MILEPOST 35 JULY 2014 I 28

PAR EXCELLENCE - From page 129 Photo: John Heaton

RPS

railway performance society

www.railperf.org.uk

Milepost 35¼ -73 - July 2014 Milepost 35¼ – July 2014

The Quarterly Magazine of the Railway Performance Society Honorary President: John Heaton 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] Committee member: Michael Bruce, 234A Otley Rd., West Park, Leeds LS16 5AB Tel 0113 305 0367 E-mail: [email protected] Richard Howlett, 93 Newbury Gardens, Stoneleigh, Epsom, Surrey, KT19 0NY Tel: 020 8394 0340 E-mail: [email protected]

Non-committee official:- Fastest times 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 73 Is this the way to run a railway? Martin Barrett 80 Travellers Travails Frank Collins 83 Fastest Times Martin Robertson 87 A Delve into my History Books John Rishton 95 APT – another postscript Alan Varley 98 By Special to the Dreaming Spires Michael Rowe 102 Lesser lights on the Eastern Region 2 Andrew James 104 OS Nock on the footplate Sandy Smeaton 110 Recorders Guide to SNCF Alan Varley 112 Belgium diversions David Lloyd Roberts 118 Letters 122 News: LM 172’s at 100mph David Adams 127 Par Excellence John Heaton 129 Mid Cheshire Lines Martin Barrett & David Stannard 133 Nunney Castle Don Benn 139 Network Developments Ian Umpleby 140 Chat Moss Bevan Price 141 Glasgow-Manchester Record Run John Heaton 143

Enclosures (where subscribed): Fastest Times discussion document, distance charts

Milepost 35¼ -74 - July 2014

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.

PUBLICATION OF MILEPOST

Milepost is published in April, July, October, and January. If you have not received your copy by the end of the month of publication it may have gone astray. Requests for replacements of missing or defective copies should be directed please to the Editor.

REPRESENTING THE SOCIETY

The RPS is always keen to be represented at special media-type occasions. However, we do ask that anyone wishing to do this should do so with the express agreement of the Committee. Should the opportunity arise for any member or in exceptional circumstances, friend of a member, to do this please can contact be made with the Secretary (either by telephone or e-mail) setting out the circumstances of the occasion. Please give us at least one week in advance of the occasion.

SUBMITTING ARTICLES

Submissions may be sent as attachments to an email or by post as documents on a CD or diskette or as a printed document. If sending a diskette or CD, please enclose a hard copy of the article; this helps if file(s) are unreadable for any reason.

Please send all submissions to the editor whose contact details are in the inside front cover of Milepost. The editor will normally acknowledge email submissions within a few days, and always within 3 weeks. If sending by post and you wish to have a receipt, please enclose an SAE for reply. If you wish any material/CD/diskette to be returned, please clearly state this.

Milepost 23¾ gave detailed guidelines for submissions. The editor is happy to supply these, on request by email or by post. Please note that page margins are critical: one inch or 2.54cm top, bottom, left and right.

Fastest Times

Please send all Fastest Times contributions to David Sage at the address on the inside cover. Please see enclosed supplement discussing future options.

This is with the following exceptions:- David Ashley for Voyagers, 180s, Pendolinos and 222s. Bill Long for DB material.

If in doubt then e-mail or post to my contact details on the inside cover.

Please, where practicable, also copy claims and logs to Lee Allsopp for the Society archive, and to Martin Robertson for material for his Fastest Times articles.

Note that the Members area of the RPS website – see www.railperf.org.uk - has the latest GB and Overseas Fastest Times. These times are also there in the general area, but without the recorder’s initials. At present all entries are as up to date as possible from submissions received. I must still confess to a time-lag with regard to the general area, but Member’s site is fine.

Milepost 35¼ -75 - July 2014 HISTORIC FASTEST TIMES

If you have any items to offer please contact me by email at either [email protected] or [email protected], or by post to Bevan Price, 24 Walmesley Road, Eccleston, St. Helens, Lancs., WA10 5JT. 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.

Overseas Distance Supplement (Section 1 France): £8.50

The complete collection of Issue 2 distance charts compiled to date. Individual new and revised charts are distributed occasionally with Milepost to those members who have paid a small supplementary 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.

UK Fastest Times £5.00

2010 and 2011-3 supplements in loose-leaf format 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 and Reopened ECML, GE and GW 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]. 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 They 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

Milepost 35¼ -76 - July 2014 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 01895 675178 or letter to David Ashley, 92 Lawrence Drive, Ickenham, Uxbridge, Middx, UB10 8RW THE MEETINGS SECTION

THURSDAY 25TH THURSDAY 30TH OCTOBER TUESDAY 4TH NOVEMBER 2014 SEPTEMBER 2014 2014 The Royal Oak, The Beaufort Arms The Grove Inn, LEEDS Borough, LONDON BRISTOL PARKWAY 1645 1645 1700 Area Meeting Area Meeting Area Meeting

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 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]

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 PARKWAY - THE BEAUFORT ARMS Members should leave Parkway station along the approach road, passing the bus stops and, at the mini-roundabout where the station approach joins Hatchet Road, turn right. Walk 100 yards and at the next mini-roundabout, turn right again. You are now walking along North Road. Meetings are held at The Beaufort Arms, BS34 8PB, which is on the left side of North Road after a further 50 yards. Meetings start at 16:45 and conclude around 19:15. The Beaufort Arms is open all day and food is served at all times. You can order and eat during the meeting should you wish. Further information is available from John Rishton on 07804 418896 or [email protected]

FREE SOCIETY MEETINGS All society meetings are free of charge to Members attending; i.e. no contribution will be asked towards the hire of rooms. The committee wishes to encourage Members to come along to meetings, talk to other train timers and share information and experiences of traction performance. The Society has a digital projector and if any member would like to give a short presentation at a society meeting using this projector (or without if they prefer), or if anyone has any topics for discussion at meetings please contact the Meetings Organiser.

MARTIN TASKER MEMORIAL LIBRARY- Lee Allsopp

The Society holds a large number of books (~170) 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

Milepost 35¼ -77 - July 2014 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 are listed on the Society Website.

Bill Hemstock has kindly donated the a copy of the Quail 2005 Midlands and North West Track Diagrams to the Library. RPS ARCHIVE – APPEAL FOR MORE MATERIAL!

While we still have plenty of material already scanned and awaiting entry into the Archive, we are running short of material for our scanning volunteers to scan. Therefore if anyone is willing to lend their collections of logs to the society for scanning, would they please get in contact with me. (Details on the inside front cover)

RPS ARCHIVES – LATEST UPDATES – Lee Allsopp

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

The following is a short summary of the material that is has been added to the Archive on our Website since the last issue of Milepost. The Website is generally updated on a monthly basis, normally the first Sunday in the month. It you haven’t had a look yet, then please give it a try!

 Latest material from Lee Allsopp  Latest runs from Ian Umpleby.  David Adams logs from the 1st Quarter of 2014  Milepost 35  Fastest times from March/April 2014  Latest runs from Bob Jennings  Latest from David Sage  Latest from Peter Smith  Latest from Richard Neville-Carle  Logs from John Rishton to go with his Fastest Times entries  Latest runs from Charles Foss  Latest runs from Dave Shelley  35 more notebooks from Nigel Smedley’s vast collection, covering the period Nov 2002 to May 2011. Including many railtours, and much more.  72 more books from a vast collection by Allan Heaton, covering Apr 1987 to Jan 1999. Still many more to come!  More from Reverend R S Haines, covering steam on the Portsmouth line from Petersfield to Portsmouth immediately before electrification  More from Bevan Price, including recent runs from the past few years.  19 more books from David Lloyd-Roberts covering a wide variety of running over the years throughout the country, and also abroad.  More from Philip Tromans on the Midland Main Line, and in East Anglia  Scanned images for 5 more of Alan Varleys notebooks, to go with the details already in the database.  A collection of ~1600 steam runs in Scotland, from 1959-1965, including many runs with A4’s.

RPS ARCHIVES – Coming soon! – Lee Allsopp

Thanks go to two of our members, Kevin Daniel and Frank Waterland who are continuing to scan some of the vast amount of material that goes into the archive.

Milepost 35¼ -78 - July 2014 The following is a taster of material that will appear in the archive, as it is scanned and processed, together with topical material received from a number of members.

 More notebooks containing ~10,000 logs recorded by Allan Heaton. These have been lent to the Society. Data from about 190 books has been entered so far, with about another 90 books still to go  David Lloyd-Roberts has made his vast amount of material available to the society. These will be scanned and added to the archive over the coming months. Data from 59 books has been entered so far.  Notebooks from the Reverend R S Haines have kindly been donated to the Society by Neil Bowmer-Scothern. The notebooks have now been entered. The study of steam running on the Portsmouth Main Line shortly before electrification is now being entered and is almost complete.  More from Bevan Price’s notebooks, covering a vast amount of travel over many years

NEED MATERIAL FOR ARTICLES? – Lee Allsopp

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!

PROVISION OF CURRENT MATERIAL FOR RPS ARCHIVE – Lee Allsopp

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)

Distance Chart Editor’s Report – Ian Umpleby

New charts printed this month are Sandbach–Middlewich–Northwich and the connection from Newport to the Ebbw Vale branch. A start has been made to re-issuing the South Wales Valley Lines charts and Rhymney, Aberdare and Merthyr Tydfil have been completed; the remainder, except Treherbert, have seen changes at the end of June so shall have to await updating. The other charts cover East Sussex, the Brighton Main Line with offshoots to Hastings and Seaford; the various mile post issues on these lines have been re-examined and, hopefully, resolved. Interim updates have been made to Sheffield-Barnsley-Leeds, Stockport-Chester and Liverpool-Earlestown-Manchester. With a busy summer ahead there may not be a Mileage Chart issue in October. Thanks as ever to those members who have passed on information and remember to keep viewing the web site for the weekly Temporary Speed Restrictions digest and Infrastructure/PSR changes.

Southampton Railway Systems Research Member Michael Hedges would like to introduce us to the Southampton Railway Systems Research (SR2) which promotes research and consultancy in railway infrastructure, railway operations, human factors, sound and vibration. They incorporate engineering, physical and social sciences and integrate scientific theory with practical operations. Details at: www.soton.ac.uk/engineering

Due to limitations on space, the article on Glonass-enabled GPS Receivers has been deferred - Ed

Milepost 35¼ -79 - July 2014 Is this the way to run a railway?

Martin Barrett

Usually Milepost contains articles about superb running, fastest times and how time was regained in the face of all obstacles. This is NOT one of those articles.

The second weekend of January 2013 was one of those when Colton Junction was being relayed and not only were trains diverted, but also reduced to one an hour north of Doncaster as there were not enough HSTs to provide a half-hourly service. Only one train a day each way was Class 67 hauled. A half-hourly service operated to Leeds, but unfortunately not that many people wanted to go there.

As can be expected by 17.00 on a Sunday evening, the concourse at Kings Cross for the 17.30 to Edinburgh was heaving and when the platform number was announced the rush began. Fortunately I was travelling first class so managed to get one of the unreserved seats. However, standard class was over 95% reserved and it soon became clear there would be many standing. At 17.25 the conductor announced that for ‘safety reasons’ luggage would have to be moved from the doorways to the front TGS and power car. Despite this, luggage was still piled up to window height in every other doorway and passengers were crammed in every available space – even the first class was full and standing with a full sized bicycle jammed in a vestibule.

At 17.35 we were whistled away and I estimated that at least 750 people were on the train with only 539 seats. However, the 17.35 to Leeds departed from the adjacent platform on time and we left 55 seconds later, but instead of the 17.35 (first stop Stevenage) being stopped in the tunnel, it was allowed to precede, and also the 17.41 arrival from Aberdeen was allowed to cross over in front of us ensuring that a six minute late departure had been turned into 9½ minutes late by Finsbury Park! The running up to Potters Bar seemed very sluggish – maybe it was underperforming power cars or the heavy load equal to almost one additional coach. It may even have been the driver taking it easy so as to avoid catching up the 17.35 at Stevenage, which we did anyway. With only a few more seconds being lost to Huntingdon we were then checked before Peterborough. I can find no reason for this – there was no First Capital Connect service booked close in front (the previous one was due at 18.06) and the 17.35 should have been well clear, being non-stop. At Peterborough there was the inevitable delay whilst even more passengers tried to join (although the bicycle did at least leave) so another three minutes were lost and departure was 19½ minutes late. Once again, a rather laboured performance up the bank lost ½ minute to Stoke, but then we had more severe checks as we were put into the back platform at Grantham – another five minutes lost. Barely had we arrived when the 17.45 Kings Cros to Hull arrived and departed on the Down Main (11 minutes late) whilst we stood there.

After 1½ minutes overtime the very slow departure back onto the Down Main cost yet another four minutes but, despite that, we were still quick enough to be checked by the 17.45 calling at Retford and then approach controlled into Doncaster – another 8¾ minutes lost. As we departed – now 37 minutes late – the 18.05 KX to Leeds arrived into Doncaster – one minute early! The diversion via Askern is quite slow, but due to five minutes pathing allowance we actually regained 3¼ minutes by Milford, only to be checked again at Sherburn and all the way into York – we had caught up the 18.23 Grand Central service which had been diverted the ‘quick’ way via Hambleton South Junction and Gascoigne Wood. Due to congestion at Colton Junction both trains were delayed so we finally lost another 7¾ minutes arriving York 44½ minutes late – the 49 minute connection to Scarborough becoming a 4½ minute dash.

Milepost 35¼ -80 - July 2014 Date Sun 13 Jan 2013 m c location sch m s mph (av ital) Train 1730 KX - Eboro Grantham back plat 20 27 09 26½L/15/5sig Motive Power/load 11HST/43300/43239 F&S 106 10 Nottingham Bch Jn 3 09 26/23 Position 9/11 107 65 Peascliffe Tnl S 5 58 64 Recorder Martin Barrett 109 06 Peascliffe Xovers 7 01 85 Weather Very cold 115 27 Claypole 6½ 10 31 120/125 GPS Yes (from Hitchin) 119 03 Barnby 12 19 124 m c location sch m s mph (av ital) 120 09 Newark NG 9½ 12 53 101 0 07 Kings Cross (P1) 0 0 00 6L UM/sigs 120 63 Newark Crossing 10 13 17 96 0 60 Belle Isle 2 5 23 XDM/7.3 123 00 Bathley Lane 14 34 105 2 40 Finsbury Park 4 7 35 47.7 126 25 Carlton 16 24 115/117 3 33 Harringay 8 23 69.0 130 29 Egmanton 18 30 114/111 4 00 Hornsey 8 49 80.3 134 40 Askham Tnl NE 20 41 116/50sigs 5 00 Alexandra Pal 6 9 35 78.2 137 37 Grove Road 22 50 53 6 37 New Southgate 10 40 81.4 138 49 Retford 19 24 21 42sigs 8 28 Oakleigh Park 11 58 86.7 144 00 Ranskill 29 14 66.1 9 14 New Barnet 12 31 90.5 147 60 Bawtry 31 14 112.5109/106 10 44 Hadley Wood 13 24 93.0 151 29 Rossington 33 18 118 12 60 Potters Bar 11 14 47 97.5 152 00 Loversall Carr 26 33 37 109 14 40 Brookmans Park 15 47 105.0 154 00 Potteric Carr Jn <1> 34 49 84/25sigs 15 46 Welham Green 16 24 103.1 155 76 Doncaster (P8) 30 38 43 17 56 Hatfield 17 31 114.0 32 42 20 (37 late) 20 20 Welwyn GC 15 18 54 110.6 158 02 Arksey 3 14 73/30sigs 22 00 Welwyn North 19 49 114.5/sigs 160 16 Shaftholme Jn 6 6 21 19 23 65 Woolmer Green 17 21 09 81.5 68 44 Thorpes LC 7 27 20/36/16 25 00 Knebworth 21 59 85.0 67 56 Haywood LC 9 44 19/52 27 48 Stevenage 19 25 03 50.9 66 26 Askern LC 11 40 51 32 00 Hitchin 21 28 53 (68.9) 104 65 72 Selby Road LC 12 10 50 37 00 Arlesey 31 29 124/126 65 12 Norton LC 12 57 60 41 15 Biggleswade 33 30 122 64 28 Stubbs Walden S 13 45 60 44 10 Sandy 27 34 56 125 64 11 Stubbs Walden N 13 58 61 46 30 Everton 36 01 125 62 49 Womersley LC 15 28 60 47 38 Tempsford 36 33 123 62 14 Post Office Lane LC 15 55 60 51 60 St.Neots 38 39 121/116 61 21 Spring Lodge LC 16 50 59 55 72 Offord 40 44 118/117 60 45 Cridling Stubbs LC 17 31 60 58 67 Huntingdon 34 42 13 118 58 72 Knottingley S Jn 19½ 19 38 24 62 00 Leys Summit 115/125 58 20 Knottingley W Jn 21 21 23 21 67 20 Connington South 46 31 85sigs 2 72 (3) 68 28 Connington North 47 48 49 2 27 Ferrybdge N Jn 25½ 22 30 40 69 26 Holme 39 48 47 69 1 24 Brotherton Tnl S 24 01 46 72 63 Yaxley 51 14 93/96 16 69 (2) 75 00 Fletton <½> 52 49 55/23sigs 16 64 Burton Salmon 25 33 60 76 27 Peterborough 45 55 39 15 58 Hillam Gates 26 52 30/20 47 60 29 (19½ late) 14 71 Milford Jn 32 28 45 22/sigs 78 00 New England N 3 12 65 13 20 Sherburn Jn 32 06 35 79 40 Werrington Jn 4 21 84 12 65 Sherburn 32 46 47/65 81 72 Helpston 5 55 99 10 60 Church Fenton 35½ 34 54 62 84 64 Tallington 7 7 37 108 8 70 Ulleskelf 37 21 38sigs/18 87 07 Greatford 8 52 112 7 50 Bolton Percy 39 36 31/17sigs 92 17 Little Bytham 11 34 114 6 27 Colton Sth Jn 42 29 36 X LSL 99 60 Stoke Jn 15 15 38 108 5 38 Colton Jn 39 43 48 45 100 39 Stoke Tnl Sth 16 04 110/sigs24 3 60 Copmanthorpe 45 42 48/60 105 05 Grantham S Jn 21 54 5 XSL/15 sigs 21 105 35 Grantham back plat 18½ 24 08 0 28 Holgate Bdge 50 40 29 0 00 York (P9) 44 51 42 44½L

Milepost 35¼ -81 - July 2014 Why did the trains to York and the north leave at XX.30 past the hour calling at intermediate stations to Doncaster, as on other weekends when trains were diverted via Leeds they left at XX.00 calling at Doncaster only to pick up? This would have reduced the amount of overcrowding a little – and cut down station overtime.

Let us examine the operating decisions made and see if there were better options.

(1) With the 17.30 leaving less than one minute after the 17.35 the former was bound to be delayed whilst the 17.35 called at Stevenage. If the 17.30 preceded the 17.35 then that train would have been delayed by about four minutes and the 17.41 arrival from Aberdeen by about the same amount. Assuming the 17.30 ran six minutes late to Peterborough and was still overtime there, then the 17.35 could either have followed it and been delayed by another four minutes, or pass the 17.30 at Peterborough and delay the 17.30 by four minutes. In both cases one or the other would be delayed at Grantham.

End result: the 17.30 and the 17.35 would both have been 10 minutes late at Doncaster OR the 17.35 three minutes late and the 17.30 14 minutes late at Doncaster. In both cases, the 17.30 should have regained around five minutes on the diversionary route via Askern, arriving at York five or nine minutes late.

(2) Assuming the 17.35 preceded the 17.30, then the 17.35 should have run on time throughout. The 17.30 would still have run as shown in the log to Peterborough, arriving 16½ minutes late. At this point the 17.45 to Hull should have been immediately behind the 17.30. Logically, the 17.45 should have preceded the 17.30, arriving at Grantham around four minutes late. This would delay the 17.30 by another three minutes so it departed Peterborough 22½ minutes late, BUT it would have not been delayed whilst running into the back platform at Grantham for the 17.45 to precede it and would also have benefitted from a direct run into the Down Main at Grantham.

End result: The 17.30 would arrive at Doncaster at 19.31, 24 minutes late and York 19 minutes late and the 17.45 would arrive at Doncaster at 19.27 (departing on time), also being just far enough ahead to avoid delaying the 17.30 at Retford.

(3) If neither of the options above were taken then with the 17.30 running 37 minutes late from Doncaster, passing Milford Junction at 20.10, the 18.23 Grand Central service to Sunderland would be at Gascoigne Wood Junction around the same time so there was probably little benefit in giving preference to the 17.30, bearing in mind the congestion in the Colton Junction area.

End result: either the 17.30 would arrive at York 40½ minutes late and the 18.23 11 minutes late, or the 18.23 seven minutes late and the 17.30 44½ minutes late.

Looking at the options, the first was desirable and the second less so with Option 3 being discounted. I wonder how the decision to delay the most heavily loaded train was made, especially as the Edinburgh arrival was likely to be at 23.15 at the earliest.

Postscript

Since writing this article I have had access to the TRUST times by looking at www.realtimetrains.co.uk and show the key locations below for the relevant trains

Milepost 35¼ -82 - July 2014

Train from KX 1735 1730 1745 1805 1823 Actual Kings Cross 1735 1736 1746 1805 Stevenage 1755 18/00 11L 1806 1757 1L 1808 3L Holme 18/20 18/24 15L 18/31 4L Peterborough 18/25 2L 1831 18/39 7L 1837 20L Stoke 18/52 18/53 10L Grantham 1842 NR 1901 1844 1L 1903 26L 1903 13L Retford 19/27 1923 1925 15L Doncaster 1914 1942 1938 1944 1E 1955 1915 T 1945 36L 1939 9L 1957 2L Leeds 1E Hull 6L 1948 2030 Church Fenton 20/20 20/18 York 2037 44L 2031 4L 2042 2034 Ebro 60L Sland 6L 2328 2204

Looking at the actual performance, I think all my scenarios stand the test of ‘reality’, so it is a pity that they were not enacted.

Traveller’s Travails

Frank Collins

One of the downsides of a hectic schedule is that the opportunities for leisure travel purely to record performance are much more limited than they used to be. An opportunity, therefore, is something to be maximised. Summer plans normally include a week in a cottage somewhere in the country with my two younger Godsons and their parents. I normally travel to and from our holiday destination by train – and this gives an opportunity to add some days rail travel before and after.

Plans for 2013 involved a week in August in the Derbyshire Dales, ending at the August Bank Holiday weekend. Taking one extra day’s holiday at the beginning and using my London base gave the opportunity for two days travel at the beginning and three at the end. With quite a wide-ranging focus in mind an All-Line Rover would ordinarily work out best value for five days travel – except of course this does not work with the 6 days’ gap between days two and three (is there a marketing opportunity here for a ‘7 in 14’ version of the All Line? It’s probably in the ‘too difficult to organise’ box of the modern rail system, I suspect).

The only cost-tolerable option therefore was to plan the itinerary in advance and commit to Advance Purchase tickets as much as possible - with the inherent risks when booking interlocking but separate sectors on a complex itinerary…

Day one’s plan seemed simple enough – and relatively risk free; a return trip from Marylebone to Birmingham Moor Street starting with the 08.45 loco-hauled and returning immediately with the same set; and then a good hour to get across to Kings Cross for a return to Doncaster using Hull Trains’ Class 180s both ways.

Departure from Marylebone was one minute late behind No. 67014. Driving seemed rather more cautious than usual – only 45 mph along the opening 50 mph sections to Dollis Hill, then weak uphill climbing through Wembley, though we did touch 99 mph in the dip after

Milepost 35¼ -83 - July 2014 Northolt Park. The climb to Beaconsfield was strangely inconsistent – 98 mph below Denham falling to a frustrating 93 mph at Gerrards Cross, but then power again for 97 mph by Seer Green. An easing to 89 mph through Beaconsfield instead of the full 100 suggested this run was going to be an endurance test of low quality – I could but hope that the loco somehow would run better when driven from the DVT. We drifted onwards to Wycombe, arriving in an unspectacular 23m 43s.

I was in the first coach and after we had been stopped for a minute or so I became conscious that there was unusually little noise or vibration from the front end – in fact none at all. A prompt on board announcement confirmed that we had failed with total power loss, posing problems in many directions. The lack of flexibility in the Chiltern infrastructure to deal with an issue in the highly intensive service pattern immediately became apparent – the only other through platform at High Wycombe is signalled for southbound running only, so we were now blocking any services north until we could be moved. The following northbound semi-fast was almost immediately diverted into the bay platform and terminated.

I was still contemplating the dilemma of what to do – did I double back to London and fill in time – when No. 67014 spluttered back into life and it was announced we would proceed north after all, departing 22 minutes late. All initially seemed well, running up to 102 mph after Princes Risborough, but followed by 90/100 mph in the Brill area, easing again to 90 mph at Blackthorn – a strange driving style for someone who ought to be in a hurry with nothing in front. After Aynho there was worryingly no acceleration at all, reducing to 67 mph over a mile out from Banbury. Concerns about front end silence and a slow approach were confirmed by an announcement before we had even stopped that all power had gone again - and we would terminate at Banbury.

I decided I was probably best to head north. The following Stratford-on-Avon service was running so I elected to take that to Leamington to sample a Class 172 stretching its legs, and then double back to London from there. The Stratford turned up, however, with a Class 165, so I was subjected to a 75 mph trundle – and was now 47 minutes behind my original plan.

This was awkward – I had just missed a southbound train, and the failure of my train had now caused the next three London departures to be cancelled as there was no stock in Birmingham to form them. Rumours abounded that one had even been sent from Marylebone via Aylesbury – and two reversals – to go round us, though I saw no evidence on the ground to confirm that. My only chance, therefore, of maintaining the rest of the day’s plan was to head for Coventry and back into Euston – and take the pain of buying a Virgin walk-on ticket. The Voyager from Leamington barely had any standing room. The Pendolino back to London was competently driven, though TSRs and signal checks precluded any record times. It did at least get me back in London before 13.00, in comfortable time for my 13.48 departure from Kings Cross.

In the middle of all this, however, another problem had manifested itself; during the northbound run the stopwatch display on one watch had started to look extremely feint, and the reserve was looking only marginally healthier. Repowering both was therefore highly desirable if I was not going to risk missing the entire point of the whole exercise. Ever tried finding a stopwatch battery in Euston or the streets around there and Kings Cross?

Arrival at Kings Cross had both the recorder and his stopwatches unfuelled – and a further problem. The 13.48 Hull departure was simply shown as ‘delayed’. A scan of the arrival boards showed the inbound working was running seriously late and not arriving until just after departure time. The last time this had happened to me with Hull Trains nothing was made up in the turn round since the same crew were due to work north and had a compulsory rest break – if this happened this time my Doncaster turn was likely to get cut back to Retford, or worse, given my advance purchase tickets.

Milepost 35¼ -84 - July 2014

Grabbing a sandwich, I stood on the upper balcony on the Kings Cross concourse monitoring developments. The inbound working was making good progress, now shown due in platform 7 at 13.50. But the outbound was now also given a platform prior to the stock arrival – time to leg it rapidly. The northbound departure was nine minutes after the inbound arrival – and ahead of the 14.00 to Aberdeen. A slow start – 5m 01s to passing Finsbury Park but then the running was with some purpose, scheduled in 60 minutes to Grantham. Being out of path resulted checks at Welwyn North and Peterborough so we did well to reach our first stop in 60m 42s and then proceeded to set a new FT of 19m 09s to Retford. Here the Aberdeen was allowed past us, with only a couple of minutes further delay to the Hull service.

I need not, however, have worried about the Doncaster turn-back time. The reason for the delay was a shortage of serviceable Class 180s; Hull Trains were trying to run their entire service with just two units. The appeal of the day’s itinerary had been because I would inevitably have a different unit southbound… or not. North and south-bound workings were due through Selby within five minutes of each other, so my northbound went no further and was swiftly turned back south, collecting me at Doncaster en route, still 12 minutes late. Overtaken at Retford, it was driven with less enthusiasm this way round, lateness had risen to 17 minutes at Grantham, and it became one of those days when I was just glad to get back to base. 61m 49s up from Grantham with 128 mph maximum speed is not that shabby though.

Day 2. Start – London. Destination – Grindleford, via Carlisle and a double back over Shap to Lancaster and back to Carlisle. Presented myself at Euston in good time for the 08.30 Glasgow service, Pendolino No. 390.124 boarding in platform 4, first stop Warrington. Shortly before scheduled departure came a driver announcement – we had no Train Manager, delayed on an inbound service due to an ‘incident’ in the West Midlands. We perhaps did well to be away 14 minutes late, with positive encouragement from the Train Manager that we would be making this up en route.

Prolonged waiting in the stygian gloom of a Euston platform had done nothing for the mood of my GPS; this was one day when it didn’t want to come out to play, and we were well into Cheshire before I got something passing for service from it. Couple that to difficult posts, awkward light and a still hungry stop watch… not a good start to the recorder’s day.

Running started brightly enough; steady cruising around 123-125 mph saw us cover 111 miles in the first hour despite the slow exit from Euston via the dive under. A check approaching Basford Hall soon cleared and we were nearly 162 miles out in the first 90 minutes. Then, however, came some very questionable regulating; the all-stations stopping service to Liverpool was released into the two-track section at Winsford immediately ahead of us, forcing us to crawl behind it to Weaver Junction costing us over eight minutes to Warrington; holding the stopper on the slow south of Winsford would probably have cost the stopper a recoverable two or three minutes. So - far from the forecast time recovery - we were now 22 late.

This was disastrous. That we were following the 09.20 ex-Birmingham was not a problem. That my turnbacks at Carlisle for the Lancaster double-back were three minutes or 22 minutes now was. TSRs over the recently replaced Golborne and Balshaw Lane Junctions cost us a couple of minutes. Unluckily for us, the 10.00 Manchester Airport-Edinburgh was running to time – or at least, close enough to time not to be held for us at Preston. We departed there now 24 minutes late – seven minutes behind the Trans Pennine Express service. We were badly checked approaching Lancaster – perhaps from the TPE clearing the platform, but that seems unlikely as it showed us a very clear pair of heels until – perhaps - approaching Oxenholme. By now, the frustration was compounded by a steady

Milepost 35¼ -85 - July 2014 downpour – enough dampness to cause even a high-tech distributed power Pendolino significant difficulty restarting. The first two miles from Oxenholme took over three minutes without exceeding 60 mph. Despite this, we still caught up the TPE as it pulled away from its Penrith stop, so then trundled along behind it at just over 100 mph and got another heavy check from it approaching Carlisle. Somewhere around Brisco we passed my last southbound possibility, running to time. We finally pulled into a very damp Carlisle 33 minutes late, and the TPE was not held for the Pendolino to overtake – condemning the latter to a 100 mph trundle to Carstairs, heavy checks at Lockerbie and Carstairs South, and further time loss to Glasgow. I suspect holding the TPE for five minutes would have regained the Glasgow service some useful time, and still had the TPE into Edinburgh on time. The real culprit in all this, though, appears to have been the decision to give the Liverpool stopper priority at Winsford – had this been held there for us, the subsequent tangle with the TPE Class 185 would have been avoided, and it is highly likely that the Pendolino would have been into Glasgow at something approaching right time. Whose revenue and journeys are more important?

From my perspective, I had now clocked up another wasted ticket (bought in advance in case the Carlisle turn round was a tight one) and had no other options but to wait 2¼ hours till my southbound TPE to Manchester. On the plus side, not only was the recorder fed in the interval, but so – finally - were the stopwatches. The rest of that day proceeded fairly uneventfully; the TPE reached Manchester near enough to time not to matter, and the all- stations Pacer to Grindleford equally delivering.

We now fast forward six days for day 3. This had quite a wide-ranging itinerary, starting in Grindleford and ending in Newcastle. Original thoughts had an East Coast focus involving the morning Grand Central up from Bradford – but extended schedules at the southern end of the ECML for engineering work had caused a rethink. The plan had therefore evolved to a run to St Pancras from Sheffield, return journey to Ashford with South-Eastern, then Liverpool St – Norwich – Peterborough – Newcastle.

Things started well enough. No. 222006 on the 08.27 from Sheffield delivered a competent if unexceptional run to arrive in London three minutes late after losing that amount to signal checks at Trent and Sileby. By London it was raining again. No. 395007 ran equally unremarkably out to Ashford forming the 11.12 ex-St Pancras, and without exceeding 220 km/h.

Perhaps if I had gathered my luggage quickly and hurried across from one side of the station to the other and caught the 10.42 this story would not have been written. But there was no need for such haste; the 12.13 from Ashford would still return me to St Pancras by about 12.50, more than enough time to get across to Liverpool Street for the 13.30. The 12.13 duly appeared on the departure board as ‘On Time’; around 12.11 No. 395015 arrived from Dover, passengers alighted, many more boarded, voltage changeover effected.

At 12.14 I idly glanced up at the platform indicator to see ‘12.13 St Pancras International – Cancelled’. This made no sense at all, but was confirmed a few moments later by an on board announcement – there had been a massive power failure somewhere in the Medway Viaduct area, and no trains could move on HS1, with no indication, either, as to how long the problem might last. No prospect now of the Norwich run; the immediate priority was to return to London by the first available service. 56 miles to Charing Cross or about 59 into Victoria via Maidstone, both taking around 80 minutes now there are no ‘fast’ services via Tonbridge; the trundle via Maidstone won out as the choice.

I was booked from Peterborough on the equivalent of the 17.00 from Kings Cross; the best option to avoid the engineering delays seemed to be to take the 15.00 Kings Lynn as far as Ely and meet up with my planned train from Norwich there. The engineering works out of

Milepost 35¼ -86 - July 2014 Kings Cross meant this was running to a special timetable – 12-car formation and semi-fast stopping pattern to Cambridge, and slow line to Potters Bar and from Woolmer Green. Use of the Hitchin flyover would have aided timekeeping in this instance – but no doubt this driver was not yet trained for the new route.

Finally, 4¾ hours after the HS1 incident, I was back on booked route and schedule. Quite why I bothered I’m not wholly sure; the Ely – Peterborough section has to be one of the dullest in the country performance-wise, not aided in this instance by problems with signalling on one of the many level crossings, not far out of Ely. No. 91112 departed Peterborough eight minutes late after delays further south, and in the gathering gloom of what was now a thoroughly wet and miserable late summer’s day proceeded to run unadventurously northwards; 63m 30s to York unchecked apart from 80 mph through Doncaster; and remaining still eight late approaching Newcastle despite the absence of any further checks.

Day 4; a mini mass-timing event between Newcastle and Edinburgh in conjunction with Alan Varley. The first leg was simple enough; the 09.15 departure from Newcastle north starts there on Sundays. Similarly leg 2 – the 11.00 from Edinburgh – started from the Scottish capital. Arriving slightly early back into Newcastle was, however, met with scenes of emerging chaos. Problems with engineering works and overhead supplies between York and Darlington meant the electric set was promptly terminated at Newcastle and the (not inconsiderable) load of passengers switched to an (already busy) HST in the adjoining platform to continue south.

Northbound, the service was close to falling apart, with trains from the south running either very late, or not at all. I headed back north on the first available service – the 11.53 departure from Newcastle running 56 minutes late. There was at least some good news; I was not on train-specific Advance Purchase tickets on this day, so I had complete flexibility. With the timetable disintegrating around me, this did enable me to complete the planned programme of three full return trips between the two cities, within the original schedule – albeit, as the late Eric Morecambe might have described it, all the right trains, but not necessarily in the right order.

Day 5 proceeded without incident! FASTEST TIMES UPDATE

Martin Robertson

Welcome to another Fastest Times Update submissions from our usual correspondents and one offering from a new participant. The expected flood of new Fastest Times has not materialised, although Philip Tromans has provided two new FT’s north of Leicester with an HST.

We start on the East Coast Min Line, Table 1, with an excellent southbound run from York to Kings Cross with an HST, recorded by our Editor, David Ashley. Set beside it is a very similar run recorded two days earlier by John Heaton and Paul Walker, which eventually suffered signal checks in the London suburbs.

David was doing a round trip from London to Edinburgh, which encountered problems on the northbound run. David’s comments are:- Attached is a log of a new HST FT from York to Kings Cross. This was achieved on the Sunday of a recent All Line Rover Ticket. I wasn’t expecting a fastest time, particularly on a Sunday, but with hindsight, the reduced traffic volumes mean that unchecked runs are possible. It was planned to be an out (on the 0900)

Milepost 35¼ -87 - July 2014 Table 1 Power Cars 43206/43316 43299/43111 Load 2+9 2+9 Train 0940 Inverness-Kings Cross 09.52 Aberdeen-King's Cross Date 13/04/2014 11/04/2014 Recorder/Position/GPS D Ashley 3/11 Y J. Heaton / P Walker 3/11 Yes Miles Miles Ch. Location Sch Min Sec M.P.H. Avge Sch Min Sec M.P.H. Avge 0.00 188 40 YORK d. 0 0 00 P3 3L 0 0 00 3½L Pfm 3 (8S) 1.96 186 43 Chaloners Whin 2 32 78 46.5 2 45 72 42.8 4.18 184 26 Copmanthorpe 4 04 93 86.6 4 17 92 86.6 5.50 183 00 Colton Jct 5 4 53 101 97.3 5 5 07 99 95.4 13.50 175 00 Hambleton N. Jct 9½ 9 06 122/128 113.8 9½ 9 24 126/128 112.1 19.25 169 20 Temple Hirst Jct 12½ 11 55 124 122.5 12½ 12 08 124 126.2 22.58 165 74 Balne <1> 13 31 126 124.7 <½> 13 44 129 124.7 25.50 163 00 Moss 14 56 123 123.9 15 06 126 128.4 28.30 160 16 Shaftholme Jct 18 16 17 125 124.4 17½ 16 26 125 126.0 30.48 158 02 Arksey 17 22 113 120.5 17 32 118 118.6 32.50 156 00 DONCASTER 20 18 34 100 101.3 19½ 18 40 101 107.2 37.14 151 29 Rossington 21 00 117 114.3 22 21 10 115/118 111.3 40.75 147 60 Bawtry 22 52 110 116.1 23 06 110/119 112.1 44.50 144 00 Ranskill 24 53 117/122 111.6 25 02 118/124 116.4 49.89 138 49 RETFORD 29 27 32 121 122.0 28½ 27 42 121 121.2 51.04 137 37 Grove Road 28 17 118 118.3 54.00 134 40 Askham TNP 29 42 113 113.9 29 48 115/114 117.2 56.55 131 76 Tuxford 31 02 117/127 114.8 31 06 120 117.7 58.14 130 29 Egmanton <1> <1> 31 53 126/128 121.6 62.19 126 25 Carlton 33 44 126 125.3 33 48 127/128 126.8 65.50 123 00 Bathley Lane 35 20 120 124.2 35 23 125 125.5 67.71 120 63 Newark Crossing 39 36 36 80tsr 104.8 38½ 36 39 80 80tsr 104.8 68.39 120 09 NEWARK N. 39.5 37 04 87 86.8 39 37 08 86 83.8 73.16 115 27 Claypole 42 39 56 110 99.9 41½ 40 02 108 98.8 77.00 111 40 Hougham 41 58 117 113.2 42 06 114/115 111.4 78.83 109 54 Barkston South Jct 42 54 114 117.3 43 04 112/115 113.3 80.14 108 29 Peascliffe TNP 43 36 113 112.5 43 46 112/100 112.5 83.06 105 35 GRANTHAM 47.5 45 11 101 110.8 47 45 24 102 107.4 86.41 102 07 Great Ponton 47 10 106 101.3 47 20 105 104.0 88.75 99 60 Stoke Jct 50.5 48 28 108 107.9 50 48 40 105 105.2 91.35 97 12 Corby Glen (½) 49 46 128 120.0 (½) 50 03 123 112.8 96.29 92 17 Little Bytham 52 06 127 127.0 52 24 128/129 126.1 99.80 88 56 Essendine 53 46 126 126.5 54 04 125 126.5 101.41 87 07 Greatford 54 32 125 126.2 54 50 129 126.2 103.70 84 64 Tallington 58 55 39 123 122.9 57½ 55 55 126 126.7 106.60 81 72 Helpston 57 03 126 124.3 57 17 128 127.3 109.00 79 40 Werrington Jct <1> 58 12 124 125.2 <1> 58 25 124/104 127.1 112.14 76 29 PETERBOROUGH 63.5 59 47 106 118.9 63 60 01 105/103 117.7 115.71 72 63 Yaxley 61 47 107/101 107.3 62 04 112/101 104.6 119.18 69 26 Holme 67 64 01 107 106.5 121.25 67 20 Connington South 68.5 64 58 112 104.4 68 65 09 113/114/111 109.9 125.05 63 36 Abbot's Ripton 67 00 112 112.1 67 11 112/110 112.1 129.66 58 67 HUNTINGDON 73 69 18 125 120.3 72½ 69 32 126/128 117.8 132.60 55 72 Offord 70 46 120 120.2 70 56 123 125.9 136.75 51 60 St. Neots 72 50 121/127 120.5 73 01 119 119.5 141.03 47 38 Tempsford 74 54 125 124.1 75 04 127 125.1 144.38 44 10 Sandy 80.5 76 31 124/126 124.3 81 76 39 126 126.9 147.31 41 15 Biggleswade 77 55 125/121 125.9 78 03 126 125.9 151.50 37 00 Arlesey <2> 79 55 125/126 125.6 <1> 80 02 127 126.7 156.50 32 00 Hitchin 88.5 82 25 120 120.0 88 82 28 121/117 123.3

Milepost 35¼ -88 - July 2014 Miles Miles Ch. Location Sch Min Sec M.P.H. Avge Sch Min Sec M.P.H. Avge 160.90 27 48 STEVENAGE 90.5 84 37 122 120.0 90 84 40 119/123 120.0 163.50 25 00 Knebworth 85 55 120/105 120.0 85 57 120 121.6 164.69 23 65 Woolmer Green 92 86 34 109/104 115.5 166.50 22 00 Welwyn North 87 31 107 112.5 87 34 110 108.8 168.25 20 20 Welwyn G.C. 94.5 88 28 115/116 110.5 94 88 30 114 112.5 170.80 17 56 Hatfield 89 48 114 114.8 89 49 116 116.2 174.00 14 40 Brookmans Park 91 29 112 114.1 91 32 sigs87/37 111.8 175.75 12 60 Potters Bar 98.5 92 26 102 110.5 98 93 47 43 46.7 177.95 10 44 Hadley Wood 93 45 98 100.3 95 43 88/102 68.3 183.50 5 00 Alexandra Palace 103.5 97 08 97 98.4 103 99 09 91/sigs 19 97.0 186.00 2 40 Finsbury Park 105 98 48 56 90.0 106½ 102 31 40/53 44.6 <2> 187.75 0 60 Belle Isle 108 108 105 00 25 42.3 188.41 0 07 KING'S CROSS a. 111 103 53 6E 28.5 110½ 107 38 15.1 Public/net 113 103 30 112½ 103 38

and back (on the 1330 or 1400) journey from Kings Cross to Edinburgh, and all went reasonably well as far as Darlington on the outbound service, when it was announced that disruptive passengers would be removed and the train guard would be relieved. A BTP officer boarded and removed the four disruptive passengers, and despite my scepticism, a replacement guard arrived from Newcastle to take the train forward, only 15 minutes late. Further time was lost at Newcastle, but a 13:26:47arrival at Edinburgh (scheduled 13:16) meant that some of the time was recovered. A personal best was required to board the 1330, and this was achieved (dep 13:30:01).

Table 2 The train left York 3mins late at 16:02 and, Date Sat 01 March 2014 in spite of being behind a late-running GC Train 0620 Eboro - KX train at 15:55, had an unchecked run. Units 11HST/43314/43XXX Fortunately, the Up ECML is clear of speed Weather Sunny Pds restrictions at the moment, apart from Recorder/Pos/GPS Martin Barrett (3/11) Y 80mph through Newark Crossing. A m ch location sch m s mph comparison is shown with a run a few days 138 49 Retford 0 0 00 T earlier by John Heaton in similar 137 37 Grove Road 2 08 60 circumstances, and it can be seen that the 134 40 Askham Tnl NE 4 31 86 journeys are “nip and tuck” most of the way, 130 29 Egmanton 6 59 116 until John’s run was affected by signal 126 25 Carlton 8 56 125 123 00 Bathley Lane 10 32 126 checks from Hatfield. The comparison 120 63 Newark Crossing 12 11 37 101 indicates that neither of the runs was 120 12 Newark NG 12½ 12 01 98 running “flat out” all the way, and excess 119 03 Barnby 12 40 104 speeds were avoided, so that further time 115 27 Claypole 15 14 40 115 savings could be achieved. The GC arrived 111 40 Hougham 16 36 120/113 in Kings Cross just two minutes earlier. 108 29 Peascliffe Tnl NE 18 14 115 105 40 Grantham 21 20 32

So having believed that current driving techniques and congestion meant that long distance HST fastest times were unbeatable, it looks like I will have to eat my words.

John Heaton had few comments on the run other than noting that the signal checks encountered were caused by a Peterborough-Kings Cross stopper which is booked on the Fast Line in from Potters Bar.

Table 2 continues on the ECML with an offering from Martin Barrett from Retford to

Milepost 35¼ -89 - July 2014 Grantham. The running was of a high standard with Martin’s comments being:- Another snippet recorded here on way to a Committee meeting - not normally an HST but diverted via Askern. The braking was better than usual with a very fast approach to Newark Crossing, so slight over braking. Note record has stood for over 30 years!

Table 3 has a southbound run on the WCML provided by John Rishton, between Nuneaton and Watford Jn. The incentive of a slightly late departure, with around three minutes regained, led to the achievement a very fast start to stop average speed of 111.8mph. John’s comments are:- Ten seconds off the previous best time but still quite a bit of improvement awaits the timer on the right day. The previous FT was recorded behind a good driver on a poor day. Bletchley re-modelling was underway and there was a tsr under the viaduct, plus running eight minutes late we slotted in behind a Class 350 from Ledburn, instead of running in front of it.

Table 3 Miles mm cc location WTT mm:s mph avge Day/Date Friday 7th February 2014 29.52 67 48 Heyford 16:44 122 117.1 Train 0735 Manchester Picc-Euston 32.67 64 36 Banbury Lane 17:42 123 123.2 Motive Power 390.116 34.26 62 69 Blisworth 19:03 122 121.8 Load (tons) 571/580 = 13.8hp/ton 36.59 60 40 summit 20:11 124 123.4 Weather damp 40.62 56 40 Hanslope J 24 22:09 122 122.9 Rec. Pos. GPS J Rishton -4/11 - GPS 44.75 52 32 Wolverton 24:13 118 119.9

Miles mm cc location WTT mm:s mph avge 47.32 49 66 Milton Keynes C 27 25:33 118 115.7 0.00 97 10 Nuneaton 0 00:00 5 L 0.0 50.50 46 52 Bletchley 29 27:07 123 121.8 1.98 95 11 Attleborough S J [1] 02:19 80 51.3 54.90 42 20 Chelmscote 29:17 119 121.9 3.62 93 40 Bulkington 03:24 102 90.9 56.97 40 14 L Buzzard 30:22 113 114.6 5.35 91 62 M69 04:21 117 109.3 59.58 37 45 Ledburn junction 33.5 31:43 118 116.0 9.05 88 06 Brinklow 06:13 118 118.9 61.03 36 09 Cheddington [1](0.5) 32:27 119 118.7 12.12 84 78 Little Lawford Lane 07:45 120 120.2 65.45 31 56 Tring 37.5 34:41 119 118.8 13.78 83 27 Trent Valley J 10.5 08:34 121 121.9 69.23 27 73 Berkhamsted 36:32 123 122.6 14.65 82 38 Rugby 11 09:00 120 120.6 71.61 25 43 Bourne End J 40.5 37:42 122 122.4 15.65 81 38 Hillmorton junction 11.5 09:30 120 120.0 72.66 24 39 Hemel H’stead 38:14 114 118.2 18.96 78 13 Kilsby tunnel 11:14 108 114.6 74.05 23 08 Apsley 38:56 123 119.1 21.87 75 20 Welton 12:51 109 108.0 76.21 20 75 Kings Langley 39:59 123 123.4 24.47 72 52 Whilton locks 14:09 122 120.0 77.65 19 40 Watford tunnel 40:46 102 110.2 27.47 69 52 Weedon junction 17.5 15:41 116 117.4 79.71 17 35 Watford Junction 45.5 42:47 2 L 61.3

This run was unchecked – but not a good driver for a record-taking run. Acceleration away from Nuneaton, left five minutes late, was poor although it was a damp morning. It is normal to reach line speed at Bulkington but we passed at 102mph and when we reached 117mph under the M69 viaduct, that was almost that. No effort to go any faster than 120mph before Rugby. It was not until after passing Weedon that we managed to approach 125mph, though we never quite got there. The fastest we managed was 124mph ironically at the summit north of Roade, and only briefly at that.

By Bletchley we were nearly three quarters of a minute adrift of the former record and did not gain much by passing through at 123mph. However, a clear run at Ledburn brought us back to equalling the former record near Cheddington and despite some uninspiring running on to Kings Langley I will praise the driver for then making a much better stop at Watford Jn, than the previous record run and, in the end a result of ten seconds off the record. A time of 42minutes should await a timer in more fortunate circumstances.

We continue with another of John’s offerings, in Table 4, but this time on the Chiltern Line with a fine effort from a Class 168 dmu from Leamington Spa to Marylebone. John’s

Milepost 35¼ -90 - July 2014 Table 4 Miles mm cc location WTT mm:s mph ave Day/Date Tuesday 11th March 2014 51.15 26 00 Boxers 37:56 70 81.4 Train 08:09 Kidderminster - MYB 52.68 24 40 Princes Risborough 38 39:22 41tsr 64.0 Motive Power 168.216 53.68 23 35 Saunderton TN <0.5> 40:45 49 43.4 Load (tons) 135/145 = 8.7 hp/ton 55.79 21 26 Saunderton 41 42:31 80 71.6 Weather dry 57.65 19 37 A4010 [0.5] 43:48 90 87.0 Rec. Pos. GPS J Rishton - 3/3 - GPS 58.79 18 08 Brench <1> 44:37 76 83.7 Miles mm cc location WTT mm:s mph ave 59.94 17 14 The Pastures 45:36 60 70.2 0.00 106 06 Leamington Spa 0 00:00 r/time 0.0 60.76 16 28 High Wycombe 46 46:26 58 59.1 1.35 104 58 Church Lane 02:09 59 37.7 61.70 15 33 Hatters Lane <0.5> 47:24 65 58.3 3.48 102 47 Fosse Way 04:06 61 65.5 63.76 13 28 Whitehouse TN 49:03 83 74.9 5.42 100 52 Harbury TN 06:03 54tsr 59.7 65.59 11 42 Beaconsfield 50:20 89 85.6 11.10 94 78 Fenny Compton 10 10:43 79 73.0 67.16 9 76 Seer Green 51:20 99 94.2 13.05 93 10 OB 12:03 89 87.8 69.01 8 08 footbridge 52:27 100 99.4 15.75 90 26 Oxhay Hill 13:53 92 88.4 69.89 7 18 Gerrards Cross 53 52:57 101 100.6 18.21 87 69 M40 15:31 90 90.3 71.61 5 40 Denham Golf Club 53:59 103 102.4 19.88 86 15 Banbury 16 16:44 75 82.4 72.48 4 51 Denham 54:30 100 101.0 21.03 85 03 M40 [0.5] 17:36 84 79.6 73.71 3 32 Harefield Road 55:14 101 100.7 23.41 82 53 Kings Sutton 19:11 91 90.2 75.25 1 69 West Ruislip 57 56:09 101 100.8 24.15 81 74 M40 19:40 92 91.7 76.57 0 48 Ruislip Gardens <1> 56:57 98 99.0 24.90 81 14 Ayno junction 20 20:10 90 90.0 77.06 0 04 South Ruislip 59 57:15 98 98.0 26.38 16 72 Souldern Grounds 21:11 87 87.4 78.01 0 72 Northolt Park J 57:50 98 97.8 27.46 15 65 Ardley TN 21:55 89 88.3 78.84 1 58 Northolt Park 58:20 98 99.6 29.16 14 09 Fritwell Road 23:04 89 88.7 79.88 2 61 Sudbury Hill Harrow 58:58 100 98.4 30.33 12 76 Ardley 23:49 96 93.6 80.79 3 54 Sudbury&Harrow 59:31 99 99.3 31.09 12 15 M40 24:16 103 101.3 82.10 4 79 Wembley Stadium 62 60:22 78 92.5 33.91 9 29 Bicester North 26 25:59 91 98.6 83.50 200 66 Neasden south J 63 61:31 69 73.0 35.02 8 20 A4421 27:01 54tsr 64.4 84.15 201 38 Dollis Hill LUL 62:04 70 70.9 37.00 6 22 Akeman Street 28:48 80 66.6 84.88 202 16 Willesden Green 62:55 48 51.5 39.31 3 77 Piddington Road 30:25 92 85.7 85.68 203 00 Kilburn LUL 63:52 45 50.5 40.80 2 38 Brill TN 31:22 96 94.1 86.31 203 51 West Hampstead 64:43 42 44.5 43.41 33 59 Valley farm 32:57 98 98.9 86.73 204 04 Hampstead TN 65:20 37 40.9 45.39 31 61 Chearsley Road 34:15 100 99.0 87.18 204 40 St. Johns Wood TN 66:09 32 33.0 46.89 30 21 Haddenham & T Pwy 34 35:03 102 100.0 88.15 205 38 St. Johns Wood TS 67:56 29 32.6 48.80 29 69 Haddenham Road <0.5> 36:12 99 99.7 88.53 205 68 London Marylebone 71 69:27 0 15.0

comments are:- This was by far the best run I have experienced on this service; that despite three tsr’s during the journey. All previous journeys had been affected by either being brought to a stand, or nearly so, just north of Bicester whilst the stock of the 08:48 from Marylebone crosses in front to access the turn back siding or, if we were give precedence at Bicester, by catching up the 08:22 from Birmingham Snow Hill as it made its High Wycombe call.

On this occasion the first tsr was enough to allow the conflicting movement at Bicester to get out of the way and give us a clear road. The second restriction, being where the new junction for Oxford is being installed just south of Bicester would not have affected a train that called there. However it caused just enough delay to let us through High Wycombe almost unchecked. Almost, because there was delay in reapplying power after High Wycombe, which suggested a restrictive signal aspect in sight ahead that cleared before we reached it. That would also explain the slightly cautious run in from Willesden Green at five mph or more under that permitted – not quite the previous driving style of the journey.

The first tsr cost around three quarters of a minute. The second, one whole minute, and the third, at the foot of an incline, around one and a half minutes - three and a quarter minutes in all. There are three and a half minutes of allowances north of Gerrards Cross and we were spot on schedule as we passed. With a further five minutes of recovery time to come and our

Milepost 35¼ -91 - July 2014 excellent approach to Neasden we managed a rare minute and a half early arrival at Marylebone. I suspect the schedule is slightly easier in the closing stages than the initial twenty minutes to Aynho.

Table 5 has two sections on the Midland Main Line with an HST as traction, north of Leicester, recorded by Philip Tromans. His comments are:- I have had dearth of fastest times for a while, so it was very pleasing last Monday to have this run with an HST, with what I believe to be two sectional FT’s. I doubt the Leicester - East Midlands record will last long once all the higher limits come into play, but the limits will be unchanged, I believe, between there and Nottingham. If the record for this section is really as stated in the archives, then almost all of my eight runs so far have broken it, one driver taking 9m 01s, but last Monday’s 8m 38s bettered that easily. It does help when a train is running slightly behind time and the driver can see his way to a punctual arrival. What would he have done if East Midlands had not kept us for a minute of overtime, I wonder….

Table 5 Miles m ch Location m s mph ave Date 31/03/2014 12.91 112 00 Mp 8 53.0 109.1 Loco 43048/066 13.91 113 00 Mp 9 25.0 112.7 Train 1015 St Pancras-Nottm 14.91 114 00 Mp 9 56.0 115.9 Load 10 15.91 115 00 Mp 10 26.5 118.5/brakes Recorder E Tromans 4/10 16.91 116 00 Mp 11 00.5 106.3 Miles m ch Location m s mph ave 17.41 116 40 Mp 11 18.0 102.9 0.00 99 07 Leicester d 0 00.0 5L 17.91 117 00 Mp 11 38.0 89.6 0.91 100 00 Mp 1 42.0 19.11 118 17 East Midlands P 13 17.0 3L 1.91 101 00 Mp 2 32.0 71.9 0.00 0 00.0 4L 2.91 102 00 Mp 3 13.5 86.6 0.80 119 00 Mp 1 32.0 3.91 103 00 Mp 3 51.0 95.5 1.30 119 40 MP 2 00.5 63.7 4.91 104 00 Mp 4 26.5 102.3 1.80 120 00 Mp 2 25.0 73.4 5.91 105 00 Mp 4 59.5 107.8 2.80 121 00 Mp 3 08.5 82.7 6.91 106 00 Mp 5 32.0 111.7 3.30 121 40 Mp 3 29.5 84.5 7.91 107 00 Mp 6 04.0 112.4 4.05 122 20 Mp 4 02.5 82.5 8.91 108 00 Mp 6 37.0 109.5 4.80 123 00 Mp 4 36.0 80.3 9.91 109 00 Mp 7 12.0 102.8 5.07 123 22 Beeston 4 48.5 10.91 110 00 Mp 7 46.0 105.6 5.80 124 00 Mp 5 20.5 81.3 11.91 111 00 Mp 8 20.0 105.5 6.80 125 00 Mp 6 04.5 81.6 12.71 111 64 Loughborough 8 41.0 7.65 124 18 Mansfield Jn 6 49.0 8.39 123 38 Nottingham a 8 38.0 RT It helped that we left Leicester five minutes late. The running to Loughborough was good touching 120mph before the brakes were applied for the curves at Sutton Bonington. After East Midlands we ran from Mp 121 to 125.5 at 81-85mph, slightly above the 80mph limit and approached Nottingham at what for me was an unprecedented pace. I hope this is a foretaste of things to come when the new limits all come into operation.

Table 6 has two runs recorded by Chris Taylor between South Milford and Leeds City. Chris’s comments are:- A little bit faster from South Milford to Leeds. Although the power weight ratio is similar the 158 made a much faster start on the up grade from South Milford. The 158 run was the fastest previously which has not been published and is included as a comparison. The main difference is the faster approach to Leeds City station after the rebuilding and the 170 stopped nearer the east end of the station compared with the 158. The current FT listings on the website suggest that the record is held by a Class 156 unit in 12m 51s recorded in 1989. Unless this is an error, one can only think that there must have been an exceptionally fast entry into Leeds for the 75mph limited unit to achieve such a time.

Table 7 has a run recorded by Ian Umpleby between Shrewsbury and Whitchurch and Nantwich to Crewe on a West Wales Milford Haven to Manchester service, with a Class 175

Milepost 35¼ -92 - July 2014

Table 6 Run 1 2 Date Sat 1 Feb 2014 Sun 18 July 1993 1806 Hull to Train 1958 Hull to Leeds Mancheste Loco 170308 158813 Load formation 2c. 92.4/98 8.6 hp 3c. 115½/121½ 8.6 hp Recorder C.M.Taylor C.M.Taylor Position/ GPS 1/2 GPS 1/3 miles M C Timing Point Sch. m s mph ave m s mph ave 2½ 0.00 7 55 SOUTH MILFORD 0 0 0 late 0 00 3.20 10 71 Micklefield 5 4 02 66 47.6 3 47 71 50.7 5.04 12 58 East Garforth 5 40 72 67.5 5 17 75 73.5 5.58 13 21 Garforth 6 06 78 74.4 5 41 85 80.6 7.28 14 77 Manston [4] 7 20 84 82.7 6 53 88 85.0 8.49 16 14 Cross Gates 8 12 79/88 83.9 7 42 91 89.1 11.36 19 04 Neville Hill west 15 10 34 53 72.9 10 06 53 71.9 12.06 19 60 Marsh Lane 11 40 31 38.2 11 11 33 38.8 12.88 20 45 LEEDS CITY 18 13 53 22.0 13 57 17.6 unit. Ian’s comments are:- The punctual run from Shrewsbury to Whitchurch was made before the line was resignalled leading to a raising of the 80 PSR at Prees to 90 mph. The section from Nantwich to Crewe suffered from the usual slow run-in from Gresty Lane but has only been beaten by a historical class 33/7 run in December 1984.

Table 7 Loco/Unit 175114 Vehicles/tare/gross tonnes 2/102/110 Train 1310 Milford Haven - Manchester Picc. Date Mon 23rd September 2013 Weather Turning cloudy Rec/Pos/GPS? IU;1/2;Y Miles M. C Timing Point WTT Min. Sec. M.P.H. Avge 0.00 32 34 Shrewsbury 4 0 0 00 T 0.44 31 79 Crewe Bank SB 1 32 25 17.1 2.06 30 29 Harlescott LC 3½ 3 26 65 51.3 4.60 27 66 Hadnall ob 5 40 1/2 76/88 67.9 7.24 25 15 Yorton shl 7 33 1/2 82/89 84.2 10.79 21 51 Wem LC 10 10 01 84 86.6 [1](1½) 76 13.95 18 38 Prees LC 14½ 12 24 1/2 81/88 79.3 18.88 13 44 Whitchurch 18½ 16 33 71.3 0.00 4 15 Nantwich 0 0 00 T 1.68 2 41 Willaston LC [1] 2 54 65/67 34.7 3.78 0 33 Gresty Lane SB 6 5 04 1/2 24/20/30 57.9 0 00 157 60 4.51 158 05 Crewe 6 7½ 7 09 T 21.3

Table 8 has short offering from John Heaton on an Exeter St Davids to Waterloo service, between Pinhoe and Feniton. John’s brief comments are:- The section is a relatively new one of course but this was a determined effort to make up some of the late start caused by a late down train, probably the cumulative effect of a 5mph tsr immediately west of Yeovil Jct.

Table 9 has an offering from Alan Varley between Blair Atholl and Dalwhinnie, a section I had included in the January 2014 Fastest Times Update. Alan has generally used different

Milepost 35¼ -93 - July 2014

Table 8 timing points from myself, but Loco 159xxx+159102 the comparison between the Vehicles/tare/gross tonnes 6 runs is interesting. Alan’s Train 10.25 Exeter S. D. to Waterloo Date 22/2/14 comments are:- You might be Rec/Pos/GPS? J. Heaton 4.6 Y interested in the attached run Timing from my British visit last August. Miles M. C Point Sch. Min. Sec. M.P.H. Ave. I didn't send it at the time as it 0.00 168 41 Pinhoe d. 0 0 00 10½L didn't beat the previous FT over 1.82 166 55 Broadclyst 2 09 81 50.9 this stretch, but it makes a 3.26 165 20 Crannaford 3 12 83 82.1 fascinating comparison with 5.49 163 02 Whimple 4 47 85/86½ 84.3 your runs published in the latest 9.21 159 24 Feniton a. 8½ 8 14 64.8 Milepost. The uphill stretch was

virtually identical to your first Table 9 run - maybe my unit was Train 18 11 Glasgow-Inverness fractionally weaker, but yours Date 26.08.13 was fractionally eased at the Unit 170 420 end of the Struan curve? Mine Load 3/133/140 seems to have gained a few Recorder Alan Varley Miles m c Location m s mph ave seconds here but yours then 0.00 35 09 Blair Atholl d 0 00.0 held speed just a bit better. And 0.89 36 00 Mp 1 30.5 54 mine was a bit quicker through 1.92 37 03 Ob 2 34.0 60.5 58.8 Dalnaspidal, and then ran 3.79 38 72 Ob A9 N 4 17.5 69/68 64.8 mostly at or just under the limits 4.55 39 53 Struan 4 57.5 69 68.6 downhill - my understanding is 6.89 42 00 Mp 7 02.5 65.5 67.3 that 90 is permissible after the 7.93 43 04 Ob Dalinturaine 8 01.0 64 64.6 limit change at 54m 72ch.? 9.79 44 72 Dalnacardoch Ob 9 46.0 62 63.4 10.85 45 78 Edondon fb 10 49.0 61 61.4 We finish with Table 10 and an 12.95 47 05 Garry UB N 11 53.5 60 60.7 offering from Michael J Burrow, 13.94 49 05 Red Van PC 13 53.0 59.5 59.9 for whom I think this is a first 15.79 50 72 Dalnaspidal SB 15 40.0 67/73 62.2 published offering in Fastest 17.62 52 59 Drumochter Sign 17 13.0 72/80/77* 71.1 Times Update. I have to admit 19.79 54 72 PSRM 18 53.5 80/90/87* 77.5 that I had never heard of 22.04 57 12 Wade Bridge 20 26.5 89 87.1 Tutbury & Hatton, although I 22.89 58 00 Mp 21 04.5 60* must have passed through it 23.44 58 44 Dalwhinnie a 22 06.0 once as I can recall using the

Crewe to Derby service. Table 10 Michael’s comments are:- Date Mon 21.04.2014 Having travelled over this Train 13 07 Crewe-Derby Unit 158857 section for many years with a Load 76/80 previous p/b of 12m 48s, this Recorder M J Burrow Fine & dry run was certainly a turn-up for Miles Location m s Speed Ave the record aided by a signal 0.00 Tutbury & Hatton d 0 0 check free entry into Derby. A 1.14 Marston LC 1 48 59 38.0 slight excess at North Staffs Jn 2.89 Hilton LC 3 22 71 67.7 was followed by briefly touching 5.02 Willington LC 5 10 71.5/72 71.0 80mph on the Midland Line 5.90 N. Staffs Jn 5 56 68* 70.4 between Stenson Jn and 6.50 Stenson Jn 6 27 70/80 69.2 9.78 Peratree & Norm'tan 9 9 68 72.9 Peartree. These three factors 10.40 Ramsline Halt 9 57 46.5 combined to produce probably 11.18 Derby a 11 20 (59.1) the fastest time over this section.

Milepost 35¼ -94 - July 2014 My thanks to all those who have contributed runs over the last few months. As always a preferred format is in Word or Excel files, although for those without access to a computer, paper copies are perfectly acceptable. My email address is included below the list of Office Bearers on the inside cover of Milepost. I am participating in the forthcoming Mass Timing Day between Leicester and St Pancras, so may have brief meetings with some of the fellow recorders. A DELVE INTO MY HISTORY BOOKS

John Rishton

Train timing became a hobby of mine in the early 1960s. Early efforts were based on the style of articles in Railway Magazine and books written by O. S. Nock. It was not until I joined this Society, in its tenth year, and acquired a copy of the RPS ‘Train Recording Guide’ that I began to apply Society standards. Thus some of the information in the following logs, in particular the timing point at stations, has been assumed. Speeds have been calculated from the nearest observed mileposts.

Recently I have been searching for logs of my APT trips but before I was successful I did find some of my early logs dating back to 1969. Marked ‘Log Book 4’ on the cover it would appear, regrettably, that all earlier logs, mostly ‘Last Days of Steam’ specials, have not survived house moves.

Our Editor willing, I will go through these early years of my journey notes and prepare a few runs for publication from the period 1969 until I joined the RPS. I will present the logs in date order so it is unlikely a theme will develop. Mostly they will reflect the standards of 1970s rail travel in the West Midlands.

First up, Run 1, is from Carlisle to Leeds behind a Class 40. I remember we left Glasgow behind a Class 45 but it was soon found to be in poor health. At the time I did not know why but now suspect at least two of the traction motors were not taking power. I did not retain detailed notes of the run to Carlisle (via Annan) but remember that whilst running was reasonable on downgrades it was very poor uphill.

Detailed notes of the Class 40 replacement on to Leeds have survived. We departed Carlisle over 16 minutes late following a loco change and it soon became apparent that our driver was determined to recover as much lost time as possible. The speed out to Durran Hill was, as expected, quite restrained with an average of 23 mph. Once on the Settle & Carlisle proper, however, full power was applied and speed slowly rose to 50 mph on the mainly 1 in 132 climb. Once over the first minor summit at Froddle Crook we were soon into the high 60s with our nine coach load. A temporary speed restriction followed at Lazonby and despite the more undulating, but still rising, line ahead we lacked the impetus to exceed 65 mph again before slowing for Appleby. Despite a very brief stop the slowing at Lazonby had cost us three minutes and we were now 19 minutes down.

There is an initial falling gradient on departure from Appleby and we took full advantage with full power from the moment the brakes came off. The 1 in 100 climb to Ais Gill starts at Ormside viaduct and my notes show we averaged almost 59 mph over the quarter mile to milepost 275, just onto the grade. Speed fell off to 46 mph by Griseburn where there is a short easing, rising back to 51 before the next section of 1 in 100. Again, speed soon fell off and was down to 40 mph as we left Birkett tunnel for another easier mile to Mallerstang, passed at 48 mph. On the final 1 in 100 climb we lost even more momentum, passing the summit at 39 mph, but not totally winded. A rudimentary calculation suggests, assuming the speed would not have fallen beneath 36 mph on the 1 in 100 climb, that the engine was in very good condition.

Milepost 35¼ -95 - July 2014

Aided by a 1 in 165 down grade we soon reached our highest speeds yet, with a 73 being recorded at Garsdale and a dizzy 76 mph as we entered Blea Moor tunnel.

Back in 1969 you left Blea Moor tunnel on a double track main line mostly downhill at 1 in 100 to the Settle stop. We started coasting, for the first time since Appleby, at Blea Moor box and crossed Batty Moss viaduct at 83 mph, reaching 85 mph by Selside where a light brake application was made bringing our speed down to 78 mph through Horton. Then, with the aid of gravity we again reached 85 mph south of Stainforth sidings before braking for the Settle stop. Run 1 Miles mm cc location PTT mm:ss speed* ave Day/Date Friday 16th May 1969 23.86 253 32 Dent 28:56 75 74.5 Train 18:44 Carlisle to Leeds** 26.45 250 65 Blea Moor tunnel 30:59 76 75.8 Motive Power class 40, number unknown 28.77 248 39 Blea Moor 32:46 81 78.0 Load (tons) 10/420/435 = 4.6hp/ton 30.01 247 20 Ribblehead 33:40 84 82.7 Weather dry 34.72 242 43 Horton-in-Ribblesdale 48:34 78 80.0 Rec. Pos. GPS J Rishton,2/10,Stopwatch 37.31 239 76 Sherwood House 39:09 81 79.7 Miles mm cc location PTT mm:ss speed* ave 39.11 238 12 Stainforth Quarry 40:27 84 83.1 0.00 69 08 Carlisle 0 00:00 16 late 40.77 236 39 Settle 50 42:12 0 56.9 1.44 306 49 Durran Hill 03:45 33 23.0 0.00 52 44:37 12 late 2.92 305 10 track crossing 06:07 44 37.5 1.97 234 42 Settle junction 02:55 68 40.5 7.94 300 09 Froddle Crook 12:27 50 47.6 3.97 232 42 Long Preston 04:42 67 67.3 9.94 298 09 Armathwaite 14:27 64 60.0 5.22 231 22 Hellifield 05:48 69 68.2 12.96 295 07 accommodation X 17:11 64 66.3 8.65 227 67 Bell Busk 08:41 74 71.4 15.45 292 48 Lazonby 20:21 42tsr 47.2 11.49 225 00 Gargrave 11:13 59 67.2 18.35 289 56 Little Salkeld 23:50 56 50.0 15.23 221 21 Skipton 18 15:37 0 51.0 19.78 288 22 Langwathby 25:19 56 57.8 0.00 21 17:48 9 late 23.34 284 57 Culgaith 28:42 65 63.1 2.51 218 60 Pettys number 1 03:45 63 40.2 24.70 283 28 New Biggin 29:59 63 63.6 4.40 216 69 Kildwick & Crosshills 05:26 69 67.4 27.85 280 16 Long Marton 32:54 65 64.8 6.20 215 05 Steeton 07:02 67 67.5 30.79 277 21 Appleby 34 36:45 0 45.8 9.19 212 06 Keighley 13 10:03 0 59.5 0.00 35 37:40 19 late 0.00 18 13:03 4 late 2.46 274 64 Ormside 03:38 59 40.6 1.57 210 40 Marley junction 02:38 56 35.8 4.10 273 13 Helm tunnel 05:26 51 54.7 3.28 208 63 Bingley tunnel 04:23 61 58.6 8.26 269 00 Crosby Garret tunnel 10:36 51 48.3 5.81 206 21 Bingley (Shipley W) J 07:42 22 45.8 10.76 266 40 Kirkby Stephen 13:40 47 48.9 10.07 202 00 Apperley junction 12:33 66 52.7 12.74 264 42 Birkett tunnel 16:22 41 44.0 14.07 198 00 Kirkstall junction 16:06 68 67.6 14.01 263 20 Mallerstang 18:01 48 46.2 15.82 196 20 Armley junction 18:55 29 37.3 17.51 259 60 Ais Gill 23:02 39 41.9 16.15 195 74 Wellington Road 19:34 33 30.5 20.59 256 54 Garsdale 26:18 73 56.6 16.37 195 56 Whitehall Road 20:13 19sigs 20.3 23.86 253 32 Dent 28:56 75 74.5 16.93 185 70 Leeds 23 22:29 0 14.8 * Speeds generally calculated from milepost sightings as near to timing point as possible. ** From Glasgow Central, via Annan. Final destination unknown.

Despite an almost 2½ minute stand we were away only 12 minutes late, seven minutes improvement on the Appleby departure. After the initial fall to Settle junction there is a five mile climb before a gentler fall to Skipton. We managed 68 mph at the foot of the dip, falling only slightly on the following climb, and the high 70s before a slowing through Gargrave and an easy approach to Skipton. Following two minutes of station duties we were away nine minutes late from Skipton with a further three minutes recovered. It would be interesting to see the working times for the train in order to assess how much of the recovery was not due to allowances in the schedule.

A more modestly downhill start from Skipton still got us to 60 mph in a little over two miles, rising to 69 mph on level track beyond. The stop at Keighley, only 9.2 miles from Skipton, was commendably reached in just over 10 minutes. My notes of the run show a station

Milepost 35¼ -96 - July 2014 allowance of five minutes in the schedule; we managed to cut this to three minutes and thus departed 3½ minutes late.

There is little chance of anything spectacular on to Leeds. After a maximum of slightly over 60 mph we slowed to around 20 mph for the curve past the station at Shipley. Our speed then peaked at 68 mph at Kirkstall followed by braking for the restricted approach to Leeds. Details in my log are thin on this section of the journey but I think we took to the Harrogate lines at Armley and, following a signal checked approach to Leeds, we came to rest in a half minute under the allowance from Keighley, just three minutes late.

Most of the running from Carlisle suggests a line limit of 75 mph though that may have been more due to the limits of the Class 40s output as 85 mph appears to have been the driver’s ceiling on the long downgrades to Settle.

A month later I made my first non-stop run from Hereford to Shrewsbury. The log, including the continuation on to Crewe, follows as Run 2. Despite two temporary speed restrictions nearing Whitchurch the section from Shrewsbury to Whitchurch was a Society record.

Run 2 Miles mm cc location PTT mm:ss speed* average Day/Date Monday 16th June 1969 37.04 14 02 Little Stretton 35:28 59 63.1 Train 18:30 Hereford to Crewe** 38.39 12 54 Church Stretton 36:45 68 63.1 Motive Power class 47, number unknown 41.74 9 26 Leebotwood 39:42 68 68.1 Load (tons) 7/315/325 = 7.9hp/ton 44.75 6 25 Dorrington 42:21 68 68.2 Weather dry 46.74 4 26 Condover 44:07 66 67.6 Rec. Pos. GPS J Rishton - 2/7 - Stopwatch 49.23 1 67 Bayston Hill 46:45 50 56.7 Miles mm cc location PTT mm:ss speed* average 50.25 0 65 Sutton Bridge J 48:15 31 40.8 0.00 51 05 Hereford 0 00:00 1 late 0.0 51.04 0 02 Shrewsbury 57 50:51 18.2 0.88 50 15 Barrs Court J 02:23 41 22.2 0.00 32 36 64 64:41 2 late 0.0 1.74 49 26 Shelwick junction 03:24 58 50.7 2.06 30 29 Harlescott 04:06 66 30.1 4.24 46 66 Moreton-on-Lugg 05:48 66 62.5 3.92 28 40 summit 05:53 60 62.6 6.13 44 75 Dolemeadow X 07:28 69 68.0 7.25 25 14 Yorton 08:46 70 69.3 8.21 42 68 Dinmore tunnel 09:20 59 66.9 10.76 21 53 Wem 11:34 77 75.2 10.24 40 66 Ford Bridge 11:16 66 63.0 13.97 18 36 Prees 14:09 74/49tsr 74.6 12.63 38 35 Leominster 13:22 70 68.3 17.46 14 77 Heath Lane 18:02 56/21tsr/43 53.9 15.83 35 19 Berrington 16:06 70 70.3 18.87 13 44 Whitchurch 20 20:51 30.0 19.05 32 01 Woofferton 18:45 74 72.9 0.00 21 21:31 2 late 0.0 21.30 29 61 Saltmore 20:35 66 69.8 1.55 12 00 summit 03:09 60 29.5 23.54 27 42 Ludlow 22:50 52 62.5 3.43 10 10 Marley Green 04:47 74 69.1 25.81 25 20 Bromfield 24:59 64 63.3 4.94 8 49 Wrenbury 05:59 76 75.5 28.20 22 69 Onibury 27:12 65 64.7 8.05 5 40 summit 08:29 71 74.6 31.11 19 76 Craven Arms 29:54 65 64.7 9.36 4 15 Nantwich 09:50 52 58.2 32.66 18 32 Wistanstow 31:20 63 64.9 11.04 2 41 Willaston 11:35 55 57.6 35.69 15 30 Marsh Brook 34:11 65 63.8 13.13 0 34 Gresty Lane 14:25 29 44.2 signal stand 14:59 to 19:24 13.83 158 03 Crewe 26 21:49 0 5.7 * Speeds generally calculated from milepost sightings as near to timing point as possible. ** Station of origin unknown. Final destination probably Manchester. With an unusually light load for the route we departed from Hereford a minute late, as we did from Shrewsbury; perhaps it was my watch that was fast. After the usual slow start past Barrs Court we accelerated on the slight rise beyond to reach 60 mph shortly beyond Shelwick. I presume the line speed was then 70 mph, at least as far as Shrewsbury, as speed was always held back into the high 60s with one brief exception when we reached 74 mph on the falling gradient to Woofferton.

The first serious test is a 1 in 135 rise up to, and through, Dinmore tunnel which we exited at a rather poor 59 mph, a drop in speed of 10 mph over 1½ miles with six coaches in tow.

Milepost 35¼ -97 - July 2014 However our speed had risen to 66 mph on the down grade by Ford Bridge and 70 mph by Leominster. Saltmore, passed at 66 mph is just beyond the start of a second climb for most of the way to Ludlow. Gradients vary between 1 in 112 and 1 in 220 but speed fell to 52 mph through Ludlow. Perhaps back in 1969 there was a much lower speed restriction than today. The driver now appeared content to hold our speed back to a maximum of 65 mph and from well south of Bromfield to a summit before Craven Arms we held 65 mph, our first decent climb of the run.

Craven Arms to Little Stretton takes us to the main summit. 1 in 105 is the steepest though there are many easier sections including a short down grade. Speed remained in the mid- 60s until Marsh Brook but then fell back to 59 mph at the summit; again perhaps the result of a now removed speed restriction. By Church Stretton we were back up to 68 mph and my notes state the brakes were then lightly applied to hold speed back on the downgrade, 1 in 90 at its steepest, down to the Severn valley. By Condover the braking was slightly more noticeable and speed was gradually reduced to 31 mph by Sutton Bridge. Then followed the usual slow approach to Shrewsbury where we arrived five minutes early and the lack of urgency by the driver became apparent to me.

A 3½ mile climb, mainly at 1 in 117 is the first stage out of Shrewsbury. We passed the summit at 60 mph having touched 66 mph at the beginning of the steep section. Once over the top 75 mph seemed to be the new line maximum. I don’t know if we changed drivers at Shrewsbury but the driving style was similar so I assume we did not. Beyond Prees there was a temporary speed restriction which, on examination, appears to have been to 50 mph but worse was to come as, shortly after speed recovery commenced the brakes were reapplied for a further restriction beyond Heath Lane. This time speed was reduced to 21 mph before recovering to 43 mph and then came the Whitchurch stop, almost a minute over the permitted time.

We departed Whitchurch still two minutes late and topped a 1 in 136 minor summit at 60 mph and reached the mid-70s soon after on downgrades as steep as 1 in 107. Our speed was held back to 52 mph through Nantwich, presumably the then current maximum allowed. Although I understand the current limit is 60 mph at Nantwich that is a speed far in excess of any recorded by me on trains passing through.

Speed rose to 60 mph before Willaston but was then gently reduced as we approached Gresaty Lane from where more severe braking commenced to bring us to a signal stand before Crewe South junction. We waited 4½ minutes before getting the road to a platform but still arrived two minutes early. The schedule had certainly been an easy one, at least for our load. APT – another postscript

Alan Varley

It seems that there are still some APT logs lurking in recorders’ archives and notebooks, and I was perhaps over-hasty when I drew up what I hoped at the time was a definitive table listing runs and publications. We have already had to update it several times, and recently two more interesting runs have come to light, for which we are grateful to Mr. Ed Gardiner. These runs are presented below and are also incorporated into the descriptive list. However the table with the list is not reprinted, partly because it is now somewhat bulky, and also because I have grown wary and suspect it may require yet more updating. A current version will thus be available henceforth for consultation on the website.

Mr. Gardiner made two Up runs, in 1982 and 1984; that is, towards the beginning and towards the end of (more or less) regular APT running, and the style of the runs perhaps

Milepost 35¼ -98 - July 2014 Table 1 Glasgow-Preston Run 1 0700 Glasgow, 1.11.82, ?2+7 APT?, 370006, EG, position unknown, dry/wet Run 2 0900 Glasgow, 9.3.84, 2+8 APT PC 49003/006, EG pos ?, dry/wet Dist m ch m sec ave m sec ave 0,00 102 21 Glasgow Cen Run 1 Run 2 2,26 100 00 MP 100 4 57,65 27,4 4 43,63 28,7 4,26 98 00 MP 98 6 27,43 80,2 6 8,53 84,8 6,26 96 00 MP 96 7 20,41 100,2 6,51 95 60 MP 95 3/4 7 52,61 95,1 8,26 94 00 MP 94 8 52,66 104,9 8,76 93 40 MP 93 1/2 8 45,94 105,2 10,01 92 20 MP 92 1/4 9 49,01 111,8 10,26 92 00 MP 92 9 32,85 115,1 12,83 89 35 Motherwell 12 24 12 5 0,00 0 0,00 0 0,00 1,44 88 00 MP 88 3 13,99 26,7 2 24,38 35,8 3,44 86 00 MP 86 5 26,10 54,5 3 47,51 86,6 5,44 84 00 MP 84 6 56,93 79,3 5 14,40 82,9 7,44 82 00 MP 82 8 9,92 98,6 6 27,31 98,8 9,44 80 00 MP 80 9 12,36 115,3 7 33,47 108,8 11,44 78 00 MP 78 10 13,80 117,2 tsr 40* 13,44 76 00 MP 76 11 22,52 104,8 11 35,72 59,4 15,69 73 60 MP 73 3/4 12 32,51 115,7 12 59,38 96,8 17,44 72 00 MP 72 13 25,72 118,4 13 54,31 114,7 19,44 70 00 MP 70 14 24,26 123,0 14 55,28 118,1 21,44 68 00 MP 68 15 19,29 130,8 15 54,00 122,6 23,44 66 00 MP 66 16 14,70 129,9 16 52,87 122,3 25,44 64 00 MP 64 17 9,68 131,0 17 51,06 123,7 27,44 62 00 MP 62 tsr 18 55,06 112,5 tsr 29,44 60 00 MP 60 20 50,22 65,3 21 22,97 48,7 31,44 58 00 MP 58 22 1,22 101,4 22 48,90 83,8 sig stop 2 min 33,44 56 00 MP 56 27 6,82 23 56,12 107,1 35,44 54 00 MP 54 28 45,39 73,0 25 0,62 111,6 37,44 52 00 MP 52 29 50,22 111,1 26 3,66 114,2 39,44 50 00 MP 50 30 48,35 123,9 27 5,34 116,7 41,44 48 00 MP 48 31 46,66 123,5 28 7,81 115,3 43,44 46 00 MP 46 32 44,98 123,5 29 10,31 115,2 45,44 44 00 MP 44 33 41,37 127,7 30 10,90 118,8 47,44 42 00 MP 42 34 35,97 131,9 31 9,72 122,4 49,44 40 00 MP 40 35 29,84 133,7 32 8,03 123,5 51,44 38 00 MP 38 stop 2 min 33 6,58 123,0 53,44 36 00 MP 36 41 30,95 34 6,16 120,8 55,44 34 00 MP 34 35 4,28 123,9 57,44 32 00 MP 32 43 49,83 36 2,19 124,3 59,44 30 00 MP 30 44 57,28 106,7 36 59,72 125,2 61,44 28 00 MP 28 46 4,76 106,7 37 57,90 123,8 63,44 26 00 MP 26 47 12,76 105,9 38 55,92 124,1 65,44 24 00 MP 24 48 24,20 100,8 39 55,81 120,2 67,44 22 00 MP 22 40 58,97 114,0 69,44 20 00 MP 20 50 54,40 95,9 42 1,10 115,9 71,44 18 00 MP 18 42 59,28 123,8 73,44 16 00 MP 16 53 19,13 99,5 43 56,94 124,9 77,44 12 00 MP 12 55 46,77 46 22,81 101,6 79,44 10 00 MP 10 47 22,66 120,3 81,44 8 00 MP 8 48 23,06 119,2 83,44 6 00 MP 6 sig stop 01 29 49 33,25 102,6 85,44 4 00 MP 4 66 16,20 50 37,06 112,8 87,44 2 00 MP 2 67 26,68 102,2 51 36,28 121,6 89,44 69 06 Carlisle 69 59,00 47,3 54 30,00 41,5 92,52 66 00 MP 66 74 2,08 45,5 58 38,75 44,5 94,77 63 60 MP 63 3/4 60 2,81 96,4 96,52 62 00 MP 62 76 39,82 61 4,22 102,6

Milepost 35¼ -99 - July 2014 Table 1 continued Dist m ch m sec ave m sec ave 98,52 60 00 MP 60 77 49,70 103,0 62 6,80 115,1 100,52 58 00 MP 58 78 56,55 107,7 63 6,25 121,1 102,52 56 00 MP 56 80 2,48 109,2 64 4,25 124,1 104,52 54 00 MP 54 65 2,25 124,1 104,77 53 60 MP 53 3/4 81 18,37 106,7 107,27 51 20 MP 51 1/4 83 7,72 82,3 tsr 108,52 50 00 MP 50 84 2,60 82,0 69 56,80 48,9 110,52 48 00 MP 48 85 16,8 96,8 71 28,06 78,9 112,52 46 00 MP 46 86 29,76 98,7 72 40,75 99,1 114,52 44 00 MP 44 87 53,2 86,3 73 54,94 97,0 117,02 41 40 MP 41 1/2 89 42,5 80,8 75 33,03 91,8 118,52 40 00 MP 40 90 41,08 92,2 76 27,96 98,3 120,52 38 00 MP 38 91 54,30 98,3 77 39,52 100,6 122,52 36 00 MP 36 93 7,14 98,8 78 50,62 101,3 124,52 34 00 MP 34 94 12,12 110,8 79 49,16 123,0 126,52 32 00 MP 32 95 18,7 108,2 80 47,10 124,3 128,52 30 00 MP 30 96 30,70 98,9 81 46,72 120,8 130,52 28 00 MP 28 97 54,65 85,8 82 56,40 103,3 132,52 26 00 MP 26 99 17,05 87,4 84 17,25 89,1 134,52 24 00 MP 24 100 31,28 97,0 85 23,84 108,1 136,52 22 00 MP 22 101 52,48 88,7 86 34,34 102,1 138,52 20 00 MP 20 103 17,11 85,1 87 45,84 100,7 140,52 18 00 MP 18 104 34,59 92,9 88 49,25 113,5 142,52 16 00 MP 16 105 44,96 102,3 89 48,97 120,6 144,52 14 00 MP 14 106 58,08 98,5 90 52,87 112,7 146,52 12 00 MP 12 108 6,43 105,3 91 52,19 121,4 148,52 10 00 MP 10 109 17,52 101,3 92 50,31 123,9 150,52 8 00 MP 8 110 25,29 106,2 93 48,51 123,7 152,52 6 00 MP 6 111 32,96 106,4 sigs 154,52 4 00 MP 4 112 41,57 104,9 156,52 2 00 MP 2 113 50,32 105,4 98 23,75 78,5 158,52 21 00 Lancaster 115 7,24 93,8 99 39,00 95,9 159,52 20 00 MP 20 100 18,87 90,3 161,52 18 00 MP 18 117 13,64 85,4 163,52 16 00 MP 16 118 22,71 104,2 103 10,47 83,9 165,27 14 20 MP 14 1/4 119 22,67 105,1 165,77 13 60 MP 13 3/4 104 21,16 114,6 167,52 12 00 MP 12 120 39,48 105,5 105 11,70 124,7 169,52 10 00 MP 10 121 49,03 103,5 106 9,94 123,6 171,77 7 60 MP 7 3/4 123 6,76 104,2 173,52 6 00 MP 6 124 7,64 103,5 sigs / tsr 175,52 4 00 MP 4 125 16,38 104,7 177,52 2 00 MP 2 126 25,02 104,9 113 40,38 63,9 179,52 0 00 Preston 128 5 47,1 116 35 41,2

Milepost 35¼ -100 - July 2014 Table 2 Preston-Euston Dist m sec ave Dist m sec ave 0,00 Preston Run 2 115,26 MP 93 3/4 76 5,55 124,3 3,71 MP 18 3 36,11 61,8 117,01 MP 92 76 56,05 124,8 5,71 MP 16 4 39,41 113,7 119,01 MP 90 77 53,58 125,2 7,71 MP 14 5 39,70 119,4 121,01 MP 88 78 52,20 122,8 9,71 MP 12 6 38,81 121,8 123,01 MP 86 79 50,64 123,2 11,71 MP 10 7 36,27 125,3 125,01 MP 84 81 1,39 101,8 13,71 MP 8 8 36,51 119,5 126,51 Rugby 82 17,00 71,4 15,71 MP 6 9 54,77 92,0 129,26 MP 79 3/4 84 9,01 88,4 17,71 MP 4 10 59,48 111,3 130,76 MP 78 1/4 84 56,33 114,1 19,71 MP 2 11 58,55 121,9 133,01 MP 76 86 5,64 116,9 21,01 MP 188 12 41,64 108,4 135,01 MP 74 87 3,45 124,5 23,01 MP 186 13 52,91 101,0 137,01 MP 72 88 0,91 125,3 25,01 MP 184 15 1,73 104,6 139,01 MP 70 89 2,11 117,6 26,76 MP 182 1/4 16 3,14 102,6 141,01 MP 68 90 7,95 109,4 29,01 MP 180 17 16,27 110,8 143,01 MP 66 91 8,05 119,8 31,01 MP 178 18 14,58 123,5 145,01 MP 64 92 6,41 123,4 sigs 147,01 MP 62 93 5,11 122,7 34,76 MP 174 1/4 21 44,22 64,4 149,01 MP 60 94 3,45 123,4 37,01 MP 172 23 1,51 104,8 151,01 MP 58 95 1,51 124,0 39,01 MP 170 24 1,48 120,1 153,01 MP 56 95 59,51 124,1 41,01 MP 168 24 59,27 124,6 155,01 MP 54 96 57,33 124,5 43,01 MP 166 26 4,23 110,8 157,01 MP 52 97 56,83 121,0 45,01 MP 164 27 11,08 107,7 159,01 MP 50 98 55,70 122,3 47,01 MP 162 28 10,36 121,5 161,01 MP 48 99 53,92 123,7 49,01 MP 160 29 8,20 124,5 163,01 MP 46 100 51,67 124,7 sigs 165,01 MP 44 101 50,14 123,1 51,00 Crewe 31 50,00 167,01 MP 42 102 49,42 121,5 75,01 MP 134 53 59,27 65,0 169,01 MP 40 104 13,73 85,4 77,01 MP 132 55 22,00 87,0 171,01 MP 38 105 23,10 103,8 79,01 MP 130 56 31,58 103,5 173,01 MP 36 106 24,14 118,0 81,01 MP 128 57 37,14 109,8 175,01 MP 34 107 22,17 124,1 83,01 MP 126 58 37,82 118,7 177,01 MP 32 108 20,70 123,0 85,01 MP 124 59 35,95 123,9 179,01 MP 30 109 18,45 124,7 87,01 MP 122 60 34,36 123,3 181,01 MP 28 110 18,71 119,5 89,01 MP 120 61 32,48 123,9 183,01 MP 26 111 18,23 121,0 91,01 MP 118 62 30,47 124,2 185,01 MP 24 112 16,05 124,5 93,01 MP 116 63 28,14 124,8 187,01 MP 22 113 14,01 124,2 95,01 MP 114 64 26,54 123,3 189,01 MP 20 114 12,11 123,9 97,01 MP 112 65 24,40 124,4 191,01 MP 18 115 15,51 113,6 ?? 193,01 MP 16 116 13,77 123,6 99,01 Tamworth 67 13,67 65,9 195,01 MP 14 117 11,64 124,4 101,01 MP 108 68 49,72 75,0 197,01 MP 12 118 9,71 124,0 103,01 MP 106 69 54,10 111,8 199,01 MP 10 119 7,42 124,8 105,01 MP 104 70 52,51 123,3 201,01 MP 8 120 5,23 124,5 107,01 MP 102 72 0,01 106,7 203,01 MP 6 121 16,36 101,2 109,01 MP 100 73 3,73 113,0 tsr/sigs 111,01 MP 98 74 1,92 123,7 209,01 Euston 130 19 39,8 113,01 MP 96 75 0,36 123,2 115,26 MP 93 3/4 76 5,55 124,3 Slow line Crewe-Stafford reflects this. The second was an excellent all-round performance, with the signal checks that seemed inevitable on Up APT runs but very steady 125 mph running where applicable. In contrast the early days of the APT were characterised by less disciplined and less reliable running, as in Mr. Gardiner’s first run, which involved some fairly wild speeds cut short by a tilt failure while descending Beattock bank at 130+ mph - which must have been an interesting experience.

The two runs are presented as timed – except that to save space I have made slight adjustments to the log of Run 1 in some places where the mileposts used did not correspond to those of Run 2: this concerns the times at MPs 48, 44, 41½ and 32 between Carlisle and

Milepost 35¼ -101 - July 2014 Lancaster, where Run 1 was not running at full speed, and the times are shown to one decimal place as against the 1/100ths of Mr. Gardiner’s timings.

The load for Run 1 is uncertain; other APT runs at this time seemed to have involved 2+7 formations, though in one case there was perhaps only one power car, and here the very slow start from Motherwell through the neutral section might indicate some lack of power and/or adhesion. Once it got going, though, this run was spectacularly fast, with maxima that must have been close to 135 mph. Even after the tilt failure it continued more like a WCML 110 mph working, and ran Carlisle (pass) to Preston in 58m 06s. There was no sign of adhesion problems on the recovery from Carlisle, as the train reached well over 100 mph before easing for the Wreay curves (Mr. Gardiner timed MP 64, 74 14.77, ave. 99.1 from PK 66, but I have not shown an adjusted time at 63¾ in view of the rapid speed changes in this area). Run 2 was even faster out of Glasgow than Run 1 and set an all-comers record time to Motherwell. The restart was more normal, though a little slower than, for example, Mr. Jackson’s run that was printed in Milepost 33½. The two checks near Craigenhill and Wandelmill cost around two minutes each, so the net time to passing Carlisle was about 50½ minutes; the checks between there and Preston cost about 9m 10s, leaving a net time of 53 minutes from Carlisle, 103½ from Motherwell.

Onwards to Euston (Table 2) Run 2 continued in the same style and made the second- fastest APT time in our catalogue from Preston to Euston, at 130m 19s. With very steady 124-125 mph running. It passed Crewe in about 29½ minutes net but was then turned onto the slow line right through to Stafford. From there to Euston the net time was between 72½ and 73 minutes – not so much of an advantage over Pendolino standards north of Crewe, but overall another excellent example of APT performance – 30 years ago!

By ‘Special’ to the Dreaming Spires.

Michael Rowe

A telephone call from John Heaton triggered a search of the RPS data base. John mentioned the run behind two Castle Class 4-6-0s on 1 April 1957. The date immediately aroused suspicions: memories of a notorious manufactured double headed log, although as John said ‘D.S.M. Barrie was not one for an ‘April fool’, although he perhaps might have created a theoretical log as an exercise.’

However the database yielded the information that there was a return Special on 4 April and the following year DSMB’s friend and colleague G.J. Aston travelled to and from Oxford by ‘Special’ trains on 24 and 27 March. Presumably this was an annual conference of railway significance. DSMB’s log has ‘limited and not for publication’ written above it.

The standout performance time-wise was on the Down run with the two Castle Class 4-6-0s Nos.5035 and 5099, ‘Coity Castle’ and ‘Compton Castle’, when Reading was passed inside the half hour from the Paddington start, bettering comfortably the seldom kept ‘Bristolian’ schedule of 31 minutes .

The average speed from Southall to Maidenhead was 80.0mph and a year later for the single Castle No.7017, ‘G.J. Churchward’, 76.2mph. No. 7017 maintained 77-78 mph up the gentle grade between Maidenhead and Twyford, more than half the horsepower of the two locomotives when maintaining 83-84 mph on the same stretch.

Milepost 35¼ -102 - July 2014 Date 01/04/1957 24/03/1958 Train ‘Conference Special’ 14.30 ‘Special’ Loco 5035 [pilot] 5099 [train] 7017 Load no/tons 8/300/315 7/243/- Miles Location Sch Actual mph Sch Actual mph 0.0 Paddington 0 00-00 2ML 0 00-00 ¾ML 1.3 Westborne P 2-34 3-07 36 5.7 Ealing B’way 7-04 72 8-12 66 9.1 Southall 11 9-47 78 11 11-04 72 13.2 West Drayton 12-56 82 14-23 81 18.5 Slough 17½ 16-47 80-81 17½ 18-24 77 24.2 Maidenhead 21½ 21-07 79-83 22-57 77-78 31.0 Twyford 26-02 84–75 * 28-11 74 pws 15 36.0 Reading 31 29-47 80 37 34-12 21½ 38.6 Tilehurst - 37-16 65 41.5 Pangborne 33-52 82 pws 19 39-41 74-78 troughs 44.7 Goring 37-50 55 42-13 74 troughs 48.5 Cholsey 41-31 72 45-08 77 52.8 Didcot E.Jct 46½ 45-20 79 –40* 52 49-12 35 * 53.8 Didcot N.Jct 48 46-24 - 50-29 56.1 Culham 48-40 69 53-04 63 58.3 Radley 50-31 76 55-04 69 eased 61.0 Kennington Jc 52-41 79 brakes 57-30 62 Sig stop 60-29/ 62-50 63.4 Oxford 60 55-48 stop 65 63-10 stop * slack - Net times 53¼ and 57¾ minutes

Date 04/04/1957 27/03/1958 Train ‘Special’ 14.48 ‘Special’ Loco 5052 7017 Load no/tons 7/240/250 7/242/- Miles Location Sch Actual mph Sch Actual mph 0 Oxford 0 00-00 0 00-00 2½ME sigs 2.4 Kennington Jc 4-09 56 5-14 43 5.1 Radley 6-47 61 8-34 52 7.3 Culham - 10-52 60 9.6 Didcot N.Jct 10 11-02 72-59* 13-25 44* 10.6 Didcot S.Jct 11½ 12-01 49* 12½ 14-32 40* 14.9 Cholsey 16-20 69) 19-14 65 18.7 Goring 19-26 72 22-29 71 24.8 Tilehurst 24-24 76 27-29 75 27.4 Reading 25½ 26-31 74-69 26½ 29-44 pws 15 32.4 Twyford 30-31 76 36-29 66 39.2 Maidenhead 35 35-35 81 41-57 79 44.9 Slough 39½ 39-55 82-79 44½ 46-26 77 eased 48.7 Iver 41-21 stop ** 49-28 68 54.3 Southall 46½ 55-10 53 51½ 54-33 66 57.7 Ealing B’way - 57-28 79 59.1 Acton 59-47 72 58-43 67 62.1 Westborne Pk 62-51 62-03 37 63.4 Paddington 60 65-29 stop 65 65-23 Stop · *Slack ** sig stop. Door open on preceding train, sigs after.

How do these performances compare with starts from Paddington on the ‘Bristolian’? The Reverend R.S. Haines on 14/9/54 timed King Class 4-6-0 No.6015 to pass Reading in 30m 36s; the average speed from Southall to Maidenhead was 78.7mph. D. Twibell on 11/3/55

Milepost 35¼ -103 - July 2014 timed ‘King’ No.6016 and after a slower start averaged 82.7mph before a pws at Twyford spoilt the fun. Both of these runs were with the standard seven coach ‘Bristolian’ set of the time.

Pre WWII the outstanding start speed-wise was probably that made by the 17.00 Paddington to Cheltenham, specially scheduled to stop at Swindon to put down Messrs C.J. Allen and Humphrey Baker after their record breaking Up run on the ‘Cheltenham Flyer’. ‘Manorbier Castle’ with 6/199/210 passed Reading in 29m 02s after an average speed of 83.8mph twixt Southall and Maidenhead.

It is, however, not surprising that in 1957 DSMB wrote above his log ‘Not for publication’. High jinks on a ‘Special’ hauled by steam, one suspects, were not the order of the day in 1957. G.J. Aston’s run the following year were typical of a ‘Castle’ hauled ‘Bristolian’ performance.

The two up runs shown in the second table were unexceptional, indeed Hall Class 4-6-0s on occasions travelled faster on the 17.35 Oxford to Paddington. C.J. Allen in the December 1956 ‘Trains Illustrated’ included five logs behind Modified Hall Class 4-6-0s when the actual Oxford to Paddington times varied between 55m 20s and 58m 45s (54m – 54¾m Net). Two of the runs were behind No.7902, ‘Eaton Mascot Hall’, the better of which passed Slough in 37m 16s before a stop for signals but still reached Paddington in 58m 45s. The maximum speed was 88 mph at Tilehurst and the Net time 54 minutes.

A personal best start from Oxford, load considered, was behind Merchant Navy Class 4-6-2 No. 35027 ‘Port Line’ with 13/446/475 on the ‘Pines’ on 19/11/65. Culham was passed in 10m 35s at 66 mph and 68 mph attained before signal checks and a passage on the Local Line after Didcot East Jct. The enthusiastic start by the Bournemouth crew was a response to taking over from a ‘Brush’ Type 4 running an hour and a half late.

Lesser Lights of the Eastern Region Part 2.

Andrew James

In this second article we start back in East Anglia. The former Midland and Great Northern Joint was perhaps the least needed system of lines in the UK, duplicating many of the former Great Eastern lines in the areas which it purported to serve. A prime example of Victorian over-expansionism and ambition, one could argue. The line from Melton Constable to Cromer was closed comparatively late, however, in April 1964. Of course the section from Holt to Sheringham is now part of the North Norfolk Railway and the latter place is still served by an hourly service to Norwich. Melton Constable was to the MGNJ what Crewe or Doncaster were to the former LNWR and GNR, but in the middle of nowhere!

The line itself had some sharp gradients contrary to what one might expect in this neck of the woods. However, this no doubt reflected both the cheap construction of the line and increasing confidence in steam engine technology to surmount sharp gradients without undue difficulty. The start from Melton Constable was on a 1 in 80 descent and the climb to Holt steepened to 1 in 90. Trains heading in the Cromer direction were generally aided by the topography of the line which has a descent of 1 in 80 for around two miles in the vicinity of Weybourne. After this, the line follows a series of gentle undulations to Cromer.

Milepost 35¼ -104 - July 2014 Table 1 Run 1 Date 14 September 1957 The loco featured in Table 1, timed by the Train 2.31 PM. Melton late Bernard Harrison, of course is an Ivatt Constable- Mogul. Built initially for the LMS in 1947, this Cromer Beach type became synonymous with this part of Recorder B. Harrison East Anglia in the post-war steam era. The Load 4/115/120 Motive Power 43086/4MT MGNJ was a joint LMS/LNER operation M C sch m s mph prior to Nationalisation. I have included it not 0 00 Melton Constable 0 00 for any great performance interest, but to ? ?? Brinningham Road J /48 display the speed profile of a branch Line 37 50 Holt ? 8 45 train on the Eastern Region during the 37 50 0 00 steam era. The line limits for Eastern Region 40 06 Weybourne ? 6 52 45 max secondary/branch lines in this era tended to 40 06 0 00 be around the 45-50 mph mark and so the 42 62 Sheringham 6 5 22 39 max Mogul was probably not too far off attaining 42 62 0 00 the latter on the section between Melton 44 39 West Runton 2 5 00 26 max Constable and Holt. 44 39 0 00 46 42 Cromer Beach 5 5 32

Tables 2, and 3 show further typical duties for the class. The former East Lincolnshire line from Peterborough to Grimsby closed to passenger traffic in October 1970 and was characterised by long sections of level track as it traversed the Fenland landscape. The speed profile of the trains displayed here was perhaps indicative of what these engines did on a daily basis on secondary/main line duties. In other words, around 55-60 mph on the flat with a consist of 4-5 coaches. However, this was still some way within their maximum capacity. A Mogul steamed to the limit of its boiler could theoretically attain around 77-79 mph on the level with a 5 coach consist of around 165 tons tare. So the performances displayed here did not call for any undue exertion.

Table 2 Run 2 Note the schedule in Table 2, which was far Date 09 March 1963 from being generous, particularly the section Train ? from Peterborough to Spalding which Recorder P. Tromans demanded an average speed of 49.9 mph Load 4/132/138 start-to-stop, for a line which was subject to a Motive Power 43094/4MT 60 mph limit. The restriction at Werrington Miles sch m s mph clearly didn’t make matters any easier. The 0.00 Peterborough N 0 00 running thereafter was not particularly 3.15 Werrington Junc. 7 17 30* energetic, but one has to take into account 5.40 Peakirk 10 25 48 that the loco was a last minute substitute for a 7.12 St James Deeping 12 27 54 failed B1. 11.40 Littleworth 16 57 60 16.64 Spalding 20 23 56 0 00 0 00 Table 3 is a bit sprightlier and the engine 3.91 Surfleet 6 46 50 made significant inroads into the schedule. 7.66 Algarkirk 10 48 59 10.51 Kirton 13 37 56 I have utilised the mileages provided by Phillip 14.34 Boston 20 23 00 Tromans and the late F. Hartley for the . sections featured here.

Milepost 35¼ -105 - July 2014 Table 3 Run 3 Runs behind anything other than Pacifics Date 04 May 1963 on the Peterborough to Grantham section Train ? of the ECML during the post-war steam era Recorder P. Tromans are quite rare, but the late D. Twibell Load 4/132/138 recorded some interesting data behind B1s Motive Power 43081/4MT in both directions on Sunday excursion Miles sch m s mph trains. 0. 00 Firsby 0 00 3.80 Bellwater Junction 5 22 65 5.53 Eastville 6 58 65 The running in Table 4, was moderately- 8.71 Old Leake 9 58 63 energetic in places. The ascent from Corby 10.42 Sibsey 11 31 67 Glen to Stoke was worth around 800 edhp, 15.17 Boston 21 18 31 hardly in the boiler-busting category, but . not dire either. The schedule on such a Table 4 service may have been an effective Run 4 deterrent to any more vigour than Date 06 December 1953 displayed here. The running from Train 9.30 Cambridge- Werrington to Essendine was perhaps on Derby Friargate (exc) par with a contemporary Pacific pulling 11- Recorder D. Twibell 12 coaches in the same era. The schedule Load 9/290/310 shown here is for a Class 7 or 8-rated Motive Power 61286/B1/5MT locomotive based on a 9/315 consist and M C sch m s mph therefore could be regarded as being a 76 25 Peterborough N 0 00 fairly onerous task for a Class 5. To drop 78 52 Walton 4 35 53 two minutes, albeit with a slighter lighter 79 38 Werrington 5 30 58 load is creditable, one could argue. Under 81 68 Helpston 7 50 64 the rarefied conditions of the test plant and 83 32 Lolham 9 15 64 controlled road testing, a B1 showed a 84 67 Tallington 10 35 65/66 maximum capability of around 1,600-1,700 88 52 Essendine 14 06 63/61 ihp. This would have been sufficient to 92 16 Little Bytham 17 34 64/60/53 keep the 31 minute schedule framed for a 97 07 Corby Glen 22 53 56 Class 7 or 8 engine, reflecting the elasticity 100 07 Stoke 26 20 48 101 24 High Dyke 27 41 57 of performance which steam engines were 102 06 Great Ponton 28 24 64/68 capable of when in first class order. 105 35 Grantham 31* 32 47

Table 5 shows two runs in the opposite direction, b oth highlighting differing driver techniques perfectly. The first driver was relatively ‘hard’ up to Stoke with the power output around 1,000 edhp from Great Ponton. The descent to Peterborough was moderately fast with a maximum of 80 mph attained between Little Bytham and Essendine. Bear in mind that speeds much in excess of 80 mph in 1953 were comparatively rare in the UK at this period.

The second run up to Stoke was a lot more measured, around 780 edhp, but then the driver gave the engine its head. Given the load, the maxima between Little Bytham and Essendine would not have disgraced a Pacific in any era. I have a suspicion that the latter log was published in a 1952 issue of the Railway Magazine but serves as interesting comparison in its own right.

We now move south to the capital to feature some running on the LTSR. The line was unusual, of course, in being a tank engine monopoly for the vast majority of its passenger services. The other unusual feature, as I’m sure many older members of the RPS will recall, was that the locomotives, formerly of the LMS, were not indigenous to the line or the lines which were under Eastern Region jurisdiction from 1949.

Milepost 35¼ -106 - July 2014 The locomotives comprised the former Fowler, Stanier and Fairburn 2-6-4T varieties for passenger work from the pre-nationalisation era which were supplemented by the Standard Class 80000 tanks by the mid-fifties.

Table 5. Run 5 6 Date 6-Dec-53 25 May 1952 Train 7.00 PM Derby Derby Friargate- Friargate- Cambridge Cambridge Recorder D. Twibell D. Twibell Load 9/290/310 14/445/470 Motive Power 61286/B1/5MT 61301/B1/5MT M C m s mph m s mph 105 35 Grantham 0 00 0 00 102 06 Great Ponton 6 05 49 8 32 33 101 24 High Dyke 7 05 9 55 33 100 07 Stoke 8 25 50 12 05 33 99 07 Corby Glen 11 23 70 15 28 68 92 16 Little Bytham 15 20 77/80 19 25 81/85 88 52 Essendine 18 03 79/77/78 21 55 84 84 67 Tallington 20 59 75 24 44 82 81 68 Helpston 22 09 71 26 56 80 79 38 Werrington J 25 28 68 28 48 75 76 25 Peterborough N 31 44 32 34

The line had a reputation for good performance and peak hour workings out of Fenchurch Street could load to 13 coaches. This was about 364-375 tare depending on the rolling stock configuration utilised. The gross tonnage could easily be 40 tons in excess of this figure, reflecting of course the extensive use of non-corridor stock on these workings.

The first run featured here is a Stanier type with not anything like as heavy as 13 coaches at the drawbar but still a respectable load. The performance could be regarded as being the apotheosis of professionalism. A late departure of 2½ minutes was regained without any undue exertion and the performance was nicely measured. The running on the gentle undulations to Hornchurch did not see speed rise above 56 mph, but a little more vigour was applied on the 1 in 110 to Laindon with a minimum of 41 mph, which was reasonable but not exceptional. A maximum of 69 mph was attained on the descent to Pitsea.

The comparison run behind the Standard tank was a little more vigorous. The attainment of 58 mph on the level at Dagenham was quite good by the standards of the time. Even better was the ascent to Laindon which was surmounted at 52 mph, a creditable figure with this load. Signals affected the later part of the run, but the potential of the tank had been amply demonstrated on this occasion.

Both runs were recorded shortly before the commencement of electrification in 1962 and look remarkably clear of engineering slacks. One incidental feature which members of the RPS may find of interest, was that during the summer months in this era, students were employed as fireman, reflecting the acute recruiting difficulties BR faced at the time, particularly in the more prosperous South East.

Where the various LMS Class 4 tanks have enjoyed a good reputation for performance, the same cannot be said about the former Thompson L1s, if previous literature on the subject is anything to go by. The RPS archive presents a somewhat different picture. Admittedly, much of their work was on all- stations stoppers in which speed did not exceed the 45-50 mph

Milepost 35¼ -107 - July 2014 mark and could be carried out with almost equal competence by their predecessors of varying degrees of vintage.

However, much of the criticism levelled at the class seems to be directed at their various mechanical defects, although there have been further accusations that they were somewhat temperamental steamers. The problem with such assertions is that the authors concerned do not substantiate the veracity of their claims by the use of performance data.

I have always had a suspicion that a member of the class in ex-works condition could potentially deliver a good performance. The L1s, after all, were provided with a grate area of 24.75 square feet and had the same intrinsic features that many steam locomotives embodied in the UK by the mid- thirties i.e. long travel valves, an adequate level of superheating, etc. So, logically, a low mileage engine should be able to give a good account of itself as the various mechanical ailments that afflicted the class would be less pronounced or marked immediately after overhaul.

Of course the necessary resolution would have to be displayed by the driver. From a potential performance point of view, an engine of this size and vintage ought to be able to deliver around 1,150-1,250 Indicated horsepower in the cylinders - or around 1,000 edhp at, say, 50 mph. It was with particular pleasure that I received this run from A. Lathey which displays these engines’ potential for speed.

Table 6. Run 7 8 Date 10 August 1961 16-Sep-61 Train 4.00 PM 4.00 PM Fenchurch Fenchurch Street- Street- Shoeburyness Shoeburyness Recorder D. Foale D. Foale Load 8/220/250 8/229/250 Motive Power 42528/4MT 80077/4MT M C sch m s mph m s mph 0 03 Fenchurch Street 0 00 2L 0 00 1L 1 59 Stepney East 4 19 38 4 16 31 3 20 Bromley 7 03 50 6 55 43 4 47 Plaistow 8 44 46 8 33 51/52 6 20 East Ham 10 51 48 10 27 51/46* 7 44 Barking 12 35 48 12 15 48 9 48 Beacontree 15 03 53 14 39 55 11 31 Dagenham East 16 53 56 16 26 58 13 60 Hornchurch 19 33 51 18 59 56 15 18 Upminster 21 20 55/60 20 37 60/69 19 13 West Horndon 25 24 56/41 24 14 60 22 69 Laindon 30 06 42 28 01 52 26 42 Pitsea 34 01 69 31 39 66/60 29 14 Benfleet 36 25 62/64 34 09 63/65 32 43 Leigh-on-Sea 39 49 56 38 54 sigs 33 73 Chalkwell 41 21 52 42 33 sigs 34 67 Westcliff-on-Sea 46 42 49 45 49 0 00 0 00 0 00 0 75 Southend -on-Sea 3 3 12 3 11

Milepost 35¼ -108 - July 2014

Table 7 Details of this run were given in the Run 9 December 1955 issue of Trains Date 13 August 1955 Illustrated, but no log. Exploits on the Train Cambridge Cambridge Buffet expresses were well Buffet Express known during the1932-1939 era when, Recorder A.Lathey in particular, both varieties of Ivatt Load 6/198/210 Atlantics reached speeds in the mid-high Motive Power 67784/L1/4MT seventies on the descent of the so-called M C Sch m s mph Northern Heights. 55 48 Cambridge 0 00

54 50 Trumpington 2 23 53 03 Shepreth Branch 4 29 48*/26 The post-war era saw generally slower 55 26 Junction schedules, but to some extent this 52 48 Harston 8 24 57 reflected the lower line limits in general. 50 76 Foxton 10 03 64/tsr This effort behind 67784 was excellent. 49 67 Shepreth 11 17 45 It was no doubt deputizing for a failed 47 74 Meldreth 13 28 60 B1/B17. Perhaps the most notable 45 20 Milepost 16 15 57 features of the performance was the 44 69 Royston 17 17 02 speed of 54 mph at Stevenage from a 44 69 0 00 standing start at Hitchin and the 43 13 Litlington 3 39 50 subsequent acceleration up to 41 02 Ashwell & Morden 5 31 62/eased Knebworth. The power output from 36 50 Baldock 9 20 76/61 Stevenage to Knebworth was around 35 40 Mp 10 39 62 920 edhp. This is exceptional for any 34 50 Letchworth 14 11 35 Class 4 steam engine in the speed 34 50 0 00 range featured here. Only behind one of

32 11 Cambridge J 4 07 54/33 the B17 derivatives in the Class 4 range

31 72 Hitchin 5 5 14 would one expect anything better than 31 72 0 00 this. 28 45 Stevenage 5 41 54/71

25 03 Knebworth 8 51 70/71/sigs This run compares well with others 23 40 Woolmer Green 10 13 65 published by B.I. Nathan in Milepost 22 00 Welwyn North 11 32 73 16½ on these services. Interestingly, 20 26 Welwyn Garden City 16 13 42 another L1 did feature in his article: No. 20 26 0 00 17 56 Hatfield 4 04 52/36/tsr 67746 putting up a very competent effort 14 39 Brookmans Park 8 30 53/28 with 8/260/285 at the drawbar. The edhp 12 60 Potters Bar 11 35 39/26/sigs between the two locations mentioned 10 44 Hadley Wood 15 27 50 earlier was around the 730 mark, not of 9 14 New Barnet 16 50 67 the same merit as 67784, but still quite 6 39 New Southgate 19 09 76/64 good for a Class 4 engine. 4 78 Wood Green 20 27 69/sigs 2 41 Finsbury Park 23 40 17 The attainment of 76 mph at New signal stop Southgate and Baldock by 67784 was a 0 13 Kings Cross 26 31 27 mere 16 mph above the limit at the time on the sections concerned! Driver Porter Table 8 EDHP/IHP and the ironically named Fireman Speed Corby Glen-Stoke 1 in 178 were perhaps made of stern stuff. 61286/814/1147-52.2 mph Perhaps not all L1’s were subject to Great Ponton-Stoke 1 in 200 varying degrees of mechanical 61286/995/1291-51.1 mph disintegration all of the time! 61301/776/922-33.6 mph Stevenage-Knebworth 1 in 1033 (av) 67784/922/1392-66.8 mph I am indebted to D.A. Foale, A. Lathey,and P. Tromans for giving me permission to use their logs.

Milepost 35¼ -109 - July 2014 O.S Nock’s ‘Most exciting 20 minutes..... on a footplate’

Sandy Smeaton

Tucked away at the end of O.S. Nock’s book ‘Scottish Railways’ is a chapter headed ‘Scottish locomotives at work’. The third section of the chapter describes a run from Stranraer Harbour to Ayr on a January night in 1949. Nock was on the footplate of Black Five No. 44968 heading the 9.30 pm to Glasgow St Enoch, nicknamed the ‘Glesca Paddy’.

44968’s crew were Driver James Stroyen and Fireman Archie McGhee and the load was four coaches of 124 tons tare and 130 gross. Nock described the weather as ‘rough’ with a gale blowing up from the west. There is no mention of an inspector being present on the footplate. No log of the run is presented in ‘Scottish Railways’ and Nock makes no mention of any other timer accompanying him on the train. However, a neatly handwritten log exists on the RPS database dated 7 January 1949 with all the details corresponding to Nock’s account. The log is annotated ‘Timed by D.L. Smith?’ Smith knew the old G&SWR inside out and his books are among some of the best railway books written. There are 11 logs in Smith’s name on the RPS data base but all are type-written or were published in the Railway Magazine, so the log may not have been his. In the prevailing weather and darkness Nock would find it difficult to take his usual notes on the footplate.

The ‘Glesca Paddy’ left Stranraer on time but at Glenwhilly was delayed by a preceding cattle special which had started from Dunragit. The Glenwhilly signalman let them away 5 late, but the special caused further delay at Barrhill. At Pinwherry the tablet exchange apparatus let them down and after retrieving the lost tablet they were 10 minutes down. At Girvan, reached 7½ minutes late, ‘the wind flung the side doors of the cab open as if they were canvas’ and ‘in the deserted streets of Girvan the water ran like a river’ while the crew topped up 44968’s tender. Date:- Friday 7.1.49 Train:- 9.30 pm Stranraer Hbr to Glasgow St Enoch Locomotive:- 44968 (Corkerhill) Load:- 4 coaches/124 tons tare/130 tons gross Crew:- J. Stroyen and A. McGhee Miles Location Sch Min Secs Speeds Av Spd 0.00 GIRVAN 0 0 00 ~ ~ 0.19 Girvan No.1 1 40 ~ 17.1 0.56 Old No.1 1 17 44 36.0 1.29 Grangeston Halt 2 12 50½ 47.8 2.60 KILLOCHAN 3 38 55 54.8 3.19 MP 58¾ 4 19 53½ 51.8 4.40 Bargany 5 32 ~/70½ max 59.7 5.24 DAILLY 6 13 69 73.8 6.00 Dalquharran 6 58 60 60.8 8.00 Kilkerran 8 43 68/66/67½ 68.6 10.34 MP 51¾ 10 59 53/64½ 61.9 12.36 MAYBOLE 19 13 13 47½ 54.3 13.15 Maybole Jn 14 07 ~/61 52.7 15.23 CASSILLIS 15 52 72½/60*/71½ 71.3 17.25 DALRYMPLE 17 40 64½ 67.3 18.09 Dalrymple Jn 18 32 60 58.2 19.19 Glengall 19 35 64½ 62.9 19.54 Alloway Jn 19 54 66 66.3 20.39 Belmont Box 21 00 Sigs 42 46.4 21.34 AYR 30 22 35 ~ 36.0 *Braked

Milepost 35¼ -110 - July 2014 The next section of the run was described by Nock as ‘the most exciting 20 minutes I ever remember on the footplate’ and the log is presented above. The line is double track from Girvan and the curvature is not as severe as Stranraer-Girvan, but it can hardly be considered a high speed railway, a glance at the gradient profile showing why. It is a series of five climbs to minor summits at MP58¾, Dalquharran Box, MP51¾, Maybole and Dalrymple Junction with gradients as steep as 1 in 72, 70, 70, 63 and 90 to each summit respectively. In an astonishing piece of enginemanship, Stroyen took 44968 and its four coaches up to MP58¾ at a minimum of 53½ mph, Dalquharran at 60, MP 51¾ at 53, Maybole at 47½ and finally Dalrymple Junction at 60. Nock can hardly have been expecting to record anything over 70 mph, but it was exceeded after Bargany and twice on the run down from Cassillis. Stroyen kept the cut-off at 25% after MP 58¾ varyed the regulator opening as necessary for the alternating gradients.

Ayr was reached in 22m 35s from the Girvan start, a gain of 7½ minutes on the 30 minute schedule, at an average of 56.7 mph. Even-time could hardly be expected over such a short distance but it was not far off at Dalrymple, passed at an average of 58.6 mph. Such running resulted in a right time departure from Ayr and probably a fastest ever recorded steam time between Girvan and Ayr.

No other recorded run comes near No. 44968’s time. The RPS database has a D.S.M. Barrie run with Compound 911 on Sat 3 December 1938 taking 26m 14s with a similar load of 4/134/142. Ronald Nelson timed the Jubilee No. 45665 ‘Lord Rutherford of Nelson’ with 5/154/165 over the same section at 26m 39s. 45665 could only manage 25¾ mph at MP58¾ but time was easily kept. Both these runs were on the ‘Glesca Paddy’. All other up trains stopped at Maybole. After the closure of the Port Road in 1965, the ‘Northern Irishman’ was re-routed via Ayr and was also booked for 30 minutes between Girvan and Ayr. Joe Cassells’ run on this train on 31 March 1966 with Nos. 44999 and 70045 working a light load of only six, took 25m 38s, unfortunately hampered by a PWS in force at Bargany at that time. My own two more heavily loaded runs with Nos. 44788 and 70040 working 11/340/375 on Tue 2 Aug 1966 and Nos. 45135 and 70016 with 11/363½/395 on the following day made the remarkably consistent times of 28m 24s and 28m 23s respectively, hampered also by the Bargany slack. The times of five up runs timed by R.M. Arnold between August 1965 and September 1966 over the same section are given below:- 28.08.65 70016+45486 11on 29m 12s The distances given in the original log are to the 21.12.65 70016+45474 8on 28m 18s nearest 0.1 mile and in some instances the calculated 06.01.66 70006+45160 8on 28m 29s averages did not agree with the recorded speeds. In 16.08.66 70041+45365 11on 27m 41s an attempt to reconcile these differences, distances to 29.09.66 70016+45365 10on 29m 01s

0.01 mile have been derived from a combination of the current RPS chart data, the 1937 LMS Northern Division Sectional Appendix and data from the G&SWR Association Register of stations, routes and lines (August 2002). There is an obvious risk in this at locations other than signal boxes and mileposts because the exact timing point is not known. However, the revised distances have resulted in only the Bargany-Dailly and Dalrymple-Dalrymple Junction average speeds being at variance with the recorded speeds by more than 1 mph.

It is to Nock’s credit that on such a wild night he chose to travel on the footplate rather than ‘on the cushions’. His presence may have influenced such an excellent run. However we have James Stroyen, Archie McGhee, Nock and the unknown timer to thank for their combined skill and perseverance in producing and recording this gem of Scottish steam running.

(Thanks to Joe Cassells for providing the details of R.M. Arnold’s logs and George Borthwick for archive distance data).

Milepost 35¼ -111 - July 2014 A recorder’s guide to the SNCF – Franco-Spanish TGVs

Alan Varley

The principal novelty in this year’s SNCF timetable is the inception – after some delay – of Franco-Spanish inter-working over the trans-Pyrenean high-speed line (LGV) between Perpignan and Barcelona. The Perpignan-Figueres section, partly in France, was opened in 2011 but until December 2013 the new installation at Figueres-Vilafant functioned as an exchange station: French TGVs from Paris terminated here and Spanish trains took passengers onwards to Barcelona, at first by the classic route and then, from January 2013, by the Barcelona-Figueres high-speed line – but still with a change of trains at Figueres. However RENFE and SNCF have finally approved each other’s high-speed trains and there are now through services between Barcelona and Paris, Lyon, Toulouse and Marseille – the latter in fact with origin/terminus at Madrid.

Trains to Spain use a new dedicated platform on the west side of Perpignan station that provides a direct exit onto the branch to Villefranche-Vernet-les-Bains which they follow for about four kilometres. When the new structure begins it takes the form at first of up and down links to the LGV proper, following different routes round some quite extensive freight exchange sidings; consequently there is a slight distance difference (0.09 km) between the two. The two linked sections are separately posted, and join the LGV just before and after its first kilometre post; the LGV zero seems to be a purely virtual point. The LGV turns southwards from the westerly orientation of the Villefranche branch and runs on easy gradients on the approach to the 8.4 km Perthus tunnel. At around PK 13 there is a flyover to switch to right-hand running. There is a short stretch – about 1 km – of 18‰ (1 in 55.5) gradient just before the north portal and a steady climb through the tunnel at 10.9‰ (1 in 92) to the line’s summit a little before the south portal. The southern end of the line, on the Spanish side of the tunnel, crosses more rugged terrain with a succession of short tunnels and viaducts, descending overall with three stretches at 18‰, notably from about PK 29-31 and through Vilafant tunnel. Since this LGV is designed for both passenger and freight traffic 18‰ is the ruling gradient through to the outskirts of Barcelona. (A Perpignan-Figueres line chart with full details of distances and hand-overs should be available shortly.)

At the end of April I visited this region to sample running on the new line, and my first trip was made with a Spanish set on the Marseille-Madrid working. While the Paris trains are worked by SNCF Duplex TGVs, the services to French provincial towns are Spanish units of the S-100 class: these are Alstom-designed trains technically similar to the TGV-Atlantique but with the more usual TGV 2+8 formation. As built, these units functioned on 25 kV AC/3kV DC, but a number have been modified to operate also on 1500 v DC for through working to France. I joined the train at Béziers and it ran normally from there to Perpignan, though with an unbooked stop in Narbonne that made it a little late in Perpignan. What followed (Run 1, Table 1) was far from a high-speed run: clearly we were sticking to a 160 km/h limit, but whether this was a problem with the unit or the infrastructure is not clear. The return (Run 2, Table 2) seemed to be heading along the same lines, with nothing over 160 on the Spanish side. However in Perthus tunnel we finally accelerated, and in fact ran in the mid-290s for seven or eight kilometres – enough to get us to Perpignan well over a minute early.

The next day I was on a Paris-Barcelona train, and we left Perpignan 6½ minutes late (Run 2). We started faster than the AVE set, and above all negotiated the voltage change at the start of the LGV with a much lower drop in speed. Once under 25 kV wires we accelerated smartly to 200 km/h – but no more than that. However this could have just been fine judgment on the driver’s part, for this train has a very slow schedule and with speed reduced

Milepost 35¼ -112 - July 2014 to 160 km/h at PK 29 followed by a smart stop in Figueres we arrived ten seconds early. In fact we continued the rest of the way to Barcelona at 200 km/h – and again we would have been just RT had it not been for a signal stop in the tunnel before Barcelona Sants station. 160, 300, 200 – what would be the maximum on my fourth run? I was half expecting 250 km/h to fill the gap in the mathematical pattern but in fact my return run with a (different) French TGV also stuck to 200 km/h – see run 4, table 2. Again the Duplex was much faster off the mark than the AVE, but it also eased at first to 160 km/h. However as on the down run we seemed to switch from a 160 to a 200 km/h limit about seven kilometres before Perthus tunnel, easing quite early though for the 160 limit approaching Perpignan. The Barcelona-Paris set couples up to another in Perpignan so the approach and stop are very slow, with a pause to open the coupler before the final stop. Once again the driver judged things perfectly, and with the help of a generous schedule we picked up the slightly late start to reach Perpignan on time.

Table 1 Perpignan-Figueres Run 1 Tr 9731 Marseille-Madrid ; M 28/4/14, 2+8/393/405, AVE 16, AV, 4/10 Run 2 Tr 9715 Paris-Barcelona, M 28/4/14, 2+8/390/410, TGV 742,AV, 8/10 PK Dist m sec Km/h m sec Km/h

467.51 0.00 Perpignan 0 Run 1 1.5 late 0 Run 2 6.5 late 468.73 1.22 OB 2 20.5 10 to sig/66 1 50 65 472.12 4.61 OB 124 3 53.5 135/137 02.08 5.61 OB 4 54 119/94 4 20 136 00.97 7.75 UB 6 07 100/153 5 19 114/111 03.43 10.24 OB 7 10.9 150/147 6 26 155 05.32 12.13 OB 7 57.4 149 7 06.3 198 06.86 13.67 PTA 1 8 35.5 147/153 7 34.5 199 09.29 16.10 UB Motorway N 9 33.5 150/149 8 19 195 11.40 18.21 OB 10 24.2 152/157 8 57.6 195/199 14.76 21.57 CTE 2 11 42.3 154 9 58.9 198/192 17.18 23.99 Perthus Tunn N 12 38.8 158 10 43.3 194 25.59 32.40 Perthus Tunn S 16 4.7 130/145/140 13 16.4 /194/195 29.58 36.39 CTE 3 17 46.4 152/163 14 34.4 163* 32.53 39.34 Viaduct N 19 01.0 155*/162/155* 15 42.1 153/161/155 35.46 42.27 Tunnel N 20 00.9 160/154 16 50.3 159 57.86 44.67 PTA 2 20 55.4 160/161/156 17 45.7 156/158 40.94 47.75 Viaduct N 22 05.1 158/160 18 57 151 43.18 49.99 CTE 4 22 58.9 140* 19 51.8 139 44.49 51.30 Villafant Tunn N 23 34.8 116 20 26.7 128 46.24 53.05 Villafant Tunn S 24 44.5 69* 21 30.7 77* 47.09 53.90 Figueres 26 12 4 late 22 30 RT

In fact it appears that the French sets currently running to Barcelona are passed only for 200 km/h in Spain and on the Perpignan-Figueres line, which is operated under concession by TP-Ferro, a consortium of Spanish and French public works companies. When running to Figueres began a certain number of DASYE double-deck TGVs (the 700 series) were modified and homologated for operation in Spain. Originally the new LGV was limited to 200 km/h and the French units were passed for this speed only. Despite the evolution of the line speed the French units are still restricted to this limit; homologation for higher speeds has not been deemed necessary since the 700s should be replaced very shortly by the 800 series, the so-called EuroDuplex TGVs, which are equipped from new with Spanish-style pantographs and ERTMS, and will be able to run up to the full 300 km/h line speed.

David Sage has also recently travelled over this line with Spanish units, and his southbound run is shown in Table 2, Run 3. His train started more briskly than mine in Run 1 but was

Milepost 35¼ -113 - July 2014 then slower through the voltage change; however it soon got well ahead by running up into the 270s. Speed was reduced to 160 km/h at around PK 38 and the finish was taken easily as the train was well on time. The earliest Perpignan-Figueres log I have seen is Run 4 in Table 2, timed by Reinhard Douté. The original timings were mostly to kilometer posts, and for purposes of comparison I have calculated passing times at other points by interpolation – any resulting inaccuracies are my responsibility. On account of the interpolations I have also rounded the average speeds to the nearest 1 km/h. The train was running quite late and after what appears to be a normal start the TGV accelerated very smartly and passed through the voltage change much more briskly than the other runs. It then quickly ran up into the high 190s, maintained from about PK 10 to PK 40 apart from a slowing to 160 km/h just south of Perthus tunnel. But the train was terminating in Figueres and came in with severe approach checks – about 60 km/h in the tunnel and 30 approaching the station. With an approach similar to that of Run 2 and without the slowing after Perthus tunnel the time could have been less than 21 minutes.

Table 2 Perpignan - Figueres Run 3 0710 Marseille-Madrid Atocha, Th 15/05/14, 2+8/400, AVE 023, DS, 3/10, fine Run 4 Tr 6203 0720 Paris-Figueres, 23/01/11, 2+8/390 tare, TGV 739, RD, 7/10 ? PK Dist m sec Km/h m sec ave 467.51 89.71 Perpignan Run 3 Late 0.5 Run 4 39 late 469.71 2.20 A9 OB 2 43 79/118 2 29 1.93 5.46 SSTA Soler 4 37 114/84 4 01 128 1.51 8.32 CTE1 6 24 100 5 17 135 3.43 10.24 OB 7 17 159 6 04 147 7.38 14.19 D618 OB 8 28 237 7 17 195 11.40 OB 274 8 30 198 14.76 21.57 CTE2 10 11 268 17.18 23.99 Perthus T N. 10 44 256 10 18 193 25.59 32.40 Perthus T S 12 51 - 12 51 198 28.55 OB 29.58 36.39 CTE3 13 51 247/275 14 13 175 32.53 39.34 Viaduct N 15 09 190 35.46 42.27 Tunnel N 15 10 265 16 05 188 38.78 45.59 Via Ricardell N 16 05 157 17 05 199 40.94 47.75 Via Muga N 17 08 104 43.18 49.99 CTE4 Llers 18 26 122/123 18 31.5 186 44.49 51.30 Figueres T N. 19 04 121 19 06 137 46.24 53.05 Figueres T S 20 07 20 33 72

47.09 53.90 Figueres 21 11 2 early 22 37 24

Table 3 shows the two up runs with Spanish sets timed by David Sage and myself. The starts were almost identical but my run stuck to a 160 km/h limit as far as Perthus tunnel whereas David’s accelerated at once and gained three minutes over mine to the north end of the tunnel. However mine had accelerated once over the summit so both runs produced a spell of 295-300 km/h running on the French side. Both were on time but Run 5 made a faster approach to Perpignan and pulled back one minute here compared to run 6. A 19- minute run is clearly an easy possibility.

I have not tabulated my Duplex run in this direction, which was much slower overall; however it made a considerably faster start than either of the runs in the table, 2m 27s to the north portal of Vilafant tunnel. Running at 160 km/h to around PK 36 and then stepping up to the 190s as far as PK 8, it entered Perthus Tunnel in 9m 7.7s and passed the CTE1 cabin in 16m 50.5s – already slower than the other runs – and then made a checked approach to a first stop in 24m 47s.

Milepost 35¼ -114 - July 2014 Clearly things have not yet settled down on this new high-speed line, and the undemanding schedules – all containing at least three minutes recovery time, and mostly more – mean that drivers have little need to produce consistently fast running. The variations in speed profiles are however surprisingly large and, apart from the 200 km/h limit of the French TGVs, not easy to explain.

The performance of the Spanish units in France also raises some questions. David Sage and I both went through to Toulouse on the train from Barcelona - a journey that involves use of the western side of the triangular junction at Narbonne, previously used only irregularly by passenger services. On both runs time was lost to the first stop at Carcassonne for no apparent reason other than failure to run up to line speeds. The two runs are presented in Table 4.

Both made very slow starts from Perpignan, my run not exceeding 10 km/h for the first 75 seconds. Then both drivers cruised at around 130 km/h, though mine eased (unnecessarily) through Port-la-Nouvelle and then went back up to 130, while David Sage’s put in a slight spurt here. Run 7 then made a very slow approach to the triangle, already down to 50 km/h well over a kilometer before the points. So from here Run 8 was perhaps just in a position to reach Carcassonne on time with limit running all the way, while Run 7 was already condemned to a late arrival. In fact far from running up to TGV limits both runs seemed to be observing a 150 km/h speed ceiling; Run 8 obviously set the cruise control to this speed, while Run 7 seemed to be running at the maximum permitted speed minus 10 km/h. Run 8 made a coasting approach to Carcassonne as if it had all the time in the world, while Run 7 coasted down to 91 km/h in Berriac tunnel – perhaps a 100 km/h TSR, though I saw no signs, and in any case the coasting approach was totally inappropriate. Run 7 then recovered to 110 and made a reasonable stop, but had lost 3½ minutes in running.

Table 3 Figueres - Perpignan Run 5 Tr 9729 Madrid-Toulouse, M 28/4/14, 2+8/393/405, AVE 15, AV, 8/10, light o’cast, mod W Run 6 Tr 9729 Madrid-Toulouse, T 20/5/14, 2+8/393/400, AVE 17, DS, 7/10, dry, bright PK Dist m sec Km/h m sec Km/h

47.09 00.00 Figueres Run 5 RT Run 6 46.24 0.85 Villafant Tunn S 1 58 69 01 56 44.49 2.60 Villafant Tunn N 3 2.7 130 03 00 43.18 3.91 CTE 4 3 34.9 155/153 40.94 6.15 Viaduct N 4 28.1 159 04 17 220 37.86 9.23 PTA 2 5 38.4 155/157 35.63 11.46 Tunnel S 6 30.4 154/160 05 33 275 33.48 13.61 Viaduct N 32.53 14.56 Viaduct N 7 41.2 158/157 29.58 17.51 CTE 3 8 48.3 160/145 06 53 269 25.59 21.50 Perthus Tunn S 10 21.3 163 07 46 269 17.18 29.91 Perthus Tunn N 12 32.5 296/299 09 31 14.76 32.33 CTE 2 13 2 286/298 10 01 296 11.40 35.69 OB 13 42.9 295/298 298/300 7.38 39.71 OB 14 32.4 275* 5.32 OB 11 59 252 3.43 43.66 OB 15 30.8 200* 1.51 45.58 CTE 1 16 9.3 147* 13 11 128 1.93 48.51 Sub-station 17 19.4 150 14 32.5 132 470.35 51.15 OB 18 37 96* 469.72 51.76 OB A9 16 28 468.73 52.77 OB 19 47.5 54* 467.51 53.99 Perpignan 21 40 19 43

Milepost 35¼ -115 - July 2014

Table 4 Perpignan - Carcassonne Run 7 Tr 9729 Madrid-Toulouse, M 28/4/14, 2+8/393/405, AVE 15, AV, 8/10, light o’cast, mod W Run 8 Tr 9729 Madrid-Toulouse, T 20/5/14, 2+8/393/400, AVE 17, DS, 7/10, dry, bright PK Dist MPS sch m sec Km/h m sec Km/h 467.51 00.00 Perpignan 60 Run 7 0.5 late Run 8 RT 465.31 2.20 A9 OB 150 3 35 97 3 24 461.61 5.90 LC 416 150 5 33½ 128 5 24 129 459.31 8.20 Rivesaltes 140 5 6 38½ 127/130 6 29 127 456.08 11.43 D12 OB 150 8 09½ 128/130 8 01 127 453.95 13.56 LC 413 150 9 07 129/130 9 01 127 449.97 17.54 Salses 150 9½ 10 59 129/130 10 53 127 446.07 21.45 LC 410 150 12 51 129/130 12 47 128 439.67 27.84 Fitou 150 15 51 127 15 48 128 435.36 32.15 Leucate 150 (1) 17 48 126 17 46 127 429.42 38.09 LC 407 150 20 42½ 119/110 20 34 127 425.12 42.39 Port-la-Nouvelle 130 20½ 22 57 112/130/127 22 35 128/138 413.15 54.36 Gruissan 150 28 36½ 129 27 59 136/137 408.47 59.04 LC 402 150 (2) 30 51 114/46* 30 08 125 405.497 62.02 Bif. Racc sud 50 31½ 33 45 50/49 32 40 50 404.724 45

404.00 62.74 Bif. Racc nord 50 32½ 34 38 49 33 36 50 400.77 65.97 RN113 OB 155 37 00½ 113 36 03 102 396.73 70.01 Marcorignan 155 36 38 52 140/145/ 37 59 146/151 392.22 74.52 Villedaigne - OB 160 40 46½ 143/152 39 48 149 383.51 83.23 Lézignan 160 41 44 24 148*/146 43 19 149 379.22 87.52 LC 257 160 (½) 46 09½ 148/151/143 45 03 149 372.49 94.25 Moux 155 45½ 48 54½ 145/144 47 46 149 367.95 98.79 Douzens 155 50 47 145 49 36 149 364.83 101.91 Capendu 155 52 04½ 145 50 51 149 354.29 112.45 Trebes 140 53 56 51 105 55 10 129 352.01 114.73 Tunnel W 150 (2) 58 14 91 56 17 118 349.56 117.74 OB 150 59 39 110 347.28 119.46 Carcassonne 110 58 61 33 4 late 59 48 2 late

I have shown the MPS and scheduled passing times in the log to highlight the anomalies in running, As is often the case, the SNCF schedule requires near-perfect starts and stops (a net three minutes from Trèbes to Caracassonne, 140 km/h, is tight for pass-pass, surely impossible for pass-stop!) but includes generous recovery along the way. So the two runs lost a little over three minutes at the two ends, which should easily have been offset by the recovery time. But even the gross schedules, including recovery, require cruising speeds of about 132 km/h south of Narbonne and 150 west of there – and these runs were both slower than that.

It is difficult to tell on the basis of just a couple of runs whether this slow running was due to special circumstances or a more general limit. I travelled both ways between Perpignan and Béziers with S100 units on the Marseille train and the performance, while not always good, was not apparently hampered by any speed limit. Northbound the train cruised at just under 140 km/h between Perpignan and Port-la-Nouvelle and then, after losing time through a signal stop, reached 156 before Béziers but dropped more time to the net schedule due to a very slow approach. In the other direction the running, with the same set, was rather

Milepost 35¼ -116 - July 2014 Table 5 Béziers - Perpignan Run 9 Tr 9731 Marseille-Madrid ; M 28/4/14, 2+8/393/405, AVE 16, AV, 2/10 Run 10 Tr 9715 Paris-Barcelona, M 28/4/14, 2 x2+8/780/815, TGV 742/633,AV, 8/20 PK Dist m sec Km/h m sec Km/h

431.55 00.00 Béziers Run 9 1 late Run 10 429.66 01.89 Sign 110 01 56½ 103 427.00 04.55 LC 03 18 130/148 424.69 06.86 Colombiers 04 18 147 421.42 10.13 Nissan 05 35½ 158/156 418.77 12.78 LC 06 37 157/160 415.84 15.71 LC 07 43 159 412.07 19.48 Coursan 09 11½ 152 409.00 22.62 PK 10 28 140* 406.18 25.44 Narbonne 12 46 Spl stop 00.00 13 39 00 00 7 late 405.50 02.12 Bif. Racc sud 01 59 85/84 02 14 90/87 408.47 05.09 LC 402 03 35 132/145 03 51½ 130 413.15 09.77 Gruissan 05 37 143 05 50½ 149/148 418.00 14.62 PK 07 38 147/148/124* 07 48 149/144/150 425.12 21.74 Port-la-Nouvelle 10 39 126/149 10 46 126*/151 429.42 25.04 LC 407 12 31 147/149/146 12 37½ 148 435.36 31.98 Leucate 14 56 149/146 15 01 150/149 439.67 36.29 Fitou sub sta 16 41½ 149/147 16 45 150/147/150 446.07 42.69 LC 410 19 14 148/149 19 17 148 449.97 46.59 Salses 20 52 147 20 55 147/151 453.95 50.57 LC 413 22 29½ 148/137 22 31½ 148/150/136* 459.31 55.93 Rivesaltes 24 44 139 24 44 139 461.61 58.23 LC 416 25 43 148 25 42½ 148/149 465.55 62.17 OB 27 35½ 53/26* sigs 27 24 94* 466.67 63.29 Dn sig 29 19 28/50 28 22 57* 467.51 64.13 Perpignan 30 41 1½ late 29 37 3½ late smarter: this is shown in Table 5, along with a Narbonne-Perpignan Fastest Time achieved by the Paris-Barcelona train that has already featured as Run 2.

The Spanish set was booked to pass Narbonne in 12 minutes and reach Perpignan in 44. It made an unhurried start and then reasonable downhill speeds after the 150-limit curves at Colombiers but braked suddenly to stop briefly in Narbonne. The restart was brisk though speeds were slow round the curve of the triangle and at first on the Perpignan line. However, it stepped up to around 148 km/h for 150 but lost a minute on the way into Perpignan because of a signal check: TGVs bound for Spain cross the whole of the layout to reach the new platform so checks here are frequent. Run 10 managed a faster time precisely because it avoided this check, simply slowing to 60 km/h for the crossovers. This run illustrated the degree of slack built into the schedules in this area: we had left Montpellier seven minutes late and reached Narbonne 2½ minutes early with easy running after Béziers in a fastest but easily-improvable 45m 21s on an inflated 55 minute schedule. Then we waited for a connection and again left seven late, easily recovered by Figueres.

So the Perpignan-Figueres line offers some new journey possibilities (and it is encouraging to note that these involve provincial destinations as well as Paris), and the interest of Franco-Spanish interworking. As a footnote it is perhaps worth recalling that although this is heralded as a significant new development, it is far from being the first time that ‘foreign’ express MUs have travelled long distances into France. When the Trans Europ Express network was launched in 1957 Swiss EMUs worked to Paris with the ‘Cisalpino’, and an

Milepost 35¼ -117 - July 2014 Italian DMU ran from Milan to Avignon – already at that date offering a substantially faster Nice-Marseille journey than is possible today.

Belgium Diversions and a Near Disaster

David Lloyd-Roberts

A holiday in Belgium in October 2012 provided some interesting experiences for the train timer. For those of us of mature years, anyone over the age of 65 is entitled to a day return from anywhere to anywhere in Belgium for €6. Fares are half price for everyone at weekends, but services are sparser. You cannot use the cheap ticket before 09:00 in the week.

We stayed at a pretty town called Aywaille, in the Ardennes. There is a pretty river called the Ambleve.

Line 43 from Liege to Luxembourg is reputed the most scenic line in the Low Countries. It certainly was very beautiful. The autumn tints on the trees were magnificent and the leaves turned from green to brown within the week that we were there.

Towards the end of the week I managed to obtain a printed All Lines Timetable. I thought the printed version had been discontinued. The man at the guichet must have recognised me from earlier ticket purchases as an English anorak.

My wife is younger than me and therefore not entitled to the privileges of old age. We therefore did the longest trip on the Saturday from Aywaille to Knokke on the coast.

As a child aged 14 I had a holiday in Knokke with my parents. I was a railway enthusiast by that age and I have a distinct recollection of being steam-hauled between Knokke and Bruge. We were going to a passion play, which was spectacular. This was on an evening train, and I think the loco could have been a 29XX 2-6-0, with a motley connection of ancient rolling stock. The line to Bruges was in fact electrified in 1958, but I think this was a through train from Antwerp and the line from Ghent to Antwerp was probably not electrified. I also have recollections of the Budd stainless steel railcars. We spent a second week in a hotel overlooking the Gare du Nord – there was steam through the tunnels on some routes to Midi, but with an electric locomotive pilot.

My father visited his half-brother’s grave near Mons, and I was extremely miffed not to be taken with him, as his train was hauled by a Class 1 Belgian 4-6-2. These were good engines and looked like a cross between a Chapelon Pacific and a Britannia.

To revert to the journey to Knokke - as far as Brussels the journey proceeded normally, but on departure from the Gare du Midi it was clear that we were going to be diverted. There was an announcement in Flemish, but I didn’t understand it.

The normal service to Denderleeuw leaves from the Gare du Nord, so we followed Line 28 which normally has a limited service to a junction just short of Jette, and then the old route to Denderleeuw. The engineering works were clearly taking place on the bypass line.

The first part of the journey to Jette was slow, but after that we ran a presumed line limit of 120 km/h to Denderleeuw. From there, we went up a spur to join the Brussels/Ghent bypass line, which opened in 1933. We joined it at about KP 24. I prepared my log on the basis that we were to join there, so I was rather pleased with myself. Clearly I knew where I was!

Milepost 35¼ -118 - July 2014 I have set out this log as Table 1. Some part of the bypass, but not much, is passed for 160 km/h. The driver did his best, but we caught the stopper from Ghent to Bruges that was timetabled to follow us, but in fact preceded us.

He did, however, use the 160 km/h line speed. On to Knokke – from Bruges, the service was reduced from two trains per hour to one. We would probably have been better going to Ostend. The shuttle service was formed of a Belgian classic EMU. It would usually have been a five car double decker train with an 18XX or 19XX loco. These are of 5,000 kW. The 19XX are fitted with auto couplers. Coming back we had a meter-minding run to Ghent not exceeding 130 km/h, and a lot of 110 to 115. Thereafter we ran well to Ghent, Denderleeuw and Brussels (Table 2).

Table 1 Km Timing Point m s kph Date Sat 20-Oct-12 29.28 Denderleeuw 22 02 Train 0915 Eupen-Ostend 2.20 By pass kp 24 3 19 Loco 1921 3.45 kp 25 3 55 89/141 Load formation 12,552/580 8.45 kp 30 6 08 139/136 Recorder D Lloyd Roberts 13.45 kp 35 8 20 137 GPS Y 18.45 kp 40 10 31 138 Km Timing Point m s kph 20.88 JC @ 42.43 11 35 141/149 Bruxelles Midi 0 00 23.45 kp 45 12 35 153/159 3.18 Bruxelles W 5 22 88 28.45 kp 50 14 30 154 5.08 Simonis 6 28 20 30.04 Ghent 16 45 /105 6.78 Pannenhuis 7 28 36/43 4.15 Drongen 4 11 80 10.18 Jette 10 32 35 10.07 Landegem 6 44 158 pk 6 11 15 /114/117 12.90 Hansbeke 7 48 160/161 13.18 St Agatha Berchem 12 00 116 16.60 Bellem 9 11 160 14.78 Groot Bijgaarden 12 41 116/121 19.50 Aalter 10 15 127sigs 16.48 Dilbeek 13 40 120/123 24.20 Maria Aalter 12 02 161 19.18 St Martens Bodegem 15 08 121 28.05 kp 80 14 06 55sigs 22.18 Ternat 16 35 122 28.70 Beernem 16 00 60sigs 25.88 Essene Lombeek 18 21 117 34.50 Oostkamp 20 16 130/141 27.38 Liedekerke 19 12 100 40.16 Bruges 26 30

After a long stop in the station there, presumably for pathing reasons, we made an unchecked run to the Gare du Midi. We were late to the extent of about 15 minutes from the Gare du Nord.

On the outward journey I had noticed that the Thalys at 09:49 from Liege was 16 minutes late. We preceded it. Once on the new line we were swapped wrong line and then ran 40 plus kilometres on the wrong line, being overtaken by the Thalys on the approaches to Louvain. We swapped tracks at 150 km/h and ran at up to 199 km/h on the wrong line. We lost time due to the signals as we approached Louvain. This clearly shows in this instance that the Thalys was given precedence.

It was our turn to be late on the return - we were sent out wrong line and ran comparatively slowly before we were overtaken by the 17:25 Thalys Brussels to Cologne. We then swapped tracks and, if my GPS is to be believed, ran up to 211 km/h - the limit for the loco and stock being 200. We arrived about 17 minutes late into Liege. Not a disaster. It is clear that there is a tendency to give Thalys precedence. They can, of course, run at 280 km/h as against our 200. ICEs, which also run over the same tracks, are limited to 250 km/h.

Milepost 35¼ -119 - July 2014

Table 2 km Timing Point m s kph Date Sat 20-Oct-12 16.59 kp 35 9 22 136/135 Train 1542 Ostend-Eupen 21.59 kp 30 11 32 140 Loco 1854 + DVT 24.59 kp 27 12 49 142 103 Load formation 12,552/580 26.59 kp 25 13 48 braking Recorder D Lloyd-Roberts 27.59 kp 24 14 14 43 Position/ GPS 9/12 Y 29.79 Denderleeuw 18 18 km Timing Point m s kph 1.90 Liedekerke 3 10 80 Bruge 0 00 /126 3.40 Essene Lonbeek 4 00 115/121 5.66 Oostkamp 4 02 117/106 7.10 Ternat 5 52 117/121 11.46 Beernem 7 17 107/105 10.10 St Martens Bodegem 7 24 119/117 15.90 Maria Aalter 9 45 115 12.80 Dilbeek 8 44 120/118 20.66 Aalter 12 15 107/123 14.50 Groot Bijgaarden 9 51 122 23.56 Bellem 13 44 122/121 16.10 St Agatha Berchem 10 24 121/124 27.26 Hansbeke 15 27 124/126 19.10 Jette 12 30 90 30.09 Landegem 16 53 118/129 kp 4 13 28 40/38 36.00 Drongen 19 58 76/116 22.30 Pannenhuis 15 56 52 40.15 Ghent 23 15 kp 5 16 47 60 2.59 kp49 3 28 122/156 24.00 Simonis 16 51 72 6.59 kp 45 5 08 147/150 25.90 Bruxelles W 18 01 90 9.16 JC @ 42.43 6 14 141/142 kp 9 20 45 33 11.59 kp 40 7 14 141/140 29.18 BRUXELLES Midi 23 28 13.59 kp 38 8 05 143

On the Monday we went from Liege to Eupen. My wife spotted that the train was retimed from Verviers to Welkenraedt by seven minutes. We ran on time to Verviers, the train was topped and tailed in this instance with 1826 on the front and 1854 on the tail. I believe, but could not confirm, that both locos were powered. I noticed the Class 18XX were powered in 2013 as well. Where I saw the phenomenon on other single decked trains the rear engine had its pantograph up (Table 3).

Table 3 km Timing Point m s kph Date Mon 22 Oct-12 kp 113 8 32 118 Train 0842 Ostend-Eupen 13.75 Fraipont 8 58 95 Loco 1826&1854 15.25 Nessonvaux 9 49 99/97 Load formation 12, 552/565 20.25 Pepinster 12 58 98 Recorder D Lloyd Roberts 24.55 Verviers Cen 16 48 GPS Y 1.50 Verviers Palais 2 01 km Timing Point m s kph stop 6.14-8.00 LIEGE 0 00 kp 131 11 57 69/47 kp 101 1 50 68 7.10 Dolhain 13 00 98 2.55 Angleur 2 44 102 13.10 Welkenraedt 17 44 4.12 Chenee 3 33 115/99 3.00 kp 3 4 49 74 TI 4 57 100/118 6.00 EUPEN 7 40 10.95 Trooz 7 19 117/106

We were put into a goods loop, our train ran right line but the other line was out of use. Before getting onto the single line working section we were held in this loop whilst 1850 came off the single line with 10:15 ex Eupen. The return train was single headed - it arrived 30 minutes late on the normal schedule, and our train left nine minutes late. The return

Milepost 35¼ -120 - July 2014 journey was more successful over the single line and we were only the same nine minutes late in to Liege (Table 4). There is an enormous number now of the 18xx and 19xx locos in Belgium. Shades of the Bulleid Pacifics. What would East Coast give for 10 of them?

We went home on the Tuesday. The local service from Aywaille was two-hourly. To avoid an inordinately long wait at the Gare du Midi for the Eurostar, I let the fast Ostend service go, and took the 10:08 semi-fast via the old line. This comprised 1882 plus eight double decker carriages. Needless to say, we went upstairs.

All went well until we got to Louvain when, after a checked approach, we were put into a platform I would not have expected. We went no further. Announcements were made in Flemish. I smelled a rat, and was watching the platform indicators like a hawk. The guard came through the train, but I could not understand Flemish. It was clear that there was a problem, and I did hear the word ‘dangerous’. After 30 minutes we were terminated. I managed to speak to the station foreman who told me, in good English, that there was a gas leak between Louvain and Brussels, and there was no estimate of the restart of service.

Table 4 km Timing Point m s kph Date Mon 22 Oct-12 6.00 Dolhain 4 00 95/100/89 Train 1615 Eupen-Ostend kp 128 7 37 90/psr Loco 1909 11.60 Verviers Palais 11 58 31 Load formation 12, 552/570 13.10 Verviers Cen 13 40 /115 Recorder D Lloyd Roberts 4.30 Pepinster 3 06 101/92 GPS Y 9.30 Nessonvaux 6 18 116 km Timing Point m s kph 10.80 Fraipont 7 21 94 0.00 EUPEN 13.60 Trooz 8 57 114/122 3.00 kp 3 3 11 87/91 Chaudfontaine 10 46 96/120/87

5.00 kp 1 4 39 87 20.43 Chenee 12 37 104/118 6.00 Welkenraedt 7 00 22.00 Angleur 13 25 96 kp 135 2 42 106/88 24.55 LIEGE 15 58

I noticed the next fast Eupen - Ostend coming in, and got on that. This left about nine minutes late. I took the view that management would have to do something about this train as 1C A is one of the major internal Belgium services. We went slowly away to KP 27 - I think again we may have been signalled into a looped platform (Table 5).

Table 5 km Timing Point m s kph Date Tu 23-Oct-12 16.69 Nossegem 10 47 157/158 Train 1015 Eupen-Ostend 19.29 Zaventem 11 42 155/148 Loco 1854 21.36 Diegem 12 44 78 Load formation 12,552/580 23.42 Haren 14 10 87 Recorder D Lloyd Roberts kp 4 16 35 40pws GPS Y 26.22 Shaerbeek 18 31 38/88 km Timing Point m s kph 28.59 Bruxelles Nord 21 48 0.00 LEUVEN 0 00 9L T1 1 23 kp 27 4 00 48 1.09 Congres 1 58 4.49 Herent 5 44 133 1.99 Central 3 22 7.49 Veltem 7 12 147/159 0.70 Chapelle 1 30 10.89 Erps 8 31 157/155 1.83 Bruxelles Midi 6 32 13.89 Kortenberg 9 46 156

We then proceeded normally until we were slowed and diverted onto the Antwerp - Brussels line (Line 25) round the back of Schaerbeek. 17 minutes late into the wrong side of the Gare du Nord. We had a very slow run through the tunnels and arrived 23 minutes late at the Gare du Midi.

Milepost 35¼ -121 - July 2014

After I had made my best pace to the front of the train to get the loco number, we arrived at the Eurostar terminal five minutes after check in. I might add I was not the only anorak after the loco number and I saved the other chap who was less ambulant than me something of a walk. Needless to say, he was English.

I managed to catch the Eurostar, but it was a bit touch and go. I would not have been happy to have been lumbered with an aisle seat on some later service. I saw from the screens at Brussels Central that our original train was 53 minutes late there, so it must have been reinstated. I also saw the guard of the earlier train at the Gare du Midi, so he must have come forward on the same train as we did.

Should anybody else find themselves in the same predicament, a word of advice - if you are late for a Eurostar due to a badly late connection, then you should get your ticket endorsed by the guard to this effect as it will help get you on to your intended train if it has not already gone. It would also help in re-booking a later train.

I hope the membership find this article of interest. I did a good amount of timing during the week - most of it was punctual and satisfactory. My thanks to Ian Umpleby for giving me a link to the Belgium distance charts, which I trust I have worked out correctly.

LETTERS

Dear David,

EUROSTAR

Margaret and I went on our first package holiday with Treyn to Germany earlier this month. The actual trip was very successful. We were aware, whilst on the train from Luxembourg to Brussels that there was trouble.

We were due to catch train 9153, the 17:56 Brussels Midi to St Pancras. There was, in fact trouble, and we checked in early. The 16:56 was cancelled, and, I believe, 5 other Eurostars that day. There had been a fatality in the Lille area, and, it turned out, a train failure of a shuttle within the Channel Tunnel. Throughout, the information provided by Eurostar was appalling. Our train was shown to run, which it did - we were advised of a 45 minute delay, but by 18:40 there was no update. We were finally allowed through at about 18:50. The train departed at 19:01, or thereabouts. We then ran with one minor check to Lille, where we were held for about 40 minutes. This was allegedly due to allow a late running party to join. The train was already about 70 minutes late and this does not comply with what I understand the Eurostar policy to be. I suspect they knew we weren't going to get through the tunnel - certainly the party that we waited for boarded according to our courier, within 5 minutes of stopping. As he said, they wouldn't have held a Eurostar for our party of 32, and we were already 70 minutes late.

We then ran extremely well to the outskirts of the tunnel. I recorded my highest ever recorded speed on a train, but that had better be censored for the time being. We were then stopped outside the tunnel. Eventually the train manager said we hadn't got authorisation to enter the tunnel. He did apologise, but did not indicate that there was single tunnel working. This, in my view, was quite appalling as we were sat outside the tunnel for 40 minutes. Traffic eventually started coming out of the tunnel in the other direction.

I had already diagnosed the problem. We eventually found out, by text message from our son Ralph, what had happened. He was due to pick us up from Ebbsfleet. Fortunately we

Milepost 35¼ -122 - July 2014 had stopped his abortive journey, and mobiles do work within the tunnel. Two minutes outside Ashford the train manager announced a special stop. Had he announced it efficiently, ie 15 minutes or more out, we could have got off and avoided Ralph coming to meet us at Ebbsfleet, he not being very well. Finally, we arrived 174 minutes late into Ebbsfleet, to find that the immigration authorities couldn't cope with 2 trains in short order.

The one piece of bright handling was that they woke up to the idea that we had all been through customs in Belgium and waved us through after about 10 minutes. There was an enormous queue from the Disneyland train, with many young children, at 22:00. We felt that the on train staff handled the matter disastrously - one wondered whether the train manager had the ability to explain single line working, and there was never a native English speaker at the microphone. There was a grudging apology, but no explanation. I thought it was Eurostar policy to have at least one member of the train staff for whom English is their first language.

Alan Varley said that the French rarely apologise and never explain, and we couldn't help feeling that the culture pervades Eurostar.

Regards

David Lloyd Roberts

Following the significant problems with his return journey, Eurostar has offered David a free return trip to any station in Belgium - Ed

Dear David I enjoyed reading David Lloyd-Roberts article on his performance records in the 1960s. My family lived at Sevenoaks at that time and although I stayed and worked in London during the week, I timed the trains almost every weekend on my journeys to and from Sevenoaks. The type 2 (Class 24) diesels on the South Eastern were originally allocated to the London Midland Region but were sent to the Southern on loan as an interim measure as delivery of the Type 3 (Class 33) was delayed. The Type 3s were not equipped for steam heating and in winter 1960/1 required the assistance of a Type 2 to provide the steam heat. However, most winter Sunday trains were worked by a Type 2 on its own, such as Peter Smith’s run on 15 January 1961. The Sulzer Type 2s were only rated at 1160hp and performance could not compare to a Bulleid Pacific or BR Class`5. On Sunday 26 February 1961, when Sevenoaks Tunnel was closed, I had a trip from Charing Cross to Folkestone and back. The 3.10pm (15.10) from Charing Cross was diverted via Redhill and D5004 had a 9 coach load. Times and speeds over those parts of the Tonbridge-Ashford section, where we were not delayed, were very similar to Peter’s. I returned on the 5.46pm (17.46) from Folkestone Central, non-stop to Waterloo East which was diverted via the Maidstone East route behind D5007 with 8 coaches. Although we gained slightly on the revised schedule (left 5 late – finished 3 late) the running was lifeless and we did not even touch 60mph until Shoreham. The reason that the 07.24 from London Bridge was worked by a rebuilt D1 or E1 4-4-0 was that it came as empty stock from Holborn Viaduct where, for weight reasons, only these locomotives were allowed. I believe this working ceased with the introduction of electric trains on the former steam schedules in June 1961. Regards Bruce Nathan

Milepost 35¼ -123 - July 2014 Dear Sir,

Hastings Line DEMUs

In part of his letter in Milepost 35, David Lloyd-Roberts' recollections about high speed running with these units led me to review my association with them down the years. Unlike David I do not have an extensive set of logs involving Hastings units as I only started train timing in 1982.

As a Man of Kent, I was born in Tunbridge Wells, I can remember rattling down Wadhurst bank on many occasions in the 1960s and 1970s whilst on the way to visit relatives near Robertsbridge. On one occasion we travelled back to "the Wells" from Battle, this was very rare and I still have the ticket to prove it.

My highest ever speed was down Wadhurst bank with 1018 and 1013 on the 11th May 1986, this was the last full day of diesel operation on the Hastings line. The working in question was the 15.45 departure from Charing Cross which I joined at Tunbridge Wells. Departure on the all stations except Frant and Stonegate service was 5 minutes late. The driver plainly left the power handle open after Wadhurst tunnel as we passed Stonegate at 81 and reached 88 before braking to call at Etchingham. A signal failure causing a brief halt before Mountfield was the only other notable part of the run. Upon arrival at Hastings I and some other people asked the driver the reason for the high speed to which he replied "The sign said 90". Was this his last journey that day and he wanted to go out on a high, sadly we'll never know.

If time permits I will pick out what I consider to be some of my interesting Hastings unit runs and mould them into an article for a future edition of Milepost.

Yours faithfully,

Nigel Jordan Hello All,

From 6-12 April I took part in the PTG organised railtour of Croatia and Bosnia. The tour started in Zagreb but, having enjoyed my overland rail journeys last year to and from the PTG Southern Sweden tour, I opted to make the outward journey by rail, taking three leisurely days to do so. It would have been an anti-climax to return from Zagreb by rail, so I flew back to Gatwick.

The outward journey took me over routes I have not covered for ages, plus the NBS Nürnburg-Ingolstadt for the first time. My kilometre distances are based on the route-maps within the Wikipedia coverage of each specific route.

On the first leg, approaching Bruxelles-Midi there was an announcement that the connecting ICE 17 would be departing from Platform 4. No such train existed, the display screens merely showing in French and Flemish “Goes from Another Station”. Plenty of bewildered passengers, initially including myself. Told to queue at the information desk, where we discovered that the ICE was back-starting from Liège, to be reached via an internal SNCB train. I briefly became chief communicator, a task not being tackled by the station staff. Plenty aboard departing from B-Midi, but at B-Central, the train transformed into a peak-hour Central Line service. Lufthansa aircrew were on strike!

From Liège ICE 17 was packed all the way to Frankfurt. For the second time in six months I took timings over Ligne 3 from Liège to Aachen, basically at the east end of major tunnels

Milepost 35¼ -124 - July 2014 and viaducts, plus the crossovers at Thimister-Clermont. However I am unable to convert the

ICE 17 15.14 Liège-G - Frankfurt (Main) (Back-started from Liège, 20" L, vice booked 14.25 Ex-Bruxelles-Midi) Thursday 3rd April 2014 ICE 406 (4601) DIST Sch ACTUAL SECTOR

(Kms) (M. S) (K.P.H.)

0.00 AACHEN Hbf 0 0.00 22 L 2.00 Aachen-Rothe Erde 2.14 53.7

9.90 Stolberg (Rheinl) Hbf 5.49 132.2

21.30 Langerwehe 11.02 131.1

31.00 Düren 14.52 151.8

39.90 Buir 17.25 209.4

48.80 Sindorf (S-Bahn) 20.00 206.7

51.50 Horrem 20.53 183.3

56.40 Frechen-Königsdorf 22.30 181.8

64.30 Köln-Müngersdorf Technologiepark 25.18 169.2

68.20 Köln-Nippes–Köln West freight line 26.41 169.1

70.20 KÖLN Hbf 36 30.19 33.0 16 L ICE 17 15.14 Liège-G - Frankfurt (Main) (Back-started from Liège, 20" L, vice booked 14.25 Ex-Bruxelles-Midi) Thursday 3rd April 2014 ICE 406 (4601) DIST Sch ACTUAL SECTOR

(Kms) (All Tunnel Timings at South Portal) (M. S) (K.P.H.) 0.0 SIEGBURG 0 0.00 14 L 5.6 Siegauen Tunnel 2.17 147.1

18.2 Aegidienberg Tunnel 6.01 203.1

21.2 Rottbitze Tunnel 6.49 221.2

25.4 Günterscheid Tunnel 7.51 246.1

31.1 Fernthal Tunnel 9.05 273.4

55.2 Deesener-Wald Tunnel 14.20 275.6

62.8 Dernbach Tunnel 16.24 221.5

64.8 MONTABAUR 18 17.48 85.7 14 L 0.0 MONTABAUR 0 0.00 14 L 3.2 Himmelberg Tunnel 1.51 103.4

6.8 Eichheide Tunnel 2.57 194.1

20.1 Limburger Tunnel 6.26 229.7

21.4 LIMBURG SUD 9 7.36 67.3 12½ L 0.0 LIMBURG SUD 0 0.00 13½ L 2.5 Lindenholzhausen crossover 1.57 76.9

9.5 KM 120 4.07 193.8

25.4 Idsteiner Tunnel 7.54 251.6

30.3 Niedernhausener Tunnel 8.58 275.0

39.4 Schulwald Tunnel 10.48 299.1

55.5 KM 166 15.07 223.7

57.6 Kelsterbacher Spange Tunnel 15.55 156.7

58.8 FRANKFURT FLUGHAFEN 19 18.34 27.3 13½ L . timings into a log, since there still appears to be no source for intermediate distances, not even on the Wikipedia route map. Quite amazed that this LGV route is so poorly documented in rail publications.

Overnighted at Aschaffenburg, before continuing the next day by ICE to München, then on to Salzburg on an ÖBB Railjet service. Took timings on the Railjet, but not yet converted to a structured log. On the Ingolstadt-München leg, there was a curious scenario between

Milepost 35¼ -125 - July 2014 Reichertshausen and Paindorf (south of Pfaffenhofen). There was an active engineering occupation on the East track, with major replacement of the OLE masts and catenary. On a short stretch, there was the odd sight of no masts, the old ones having been removed! As you will note, I did not take detailed timings south of Ingoldstadt.

After an overnight stop at Bischofshofen, on the third day I made my way to Villach for the through train to Zagreb, entering “Yugoslavia” for the first time since 1966! Attached is the log of the Aschaffenburg-Würzburg-Nürnburg legs of my recent journey on ICE 527. After wondering during my travels as to why DB had not upgraded the Rhein-Spessart route east of Aschaffenburg, I was interested to note that the May issue of Today’s Railways includes an item about a new tunnel to replace the restricted speed section via the present Schwarzkopf Tunnel.

Particular enjoyed passing the hopper train being hauled by 232.535, which could clearly be heard working very hard. Have many memories of these locos, dating back to when they were DR Class 132’s, working many of the long-distance passenger services radiating from East Berlin both prior to and soon after re-unification. Superb machines!

ICE 527 11.02 Nürnburg - München (6.24 Dortmund Hbf - München) Friday 4th April 2014 2 x ICE 403 DIST Sch Sch ACTUAL SECTOR (Kms) (M. S) (K.P.H.) 0.00 NÜRNBURG Hbf 0 0.00 1½ L 3.10 Nürnberg-Dürrenhof 2.38 70.6 70.6

4.50 Nürnberg Frankenstadion 3.13 144.0 83.9

8.10 Fischbach 4.42 145.6 103.4

Start of NBS (KM 9.8) 15.50 A73 (Feucht interchange) 6.51 206.5 135.7

20.00 KM 20 7.58 241.7 150.6

25.40 Allersberg (Rothsee) 9.18 243.0 163.8

31.29 Göggelsbuch tunnel (South Portal) 10.45 243.6 174.6

33.60 Main-Danube Canal 11.20 237.9 177.8

40.00 KM 40 12.54 245.1 186.0

47.20 Staatsstraße 2227 14.29 272.8 195.5

58.60 Kinding (Altmühltal) 16.59 273.6 207.0

67.00 KM 67 18.51 270.0 213.2

70.00 KM 70 19.44 203.7 212.8

Eased 75.00 KM 75 21.17 193.5 211.4

81.39 Geisberg tunnel (South Portal) 23.11 201.7 210.6

86.80 Ingolstadt Nord 25.10 163.6 206.9

End of NBS (KM 87.0) 90.30 Ingolstadt Hauptbahnhof 26.51 124.7 201.7

98.90 Reichertshofen (Oberbayern) 30.21 147.4 195.5

Briefly on East Track through Rohrbach 121.60 Pfaffenhofen (Ilm) 41.40 120.3 175.1

SLW - Engineering occupation on East Track 134.90 Petershausen (Oberbayern) 47.47 130.4 169.3

153.50 Dachau 54.16 172.1 169.7

162.30 München-Untermenzing 57.41 154.5 168.8

166.3 KM 5 59.42 119.0 167.1

171.3 MÜNCHEN Hbf 67 64.19 64.9 159.8 1 E .

Milepost 35¼ -126 - July 2014

DIST Sch ACTUAL SECTOR (Kms) (M S) (K.P.H.) 0.0 ASCHAFFENBURG Hbf 0 0.00 4 L 10.5 Laufach 5.46 109.2 Eased approaching Schwartzkopf Tunnel 17.4 Heigenbrücken 10.28 88 23.8 Wiesthal 14.22 98.4 31.4 Partenstein 18.26 112.1 Eased, then crossed to L/H Track before Lohr 37.9 Lohr (Main) station 23.25 78.2 Via Nantenbach Link to NBS Hanover -Würzburg Rohrbach Operations 53.8 Centre 31.02 125.2 Passed at reduced speed Engineering Occupation on NBS West Track Soon crossed to R/H Track. Power on. 61.0 Hohe-Wart Tunnel (South) 34.45 115.7 68.2 Espenloh Tunnel (South) 36.33 242.1 76.9 Steinberg Tunnel (South) 39.25 180.7 78.7 WÜRZBURG Hbf 38 41.43 47.7 7½ L 0.0 WÜRZBURG Hbf 0 0.00 7½ L Overtook hard-working 232.535 on hopper train, running eastward on third track on N side 8.0 Rottendorf 5.04 94.7 14.1 Dettelbach 7.58 126.2 23.0 Kitzingen 12.12 126.1 Slow running, then regain speed 28.4 Mainbernheim 15.43 92.1 34.9 Markt Einersheim 18.33 137.6 46.6 Markt Bibart 22.02 201.5 61.3 Neustadt (Aisch) 27.05 174.6 70.8 Emskirchen 31.38 125.2 75.9 Hagenbüchach 34.06 124 85.1 Siegelsdorf 38.54 115 89.0 Burgfarrnbach 40.34 140.4 94.6 Fürth (Bay) Hbf 43.39 108.9 102.2 NÜRNBURG Hbf 55 50.06 70.6 2½ L

Regards

Alan Sprod

NEWS

LONDON MIDLAND CLASS 172’s FINALLY ATTAIN 100 MPH IN REGULAR PASSENGER SERVICE - David Adams

At the last timetable change in December 2013, London Midland introduced an hourly off peak Monday – Saturday service between Stourbridge Junction and Stratford upon Avon via Solihull. This was achieved by extending a service that previously terminated at Dorridge to continue - first stop Stratford upon Avon Parkway. Noting the lack of a stop at Lapworth I realised that for the first time 100 mph was legally possible by one of London Midland’s class 172 units working a regular timetabled passenger service which could be briefly attained approaching Finwood Road over bridge south of Lapworth. Hitherto the fastest speed that could be attained on a regular basis by an LM 172 was 88-90 mph and then on only with a keen driver on the few services that serve Leamington Spa.

Milepost 35¼ -127 - July 2014

I therefore made a number of runs between Solihull and Stratford upon Avon in the hope of proving my prediction. It took me five trips to get the desired result, the first three frustratingly attaining 99 mph and the fourth 97 mph at which point easing took place. A log of the successful run is shown below.

On this occasion we made an RPS fastest time between Widney Manor and Dorridge which was a good omen. Fast starts and well judged braking featured throughout together with a strict observance of PSR’s. The 100 mph was a very brief affair attained at the point expected before a slight easing took place. The remarkable acceleration of these units is well demonstrated here with an average start to pass speed of 70.2 mph over the 4.28 miles on the slightly favourable gradients between Dorridge and Finwood Road, 90 mph being attained in 2.5 miles.

Approach control at Hatton North Junction heralds the start of a slow section ending with a 15 mph crossover at Hatton West Junction. After that the line speed is 60 mph with a reduction to 50 mph over Bearley Junction and this driver was the best of the five in maintaining speed close to the limit. This more sedate pace does permit an appreciation of the pleasant rural aspects on this section. This was also the only run where we almost kept the working time between Dorridge and Stratford upon Avon Parkway although most runs were right time at destination.

SOLIHULL – STRATFORD UPON AVON TRAIN 12.27 STOURBRIDGE J DATE TH 17.04.14 UNIT 172341 LOAD E/F 3/123/126 POSITION 1/3 GPS WTT ACTUAL SPEED MILES M.C. M. M.S. MPH 0.00 122.24 SOLIHULL 0 0.00 (1 LATE) 0.77 121.42 Hillfield Rd UB 1.14½ 60/61 1.45 120.66 WIDNEY MANOR 2½ 2.16 0.00 120.66 0 0.00 0.26 120.44 M42 UB 0.44 41 1.31 119.42 Bentley Heath 2 1.46½ 67 1.89 118.76 DORRIDGE 3 2.43 0.00 118.76 0 0.00 0.76 118.16 Darley Green UB 1.12½ 63 1.45 117.40 Chapel Lane OB 1.48½ 74 2.56 116.33 Lapworth 2.35½ 91/100 4.28 114.55 Finwood Road OB 3.39½ 99 Sigs. 27*/31 6.20 112.62 Hatton N.Jnc.up points 6 5.46 22*/25 6.71 17.67 Hatton W.Jnc. 7 7.04 16* 8.05 16.40 Claverdon 9.03 58/59/57/61 11.31 13.19 Bearley 12.23½ 58 11.93 12.50 Bearley Jnc. 13 13.11 48* 12.91 11.51 Wilmcote 14.08 59/57/60 14.51 10.03 STRATFORD U.A.PKWY 16 16.08 0.00 10.03 0 0.00 0.22 9.60 MP 9¾ 0.40 41/47 1.02 8.76 STRATFORD UPON AVON 3 2.20 (1 EARLY)

I returned from Stratford upon Avon with the same unit and driver and went through to Birmingham Moor Street. The northbound schedule to Dorridge is quite slack in comparison

Milepost 35¼ -128 - July 2014 with 5 minutes pathing included. The train cannot leave Stratford upon Avon later as the platform has to be vacated for an arriving train off the North Warwick line and departure from Dorridge has to comply with the hourly xx.29 departure pattern. A late running northbound Cross Country Voyager resulted in a stand at Hatton North Junction for nearly a minute but we were still 2½ minutes early at Dorridge. In this direction - on the slightly rising grade - a maximum of 97 mph at Chapel Lane is about the best that can be expected though with the additional pathing there is often some easing at this point. From Dorridge the runs to Widney Manor then on to Solihull were both RPS fastest times. After that sections that do not feature in the fastest times tables were also covered in excellent times making for a fruitful and entertaining afternoon.

PAR EXCELLENCE by John Heaton FCILT

It’s a summer Saturday in mid-Cornwall. The up relief platform indicator says the next train will be the 11.25 Par to Exeter St. David’s local but it is already standing in the up main, having come empty stock from Long Rock.

First Great Western had concluded that it needed an extra sprinter on Saturdays so decided to take the bold step of turning out the seating coaches of the Night Riviera on a local diagram. The stock is otherwise spare from Saturday morning until Sunday night.

When this move was first announced, I was surprised at the working, not only the outward journey but the balancing 17.50 Exeter St. David’s to Penzance after a four-hour layover. Was there a real requirement for either train? There seemed to be parallel services at most of the station served, with the exception of a few halts such as Menheniot. Who would use the down train? Was this a productive use of the relatively few staff who were trained on locomotives and coaches? Was someone playing trains?

It was worth a trip to find out on the first day, using the 06.44 Bristol Temple Meads to Plymouth, the decision being sealed by the fact that it was an HST with a buffet car, and called at Dawlish at a friendly 08.18.

My attention returned to the loco and coaches before me; gleaming Class 57 No. 57602 Restormel Castle complete with brass number-plates and four immaculate coaches following (the lounge car, two SOs and what I took to be the spare lounge car). As a bonus, the buffet car was also staffed, although not advertised. I had not realised the SO seating was 2+1 using what looked like refurbished original HST first class seats. If Heineken had won a passenger rail franchise all Class 2 passenger trains would be like this.

I was also surprised that there was a sizeable contingent of young enthusiasts - at least a dozen teenagers. For just a moment it felt like the Belfast Boat Train of 1967. Well, less than a moment I suppose. Armed with that 1960s experience, I elected not to travel in the front coach.

The log of the up journey is shown in the accompanying table. Reviewing the final product, the figures do not do justice to the run. The speeds reflect the low infrastructure capability west of Newton Abbot. Acceleration was respectable, top speeds mostly observed and braking was slow. With little brake force and the relative unfamiliarity of this combination, it was hardly surprising that the driver was taking no risks. The net result was to lose a few seconds running, and retrieve them on generous dwell times.

Milepost 35¼ -129 - July 2014 Incidentally, the last time I looked at the ‘short formation’ special speed restrictions, they did not apply at 80mph and below, so on this run the train had no such restrictions before Newton Abbot. In any case, the train was timed at 75mph and therefore ominously able to be covered by a sprinter without time loss.

Patronage levels proved me wrong as the train was comfortably full leaving Liskeard and, after an exchange of passengers at Plymouth, the same forward from there. Oh yes, and no one joined or alighted at Menheniot.

My chief interest was in the two hill climbs. The acceleration to the foot of Hemerdon was disappointing and would not have matched an average Class 47 on 7 in the twilight of Cross Country loco haulage. The actual bank was different though as the loco seemed to balance

Par to Newton Abbot Miles M. C Timing Point Sch. m s M.P.H. Avge Loco 57602 0.00 245 74 PLYMOUTH d 14½ 16 13 Load 4/143/145 rising to 153 1.45 244 38 Lipson Jct 3 3 19 61/69 26.2 Train 11.25 Par-Exeter S.D. 1.96 243 77 Laira Jct 3 48 68 63.6 Date Sat. 24/5/14 3.06 242 69 Tavistock Jct 4 51 55 62.9 Recorder/Position Jhe 3/5 3.43 242 40 MP 242.5 5 15 57 55.1 Miles M. C Timing Point Sch. m s M.P.H. Avge 3.99 241 75 Plympton 5 47 67 62.7 0.00 281 65 PAR d. 0 0 00 T Pfm 2 4.68 241 20 MP 241.25 6 24 65 66.4 0.81 281 00 MP 281 2 01 40 24.2 4.93 241 00 MP 241 6 38 64 65.1 1.81 280 00 MP 280 3 14 56 49.7 5.18 240 60 MP 240.75 6 52 62 63.0 2.26 279 44 Treverrin TWP 3 42 58 56.8 5.68 240 20 MP 240.25 7 22 60 61.2 3.31 278 40 MP 278.5 4 52 46 54.0 6.18 239 60 MP 239.75 7 52 58 59.2 4.36 277 36 Lostwithiel a. 6½ 6 53 31.2 6.58 239 28 Hemerdon 8 8 18 56/60 56.8 0.00 277 36 d. 8 8 27 8.34 237 47 Cornwood 10 10 54/58 56.4 0.45 277 00 MP 277 1 22 41 /64 19.8 10.68 235 20 Ivybridge G.F. 12 42 50 55.2 2.20 275 20 Brown Queen TWP 3 11 60 57.8 11.59 234 27 Ivybridge a. 14 14 24 32.3 3.45 274 00 BODMIN P. a. 5 5 30 32.4 11.59 234 27 d. 16 17 02 0.00 274 00 d. 7 6 44 12.93 233 00 Bittaford 2 23 56 33.7 1.00 273 00 MP 273 1 54 58 /59 31.6 14.16 231 61 Wrangaton 3 42 56/60 56.4 4.00 270 00 Largin 6 5 36 39/37 48.6 15.46 230 37 Aish 5 5 03 57 57.8 4.75 269 20 St. Pinnock VE 7½ 6 47 41/58 38.0 16.24 229 55 Brent [1] 5 52 57/52 56.9 5.80 268 16 Doublebois 7 59 54/61 52.5 18.15 227 62 Marley TEP 7 54 58/62 56.4 7.25 266 60 MP 266.75 9 31 58 56.7 20.43 225 40 Tigley 10 14 54/61 58.5 9.10 264 72 LISKEARD a. 13 12 17 40.1 23.10 222 66 Totnes a. 14½ 14 12 40.5 0.00 264 72 d. 15 14 42 0.00 222 66 d. 16½ 15 31 - /55 1.40 263 40 MP 263½ 2 18 58/61 36.5 3.07 219 60 MP 219.75 4 26 54 41.6 3.14 261 61 Menheniot a. 5 5 10 36.4 3.32 219 40 MP 219.5 4 44 51 51.6 0.00 261 61 d. 7 6 55 3.57 219 20 MP 219.25 5 02 47 48.5 0.76 261 00 MP 261 1 53 47/61 24.3 3.82 219 00 MP 219 5 21 47/46½ 46.8 3.76 258 00 MP 258 5 03 57 56.8 4.07 218 60 MP 218.75 5 41 47 46.7 5.41 256 28 St. Germans a. 7½ 7 46 36.4 4.32 218 40 MP 218.5 5 59 49½ 48.3 0.00 256 28 d. 9½ 8 56 - /67 4.57 218 20 MP 218.25 6 18 47 48.1 2.01 254 27 Wiveliscombe TWP [1] 2 40 64/63 45.3 4.84 217 79 Dainton 7 6 38 48½/58 47.2 3.35 253 00 MP 253 3 55 66 64.2 5.90 216 74 Stoneycombe <½> 7 49 52/59 53.9 5.03 251 26 Saltash a. 8 6 42 36.1 8.75 214 06 NEWTON A. a. 11½ 11 36 45.2 0.00 251 26 d. 10 8 39 - /16 Averages are based on 1/100th sec timings on ascents 0.52 250 64 Royal A. B. SB 2 52 12 11.0 1.32 250 00 St. Budeaux Jct 4½ 4 29 45/47 29.7 2.00 249 26 Keyham [1] 5 23 41 45.0 2.57 248 60 Dockyard 6 13 43 41.4 2.96 248 29 Devonport 6 48 37 39.9 5.40 245 74 PLYMOUTH a. 10½ 9 49 48.5

Milepost 35¼ -130 - July 2014 at about 56mph, with its lightweight 150tonnes. At the top of the climb, the Cross Country Class 47s were usually around 42mph with 245tonnes.

The general Class 47 on 7 experience was that the Dainton eastbound speed was similar to that at Hemerdon but that was far from being the case on this run. Indeed it was unlikely to have been so, as the actual speed at Hemerdon was 1mph above the maximum permitted speed at Dainton. Idling around at lower altitudes, the loco was really put to work only on the final 1.25 miles from Milepost 219m 20c The gradient shows this to be 1-in-38 but the compensating gradient on such tight curvature must make it the equivalent of an even sterner task. The train held 47mph to MP 218½, seemed to accelerate to 49mph, drop back to 47½mph and finish at 48½mph. If the gps was performing properly, these figures suggest that full power was not being employed for most of the ascent. I alighted at Newton Abbot because No. 57602 had 5min of allowances to Dawlish Warren behind the 13.00 Paignton- Exmouth sprinter. There was no convenient train back from Exeter to Dawlish and I had scheduled a refuelling stop at home before turning out for the return.

When I did so, what a disappointment it turned out to be. On arrival at Dawlish station, the CIS showed it to be cancelled. Rumour had it that the loco had been used to rescue an HST. Perhaps that was the point of the 4hr break at Exeter – to provide a standby loco? And perhaps not. Someone said it would be running at 18.50 but I was certainly not that keen to hang around. I returned home to find that the service had been reinstated and had left St. David’s 19min late, discovering the fact more or less as it was leaving Dawlish Warren - to the amusement of family members.

Having done a lot of travelling in the intervening week, I had no appetite for the 08.18 to Par the following Saturday. I had rallied by early evening and took the precaution of checking the up train had run. No it had not. Realtimetrains showed it cancelled, ‘the stock for this train has been used to cover another service’. It was not apparent which. But the 17.50 was still shown as running so off I went to catch it. I thought there must be a good (bad?) chance it would be a sprinter, especially as it had left Platform 6 whereas the L&C set is booked from Platform 1. Round the bend from Dawlish Warren it duly appeared, a Class 150/2. Perhaps last week’s 19min late reinstatement had also been a sprinter. When I returned home this week, there was more pity than amusement and a suggestion that I should contemplate changing my hobby.

It seems to me that a high quality four coach loco-hauled train might just be too useful to have loafing around on a second-rate stopping train during summer Saturdays, so my advice for those intending to travel long distances to sample Class 57s is to have a Plan B.

Four weeks later

On the fourth Saturday of the summer Saturday 2014 timetable I eventually caught up with the loco-hauled 17.50 Exeter St. David’s to Penzance, albeit only from Dawlish to Plymouth.

The competition for my attention was considerable, as turning out for the train would eat into two World Cup matches and straddle the Test Match highlights. It was going to be a long, late evening on ‘catch-up’ television.

There was some relatively minor late running from Exeter that caused a 3min late start to the Class 57 on just three coaches as opposed to the four on the inaugural up run. Lightweight? Flyweight? Featherweight, I think.

Having suggested that the two trains assigned to the Class 57 and sleeper ‘day’ coaches looked to be superfluous to the timetable, with parallel services close to its paths, I was again confounded to find the train full from Teignmouth to Plymouth, and not just with

Milepost 35¼ -131 - July 2014 railfans. There were families returning from the beach, Italian language school students and party-goers heading for (all) night out in Plymouth… or home by taxi. Perhaps this single train was representative of the recent expansion in the use of rail for journeys that would not have used this mode a generation ago.

Anyway, No. 57605 Totnes Castle made a sub-4min run to past the sandy bays of Dawlish to Teignmouth but, afterwards, eased at 75mph approaching the Bishopsteignton footbridge. The train was timed at 75mph perhaps the driver thought it was his maximum permitted speed (mps) as power/brakes were used here and on Hemerdon at this figure.

We were all but stopped at Hackney for the 10min late 17.52 Paignton-Exmouth to cross our path from the down relief No. 1 platform to the up main. This made the L&C set 2min late, after having regained right time from Teignmouth, and initially this did not seem sensible. Dawlish to Plymouth Miles M. Ch Timing Point Sch. m s M.P.H. Ave Loco 57605 3.94 218 00 Dainton 5 4 44 50/56 47.8 Vehicles/tare/gross tonnes 3/108/120 5.69 219 60 MP 219.75 6 42 53/63 53.5 Train 17.50 Exeter S. D.-Penzance 8.74 222 65 Totnes a. 11½ 10 53 43.8 Date 15/06/2014 0.00 222 65 d. 13 12 07 Recorder/Position J.Heaton 3/4 1.40 224 17 OB 2 17 56 36.7 Miles M. Ch Timing Point Sch. m s M.P.H. Ave 1.73 224 43 OB 2 37 59 58.8 0.00 206 07 Dawlish d 0 0 0 1½L 1.99 224 64 OB 2 53 60 59.2 0.66 206 64 Shell Cove 1 20 52 29.7 2.47 225 22 OB 3 22 61 60.3 1.42 207 45 Smugglers Gap 2 06 62/63 59.5 2.69 225 40 Tigley 3 35 61 61.2 2.77 208 74 Teignmouth a. 4½ 3 54 45.0 2.89 225 56 OB 3 47 60/65 61.0 0.00 208 74 d. 6½ 4 59 -/75 4.10 226 73 OB 4 59 58 59.8 2.42 211 28 Bishopsteignton 2 57 74/sig3/31 49.2 5.47 228 22 Marley TWP 6 22 60/54 59.8 5.15 214 05 NEWTON ABB a. 7 8 50 18.5 6.84 229 52 Brent 7 49 57/61 56.7 0.00 214 05 d. 9 9 49 7.65 230 37 Aish 10 8 39 60/65/54 58.3 1.44 215 40 MP 215.5 2 01 61 42.8 9.19 231 78 Wrangaton 10 10 64 60.9 1.69 215 60 MP 215.75 2 16 57 60.8 10.19 233 00 Bittaford 11 08 61/63 62.1 1.94 216 00 MP 216 2 31 58 57.7 11.52 234 26 Ivybridge 14½ 12 27 59 60.6 2.19 216 20 MP 216.25 2 47 55 57.8 12.44 235 20 Ivybridge GF 13 23 60/63 59.1 2.44 216 40 MP 216.5 3 04 55 54.5 14.78 237 47 Cornwood 15 40 56/62 61.5 2.86 216 74 Stoneycombe 3 30 57 56.8 16.51 239 28 Hemerdon 19 17 27 59/77 58.1 3.19 217 20 MP 217.25 3 51 54 56.4 19.13 241 75 Plympton 19 36 71 73.1 3.44 217 40 MP 217.5 4 08 53 53.2 20.06 242 69 Tavistock Jct 20 26 60 67.0 3.69 217 60 MP 217.75 4 25 47 51.9 21.63 244 35 Lipson Jct 24[1] 22 05 55 57.2 23.12 245 74 PLYMOUTH 28 24 50 32.5 Climbs timed to 1/100th of a second, reflected in averages, rounded to nearest second for publication

However, although the decision meant that a following Plymouth-Exeter stopper, Paignton- Birmingham Voyager and Penzance-Paddington HST suffered 3-10min delays, it would have been worse if the Plymouth L&C had been given priority. If the Exmouth had been held to follow the other up trains, a cancellation of a round trip from Exeter to Exmouth would have resulted, just when the branch trains are full to capacity, on Saturday evenings.

Such considerations were not the point of today’s trip though. A fast start to 60mph in 87sec allowed 58mph to be held on the initial climb to Stoneycombe before power was reduced for the 55mph PSR. Unfortunately, in a way, the loco could have exceeded the mps so he felt able to coast over the summit at 47mph. The time of 4min44sec to pass Dainton Summit would not have disgraced an HST, although running is extremely variable nowadays. My last HST run was 5min 13sec to the same point.

Similar factors applied leaving Totnes with 60mph maintained to Tigley. The noise from feral children caused me to change seats to the non-milepost side at Totnes so I timed the overbridges instead of the normal mileposts.

Milepost 35¼ -132 - July 2014

A routine trip down to Plymouth 2½min early after 1min recovery time ended an unspectacular evening’s run before returning home on the Newquay-Paddington to Newton Abbot. Incidentally, I only just missed the 16.55 Penzance to Newton Abbot formed of an HST which then returns as another local to Penzance. It seemed to me that the combined use of L&C and the HST in these circumstances demonstrates a management attitude that arguably puts the provision of capacity over cost-cutting.

The Mid Cheshire Line

Martin Barrett

The Mid Cheshire line originally ran from Manchester Central to Chester Northgate. Over the years the line has changed, with the Manchester to Altrincham section being taken over by the Metro and, at the Chester end, Northgate being closed. This resulted in the services being altered to run from Manchester Piccadilly to Stockport, then over the LNW branch to Northenden Jn joining the CLC line from Woodley to Glazebrook as far as Skelton Jn from where it turned sharply to join the original route at Deansgate Jn. At the Chester end the trains were diverted to the Warrington to Chester General line at Mickle Trafford. Thanks to Ian Umpleby I am able to give a brief overview of the gradients – at least west of Northenden Jn. From Northenden Jn the line falls slightly to Skelton Jn from where it is level until Altrincham. The line then rises to just west of Knutsford at around 1 in 120/133 from where it falls at 1 in 107 for a mile or so to the Rivers Weaver and Dane at Leftwich viaduct. There is another climb at 1 in 100/116 to Delamere broken by a brief 1 in 125 down after Cuddington, from where the line falls steeply at 1 in 95/100 to Chester, apart from a brief rise at 1 in 75 in the Mickle Trafford area.

There are very few non-stop records in the archives of runs over this line, most of which are railtours, although there are quite a few stopping trains though not over the full route, so the opportunity to record non-stop services over Easter 2014 was one not to be missed. The WCML was closed at Warrington so all the Manchester to Chester trains were either diverted via the Mid Cheshire non-stop in just over the hour or replaced by a bus which took 2 hours. Also, as a result of this, the WCML services to Preston and the north were also diverted from Crewe via Manchester and the new route over Chat Moss to join the original route at Golborne Jn, thus giving the unusual spectacle of Pendolino trains in platforms 13 and 14 at Piccadilly every hour – sometimes together!

Anyway, back to the Mid Cheshire – I chose to travel to Chester late Saturday evening and the spend all Easter Sunday going to and fro, thus recording four journeys in each direction. My aim was to see if I could record at least one journey each way in under the hour. Bearing in mind the route was only 45 miles long, it didn’t seem unattainable. The overall line speed between Deansgate Jn and Mickle Trafford is 60mph, with 75 mph allowable over some of the route from Stockport to Skelton Jn. However the intermediate restrictions make the job much harder with 20mph at Edgeley No2 Jn, 15mph Skelton Jn to Deansgate Jn, 25mph through Altrincham, 20mph over Leftwich viaduct crossing the River Weaver, 25/30mph through Mouldsworth and 35mph at Mickle Trafford. In addition there are less severe restrictions at Northenden Jn and Knutsford coupled to which 3 sections of single line do not help. For this brief appraisal I have ignored Manchester to Stockport which is well known to most readers.

On the day there was only one tsr in force – 45mph for sighting reasons over a foot crossing near Cuddington.

Milepost 35¼ -133 - July 2014 Westbound

The four trains selected were 1846 Sat, 0955, 1300 and 1600 Sun.

Although traffic is not heavy over the line, apart from the single line sections, there is the congested stretch from Piccadilly to Stockport. Fortunately the 1846 on Saturday (run 1) had a clear run and reached the highest westbound speed of the weekend through Heaton Chapel (81mph), but after a severe check at Edgeley No.2 we spent over 3 minutes approaching Deansgate Jn waiting for the local coming off the single line (albeit we were 5

Run 1 2 4 Date Sat 19 April 2014 Sun 20 April 2014 Sun 20 April 2014 Train 1846 Man Picc 0955 Man Picc 1600 Man Picc Unit 175003 175009 175009 Recorder M Barrett M Barrett M Barrett Weather Sunny Pds showers bright pds GPS/position Yes 1/2 Yes 1/2 Yes 1/2 m ch location sch m s mph sch m s mph sch m s mph 188 71 Manchester Picc 0 0 00 P8 1¼ late 0 0 00 P9 T 0 0 00 P9 T FL DM/30 SL SL FL FL 188 20 Ardwick Jn 2 2 15 27 XUM 2½ 2 29 28/50/38RBT 2 2 12 39/56 187 11 Longsight plat 3 37 60 4 04 41/45 3 41 38/sig29 188 41 Slade Lane Jn 4 4 14 66 4½ 4 58 41 FL SL 188 00 Levenshulme 4 39 72 FL 5 38 52 5 06 58/69 184 43 Heaton Chapel 5 47 81 7 02 69/73 6 28 67 183 63 Heaton Norris Jn 6 6 25 55 7 7 40 67 6½ 7 11 58 183 00 Stockport 8/13 7 53 24 8½/11½ 8 49 27 8 9 42 sig sigs 11 sigs 10 12 57 stop 182 59 Edgeley No.2 pts 14½ 8 54 18/48 13 9 42 20 9 13 43 18/23 0 00 EY1 16 sig 12 41 sig 16 19 sig 12 49 stop 16 41 stop 0 73 Cheadle Vil Jn 17 10 44 30/75 15 13 24 29/77 11½ 17 15 29/73 3 72 Northenden Jn 19½ 13 45 48/75 17½ 16 34 49/75 14 20 24 47/76 33 49 sigs (½) 30 12 Skelton Jn 17 44 12 20 33 10sigs 24 18 12 DJ 13 sig 19 01 sig 22 25 stop 0 33 Deansgate Jn 25½ 23 15 13 23½ 22 21 15 20 26 01 17 7 25 Navigation Road 26 23 57 35/37 24 23 00 36/44 21 26 33 40/45 sigs 20 7 74 Altrincham 27½ 25 08 23/20 25½ 24 02 22 22½ 27 33 21 8 31 Hale 29 26 35 39/58 27 25 21 43/53/49* 24 28 49 44 10 05 Ashley 28 30 55/59 27 16 59 30 41 61 11 72 Mobberley 32½ 32 30 sig 31½ 29 06 61 27½ 32 33 56/60 34 29 stop/59 [2] 14 40 Knutsford 38 03 38/61 32 05 37/64 35 27 35/64 17 17 Plumley 40 10 sigs 32 35 00 60 38 21 59/62 18 07 Plumley W SB 39 43 39 sig 38 35 53 57 36 39 14 59/61 43 58 stop 19 15 Lostock Gralam [2] 45 52 50/57 [2] 36 58 61/63 40 19 60/62 20 48 Northwich 44 47 28 50 43 38 23 57 39 41 44 55 21 16 Leftwich Via E 48 30 17 39 23 18 42 35 20/19 21 60 Hartford E Jn 50 37 24 41 24 26 44 23 31 22 28 Greenbank 47½ 51 24 48/60 46 42 10 48/61 42½ 45 07 49/60 25 15 Cuddington 54 24 57 45 07 58 48 07 54 tsr 44 tsr 45/61 tsr 46/62/51

Milepost 35¼ -134 - July 2014 28 12 Delamere 57 43 55/58 (3) 48 15 59/60 [1] 51 20 58/61 31 02 Mouldsworth 56½ 61 41 23/60 58 54 14 sigs5/63 52½ 55 00 20/63 33 72 Barrow [1] 65 08 59/30 [1] 57 38 61/33 58 19 60/33 35 41 Mickle Trafford pts 62½ 67 12 35/56 64 59 34 37/52 57½ 60 18 36/57 sigs 15/22 0 04 Chester 67 71 58 P4a 6L 69 64 49 P5 4¼ early 62 65 33 P5 3½L

minutes early). After a slight check through Altrincham we were then brought to a stand at Mobberley and again at Plumley West – still absolute block here with long sections. On investigation I discovered that a late running Tunstead to Lostock Works freight had been allowed to precede from Northenden Jn and we passed the errant Class 60-hauled train in the loop at Northwich. So despite [2] approaching Northwich we had turned 5 minutes early into 5 minutes late, none of which was regained by Chester.

On Sundays, I would have hoped for clearer running, but it was not to be. In run 2, 0955 was stopped approaching Cheadle Village Jn for the local off the single line, but after that ran well reaching 64mph on the sharp descent after Knutsford. Running early again brought the inevitable result with a severe check approaching Mouldsworth waiting for 1036 from Chester off the single line, but we still did well enough to arrive Chester in under 65 minutes - 4¼ early – the fastest of the day.

Run 3 (not printed) on 1300 turned out to be a complete disaster. A late departure caused by the Euston leaving platform 13 only 2 minutes in front (about 5 mins late), resulted in a severe check whilst it called at Stockport, followed by a stop at Edgeley No.2 for a down CrossCountry and then a stand at DJ13 signal where, after 10 minutes, we were informed there were ‘lineside equipment problems’ – i.e. failed level crossing at Navigation Road. Eventually, after passing Hale 18¼ minutes late, the driver ran enthusiastically up to the limit and ended up 15½ minutes late into Chester although that showed no gain on the net schedule.

The last run of the day (run 4) on 1600 had the fastest schedule of 62 minutes so I was hopeful of beating the magic hour, but we left parallel with a Virgin train which ran SL whilst we ran FL, both changing lines at Slade Lane Jn. Of course this resulted in us standing in platform 1 at Stockport, whilst the VT completed station duties at Platform 2. I thought we could have preceded and not delayed the VT at all, but in the event we still stood at Cheadle Village Jn waiting for the local. Now being over 6 minutes late I knew there would be no hope of beating the hour, but despite being late there was some curious coasting when I thought more effort could have been made. Once again we had difficulty in meeting the net schedule.

As an aside I could have titled this article ‘Travels with 175009’ as the whole of Sunday was spent going up and down with this unit, although each round trip from Chester had a different driver, so at least the different techniques used could be compared.

Eastbound

The four trains in this direction were 0841, 1136, 1436 and 1736.

Run 5 shows the fastest run of the day, although I hesitate to call it the best. Apart from a severe check approaching Mickle Trafford it had a clear run throughout and actually beat the magic hour, arriving 5¼ minutes early. With a 35mph junction at Mickle Trafford I would have thought there could be a more relaxed ‘approach control’ as all runs were severely checked, although perversely the schedule appears to allow for this - 4½ to 5 minutes should easily suffice given the correct signalling. The net schedule was kept to within a few

Milepost 35¼ -135 - July 2014 seconds at each point and given a virtually clear run after Stockport the maximum speed of the day, 82mph, was reached through Levenshulme.

Run 5 6 8 Date Sun 20 April 2014 Sun 20 April 2014 Sun 20 April 2014 Train 0841 Chester 1136 Chester 1736 Chester Unit 175009 175009 175009 Recorder M Barrett M Barrett M Barrett Weather Bright periods Bright periods Cloudy GPS Yes 1/2 Yes 1/2 Yes 2/2 m ch location sch m s mph sch m s mph sch m s mph 0 04 Chester 0 0 00 P7a ¼L /50 0 0 00 P5 ¾L /51 0 0 00 P5 T /52 MT 23 signal sigs 10 sigs 18 sigs 16 2 53 Mickle Trafford 6 5 25 35/61 6 5 00 36/62 6 5 12 31/57 33 72 Barrow 7 21 57/61 6 52 58/63/53/57 7 15 53 31 13 single line jn 10 32 25 9 55 29 10 41 30 31 02 Mouldsworth 11 10 50 28/62 11 10 12 30 11 10 56 35 28 12 Delamere 14 08 59/63/45tsr 13 29 61/63/46tsr 14 10 61/63/42tsr 25 15 Cuddington 17 12 53/63 16 31 51/63 17 21 53/63/54 22 28 Greenbank 20 20 04 50 20 19 19 48 20 20 18 59 21 60 Hartford E Jn 21 05 23 20 12 25/21 21 05 24/17 21 16 Leftwich Via E 22 50 19 21 47 24 22 54 21 20 48 Northwich 23½ 23 52 49 23½ 22 42 51 23½ 23 51 50 19 15 Lostock Gralam 25 21 61 24 09 62 25 22 59 18 07 Plumley W SB 26 26 25 62/58 26 25 13 63 26 26 30 59 17 17 Plumley 27 17 59/45/60 26 04 58/61 27 22 57/50/55 14 40 Knutsford 30 17 40/39/65/57 29 01 40/62 30 27 41/60 11 72 Mobberley 32½ 33 06 62 32½ 31 47 60/64 32½ 33 26 58/61 10 05 Ashley 34 55 60 33 35 58/64 35 19 56/59 36 8 31 Hale [2] 36 46 32 36[2] 35 25 40 36[2] 37 09 43 7 63 Altrincham 39½ 38 05 25 39½ 36 41 24 39½ 38 23 27 7 25 Navigation Road 41 39 14 39 41 37 45 40 41 39 26 41 7 05 Deansgate Jn 41½ 39 42 25 41½ 38 20 20 41½ 39 54 22 0 00 Skelton Jn 41 01 16/71 39 33 18/73 41 03 17/72 33 49 Northenden Jn 46½ 45 02 50/65 46½ 43 28 39 46½ 44 59 50/64 3 72 (1) sigs 16/65 0 73 Cheadle Vil Jn 49½ 48 17 51 50½ 47 36 48 49½ 48 14 46 EY2 48 sig [1] [1] 49 30 sig [1](½) 50 08 stop sigs 10 0 00 Edgeley No.2 pts 53 50 09 20 FL 54 50 51 15 53½ 51 00 15 182 59 SL SL 51 22 sig 51 26 sig 52 01 stop 54 12 stop 183 00 Stockport 54 50 53 25 55 53 00 15 54½ 55 09 17 183 63 Heaton Norris Jn 55½ 52 14 53 56½ 54 44 51 56 56 48 51/59 184 43 Heaton Chapel 52 59 67 (1½) 55 33 56/27sig/36 57 36 58/38sig 186 00 Levenshulme (1) 54 07 82 57 48 26 59 22 41 sig stop 43 secs XFL 186 41 Slade Lane Jn 59 54 31 74 61 60 18 XFL 60½ 60 02 48 51/ss 187 11 Longsight plat (1) 55 04 63/28sig FL 2 sig stops (5) 60 47 2m29s 188 20 Ardwick Jn 61½ 56 44 37 67 65 57 25 (½) (½) sig stop 41s 188 71 Manchester Picc 65 58 56 P9 5¾ E 66 70 54 P10 5½L 70 69 23 P9 ½ E

Run 6 on the 1136 had a different technique approaching Mickle Trafford- instead of braking late and hard, the driver braked early and lightly and in the event the signal, obviously time-

Milepost 35¼ -136 - July 2014 released, cleared earlier resulting in a ½ minute betterment. Apart from the rather odd drifting down to 53mph after Barrow, the unit was driven hard and by Northenden Jn it was 1½ minutes up on run 5. After that many delays ensued following other services into Manchester, so 3 minutes early ended up 5½ minutes late.

Run 7 (not printed) ran into trouble straight away with over 10 minutes delay at Mickle Trafford waiting for the local off the single line, which had also been caught up in the Navigation Road crossing problem. Bearing in mind it only takes 5 minutes to clear the single line I wondered why we hadn’t been given preference, but on arriving at Mouldsworth the following fast was waiting for the single line and I presume if the local had been held at Mouldsworth for a couple of minutes then the fast would be held back somewhere between Greenbank and Delamere. There was then a brief stop outside Mobberley, but fortunately the level crossing problem was now solved so we sailed through and eventually ended up outside Stockport, now 9 minutes late, on the wrong side of two stopping trains in Platforms 3 and 4. There now followed an innovative bit of regulation as we proceeded via the Down Main through Stockport (that is the line adjacent to platform 4) passing both the trains in the platform and then running virtually unchecked to Piccadilly arriving only 3¼ minutes late. Looking back on the regulating decisions, it was either complete luck – or careful planning – that saw the 1436 had 7 minutes pathing approaching Piccadilly so the delay at Mickle Trafford could be recouped and also, at Stockport, as it needed to arrive in Piccadilly first as it needed to form 1600 return.

Lastly, run 8 could almost be described as a ‘model run’, apart from the tardy running between Mickle Trafford and Mouldsworth and the unexplained drop to 50mph after Plumley. Once again approaching Stockport early resulted in a stop and then many stops onwards to Piccadilly – but it still arrived 30 seconds early!

So overall an interesting day over a route rather neglected.

Postscript

Just as I was typing this article, along came the announcement on the RPS website that trains between Crewe and Chester were being diverted via Middlewich. As part of this diversion is over the mid Cheshire I had to take a trip – one is quite enough with a 20mph limit over the Middlewich branch – so runs 9 and 10 show probably the first and last logs to be published over this branch.

With one train/hour and the need to keep booked paths south of Crewe, the paths crossed at Crewe, Middlewich loop and Mouldsworth – thus the single line implications are quite restrictive, so the westbound train is booked to stand at Middlewich for 16 minutes.

Run 9 shows the westbound run which managed to gain a couple of minutes to Middlewich by being one or two mph over the limit – you soon gain time at these low speeds. Fortunately the eastbound service was through a few minutes early so by the time we reached Greenbank we were 10 minutes early – the 10mph restriction round Northwich curve appears to have been lost somewhere. However by the style of the running you had the feeling the driver was not over familiar with the route – the slight excesses over the branch, then braking overly early for the 45mph tsr and then hardly exceeding 45mph beyond Mouldsworth. I think he didn’t pick up the 60mph restriction board which is still a ‘cut out’ not a painted disc. As we were so early it didn’t matter as we were checked approaching Mouldsworth by the Virgin train off the single line, and again approaching Chester by the local to Manchester departing.

The return journey was on a well-filled 10 coach 221from Holyhead booked to stand in Chester for 20 minutes. However all that did was to ensure we were stopped at Mickle

Milepost 35¼ -137 - July 2014 Trafford waiting for the westbound service running 11 minutes early. At least this encouraged the driver to run up to the 60mph limit, although all the restrictions over the Middlewich branch were strictly observed. Thanks to six minutes pathing allowance Sandbach was passed on time, but a punctual arrival in Crewe was thwarted by the local leaving platform 1 only 3½ minutes before our booked arrival – not really feasible.

30¾ miles in 73½ minutes westbound and 69 minutes eastbound: not exactly scintillating recording.

Run 9 Run 10 Date 15 May 2014 Date 15 May 2014 Train 1252 Crewe Train 1446 Chester Unit 221108 Loco 221101/104 Recorder M Barrett Recorder M Barrett Weather Hazy sun Weather Hazy sun GPS/position No 2/5 GPS/position No 10/10 m ch location sch m s mph m ch Location sch m s mph 158 01 Crewe plat 5 0 0 00 T/89 0 00 Chester Plat 4 0 0 00 ½ early 162 20 Sandbach S Jn 5 19½ 24 MT23 signal 5 16 sig 162 46 Sandbach 7½ 6 17 19 8 55½ stop 162 62 Sandbach N Jn 6 47½ 18/23 2 53 Mickle Trafford 4½ 9 56½ 34/59 1 27 Higher Delacre LX 10 36 19 33 72 Barrow 11 51½ 58 1 73 B Salt GF 12 17 22/23 31 13 single line jn 15 22 29 3 40 Middlewich Loop E 16 43½ 21 31 02 Mouldsworth 9 15 34 31 GK 45 signal 20½ 18 30 sig 28 12 Delamere 18 43½ 59/61/43tsr 36½ 29 20½ stop 25 15 Cuddington 21 57 60 4 05 Middlewich Loop W 30 31½ 12 22 28 Greenbank 18 24 57½ 39 5 34 Yew Tree House X 34 38 22/23 21 16 Leftwich Via E [1] 28 07 19 8 37 Northwich S Jn 51½ 43 31 15 20 75 Northwich W Jn 22½ 29 31 10 8 64 Northwich W Jn 53½ 44 58 14 8 37 Northwich S Jn 24½ 31 32 10/20 21 16 Leftwich Via East [1] 45 41½ 23/21 5 34 Yew Tree Farm Xing 41 04½ 19/20 22 28 Greenbank 58 48 06 43/57 4 05 Middlewich Loop W (4) 45 22 19 25 15 Cuddington 51 34 47/45tsr/56 3 40 Middlewich Loop E 43 47 06½ 18 28 12 Delamere 55 04½ 46/20sig 1 73 B Salt GF 52 22 17 31 02 Mouldsworth 67 60 30 25/48 1 27 Higher Delacre Xing (2) 54 17 19/14 33 72 Barrow 64 31 45/46 0 00 Sandbach N Jn 59 36 15 35 41 Mickle Trafford 72 67 04 32/49 162 46 Sandbach 60 60 11 18 CR 32 signal [1] 71 15½ sig 162 20 Sandbach S Jn 61 10 23/85/sig13/21 72 00 stop sigs 13/21 0 02 Chester Plat 3a 77½ 73 32½ 158 03 Crewe plat 5 67 68 51½

Twenty plus minutes at twenty odd miles per hour – David Stannard

Restraining diverted Voyagers to the 20 mph line speed limit of the Middlewich branch provides quite a challenge to both driver skill and concentration. In addition to the runs described by Martin Barrett above, I made stopwatch timings of speeds on the branch on two other return journeys between Crewe and Chester during the week of 12th-16th May 2014 and summarize the combined results in the table below. From listening to the engine revs it was interesting that while some drivers were apparently controlling the speed by making frequent minor adjustments to the power setting, others were cycling between short bursts of power and brief periods of coasting. Allowing for speedometer calibration uncertainties then on the whole competent and professional driving – that is apart from the southbound run with a driver who from conversation afterwards apparently believed that the line limit was 40 mph (and didn’t adhere to that particularly well either).

Milepost 35¼ -138 - July 2014 Voyager speeds over the Middlewich branch May 2014 Northbound runs 21.4 mph (19.5-22.5) Held in loop 21.2 mph (20-23) 22.2 mph (20.5-24.5) 17.6 mph 22.9 mph (20-26) 20.6 mph (20-21.5) 19.6 mph 20.6 mph (20-21.5)

Southbound runs 17.6 mph (14-19) 18.6 mph 19.2 mph (18-20.5) 19.7 mph (18-21) 20.5 mph 21.6 mph (20-23) 46.8 mph (45-48) 42.0 mph 42.0 mph (38.5-45.5)

FOR THE RECORD

PATHFINDERS TOURS – NUNNEY CASTLE

Don Benn writes: It was a great performance though with a slow start and steady climb to Whiteball, reflecting the difference between this single chimney, 2 row superheat Castle, compared to 5043. Bob Meanley has confirmed to me that during its recent intermediate repair, the valves were set up by the same man who dealt with 5043 and in his opinion 5029 is as good as a standard Castle gets.

PATHFINDER TOURS-THE ANNIVERSARY LIMITED Date 9th May 2014 miles sched mins secs speed Train 1634 Plymouth-Bristol Temple Meads 30.74 Taunton 33.00 32 58 77½ Loco 4-6-0 No 5029 Nunney Castle 31.90 MP 162 33 51 80½ Load 8 coaches, 290/310 tons 33.65 Creech St Michael 35 12 78½

Driver Gareth Jones until after Cogload, then 35.50 Cogload Junction 37.00 36 38 76 Vince Henderson 36.90 MP 157 37 43 75

Fireman Vince Henderson until after Cogload, 37.90 MP 156 38 30 79½ then Dave Proctor 38.90 MP 155 39 15 80 Timed by Don Benn 39.90 MP 154 40 00 79½/80½ Position 7 of 8 40.90 MP 153 40 46 78/76½ Weather sunny periods, west wind 42.32 Bridgwater 43.00 41 50 79 miles sched mins secs speed 43.90 MP 150 43 04 78½ 0.00 Exeter St Davids 0.00 00 00 4¼ L 44.90 MP 149 43 49 79 1.24 Cowley Bridge J 4.00 03 53 36 45.90 MP 148 44 34 78½ 2.90 MP 191 06 18 45 46.90 MP 147 45 20 76½ 3.70 Stoke Canon 07 18 48 48.63 Highbridge 46 43 75 5.90 MP 188 10 00 52½ 49.90 MP 144 47 45 73 7.13 Silverton 11 23 54 51.40 Brent Knoll 49 00 73½ 8.39 Hele 12 45 58 52.90 MP 141 50 13 73½ 10.90 MP 183 15 22 59½ 54.90 MP 139 51 50 74½ 12.56 Cullompton 17 04 62½ 55.84 Uphill Junction 54.00 52 35 75 13.90 MP 180 18 24 60/57½ 57.90 MP 136 54 13 77 14.74 Tiverton Junction 17.00 19 12 60½/65½ 58.78 Worle Junction 56.00 54 54 76½ 16.58 Tiverton Parkway 19.00 20 53 64½ 59.37 Worle 55 22 76 17.90 MP 176 22 09 62 60.90 MP 133 56 35 76 19.15 Burlescombe 23 24 56½ 61.75 Huish Crossing 57 15 76 19.90 Whiteball Summit 23.00 24 12 54½ 63.59 Yatton 58 42 77 20.11 Tunnel In 24 25 57½ 65.90 MP 128 60 30 76½ 21.88 Beam Bridge 26 02 73½ 67.45 Nailsea 61 45 73½ 22.90 MP 171 26 48 78/79 69.63 Flax Bourton 63 31 71½ 23.70 Wellington 27 25 76* 70.90 MP 123 64 36 69 24.90 Poole Siding 28 23 73½ 71.85 Long Ashton 65 24 76½/77½ 25.90 MP 168 29 12 76½ 73.73 Parson Street 70.00 66 53 72* 27.84 Victory Crossing 30 42 79 74.58 Bedminster 68 00 34* 28.89 Norton Fitzwarren 31.00 31 31 77 75.15 Bristol West Junction 72.00 69 06 25* 29.44 Silk Mills 31 57 75 75.49 Bristol Temple Meads 75.00 70 22 ½ E

Milepost 35¼ -139 - July 2014 Looking at the performance all day 5029 seemed to be weak on the hills compared to what you would expect from a class 7 engine. Nevertheless the 76.6 average over 43 miles was an absolute joy to time and the finish into Bristol quite fearless. The time in from Taunton was almost the same as that of 5043 the following day, though 5043 stopped at the county end of the platform and was faster over Flax Bourton.

Network Developments – Ian Umpleby

The last three months have seen remarkably little change in PSRs, the only one of any significance being the introduction of 90mph running between Huyton and Newton-le- Willows. The full implementation of the enhanced speeds over the Midland Main Line still seems some months away with many temporary speed restrictions in force at the time of writing. The upgrade of the Peterborough – Lincoln – Doncaster line continues but the 55/60 PSRs remain; the northbound Sleaford Avoiding Line has reopened. Improvements at Ladybank Junction have been delayed but 70mph running has been introduced over the central section of the line towards Perth. Also in Scotland, following the electrification of the Springburn to Cumbernauld Line, the Rutherglen to Whifflet Line should have electric trains by August. In the North of England the main area of activity is the NW Electrification where the lines from Liverpool to Earlestown and Wigan are on course for energisation by December. In early July a third track should have been put into service between Roby and Huyton and there will be a month long closure of the Chorley to Euxton Junction line in summer to raise bridge/tunnel clearances. With a view to future diversions one Liverpool- Manchester Victoria – Leeds train has been scheduled by the Philips Park to Ashburys line on a Sunday morning. Manchester Airport’s fourth platform nears completion. The new curve at Todmorden towards Burnley is now operational but awaiting a spare dmu before passenger services can begin. Work is continuing on Holme Tunnel so the speed enhancement here is on hold. Selby Swing Bridge’s postponed work from last year will take place in August allowing the current 15 mph restriction to be lifted, Reopening of platform 2 at Whitby has been delayed but permissive working on platform 1 will allow the increased North Yorks.Moors service to be accommodated. Work is to start on two new Aire Valley stations at Kirkstall Forge and Apperley Bridge with a summer 2015 opening. Although unlikely to see any scheduled passenger trains the recent opening of the Doncaster North Chord will reduce delays to ECML trains north of Doncaster. In the Midlands, Virgin Trains have confirmed a December start for their Shrewsbury to Euston trains going directly via Birmingham, and not Stafford. The Redditch branch is to close temporarily in summer so that the new long loop at Alvechurch can be commissioned. Work on the relocation of Bromsgrove station has also begun. Track improvements north of Stafford, including the Norton Bridge Flyover, are now underway. Work on the Bicester chord and line on to Oxford continues apace. In Wales a new station at Pye Corner, opening in December, outside Newport on the Ebbw Vale line, should open on a realigned section of track. The Cardiff Phase 3 re-signalling scheme was scheduled to happen at the end of June with a few infrastructure/minor PSR changes. The two extra platforms at Cardiff Queen St await final commissioning. One iconic place that has seen the return of (narrow gauge) trains is Torpantau north of Merthyr Tydfil. The Cambrian Coast line north of Harlech is still without trains due to problems with the new bridge at Llandecwyn. In the South of England the postponed Swindon to Kemble doubling will now take place in late August. The complete overhaul of the infrastructure around Reading station is moving into its final phase with construction of the new west side flyover underway. At Heathrow Junction similar infrastructure alterations are taking place and the long-running Crossrail works continue as does the London Bridge reconstruction. The East Sussex resignalling appears to be limping along at the moment with no new implementation date at the time of writing. The new Belle Isle to St Pancras (Low Level) line is now visible and about to be connected to the ECML although Cambridge to Gatwick trains are still a few years away. A few weekend closures in the Watford area have successfully eliminated a long-standing 80 mph TSR on the down

Milepost 35¼ -140 - July 2014 line. Work on Rochester station’s relocation is now well advanced and Littlehaven station near Crawley has been rebuilt and extended. The programme of platform extensions in the South West Trains Inner-Suburban area continues. The status quo largely remains in Ireland with improvements in Northern Ireland mostly budgeted to start in the 2015/16 financial year.

Chat Moss Route – Start of a new era.

Bevan Price

I reviewed the line across Chat Moss in Mileposts nearly 20 years ago. After many years in the doldrums, the line has been chosen for upgrading. Electrification work is progressing and some line speed limits are being increased. In addition, a section of line near Huyton is being reconverted to 4 tracks. An extended review will wait until a full electric service is in operation, but in the interim, I submit some logs showing the progress so far.

The first stage of electrification completed is from Castlefield Junction (Manchester) to Parkside Junction, plus the curve to Lowton Junction. This has enabled operation by Class 350 emus of most of the Trans Pennine Express Anglo-Scottish services to & from Manchester Airport. An added benefit is that the route can be used by diverted WCML electric services during engineering work. Unfortunately, at the time of writing, a 60 mph tsr still applies at Astley Level Crossing, although for a shorter distance in the eastbound direction.

Run 1 2 Date 19 April 2014 31 May 2014 Train London Euston - 0919 Oxf. Rd - Glasgow Cen Glasgow Cen Loco 390.128 350.403 Load 11/571/591 4/179/183 Recorder/position/GPS B. Price, 2/11 Y B. Price, 4/4 Y

Miles m c Location m s mph m s mph 0.00 188 65 MANCHESTER (PICCADILLY) 0 00 8L 0.54 189 28 MANCHESTER (OXFORD ROAD) 1 52 23 0 00 18L 1.10 187 57 DEANSGATE 3 13 sigs3/34 1 21 27/30 1.51 190 26 Ordsall Lane Jn 4 44 25 2 41 22 2.30 29 57 CROSS LANE 6 07 61 4 08 48 2.85 29 13 SEEDLEY 6 39 71 4 46 60 3.44 28 46 WEASTE 7 07 75 5 17 75 4.46 27 44 ECCLES 7 56 75 6 06 75 5.44 26 46 PATRICROFT 8 43 74 6 53 75 6.24 25 62 Barton Moss Jcn 9 22 66 7 30 69 7.51 24 40 BARTON MOSS 10 35 60 8 45 59/60 9.34 22 54 ASTLEY 12 23 60 10 35 59 11.21 20 64 GLAZEBURY 13 50 90/92 12 07 90/91 13.10 18 73 KENYON JUNCTION 15 06 85/sigs 7 13 22 83/22* 15.36 0 09 Parkside Jn 18 55 20 16 50 19 15.70 0 36 LOWTON JUNCTION 19 44 21 17 44 18 16.01 0 51 Golborne Jn 20 40 19 18 41 20 17.16 1 63 GOLBORNE (SOUTH) 22 20 75/87 20 12 74 19.38 4 00 BAMFURLONG 24 06 sigs 51 /35 21 41 100 20.63 5 20 Springs Branch Jn 25 44 68 22 29 88 21.96 6 47 WIGAN (NORTH WESTERN) 27 35 24 00

Logs 1 & 2 show northbound runs from Manchester to Wigan (North Western), one by a diverted Class 390, and the other by a Class 350. Due to operating difficulties, the Class 350

Milepost 35¼ -141 - July 2014 started late from Manchester (Oxford Road), 350.403 having been detached here from a southbound 8 car formation on the 06:15 from Edinburgh. Logs 3 & 4 show southbound runs by Classes 390 and 350.

Run 3 4 Date 19 April 2014 19 April 2014 Train Glasgow (Cen.) - 06:15 Edinburgh - London Euston Man Airport Loco 390.135 350.405 Load 11/571/586 4/179/189 Recorder/position/GPS B. Price, 7/11 Y B. Price, 2/4 Y

Miles m c Location m s mph m s mph 0.00 6 47 WIGAN (NORTH WESTERN) 0 00 RT 0 00 1.34 5 20 Springs Branch Jn 1 40 87/97 1 31 83 2.59 4 00 BAMFURLONG 2 28 88 2 19 99 4.80 1 63 GOLBORNE (SOUTH) 4 18 49/8 sigs 3 50 66/17* 5.95 0 51 Golborne Jn 6 44 22 6 00 18 6.26 0 26 LOWTON JUNCTION 7 39 17 7 04 15 6.60 0 09 Parkside Jn 8 30 24 8 04 18 8.86 18 73 KENYON JUNCTION 10 51 89 10 41 91/92 10.75 20 64 GLAZEBURY 12 10 84 11 56 87 12.63 22 54 ASTLEY 13 52 58 13 29 60 14.45 24 40 BARTON MOSS 15 24 77 15 00 75 15.73 25 62 Barton Moss Jcn 16 26 74 16 03 74 16.53 26 46 PATRICROFT 17 04 75 16 42 74 17.50 27 44 ECCLES 17 52 73 17 29 75 18.53 28 46 WEASTE 18 42 74 18 18 74 19.11 29 13 SEEDLEY 19 14 55 18 48 69 19.66 29 57 CROSS LANE 20 20 sigs 19 19 19 54 20.45 30 40 Ordsall Lane Jn 22 38 16 20 48 21/31 21.06 189 57 DEANSGATE 24 29 20 22 02 27 21.43 189 28 MANCHESTER (OXFORD ROAD) 25 21 21 23 13 21.43 189 28 0 00 21.96 188 65 MANCHESTER (PICCADILLY) 27 37 2 03

All the runs share a common features – the slow section between Manchester Piccadilly & Ordsall Lane Junction, and then the sharply curved section between Parkside Junction & Golborne Junction, for which approach (control/release) is necessary in both directions. Hence, whilst these times are capable of improvement, average speeds between Manchester & Wigan are never likely to get much above 60 mph.

The Chat Moss route has also gained a new fast Liverpool – Newcastle service, booked non-stop between Liverpool Lime Street & Manchester Victoria in 32-33 minutes. Until completion of the Trans Pennine electrification in a few years, these are operated by Class 185 dmus. I have yet to have an unchecked run in either direction, but logs 5 & 6 are my best so far. Hopefully I will have better to report when engineering work is complete and temporary speed restrictions have been removed.

For anyone planning trips on these services, note that - at Liverpool - a Newcastle service is formed from the incoming arrival from Scarborough, (and vice versa), and that some turnaround times are a bit tight. If a Newcastle service (due to depart at xx:12) is late, it is liable to be stuck behind the xx:16 to Manchester Airport, and maybe also behind the xx:20 all stations to Manchester Victoria. Completion of the 4 track section between the new Roby Junction & Huyton Junction will enable slower services to be overtaken.

Milepost 35¼ -142 - July 2014 Run 5 Run 6 Date 21 May 2014 Date 21 May 2014 Train 10:12 Liverpool - Train 07:08 Newcastle- Newcastle Liverpool Loco 185.131 Loco 185.136 Load 3/163/166 Load 3/163/165 Recorder/position/GPS B.Price, 2/3 Recorder/position/GPS B. Price, 2/3 Y

Miles m c Location sch m s mph Miles m c Location sch m s mph 0.00 0 03 LIVERPOOL (LIME ST.) 0.0 0 00 4L 0.00 31 50 MANCHESTER (VIC) 0 0 00 1.35 1 31 EDGE HILL 3.5 3 50 35 0.69 30 75 Salford 2 13 24 2.33 2 29 WAVERTREE TP 5 03 67 1.13 30 40 Ordsall Lane Jn 3 3 13 25 2.71 2 60 Olive Mount Jn (OB) 5.0 5 23 76 1.91 29 57 CROSS LANE 4 33 54 3.55 3 47 BROAD GREEN 6 03 77 2.46 29 13 SEEDLEY 5 05 64 5.14 5 14 ROBY 7 19 73 3.05 28 46 WEASTE 5 36 74/71 5.69 5 58 HUYTON 7.5 7 45 75/73 4.08 27 44 ECCLES 6 6 26 73 6.53 6 45 HUYTON QUARRY 8 26 76 5.05 26 46 PATRICROFT 7 15 72/73 7.61 7 52 WHISTON 9 13 85 5.85 25 62 Barton Moss Jcn 7 54 65 8.86 8 72 RAINHILL 9.5 10 03 91 7.13 24 40 BARTON MOSS 9 10 60 10.14 10 14 LEA GREEN (Old) 10 54 91 8.95 22 54 ASTLEY 10 10 59 58 10.73 10 61 LEA GREEN (New) 11 17 92 10.83 20 64 GLAZEBURY 12 35 82/84 11.84 11 70 ST. HELENS JUNCTION 11.5 12 09 70*/55 12.71 18 73 KENYON JUNCTION 13 57 83/84 13.46 13 40 COLLINS GREEN 13 44 64 14.99 16 51 Parkside Jn 14 15 35 76/72 14.69 14 58 EARLESTOWN 13.5 14 43 75 15.89 15 59 NEWTON LE WILLOWS 15 16 18 75 15.70 15 59 NEWTON LE WILLOWS 14.5 15 30 83 16.90 14 58 EARLESTOWN 16 17 05 80/74 16.60 16 51 Parkside Jn 15.5 16 06 90 18.13 13 40 COLLINS GREEN 18 01 81 18.88 18 73 KENYON JUNCTION 17 37 92 19.75 11 70 ST. HELENS JUNCTION 18 19 09 85 20.76 20 64 GLAZEBURY 18 56 67*/75 20.88 10 60 LEA GREEN (New) 19 58 84/83 22.64 22 54 ASTLEY 19.5 20 31 57 21.45 10 14 LEA GREEN (Old) 20 23 85/86 24.46 24 40 BARTON MOSS 22 03 76 22.73 8 72 RAINHILL 20 21 16 83 25.74 25 62 Barton Moss Jcn [2] 23 04 74 23.98 7 52 WHISTON 22 13 73/76 26.54 26 46 PATRICROFT 23 43 68/64* 25.06 6 45 HUYTON QUARRY 23 04 73 27.51 27 44 ECCLES 25.5 24 36 73 25.90 5 58 HUYTON 21.5 23 46 70 28.54 28 46 WEASTE 25 26 74 26.45 5 14 ROBY 24 22 tsr 48 29.13 29 13 SEEDLEY 26 02 50 28.04 3 47 BROAD GREEN [2] 26 03 69/72 29.68 29 57 CROSS LANE 26 51 sig 33 28.88 2 60 Olive Mount Jn (OB) 26 26 45 63 30.46 30 40 Ordsall Lane Jn 28.0 28 51 19 29.26 2 29 WAVERTREE TP 27 11 52 30.90 30 75 Salford 30 10 10 30.24 1 31 EDGE HILL 27 29 02 25 31.59 31 50 MANCHESTER (VIC) 32.0 32 53 31.59 0 03 LIVERPOOL LIME ST. 32 33 30

GLASGOW CENTRAL TO MANCHESTER PICADILLY RECORD RUN John Heaton FCILT

The August edition of The Railway Magazine will contain a full account of the Charity Special run that completed the 229.6 miles from Glasgow Central to Manchester Piccadilly in 2hr 45min 56 sec at an average speed of 83mph, so it is not proposed to duplicate the material here. However, the log of the run has been considerably abbreviated and limited to average speeds for reasons that perhaps need little further explanation for members of the RPS. A fuller log is shown here, omitting averages and including a number of blanks in the speed column. Without wishing to appear too precious, the log as printed here fits with editorial policy concerning trains which are easily identifiable. Please accept my apologies for departing from the approved log format on this occasion. An unedited log will be lodged with Lee Allsopp in due course for inclusion in the RPS electronic archive for members to view. This is not for publication without the recorder’s permission, again in accordance with normal RPS protocol.

Milepost 35¼ -143 - July 2014 Glasgow Central to Manchester Piccadilly Miles Timing Point WTT Min Sec M.P.H. R Avge Unit 350410 102.42 CARLISLE 75½ 74 05 15 82.9 Load 4/170/185 103.76 Upperby Bridge 76 46 57 81.1 Train 1Z52 17.30 Glasgow C.-Manchester Picc 109.77 Southwaite 81 02 98 81.3 Date 26/04/2014 113.13 Calthwaite 83 02 -/102 81.8 Rec/Position J. Heaton 2/4 115.46 Plumpton 84 24 -/- 82.1 Miles Timing Point WTT Min Sec M.P.H. Rng 120.27 PENRITH 89 87 17 78 82.7 0.00 GLASGOW C. d. 0 0 00 Pfm 5 1L Avge 124.50 Clifton 90 06 94/98/80 82.9 0.81 Eglinton St. 3 3 27 25/69/rbt57/76 14.0 131.81 Shap 95 09 90 83.1 3.75 Rutherglen E. J 6 6 52 73 32.7 133.92 Shap Summit 96 35 80 83.2 5.02 Cambuslang 7 53 80/82 38.2 136.38 Scout Green 98 06 - 83.4 6.56 Newton 8 (2½) 9 02 77/75 43.5 139.33 Tebay 99 48 - 83.8 8.45 Uddingston 12 10 27 91/92/19 48.5 141.53 Dillicar 101 06 100 84.0 12.90 MOTHERWELL 15 14 47 63 52.3 145.37 Grayrigg 103 43 83/95 84.1 14.64 Shieldmuir 16½ 16 14 82/90/59 54.1 152.43 OXENHOLME 110½ 108 25 90 84.4 18.38 Law Jct 19 19 14 68 57.3 158.00 Milnthorpe 111 47 - 84.8 20.42 Carluke 20 45 87/101 59.0 165.28 Carnforth 118½ 115 55 - 85.5 26.34 Lanark Jct 24 [1] 24 27 100 64.6 168.40 Hest Bank 117 42 103 85.8 28.74 CARSTAIRS 26½ 26 03 86/83 66.2 171.54 LANCASTER 122½ 119 50 69 85.9 32.31 Leggattfoot 28 29 95 68.1 174.72 Oubeck 122 00 102 85.9 35.75 Symington 30 32 101 70.2 177.27 Bay Horse 123 29 - 86.1 39.12 Lamington 32 34 99 72.1 183.21 Catterall 129½ 126 53 - 86.6 42.11 Wandelmill 34 23 100 73.5 185.07 Brock 127 56 -/- 86.8 44.51 Abington 36 35 54 91 74.4 187.77 Barton 129 30 - 87.0 47.28 Crawford 37 40 96/99 75.3 192.02 Fylde Jct 132 14 45/34 87.1 49.77 Elvanfoot 39 13 95/87 76.1 192.52 PRESTON 137½ 133 02 37 86.8 52.61 Beattock Smt 41½ 41 03 92 76.9 194.13 Farington Curve J 134 52 74 86.4 55.61 Harthope OB 43 00 98/93/100 77.6 195.27 Farington Jct 135 43 88 86.3 59.79 Auchencastle 45 35 97/102 78.7 196.52 Leyland 136 31 95 86.4 62.66 Beattock 47½ 47 18 100 79.5 197.98 Euxton Jct 142 137 26 102 86.4 65.51 Murthat 49 01 99/101 80.2 199.28 Balshaw Lane Jct 143 138 12 102 86.5 67.91 Wamphray 50 28 97 80.7 205.48 Boars Head 141 44 -/-/78 87.0 70.65 Dinwoodie 52 07 100/97 81.3 207.61 WIGAN N. W. 148 143 09 80 87.0 73.67 Nethercleugh 53 56 100/99 82.0 209.93 Bamfurlong Jct 144 41 - 87.1 76.57 LOCKERBIE 56 55 41 100/99 82.5 212.42 Golborne 151½ 146 18 58 87.1 79.71 Castlemilk [2] 57 35 100 83.1 214.30 Parkside Jct 155½ 150 21 16 85.5 82.21 Ecclefechan 59 06 99 83.5 216.51 Kenyon Jct OB 152 23 90/92 85.3 88.87 Cove 66 63 07 100 84.5 220.28 Astley 160 155 22 59/79 85.1 92.05 Quintinshill 65 03 95 84.9 224.18 Patricroft 158 30 78 84.9 93.69 Gretna Jct 68½ 66 04 103 85.1 225.16 Eccles 164 [2] 159 16 76/79 84.8 96.33 Floriston 67 39 90/100 85.4 228.06 Ordsall L. Jct 168½ 162 12 23 84.4 100.34 Kingmoor 70 15 57/stop24sec 85.7 228.70 Deansgate 170 163 29 36/38 83.9 102.42 CARLISLE 75½ 74 05 15 82.9 229.06 Oxford Rd. 170½ 164 14 21/38 83.7 229.65 Manchester Picc 172 165 57 83.0 Allowance made for distance starting and terminating short of buffers. Glasgow to Carlisle distances converted from metric re-calibration attempting to correct historic milepost inaccuracies rbt=running brake test. Crew change north end of Carlisle platform . AREA MEETINGS

THURSDAY 25 SEPTEMBER 2014 BOROUGH LONDON

THURSDAY 30 OCTOBER 2014 BRISTOL PARKWAY

TUESDAY 4 NOVEMBER 2014 LEEDS

Milepost 35¼ -144 - July 2014