascliff Tunnel SP 39 20 114 112.1 9.81 166 00 South Kirkby Jc ub 7 48 1/2 100 98.0 70.36 105 36 Grantham fb 40 39 1/2 98* 106.6 11.21 164 48 South Elmsall shl 8 39 1/2 98 99.5 72.81 103 00 MP 42 02 112 107.0 12.94 162 70 Hampole ob 9 42 1/2 97 98.1 75.33 100 39 Stoke Tunnel SP 43 21 115 114.3 15.94 159 70 Adw ick fb 11 36 91 95.2 78.66 97 12 Corby Glen gate 45 00 1/2 125 121.1 18.16 157 52 Bentley LC 13 06 1/2 85 88.4 83.70 92 09 Little Bytham ob 47 25 1/2 125 124.7 19.03 156 63 Dock Hills LC 13 48 67*/66 74.9 87.03 88 63 Essendine ob 49 01 1/2 125 125.2 19.83 155 79 Doncaster sub 14 31 1/2 71 66.8 91.01 84 64 Tallington LC 50 56 125/124 125.3 20.35 155 37 Bridge Junction 14 56 80 77.1 93.93 81 71 Helpston LC 52 20 1/2 126 124.2 24.46 151 28 Rossington LC 17 16 1/2 119/125 105.3 96.19 79 50 Werrington Jc RR 53 25 123 125.7 28.18 147 51 Baw try ub 19 09 1/2 105* 117.9 97.75 78 05 New England ob 54 16 90* 111.1 31.84 143 78 Ranskill LC 21 06 122 113.2 si gs 33* 34.11 141 56 Sutton LC 22 12 1/2 126 123.8 98.81 77 00 Westw ood ob 55 35 49 48.2 99.46 76 28 Peterborough p2 56 58 2E 28.2 . Table 7 has two short offerings from Alistair Wood centred around Edinburgh Park. In my experience, a pair of Class 158 units is generally better than a single Class 170 unit despite their lower potential speeds. The fastest times appear to have been secured by better quality braking than is normally encountered with drivers in Scotland.

For Table 8 we return south to the lines out of Waterloo. Richard Knight was fortunate to achieve a new FT between Waterloo and Surbiton with his comments as follows: The train departed 2min 43 secs after the 17.00 Portsmouth and, as far as I could tell, was unchecked throughout until the approach control for the turnout to the platform line at Surbiton. The running was nicely on the limits out to New Malden with even a bit of acceleration once the 90 mph psr was reached.

Milepost 31¾ 261 January 2011

Table 7 Further south west, Bruce Nathan achieved a Date Sat 23rd Oct 2010 new FT between Winchester and Woking with Train 21 34 Edin-Perth steady running at 99mph following a late Units 158 867 + 741 departure. Bruce‟s comments are: I had been Load 144/14x travelling from Wareham after a visit to the Recorder Alistair Wood Swanage Railway and we had run to time until Gps Yes delayed between Brockenhurst and Southampton miles Location m s Speed which we were told had been due to vandals throwing a mattress onto the line. We had further 0.00 Haymarket d 0 0 4L delays at Southampton and Eastleigh due to 0.77 Mp2 1 15 58 other late running trains ahead and left 2.32 Saughton Jn ub 2 42 78 Winchester 6 minutes late. We had a clear road 3.62 Edinburgh Park a 4 23 from here onwards and without exceeding the 0.00 d 0 0 4L speed limits made up 2 minutes on the public 3.38 Ratho 3 32 84 time to Woking. Note the constant 99 mph (with 5.10 Winchburgh Viad 4 44 92 one brief 100 mph) between Basingstoke and 6.84 Winchburgh T'l in 5 55 77* Woking. The days of speeds over 100 mph on 7.77 Winchburgh Jn 6 37 85 this section with the REPs and later 442s are no 9.69 Philpstoun 7 57 93 more. 12.74 Linlithgow a 10 37 . Table 8 Finally for table 9 we Train 17.02 Waterloo-Guildford welcome John Sparkes Units 450.002/104 to these articles with a Load 8: 346/360 tonnes very fine effort from the Date Thurs 02.09.10 driver of a Class 67 Weather/posn Fine: 1 of 8 between Taunton and Recorder RK Exeter. John does not advise why the driver Miles M C Location Sch m s mph ave was in such a hurry on 0.00 0 8 WATERLOO d 0 00.0 PL12 0.5L the descent from 1.26 1 29 VAUXHALL 2 42.5 50 28.0 Whiteball Summit as the 1.90 2 0 MP 3 28.5 50 50.1 arrival in Exeter was 10 2.56 2 53 QUEENSTOWN RD 4 08.0 61 60.3 minutes early by the 3.87 3 78 CLAPHAM JC 5 32.0 50 56.1 PTT. John‟s comments 5.52 5 50 EARLSFIELD 7 13.0 69/75 59.0 are: This was with Class 7.21 7 25 WIMBLEDON 8 34.5 74 74.6 67 67016 on the 8.00 8.54 8 52 RAYNES PARK 9 39.5 74 74.2 Cardiff - Paignton. 9.64 9 60 NEW MALDEN 10 32.5 76 74.1 10.82 10 74 BERRYLANDS 11 27.5 78/XL 77.1 11.93 12 3 SURBITON a 13 08.0 54.5

Normally, I understand, drivers ease down after Whiteball Summit, but this one just kept going. This was definitely the fastest of the three runs I had (the others were behind 67027 on 31 August and 2 September, here the times were 22m 41 secs and 23m 41 secs, respectively).

A fine effort to end what has been a varied and interesting selection of routes, traction and runs. My thanks to all those who have contributed runs in the last three months but which are not featured in this article. As always I am pleased to receive runs in most formats, although for lengthy sections of text, Word files are simpler to manipulate. My email address is included in the inside cover of Milepost.

Milepost 31¾ 262 January 2011 Train 15.03 Weymouth-Waterloo Motive Power Desiro EMU 444 038 Load (tonnes) 5 210/225 tonnes Weather Fine Rec/Pos/GPS? B.I. Nathan/1 of 5/No Miles M C location Sch m s mph ave 0.00 66 39 WINCHESTER d 0 0 00.0 2.20 64 23 Kingsworthy 2 40.8 70 49.3 4.20 62 23 Wallers Ash Tunnel N 4 16.0 78 75.6 8.40 58 07 MICHELDEVER 7 13.7 91 85.1 11.46 55 02 Litchfield Substation 9 13.3 95/99 92.2 13.99 52 40 Wooton 10 48.5 89 95.5 16.14 50 28 Worting Junction SS 12 18.6 85 85.9 18.74 47 60 BASINGSTOKE 14 08.4 86 85.2 21.49 45 00 MP 15 53.3 99 94.4 24.28 42 17 HOOK 17 34.6 99 99.1 26.68 39 65 WINCHFIELD 19 02.3 99 98.5 29.98 36 41 FLEET 21 02.3 99 99.0 33.24 33 20 FARNBOROUGH 23 01.1 99 98.9 35.49 31 00 MP 24 23.0 99/100 98.9 38.49 28 00 BROOKWOOD 26 11.5 99 99.5 41.24 25 20 MP 27 57.1 79 93.7 42.18 24 25 WOKING a 31 28 58.0 55.4 . Table 9 Loco 67016 Load Mk2 air cond + dead 67027 -224/230 Train 8.00 Cardiff- Paignton Date 24th August 2010 Weather Sunny/lt shower Recorder/{Position/GPS J H Sparkes, 2/6, No Miles Miles Chns Timing Point Sch M S MPH Ave 0.00 163 13 TAUNTON 0 0 00 1.30 164 37 Silk Mill OB 2 05 53 1.85 165 01 Norton Fitzwarren FB 2 2 32 80 73 2.90 166 05 Victory Crossing 3 19 84 82 4.49 167 52 Bradford on Tone LC 4 24 88 7.04 170 16 Wellington RR 6 01 95 7.84 171 00 MP171 6 31 100 101 8.86 172 02 Beam Bridge OB 7 08 90 96 9.84 173 00 MP173 7 47 92 10.86 174 02 Whiteball Summit OB 11 8 28 90 11.59 174 60 Burlescombe OB 8 55 97 14.16 177 26 TIVERTON PARKWAY 14 10 26 93 102 16.00 179 13 Tiverton Junction RR 15 ½ 11 34 101 102 16.84 180 00 MP180 12 04 97 101 17.84 181 00 MP181 2R 12 41 100 100 18.28 181 35 Cullompton Stn Rd OB 12 55 Err 22.35 185 41 Hele & Bradninch LC 15 22 98/100 100 23.60 186 61 Silverton OB 16 08 91/93 98 27.04 190 16 Stoke Canon LC 18 12 99 28.44 191 48 Stafford's Bridge W end 19 03 99 29.50 192 53 Cowley Bridge J OB 27 19 51 80 30.74 193 72 EXETER ST DAVID'S 30 21 56

Milepost 31¾ 263 January 2011 PLYMOUTH-PADDINGTON NON-STOP RUN

John Heaton FCILT

GW ran a non-stop special from Plymouth to Paddington on 13th October for invited guests, aiming for a record over the section. This was not hard to achieve as it has been done so rarely, and often via Bristol. The down record, run by a special with speed dispensations, looks unassailable in the current climate. The special ran well within booked speeds and suffered from signal checks at Hungerford and Airport Junction which mean that the target of 161min could not be met.

Special Plymouth to Paddington Miles M. Ch Timing Point Sch. Min. Sec. M.P.H. Average Cum Av Pow er Cars 43027/43003 95.75 129 74 Langport E. 77 31 98 99.0 74.1 Load* 2+5/182/185/326 speed 98.34 127 27 Somerton TWP 79 08 96 96.0 74.6 Train 12.50 special Plymouth-Paddington 99.54 126 11 Somerton G. F. 81 79 52 98/100 98.2 74.8 Date October 13, 2010 105.48 120 16 Keinton Mand. 83 30 100/87 98.1 75.8 Recorder/Position J. Heaton 3/7 3rd of 7 110.34 115 27 CASTLE CARY 87½ 86 31 89/101 96.7 76.5 Miles M. Ch Timing Point Sch. Min. Sec. M.P.H. Average Cum Av 110.34 129 44 0.00 245 74 PLYMOUTH d. 0 0 00 pfm 5-/62/rbt 113.78 126 09 Bruton 88 42 98/85 94.5 77.0 1.45 244 38 Lipson Jct 3 2 45 49 31.6 31.6 117.24 122 52 Brewham 91 01 94/100 89.7 77.3 1.96 243 77 Laira Jct 3 19 63/68/59 54.3 35.5 118.91 120 78 East Somerset J. 93 92 05 98/100 94.2 77.5 3.06 242 69 Tavistock Jct 4 20 61 64.9 42.4 123.23 116 53 Blatchbridge J. 95½ 94 40 99 100.2 78.1 3.99 241 75 Plympton 5 09 78/81 68.0 46.5 123.23 116 38 6.58 239 28 Hemerdon 7½ 7 13 60 75.1 54.7 125.20 114 40 Clink Rd. J. 97 95 52 94/100 98.7 78.4 8.34 237 47 Cornwood 9 00 59 59.3 55.6 128.50 111 16 Fairwood J. 99 97 54 98 97.4 78.8 10.68 235 20 Ivybridge G.F. 11 19 61/58 60.5 56.6 128.50 96 79 11.59 234 27 Ivybridge 12 12 14 59/61 59.7 56.8 130.89 94 48 Heywood Rd J. 100½ 99 24 88/110 95.5 79.0 12.93 233 00 Bittaford 13 34 59/61/55 60.2 57.2 137.41 88 06 Lavington xover 104 103 25 109 97.5 79.7 14.16 231 61 Wrangaton 14 50 57/61 58.6 57.3 138.46 87 02 Lavington 104 00 100/89 108.0 79.9 15.46 230 37 Aish 16½ 16 11 60 57.8 57.3 144.40 81 07 Patney 107 26 108/109 103.8 80.6 16.24 229 55 Brent 16 54 61/58 60.2 57.6 146.58 78 73 Woodborough 109½ 108 39 107 107.3 80.9 18.15 227 62 Marley TEP 18 50 61 59.4 57.8 150.16 75 26 Pewsey 110 42 99 105.0 81.4 20.43 225 40 Tigley 21 06 58/62 60.2 58.1 152.99 72 40 Wooton R. 112 25 99/100 98.7 81.7 23.10 222 66 Totnes 24 23 46 58/61 60.2 58.3 154.65 70 67 Burbage 113 29 88 93.5 81.8 26.18 219 60 MP 219.60c 27 03 54/57 58.0 58.1 155.38 70 09 Savernake 113 59 85/68 87.0 81.8 27.94 217 79 Dainton 29½ 29 00 55 55.5 57.8 157.44 68 04 Crofton L.C. 115 35 70 77.3 81.7 29.00 216 74 Stoneycombe 30 09 55/62 55.4 57.7 159.06 66 34 Bedw yn 117½ 116 43 97/100/sigs22 86.0 81.8 30.74 215 15 Aller Jct 31 53 59/55/62 60.1 57.8 163.95 61 43 Hungerford 121 40 68 59.2 80.9 31.85 214 06 NEWTON AB. 33½ 32 59 60 60.7 57.9 167.01 58 38 Kintbury 123 48 89 86.1 80.9 34.59 211 27 Bishopsteignton 35 28 88/59 66.1 58.5 169.38 56 09 Hamstead 125 12 110 101.3 81.2 36.98 208 76 Teignmouth 38 37 32 61/70 69.3 59.1 172.41 53 06 NEWBURY 126½ 126 52 109 109.4 81.5 38.36 207 45 Smugglers' Gap 38 50 59/57 64.0 59.3 173.10 52 31 New bury R. 127 15 106 107.6 81.6 39.78 206 12 Daw lish 41 40 17 60 58.4 59.2 175.91 49 46 Thatcham 128 57 97 99.3 81.9 41.43 204 40 Daw lish Warren 42½ 41 44 73/80 68.3 59.6 178.75 46 59 Midgham 130 45 93/100 94.6 82.0 43.48 202 36 Starcross 43 21 73/100 76.1 60.2 180.68 44 65 Aldermaston 131 56 97 97.6 82.2 47.19 198 59 Exminster 46 05 99 81.5 61.4 184.19 41 24 Theale 134 04 99/100 98.8 82.4 50.73 195 16 City Basin 48 22 70 93.0 62.9 187.71 37 62 Southcote J. 136 136 37 58 82.9 82.4 51.10 194 66 Exeter St. T. 48 42 65/44 67.5 63.0 188.59 36 72 Reading West 137 35 49/39 54.3 82.2 52.03 193 72 EXETER S.D. 50½ 49 46 45 52.0 62.7 189.51 35 78 READING 138 138 53 40 42.7 81.9 53.28 192 52 Cowley Bridge J. 52 51 12 65/98 52.3 62.4 194.45 31 03 Tw yford 142 142 31 116 81.5 81.9 55.73 190 16 Stoke Canon 52 58 97/100/95 83.2 63.1 201.23 24 21 Maidenhead 145½ 145 51 123 122.0 82.8 60.41 185 41 Hele 55 52 98/97/99 97.0 64.9 203.04 22 36 Taplow 146 44 123 123.1 83.0 64.58 181 28 Cullompton 58 24 98/100/97 98.6 66.3 204.56 20 74 Burnham 147 29 122 122.0 83.2 66.83 179 08 Tiverton Jct 60½ 59 47 100/97 97.6 67.1 207.05 18 35 SLOUGH 148½ 148 42 122 122.7 83.5 68.60 177 26 Tiverton P. 61½ 60 52 100 98.3 67.6 209.24 16 20 Langley 149 47 121 121.2 83.8 71.93 174 00 Whiteball 64 62 54 97 98.2 68.6 210.75 14 59 Iver 150 32 122/sigs 121.0 84.0 72.76 173 13 Whiteball TEP 63 25 98/97 97.3 68.8 212.25 13 19 West Drayton 151 29 60/86/sigs 94.7 84.1 75.68 170 20 Wellington 65 11 99 98.9 69.7 214.30 11 15 Airport Jct 152 153 06 sigs83/50 76.1 84.0 78.28 167 52 Bradford 66 46 96/99 98.5 70.3 216.40 9 07 Southall 153 154 58 82 67.5 83.8 79.86 166 05 Victory 67 45 98 96.9 70.7 218.14 7 28 Hanw ell 156 08 91/92 89.4 83.8 81.18 164 60 Norton F. 69½ 68 33 98 98.4 71.1 218.95 6 43 West Ealing 156 41 88 88.6 83.8 82.79 163 11 TAUNTON 70½ 69 32 98/100 98.4 71.4 220.33 5 13 Acton West 155 157 33 98/100 95.2 83.9 85.68 160 20 Creech 71 17 99 99.0 72.1 221.25 4 19 Acton Main L. 158 07 96 97.9 84.0 87.53 158 32 Cogload Jct 73½ 72 28 89/88 93.8 72.5 222.70 2 63 Old Oak C. 159 03 83 93.2 84.0 87.53 138 12 223.69 1 64 Ladbroke Grove 157½{½} 160 02 50 60.3 83.9 90.69 134 79 Athelney 75½ 74 27 99 95.7 73.1 225.35 0 11 PADDINGTON a. 161 163 25 Pfm 1 29.5 82.7 *=vehicles/tare/gross/incl PCs tonnes {½} =½min extra- not really recovery/pathing or performance

Milepost 31¾ 264 January 2011 GRAND CENTRAL EXPERIENCE

Martin Barrett On Saturday 18 September my wife and I had an appointment at the „Palace‟ – Buckingham Palace, but the Queen wasn‟t at home. In order to get there at our appointed time we needed to beg our way onto 0847 Grand Central service from York to Kings Cross. Having successfully done this, to our amazement John Heaton came into our carriage and sat at the next bay of seats. Well you can never have too many timers on a train can you, so after the event I suggested to John that I type up our runs, unedited other than for a couple of obvious errors, to see how they compared.

It so happened that we had the refurbished set with one of the newly re-engined power cars, 43480, leading and 43084 trailing. I have since discovered this was the first run of this power car since its refurbishment. I have also been informed that they are running as a one „old‟ and one „new‟ power car formation not because they want some reliability, but because two re-engined power cars won‟t work together at present!

This probably explained why so many GC personnel were on the train. In addition to our logs I have included a log on the same train a week earlier for comparison. The 0847 took off out of York „like a bat out of hell‟, to use a rather hackneyed expression, reaching 113 mph by Colton Junction as opposed to only 102 mph a week earlier and speed was kept in the low 120s until Doncaster where a slight check brought us down to 56 mph. The previous week we went sedately along around 115 mph and had a clear run through Doncaster so the actual gain going flat out was nil. Once again the acceleration from Doncaster was quite electrifying with 119 mph being reached by Rossington. A check then followed – probably the late running Hull train clearing into Retford (which itself was probably delayed by the preceding East Coast service also calling at Retford). We seemed to follow the pattern of fast acceleration, then easing, followed by more acceleration. I had the impression that the re-engined (front) power car was being tested as an engineer came through to the rear power car at one stage. Anyway back to the log(s), after the easing to 100 mph through Grantham, once again an impressive rise in speed to 114 mph by Stoke tunnel followed – we then shut off at Corby Glen and more or less coasted down to Werrington Junction, expecting a check from the preceding East Coast service. However the driver had failed to notice that we had passed it, tucked in the back platform at Newark, so we actually had a clear road right through. We seem to catch the signaller at Holme unawares as we had a check to 34 mph there but there was nothing in Connington loop. However it did give an opportunity to show what could be done up Abbots Ripton bank and speed reached 105 mph before being eased again. After that, virtually all the hard work was done and although already five minutes early at Huntingdon we carried on in fits and starts to arrive six minutes early despite the 50 mph tsr through Welwyn North tunnels. A quick return to the train a week earlier; with the absence of virtually any checks it was actually 1m 41½s quicker to Werrington Junction, but was then diverted via the platform road at Peterborough due to a points failure on the up main and then was hard on the heels of the preceding East Coast service.

However back to the two logs; how did they compare? Well the overall journey time was 0.05 seconds difference – I think that is within the permitted tolerance. As regards the details of the logs themselves, where we timed the same point only on a few occasions were we more than one second adrift and I am sure it was because we actually timed a different point. We were both using GPS, although John‟s was more sophisticated than mine and allowed him to verify his speeds later whereas I had to note the spot speed at the time. Even so I consider the similarity of speeds between us to be quite remarkable as well and I am sure the logs would have been even closer if the exercise had been agreed beforehand as John says he would have noted the hundredths instead of full seconds had he known.

Milepost 31¾ 265 January 2011 Date Sat 18 Sep 2010 Sat 11 Sep 2010 Train 0847 York - KX 0847 York - KX Units 2+5HST/43480/43084 2+6HST/43065/43067 Weather Cloudy w ith show ers clearing to sunny Sunny periods Recorder/Pos Martin Barrett (6/7) John Heaton (6/7) Martin Barrett (7/8) m ch Miles location Sch m s mph m s mph m s mph 188 34 0.00 York (Plat 3) 0 0 00 ¾ late 0 00 0 00 ¾ late 184 60 3.68 Copmanthorpe 3 46 103 58.5 4 14.5 92 52.0 184 26 4.10 Copmanthorpe SB 4 01 105 61.2 183 00 5.43 Colton Jn 5 4 45 113 106.8 4 45 113 108.4 5 20 102 96.2 180 29 8.06 Ryther Via NE 6 05 125/127/122 118.7 180 04 8.38 Ryther Via SE 6 14 126/121 119.3 6 58.5 112/120 107.8 175 00 13.43 Hambleton N Jn 9 8 42 125 122.8 8 42 125 123.0 9 32.5 118 118.1 174 20 14.18 Hambleton S Jn 9 03.5 126 125.6 9 03 126 128.6 9 55.5 117 117.4 169 20 19.18 Templehirst Jn 12 11 30 121 122.9 11 30 121/124 122.4 12 30 116 116.5 167 20 21.18 Heck <2> 12 29.5 122 121.0 12 29 122 122.0 13 33 114 114.3 165 74 22.50 Balne 13 08.5 123 122.3 13 08 122 122.3 14 14.5 116 114.9 163 00 25.43 Moss 14 35.5 117 121.0 14 35 118 121.0 15 46 114 115.1 160 48 27.83 Joan Croft 15 52.5 106 112.2 17 01.5 114 114.4 160 23 28.14 Shaftholme Jct SB 16 03 104 111.0 160 16 28.23 Shaftholme Jn pts 18 16 06.5 103 102.9 17 14 113 115.2 (2) sigs sigs 158 02 30.40 Arksey 17 47 56 77.9 17 46 56 79.1 18 25 106 110.3 156 00 32.43 Doncaster 22 19 34.5 87 67.8 19 35 86 66.9 19 37 97/106 101.3 152 00 36.43 Loversall Carr 24 21 51.5 118 105.1 21 52 118 105.1 21 57 105 102.9 151 29 37.06 Rossington (1) 22 11 119 117.7 22 11 119/120 120.8 22 19 104/100 104.3 147 60 40.68 Baw try 24 05.5 108/110 113.6 24 06 109/111 113.1 24 25 108 103.2 sigs 23 sigs 22 144 00 44.43 Ranskill 27 45.5 56 61.4 27 46 53 61.4 26 24.5 115 113.0 138 49 49.81 Retford 32½ 31 18.5 114 91.1 31 18 114 91.5 29 09.5 119 117.5 137 37 50.96 Grove Road 31 54.5 117/113 115.0 31 54 117/113 115.0 29 45 117 116.6 134 40 53.93 Askham Tnl NE 33 27.5 115 114.7 33 28 115 113.5 31 20 105 112.3 130 29 58.06 Egmanton 35 34 126 117.7 35 34 126 118.2 33 32.5 121/125 112.4 126 25 62.11 Carlton 37 30.5 123 125.2 37 30 123 125.7 35 30.5 121/120 123.6 123 00 65.43 Bathley Lane 39 12.5 109 116.9 39 13 109 115.8 37 10 121 119.8 120 63 67.64 New ark Crossing 41½ 40 29 97 104.1 40 29 98/97 104.8 38 22.5 96 109.9 120 12 68.28 New ark NG 42 40 53 101 95.6 40 52 100/113 99.8 38 46 99 97.7 115 27 73.09 Claypole 44½ 43 30.5 113/117 110.0 43 30 112/118 109.7 41 29 110/112 106.3 111 41 76.91 Hougham 45 28 115 116.7 111 40 76.93 Hougham 45 30 115 115.6 43 33.5 111 111.0 108 29 80.06 Peascliffe Tnl NE 47 09.5 110/99 113.5 47 10 110 110.7 45 16 107 110.2 105 40 82.93 Grantham 50 48 51.5 100 101.0 48 52 100 101.0 46 57 98 102.0 101 00 87.43 Stoke Tnl NE <1> 51 21 114 108.4 49 38 102 100.6 99 60 88.68 Stoke Jn 54½ 52 01 117 112.5 51 58 116/125 111.3 50 22 105 102.3 97 12 91.28 Corby Glen 124 53 17 124/125 118.5 51 45 119/125 112.8 92 17 96.21 Little Bytham 55 47.5 114 119.8 55 47 114/113 118.5 54 09 124 119.5 sigs 107 87 07 101.34 Greatford 58 29 116 114.2 58 29 117 113.9 56 49 113/119 115.3 84 64 103.63 Tallington 58 59 42 109 112.8 59 42 109 112.8 58 00.5 118 115.2 81 71 106.54 Helpston (3½) 61 24.5 97 102.3 61 24 99 102.8 59 28.5 122 119.1 79 40 108.93 Werrington Jn 62 56 89/87 93.9 61 12.5 45 82.6 79 38 108.95 Werrington Jn 63 00 88 90.5 78 00 110.43 New England N 63 55.5 95 90.8 64 26.5 15 XSL/23 27.8 sigs 10/27 76 27 112.09 Peterborough 70 64 53.5 107/105 103.2 64 53 107 100.0 69 53 12 XFL 18.3

Milepost 31¾ 266 January 2011 m ch Miles location Sch m s mph m s mph m s mph 72 63 115.64 Yaxley (2½) 66 56.5 104/99 103.9 74 05.5 77 50.6 72 53 115.76 Yaxley 67 00 104 104.2 sigs sigs 69 26 119.10 Holme 69 37 34 77.7 69 37 35 76.5 76 35 92 83.4 67 20 121.18 Connington S Jn 77½ 71 26 90/105 68.5 71 25 89/105eased 69.2 77 50.5 102/101 98.9 63 35 124.99 Abbots Ripton 73 44 103/101 98.7 63 00 125.43 MP 74 01.5 102 98.4 80 22 102 101.0 58 67 129.59 Huntingdon 82 76 23.5 114 105.5 76 23 113 104.2 82 36.5 120/121 111.4 55 72 132.53 Offord 77 54 118 116.9 77 53 118 117.5 84 04.5 119 120.2 51 56 136.73 St Neots 79 59 123/127 121.0 79 59 123/127 120.0 86 11.5 116/119 119.1 sigs 95 47 38 140.95 Tempsford 82 01.5 124/119 124.2 82 01 124/119 124.7 88 33 98 107.5 44 10 144.30 Sandy 89 83 40.5 122/124 121.8 83 41 121/122 120.6 90 28.5 108 104.4 41 15 147.24 Bigglesw ade <2> (1) 85 07 121/118 122.3 85 08 121/120 121.6 92 05 113/112 109.6 37 04 151.38 Arlesey 87 12 121 120.1 37 00 151.43 Arlesey 87 13 121 119.6 94 18 117 113.3 sigs 64 32 00 156.43 Hitchin 98 89 47.5 117/119 116.5 89 47 117 117.3 97 39 71 89.6 27 48 160.83 Stevenage 100 92 00.5 123 119.1 92 00 122 119.1 100 47 98 84.3 25 00 163.43 Knebw orth 93 19 113 119.2 93 17 114 121.6 102 18 105 102.9 23 65 164.61 Woolmer Green 102 94 00.5 77 103.0 94 02 80 95.0 103 01.5 75 98.3 tsr 50 tsr 50 tsr 52 22 00 166.43 Welw yn North 95 57.5 62 55.8 96 01 61 54.8 104 57.5 58 56.3 20 20 168.18 Welw yn GC 104 97 20.5 95 75.9 97 18 92/113 81.8 106 27 87 70.4 17 56 170.73 Hatfield 98 47 111 106.1 98 47 111/105 103.1 108 01 104/105 97.7 15 46 172.85 Welham Green 99 57.5 107 108.5 99 58 107 107.7 109 15.5 100 102.7 14 38 173.96 Brookmans Park 100 35 106 106.6 109 56 97 98.7 12 60 175.68 Potters Bar 108 101 35 100 102.9 101 37 101 102.7 111 01 95 95.0 9 14 179.25 New Barnet 103 46.5 96 97.9 103 47 97 99.0 113 11 101 99.0 8 28 180.08 Oakleigh Park 104 18 96 94.3 104 18 96 95.8 113 40.5 101 100.7 6 37 181.96 New Southgate 105 29.5 95 95.0 105 29 95 95.7 114 48 100 100.7 5 00 183.43 Alexandra Pal 113 106 25.5 90 94.0 106 25 91 94.0 115 43 94 95.7 4 00 184.43 Hornsey 107 06 85 88.9 107 06 87 87.8 116 21.5 89 93.5 3 33 185.01 Harringay 107 32 79 81.3 107 32 78 81.3 116 46 85 86.3 sigs 2 40 185.93 Finsbury Park 114½ 108 20 58 68.4 108 19 59 69.9 117 31 53 73.0 [2] sigs sigs sigs 5/31 0 64 187.63 Goods&Min Jct 110 39 25/28 43.7 0 60 187.68 Belle Isle 118 110 35 27/28 46.7 123 19.5 8/22 XDM 18.1 0 07 188.34 KX (Plat 1) 120 113 04.43 16.0 113 04.38 17.6 126 14 (plat 7) 13.7 adv121 7 mins early on public times 7 mins late on public times

Did you say Eco?

Alan Varley

A number of comments in recent issues of Milepost, and most recently the letter by Nigel Smedley in Milepost 31¼, echo the same theme: modern traction performance is becoming less interesting as defensive driving, speed monitoring and the “green” agenda gather strength.

All this is perfectly true. However, looking at things from a French point of view I can only say to my British friends,: “Mes amis, vous n‟avez encore rien vu,” which could be roughly translated as: “Guys, you ain‟t seen nothin‟ yet!” France, a country with no oil reserves of its own, began to adapt schedules and driving techniques to achieve fuel savings after the two oil crises of the 1970s, thereby stifling performance to a degree that is hard to imagine for

Milepost 31¾ 267 January 2011 recorders familiar only with the UK situation. My SNCF articles, over the years, have described the impact of the “MARECO” (for “marche économique – economy running) schedules and the consequences of the French ATP system on driving habits. But rather than quoting more examples of French running it is perhaps more telling to imagine what might happen if such measures were applied in the UK.

Let‟s indulge, then, in a little fantasy, a piece of science fiction (though perhaps by the end of my tale readers may consider that it belongs rather to that related genre, the horror story!).

We‟re in the year 2013 – or 14, or whatever … Following the indecisive elections of 2010 there has been a period of political upheaval, with a Con/Lib administration followed by a Lib/Green government. In one of its more liberal (small “l”) moments, the Conservative government decides to return Network Rail entirely to the private sector. The successful bidder is the French infrastructure agency RFF, but by the time its new British subsidiary, Railnet, takes over the network, there has been a change of government. The Department for Transport (DfT) is instructed by the new administration to promote sustainable development and energy saving in the transport sector, and is delighted to find that Railnet possesses all the necessary expertise. DfT therefore encourages Railnet and the train operating companies to work together to recast the national timetable with eco-schedules along French lines ….

The 1500 from Kings Cross serves as a good example of how this works out in practice. Railnet can find no fault with the basic BR running times, adding up to 99.5 minutes for the non-stop section to York. York is just over 305 kilometres from Kings Cross (Railnet is, of course, resurveying and reposting the system with metric units), so with the standard 4.5 minutes recovery per 100 km, there will be 14 minutes extra time in the schedule, which will thus round up to 114 minutes to York. (Attentive readers of my articles may object that some crack trains in France still have an exceptional allowance of only 3 minutes/100 km, but this is only an exception; it is disappearing, and no doubt Railnet, starting with a clean slate in the UK, would not introduce anomalies that are justified only by historical and political factors specific to the French environment.)

The corresponding schedule is shown in Table 1, along with the instructions to drivers on appropriate cruising speeds and coasting points (LS = Line Speed). The last two columns show a simulated run, with the driver following these recommendations to the letter. (Note that DfT has pushed micro-management to the point of getting the depots to reset Class 91 speedometers to avoid those episodes of 202 km/h cruising: 1% extra speed represents 1.5% extra track wear which is not compatible with a sustainable railway!).

This, then, is what a run on ECML‟s flagship train might look like if ever the UK were to seriously take on board the rather short-sighted approach to energy savings adopted in France. To readers who protest that nobody in their right minds would run a 125 mph railway in this fashion I can only say: read my article in Milepost 31 and look at the running of the Interloire service, with 200 km/h trains cruising at 166 km/h – or even in the 150s.

My scenario is of course a fantasy, based as I said above on a short-sighted approach to ecological demands. A more balanced policy would look to keep journey times short so as to maintain the attractiveness of the train and take traffic off the roads, hopefully with greater impact on energy consumption and emissions. I am aware that recent discussions concerning the 1500 from Kings Cross have in fact focussed on restoration of the 4-hr timing to Edinburgh rather than on any further slowings. Recovery time in the UK is less abundant than in France, and above all there is less surplus time in schedules over and above that required for engineering slacks, so “spinning out time” is still quite rare. Most trains from Euston and Kings Cross run with full power accelerations and speeds close to line limit for at least the first 30-40 minutes of their journeys – a situation difficult to match in France except

Milepost 31¾ 268 January 2011 to some extent on the Atlantique and Est LGVs.. But there are plenty of straws in the wind, and they are not all blowing in the same direction. This Gallic nightmare might become at least partially true before too long.

Kings Cross-York simulation, French style Cl 91, 9 + DVT Sched Ref speed m s ave mph

0 Kings Cross 0 0 00 RT 0,7 Belle Isle (0,5) LS 2 22 17,7 2,43 Finsbury Pk 4,5 LS 4 20 52,8 73 4,91 Alexandra P 6,5 LS 6 02 87,5 93/91 6,37 New Southgate 100 6 58 93,9 96 12,66 Potters Bar 11 100 10 52 96,8 98 17,61 Hatfield 110 13 43 104,2 108 20,28 Welwyn Gdn 15 15 12 108,0 108/105 27,55 Stevenage 18,5 19 15 107,7 108 31,86 Hitchin 20,5 21 39 107,8 108/105 36,97 Arlesey (1,5) 24 31 107,0 108 44,04 Sandy 28 28 27 107,8 108/105 51,61 St Neots (1) 32 42 106,9 108 58,75 Huntingdon 36 36 40 108,0 108 62,64 Abbots Ripton 38 38 50 107,7 108 65,91 MP 66 (1,5) coast 40 39 108,0 108/95 69,24 Holme 42,5 100 42 39 99,9 98 76,25 Peterborough 46,5 46 56 98,2 98 77,91 New England N (1,5) 110 47 57 98,0 98 84,71 Tallington 52 51 50 105,1 108/105 92,13 L Bytham (1) 56 00 106,8 108/105 100,05 Stoke RR 60,5 60 28 106,4 108 102,04 Great Ponton coast 61 34 108,5 108 105,35 Grantham 63,5 100 63 30 102,7 98 107,76 Peascliffe T S (0,5) 110 64 59 97,5 98 109,59 Barkston S 66 66 02 104,6 108 118,95 Barnby (1) coast 71 15 107,7 108 120,06 Newark 72 71 53 105,2 102/98 122,89 Bathley Lane 110 73 37 98,0 98 134,38 Askham Tunn (1) coast 80 11 105,0 108/95 138,53 Retford 82,5 110 82 40 100,3 98 143,91 Ranskill 85 44 105,3 108 149,41 MP 149.5 (2) coast 88 47 108,2 108 153,91 MP 154 91 37 95,3 78 155,90 Doncaster 93 93 09 77,9 78 156,91 MP 157 (1) 110 93 56 77,4 78 169,16 Templehirst 101 100 53 105,8 108 174,91 Hambleton N 103,5 104 05 107,8 108/105 179,96 Ryther V S (1) coast 106 55 106,9 108 182,91 Colton Jc 108,5 108 44 97,4 88 188,04 Holgate OB (1) 113 10 69,4 38* 188,41 York 114 114 00 26,6

Milepost 31¾ 269 January 2011 SUPERMARKET SWEEP

By John Heaton FCILT

Members might have seen an article in Modern Railways covering a run I was lucky enough to time from Daventry to Grangemouth with a DRS intermodal Asda/Malcolm supermarket train. Following hot on the heels of a similar opportunity between Grangemouth and Inverness for The Railway Magazine it was probably too soon to push my luck with a second DRS intermodal article for Practice and Performance.

The MR article traced some of the logistics issues behind the train operation and a log was not required so I thought it might be a good idea to publish it in Milepost. I will not relate the full run which appeared in some (albeit abbreviated) detail in MR but the major interest came in finding gaps in the VHF Pendolino service. We overtook a Freightliner at High Oaks (the new junction north of Rugby) and managed to avoid being looped before Basford Hall. The load was 9 IKAs, 713tonnes trailing, 840tonnes including the loco, but the timings were for 1,235 tonnes so we could easily make up time.

We were given a run at Grayrigg and Tebay before waiting at Upperby for crew relief to reach Carlisle station. Running early again, we were not looped at Beattock as booked and approached Mossend two hours early. Although regulating had been excellent so far (we had been looped additionally at Penrith for a Pendolino), Cowlairs box pedantically applied a „no early running‟ rule to all freight. To be fair, there was some terminal congestion for a short while as we were recessed, since two other Saturday evening container trains were being handled. The apologetic Motherwell signaller had to give us the bad news and steps are in hand to examine whether a more rational approach might be applied. Nearly two hours later we proceeded to Greenfoot, thence in our booked path to Grangemouth for a punctual arrival.

In addition to the log, I have attached the raw data recorded on the three major climbs. Discrepancies and omissions are evident. An attempt was made to time each quarter mile and take the GPS reading at each quarter-milepost. The table shows the stopwatch speed (obviously an „average‟ over the quarter) the GPS speed at the quarter-mile posts and the GPS average between the posts. Between pressing the stopwatch early/late and dropping the GPS it is possible to discern the pattern. It was in fact easier at 70mph than at 40mph as the longer gaps between posts at lower speeds gave greater scope for distraction! Perhaps the skilled mathematicians within the RPS might be able to make more of the data than me.

Daventry to Grangemouth Loco 66414 Vehicles/gross tonnes/inc loco 9/713/840 Train 11.10 DIRFT-Grangemouth Date 15/8/09 Weather Showers Rec/Pos/GPS? J. Heaton 1/10 Y Miles Timing Point Sch. Min. Sec. M.P.H. Average 0.00 DAVENTRY IRFT d. 0 0 00 1½L 0.46 Daventry North Jct 5 [1][ 1 48 14 - 3.19 Hillmorton Jct 10 7 10 48 30.5 4.35 Rugby 12 (2½) 8 45 40/sigs 13 44.0 9.85 Brinklow 22½ 17 20 64 38.4 13.21 Shilton (½) 20 19 71/70/73 67.6 15.35 Bulkington 22 07 70/sigs 53 71.3

Milepost 31¾ 270 January 2011 Miles Timing Point Sch. Min. Sec. M.P.H. Average 18.90 Nuneaton 31½ 25 36 71 61.1 21.35 Hartshill S. 27 36 74/57 73.5 24.14 Atherstone 30 00 59 69.7 28.34 Polesworth 33 45 76 67.2 31.85 Tamworth 36 35 74/75 74.4 38.10 Lichfield Trent V. 50½ 41 42 69 73.3 43.49 Armitage Jct. 46 13 75 71.6 46.11 Rugeley 57½[1](8½) 48 19 75/76 75.0 48.96 Colwich 71 50 44 73/sigs 53 70.8 51.30 Milford 73½ (11) 52 57 57 63.3 55.39 Stafford 90 58 49 33 41.8 58.71 Great Bridgeford 62 37 64 52.5 60.70 Norton Bridge 96½ 64 25 70 66.2 65.23 Standon Bridge 68 12 74/75 71.8 67.68 Stableford 70 11 74 74.1 69.35 Whitmore 71 33 73 73.5 71.78 Madeley 108½ [1] 73 30 75/76/sigs 74.6 78.13 Basford Hall Jct 115 82 35 14 41.9 79.01 Basford Hall a. 120 87 38 10.5 0.00 d. 122 93 38 1.71 Coal Yard 2 10 23 8 - 4.05 Coppenhall Jct 10 15 01 57/64/sigs 20.50-27.59 30.3 8.38 Winsford 17 29 43 43 17.7 9.69 Winsford Jct (1½) 31 15 60/74 51.4 12.61 Hartford 34 02 42 63.1 13.55 Hartford Jct 23 35 32 29 37.5 15.34 Acton Bridge 24½ [1] 38 18 57 38.8 17.36 Weaver Jct 27 40 10 71/sigs 22 65.1 23.11 Acton Grange Jct 31 50 45 37 32.6 24.99 Warrington 32 52 47 69/76 55.4 28.44 Winwick Jct 36 55 38 73 72.6 30.89 Golborne Jct 57 40 69 72.3 34.46 Bamfurlong Jct 60 42 74 70.6 36.76 Wigan NW 44½ 62 38 71 71.4 38.89 Boar's Head 64 31 62/73 67.9 42.61 Coppull 68 00 sigs 44 64.1 44.39 Balshaw Lane Jct 53½[1](5) 70 03 71/75 52.1 46.39 Euxton Jct 61 71 42 71/77 72.7 47.87 Leyland 72 55 76 73.0 49.10 Farington Jct 73 55 73/76 73.8 50.24 Farington Curve Jct 74 51 75/30tsr/sigs 73.3 51.85 Preston 66 77 20 14 38.9 53.19 Oxheys * 80 27 39 25.8 59.35 Brock 86 25 75/74 61.9 61.35 Garstang 88 02 75/76 74.2 64.60 Scorton 90 45 63 50tsr 48 71.8 67.10 Bay Horse 93 27 55 55.6 69.65 Oubeck (4) 95 53 68/71/sigs 29 62.9 72.84 Lancaster 139 (1½) 100 56 sigs 40/19 37.9 74.77 Morecambe S. Jct 142 (1) 104 32 51 32.2 75.97 Hest Bank 105 50 63 55.4 78.94 Carnforth N. Jct 146½ 108 21 72/77 70.8 82.34 MP 9½ 111 24 61 66.9

Milepost 31¾ 271 January 2011

Miles Timing Point Sch. Min. Sec. M.P.H. Average 83.59 Burton 112 31 72/76 67.2 86.37 Milnthorpe 114 50 73 72.0 89.84 Sedgwick 117 47 62 70.6 91.94 Oxenholme 161 119 50 60 61.5 95.34 Hay Fell [1] 123 23 54 57.5 97.09 Lambrigg 125 19 54/50 54.3 99.00 Grayrigg 127 33 51 51.3 102.84 Dillicarr 130 57 76 67.8 105.05 Tebay 183-203 132 43 74 75.1 107.99 Scout Green 135 28 50 64.1 110.46 Shap Summit 139 06 38 40.8 112.59 Shap 141 22 71 56.4 115.84 Thrimby Grange 144 03 73/77 72.7 120.79 Eden Valley Jct 147 57 75/sigs 18/25 76.2 124.10 Penrith 230½ 156 16 10/sigsstop156.25-166.53 23.9 128.85 Plumpton [2] 174 39 75 15.5 131.24 Calthwaite 176 34 75 74.8 137.04 Wreay 181 14 75 74.6 138.69 Brisco 182 38 60 70.7 140.61 Upperby Br J 186 38 24/sigstop188.17-249.41/20 28.8 141.95 Carlisle a. 248½ 253 51 1.2 0.00 d. 253½ 256 51 1.96 Kingmoor 4 35 48 25.7 6.10 Floriston 8 22 75 65.7 8.75 Gretna Jct 11½ 10 37 66 70.7 10.38 Quintinshill 12 10 61 63.1 13.55 Cove 16½ 15 18 59 60.7 20.21 Ecclefechan 21 20 67/76 66.2 25.84 Lockerbie 32½-43½ 26 09 74/73 70.1 31.75 Dinwoodie 31 00 74/75 73.1 39.76 Beattock Station 61½-129½ 37 44 66 71.4 42.51 Auchencastle 40 34 50 58.2 45.15 Greskine 44 11 39 43.8 47.51 Harthope 47 58 35½ 37.4 49.77 Beattock Summit 156 51 38 39/74 37.0 52.65 Elvanfoot 54 30 72/75 60.3 57.90 Abington 164 58 43 73/75 74.7 66.80 Symington [6] 65 56 70/69 74.0 68.56 Thankerton 67 26 75/67 70.4 73.68 Carstairs 184-193½ 71 49 70 70.1 76.36 Cleghorn [1] 74 10 68/65 68.4 82.00 Carluke 79 07 75/sigs48 68.4 84.09 Law Jct 206 81 14 50 59.2 86.39 Wishaw 83 44 63 55.2 89.61 Holytown Jct 214 87 59 sigs 37 45.4 89.92 Holytown 88 35 22/sig stop 91.41-101.43/19 31.3 90.57 Mossend E Jct 215 104 20 15 2.5 91.33 Mossend Goods Loop a. 109 13 9.3 91.33 d. 204 28 0.0 93.50 Whifflet 227½ 211 57 23 17.4 94.25 Coatbridge C. 231½ 213 29 39 29.3 95.28 Gartsherrie S. Jct 233 215 45 sigs 12/21 27.2

Milepost 31¾ 272 January 2011 96.54 Garnqueen N. Jct 234½ 220 45 sigs/12sigsstop 20.10-31.23 15.1 97.22 Greenfoot LC 236 53 11/54 2.5 100.02 Greenfaulds [2] (2) 241 28 37/64 36.7 106.27 Greenhill L Jct 248½ (1½) 249 13 sigs50/sigstop 50.27-51.16 48.4 108.43 Carmuirs W. Jct 253½ 256 57 17/22 16.8 108.93 Carmuirs E Jct 254½[3] 258 25 21/37sigs15 20.5 110.67 Falkirk G, 260½ 262 56 22 23.1 111.03 Grangemouth Jct 261 263 56 21/24/sigs 1/- 21.8 112.56 Fouldubs Jct(relieving pt) 268 $ 270 54 13.1

* Booked Barton loop75-117. $= Equated. Booked to pass Fouldubs Jct 268½ [x]=recovery mins (x)= pathing mins

CLIMBS Date 15 August 2009 Loco 66414 Load 9 IKA megafrets 17 containers Weather Showers min sec elapsed s. mph gps gps reading Oxenholme mid pt 60.2 Gradient (up) MP20 120 43.48 60.1 60.0 104 20.25 120 58.82 15.34 58.7 59.4 58.8 104 20.50 121 14.41 15.59 57.7 58.3 57.7 213 20.75 121 30.14 15.73 57.2 57.6 57.5 124 21.00 121 45.89 15.75 57.1 57.4 57.2 124 21.25 122 01.66 15.77 57.1 56.9 56.6 124 21.50 122 17.73 16.07 56.0 56.2 55.7 131 21.75 122 33.90 16.17 55.7 55.8 55.8 131 22.00 122 50.21 16.31 55.2 55.4 55.0 131 22.25 123 06.49 16.28 55.3 55.1 55.1 131 22.50 123 23.03 16.54 54.4 54.7 54.3 131 22.75 123 39.49 16.46 54.7 54.1 53.9 131 23.00 123 56.04 16.55 54.4 54.2 54.5 131 23.25 124 12.60 16.56 54.3 54.2 53.9 131 23.50 124 29.27 16.67 54.0 54.0 54.0 131 23.75 131 24.00 131 24.25 106 24.50 125 35.73 66.46 54.2 53.8 53.6 106 24.75 125 52.83 17.10 52.6 53.1 52.5 106 25.00 126 10.47 17.64 51.0 52.1 51.7 106 25.25 126 28.50 18.03 49.9 51.7 51.7 106 25.50 126 44.91 16.41 54.8 51.4 51.1 106 25.75 127 02.39 17.48 51.5 51.0 50.8 106 26.00 127 20.23 17.84 50.4 50.6 50.4 396

Milepost 31¾ 273 January 2011 Beattock min sec elapsed m s. mph gps gps reading gradient MP 37 35 18.14 69.5 202 37.25 35 31.04 12.90 69.8 69.4 69.2 202 37.50 35 44.13 13.09 68.8 69.0 68.8 202 37.75 35 57.13 13.00 69.2 68.8 68.8 202 38.00 36 10.21 13.08 68.8 68.8 68.7 202 38.25 36 23.50 13.29 67.7 68.6 68.4 202 38.50 202 38.75 36 50.01 26.51 67.9 68.0 67.5 202 39.00 37 03.40 13.39 67.2 67.1 66.7 202 39.25 37 16.82 13.42 67.1 66.7 66.7 174 39.50 174 39.75 37 44.12 27.30 65.9 66.5 66.3 260 40.00 37 57.67 13.55 66.4 66.2 66.1 260 40.25 38 11.37 13.70 65.7 65.6 65.1 88 40.50 38 25.08 13.71 65.6 64.1 63.1 88 40.75 38 40.03 14.95 60.2 61.9 60.7 88 41.00 38 55.09 15.06 59.8 59.6 58.4 88 41.25 39 10.43 15.34 58.7 57.6 56.7 88 41.50 39 25.96 15.53 58.0 55.9 55.1 88 41.75 39 42.26 16.30 55.2 54.8 54.5 88 42.00 39 59.26 17.00 52.9 54.0 53.4 88 42.25 40 16.29 17.03 52.8 52.7 51.9 81 42.50 40 33.54 17.25 52.2 50.9 49.9 81 42.75 40 51.46 17.92 50.2 49.3 48.7 81 43.00 41 10.90 19.44 46.3 48.2 47.6 79 43.25 41 30.26 19.36 46.5 46.5 45.4 79 43.50 41 50.10 19.84 45.4 45.1 44.7 79 43.75 42 10.37 20.27 44.4 44.3 43.8 79 44.00 42 31.20 20.83 43.2 43.4 43.0 79 44.25 42 52.28 21.08 42.7 42.7 42.4 74 44.50 43 13.05 20.77 43.3 41.8 41.2 74 44.75 43 35.81 22.76 39.5 40.8 40.4 74 45.00 43 58.52 22.71 39.6 39.7 38.9 76 45.25 44 21.48 22.96 39.2 38.8 38.6 76 45.50 44 44.40 22.92 39.3 38.0 37.4 76 45.75 45 08.21 23.81 37.8 37.5 37.6 76 46.00 45 32.12 23.91 37.6 37.9 38.2 69 46.25 45 56.41 24.29 37.1 38.0 37.7 77 46.50 46 20.36 23.95 37.6 37.0 36.3 77 46.75 74 47.00 47 07.61 47.25 38.1 36.7 37.0 75 47.25 47 31.94 24.33 37.0 37.0 36.9 75 47.50 47 56.59 24.65 36.5 36.5 36.1 75 47.75 48 21.54 24.95 36.1 36.2 36.2 75 48.00 48 46.11 24.57 36.6 36.4 36.5 74 48.25 49 11.32 25.21 35.7 36.4 36.3 74 48.50 49 36.33 25.01 36.0 36.3 36.3 74 48.75 50 00.93 24.60 36.6 36.0 35.6 74 49.00 50 25.33 24.40 36.9 36.1 35.9 77 49.25 50 50.23 24.90 36.1 36.1 36.3 77 49.50 77 49.75 smt 51 38.00 47.77 37.7 37.7 39.1 835

Milepost 31¾ 274 January 2011 ARRIVA TRAINS NORTHERN: THE END OF A FRANCHISE

Martin Barrett reminisces

On Saturday 11 December 2004 Arriva Trains Northern passed into the mists of time to be replaced by the new Northern franchise run by Serco/NedRail. At the same time some services also ceased, notably the semi-fast Leeds to Sheffield via Moorthorpe and the last „real‟ daytime services from Leeds to Goole. The former were/are duplicated by the Virgin Cross Country services, except for Meadowhall which is now covered by the Leeds – Wakefield Kirkgate – Barnsley – Sheffield service. The Leeds – Goole service was replaced by absolutely nothing. This route now falls into the „Chathill‟ category with only one or two trains a day.

As a way of a tribute to the services, I spent a couple of days travelling on them to see how they actually performed. On a cloudy Wednesday morning I joined the 0924 at Leeds, well supplied with accommodation in the shape of 153351 and newly-arrived from Scotrail 150256. As the 0910 Virgin train preceded, patronage was not great but approximately 20 people were on board. The pathing of this train left a lot to be desired, being scheduled out only three minutes behind 0921 stopper to Doncaster and with no less than 61 minutes to cover the 39 miles to Sheffield I had no doubts we would arrive on time. Oh dear – this proved to be a case of it is better to travel in hope than to arrive. A half-minute late departure was turned into 6½-minute late arrival resulting in a magnificent average of less than 35 mph! The driver cannot be faulted though; he tried hard where he could. The brisk start was hampered by the now obligatory brake test, on the falling gradient from Wortley West to Gelderd Road, but Ardsley was cleared at 63 mph but the swift acceleration to 79 mph was cut short by the 0921 Doncaster still clearing Wakefield platform. Sensible driving from Wakefield avoided continual braking. Seeing double yellows in the distance the driver restricted himself to the mid-50 mph range until the electric had cleared Fitzwilliam – an interesting case of running slowly on greens but no actual signal check. Another swift rise to 77 mph followed before the now approach controlled junction at South Kirkby. Apparently the flashing yellows were disabled as some drivers reported that steady yellows appeared to be flashing due the overhead mast supports. After the tsr through Moorthorpe I anticipated another burst of speed, but no, a freight off the Ferrybridge line was in front so another meander at around 50 mph followed until being stopped in the platform at Swinton. Here we waited no less than eight minutes whilst first a 158 then a 220 preceded off the Doncaster line. The conductor took pity on the passengers waiting for the slow and let them join. We were quickly away again and, surprisingly, arrived only three minutes late at Meadowhall. We may have just arrived at Sheffield on-time, but that was prevented by a five minute wait outside the station whilst a northbound Virgin train departed. At the time, Sheffield had one through platform out of use for rebuilding and reroofing so facilities were tight here, but not as tight as the ATN diagramming; our arrival at 1031½ formed 1025 to Scunthorpe and 1035 to Wakefield!

Fortunately the return to Leeds on the 1100 was much more successful, although the unit,142096, did not arrive in the platform from the sidings until a minute before departure and was well loaded with passengers off a Virgin train routed via Doncaster. The brake test caused speed to be reduced after Attercliffe Road, but a signal stop followed waiting for the 1057 from Sheffield to clear Meadowhall. Although time is allowed in the schedule for this, it was obviously not enough. Then followed the best run of the day: running up to 80 mph on long welded rail, the unit ran superbly and, despite the tsr at Moorthorpe, an even time run to Wakefield ensued. I must admit that the drop in speed to 65 mph up the 1 in 150 was more than I expected. The climb to Ardsley wasn‟t bad, but easy running followed and the new layout permitted an unchecked run into Leeds resulting a four minute early arrival – only 48½ minutes from Sheffield – a good effort as the public time for the current Virgin services are

Milepost 31¾ 275 January 2011 43 to 45 minutes with only a Wakefield stop.

Table 1 Run 1 2 Date 01 Dec 04 01 Dec 04 Train 0924 Leeds 1335 Leeds Traction 153351/150256 156472 Miles m ch Location sch m s mph sch m s mph 0.00 186 02 Leeds (Plat 11C) 0 0 00 0.5L 0 0 00 T sigs 0.48 185 43 Leeds West Jn 1.5 1 30 1.5 2 08 1/2 13 0.64 185 30 Whitehall East Jn 2 2 05 1/2 25 2 2 52 1/2 25 1.01 185 00 Holbeck Jn 2.5 2 49 31 2.5 3 36 32 1.52 184 40 Wortley South Jn 3 36 1/2 40 4 23 41/48/43 5.88 180 11 Ardsley 8 18 63/79 9 21 62/76 7.69 178 26 Outwood 9 45 1/2 72 10 51 70 sigs 31/39 10.20 175 65 Wakefield Westgate 13.5 13 49 13.5 14 03 0.00 14.5 14 25 14.5 14 42 1.68 174 11 Sandal (2) 2 42 1/2 55/51 2 38 60/70 3.94 171 70 Hare Park Jn 6.5 5 15 54/51 4.5 4 40 69 6.63 169 26 Fitzwilliam 7 59 73/77 6 53 1/2 75/76 (1.5) sigs 41 sigs 9.91 165 72 South Kirkby Jn 13.5 11 19 48 10 10 42 1/2 38 10.60 0 57 Moorthorpe 14.5 12 17 30 11 11 50 1/2 27 11 24 tsr + sigs tsr 14.04 14 64 Thurnscoe 16 49 52 15 31 1/2 71 14.86 15 50 Goldthorpe 17 45 55/56 16 12 1/2 74 15.94 16 56 Bolton-on-Dearne 18 54 53 17 03 1/2 77 16.54 17 24 Dearne Jn (8) 19 36 1/2 51 18.29 166 75 Swinton 29.5 24 00 sig 18 19 09 1/2 67/54 31 52 1/2 stop 20.35 164 70 Aldwarke Jn 31 34 50 1/2 66/76 19.5 21 18 65/67 sigs 28 23.23 162 00 Rotherham Mas (1) 37 23 51/48 (1.5) 25 00 46/42 23.69 163 40 Holmes Jn 35 37 56 53/62 23 25 36 1/2 48/56 <1> 25.31 161 70 Meadowhall 37 39 58 26 27 58 0.00 38 40 37 27 28 38 0.13 161 60 Wincobank Jn 0.5 0 28 1/2 0.5 0 32 0.67 161 17 Brightside Stn Jn 1 22 1/2 47/61 1 25 1/2 48/62 [1]<2> sigs [1]<2> 2.47 159 33 Attercliffe Road 3 23 18 3 15 1/2 49 2.94 158 75 Nunnery ML Jn 7 4 49 1/2 23 7 4 04 33 sig S150 signal 5 22 1/2 stop 10 14 1/2 3.52 158 35 Sheffield (1A) 9 12 08 1/2 3.44 158 42 Sheffield (4) 9 6 13 1/2

.

Milepost 31¾ 276 January 2011

Table 2 Run 3 4 Date 01 Dec 04 01 Dec 04 Train 1100 Sheffield 1500 Sheffield Traction 142096 153352 Miles Miles m ch Location sch m s mph sch m s mph 0.00 158 35 Sheffield (1A) 0 0 00 T 10 0.00 158 44 Sheffield (2B) 0 0 00 1/2L 0.50 0.38 158 75 Nunnery ML Jn 1.5 1 46 25 1.5 1 32 1/2 23 0.97 0.85 159 33 Attercliffe Road 2 27 46/38/53 2 15 1/2 42/62 (2) sigs (1) 2.77 2.65 161 17 Brightside Stn Jn 4 48 29 4 13 1/2 56 6 27 1/2 sig 6 38 1/2 stop 3.31 3.19 161 60 Wincobank Jn 6.5 7 27 5.5 5 04 1/2 3.43 3.31 161 70 Meadowhall 7 7 55 6 5 34 0.00 8 8 36 7 6 43 60 (0.5) 1.62 163 40 Holmes Jn 2.5 2 17 1/2 58/50 3 2 23 57 2.09 162 00 Rotherham Mas 2 50 53 2 56 1/2 46 4.97 164 70 Aldwarke Jn 5.5 5 26 1/2 77/79 6 5 39 1/2 72/73 7.03 166 75 Swinton 7.5 7 01 77/80 8 7 21 69 168 40 S 513 signal 9 57 sig 12 01 stop 8.78 168 55 Dearne Jn 8 21 1/2 77 12 41 9.38 16 56 Bolton-on-Dearne 8 49 1/2 77 13 35 1/2 51 10.45 15 50 Goldthorpe 9 40 1/2 71 14 53 1/2 42 11.02 15 05 Hickelton 10 10 70 16 19 1/2 5* -/67 11.28 14 64 Thurnscoe 10 23 72/74 17 03 max (2) tsr tsr 30 sigs 14.72 11 24 Moorthorpe 16 14 12 1/2 27 14.5 21 41 15 L655 signal 23 15 sig 23 25 stop 15.40 0 07 South Kirkby Jn 17 15 13 1/2 44/73 15.5 24 18 22 165 72 sigs 25 18.69 169 26 Fitzwilliam 18 28 1/2 65 29 21 1/2 58 21.38 171 70 Hare Park Jn 22.5 20 43 1/2 78/79 21 31 47 1/2 74 23.64 174 11 Sandal 22 29 1/2 67 33 40 73 25.34 175 65 Wakefield Westgate 27 25 01 25.5 36 14 0.00 28 26 00 26.5 37 09 2.51 178 26 Outwood 4 04 1/2 53 4 08 46 4.32 180 11 Ardsley [2]<2> 6 03 56/73 [2]<2> 6 17 51/67 8.68 184 40 Wortley South Jn 10 08 1/2 40 10 18 9.18 185 00 Holbeck Jn 14.5 11 06 27/22 14.5 11 14 32 9.66 185 30 Whitehall East Jn 15 12 02 1/2 24 15 12 11 22 9.82 185 43 Leeds West Jn 15.5 12 35 1/2 22 15.5 13 09 10.18 186 00 Leeds (11B) 17.5 13 51 10.10 185 73 Leeds (1- occ) 17.5 14 24

Milepost 31¾ 277 January 2011 . Table 3 Run 5 6 Date 06 Dec 04 06 Dec 04 Train 1204 Leeds 1341 Goole Traction 142094 142094 Miles m c Location sch m s mph Miles m ch Location sch m s mph 0.00 185 73 Leeds (17B) 0 0 00 T 0.00 6 46 Goole 0 0 00 1/2 L 0.36 185 43 Leeds West Jn 1.5 1 03 1/2 0.49 7 05 Potters Grange 1 18 0.77 195 20 Engine Shed Jn 2.5 1 57 1/2 30 1.29 0 64 Engine Shed Jn 3 18 1/2 25/48 1.88 194 11 Hunslet South Jn 3 27 51 73 52 3.52 192 40 Stourton Jn 5 00 1/2 67/72 4.00 70 75 Raw cliffe 6.5 7 40 1/2 6.06 189 77 Woodlesford 8 8 12 1/2 0.00 7 8 02 0.00 8.5 8 40 /53 0.72 70 17 Snaith Road LX 1 20 49 1.59 188 30 Methley LX 2 24 42 2.77 68 13 Snaith 4.5 4 35 1/2 sigs 25/37 0.00 5.5 4 59 /tsr 19 2.47 187 40 Methley Jn 3.5 4 05 1/2 28 tsr 19 3.64 0 01 Whitw ood Jn 6 6 38 28 Single Line Jn 4 08 41 4.42 21 22 Castleford Gates 7 55 1/2 37 3.66 64 40 Hensall 6 7 41 4.72 20 76 Castleford 8 8 52 1/2 0.00 6.5 8 02 0.00 99= 75 11 10 43 0.32 64 14 Snaith &P Hw ay LX 0 48 37/tsr27 tsr 10/20 1.50 63 00 Whitley Bdge Jn 2 57 40 0.82 0 61 Cutsyke Jn 4 21 1.81 62 55 Whitley Bridge 3 3 54 59 02 (2) 0.00 4 4 18 1.55 58 23 Glasshoughton 5 53 39 1.59 61 08 Sudforth Lane 2 23 50 3.03 56 65 Prince of Wales 8 30 3.36 59 26 Knottingley SB <2> 4 38 43 tsr 10 4.22 58 37 Knottingley 8.5 6 27 1/2 3.25 56 48 Pontefract M 8.5 10 38 0.00 9.5 6 54 /tsr 0.00 9 11 09 tsr 0.90 57 40 Pontefract Goods Jn 1 36 49/50 0.21 58 20 Knottingley W.Jn 0 46 25 1.65 58 20 Knottingley W.Jn 2 42 32 0.96 57 40 Pontefract Goods Jn 2 06 46/47 (2) tsr 20 1.86 56 48 Pontefract M 3.5 4 07 1/2 1.86 58 37 Knottingley 5.5 3 36 0.00 4 4 34 0.00 13.5 11 01 0.22 56 65 Prince of Wales 0 54 28/39 0.86 59 26 Knottingley SB 1 52 34/49 1.7 58 23 Glasshoughton 3 14 1/2 38 2.63 61 08 Sudforth Lane 4 17 tsr28/31 59 02 (2) sigs 4.22 62 55 Whitley Bridge 5.5 7 52 2.43 0 61 Cutsyke Jn 4 56 19 0.00 6 8 15 C 1022 Signal 6 45 1/2 sig 0.31 63 00 Whitley Bdge Jn 0 46 43/48 9 41 stop tsr 25 3.25 99= 75 Castleford 9 11 00 1/2 1.81 64 40 Hensall 3.5 3 46 1/2 0.00 20 76 12 12 46 0.00 4.5 4 11 /48 0.32 21 22 Castleford Gates 1 03 1/2 29/sigs 1.20 65 66 Drax Bch Jn 2 04 44 sigs Single Line Jn 3 04 41/19tsr 1.10 22 04 Whitw ood Jn 2.5 2 39 1/2 29 3.66 68 13 Snaith 6 7 20 1/2 0 01 0.00 6.5 7 47 2.28 1 15 Methley Jn 5 5 11 28 0.60 68 61 West Cow ick LX 1 12 48 187 40 2.05 70 17 Snaith Road LX 2 59 49 3.16 188 30 Methley LX 6 30 51/59 2.77 70 75 Raw cliffe 4 4 45 1/2 4.84 190 05 Woodlesford 8.5 9 02 1/2 0.00 5 5 10 /49 0.00 9 9 24 0 64 (2) sigs 4.07 194 11 Hunslet South Jn [2]<1> 4 41 1/2 52 3.51 0 00 Potters Grange 6 07 sigs 5.19 195 20 Engine Shed Jn 9 6 20 28/sigs 4.00 6 46 Goole 9 8 10 1/2 sigs 5.60 195 53 Leeds West Jn 10 7 43 18 185 43 5.96 185 73 Leeds (17B) 12 9 04

Milepost 31¾ 278 January 2011 After lunch I tried the 1335 Leeds to Sheffield with a more ambitious 51 minute schedule and quite well loaded. The start was inauspicious with a severe delay following the late running 1332 to Manchester Victoria. With the brake test at the bottom of the dip by the football ground, the running was less lively and time was dropped to Wakefield. The junction at South Kirkby was approached more cautiously and at least another half minute needs to be inserted into the schedule here. After the tsr things were quite sprightly until a brick hit a window just before Bolton-on-Dearne. Fortunately it only broke the outer skin but there was a short interruption to recording here whilst I informed the conductor. Subsequently speed was eased after Swinton whilst the train crew contacted their control. The delay didn‟t matter much as we were also delayed by a local crossing in front at Holmes Junction. Despite these delays, our Sheffield arrival was a minute early which was quite good as the unit worked the 1425 to Scunthorpe (off a 1426 booked arrival!) but was delayed further by examination of the broken window.

My last trip of the day was on the 1500 to Leeds. Come 1500 and no train. At 1508 153352 arrived from the north and with a quick turnround it was away 10½ minutes late. A single 153 is noted to be more sluggish than most other units and so it proved. The brake test was omitted this time and we had clawed back about a minute when we were stopped just before Dearne Junction. I thought „not another freight in front‟ but, no, we were being stopped and cautioned for the brick throwing incident an hour and a half before! Are the yobs in South Yorkshire so thick that they are going to wait that long to be caught, or was it that the BT Police still hadn‟t arrived? After slowing again at Hickleton to give the „thumbs up‟ we were the stopped approaching South Kirkby and this time it transpired it was for a preceding freight clearing into Hemsworth loop. By this time another ten minutes were lost and the lack of „oomph‟ up the hill to Ardsley resulted in only three minutes being regained despite four minutes of allowances. We were routed into platform one at Leeds to couple up to the 1559 to Knaresborough – this was at 1608 so all the passengers were already crammed in the existing two car unit (150256 again). Was this really the best way to sort this out? In the 15 minutes the train was delayed most of the standing passengers could have been at their destinations.

So goodbye to the Moorthorpe semi-fasts – no real loss and I think definitely surplus to requirements.

A few days later I sampled the last lunchtime Leeds to Goole service. It is many years since I have ventured beyond Castleford and from this experience it will probably be many more before I go again! The Midland route out of Leeds is the most level (both north and south) so once clear of the restrictions you can normally easily reach line speed. 142094 seemed a little below par and as it appeared to run slower than anticipated throughout the day maybe its speedo was reading one or two mph high. The absurdity of the approach control at Methley Junction showed how easy it is to reach a fairly high speed after the signal clears before braking for the actual junction itself. Fortunately the usual quick change of ends at Castleford made sure we departed from there on time. From Castleford on, I cannot remember travelling over worse track in a passenger train. There was a long 10 mph restriction followed by one for 20 mph, then, after Prince of Wales, another 10 mph tsr. Only on the return journey could I appreciate what I had travelled over – at the Castleford end more like a thick brown Windsor soup than anything else. Without urgent attention it must be close to being stopped altogether. It is rather ironic that between these two is the soon to be opened new „posh‟ station at Glasshoughton and the entire track has just been relayed. The line from Pontefract to Drax Branch Junction is plagued by further restrictions, all due to serious „wet spots‟ with clay pumping up through the ballast. Bearing in mind this line carries the coal traffic to Eggborough and Drax power stations, you would have thought that some attempt would be made to keep the route at its 50 mph line speed especially now the trains are formed of 102 tonne bogie hoppers. Even beyond Drax Branch Junction there is a 20 mph restriction due to poor track. The performance is really incidental to looking at

Milepost 31¾ 279 January 2011 the infrastructure but time was dropped pretty well everywhere from Castleford – only the eight minute wait at Knottingley (for no apparent reason) kept timekeeping within bounds. Leaving Knottingley only four passengers were on board; one for Rawcliffe and the rest for Goole. Coming back, patronage was worse with only me on from Goole and one other joined at Snaith. Once into West Yorkshire proper at Knottingley the train filled up. In this direction, without the heavy axle weights, there were fewer tsrs but the running was still uninspiring. Notably we actually reached the 50 mph line speed at Sudforth Lane! At Castleford all the services use one platform so delays can occur from late running services – as happened here. Despite all the problems we still arrived in Leeds early. The loss of this service will not inconvenience anyone but it now means you can only see the rural landscape in the summer.

After Arriva Trains Northern disappeared it was possible to travel on the semi-fast service via Barnsley which brought back regular timetabled services (not diversions) to the Methley to Altofts line after many years.

A-B: Martin Robertson

I show two tables which detail three runs in each direction between Airdrie and Bathgate. Due to the adverse weather the stations at Drumgelloch, Caldercruix and Armadale are yet to open, therefore this is something which will not be repeated later. I did not have a run over the line before its previous closure, but the alignment is the same.

The full timetable of four trains an hour is initially replaced with a weekday hourly service between Helensburgh and Edinburgh and an additional half hourly Bathgate to Edinburgh service. Saturdays has a half hourly Helen-Edin service with additional half hourly Bathgate- Edin services. I suspect the use of the Class 334 units will cause a loss of units on the services, they previously operated: ie my local service into Glasgow and the Glasgow- Ayrshire services. Scotrail appear to seeking assurances from the German manufacturers that the new Class 380's for the Ayrshire services are free of defects before accepting the units.

Mileposts are excellent other than between Airdrie and Drumgelloch, although difficult to read heading east. Not sure of the distances to Blackridge and Bathgate, therefore mileages are generally not given. The distances to the timing points at which miles and chains are given should be reasonably accurate. Bathgate station has been rebuilt slightly nearer Edinburgh, so no distance for it as yet.

At present crews are changed at Airdrie and Bathgate which usually results in a running brake test immediately on leaving those stations, often to a virtual stop. Some drivers will ease for the closed stations while others run through at the line speed. Line limits are up to 85mph between Drumgelloch and Blackridge, but lower elsewhere. As usual the variation in times can be due to the drivers braking into stations with some very cautious approaches.

The onward Bathgate-Edinburgh timings have been reduced with the introduction of electric traction. I have had one run into Edinburgh, and will show details in the next issue of Milepost.

Milepost 31¾ 280 January 2011 Table 1:- Airdrie-Bathgate Run 1 2 3 Date Th 30-12-10 M 03-01-11 Mon 03-01-11 Train: Helensburgh-Edinburgh 0840 0940 1110 Recorder, position, GPS M Robinson/1/Y M Robinson/1/Y M Robinson/1/Y m c miles Location m s mph m s mph m s mph 10 40 0.00 Airdrie d 0 00.0 0 00.0 0 00.0 rbt rbt rbt Ob 0 55.0 29 0 56.5 36 Ob 1 25.0 48/50 1 24.5 49 1 14.0 48/51 11 72 Drumgelloch Sfb 2 30.5 25* 2 17.5 57 2 10.5 48* 12 15 1.69 Ob 3 01.0 56 2 36.3 64 2 31.5 59 12 62 2.27 Ob 3 37.5 63/70 3 07.5 70/80 3 04.0 67 13 42 3.02 Unbr 3 39.0 75 14 02 3.52 Unbr 4 41.5 70 4 07.0 79 4 05.5 77 14 60 4.25 Caldercruix Sfb 5 39.5 27* 4 41.5 67 4 49.5 43* 15 19 4.74 Ob (49) 6 24.0 41tsr 5 09.5 56/38tsr 5 23.0 55/40tsr 16 00 5.50 Mp 16 7 25.5 60 6 08.0 59 6 18.0 58 16 42 6.02 Fbr 7 54.5 70 6 37.5 70 6 47.5 70 17 01 6.51 Ob 8 18.5 77/82 7 01.0 78 7 11.5 77 17 75 7.44 Ob 9 00.0 82 7 42.0 85 7 53.0 80 18 62 8.27 Ob (41) 9 37.5 80 8 18.0 84 8 30.5 81 19 43 9.04 Ob (39) 10 11.5 79 8 51.0 79 9 04.0 80 19 72 9.40 Unbr 10 31.0 51br 9 11.5 58br 9 20.5 64 20 30 9.87 Blackridge a 11 23.0 9 56.0 10 10.0 0.00 d 0 00.0 0 00.0 0 00.0 20 76 0.45 Ob 0 59.5 60 0 58.0 60 0 58.5 57 21 53 1.29 Unbr 1 36.0 71 1 35.5 73 22 00 1.62 Mp 22 1 52.5 69 22 58 2.35 Armadale 2 48.5 25* 2 32.5 62 2 27.5 74 23 39 3.11 Ob 3 40.0 69 3 13.5 71 3 07.0 68.5 24 01 3.64 Fbr 4 07.0 70 3 42.0 61 3 34.0 72 24 35 4.06 Ob (34) 4 30.5 60 4 10.0 47 3 55.5 60 24 73 4.41 Unbr (32) vse 4 27.0 45* 25 20 4.87 Bathgate a 5 56.0 5 56.0 5 20.0 . Table 2:- Bathgate-Airdrie Date Thur 30.12.10 Mon 03.01.11 Mon 03.01.11 Train: Edinburgh-Helensburgh 1121 1121 1248 Loco 334011 334011 334020 Load 3,122/125 3,122/124 3,122/124 Recorder/pos/GPS M Robertson 1/3 N M Robertson 1/3 Y M Robertson 1/3 Y miles m c Location m s mph m s mph m s mph 0.00 25 20 Bathgate d 0 00.0 0 00.0 0 0 rbt rbt 0.34 24 73 Ub (32) 0 52.0 49 1 04.5 49 0 44.5 46 0.81 24 35 Ob (34) 1 23.5 60 1 36.0 60.5 1 17.5 58 1.24 24 01 Fb 1 48.0 63/66 2 00.5 65.5 1 43 64/66 1.76 23 39 Ob 2 16.0 62 2 32.0 52e'd 2 12 57 2.53 22 58 Armadale Sfb 3 12.5 20* 3 19.5 64 3 00 50* 3.59 21 53 Unbr 4 33.0 67 4 13.0 79 4 01.5 75 4.30 20 76 Ob 5 09.5 67 4 46.5 73 4 37 61 4.88 20 30 Blackridge a 6 13.0 5 46.0 5 42

0.00 20 30 d 0 00.0 0 00.0 0 0

Milepost 31¾ 281 January 2011 0.48 19 72 Unbr 0 54.0 50 0 50.5 51 0 55.5 48 0.84 19 43 Ob (39) 1 17.5 63 1 14.0 66 1 19 63 1.60 18 62 Ob (41) 1 40.0 69 4 53.5 72 1 59 69 2.44 17 75 Ob 2 37.5 78 2 34.0 78 2 39.5 77 3.36 17 01 Ob 3 19.0 82 3 16.0 82 3 21 78 3.85 16 42 Fb 3 41.0 79 3 38.0 81 3 44 76 4.38 16 00 Mp 16 4 08.5 60br 4 02.5 65br/38tsr 4 10.5 72br/34tsr 5.14 15 19 Ob 5 06.5 39tsr 4 59.0 52 5 10 50 5.63 14 60 Caldercruix Sfb 6 07.0 1* 5 26.0 73 5 48.5 58* 6.35 14 02 UnBr 7 17.5 64 5 59.0 81 6 24.5 63 6.85 13 42 UnBr 7 44.0 70 6 24.5 79 6 52.5 62 7.60 12 62 Ob 8 22.5 7 01.0 60br 7 36.5 62 8.19 12 15 Ob 8 52.0 7 38.0 76 8 09 62 8.48 11 72 Drumgelloch Sfb 9 29.0 7 52.5 60br 8 30 62 11 xx Ob 10 40.5 8 45.0 31sc 9 40.5 11 xx Ob 9 07.0 26sc 10 02 sc's 9.88 10 40 Airdrie a 12 12.0 11 11.0 12 19

HAFAS OFFLINE COMPLETE TIMETABLE CAN NOW BE DOWNLOADED FREE OF CHARGE

Please go to this address for the December 10-May 11 timetable: http://www.bahn.de/p/view/buchung/karten/dbfahrplanbest.shtml

Milepost 31¾ 282 January 2011 4 LAVs on the Brighton Line

Andrew James

One of the great things about history is what is humdrum today can be of interest tomorrow. 4 LAVS on the Brighton line are arguably a perfect illustration of this. At the time these runs were timed, David Lloyd-Roberts would be the first to admit it was more a matter of getting from A to B, than any inherent interest he had in the units at the time.

The 4 LAVs seemed to have been confined almost exclusively to the Brighton line for their entire lives and were indeed built for the semi-fast and slow services to Brighton and Worthing. Exceptions to this rule were peak hour workings which went to Ore and Littlehampton. 33 units were constructed in 1931-1932 at Eastleigh in time for the 1932 Brighton electrification scheme. Two units, Nos. 2954/55, were built with HAL style cabs. The LAVs served on these lines from the outset of electrification to their eventual demise in 1969 when they were supplanted in the main by deliveries of VEP stock.

Table 1 4LAV traction equipment comprised two Run no 1 275 hp motors in each of the two motor Date C 1960 brake seconds so that each four carriage Train 828pm Victoria- unit had two powered and two trailer carriages. By the standards of the time, this Brighton 4 gave a very high power: weight ratio of Motive Power LAVs,2921/2935 about 7.9 horsepower per ton, well above a Load 280/295 contemporary steam express of the period. Recorder D.Lloyd-Roberts As M.Welch has pointed out, the acronym 4 LAV was somewhat misleading as the only M C m s mph two toilets were both located in the same 2 57 Clapham Junction 0 00 carriage which could mean a tense ride 4 50 Balham 3 10 48/45* home for passengers seated in other 6 47 Streatham Common 5 24 55 carriages after a „jolly‟ at Brighton! 8 52 Thornton Heath 7 35 56 Visually, the carriages closely resembled 9 30 Selhurst 8 35 40 contemporary loco-hauled Maunsell stock 10 00 Windmill Bridge Junction and, in the author‟s opinion, presented a 9 65 not altogether unpleasant spectacle. 10 27 East Croydon 10 55 10 27 0 00 Schedules for 4LAVs on the semi-fast services were sometimes surprisingly tight. 11 21 South Croydon 1 42 45 The late F.S.Bond writing in the 1947 13 30 Purley 4 13 53/56 March-April issue of Railway Magazine in 14 64 Coulsdon North an article entitled „Smart Work by Brighton 16 49 Semi-Fast Units‟ draws attention to the 4.28 17 02 Coulsdon South 6 25 48/56 pm from Victoria which had a schedule of

20 58 Merstham 10 35 60 22 40 Redhill 13 21

Milepost 31¾ 283 January 2011 Table 2 Run no 2 3 Date C 1963 15-May-65 Train 1.08 pm Brighton-Victoria 8.10 am Brighton-Victoria Motive Power 4 LAVs 2938/2947 4 LAV/4 SUB/2946/4277 Load 280/295 274/294 Recorder D.Lloyd-Roberts D.Lloyd-Roberts M C m s mph m s mph 50 43 Brighton 0 00 40 max 0 00 45 max 49 19 Preston Park 2 30 2 35 49 19 0 00 0 00 45 66 Clayton Tunnel SEP 4 55 50/53 4 57 50 43 42 Hassocks 7 10 65 7 19 64/69 41 38 Burgess Hill 9 02 68 9 11 67 40 51 Wivelsfield 9 55 66/57 10 00 64/tsr/50 37 59 Haywards Heath 13 13 14 19 37 59 0 00 0 00 33 66 Balcombe 5 15 53/55 5 14 54/56 31 53 Balcombe Tnl Box 7 48 45/sigs 7 36 57/55 29 22 Three Bridges 10 15 61 9 58 68 26 47 Gatwick Airport 12 14 73/74 25 59 Horley 14 19 71 12 58 23 35 Salfords 14 54 66/63 21 48 Earlswood 19 35 20/sigs 16 50 30/sigs 21 40 23 25 22 40 Redhill 22 40 19 32 22 40 0 00 20 58 Merstham 2 50 48/53/tsr 2 59 50/60 17 02 Coulsdon South 7 38 53/50 6 57 45* 16 49 Coulsdon North 14 64 13 30 Purley 9 16 61 9 01 57 12 35 Purley Oaks 10 10 63 11 20 South Croydon 11 20 60 11 18 55 10 27 East Croydon 13 38 12 40 10 27 0 00 0 00 9 65 Windmill Bridge Jun 10 00 9 30 Selhurst 2 15 48 2 54 sigs 8 52 Thornton Heath 3 02 59/64 4 59 53 6 47 Streatham Common 5 08 55 7 49 52 4 50 Balham 7 10 53/61 9 45 60 2 57 Clapham Junction 9 35 12 06 2 57 0 00 46 max 0 04 Victoria 4 54

Milepost 31¾ 284 January 2011 69 minutes to Brighton inclusive of five stops. The schedule from Three Bridges to Haywards Heath, for example, was only 10 minutes for the 8 ½ miles which the logs accompanying this article suggest was often not kept. Other semi-fast schedules, however, were less onerous and the journey time from Victoria to Brighton was around 80 minutes with the same number of stops as mentioned above. A stopper could take around 100 minutes and was perhaps best avoided unless one wasn‟t in a hurry.

Turning to the logs, while present traction finds the current line limit of 70 mph between Victoria and East Croydon a considerable hindrance, given its capabilities, run 1 (table 1) underlines this was not always the case.

The gradual rising tendency of the road Table 3 between these two points was enough to Run no 4 prevent the 4LAVs reaching even 60 mph Train 21.28 Victoria- and no doubt the combination of a low line Brighton/W Worthing voltage, which was then 660 volts DC, Motive Power 4 LAVs 2949/2926 and the units‟ low gearing hindered acceleration. In their low gearing, the Load 280/295 4LAVs seemed to share the same Recorder D.Lloyd-Roberts performance characteristics as their M C m s mph Southern contemporaries the BIL and 10 27 East Croydon 0 00 HAL units, despite having a slightly better 11 21 South Croydon 1 55 44 power: weight ratio than them.

13 30 Purley 4 42 52 This is even more evident in the restart 14 64 Coulsdon North from East Croydon where on the 1 in 264 16 49 gradient up to Coulsdon speed was held 17 02 Coulsdon South 6 51 52 in the mid fifties before an unexplained 20 58 Merstham 10 55 65/66/sigs easing at the top of the climb. Runs 2-5 22 40 Redhill 14 11 replicate uphill what run 1 produced as will be glanced from the logs below. 22 40 0 00 23 25 Runs 2 and 3 (table 2) cover running in 21 40 the opposite (up) direction and show that 21 48 Earlswood 2 00 36 that the attainment of the then line limit of 23 35 Salfords 4 10 65 75 mph, was something of an achievement, although the LAV-SUB 25 60 Horley 6 13 71 hybrid in run 3 got within a whisker of this 26 47 Gatwick Airport 6 55 69 after Gatwick Airport. The 4SUBs were 29 22 Three Bridges 9 35 63 sometimes used on the Brighton line for 31 53 Balcombe Tunnel Box 12 06 58 seaside excursions and were only very 33 66 Balcombe 14 10 71/75 rarely used on normal service trains to Brighton. 37 59 Haywards Heath 17 56

37 59 0 00 Run 4 (table 3) did reach the magic 75 40 51 Wivelsfield 3 38 61 mph, but what is apparent is the duration 41 38 Burgess Hill 4 26 63/61 of time it took to attain it and the 43 42 Hassocks 6 34 56/71 inclination of the gradient to do so, which again underlines the low gearing of these 49 19 Preston Park 12 36 units. 49 19 0 00 45 max 50 43 Brighton 2 41

Milepost 31¾ 285 January 2011 Table 4 Finally run 5 (table 4) shows a run to London Bridge with 4LAVs via the Quarry line. Note Run no 5 the hindering effect of the restriction at Date ? Coulsdon North which may have prevented Train 8.58 am Brighton- the units from reaching 70-75 mph in this London Bridge area, although a signal check at Purley exacerbated matters on the approach to Motive Power 4 LAVs 2929/2935 South Croydon.

Load 280/295 Recorder D.Lloyd-Roberts It is apparent from studying the logs that M C m s mph even in the earliest main line electric units there was a consistency about their work 50 43 Brighton 0 00 38/sigs and the only variation, I suspect, in regard to 49 19 Preston Park 3 11 running was whether the motorman used full 49 19 0 00 power going down hill. F.S.Bond in his 45 66 Clayton Tunnel SEP 4 49 50 Railway Magazine article commented that the maximum speed of these units was 43 42 Hassocks 7 05 65 around 71-72 mph and this is closely 41 38 Burgess Hill 9 08 54/sigs reflected in David Lloyd-Roberts‟ logs. 40 51 Wivelsfield 10 04 54/57 37 59 Haywards Heath 13 28 Published steam running on the Brighton 37 59 0 00 line immediately prior to electrification 33 66 Balcombe 5 15 53/55 suggests that the 4 LAVs were only a modest improvement over the steam traction 31 53 Balcombe Tunnel Box 7 42 53/58 they replaced, being around 5-7 mph better 29 22 Three Bridges 10 37 going up the various inclinations of 1 in 264 29 22 0 00 in which the Brighton line abounds. In 26 47 Gatwick Airport 3 30 60/58 comparison with their EMU express 25 59 Horley 4 43 contemporaries on this line, the PUL, PAN, and BEL stock, and based on published 25 59 0 00 data, the LAV units were about 10 mph 23 35 Salfords 3 23 50 slower going up the same gradients. 21 48 Earlswood 5 29 53/50 However, there are records of LAVs 16 64 Star Lane 11 13 53/61 deputising for their more illustrious 14 64 Coulsdon North 13 15 46* counterparts on this line and keeping time on the famous 60 minute schedule between 13 30 Purley 15 05 41/sigs Victoria and Brighton. 11 21 South Croydon 18 24 sigs 10 27 East Croydon 21 05 I would like to thank David Lloyd-Roberts for 10 27 0 00 his comments and suggestions regarding 8 53 Norwood Junction 2 55 45 this article.

5 45 Forest Hill 4 05 60 3 54 Brockley 5 51 69/68 2 69 New Cross Gate 7 01 2 69 55 max 0 04 London Bridge 4 35

Bibliography A Southern Electric Album (2003) M Welch, Capital Transport

Railway Magazine March-April 1947 F.S.Bond, Tothill Press

Southern Electric (2001) John Glover, Ian Allan Ltd

Milepost 31¾ 286 January 2011 6 and 7P’s on the Caledonian Main-line

Sandy Smeaton Last year, an ex LMS „Scot‟ and a „Jubilee‟ both worked north over Beattock - a remarkable occurrence, given the rarity of steam north of Carlisle. This coincided with a friend, Colin Graham, giving me some 1960‟s logs of Jubilee‟s, Rebuilt Patriot‟s and the Scot, No. 46115 on the Scottish section of the West Coast main line. Colin is not an RPS member but did much timing before the demise of steam on his work commutes and photographic expeditions. Colin‟s logs are reproduced here together with a 1966 and recent 2009 runs timed by myself.

Published non-8P runs north of Carlisle are rare. Anyone having the opportunity to travel (and the fare) would choose a Duchess hauled train, likely unbanked up Beattock, rather than a smaller engine needing assistance. Ransome-Wallis described 45724 „Warspite‟s 1955 struggle with 11 coaches from Carlisle to Glasgow in his „On Engines in Britain and France‟. This highlighted the competence of Fairburn‟s 2-6-4T‟s more than the Jubilee‟s capabilities. Bad coal was the main culprit, but he described the trip on the 9.30 a.m. Manchester-Glasgow as a „pretty grim journey‟. A minimum of 33 m.p.h. at the Summit between Kirkpatrick and Kirtlebridge and 41 m.p.h. at Castlemilk justify his comment.

Colin‟s first log (Run 1) has Rebuilt Patriot 45512 „Bunsen‟ on the afternoon Liverpool – Glasgow in 1961 with a substantial load. This was a „Limited Load‟ working which gave a Class 7 a maximum of 420 tons to Beattock and 270 tons from there to the Summit, if stopping at Beattock. 45512 with 429 tons tare was slightly over the limit from Carlisle and banked from Beattock. A slack hindered the start from Carlisle, but 65 m.p.h. was reached at the Solway, not enough though to prevent a loss of 2 minutes by Gretna. The minima at the top of the two 1 in 200 climbs were good at 50 m.p.h. and 54 m.p.h. but none of the 2 minute lateness was recovered by Lockerbie. On to Beattock, 63 m.p.h. seems a disappointing maximum at Wamphray, especially with another slack approaching Beattock. Even with 42205 banking, the pair did not exceed 27 m.p.h. on the bank and another two minutes were dropped to the Summit, a particularly poor climb. Relatively sprightly running down the Clyde Valley produced 78 m.p.h. at the Clyde crossing, reducing the loss from Beattock to Carstairs to one minute only. The four coach Edinburgh portion was uncoupled here and with nine on, 54 m.p.h. at Craigenhill was good, but another slack at Braidwood and a dead stand at Garriongill Junction caused a five minute loss to Motherwell. The final arrival at Central was eight minutes late. Time was lost mostly from slacks and checks, with the exception of the 2¼ minutes lost on the banked climb to Beattock Summit. However, given the 460 gross ton load, 45512‟s performance was competent.

Run 2, three years later, has another Rebuilt Patriot 45527 „Southport‟ on the 13.25 Euston- Perth with a nine coach load within the Class 7 full load limit of 335 tons for trains stopping at Beattock. Two slacks, where speed would normally be high, disrupted the run to Lockerbie, but only 1¾ minutes were lost on schedule, with minima of 51 m.p.h. and 53 m.p.h. at the 1 top of the 1 in 200 climbs. The 17 minutes allowed on to Beattock was bettered by 1 /3 minutes with nothing faster than 68½ m.p.h. at Wamphray. The unassisted climb to Beattock Summit was exactly to schedule and with typical „Caley‟ style moderate speeds down the Clyde Valley, the schedule to Carstairs was bettered by two minutes. There were no out of course checks between Carstairs and Motherwell but a half minute was lost on this section mainly due to a sluggish start. The route on through Coatbridge is not known for its running and even after Larbert there was little sparkle with only 53 m.p.h. at Alloa Junction and a poor minimum of 44½ m.p.h. at Plean. The crews probably changed at Carstairs with Perth men taking over. 45527 performed well south of Carstairs, but was not pushed subsequently.

Milepost 31¾ 287 January 2011 Run No: 1 4 Date: Mon 3.4.61 Sat 14.8.65 Train: 16.35 Liv Ex - Glas 13.05 Man - Glas Loco: 45512 'Bunsen' 45530 'Sir Frank Ree' Banker: 42205 42274 Load: 13/429/460 11/398/435 from Carstairs 9/301/325 8/293/315 Recorder: Colin Graham Colin Graham Miles LOCATION Sch Mn Sc Speeds Sch Mn Sc Speeds 0.00 CARLISLE 0 0 00 ~ 0 0 00 ~ 0.75 Carlisle No.3 2 2 41 ~/15* 2 2 08 38 2.00 Kingmoor Box 5 14 ~ 4 01 46 4.09 Rockcliffe 8 32 48 6 19 58 6.06 Floriston 10 42 61 8 14 68½ 7.35 Mossband 11 54 65 ~ ~ 69 8.59 Gretna Jn 11 13 00 63 10 10 48 59/24* 10.20 Quintinshill 14 43 55 14 23 27 13.01 Kirkpatrick 17 55 51 19 14 38 14.00 MP14 19 05 50 20 45 42 16.74 Kirtlebridge 21 59 62/64 [5] 24 13 36* 20.14 Ecclefechan 25 20 58 29 07 46 22.00 MP22 27 22 54/68 31 27 45 25.84 LOCKERBIE 30 32 08 ~ 32 35 16 65 28.73 Nethercleuch 4 38 57 37 51 69/65 31.76 Dinwoodie 7 37 62 40 37 66 33.00 MP33 ~ ~ 59 41 48 62 34.51 Wamphray 10 23 63/15* 43 12 66/67 39.74 BEATTOCK 16 17 08 ~ 47 48 40 ~ 41.00 MP41 4 10 23½ 3 17 30 43.00 MP43 8 52 27 6 46 35½ 45.39 Greskine 14 11 26¾ 10 46 35 47.00 MP47 18 03 24 13 38 34 49.00 MP49 22 29 26¾ 17 28 31 49.50 MP49½ ~ ~ ~ 18 20 31 49.69 Beattock Summit 22 24 15 28 21 ~ ~ ~ 52.61 Elvanfoot 27 30 68 21 59 65/60 55.30 Crawford 29 48 69/72 24 36 63 57.85 Abington 31 56 70 27 12 63 60.40 Wandelmill ~ ~ 75/78 ~ ~ 68 63.23 Lamington 36 16 75/~ [3] 31 34 71/56 66.84 SYMINGTON 38 39 33 70 35 15 60 68.50 Thankerton ~ ~ ~ 36 45 68 70.04 Leggatfoot ~ ~ 66/71 38 14 60 73.18 Strawfrank Jn 45 08 ~ 41 38 50 73.60 CARSTAIRS 46 46 58 ~ 46 42 49 ~ 75.75 Lanark Jn 4 4 40 52 4 5 21 44

Milepost 31¾ 288 January 2011 Miles LOCATION Sch Mn Sc Speeds Sch Mn Sc Speeds 76.25 CLEGHORN ~ ~ ~ 5 56 45½ 78.48 Craigenhill ~ ~ 54 8 31 48 80.69 Braidwood 10 05 15* 10 49 62 81.96 Carluke 11 52 51 12 00 67 83.39 Hallcraig Jn 13 13 62 ~ ~ ~ 84.09 Law Jn 12 14 09 Res 40 12 14 00 Res 43 84.70 Garriongill Jn ( 16 10 ~ 15 02 43/40 “ Sigs stop ( 16 50 ~ 86.46 Wishaw South 19 35 ~ 17 19 58 87.51 Shieldmuir Jn 16 20 39 62 [2] 18 22 63 88.31 Flemington 21 23 Sigs 19 09 55 89.45 MOTHERWELL 20 24 47 ~ 22 20 54 ~ 91.64 Douglas Park ~ ~ 66 ~ ~ 62/63 93.84 UDDINGSTON 7 5 21 69/Sigs 25 5 5 41 62 95.70 NEWTON 10 9 20 29 8 7 44 51½ 97.28 CAMBUSLANG 13 11 10 54 9 29 54 98.30 Rutherglen Jn 12 05 61 11 10 38 58 101.36 EGLINTON ST 18 17 18 ~ 15 14 26 32 102.34 GLASGOW CEN 21 22 05 ~ 18 17 24 ~ *pws Run 3, a down Birmingham-Glasgow relief worked by the Scot 46115 „Scots Guardsman‟, was timed in the middle weekend of the Glasgow Fair of 1964. Colin‟s log starts from Beattock where he had been photographing. 46115 had the assistance of the usual Fairburn tank to the Summit and the pair took just over 20 minutes. The line limit of 75 m.p.h. at that time was marginally exceeded with Lamington passed at 76 m.p.h., the relatively easy schedule of 43 minutes to Symington being bettered by 5½ minutes. The short run to Carstairs was run in 10 minutes without exceeding 55½ m.p.h, still managing to gain a minute. Shedding the Edinburgh portion reduced the load to eight coaches. Nevertheless the standard four minutes allowed to Lanark Junction still proved impossible. Craigenhill Summit was passed at a modest 51 m.p.h. and one minute was lost on the 21 minutes allowed to Motherwell. 1½ minutes were lost on the last leg down to Central with speed nowhere getting near 60 m.p.h. Presumably the initial check indicated a preceding train and the driver was perhaps sighting distants.

Run 4 has Rebuilt Patriot 45530 „Sir Frank Ree‟ working 11 coaches from Carlisle on the 13.05 from Manchester, which by the time of the run was normally a diesel turn. The train was an hour late because of delays from a preceding train between Manchester and Bolton. The Solway was crossed at 69 m.p.h. and then a slack just after Gretna Junction brought speed down to 24 m.p.h.. 45530, climbing on 1 in 200, recovered to 42 m.p.h. by MP14. Another slack at Kirtlebridge destroyed momentum again and Castlemilk Summit, MP22, was passed at 45 m.p.h. The maximum before the Beattock stop was 69 m.p.h. at 2 Nethercleugh. Thanks to five minutes recovery time in the schedule only 1 /3 minutes were dropped to Beattock. 45530 and 42274 then made the best climb of the three banked runs to the Summit passing MP49½ in 18m 20s, speed not falling below 30 m.p.h.. Despite being one hour late, speed down the Clyde Valley only crept over 70 m.p.h. once, at Lamington. Nevertheless three minutes were regained by Carstairs. The restart, now with only eight coaches, was not vigorous with only 48 m.p.h. at Craigenhill and a maximum of 67 m.p.h. at Carluke, but another minute was clawed back by Motherwell. On the last section from Motherwell to Central an unchecked run produced the best time, 17m 24s, of the three runs down to Glasgow.

Milepost 31¾ 289 January 2011 Run No: 2 3 Date: Sat 13.6.64 Sat 25.7.64 Train: 13.25 Euston - Perth Relief Loco: 45527 'Southport' 46115 Beattock banker: None Fairburn 4MTT Load: 9/312/335 11/398/435 from Carstairs 8/293/315 Recorder: Colin Graham Colin Graham Miles LOCATION Sch Mn Sc Speeds Sch Mn Sc Speeds 0.00 CARLISLE 0 0 00 ~ 0.75 Carlilsle No.3 2 2 21 ~ 2.00 Kingmoor Box 4 25 ~ 4.09 Rockcliffe ~ ~ 54/68½ 6.06 Floriston 8 42 20* 7.35 MP7 10 54 40/32 8.59 Gretna Jn 11 12 46 40 10.20 Quintinshill 14 49 50/52½ 13.01 Kirkpatrick 18 10 51 14.00 MP14 19 20 52/30* 16.74 Kirtlebridge 22 22 42½ 20.14 Ecclefechan 27 27 52½/55/53 22.68 Castlemilk 30 19 60/68½ 25.84 LOCKERBIE 32 33 45 ~ 28.73 Nethercleuch 4 30 59/67½ 31.76 Dinwoodie 7 24 64 33.00 MP33 8 35 62 34.51 Wamphray 10 00 68½ 39.74 BEATTOCK 17 15 40 ~ 0 0 00 ~ 41.00 MP41 4 35 19½/29 3 29 30/36½ 43.00 MP43 9 11 28½/26 6 59 33/29 45.39 Greskine 14 22 27 11 35 30½/28/30 47.00 MP47 17 40 31 14 57 29½ 49.00 MP49 22 29 26 18 56 30½ 49.50 MP49½ ~ ~ ~ 19 58 29½ 49.69 Beattock Summit 24 24 00 24½ 25 ~ ~ ~ 52.61 Elvanfoot 26 55 72 23 58 61/64½/62 55.30 Crawford 29 09 73½ 26 32 68/72 57.85 Abington 31 21 69/66½/68 28 45 68 60.40 Wandelmill 33 39 66½ 30 56 72/75/73½ 63.23 Lamington 36 13 68/70/65 33 20 76 66.84 SYMINGTON 40 39 38 67½ 43 37 24 ~ 68.50 Thankerton 41 02 71/72 3 22 52/54½ 70.04 Leggatfoot [1] 42 19 67½ 5 02 53/55½ 73.18 Strawfrank Jn 45 37 ~ 8 45 ~ 73.60 CARSTAIRS 49 46 57 ~ 11 10 07 ~ 75.75 Lanark Jn 4 5 24 42½ 4 4 53 45

Milepost 31¾ 290 January 2011 Miles LOCATION Sch Mn Sc Speeds Sch Mn Sc Speeds 76.25 CLEGHORN 6 00 44½ 5 28 46½ 77.00 MP77 6 56 45 6 21 45 78.48 Craigenhill 8 51 52 8 13 51 80.69 Braidwood 11 10 60 10 43 60 81.96 Carluke 12 22 62/66½ 11 58 62 83.39 Hallcraig Jn 13 40 63 13 21 66½ 84.09 Law Jn 13 14 09 Res 45 13 14 12 Res 43 84.70 Garriongill Jn 15 17 52 15 06 42 86.46 Wishaw South 17 12 60/66½ 17 15 61 87.51 Shieldmuir Jn 17 18 11 54½ 17 18 24 58 88.31 Flemington 19 03 57 19 20 43 89.45 MOTHERWELL 21 21 29 ~ 21 21 58 ~ 91.53 Mossend 4 4 50 42 92.15 Burnh‟se Weighs 5 41 52/55 94.16 Whifflet Lower 8 14 45 94.79 COATB‟GE CEN 9 9 30 ~ 95.80 Gartsherrie South 1 2 48 ~ 97.05 Garnqueen N Jn 3 4 41 42½ 99.50 Madgescroft 7 40 60 100.00 MP100 8 11 59 101.23 CUMBERNAULD 9 36 44½ 103.00 MP103 11 37 58/56½ 104.83 Castlecary 13 29 60 106.75 Greenhill Lower Jn 15 15 27 48 109.00 Carmuirs W Jn 17 57 64 110.24 LARBERT 20 19 44 ~ 111.00 MP111 2 27 34 112.46 Alloa Jn 4 19 53 114.29 Plean Jn 6 35 44½/60 116.80 Polmaise 9 20 58 118.31 STIRLING 11 11 36 ~ 89.45 MOTHERWELL 0 0 00 ~/Sigs 91.64 Douglas Park 4 43 40 93.84 UDDINGSTON 6 7 41 52 95.70 NEWTON 9 54 46½ 97.28 CAMBUSLANG 11 49 54½ 98.30 Rutherglen Jn 12 13 05 53/56½ 101.36 EGLINTON ST 16 17 43 25 102.34 GLASGOW CEN 19 20 38 ~

All four engines performed competently, if not spectacularly. The pws‟s which infested the Carlisle – Castlemilk section on all three runs unfortunately did not allow the engines to show their best on the 1 in 200 climbs. There was no discernable difference between the Rebuilt Patriots and the Scot.

Milepost 31¾ 291 January 2011 The next four logs were recorded on the up summer Saturdays only 14.00 Glasgow- Liverpool, worked by Jubilees, which provided the regular power in 1965. Kingmoor‟s Britannias took over in 1966. The three 1965 runs were timed by Colin and the 1966 run by myself. All were loaded to eight coaches to Carstairs and 11 on to Carlisle. The 14.00 had „Special Limit‟ timings imposing a Class 6 load limit of 340 tons to Carstairs and 365 tons onward to Beattock Summit. According to the „rules‟ therefore, the Jubilees were only over their limit from Carstairs to Beattock Summit. All four engines toiled to Motherwell and Carstairs, losing time. 45627 on Run 6 conspired, with no checks, to lose a total of 8½ minutes to Carstairs. 45697 on Run 8 at least had the excuse of checks at Carluke, but was little better. 45698 „Mars‟ on Run 5, with the lightest load, achieved the best times, only losing a minute to Motherwell and three to Carstairs after a bad signal check before Braidwood. 45697‟s recovery from the Carluke check to Craigenhill was the best of the bunch. The schedule for the 24 miles of mostly rising gradient up the Clyde Valley to Beattock Summit was 26 minutes, including 2 minutes recovery time, a hard task for a Class 6, over its load limit. 45721 „Impregnable‟ on Run 7 produced the best time, but still lost 2½ minutes. Only 45697 „Achilles‟ managed over the Summit at 40 m.p.h. (just) after a desperately slow start out to Symington. This 1966 run was probably the sole occasion the 14.00 was Jubilee hauled that year. The Jubilee off the 21.20 FO from St. Pancras usually returned south on the 13.26 Glasgow-Morecambe via the G&SW, but on this day was booked for the 14.00. Although the run hardly sparkled, I was happy to get it. No high speed was reached. Whether the engine was rough or it was the driver‟s style is anyone‟s guess. The same driver had produced a dire run with 70033 on the down 13.27 from Liverpool the previous day, not exceeding 62 m.p.h. anywhere between Carlisle and Carstairs. But for the Kirtlebridge check 45627 on Run 6 might have kept the schedule between Carstairs and Carlisle. It nevertheless produced the lowest minimum at Beattock Summit, but compensated with some good running downhill.

Run No: 5 6 Date: Sat 14.8.65 Sat 21.8.65 Train: FSO 14.00 Glasgow Man/Liv Locomotive: 45698 'Mars' 45627 'Sierra Leone' Load: 8/255/280 8/269/290 (from Carstairs) 11/348 /380 11/374/400 Recorder: Colin Graham Colin Graham Ms Ch LOCATION Sch Mn Sc Speeds Mn Sc Speeds 102 21 GLASGOW CEN 0 0 00 RT 0 00 RT 101 29 Eglinton St 3 3 35 ~ 3 22 28 100 21 Polmadie ~ ~ 42 5 29 34½ 98 32 Rutherglen Jn 7 8 09 50 8 25 44 97 22 CAMBUSLANG 9 31 46 9 57 41/38 95 56 NEWTON 10 11 29 53 12 16 44 93 67 UDDINGSTON 13 13 26 42/34 14 32 56½ 91 51 Douglas Park ~ ~ 43 ~ ~ 42½/33 89 36 MOTHERWELL 19 20 03 ~ 21 42 ~ " Dep 1 ely Dep 1½ L 88 25 Flemington 3 23 32½ 3 40 22 87 41 Shieldmuir Jn 4 41 35 6 18 28/31 86 37 Wishaw S 6 30 37 7 29 28 84 56 Garriongill Jn 9 45 32 ~ ~ 28 84 07 Law Jn 10 11 02 36/40 12 47 28

Milepost 31¾ 292 January 2011 Ms Ch LOCATION Sch Mn Sc Speeds Mn Sc Speeds 83 31 Hallcraig Jn 12 22 37 14 13 30½/34 81 77 CARLUKE 14 37 37/Sigs 2 16 48 30/26½ 80 55 Braidwood 17 03 29 19 29 29 78 38 Craigenhill 21 03 37 23 52 31 76 08 Lanark Jn 20 24 30 55/57 27 16 53 73 49 CARSTAIRS 25 28 01 ~ 30 52 ~ " Dep 1 L Dep 5½ L 73 13 Strawfrank Jn 1 22 ~/37 1 28 ~/40 71 60 Pettinain ~ ~ 32 ~ ~ 37 70 03 Leggatfoot 6 55 34 6 49 33½ 68 40 Thankerton 8 56 53 8 54 51 68 00 MP 9 32 48 9 32 46 66 67 Symington [2] 11 08 36 11 12 39½ 65 00 MP 13 27 57 13 39 51 63 18 Lamington 15 09 66/68 15 29 62 60 32 Wandelmill ~ ~ 59/Sigs 25 ~ ~ 53 57 68 Abington 21 38 28 21 30 48/50 55 24 Crawford 25 28 46 24 40 47½ 54 00 MP 27 14 43 26 24 43 52 49 Elvanfoot 29 06 50/52½ 28 18 51 51 00 MP 31 06 44½ 30 24 41 49 55 Beattock Summit 26 33 12 33 32 43 32 45 31 Greskine 37 37 74/78 36 49 75/82 42 20 Auchencastle ~ ~ 75/64 ~ ~ 75/81 39 59 BEATTOCK 37 42 26 72 41 24 73/76/72 34 41 Wamphray 47 02 66/69/64 45 45 73/68 31 61 Dinwoodie [2] 49 35 66½ 48 10 70/72 28 58 Nethercleugh 52 14 70/66 50 46 70 25 67 LOCKERBIE 51 54 55 67 53 31 66½ 22 00 MP 58 32 60 57 32 52½ 20 11 Ecclefechan 61 40 Sigs 20/62 59 26 62 16 59 Kirtlebridge [6] 66 42 Sigs stop* 63 15 Sigs 36 15 00 MP 72 50 24 66 20 32 13 01 Kirkpatrick 75 40 58 68 58 57 10 12 Quintinshill 78 25 68 71 36 63 8 47 Gretna Jn 71 79 52 64 72 52 72 6 05 Floriston 82 02 70 74 55 72 4 07 Rockcliffe 83 50 69 76 41 68 2 06 Kingmoor 85 48 56/Sigs 78 32 62 0 59 Carlisle No.3 88 07 5/Sigs 79 56 ~ 0 00 CARLISLE 79 90 57 ~ 81 48 ~ These runs were near the end of the working lives of the Jubilees. 45698 and 45721 were both withdrawn in September 1965. 45627 survived to September 1966 and 45697 battled on to see another summer, being withdrawn in September 1967. They were not in the prime of life and it showed.

Milepost 31¾ 293 January 2011 Log No: 7 8 Date: Sat 4.9.65 Sat 6.8.66 Train: FSO 14.00 Glasgow Cen - Manchester/Liverpool Locomotive: 45721 'Impregnable' 45697 'Achilles' Load:(to Carstairs) 8 /268/290 8/270/285 (to Carlisle) 11/361/390 11/371/390 Recorder: Colin Graham Sandy Smeaton Ms Ch LOCATION Sch Mn Sc Speeds Mn Sc Speeds 102 21 GLASGOW CEN 0 0 00 RT 0 00 1 ely 101 54 Central PSB ~ ~ ~ 2 39 Sigs/31½ 101 29 Eglinton St 3 3 18 Sigs 5 ~ ~ ~ 100 21 Polmadie 6 33 31 6 34 ~ 98 32 Rutherglen Jn 7 9 24 45 9 17 46 97 22 CAMBUSLANG 10 55 42 ~ ~ ~ 95 56 NEWTON 10 13 05 45 12 41 44/51 93 67 UDDINGSTON 13 15 18 56 ~ ~ ~ 93 50 Uddingston Jn ~ ~ ~ 15 27 46 91 51 Douglas Park 18 02 44/41 17 58 43 89 36 MOTHERWELL 19 21 37 ~ 21 40 ~ " RT RT 88 25 Flemington 3 34 28 3 18 38 87 41 Shieldmuir Jn 5 05 32 4 43 38 86 37 Wishaw S 7 00 34½ 6 19 41 84 56 Garriongill Jn 10 15 33 9 14 ~ 84 07 Law Jn 10 11 26 33 10 05 Sigs 27/29½/Sigs 83 31 Hallcraig Jn 12 52 27/Sigs 12 13 21 81 77 CARLUKE 15 40 29 16 19 26½ 80 55 Braidwood 18 30 31 19 27 41½ 78 38 Craigenhill 22 25 42 23 52 49/54 76 08 Lanark Jn 20 25 38 56 26 09 51 73 49 CARSTAIRS 25 29 11 ~ 30 01 ~ " Dep 2½L Dep 5L 73 13 Strawfrank Jn 1 22 ~ 1 37 35/27½ 71 60 Pettinain ~ ~ 35 ~ ~ ~ 70 03 Leggatfoot 6 30 38 8 30 30½ 68 40 Thankerton 8 24 52 ~ ~ 46/39½ 66 67 Symington [2] 10 32 44 12 20 46½ 65 00 MP 12 47 59 ~ ~ ~ 63 18 Lamington 14 31 65 16 37 61½ 60 32 Wandelmill ~ ~ 57 ~ ~ ~ 57 68 Abington 19 53 57 22 17 53 55 24 Crawford 22 39 55 25 34 53 54 00 MP 23 57 52 ~ ~ 47 (min) 52 49 Elvanfoot 25 46 52/54 28 46 54 51 00 MP 27 38 47 ~ ~ ~ 49 55 Beattock Summit 26 29 30 38 32 41 40(min)/63/57

Milepost 31¾ 294 January 2011 Ms Ch LOCATION Sch Mn Sc Speeds Mn Sc Speeds 45 31 Greskine 33 33 78 37 26 64½/70½ 42 20 Auchencastle ~ ~ 86 ~ ~ ~ 39 59 BEATTOCK 37 37 41 83/84 42 34 69/71 34 41 Wamphray 41 44 75/72 47 22 66 31 61 Dinwoodie [2] 43 56 73/76 49 57 Pws 28 28 58 Nethercleugh 46 22 75 54 47 48 25 67 LOCKERBIE 51 48 54 66 58 23 53/54 22 00 MP 52 38 54 ~ ~ ~ 20 11 Ecclefechan 54 29 63 65 29 Sigs 35 16 59 Kirtlebridge [6] 58 28 Pws 30 69 42 46 15 00 MP 61 32 38 ~ ~ ~ 13 01 Kirkpatrick 63 58 56/60 74 06 67/55 10 12 Quintinshill 67 13 Pws 20 76 55 62 8 47 Gretna Jn 71 70 36 34 78 39 63/68 6 05 Floriston 73 42 57/60 81 03 61/62 4 07 Rockcliffe 75 52 57 ~ ~ ~ 2 06 Kingmoor 78 00 40/Sigs 85 01 ~ 0 59 Carlisle No.3 81 38 Sigs stop(2) 86 34 ~ 0 00 CARLISLE 79 92 53 ~ 88 05 ~

The distances used in Runs 1 to 8 are from Michael Oakley‟s Railway Data Series, Part 14, „South-West Scotland‟. Colin‟s original logs gave times and speeds at the traditional locations and south of Thankerton at nearly every full milepost. To save space, not all of these times have been included. On Run 8 my timing points were the signal boxes, so where the box was remote from the station centre, the distance will be in error. A separate column of distances for the boxes has not been included to save space, and the route will be familiar to most readers.

Runs 9, 10 and 11 show last years‟ runs with the then, newly returned to mainline, 46115 working the „Great Britain II‟ and Jubilee 5690 „Leander‟ working the „West Highlander‟, its first run north of Carlisle in preservation. It is perhaps a bit perverse to exclude the excellent running of both engines south of the border, but that is outside the scope of this, already lengthy, article.

I must admit I had doubts about 46115 attempting Beattock with over 400 tons. Sitting down on the WCML nowadays is no joke. The crew were West Coast Railway‟s driver John McCabe and fireman Pete Hanson, who fired throughout from Preston to Glasgow. John McCabe took over from Gordon Hodgson at Carlisle. A tsr at Caldew Junction hindered the start, but the Scot was up to 71½ m.p.h. at the Solway, the highest speed of all these runs at this location. The minor summits at MP14½ and MP22 were passed at 58½ m.p.h. and 54½ m.p.h. and the 32 minutes allowed to the Lockerbie water stop were kept, despite the mandatory slow approach to the loop. The big test then loomed with, of course, no banker to rely on. The „Scot‟ was not thrashed after the re-start with a moderate 67 m.p.h. at the bottom of the 1 in 202 up to Beattock. We passed the station site at 58½ m.p.h. and were going well, but earlier showers had left a wet rail and 46115 slipped twice near MP42 and by MP44 speed had dropped to 28½ m.p.h. At Harthope Viaduct we were down to 21½ m.p.h. before a gradual recovery to 30 m.p.h. at the Summit. At no point on the climb, however, did 46115 struggle and John McCabe no doubt did not work the engine as hard as he would have liked to avoid another slip.

Milepost 31¾ 295 January 2011 Run No: 9 10 Date: Thu 9.4.09 Fri 25.9.09 Train: ex Preston 1Z24 11.14 1Z22 10.11 Loco: 46115 'Scots Guardsman' 5690 'Leander' Load: 11/405½/435 10/355½/385 Crew: (Dvr/Fmn) J.McCabe/P.Hansen G.Hodgson/J.Fletcher Weather: Overcast, west wind; Overcast showers Recorder: S.Smeaton/GPS S.Smeaton/GPS Position: 11/12 10/11 M Ch LOCATION Sch M Sc Speeds Sch M Sc Speeds 0 00 CARLISLE 0 0 00 ~ 0* 0 00 ~ 0 60 Caldew Jn 2 57 Tsr 21 2 31 36 2 06 Kingmoor 5 34 39 4 28 46½ 4 00 MP 7 52 57½ 6 35 60½ 6 07 Floriston 9 52 68½ 8 32 69 7 00 MP 10 39 71/71½ 9 19 69½ 8 60 Gretna Jn 11 12 12 65 9½ 10 55 61 10 13 Quintinshill 13 31 61½ ¶ 12 28 56 11 00 MP 14 20 60½ 13 17 54½ 12 00 " 15 20 59½ 14 25 51½ 13 00 Kirkpatrick 15 16 21 59 15 15 36 50 14 40 Summit 17 52 58½ 17 28 47/59 16 00 MP 19 18 67½/66½ 19 09 58½/58 16 60 Kirtlebridge 19 59 67½ 19 56 59½ 17 40 MP 20 38 69½ 20 40 61½ 19 00 " 21 58 64/60 22 11 55½ 20 17 Ecclefechan 23 08 60½ 23 33 51½ 21 00 MP 23 56 58 24 29 50/48½ 22 00 Summit 25 00 54½ 25 40 50/57 23 00 MP 26 02 61 26 49 56½/58 25 50 Lockerbie DPL(w) 32 32 02 ~ 29 32 18 ~ 25 67 LOCKERBIE 1 47 15 2 45 15½ 27 00 MP 4 16 40 5 00 43 28 55 Nethercleugh 6 22 55½ 6 59 58 30 00 MP 7 44 59½ 8 17 61 31 60 Dinwoodie 9 28 60½ 10 00 60½/58 33 40 MP 11 15 59 11 47 58½ 34 40 Wamphray 12 13 65 12 47 62 35 40 MP 13 07 67 13 46 59½ 36 70 Murthat RR 14 23 62½ 15 22 53½ 38 00 MP 15 30 59½ 16 31 51½ 39 60 Beattock 20 17 18 58½ 19 18 35 50 41 00 MP 18 39 51½ 20 15 40 42 00 " 19 54 45 21 56 32 43 00 “ 21 21 37 24 06 24½ 44 00 " 23 12 28½ 26 40 23½/22½ 45 11 Greskine (SS) 25 48 24/23½ 29 39 23/21 46 00 MP 27 59 24 31 57 22½/21 47 00 Harthope 30 39 21½ 34 46 21 48 00 MP 33 21 24½ 37 35 23 49 00 " 35 47 25½ 40 08 24 49 60 Beattock Summit 39 37 29 30½ 36 41 55 31 51 48 Bodsbury LC 39 47 61½/64 44 11 63/66½ 52 49 Elvanfoot 40 45 61½/55/59½ 45 07 64½/59 55 08 Crawford 43 20 57 47 32 65½/67 57 69 Abington DPL(w) 50 49 40 ~ 45½ 52 46 ~ 59 00 MP 3 01 32½ 4 03 36½

Milepost 31¾ 296 January 2011 M Ch LOCATION Sch M Sc Speeds Sch M Sc Speeds 60 20 Wandelmill 4 50 50½ 5 44 53 62 00 MP 6 39 65½ 7 30 67 63 20 Lamington 7 45 70 8 34 71½ 64 00 MP 8 24 69½ -1 9 12 70½ 65 00 " 9 17 66½ 10 04 67 66 49 Symington 10 46 66 11 33 65 68 40 Thankerton 12 15 74 13 12 76 70 00 Leggatfoot (MP) 13 43 61½ 14 27 67 71 48 Pettinain UB 15 36 41 15 49 71½ 73 16 Carstairs S Jn 19 39 18 18 18 44 19½ 73 40 Carstairs DPL 18 22 22 ~ 20 20 19 ~ 73 49 CARSTAIRS 0 54 8 1 05 12½ 74 00 MP 2 42 19½ -1 2 25 23 75 00 Ravenst‟r Sdg 4 50 37 4 24 Sigs 33½ 76 00 Lanark Jn 6 6 16 46 6 6 09 36½ 76 24 Cleghorn LC 6 38 48 6 37 38½ 77 00 MP 7 31 49 7 41 40½ 78 00 " 8 43 50½ [2] 9 04 45 78 37 Craigenhill 9 16 52 9 41 48 80 60 Braidwood 11 47 59½/60½ 12 06 64½/70½ 69½/Sigs 81 75 CARLUKE 13 03 50½/53½/46½ 13 09 44 84 00 Law Jn † 15 15 32 Psr 47½ 17 15 36 Psr 45 In true Caledonian fashion we we did no more than 70 m.p.h. crossing the Clyde before Lamington and stopped in Carstairs loop having dropped 4½ minutes on the schedule from Abington. On the last leg into Glasgow we topped Craigenhill at 52 m.p.h. with 11 coaches, easily beating the 1960s‟ performances here for speed, if not time, due to the more cautious start out of the loop. The log has been curtailed at Law Junction as steam into Glasgow Central is now routed via Holytown Junction and Bellshill to avoid a low bridge at Motherwell and threading the commuter services ends any performance interest.

Five months later, 5690 „Leander‟ had a load of 10 coaches on the „West Highlander‟. This was one more than originally planned as 60009/61994‟s support coach was being returned north for the next day‟s run to Fort William, after 60009‟s failure and lay-over at Crewe. The crew were West Coast‟s Gordon Hodgson and John Fletcher. Hodgson made a good start and had the Jubilee up to 69½ m.p.h. by the Solway. Up the 1 in 200 to MP14½ speed fell to 47 m.p.h. Recovering to 61½ m.p.h. after Kirtlebridge, the minimum at the top of the second stretch of 1 in 200, MP22, was 48½ m.p.h. 29 minutes were allowed from passing Carlisle to Lockerbie loop, but having had to stop at Carlisle for the crew change this was impossible to meet.

Once out of the loop, 5690 matched 46115 for speed as far as MP33½, the very minor summit before Wamphray, but from there on 5690 seemed to be held in with 62 m.p.h. only down to the Annan crossing. At Beattock speed was 50 m.p.h. and at MP43 was down to the mid 20‟s. 5690 then surely but steadily plodded up the bank in the low 20‟s, speed eventually rising to 24 m.p.h. at MP49 and 31 m.p.h. at the top. The Jubilee, bizarrely, had been only allowed 45½ minutes from Lockerbie to Abington, compared to 50 for the „Scot‟. Needless to say seven minutes were lost on this section, but it had been a well judged run for a Class 6 with 10 coaches grossing 385 tons. The load book limited a Class 6 to 350 tons from Beattock to the Summit (non-stop).

On the next day of the „West Highlander‟ during the Crianlarich water stop, I had a chance to speak to Gordon Hodgson (on his day off) about the run with 5690 and he commented that „there are two ways of getting up Beattock, thrashing the engine to bits by Wamphray and then stopping for a blow-up at Greskine, or letting the engine take its own course and getting

Milepost 31¾ 297 January 2011 over the Summit‟. On such a long climb the power output has to match the boiler‟s steam raising capability and Gordon‟s judgment was spot on. On the next section to Carstairs 5690

took 2 minutes less than 46115 mainly Run No: 11 due to a faster approach to Carstairs, and Date: Fri 27.9.09 despite a slower start out of Abington Train: 1Z28 16.36 Cadder Yard loop.

- Preston Part of the West Highlander‟s return trip Locomotive: 5690 'Leander' down the WCML is shown in Run 11. Load: 9/ 318½/ 350 61994, which worked the West Highland Crew: (Drvr/Frmn) G.Hodgson / P.James Line out and back, gave way to 5690 in Weather: Dry and little wind Cadder Yard. The log shows the running Recorder/Method/pos: A.Smeaton/GPS/3/10 from Wishaw to the operational stop at Beattock Summit. The load was nine Ms Ch LOCATION Sch Mn Sc Speeds coaches, the A4/K4‟s support coach 5 00 Cadder Yard 0 0 00 3½L staying with 61994. Speed on the climb to 86 31 WISHAW 46 28 38 Craigenhill from Wishaw stayed in the mid 85 00 MP 48 47 32½ 30‟s, good with 350 tons. Once over the 84 40 " 49 46 31/34½ summit we had 75 m.p.h. just after Carstairs giving the momentum for a 84 00 Law Jn 52 50 42 34 minimum of 62½ m.p.h. at Leggatfoot. 82 60 Milepost 52 46 39 Speed rose to 70½ m.p.h. in the dip to 81 75 CARLUKE 54 05 34½/32 Thankerton and the short climb to 80 60 Braidwood 56 16 34½ Symington brought us down to just under 80 00 MP 57 32 35½ 60 m.p.h. It is interesting to note that due to the modern alignment through 79 00 " 59 09 39½ Carstairs, 5690 has almost certainly 78 36 Craigenhill 59 58 43 achieved the highest speed here for 77 00 MP 61 40 60 steam. In the 1960‟s a 50 m.p.h. PSR 76 00 Lanark Jn 61 62 35 68½ prevailed. The easy downgrades to the 75 00 Ravenstruther [1] 63 27 70½ Clyde at Lamington brought speed up to 72 m.p.h. and from there, on rising 74 00 MP 64 17 72 gradients, speed did not fall below 60 73 49 CARSTAIRS 66 64 37 74 m.p.h. until just before Elvanfoot. The 73 00 MP 65 07 75 Summit operational stop unfortunately 72 00 " 65 55 72½ denied us a minimum speed here. The 71 00 " 66 47 66 mainly downhill onward run to Carlisle 70 00 Leggatfoot 67 44 62½/70½ was indeed a spirited affair!

68 40 Thankerton 69 03 69½ Although 5690 had a load between 30 66 49 Symington 70 53 59½ and 50 tons lighter than those on the 65 00 MP 72 24 69 14.00 (from Carstairs), after Craigenhill it 63 20 Lamington 73 52 72 produced a superior performance than 62 00 MP 74 57 67½ any of the 1966/67 runs. Last year‟s performances of 46115 and 60 20 Wandelmill 76 34 64½

59 00 MP 77 44 63½/62 57 69 Abington 84 78 49 62½/60½ 57 00 MP 79 39 63 55 08 Crawford 81 29 61½ 54 00 MP 82 35 57½ 52 49 Elvanfoot 84 01 62/63½ 51 48 Bodsbury LC 85 00 60½

Milepost 31¾ 298 January 2011 50 60 MP 85 53 53½ 5690 were a great credit to the people 49 60 Beattock Summit 88 40 16½ at West Coast Railways who put in so 49 40 Summit UPL 98 90 01 5 ely much work to put them back on the mainline and to the skill of the crews tackling Beattock un-aided. Lastly my thanks to Colin Graham for giving me

sight of his most interesting logs.

Scotland 1965 and 1966

Class 5 Steam and Type 2 Diesels (and the rest)

David Lloyd-Roberts

I read with interest the article on runs with 70013 in the period before the final withdrawal of steam in the North West in MP 29 ½. There was clear reference to my article in MP 20.

I had a Scottish Rover in July 1965 and another in August 1966. In 1966 steam was very limited. Although more trains became steam hauled towards the end of the week, there was little weekday work booked for steam. There was more in 1965, but, again, I had to sniff it out. There was a guide in 1966 from a Scottish enthusiast organisation, but steam diagrams had been significantly reduced after publication of the guide.

On both occasions I stayed in a guesthouse that backed onto Perth station. I have a fair notebook for 1965, and an original, but not written up one, for 1966. There was an overall speed limit of 75 mph in Scotland in both 1965 and 1966. 1965 was my first visit to Scotland, so I had no knowledge of the terrain.

The 08.25 from Glasgow to Aberdeen was a three hour train on which the A4s had made a substantial impression by their sprightly performances. In 1965 it was a hybrid diesel - some days steam, other days diesel. This, of course, did not help planning an itinerary when the next train to anywhere might not be steam hauled for some hours.

In 1966 there had been a restoration of solid steam working on this train in the spring. But on my visit there were no serviceable A4s, although they reappeared later in the summer - in other words, it was solidly diesel. On the other hand, not too many runs with Class 29s have appeared in Milepost, such as that in Table 1, Run 3. On the Tuesday we had a Caprotti Standard Class 5 (Run 1) and on the Friday 60031 (Run 2) with a yellow stripe (not to work South of Crewe) and looking rough. The Class 5 did not quite maintain the 60+ mph booking from Perth to Forfar, but more than made up for this to Stonehaven and then gained 3¼ minutes into Aberdeen to finish well ahead of time. The A4 was comfortably master of its task and „ate‟ the schedule. The train was diesel worked on Wednesday and Thursday. I can‟t remember Saturday because I went southbound on the 10.00 Dundee to Glasgow Buchanan Street (see later, Table 4).

The 08.25 on the Thursday had gone down with D5328 and came back with 72008 - did anyone ever time a Clan on a three hour train? It was up to time when I viewed it at Larbert, cursing that day‟s agenda.

The Class 29 performed perfectly adequately on the train. The class had been re-engineered by 1966 and they were a bit more reliable than hitherto but, nevertheless, they did not last long. They had the same sort of reputation as the D600 Warships and the Class 43 and their Class 22 sisters.

Milepost 31¾ 299 January 2011

Table 1 Run 1 2 3 Date July 1965 July 1965 9.8.1966 Train 08.25 Glasgow Buchanan St- 09.45 Perth- 08.25 Glasgow Buchanan St- Aberdeen Aberdeen Aberdeen „The Grampian' „The Grampian' Motive Power 73149 - 5MT 60031 - A4 D6130 Load 6/205/220 6/205/220 6/211/225 Recorder D.Lloyd-Roberts D.Lloyd-Roberts D.Lloyd-Roberts Miles sch m s mph m s mph m s mph 0.0 Perth * 0 00 0 00 0 00 4.2 Luncarty 6 13 55 5 50 58/63 5 45 61 5.2 Strathard 9 33 53 6 35 57 7.3 Stanley Junction 11 48 66 8 46 60 8 50 55 9.5 Ballathie 13 23 70 11 01 69/75/74 11 00 67/71/64 13.7 Burrelton 15 23 68/76 14 21 72/74 14 40 69 15.9 Coupar Angus 17 21 75 16 08 80/81/77 16 40 73/71/70 20.6 Alyth Junction 21 16 69 19 45 81/78/82 20 36 74 24.7 Eassie 24 47 72/68 22 45 80/82 23 55 75 26.9 Glamis 26 37 73/68 24 30 80/77 25 44 74/72 29.7 Kirriemuir Junction 29 08 74 26 40 78/77/76 28 05 75 32.5 Forfar [31] 32 18 29 28 31 01 2.4 Clocksbriggs 4 03 57 4 43 45/sigs 20 3 45 60 5.0 Auldbar Road 6 30 70 7 43 63 6 05 69 Gulhae 8 10 68/75 9 25 75/81/75/74 7 50 60 9.0 Glaisterlaw 10 57 68 11 05 78/75 9 32 68/65 12.3 Farnell Road 12 37 75/81 13 40 80/83 12 47 74/67 15.5 Bridge of Dun 15 17 68/70 16 10 80/69 15 50 60/59 18.1 Dubton 17 30 66 18 20 72/75 18 29 62 19.3 Kinnaber Junction 18 40 59 19 25 65 19 43 57 21.4 Craigo 20 47 68/73 21 21 74 21 52 67/71 23.6 Marykirk 22 41 62/56 23 13 65/56 23 45 65/55 26.8 Laurencekirk 26 22 56/60 26 23 65/74 27 10 67/70 30.1 Fordoun 29 28 67 29 17 74/69 30 04 73 34.0 Drumlithie 33 21 60/55 32 59 60/65 33 45 59/56/68 38.6 Dunnottar 35 12 74 37 09 69/70/71 41.2 Stonehaven [43] 40 36 40 05 40 07 2.6 Milepost 227 1/2 42 4 52 39 4 15 50/70 4.6 Muchalls 6 54 68 7 06 65/63 6 17 68 Newtonhill 8 00 64 8 07 57 7 16 68/70 8.0 Portlethen 10 14 57/63 10 19 69/60/68/64 9 20 62/68 11.4 Cove Bay 13 29 68/59* 13 34 57/60* 12 35 60/68 14.5 Craiginches 16 34 57/59* 16 48 64/55* 17 10 TSR /17 15.5 Ferryhill Junction 18 04 18 29 16.2 Aberdeen [23] 19 47 20 09 21 27

Milepost 31¾ 300 January 2011 (Mileage‟s derived from CJ Allen listings Trains Illustrated/ Modern Railways)

The next train to turn our attention to is the 16.25 Glasgow to Inverness in Table 2. I probably caught this first on the day of the Caprotti Class 5 Run on the 08.25 above, at Larbert after a DMU run from Edinburgh. The result was Table 2 Run 1. The minimum of 51 mph at Plean was notable with nine carriages. It should be compared with D5359 on a similar load, which only managed 41 mph here in Run 4 Table 2a. Indeed, D5359 was in the appalling category at Kinbuck with a minimum of 24 mph. Having discovered the 16.25, I timed it on two other days because the level of performance was as good as I thought an A4 would give on six carriages over Kinbuck. There was an additional stop in Run 3 at Gleneagles with 44997 but it would seem that the overall time was kept to Perth. I did not record dwell times in 1965.

Table 2 Run 1 2 3 Date July 1965 July 1965 July 1965 16.25 Glasgow 16.25 Glasgow 16.25 Glasgow Train Buchanan St- Buchanan St- Buchanan St- Inverness Inverness Inverness

Motive Power 44670 - 5MT 44705 44997 Load 9/308/325*6/203/220 9/306/325*6/203/215 9/307/325*6/202/215 Recorder D.Lloyd-Roberts D.Lloyd-Roberts D.Lloyd-Roberts Miles m s mph m s mph m s mph 22.10 Larbert sch 0 00 0 00 0 00 24.30 Alloa Junction 3 56 57 4 10 56 26.05 Plean 5 57 51 6 16 51 6 02 63/47 28.60 Polmaise 8 24 68 8 48 60/62/sigs 8 15 68 30.20 Stirling [11] 10 24 11 04 10 51 1.80 Cornton 3 15 55/57 3 25 52/54 3 10 51/53 2.85 Bridge of Allan 4 22 53 4 46 50 4 20 47 4.90 Dunblane 6 46 48/47 7 18 43/40 7 20 15/sigs 7.55 Kinbuck 10 05 50 11 10 44 13 25 35 10.75 Greenloaning 13 13 68/66 15 03 64/68 17 28 59/68 15.00 Blackford 16 57 72/69 19 35 64/66 21 28 64 17.20 Gleneagles 18 57 67 21 40 64 24 15** 19.25 Auchterarder 20 43 72/74 23 21 75 2 55 68 23.40 Dunning 23 53 76/80/70* 26 39 72/70 6 32 74/73* 26.15 Forteviot 26 15 74 27 59 74/73 8 45 75/77 29.05 Forgandenny 28 27 80 31 13 77/sigs 11 10 74 30.95 Hilton Junction 32 57 sig stop 35 35 12 51 60* 33.05 Perth [43] 39 07 41 18 16 28

6* denotes the load from ** special station Stirling stop

Milepost 31¾ 301 January 2011 Table 2a

Run 4 Date July 1965 Train 09.15 Glasgow -Dundee Motive Power D5359 - class 27 Load 9/308/325 On the Friday in 1965 I caught the 1000 ex-Dundee and the run is set Recorder D.Lloyd-Roberts out in Table 3 Run 1. This again was Miles sch m s mph very noisy and noticeably quick. I 22.10 Larbert 0 00 abandoned the more obvious moves 24.30 Alloa Junction 3 59 55 on the Saturday to time this train 26.05 Plean 7 55 41 again – my last day in Scotland - although I remember that the 09.15 28.60 Polmaise 8 40 68 Glasgow-Dundee and the 20.15 30.20 Stirling [11] 10 35 were worked by 60031. However, 1.80 Cornton Crossing 3 20 49 one really good run was probably as 2.85 Bridge of Allan 4 38 43 much as you could expect, and a 4.90 Dunblane 8 00 32/24 bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. 7.55 Kinbuck 14 10 27

10.75 Greenloaning 18 41 50/53 The Caprotti 5 on eight coaches in 15.00 Blackford 23 32 51 Run 2 was very noisy going up to 17.20 Gleneagles [22] 27 01 Gleneagles, and I suspect over the 2.05 Auchterarder 3 01 61 timing load for a Class 5. I have included a further run to show what I 6.20 Dunning 6 33 73/75 suspect to be a more average 8.95 Forteviot 8 47 74/81 performance on the 18.00 ex 11.85 Forgandenny 11 08 81/sigs Dundee in Run 3. 13.75 Hilton Junction 13 38 45 15.85 Perth [18] 19 50 „ Table 3 Run 1 2 3 Date July 1965 July 1965 July 1965 Train 10.30 Perth Glasgow 10.30 Perth-Glasgow 18.00 Dundee-Glasgow Motive Power 73151 5MT 73151 5MT 73154 5MT Load 6/205/220 8/281/300 7/238/255 Recorder D.Lloyd-Roberts D.Lloyd-Roberts D.Lloyd-Roberts Miles sch m s mph m s mph m s mph 0 00 Perth 0 00 0 00 0 00 2.10 Hilton Junction 5 45 2/sigs 3 55 4 02 4.00 Forgandenny 9 12 53 5 52 60 6 01 60 6.90 Forteviot 11 59 60/63 8 33 64/61 8 45 64/62 9.65 Dunning 14 47 60 11 21 60/61 11 28 62 13.80 Auchterarder 19 42 44/42 16 29 41/36 16 43 39 15.85 Gleneagles [22] 22 50 20 00 20 00 35 2.20 Blackford 3 54 60 4 34 54 23 00 57 6.45 Greenloaning 7 28 81/79 8 18 75 28 03 64/62 9.65 Kinbuck 10 10 62/66 11 08 64/66 30 08 66/61/73 12.30 Dunblane [15] 13 05 14 13 33 01

Milepost 31¾ 302 January 2011 1.95 Bridge of Allan 2 49 67 3 15 62 3 04 58 3.00 Cornton 3 44 73 4 12 70 4 05 64/67 4.90 Stirling [6] 5 55 6 27 6 19

In Tables 4 and 4a I have included four runs between Stirling and Perth, which show two runs on the 09.25 from Crewe. 70001 (Run 1) had the benefit of a light load and notwithstanding a signal check before Dunblane found the schedule easy. 70003 (Run 2) gave a solid performance with a greater load on the Saturday as did 73107 (Run 3) on the 18.15 Glasgow to Dundee. Finally for Table 4, by way of comparison there is a good run with D5369 a year later on the 12.05 ex-Euston. This was the train that had been steam from Motherwell, but was not in the week I was there.

Table 4 Run 1 2 3 Date 23924 July 1965 July 1965 Train 09.25 Crewe-Perth 09.25 Crewe-Perth 18.15 Glasgow Buchanan St - Dundee Motive Power 70001 7MT 70003 7MT 73107 5MT Load 6/198/210 9/274/290 6/204/220 Recorder D.Lloyd-Roberts D.Lloyd-Roberts D.Lloyd-Roberts Miles sch m s mph m s mph m s mph 22.10 Larbert 0 00 0 00 24.30 Alloa Junction 3 45 58 3 45 61 27.80 Bannockburn 5 42 55 5 40 53 28.60 Polmaise 8 05 67 8 05 69 30.20 Stirling [11] 10 07 11 05 1.80 Cornton Crossing 3 55 45/30/sigs 3 20 54 53 2.85 Bridge of Allan 5 32 41 4 30 51 4 28 45 4.90 Dunblane 8 19 43/40 7 02 43/39 7 18 35/sigs 7.55 Kinbuck 12 10 60 11 00 43 11 46 40 10.75 Greenloaning 15 40 71/68 14 32 58/66 15 30 60/62 15.00 Blackford 19 30 18 40 69/64 19 44 59/63/65 17.20 Gleneagles [25] 22 25 21 35 22 53 2.05 Auchterarder 3 06 56 2 59 65 2 58 62/74 6.20 Dunning 6 53 68 6 35 74/73 6 33 70 8.95 Forteviot 9 29 66 9 03 64 9 00 74 11.85 Forgandenny 12 05 68 11 40 66 11 18 75 13.75 Hilton Junction 13 50 60 13 34 59 12 48 65 15.85 Perth [20] 16 47 16 37 16 18

Milepost 31¾ 303 January 2011 Table 4a There was little steam in 1966 as I Run 4 have said, but the postal at 17.30 Date 10 August 1966 from Perth was worked to Glasgow Train 12.05 Euston-Perth on the Thursday by 70006 (Table 5 Motive Power Class 27 D5369 Run 1). This did well. The run to Gleneagles was not particularly good, Load 6/222/235 but the 60 mph climb of Cumbernauld Recorder D.Lloyd-Roberts Glen was probably sustained up the Miles sch m s mph 1/128 which, even with six coaches, 0.00 Stirling 0 00 was noteworthy. 1.80 Cornton Crossing 3 20 60 I have included a run with D5335 on a 2.85 Bridge of Allan 4 27 56 late-running Inverness-Glasgow train 4.90 Dunblane 6 46 49 by way of comparison as far as Perth 7.55 Kinbuck 10 27 43 in Table 5 Run 2. 10.75 Greenloaning 13 40 69/70 15.00 Blackford 17 41 65 I feel that a lot of this running for this late period was of a high quality. 17.20 Gleneagles [25] 20 17 Clearly the Britannia run with 70003 2.05 Auchterarder 2 44 66/70 was outstanding, and I now present 6.20 Dunning 6 26 64/70 these runs for members to 8.95 Forteviot 8 52 68/70 contemplate. 11.85 Forgandenny 11 20 72/68 13.75 Hilton Junction 13 12 59 15.85 Perth [20] 17 06 . Table 5 Miles sch m s mph m s mph Run 1 2 9.65 Kinbuck 12 02 63/60/63 25 43 70 Date 11 August 1966 09 August 1966 12.30 Dunblane [14] 16 07 29 04 Train 17.42 Perth- 1625 Inverness 1.95 Bridge of 2 58 61 2 49 63 Glasgow BS Glasgow 3.00 Cornton 3 58 65 3 47 68 Motive Pow er 70006 7MT D5335 Cl 27 4.90 Stirling [6] 6 33 6 05 Load 6/211/220 5/175/185 1.60 Polmaise 3 05 46/50 Recorder D.L.R. D.L.R. 4.15 Plean 6 10 47/50 Miles sch m s mph m s mph 5.90 Alloa 8 09 65 0 00 Perth 0 00 0 00 Dept/10L 8.10 Larbert 11 01 2.10 Hilton Junction 5 04 45 3 47 50 1.25 Carmuirs 2 24 48/51 4.00 Forgandenny 7 01 63/68 69 3.55 Greenhill 5 10 53/54 6.90 Forteviot 9 37 66/65 8 00 70/72 5.35 Castlecary 6 50 67/65/60 9.65 Dunning 12 10 67/68/64 10 28 68 8.95 Cumbernaul 10 55 13.80 Auchterarder 17 15 39/37 14 40 52 Glenboig 4 55 71 15.85 Gleneagles [23] 20 54 17 03 47 5.95 Gartcosh 6 16 75/76 2.20 Blackford 3 45 53 19 31 69/75 Gamkirk 7 25 75 6.45 Greenloaning 8 58 64 23 05 72/76 8.65 Stepps 8 41 76/38/tsr 10.45 Milton 11 05 50 12.15 St Rollox 12 53 sigs 13.15 Glasgow 16 30

Andrew James has made some edhp estimates on some of the runs mentioned in this article.

Milepost 31¾ 304 January 2011 Table 2 Bridge of Allan-Kinbuck 1 in 101 rising Run 1 /44670 1166-edhp-49.3 mph Run 2 /44705 978-edhp-44.1 mph Run 3 /44997 checked Run 4 /D5359 696-29.5 mph 70022* see MP 20 1344-42.6 mph Table 3 Dunning-Auchterader 1 in 112 rising Run 1 /73151 834-edhp-50 mph Run 2 /73151 948-edhp-47.9 mph Run 3 /73154 733-46.9 mph Table 4 Bridge of Allan-Kinbuck 1 in 101 rising Run 1 /70001 1061-edhp-42.5 mph Run 2/ 70003 1252-edhp-43.4 mph Run 3/ 73107 checked Run 4 /D5369 887-47.0 mph

A Recorder’s Guide to the SNCF: TGV to Paris

Alan Varley

I regularly see, or am sent, articles and letters from the British press containing direct or implied comparisons with continental, and particularly French, railways. The message of the journalists or writers of letters to the editor is always that when it comes to coping with snow, guaranteeing a certain level of service during strikes, handling engineering work, or simply offering a fast, modern rail service, “they do things better over there”. This seems very strange to someone who actually lives “over there”. My train travel in France this year has involved quite a bit of contact with snow, strikes, and timetable changes for engineering work, and my experiences show that French railways are not always very good at coping with these problems. As for modern services, my visit to the Atlantic coast, referred to in my last article, highlighted the contrasts between the up-to-date parts of the system, generally radiating from Paris, with other lines that were last modernized 40 or more years ago and are showing distinct signs of age.

My trips to and from Paris this year shed some interesting light on the other topics mentioned. I travelled between Nice and Paris or the north-west over a dozen times, but not always by train. Use of the Air France shuttle or EasyJet was sometimes dictated by time constraints, but I also gave preference to the airlines on at least one occasion for reasons of cost: air can be much cheaper than rail when some trains are fully booked and the SNCF‟s yield management system offers only maximum prices for the remaining seats. And I made one return from Paris by air and one trip to Montpellier by car because, for quite substantial periods this autumn, long-distance services have been terminating short of Nice in the evening on account of engineering work – not to mention other car journeys when train services were disrupted by strikes.

In the northbound direction I finally used the train nine times. Running on the Marseille-Paris LGV – France‟s “premier line” – was generally not good: arrivals in Paris or Massy were 0, 1, 3½, 6½, 8, 14, 27½, 28 and 32 minutes late. It is worth looking at these runs in more detail to see why only a third of them achieved a reasonable level of punctuality. The 8 runs that went directly to Paris, non-stop from Aix or Avignon, are summarized in Table 1.

Milepost 31¾ 305 January 2011 The first is a good example of what happens to high-speed trains when it snows. It is therefore topical, since at the moment of writing a large part of France is covered by snow and the Nice arrivals board this evening (4 December) shows the long-distance trains (from Paris, Lille, Geneva) running 50 to 150 minutes late, while the SNCF web site warns that all services on the high-speed lines are likely to suffer 20-30 minutes delay. Moreover, four days ago, when the snowfalls began, it was announced that 20% of trains on the LGV to the south would be cancelled. Clearly, SNCF is not a snow-proof railway, and TGVs themselves are not weather-proof either: readers will remember the reasons given by Alstom for Eurostar failures last winter, which came very close to repeating the famous “wrong type of snow” explanation.

Most of the major delays over the last few days have been due to equipment failures – track or train – caused by the bad weather, but the basic “20 to 30 minutes” and the cancellations that are a reaction to the resulting drop in line capacity are caused by precautionary speed limits now imposed in snowy conditions. The turbulence under high- speed trains whips up large quantities of snow from between the tracks; this lodges on parts of the underframe and forms blocks of ice which finally drop off and can cause damage, particularly when two trains pass one another. This is not just science-fiction. A few years ago I was on a train on the LGV-Méditerranée which suffered exactly this type of accident: as we passed another train I could hear blocks of ice rapping the sides of my carriage, and a little way back down the train the outer pane of the double-glazing of a window was broken, resulting in a “stop and examine” and reduced speed for the rest of the journey.

Run 1 was made at the end of a snowy spell last winter and conditions were returning to normal. The down service that was the previous working for the stock had nevertheless arrived quite late and despite a turn-round in scarcely over 20 minutes – quite a feat for the SNCF – departure was four minutes late. With restricted speeds to come it was important not to waste further time with slow starts, but we crawled out of Marseille via the relief line and made a slow stop in Aix, 13 03 against the difficult 11-minute booking. So we were six minutes late away from Aix and unfortunately another poor start, only 80 km/h attained in 120 seconds whereas on this favourable profile one could hope for nearer 150 km/h. Speeds in the Arc valley and over the Ventabren hump were therefore a good 40 km/h below scratch. The TVM cab signalling makes it possible to adjust speed limits section by section to the 320/300/270/230/170 km/h levels programmed, and on the 320 km/h section north of Lambesc we ran to a 300 km/h limit as far as Senas, then 230 km/h. There was presumably a problem with the points at Avignon for we ran through the platform line, at only 133 km/h instead of the possible 160 km/h, and then continued at 230 km/h to Lapalud. There was now little snow visible and we resumed 300 km/h running – in fact the maxima were scarcely over 295 km/h – until Valence, where a 230 km/h limit was again imposed although the ballast was now clearly visible, with virtually no snow coverage. We slowed to 150 km/h through St-Exupéry, perhaps a 160 km/h TSR, and after crossing the Rhone at only 215 km/h we fell to 186 km/h on the climb to the Dombs plateau. From Montanay, with perhaps another 160 km/h TSR to come, we could have hoped to be in Paris in not much more than 100 minutes but surprisingly there was another long stretch limited to 230 km/h between Pasilly and Marolles, although there was not even snow in the fields here. On the switchback profile of the LGV-SE it is not easy to stick close to line speed, even at only 230 km/h, and from Pasilly to Cuy our average was only 213.6 km/h. So with signals into the terminus we finally arrived 28 minutes late. At this end of the year, over the last week, this style of running has probably been universal. The speed scheduled over the 560 km from Lapalud to Crisenoy is about 266 km/h; if the actual average is only 215 km/h on account of a 230 km/h limit the cost is exactly 30 minutes.

Table 1: summary of runs

Milepost 31¾ 306 January 2011

Location Dist Sched Run 1 Run 2 Run 3 Run 4 Run 5 Run 6 Run 7 Run 8 Aix TGV 00.00 00 00 Senas 43.74 12 08 Avignon TGV 73.98 0 20 50 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 Lapalud 47.49 12 33 46 11 27 12 08 13 13 12 10 12 21 12 58 13 08 Crest 100.36 23 44 53 23 10 23 26 24 23 23 02 23 11 24 17 24 00 Valence TGV 129.70 30 51 21 32 30 29 32 30 40 29 09 29 13 36 14 30 08 Lapeyrouse 170.51 40 62 24 41 55 38 08 39 46 37 37 37 37 47 00 45 19 St-Exupéry 215.46 50 75 45 52 11 48 03 53 46 47 05 47 14 56 55 55 15 Montanay 244.66 56½ 84 24 58 17 54 06 09 11 53 12 53 17 63 38 61 21 Macon 291.18 66½ 94 41 68 11 63 57 19 05 63 12 62 59 73 37 71 04 Le Creusot 351.36 81 108 50 82 24 78 28 34 31 77 23 77 13 88 12 85 15 Vianges 399.35 92 119 25 93 05 90 12 46 00 87 47 87 41 98 57 95 45 Pasilly 463.05 106½ 133 34 106 35 103 52 60 28 101 34 102 27 113 50 109 38 Vergigny 508.07 116½ 146 12 116 17 113 24 70 02 110 43 114 44 126 55 118 48 Marolles 575.93 131½ 164 04 130 38 132 30 88 47 128 53 130 07 141 20 132 44 Crisenoy 608.05 138½ 173 30 140 04 139 54 96 33 136 09 137 35 148 05 139 33 Pompadour 647.46 150 185 34 153 05 152 00 108 56 153 03 155 22 161 07 151 18 Paris GdL 656.71 158 195 57 160 35 159 57 116 43 160 10 162 39 168 51 161 35

* TGV schedules are not standardized as distribution of recovery time varies. Schedule shown is therefore indicative only (SRT + 7%), for an Avignon-Paris run. (Real schedule of runs 2,3,5,6: 161 mins; runs 4,7,8:163 mins). Run 1 was scheduled in 175 mins Aix-Paris, so about 17 mins to pass Avignon, 27 mins Lapalud and then as shown.

Run 1 1028 Marseille-Paris, 13.01.10. Pair of TGV-D. Schedule 175 mins Aix-Paris, dep 6 mins late Run 2 1728 Marseille-Paris, 20.01.10. Pair of TGV-D. Schedule 161 mins Avignon-Paris, dep 1½ mins late Run 3 1758 Marseille-Paris, 25.03.10. Single TGV-D. Schedule 161 mins Avignon-Paris, dep ½ mins late Run 4 1035 Nice-Paris, 15.04.10. Pair of TGV-D. Schedule 163 mins Avignon-Paris, dep 4 mins late, special stop St-Ex Run 5 0935 Nice-Paris, 05.05.10. Pair of TGV-D. Schedule 161 mins Avignon-Paris, dep 4½ mins late Run 6 0933 Nice-Paris, 30.08.10. Pair of TGV-D. Schedule 161 mins Avignon-Paris, dep 31½ mins late Run 7 1035 Nice-Paris, 10.09.10. Pair of TGV-D. Schedule 163 mins Avignon-Paris, dep ½ min late Run 8 1035 Nice-Paris, 11.10.10. Pair of TGV-D. Schedule 163 mins Avignon-Paris, dep 29 mins late ______

This run apart, only run 4 (with its special stop) and run 7 actually lost time on the LGV – but despite the presence of about 15 minutes recovery time none of the others managed to regain time significantly. In the up direction there is, of course, a funnel effect, with significant traffic flows joining the line at Montanay, Macon and Pasilly and the risk of congestion approaching the terminus – though in this respect the Parisian termini are better equipped in terms of platform capacity and approach tracks than Paddington, Euston and Kings Cross. Four or five minutes of the recovery time are currently required for track renewal slacks. There is also the fact that some of the XX28 Marseille-Paris departures are only a dozen or so minutes behind inter-regional TGVs making a Valence stop.

This may have been the problem encountered by run 2, which left Aix on time but with another slowish start (11m 36s through Senas) but an extremely slow approach to Avignon that may already have been due to signals and made us a little over a minute late. This time, though, the start was excellent, with 90+ km/h attained in 60 seconds and over 150 km/h at the top of the steep climb over the Rhone. The time to Lapalud was thus by far the best in the table, and although subsequent speeds were less good we were heading to get through Valence in a little over 29 minutes. However a severe check, to 43 km/h, cost something over four minutes. Normal running followed, with an excellent climb to Primarette, minimum speed over 250 km/h, but we caught the preceding train again as it slowed to turn off towards Lyon, and came down to 170 km/h. So at Montanay we were about three

Milepost 31¾ 307 January 2011 minutes late and settled to some hard running, though uphill speeds were not as good as those of run 1 which went over the major summits at PK 320 and 295 in the mid-240 km/h range against 211 km/h and 232 km/h for run 2. Cruising speeds, too, were a fraction low despite occasional 300 km/h max, so we could not quite get enough time in hand to offset a 160 km/h TSR (min 142 km/h) at Châtelet and arrival was finally one minute late.

Run 3 had run fast and punctually from Marseille to Avignon but left just a little late, slowly at first but with a good climb over the Rhone viaduct. Once again we caught something before the junction to Lyon and had a check to 220 km/h, but then we were able to take things easy with slow speeds over the subsequent summits and a TSR near Cuy, for the only RT arrival in the table.

Run 4 was made during the spate of strikes around Easter that obliged me to make two road journeys to Marseille, once for a work engagement and once to pick up a friend stranded there when it was announced that her Brussels-Nice TGV would go no further. On the day of my journey to Paris, four of the five Nice-Paris TGVs were running but there were no inter-regionals coming east of Marseille and so there were hardly any trains from Marseille to Nice and vice-versa. This was no doubt why we made a special stop at Toulon – something that can easily be absorbed in the 102-minute Les Arcs-Avignon timing. So our four minute late start from Avignon was not due to this but to overtime on all the earlier stops. The subsequent running was unenterprising to say the least, with an extremely slow start, low minima on the climbs – and the hindrance of a stop in St-Exupéry to replace a late- running train from Grenoble. Maybe we were following something from there onwards, though it is difficult to see what; at all events, running was uniformly below scratch, with very uneven speeds, sometimes down into the 240-250 km/h range on 300 km/h sections, not over major summits but simply where a hump in the profile interrupted a generally downhill section.

To illustrate the extremes of everyday performance, this run is tabulated in more detail in Table 2, along with run 5 which was in most respects the best of the bunch. A couple of signal stops in the Marseille area made this four minutes late into Avignon. The start was a standard effort, not as good as that of run 2, but speeds were then quite well maintained until we slowed for a TSR at Vaumort. So from Avignon to Versigny we gained almost six minutes on my indicative schedule – but that is probably two minutes less than the recovery allowance, so we were not quite achieving the standard running times. At that time this train was booked to take the old route into Paris, via Lieusaint, and with a severe signal check at Villeneuve-St-George followed by a fast finish we were finally 3½minutes late. Net time was 151 minutes or a little over – about three minutes outside a scratch performance.

Run 6 was made on the same train and illustrates another recurrent problem, that of lateness imported into the high-speed system from elsewhere. The problem this time lay as far away as Monaco, where a signal failure delayed the Ventimiglia portion of the Nice-Paris train which therefore left 27 minutes late, unfortunately five minutes behind the 0955 Nice- Bordeaux. This has similar timings, skipping the Les Arcs stop but calling at Toulon, so there should have been no further loss of time. However we had signal stops before the first two calling points and with that plus station overtime we left Les Arcs 35½ minutes late. Then we stopped in the platform at Toulon: far from overtaking the Bordeaux there we were behind it – and perhaps something else as well. So despite the easy schedule to Aix and then onwards to Avignon we were 31½ minutes late here. After a slower start, the running was very similar to that of run 5, with a TSR a little earlier, at Pasilly and then easing, presumably for signals, after Marolles, and an unusual signal stop just before the end of the LGV. A fair run, but another illustration of the illusory nature of recovery time in such a situation: the train had left Nice 27 minutes late with more than 30 minutes of recovery to come – but had lost

Milepost 31¾ 308 January 2011

Table 2 Avignon-Paris

Run 4: 1035 Nice-Paris, 15.04.10, TGV 605 + 614, 778/840, A Varley, 8/20, fine then rain Run 5: 0935 Nice-Paris, 05.05.20, TGV 256 + 286, 778/820, 1 Varley, 2/20, damp, fresh N wind PK dist Location m s km/h* ave m s km/h* ave 625.16 00.00 Avignon Run 4 4 late Run 5 4.5 late 620.56 04.60 UB south 03 21.8 127/125 82.1 02 53.3 148/146 95.6 595.25 29.91 Piolenc 09 34.6 300/275 244.4 08 36.1 298/301/291 265.8 577.67 47.49 Lapalud 13 13.1 298/288/290 289.6 12 09.8 298/301 296.2 560.18 64.98 UB 16 50.6 276/293 289.5 15 44.7 286/301 293.0 531.61 93.56 Tartaiguilles N 22 53.6 257 283.4 21 36.6 265/299/290 292.4 524.80 100.36 Crest 24 23.3 286 272.9 23 01.8 295/299 287.7 519.16 106.00 OB 25 36.4 268/295 277.8 24 12.5 279/302/270/300 287.2 495.46 129.70 Valence 30 40.0 281/262 281.0 29 08.8 290/293/288 288.0 476.28 148.88 Claveyson 34 53.1 282/290 272.8 33 04.8 295/265/287 292.6 463.53 161.63 St-Sorlin 37 46.5 249/276 264.7 35 49.5 280/300 278.7 446.00 179.16 Primarette 42 06.3 201/286 242.9 39 30.4 250/293 285.7 425.18 199.98 Diémoz 46 45.3 267/274 268.6 43 53.1 277/293/286 283.7 409.70 215.46 St-Exupéry 53 46 Spl stop 132.5 47 05.0 297/290/298 290.4 395.78 229.38 Cotière V Sth 05 44.0 289/243 145.7 49 55.8 287/268 293.4 380.50 244.66 Montanay 09 11.0 287/280/279 265.7 53 12.2 293/260 sigs? 280.1 361.13 264.03 Cesseins 13 13.0 298/278/291 288.1 57 26.5 293/300/259 274.2 333.98 291.18 Macon 19 05.0 241/262 277.7 63 11.6 269/250/257 283.4 320.00 305.16 Bois-Clair 22 38.7 198/260/202 235.5 66 33.0 220/269/238 249.9 292.97 332.19 Vaux-en-Pré 29 31.4 217/260/195 235.8 72 52.7 240/267/230 256.3 273.80 351.36 Le Creusot 34 31.0 242/207/280 230.3 77 23.0 267/255/300 255.3 247.41 377.75 Sully 41 06.5 263/290/222 240.2 83 15.2 295/300/262 269.7 225.81 399.35 Vianges 46 00.0 230/270 264.9 87 47.1 265/269/250/270 286.0 202.37 422.79 Arcenay 51 38.6 247 249.2 93 10.0 269/261/300/290 261.3 182.09 443.07 Toutry 56 04.7 300/246 274.4 97 27.3 300/274/298 283.7 162.11 463.05 Pasilly 60 27.5 285/300/265 273.7 101 34.1 290/298/277 291.4 139.82 485.34 Tonnerre 65 22.2 286/300 272.3 106 08.6 298/300/292 292.3 117.09 508.07 Vergigny 70 02.4 277 292.0 110 43.4 295 297.8 102.82 522.34 UB 73 17.7 240/274 263.0 113 58.9 217*/115* tsr 263.1 71.50 553.66 Cuy 80 42.7 216/153* tsr 253.2 124 01.7 288/291/259 sigs 187.0 49.23 575.93 Marolles 88 46.6 154/292 165.6 128 53.1 277/255 sigs/298 275.1 25.93 599.23 Le Châtelet 94 33.5 280/286 249.0 133 56.4 277/212* 276.6 39.41 608.05 Crisenoy 96 33.0 237/244/240 265.7 136 08.8 220 239.8 21.07 626.39 Chevry-Cosigny 101 09.1 253 239.1 Via Lieusaint 07.63 639.83 Villecresnes N 105 40.7 125*/150 178.1 et Villeneuve 09.35 647.46 Pompadour 108 56 136/139 140.6 153 02.5 111/135 02.16 654.65 Bercy 112 35.5 95 117.9 156 41 100 130.4 00.10 656.71 Gare de Lyon 116 43 14 late 30.0 160 10 3.5 late 35.5

* Significant max. and min. Only another 6 minutes!

Run 7 was RT into Avignon, started slowly and ran quite gently – but then suffered a severe signal check at Valence as a preceding train left the station. So the driver ran cautiously to avoid a further check before St-Exupéry, but ended up behind something coming off the Lyon line at Montanay. So once again we were unable to recover the loss and arrival was 6½ minutes late.

Milepost 31¾ 309 January 2011 Run 8, finally, is similar to run 6 in that problems in Nice in the morning had repercussions right up the line to Paris. This was another strike-affected journey since I was obliged to leave a day earlier than planned, and maybe the action programmed the next day was already being anticipated in the depot at Nice, for the stock for the 0955 to Bordeaux, the 1028 to Lille and the 1035 to Paris were all late coming in. The Lille left at 1039 and we followed at 1048½, but with the 1039 local in between. So once again we were unable to use the recovery in the early stages, and then a spell of wrong-line running delayed us further after Toulon – so much so that the Lille TGV was able to go into Marseille, turn round and come out in front of us as we took the avoiding curve there. And of course it would be making Avignon and Valence stops. We took things easily at first, then optimistically touched 319 on the short 320 km/h stretch, only to be checked into Avignon. The start from there, 29 minutes late, was curious: fast at first, but then if anything easing on the climb, coming off the Rhone viaduct at only 98 km/h instead of 140-150 km/h. Then we had a slight check before Valence and a severe TSR, to 100 km/h, over Galaure viaduct. So we were not back to full speed at Lapeyrouse and fell to 198 km/h over Primarette summit. Then we ran unchecked until the final approach to Paris: St-Exupéry to Pompadour took 96 minutes against 100 minutes in my schedule, but once again this is two or three minutes slower than scratch running.

Trains running towards Paris, facing increasing congestion, are of course necessarily less punctual than those starting from the capital, and to be fair my down journeys have been better: one RT, five between 2½ and 6½ late, and two over 30 minutes, both inter- regional trains delayed before joining the LGV-SE. However, poor punctuality on this LGV is causing concern to SNCF and RFF. As my runs show its causes are many and varied; variable driving standards, as illustrated in the table above, play a part, but delays imported from other parts of the system are still more significant and even more difficult to avoid on this line which is the backbone of the SNCF network, with traffic originating on the Atlantic and Channel coasts, in Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, and very soon Spain.

At the start of this article I mentioned the contrast between LGVs and other lines that were last modernized 40 years ago. Nice-Marseille, already briefly encountered above, is one of these: the TGVs in these tables run no faster over this line than did the electric services of 1970. Contemporary with the Marseille-Nice electrification was that of the Paris- Le Havre route, and on one of my trips to Paris this year I paid another visit to this line. In the 1970s the star trains ran to Rouen in 65 minutes, although hauled at first by 140 km/h BB 16500 electrics. Today with 160 km/h, 6,000 HP traction in the form of BB 15XXX locos the standard timing is 71 minutes. Table 3 shows what excitement lies in store for the recorder on this line today.

Line speed is 110 km/h through the tunnels out of Rouen, then 140 km/h with a short 130 km/h after Oissel followed by 160 km/h to Bonnières except for 140 km/h through Venables tunnel. From Bonnières to PK 65 there is a stretch at 130 km/h, then 150 km/h to beyond Mantes and 160 km/h to Achères. MPS then descends in stages to 130 km/h Sartrouville- Bois Colombes, and then down again in stages on the approach to Paris. This run started briskly to Oissel, ran with on/off spurts up to 155 km/h and then coasted towards Mantes, after which it was nothing but massive time-wasting the rest of the way. All very economical, no doubt ….

Milepost 31¾ 310 January 2011 Table 3 Rouen-Paris

Run 9 1803 Le Havre-Paris, M 30.08.2010, 10/430/440/530, BB 150XX propelling, A Varley, 2/11 PK Location m s km/h PK Location m s km/h 139.47 Rouen 00 00 0.5 late 40.29 Les Mureaux 46 38½ 132 135.68 St-Cath Tunn S 03 01½ 108/141 37.03 Les Clairières 48 10½ 128 125.74 Oissel 07 34 127 34.62 Vernouillet 49 18½ 125 118.96 Pont de l‟Arche 10 30½ 150 31.56 Medan 50 49½ 117 111.55 Val de Rueil 13 34 144 29.70 Villennes 51 44 126/128 106.70 St Pierre 15 32 149/155 25.84 Poissy 53 40 117/109 98.46 Venables 19 58½ 139 21.25 Achères 55 57½ 133 93.15 Gaillon 21 10 149/155 16.84 M. Lafitte 58 11 117 87.33 Le Goulet 23 28½ 154 15.52 Sartrouville 58 50½ 115 79.90 Vernon 26 26 145/142 12.76 Houilles 60 17½ 122 75.05 Port Villez 28 26 147 10.72 Bif Bezons 61 18 113 68.82 Bonnières 31 12½ 126/132 08.15 La Garenne 62 40 108 62.75 Rosny 34 25½ 95/64*sigs 05.74 Bois Colombe 64 01 103 57.27 Mantes la Jolie 38 31½ 97 04.59 Asnières 64 46½ 89 52.48 OB 40 53½ 128 03.20 Clichy 65 46½ 83 48.64 Epone 42 43 123 01.55 Pont Cardinet 67 00 66* 45.56 Aubergenville 44 11½ 134/122 00.10 Paris St Lazare 70 23 RT

LETTERS

GRADIENTS FROM CARNFORTH TO CARLISLE

Following my investigations into the gradients on the LSWR mainline from Worting to Exeter, I have tried a similar exercise for the above section, probably the section most often used for judging locomotives. The LNWR Society has a set of gradient diagrams for the whole LNWR system, prepared by the company, and kindly scanned them. They give distances, gradients and curve radii and have a proper vertical scale, which means that it is possible to judge whether at least the longer sections of supposedly constant gradients result in the vertical rise which they should. Of equal interest is, how well the diagrams with about 0.78 in per mile (in the version enlarged from the scan) compare with the Railway Magazine/Ian Allan (RM/IA) gradient diagrams, which have a scale of about 0.122 ins to the mile. At least the LNWR were close to the construction period, which might give their diagrams some additional credibility, and the provision of a vertical scale might indicate that it knew something about the altitude along their lines. The diagrams do not show vertical curves. These undoubtedly exist – photos taken from the lineside at Shap summit for example show one there. They were presumably introduced according to some rule at the time of construction, slightly lessening the height at the 37¼ milepost, Shap summit, for example. The horizontal scale differed a little from the 0.78 in in places, partly where the diagrams had been folded down the middle, but from other unknown causes (if paper shrinkage, the shrinkage would have to have been at a different rate over parts of a sheet to have caused a difference, because the miles and scale are on the same paper). I therefore measured each mile and took the distances over which each gradient applies from the measured scale for the mile in which the gradient occurs. That was necessary because I then calculated the vertical rise and fall from the gradients stated on the diagrams, and compared them with the actual heights above the datum lines (the datum is the level above which a particular section of the line has been drawn; that for 31 to 46 miles, which includes Shap, was drawn on a datum of 400 ft above Ordnance Datum). On the stretches where the same gradient is said to apply for long distances, the diagrams

Milepost 31¾ 311 January 2011 seem internally consistent. The 1 in 75 leading to Shap summit extends from 33.25 to 37.38 miles by the diagrams. That should give a 291 ft vertical rise. By my measure from the vertical scale the rise is 283 ft. On the long 1 in 125 between Shap and Penrith, the two methods give much the same difference. On the 1 in 131 leading into Carlisle the two approaches give much the same answer. Over the long stretches 5 to 31 miles, and 31 to 69 miles, with varying gradients applying, these two approaches give almost the same answers. The difference could be ascribed to the small scales to which I was working. In any case, it is impossible if there is a difference even after allowing for the small scale to say which is wrong, the gradient, the vertical scale or the distance scale. I would give the slightly differing distance scale per mile as being possibly at fault. The LNWR diagrams differ, however, from the RM/IA diagrams in the distances over which the various gradients apply. Both allegedly have the same zeros. Up to mp 25, between Oxenholme and Grayrigg, the two sources have the gradients applying over the same mp distances. Thereafter, however, the distances are not the same. The following table compares them. On account of the small scale of the RM/IA diagrams, I have expressed these in tenths of a mile. The distances refer to the mileage at the Carlisle end of each stretch of a gradient.

In most cases, the mileage for the end of the gradient is higher in the LNWR diagram than in the RM/IA. There are three cases, however, where the opposite applies, and three where they are the same (included so that the whole series can be considered).

Gradient RM/IA LNWR Gradient RM/IA LNWR 106 25.9 26.1 191 50.5 50.5 396 26.1 26.3 616 52.1 52.3 204 27.0 27.2 level 52.5 52.8 777 28.2 28.4 539 53.3 53.5 level 28.9 28.7 186 55.0 55.4 425 30.2 30.4 level 57.0 57.3 level 31.5 31.4 164 58.0 58.1 146 33.1 33.3 172 59.7 59.7 75 37.2 37.4 228 62.3 62.5 level 38.0 38.1 level 62.7 62.8 130 38.5 38.7 197 64.5 64.4 106 39.3 39.4 131 68.2 68.3 level 40.0 40.0 level 68.6 68.7 142 41.3 41.4 110 68.8 68.9 125 48.2 48.5 level 69.0 69.1 level 49.0 49.1 193 50.0 50.2

The LNWR diagrams also include curve radii and location. A great deal of the section is curved. From 0.5 miles (Lancaster) to 3.1 miles, all is curved; of 6 to 9 miles, 2.15 miles are curved; 1¼ miles through 10 and 11 miles are curved; from 17.5 to 29 miles, only 1.6 miles in toto are straight, and within that, from 17.5 to 20.65 miles, only one quarter mile in toto is straight; from 29.8 to 29.9 miles, all is curved; from 32.2 to 51.6 miles, three miles in toto are straight; and from 57.6 miles to 69 miles (Carlisle), three miles in toto are straight. Many curves in the same direction (of the same hand) lead directly from one into another, ie they are compound curves of varying radii.

Location, MPs (near) Radii, chains 10 and 11 66, 73 15 - 16 68, 52, 57 19f 54,67,77 Near 20 78 and 68 Near 22 73, 55, 40, 40 23 - 24 60, 75, 73 25 - 29 57, 37, 37, 36, 37, 56, 45 30¾ 57 31 68 33 70 33 – 34 75

Milepost 31¾ 312 January 2011 On to 35 79 37 - 38½ 42, 50, 60, 45, 79 40 - 41 55, 75, 69 42 - 45 34, 47, 62, 47, 43, 35 47 - 48 72½, 58 49 – 52 (Penrith) 60, 50, 40, 30½, 35½, 36¾, 36, 50, 45 53 - 54 60, 69 63 - 64½ 63, 40, 25½

(onwards to Carlisle not easily deciphered). Where the curves change hand, there is mostly a four or five chains straight between them, but there are two exceptions to that; 75 chains radius right (northbound) leads directly into a 96 chains radius to the left near 34 miles, and 210 chains radius to the right leads directly into 140 chains to the left near 45 miles, with no intervening straights. The curves are mostly of considerable radius, and the sharpest are not sharp by railway standards. The following are those sharper than 80 chains radius: These radii can be compared with the speeds allowed, shown on the RPS Mileage Charts. The speeds allowed are also influenced by the cant given to the track, and that in turn is influenced by the lineside clearances available, especially overbridges.

John Knowles

Dear David

The gremlins have struck in my log of the 47 run. Firstly the engine was 47.613 and not '10- May-30'. Second the flying average MPs 46 to 38 was 103.97 mph and lastly the s/s average was 77.57 mph (net 80.78mph).

Don Benn

RAILWAYS IN TUNISIA

I recently went on a week's holiday to Tunisia, based in the major provinvial town and resort of Sousse. My girlfriend was expecting a beach holiday, but when you can get a week's first class all-line rail rover for the equivalent of £20, it was really no contest, especially as many of the places of interest are accessible by train.

According to an article by Philip Wormald in Railways Illustrated (Feb 2004), Tunisia claimed to have the fastest scheduled metre gauge trains in the world, at 120 kmph. However, since that article was written they have introduced some very stylish CFD 2-car Autorails which cover the 93 miles from Tunis to Sousse in 90 minutes, including slow approaches to both terminals and one intermediate stop. On one occasion we paid the modest supplement to sample the Autorail. Although I was not equipped to do any detailed timing, out of interest I used the stopwatch on my phone to time successive kilometres at approx 85 mph, which suggests that a) the limit is now 140kmph, and b) the units are fitted with OTMR. The Autorail has the great advantage of no bulkhead behind the driver (like a classic DMU), but the disadvantage of a 440kw diesel under your feet. So most of our travel was on "proper" loco-hauled trains, with more sumptuous and spacious seating, even if the stock is looking a little careworn.

Standards of track maintenance are evidently high; speeding through the olive groves, you would never suspect you were on narrow gauge track. Although the GM diesels used exclusively on the metre gauge expresses look as though they would be more at home on yard transfers in Kansas City, they are no slouches, and their GT classification is an appropriate coincidence. A 14km start to stop run in 8m 55secs would suggest a maximum in the region of 80 mph. This was on the afternnon "Stopper" from Tunis (1540SuX) to

Milepost 31¾ 313 January 2011 Sousse, which is scheduled to cover the 48 miles from Bir Bou Regba to Kalaa Kebira in 58 minutes, including 6 intermediate stops. Although loads are generally light (from 4 to 6 coaches, including generator car), the performance of these 1,800 hp machines does impress, and they look well in their blue and red livery. Returning from El Jem (famous for its Roman amphitheatre, a 5 minute walk from the station) to Sousse, on the single track main line to the South, we were looped at Kerker for the 0940 Tunis to Tozeur to cross. The sight and sound of its GM diesel powering through at line speed in a haze of ballast dust, with headlights blazing and horn blaring certainly stirred the senses.

The main line from Tunis to Sousse is multiple track for the first 11 miles, then double track all the way until the last 4 single track miles into Sousse. This , however, is by no means the longest stretch of double track metre gauge in the world. This honour is claimed by Myanmar, with well over 200 miles of the line between Yangon and Mandalay (at least it did in 2001, when I travelled over it behind steam traction). Track maintenance standards are definitely not comparable though. If you attempted speeds even remotely approaching those of Tunisia, your train would soon end up in a tangled heap in a paddy field.

But I digress. I would strongly recommend a visit to Tunisia, for its cultural, railway and performance interest. Km posts and 100m posts are reliably in evidence, mostly on what I assume to be the upside (ie towards Tunis). Encouragingly, the governemnt is investing large sums of money in its railway network. The suburban section out of Tunis is currently being electrified, and many new stations built, to cater for the burgeoning commuter traffic. In the meantime, quite an intensive suburban service is handled by 6 coach push-pull sets worked by rather grubby MLW diesels. A new by-pass line and other links have been opened around Sousse, and an international route to Tripoli in neighbouring Libya is planned.

The electrified Sahel Metro line from Souuse (Bab El Jedid station) to Monastir and Mahdia is worked by a mixture of elderly Ganz Mavag EMUs and very new Rotem sets. It also conveniently serves Monastir airport. By way of contrast, you can sample push-pull working on the branch to Hammamet and Nabeul, where the 2 coach "Omnibus" (ie 2nd class only) train is worked at modest speed by a GE diesel. There is also an isolated standard gauge metro service (worked by 2 car M.A.N. EMUs) from Tunis Marine station, which serves the attractive hilltop village of Sidi Bou Said. You don't even have to resort to rubber tyres to get from Tunis Gare Centrale to Tunis Marine, as the city boasts a 4 line network of trams - what more could you want?

For the more adventurous, your "Carte Bleue" rover ticket will take you way down south to the oasis of Tozeur (one day train and one overnight - but no sleeping cars), or you can explore the standard gauge lines in the north-west, including the link to Algeria.

Railway staff are generally friendly and helpful. Though English won't get you very far, a basic command of schoolboy French is all you need to get around.

Paul Silvestri

WARSHIPS ON THE LSW

The fascinating article in July 2010 Milepost, with Warships on the LSW main line spurred me into looking up some of my travels of that time. Although steam generally ceased west of Salisbury in 1964 there were three such workings on Saturdays in the summer of 1965 on the Waterloo – Sidmouth/Exmouth services, viz 0800 Waterloo down and 1120 Sidmouth and 1413 Exmouth up. I soon discovered that it was possible to travel on all three providing one went down as far as Seaton Junction for the second up trip on the Warship-hauled 1200

Milepost 31¾ 314 January 2011 Waterloo. These steam runs nominally ceased on Saturday 28th August 1965, but for an additional three Saturdays beyond this date, the 1000 Waterloo-Sidmouth/Exmouth previously a Warship working, reverted to steam despite having its schedule pared to only 54mins for the 61 miles Salisbury to Axminster. The nearest I got to this was on 25th September 1965 when 34024 ran the distance in 59m13s. This was of little consequence as the branch connection to Lyme Regis always waited and any such loss could quite easily be recouped by Sidmouth Junction.

I attach three logs of the 1200 Waterloo, all well inside even-time to Axminster. The mileages are those used at the time and do not equate to those of the current more accurate RPS Distance Charts. Unfortunately, I was unable to record the ascent of Seaton/Honiton bank from a standing start at Seaton Junction as it was necessary to change over here in order to return to Salisbury by steam.

The first run started well giving me my fastest ever time out to Semley, but curiously down the tempting grades to Gillingham, Sherborne and Chard, as soon as speed rose to 80mph a very severe brake application was made. Were Warships limited to 80mph at this time? Nevertheless, Axminster was reached just within the booked 59mins despite a very severe signal check at Yeovil Junction. Runs 2 and 3 had no checks of any sort and comfortably kept time without recourse to over-speeding.

Train 1200noon Waterloo-Sidmouth & Exmouth Date 7-Aug-65 21-Aug-65 28-Aug-65 Engine type number Type 4 D/H D817 Type 4 D/H D818 Type 4 D/H D867 Name Foxhound Glory Zenith Load (tons) 10, 331/345 10,332/345 10,326/340 Driver (Exmouth J) Roberts

Recorder M B Warburton M B Warburton M B Warburton Miles location Sch m s mph m s mph m s mph 0.00 SALISBURY 0 0 00 0 00 0 00

1.60 Milepost 85 1/4 3 26 4 11 3 48

2.50 Wilton 4 40 46 5 26 44 4 53 49 8.30 Dinton 10 17 72 11 19 71 10 41 68/65 12.60 Tisbury [2] 13 49 74 14 54 73 14 29 68 17.60 Semley 17 58 65/81 19 18 56 19 00 60 21.70 Gillingham 21 14 74 22 46 79 22 25 77 23.95 Milepost 107 1/2 22 13 61 24 35 68 24 22 63 27.20 Milepost 110 3/4 25 51 80 27 01 85 26 54 80 28.50 TEMPLECOMBE 29.5 26 55 68 27 57 76 27 54 72 30.00 Milepost 113 1/2 28 27 55 29 18 63 29 21 57 32.00 Milepost 115 1/2 30 21 65/77 31 02 70 31 08 68 34.55 Sherborne 32 24 74 32 58 80 33 06 83 37.25 Wyke Crossing 34 40 64 35 08 67/63 35 15 71 39.15 YEOVIL JUNC 39 38 39 13* 36 49 65/67 36 58 65 41.40 Sutton Bingham 41 39 51 38 50 63 39 07 60 42.70 Milepost 126 1/4 43 11 56 40 13 59 40 34 56 46.70 Milepost 130 1/4 46 27 82 43 42 73 43 54 79 47.95 Crewkerne 47 21 73 44 41 66 44 52 65 49.80 Milepost 133 1/4 49 05 58/81 46 38 52/74 46 47 50

Milepost 31¾ 315 January 2011 56.00 Chard Junction 53 55 75/79 51 54 70/77 51 50 82 61.10 AXMINSTER 59 58 48 56 49 57 04

1.75 Milepost 146 1/4 3 21 55 3 09 57

3.30 SEATON JUNC 7 6 04 5 22

Mark Warburton

ALL LINE ROVER TICKET (ALR) RESTRICTIONS

ATOC are imposing restrictions on the availability of All Line rovers in 2011. The intention is that boarding and alighting of trains at London (and fringe stations) and Birmingham New Street will not be allowed before 1000 M-F on Cross Country, Virgin, EMT and East Coast trains. It is thought that ATOC are concerned that season tickets and any-time fares revenue may be lost as passengers are using ALRs instead.

The restrictions seem illogical, as the established traffic flows appear to be to London in the mornings and back in the evening. The restriction, however gives a passenger from Glasgow the ability to arrive at Euston at 1012, but a traveller from there can‟t arrive in Glasgow until 1517. Also odd, is the Birmingham restriction, which can be avoided by travelling on a local train to Birmingham International or Wolverhampton to join the XC train (or VT Glasgow train).

NETWORK DEVELOPMENTS

Since the last Milepost there has been little change of note regarding permanent speed restrictions on the railway with the exception of the remodelled Bearley Jn where higher speeds are now permitted towards Hatton; Scarborough station has also been remodelled. The reintroduction of trains to the Airdrie to Bathgate line came about on time but severe weather/ teething trouble with the new class 380 emus meant only one train an hour operated vice four and the opening of three stations was deferred. The Newport resignalling scheme continued resulting in the permanent singling of the Maindee curve avoiding the station and also facilitating the reintroduction of direct Newport-Ebbw Vale services in the future. In the private sector a welcome development was the reopening of the steeply graded Caldon Lowe line near Leek for occasional steam/diesel hauled trains with the potential for an extension towards Stoke-on-Trent this year. Southend Airport station may finally open by the time you read this and the Welsh Highland Railway should finally open to Porthmadog for fare paying passengers in February. The connection from the North London Line to the East London Line at Dalston Junction should take place by May allowing services to extend to Highbury & Islington. Resignalling of the North London Line as far west as Willesden Jn and controlled by Upminster Box should be complete by March. By mid-January the new Blackfriars station should be open and Thameslink trains transferred to new tracks on the east side of Blackfriars Bridge. The Reading station development will have seen resignalling work completed in the station area at Christmas/ New Year and under control of the Thames Valley Signalling Centre at Didcot. Finally the European Signalling System Trial on the Cambrian Coast Line came into being as planned last October from Harlech to Pwllheli. The distances in kilometres have been dropped but speeds are now quoted in KPH over that section. The system should be extended to the remainder of the Cambrian Lines in Spring. In the Republic of Ireland the fiscal crisis has led to the deferment of any new line construction but the Dublin to Cork line is having its arrears of maintenance addressed. The Limerick Jn resignalling/remodelling project was set for completion last December and Cherryville Jn (Kildare) has been relaid for higher speeds over the connection to the Waterford Line. Ian Umpleby, January 2011

Milepost 31¾ 316 January 2011

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WEDNESDAY 19th JANUARY 2011

Area Meeting

LONDON

The Royal Oak, Borough NEW

THURSDAY 24th FEBRUARY 2011

Area Meeting

BRISTOL

TUESDAY 29th MARCH 2010

Area Meeting

LEEDS

SATURDAY 2nd APRIL 2011

21st Century Performance Seminar

LONDON

East Coast v West Coast performance

SATURDAY 7th MAY 2011

AGM

LONDON

Speaker: Ian Umpleby on production of distance charts

SATURDAY 18th JUNE 2011

MASS TIMING DAY

Wait for further details

Milepost 31¾ 317 January 2011