MILEPOST 37 - RPSTel 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]

Milepost 37 - 1 - April 2016

MILEPOST

APRIL 2016

Class 73s in Scotland – from page 65 Photo – Sandy Smeaton

RPS

railway performance society

www.railperf.org.uk

37


Milepost 37 – April 2016

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] VICE CHAIRMAN Michael Rowe Burley Cottage, Parson St., Porlock,Minehead, Somerset,

TA24 8QJ . Tel 01643 862182 E-mail: [email protected] SECRETARY Frank Price, Penn House, Middle Common Rd., Pennington, Lymington (co-opted) SO41 8LE Tel: 01590 672235 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 Martin Robertson 23 Brownside Rd, Cambuslang, Glasgow, G72 0NL

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]

Meeting Secretary: Michael Bruce, 234A Otley Rd., West Park, Leeds LS16 5AB Tel 0113 305 0367

Committee member: David Sage: 93 Salisbury Rd, Burton, Christchurch, Dorset BH23 7JR Tel 01202 249717 E-mail: [email protected]

Non-committee official:- Foreign Fastest times: Alan Varley, 285 Chemin de la Costiere, 06000 Nice, France, e-mail: [email protected]

Directors of The Rail Performance Data Foundation: RPS nominees: Frank Collins, Peter Smith, Frank Price Trustees: John Rishton, Nigel Smedley, David Lloyd Roberts

CONTENTS Notices 2 Class 350s up north Bevan Price 7 Liverpool to Preston – diesel and electric John Rishton 12 Fastest Times Martin Robertson 15 Festive Settle Scotsman Sandy Smeaton 24 Early timing experiences John Rishton 26 EMUs on ECML Andrew James 31 No further fastest times Michael Rowe 37 Three steam logs from GC William Alcock 43 Almost an Artic Circle Mike Burrow 46 Cab ride to Bendigo Malcolm Simister 52 Letters 56 News: 100mph scheduled services Jeremy Hartill 59

Sleeper diversions Martin Robertson 59 Virgin shuttles Martin Robertson 62 Class 73/9s in Scotland Sandy Smeaton 65 Network developments Ian Umpleby 67 10 minutes late David Ashley 68

Cover: 73967 on the Awe Viaduct with the 1225 ecs to Polmadie on 27th Feb- Photo Sandy Smeaton Enclosures : AGM papers

Copyright The Railway Performance Society Ltd, registered in England & Wales No. 04488089

mailto:[email protected]









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 Alan Varley has taken on the compilation of Foreign Fastest Times. Details are shown on page 2. This means that UK and Ireland will be managed by Martin Robertson, and others by Alan Varley. HISTORIC FASTEST TIMES For members who subscribe, you should receive the printed copy with the July edition of Milepost. Please send contributions for future issues to a new email address: [email protected] Or by post to Bevan Price, 24 Walmesley Road, Eccleston, St. Helens, Lancs., WA10 5JT. Logs need not be sent to me, but could you please provide a copy to Lee Allsopp, for the logs database. ANOTHER SALE OF THE CENTURY We have reviewed our policy regarding the availability of back issues of “Milepost” for purchase by members, and - as all previous copies of the magazine are now available on the RPS website or can be obtained from the British Library - it has been decided that it is not necessary to offer back issues of the magazine in the future.


We are, however, giving members a final chance to buy back issues of “Milepost”, from Milepost 6, if they are still available. Until mid-May multiples of 10 copies will be available at the bargain price of £5 if collected from the AGM in May, or £10 including postage and packing. Please contact David Ashley in the first instance to establish whether the editions you require are still available.

THE MEETINGS SECTION. SATURDAY 21ST MAY 2016

THURSDAY 26TH MAY 2016

THURSDAY 30th JUNE 2016

SATURDAY 9th JULY 2016

TUESDAY19TH JULY 2016

The Lamb, Bloomsbury, LONDON

The Royal Oak, Borough, LONDON

The Beaufort Arms, BRISTOL Parkway

Mass Timing Day The Grove Inn, LEEDS

1215 for 1230 1645 1600 1700

AGM and 40th anniversary discussion of HSTs

Area Meeting Area Meeting See flyer Area Meeting

DIRECTIONS TO THE VENUES

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

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. LS11 5PL Please note that there is a slight change to the directions to The Grove Inn from Leeds City station as follows: The South Entrance to Leeds City station is now open accessed from the west end footbridge. Go down the two escalators from the south entrance there are then a number of ways to get to Neville Street but the easiest way to go forward from the escalator through the doors and turn right down Dark Neville Street at the end turn right onto Neville Street cross the traffic lights (water Street) at the corner of Bridgewater Place tower block turn right and the Grove Inn is visible. Please note that the stairs previously mentioned opposite the south concourse (main concourse) are going to be closed. As before if high winds are forecast and Neville Street is closed please meet outside WH Smith's in the South Concourse and we find somewhere else to meet.

You can contact me on [email protected] or 01484 307069 – Chris Taylor

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 16:00 and conclude around 18:30 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.

BRISTOL MEETING FEBRUARY 25th 2016 – John Rishton We opened with a detailed examination of the running of the fastest scheduled services in the country, HS1 excepted, and concluded that despite the promise, the schedule was very often unachievable on our very intensively trafficked rail network. Moving back to the 1950’s we were treated to an account of an O.S. Nock log of the 12 noon Penzance to Manchester Mail. Routed via Pontypool Road this heavily loaded train of up to 470 tons had many banks to climb during its journey. Then followed an analysis of Swiss rail punctuality on 40 plus trains over a recent holiday. Timing trains through long tunnels was discussed, the Severn, English Channel and Lotschberg were cited as examples. A log of a Bristol Parkway to Cheltenham HST journey was presented where the Tuffley 70mph restriction was taken at 100mph; there are at least two other runs in our database which have recorded a similar speed in the area. Some examples of class 319 workings north from Wigan were discussed, and whether they could reach 100mph on this route between stops. We concluded with a description of a rail based holiday in Sri Lanka and India and learnt how intensively the rail routes traversed were used. Do try and come along to our next meeting, Beaufort Arms from 16:00 on 30th June 2016.

LEEDS MEETING – March 15th 2016 A long discusion on the article by Peter Absolon article on HST's was made. (David Stannard has written a piece for the next Milepost) It was pointed out that usually only the rear power car provides the ETH for an HST but can be switched to the front power car if necessary. The new MTU engines being fitted to the Virgin Trains East Coast seem to perform better than the old MTU engines, perhaps some tweaking has been done to these reconditioned engines that are being put into service. The most noticeable difference (unseen by most people) is that the predominant colour is red. It was reported that Driver Advisory Systems has been installed in the Cross Country class 220's but not in the 221's as there is a lack of space. Distance Chart Editor’s Report – Ian Umpleby Another period largely devoted to catching up on a backlog of data of which only a percentage of Irish distances remains to be dealt with. I hope to convert this into charts in the coming three months. A request for a Brussels to Aachen chart has resulted in a detailed draft chart being created with final details awaited from the membership. A Swiss main lines section has been created and may be on the web site by the time you read this; the more complex Historic Charts issue is also in the pipeline. Hopefully the Heritage Lines chart issue can be kick-started in the forthcoming months but priority must be given to the UK charts upon which the emphasis has been on updating charts which have not been revised in my tenure. This issue’s updates are the Table 82 lines – Manchester/Blackpool North/Southport/Kirkby by all routes and also the Stockport to Chester line. It may be possible to add the Hazel Grove HL to Northenden Jns railtour only line if time permits. Wherever possible future charts will include height, gradient and selective signal data. Thanks again for all the information received (even that pointing out my errors!) and keep it coming. 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 4th Quarter of 2015 Milepost 36¾ MTD 2015 Parts 1 and 2 on the Midland Main Line Latest runs from Bob Jennings Latest from Richard Howlett Latest runs from Charles Foss Latest from Richard Neville-Carlé Latest from David Sage Logs from John Rishton to go with his Fastest Times entries More from Bevan Price, including recent runs from the past few years. 39 more books from David Lloyd-Roberts covering commuting from Tunbridge Wells to London along with a wide variety of other material through the years HST running from Derek Wilson from 2002 to 2013, and commuting runs with Class 333s from Leeds/Bradford Scanned images from 15 notebooks by Alan Varley to go with info already in the database, covering 1972 – 1976 Details of latest UK and French running from Alan Varley 15 more books of steam/diesel running recorded by photographer Ian Carr, mainly in the North East 3 notebooks from Frank Collins covering 2014 to go with info already in the database The first of many logs from David Maidment, covering 1959/1960. Many more to come RPS ARCHIVES – Coming soon! – Lee Allsopp Thanks go Frank Waterland who is continuing to scan some of the vast amount of material that goes into the archive. 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. 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 192 books has been entered so far. More from Bevan Price’s notebooks, covering a vast amount of travel over many years. Member Derek Wilson has donated a large amount of material covering the late 70s onwards. This is now being entered into the archive. David Maidment has kindly made his collection of logs available. These are now being scanned for inclusion in the archive. 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)

Class 350 ‘Up North’: Part 1, Stafford – Crewe. Bevan Price Little seems to have appeared in print about the everyday performance of Class 350s in the northern part of England. The class did of course feature in the 2011 Mass Timing Day, but only between Rugby, Birmingham and Stafford. Therefore, the first part of this survey will cover the two routes between Stafford and Crewe. Later parts will continue the journey from Crewe to Liverpool, and then look at their work on Trans Pennine Express services between Manchester, Wigan and Carlisle. Some comparisons will be made with the work of their predecessors. The London Euston to Trent Valley, Stafford, Stoke and Crewe service only became feasible after electrification of the line between Kidsgrove and Crewe. Now, for much of the day, there is an hourly service operated by Class 350 EMUs. The section of the route between Stafford, Stoke-on-Trent and Crewe is not ideal for continuous fast running. There are quite severe speed limits over the sharply curved junctions at Norton Bridge, Stone and Kidsgrove, although faster speeds should be possible at Norton Bridge when the new deviation line and flyover are complete. Logs 1 and 2 show two northbound runs between Stafford and Stoke. As far as Stone, run 1 can only be described as rather leisurely, although maybe the driver was sighting adverse signals approaching Norton Bridge. At the time of writing, run 2 holds the RPS fastest time records between Stafford, Stone and Stoke. In some other runs (not included here), trains have been checked outside Stoke-On-Trent station due to late running by other services. For comparison, I include Run 3, by a Class 323 EMU, which called at all stations. By 2003, the Stafford – Stoke local service had sunk to an infrequent level, some trains being operated by a single Class 153 DMU. With what I personally consider a deficiency in station closure procedures, Norton Bridge, Barlaston and Wedgwood are still officially open but are not served by any trains, just substitute bus services. Whilst not meriting an hourly service, I think that it would be feasible for the London Midland services to call alternately at Barlaston and Wedgwood without significant disruption of the timetable or punctuality. Norton Bridge is a different problem - indeed with the tiny local population, it is perhaps surprising that it survived the Marples-Beeching era - the platform is now inaccessible due to removal of the footbridge, reportedly because it was becoming unsafe. Returning from Stoke-on-Trent to Stafford, runs 4 to 6 were with Class 350s, including a one hour break for photography at Stone, between runs 5 and 6. Run 6 holds the current RPS record between Stone and Stafford. Runs 7/8 also included a break for photography, this time at Barlaston. These services were operated by a Class 153, and Run 8 was not booked to call at Norton Bridge; the approach to Stafford was affected by signal checks. Runs 9 to 11 cover the Stoke to Crewe section. Run 11 had rather slow approaches to stations, but was the only one of the three runs to get into Crewe without signal stops. I have not included any comparison logs from the Derby – Crewe DMU services, which also cover this section, but with an additional stop at Longport. Runs 12 to 14 show the southbound


Run 1 2 3

Date 4 Aug. 2009 20 Oct. 2012 5 May 2003

Train 1446 Euston - 1646Euston 1024Stafford -

Crewe - Crewe Stoke

Loco 350.108 350.129 323.204

Load 4/179/184 4/179/193 3/121/122

Recorder/pos B. Price, 1/4 B. Price, 4/4 B. Price, 1/3

GPS GPS = Y GPS = Y GPS = Y

Miles m c Location

m s mph

m s mph

m s mph

0.00 133 43 STAFFORD 0 00.0 0 00.0 6L 0 00

1.71 135 20 M6 1 54.4 74/79 1 54.0 80 2 25 79

3.33 136 69 Great Bridgford 3 11.7 72 3 02.6 96 3 48 68/sig16

NORTON BRIDGE 5 48.3 23 4 58.6 27/24 7 50

5.36 138 72 0 00

5.46 139:00/3:56 Norton Bridge NJ

6.01 3 12 Eccleshall Road 6 11.0 52 1 25 52/75

7.59 1 46 M6 8 15.5 74 7 34.5 75 2 47 70

9.08 0 07 STONE 10 21.0 9 38.0 5 16

0 07 0 00.0 0 00.0 0 00

9.16 0:00/27:00 Stone Jcn (c.o.m.)

11.59 24 46 BARLASTON 2 37.1 83 2 40.4 91 3 40

0 00

12.21 23 76 WEDGWOOD 3 03.1 84 3 05.4 87 1 24

0 00

13.29 22 70 Trentham 3 49.4 84/86 3 50.4 84 1 24 71

16.20 19 77 STOKE 6 47.0 6 40.0 5 24

Run 4 5 7/8

Date 15 May 2010 11 Aug. 2012 20 May 2004

Train 08:33 Crewe - 16:33 Crewe - 11:21 Stoke -

Euston Euston Stafford**

Loco 350.253 350.232 153.375

Load 4/179/182 4/179/182 1/41/42



** 15:20 ex-Stoke south of Barlaston

Miles m c m s mph m s mph

0.00 19 77 STOKE 0 00.0 RT 0 00.0 0 00

2.91 22 70 Trentham 3 07.8 85 2 49.3 83 3 51 66

3.99 23 76 WEDGWOOD 3 54.6 84 3 33.5 85 5 14

0 00

4.61 24 46 BARLASTON 4 19.8 86 3 59.1 88 1 34

0 00

7.04 27 00 Stone Jcn

7.04 0 00

7.13 0 07 STONE 6 55.0 6 41.0 4 10


Date 15/05/2010 11 Aug. 2012 20 May 2004

Train 08:33 Crewe - 17:33 Crewe - 15:20 Stoke -

London Euston Northampton Stafford

Loco 350.253 350.248 153.375

Load 4/179/182 4/179/182 1/41/42



Miles m c m s mph m s mph m s mph

STONE 0 00.0 0 00.0 RT 0 00

8.61 1 46 M6 2 10.5 73/75 1 55.6 76 2 12 54/63

10.19 3 12 Eccleshall Road 3 29.8 54 3 13.6 56 3 52 26

10.74 3:56/139:00 Norton Bridge NJ 30

10.84 138 72 Norton Bridge RR 4 35.6 35 4 18.7 29 5 17 26

12.88 136 69 Great Bridgford 6 17.9 94 6 02.3 93 7 52 64/69

14.49 135 20 M6 7 17.3 96 7 01.6 99 9 39 sigs 37

sig stop 12:22-12:41

16.20 133 43 STAFFORD 9 20.0 8 51.0 14 37

Run 9 10 11

Date 4 Aug. 2009 31 Oct. 2009 30 Oct 2010

Train 1446 Euston - 1446 Euston - 1646 Euston -

Crewe Crewe Crewe

Loco 350.108 350.111 350.105

Load 4/179/182 4/179/183 4/179/182




0.00 19 77 STOKE 0 00.0 0 00.0 0 00

0.74 19 18 Cliffe Vale 1 06 67

1.19 18 62 ETRURIA 1 27.0 70 1 28.0 71 1 31 70

1.66 18 24 Grange Jcn 1 48.0 76 1 50.0 72

2.91 17 04 LONGPORT 2 41.0 89 2 44.0 90 2 45 89

3.94 16 02 Chatterley 3 17.0 89 3 21.0 89 3 29 90

4.15 15:65/16:00 Change of.mileage.

4.73 15 34 Peacock Hay Road 3 56.0 88 4 00.0 87 4 01 87

5.81 14 27 Harecastle Tnl S 4 46.0 55 4 50.0 58 5 02 38


6.39 0 07 KIDSGROVE 6 01.0 6 04.0 6 45

6.39 0 07 0 00.0 -/sigs15 0 00.0 0 00

7.74 1 35 Lawton Jcn 2 30.0 69 1 48.0 70 1 59 61

8.74 2 35 ALSAGER 3 52.0 3 33.0 3 50

8.74 2 35 0 00.0 0 00.0 0 00

10.39 4 07 Radway Green 1 46.0 74 1 45.0 74 1 52 72

11.26 4 77 Bartholmey Jcn 2 39.0 55 2 35.0 55 2 46 49

13.03 6 58 OB 20A 4 24.0 50 4 20.0 50 4 33 61

sigs 6:31 - 9:36 sigs 7:17 - 9:30

14.96 8 53 CREWE 11 53.0 11 57.0 9 24

$$ - Effective mileage at WCML 158-00

journey between Crewe and Stoke-on-Trent. None of the runs in either direction can be regarded as spectacular – they are just examples of competent every-day running. The Stoke - Crewe route does not feature in the RPS Fastest Times compilation, but examination of the logs database shows that the current approaches to and departures from Crewe are significantly slower than was possible 20-plus years ago. Faster speeds are attainable on the WCML direct line between Stafford and Stoke, as shown in Runs 15 - 20. These services are part of the Birmingham New Street - Liverpool Lime Street service operating twice hourly for much of the day, and currently booked for a mixture of Class 350 units limited to either 100 or 110 mph.


Run 12 13 14

Date 19 June 2014 19 Oct. 2014 19 Oct. 2014

Train 16:03 Crewe - 08:03 Crewe - 13:03 Crewe -

London Euston London Euston London Euston

Loco 350.129 350.111 350.113

Load 4/179/184 4/179/184 4/179/182




0.00 8 53 CREWE 0 00.0 0 00.0 0 00

66 69 tsr 27

1.94 6 58 OB 20A 3 34.0 60/57 3 22.0 58/56 3 43 60

3.70 4 77 Bartholmey Jcn 5 19.0 61 5 11.0 65 5 29 59

4.58 4 07 Radway Green 6 04.0 70 5 55.0 70 6 16 70

6.23 2 35 ALSAGER 8 08.0 8 14.0 8 25

6.23 2 35 0 00.0 0 00.0 0 00

7.23 1 35 Lawton Jcn 1 25.0 65/72 1 21.0 67 1 19 68/72

8.58 0 07 KIDSGROVE 3 23.0 3 32.0 3 11

8.58 0 07 0 00.0 0 00.0 0 00


9.15 14 27 Harecastle Tunnel S 1 24.0 1 19.0 57 1 25 50

10.24 15 34 Peacock Hay Road 2 23.0 83 2 19.0 83 2 12 65


11.03 16 02 Chatterley 2 56.0 89 2 51.0 93 2 45 84

12.05 17 04 LONGPORT 3 37.0 87 3 34.0 84 3 26 90

13.30 18 24 Grange Jcn 4 31.0 84 4 30.0 73 4 16 84

13.78 18 62 ETRURIA 4 53.0 69 4 51.0 71 4 36 72

14.23 19 18 Cliffe Vale 5 21.0 59 5 17.0 64 5 04 63

14.96 19 77 STOKE 6 43.0 6 42.0 6 12

Run 15 16 17

Date 17 June 2006 15 Sept. 2012 19 Oct. 2013

Train 17 xx Birmingham N.St-

18 xx Birmingham N.St-

18 xx Birmingham N.St-

Liverpool Lime St. Liverpool Lime St. Liverpool Lime St.

Loco 350.116 350.256 350.124

Load 4/179/183 4/179/185 4/179/184



Miles m c Location

m s mph

m s mph

m s mph

0.00 133 43 STAFFORD 0 00.0 0 00.0 0 00

1.71 135 20 M6 2 24.6 64 2 26.5 74 2 46.1 71

3.33 136 69 Great Bridgford 3 39.2 90/95 3 36.5 94/98 3 57.1 93

5.36 138 72 Norton Bridge 4 59.2 87 4 54.5 90 5 11.0 106

7.58 141 09 Badnall Wharf 6 23.1 100 6 18.9 99 6 24.5 109

9.84 143 30 Standon Bridge 7 44.8 99 7 40.4 99 7 37.8 110

12.26 145 64 Stableford 9 12.3 100/96 9 08.1 98/94 8 57.0 109

13.98 147 41 Whitmore 10 16.0 99 10 11.9 99 9 55.2 105

16.64 150 14 Madeley 11 52.3 100 11 48.5 99 11 22.9 110

19.71 153 20 Betley Road 13 43.9 99 13 39.9 99 13 03.5 110

22.74 156 22 Basford Hall Sdgs 15 36.0 81 15 30.7 90 14 41.9 85/sigs

24.50 158 03 CREWE 18 40.0 17 52.0 17 46

Run 15 was with a Class 350/1, prior to their authorisation to run at 110 mph; Run 16 was a Class 350/2, which remains limited to 100 mph, and Run 17 was a Class 350/1 after authorisation to run at 110 mph. The latter had the slowest start out of Stafford, but on the unchecked part of the run, it had about one-minute advantage over units restricted to 100 mph. All these runs were on the down fast line. Unfortunately, I have yet to have an unchecked northbound run on the slow lines. Occasionally, trains depart Stafford on the slow lines, but


Run 18 19 20

Date 7 Oct. 2000 27 May 2000 25 Nov. 2004

Train 18 xx Birmingham N.St-

19xx Birmingham N.St -

11 xx Birmingham N. St.-

Liverpool Lime St. Manchester Picc. Liverpool Lime St

Loco 323.211 309.624 170.109

Load 3/121/126 4/170/180 3/135/138


GPS

Miles m c Location

m s mph

m s mph

m s mph

0.00 133 43 STAFFORD 0 00.0 0 00.0 3L 0 00 1L

1.71 135 20 M6 2 40.3 63

3.33 136 69 Great Bridgford 3 33.9 90 4 22.3 79 4 01.7 78

5.36 138 72 Norton Bridge 4 56.7 87 5 49.6 85 5 28.4 89

7.58 141 09 Badnall Wharf 6 23.2 90/tsr 57 7 21.1 89/tsr54 6 54.6 95

9.84 143 30 Standon Bridge 8 17.8 65 9 28.1 68 8 17.6 100

12.26 145 64 Stableford 9 55.5 90 11 19.3 84/81 9 45.8 98

13.98 147 41 Whitmore 11 03.1 91 12 33.5 84 10 49.2 96

16.64 150 14 Madeley 12 47.8 93 14 21.3 98/101 12 27.2 99/101

19.71 153 20 Betley Road 14 45.6 96 16 13.1 98/100 14 18.3 97

22.74 156 22 Basford Hall Sdgs 17 03.0 sigs 50 18 23.9 sigs 45 16 17.5 60

24.50 158 03 CREWE 20 16.0 23 22.0 Plat 1 19 49

Run 21 22 23

Date 12 Aug. 2006 27 April 2013 16 Aug. 2014

Train 08:34 Liverpool L.St - 07:34 Liverpool L.St - 07:34 Liverpool L.St -

Birmingham New St Birmingham New St Birmingham New St

Loco 350.108 350.115 350.105

Load 4/179/182 4/179/182 4/179/183

Recorder/pos B. Price, ¾ B. Price, 1/4 B. Price, 1/4


Miles m c Location

m s mph

m s mph

m s mph

0.00 158 03 CREWE 0 00.0 0 00.0 0 00 P.6/SL

1.76 156 22 Basford Hall Sdgs 2 26.3 78 2 31..7 80 1 54.2 75

4.79 153 20 Betley Road 4 23.7 100 4 29.0 103 3 56.6 101/94

7.86 150 14 Madeley 6 15.1 99 6 13.7 108 5 49.8 98

10.53 147 41 Whitmore 7 51.0 100 7 41.3 111 7 24.2 102

12.24 145 64 Stableford 8 53.2 99/98 8 37.4 109/107 8 24.6 101

14.66 143 30 Standon Bridge 10 21.1 101 9 56.9 110 9 50.3 101/102

16.93 141 09 Badnall Wharf 11 42.3 99 11 10.8 109 11 10.0 99

19.14 138 72 Norton Bridge 13 05.6 89 12 36.0 tsr 68 12 48.7 75/74

21.18 136 69 Great Bridgford 14 21.8 100 14 01.7 97/103 14 23.9 77

22.79 135 20 M6 15 20.5 97 14 59.2 92 15 41.3 74

24.50 133 43 STAFFORD 18 20.0 17 40.0 17 45

cross to the fast line at Norton Bridge. I have not included any logs featuring that occurrence, but it probably adds 1½ to two minutes to the Stafford - Crewe running time. For comparison, I have included logs by a Class 323 (Run 18), Class 309 (Run 19) and Class 170 (Run 20). Unfortunately, Runs 18 and 19 were affected by a TSR near Badnall Wharf. These probably cost about 45 seconds for the Class 323 and 75 seconds for the Class 309. The latter also had a very slow approach into Crewe, being booked to use Platform 1. Crewe to Stafford runs are shown in Runs 21 - 26. These feature runs on the up fast line with Class 350s limited to 100 mph (Run 21) and 110 mph (Run 22), and logs on the down slow line after (Run 23) and before (Run 24) the speed limit was raised from 75 to 100 mph north of Norton Bridge. Most of these services use Platform 5 at Crewe, and have a rather slow start


onto the up fast line, whereas some trains (as in Runs 23 and 24) use Platform 6, and have a less restricted start onto the up slow line.

Run 24 25 26

Date 29 March 2014 1 Sept. 1999 25 Nov. 2004

Train 07:34 Liverpool L.St - 17:xx Manchester Picc- 11:xx Liverpool L.St. -

Birmingham New St Birmingham New St Stansted Airport

Loco 350.105 309.616 170.108

Load 4/179/183 4/170/175 3/135/138



Miles m c Location

m s mph

m s mph

m s mph

0.00 158 03 CREWE 0 00.0 P.6/SL 0 00.0 0 00.0

1.76 156 22 Basford Hall Sdgs 1 58.7 75 2 23.2 69 2 34.2 67

4.79 153 20 Betley Road 4 21.7 76 4 43.7 81 4 58.0 84

7.86 150 14 Madeley 6 47.1 75 6 58.4 83 7 05.6 89

10.53 147 41 Whitmore 8 53.6 76 8 51.8 86 8 48.4 98

12.24 145 64 Stableford 10 15.3 74 10 01.0 90 9 51.0 97

14.66 143 30 Standon Bridge 12 09.5 76 11 35.7 95 11 20.9 95/94

16.93 141 09 Badnall Wharf 13 56.1 76 12 59.1 98/100 12 45.0 98

19.14 138 72 Norton Bridge 15 42.3 75 14 21.8 90 14 10.5 87/96

21.18 136 69 Great Bridgford 17 16.3 77 15 40.5 95 15 29.0 94

22.79 135 20 M6 18 33.4 74 16 36.1 69

24.50 133 43 STAFFORD 20 29.0 20 21.0 19 22.0

As with the northbound services, the availability of 110 mph maxima gives about one minute advantage over trains limited to 100 mph. However, use of the fast lines adds a time penalty, as trains need to slow to cross from the down fast to down slow line north of Stafford station. So, run 23 on the down slow line throughout was almost as quick as the 110 mph unit on the fast lines. Indeed, if the 100 mph slow line limit could be extended from Norton Bridge all the way to Stafford, that would provide the fastest route for these services between Crewe and Stafford. Run 24 showed the adverse effects of using the slow line when there was an overall limit of 75 mph - almost three minutes slower than is now possible. For comparison, I have included runs by a Class 309 (Run 25), and Class 170 (Run 26). Note the comparatively poor performance by Class 309 on the climb from Crewe to Madeley, and also that the Class 170 was only one minute slower than a Class 350 limited to 100 mph.

LIVERPOOL-PRESTON – DIESEL & ELECTRIC John Rishton These logs compare the running of Class 319 EMUs with the Class 156 DMUs, which they replaced. Note the lesser improvements in running times on this line, probably due to the much lower line speed - actually being attainable by the diesel class. Note also the lack of any attempt to reach the electric units 100 mph maximum north of Wigan.

Day/Date Thu 23rd April 2015 Tue 6th October 2015 Tue 6th October 2015

Train 12:03 Liv.SP-B'pool N. 1502 Liv.SP-B'pool N. 12:03 Liv.SP-B'pool N.

Motive Power 156.44 319.369 319.369

Load (tons) 75/80 = 7.1 hp/ton 140/145 = 9.9 hp/ton 140/145 = 9.9 hp/ton

Weather dry wet dry

Rec. Pos. GPS J Rishton -1/2 - Stopwatch J Rishton -2/4 - SW J Rishton -2/4 - SW


Miles mm cc location WTT mm:s avge mm:s avge mm:s avge

0 0 2 Liverpool Lime Street 0 00:00 6L P4 0.0 00:00 2L P4 0.0

1.36 1 31 Edge Hill 3.5 03:38 (a) 22.5 04:03 rbt c 20.1

1.69 1 57 Edge Hill PSB 4 04:12 34.9 04:42 30.5

1.95 1 78 Bootle branch junction 4.5 04:38 36.0 05:08 36.0

2.34 2 29 Wavertree Tech Park 05:06 50.1 05:42 41.3

2.73 2 60 Olive Mount 5.5 05:32 54.0 06:06 58.5

3.56 3 47 Broad Green -3 06:21 61.0 06:56 sigs (d) 59.8

5.15 5 14 Roby 07:42 70.7 09:37 35.5

5.66 5 56 Huyton 11.5 08:43 P2 30.1 10:54 P2 23.9

0 0 00:00 3L 0.0 00:00 1L 0.0

0.47 6 12 Huyton junction 0.5 01:02 27.3 01:05 26.0

1.41 0 75 M57 02:24 41.3 02:14 49.0

2.15 1 55 Prescot 03:15 52.2 02:59 59.2

3.05 2 47 Eccleston Park 04:15 54.0 03:59 54.0

4.03 3 45 Thatto Heath 05:17 56.9 05:04 54.2

5 4 43 Pilkington OilSdgs RJ 06:22 53.7 06:16 48.5

5.66 5 15 St. Helens Central 8 07:36 32.1 07:35 30.1

0 5 15 St. Helens Central 0 00:00 2L 0.0 00:00 T 0.0

0.63 5 66 Gerrards Bridge J 01:33 24.4 01:36 23.6

1.67 6 69 East Lancs Road 03:22 34.3 03:09 40.3

2.64 7 67 Hollin Hey 04:46 41.6 04:26 45.4

3.82 9 1 Garswood 06:10 50.6 05:41 56.6

4.63 9 66 M6 07:00 58.3 06:31 58.3

5.09 10 23 Bryn 07:29 57.1 07:00 57.1

6.06 11 20 Landgate Lane 08:29 58.2 07:59 59.2

6.93 12 10 Ince Moss junction 09:35 47.5 09:13 42.3

7.48 12 54 Springs branch junction 10.5 10:36 32.4 10:06 37.4

7.88 5 57 Springs Branch slow line J 11:13 f.l. 38.9 10:42 f.l. 40.0

8.31 6 11 Wigan south junction 11.5 11:46 46.9 11:12 51.6

8.74 6 46 Wigan North Western 13 12:47 25.4 12:02 P5 31.0

0 0 00:00 2L 0.0 00:00 1L 0.0

1.07 7 52 Buckley Street 01:49 35.3 01:52 34.4

1.35 7 74 Spencer Road 02:09 50.5 02:12 50.5

2.17 8 60 Boars Head 03:06 51.8 02:55 68.6

2.36 8 75 Chorley Road 03:18 57.0 03:04 76.0

4.1 10 54 OB 04:56 63.9 04:16 87.0

4.35 10 74 OB 05:10 64.1 04:26 90.4

5.1 11 54 Coppull Moor Lane 05:48 71.1 04:55 93.0

5.89 12 37 Coppull 06:27 72.9 05:26 91.9

7.04 13 49 OB 07:26 70.2 06:14 86.3

7.45 14 2 Balshaw Lane J 8.5 07:49 s.l. 64.1 06:45 s.l. 47.6

8.37 14 76 Euxton Balshaw Ln 10 09:19 36.8 08:05 41.4

0 0 00:00 1L 0.0 00:00 T 0.0

0.77 15 57 Euxton Lane 01:48 25.7 01:16 36.5

1.32 16 21 Euxton junction 2 05:01 sigs 10.3 04:26 sigs e 10.4

2.02 16 77 Church Road 06:07 38.2 05:29 sigs e 40.0

2.75 17 56 Leyland 4.5 07:28 32.4 08:19 P1 15.5

(a) Delayed by late departing 12:27 Liverpool Lime Street to Manchester Oxford Road and confliction of arriving

11:03 Blackpool North to Liverpool South Parkway

(b) Delayed by late running 12:23 Manchester Victoria to Blackpool North ahead

(c) Delayed by confliction with arriving 14:16 Manchester Oxford Road to Liverpool Lime Street

(d) Delayed by late departing 15:20 Liverpool Lime Street to Manchester Victoria

(e) Delayed by late running 15:19 Manchester Victoria to Preston ahead


Day/Date Thur 23rd April 2015 Tue 6th October 2015 Thursday 23rd April 2015

Train 13:03 B'pool. N. to Liv. SP 13:30 Preston-Liv. SP 10:03 B'pool. N. to Liv. S. Py.

Motive Power 156.487 319.369 156440

Load (tons) 75/80 = 7.1 hp/ton 140/145 = 9.9 hp/ton 75/80 = 7.1 hp/ton

Weather dry dry dry

Rec. Pos. GPS J Rishton -1/2 - Stopwatch J Rishton -3/4 - SW J Rishton -2/2 - Stopwatch

Miles mm cc location WTT mm:s avge mm:s avge WTT mm:s avge

0 17 56 Leyland 0 00:00 2L 0.0 00:00 T 0.0

0.73 16 77 Church Road 01:31 28.9 01:34 28.0

1.43 16 21 Euxton junction 2.5 02:21 50.4 02:20 54.8

2.74 14 76 Euxton Balshaw Ln 4 04:24 38.3 04:12 42.1

0 0 00:00 3L 0.0 00:00 T 0.0

0.95 14 0 Balshaw Lane J 1.5 01:30 38.0 01:31 37.6

1.58 13 30 Church Lane 02:29 38.5 02:17 49.3

2.49 12 37 Coppull 03:28 55.5 03:06 66.8

3.28 11 54 Coppull Moor Lane 04:15 60.5 03:43 76.8

5.12 9 67 Standish 05:48 71.2 05:01 84.9

6.2 8 60 Boars Head 06:40 74.7 05:43 92.6

8.38 6 46 Wigan North Western 9 09:17 50.0 08:14 52.0

0 6 46 Wigan North Western 00:00 2L 0.0 0 00:00 3L 0.0

0.44 6 11 Wigan south junction 01:01 26.0 1.5 01:18 20.3

0.86 5 57 Springs branch slow line J 01:51 30.3 02:15 26.5

1.26 5 25 Springs branch junction 02:31 36.0 3 02:59 32.7

1.81 12 10 Ince Moss junction 03:12 48.3 03:45 43.0

2.69 11 20 Landgate Lane 04:06 58.7 04:48 50.3

3.65 10 23 Bryn 05:05 58.6 05:52 54.0

4.11 9 66 M6 05:33 59.1 06:21 57.1

4.93 9 1 Garswood 06:23 59.1 07:12 57.9

6.1 7 67 Hollin Hey 07:35 58.5 08:25 57.7

7.01 6 74 Carr Mill viaduct 08:35 54.6 09:33 48.2

8.46 5 38 Standish Street 10:51 38.4 11:53 37.3

8.74 5 16 St. Helens Central 11:39 21.0 14.5 12:37 22.9

0 00:00 1E 0.0 0 00:00 1L 0.0

0.66 4 43 Pilkington Oil sdgs EJ 01:22 29.0 01:25 27.9

1.64 3 45 Thato Heath 02:24 56.9 02:47 43.0

2.61 2 47 Eccleston Park 03:22 60.2 04:00 47.8

3.52 1 55 Prescot 04:16 60.7 04:58 56.5

4.26 0 75 M57 05:01 59.2 05:43 59.2

5.3 6 4 Huyton junction 06:12 52.7 7.5 06:57 50.6

5.66 5 56 Huyton 07:02 25.9 8 07:42 28.8

0 00:00 T 0.0 0 00:00 T 0.0

0.52 5 14 Roby 01:07 27.9 01:07 27.9

1.23 4 37 Court Hey Avenue 01:49 60.9 01:59 49.2

2.11 3 47 Broad Green 02:29 79.3 02:50 62.1

2.94 2 60 Olive MountJ-Mill Lane 03:07 78.5 3.5 03:34 67.8

3.33 2 29 Wavertree Tech Park 03:31 58.5 04:00 54.0

3.72 1 78 Bootle branch junction 04:08 sigs 38.0 4.5 04:31 sigs 45.3

3.98 1 57 Edge Hill PSB 05:15 14.0 5 05:01 31.2

signal stand -0.5 05:46 to 09:29 (j)

4.31 1 31 Edge Hill 06:07 22.8 6 10:48 3.4

signal stand 08:01 to 08:11 13:02 to 14:56 (f)

09:43 to 14:26

5.67 0 2 Liverpool Lime Street 16:59 7.5 13 17:01 13.1

(f) Held to follow on-time 05:50 Norwich - Liverpool Lime Street

(g) Regulated to follow on-time 08:57 Norwich - Liverpool Lime Street

(h) Awaiting vacation of platform 9 by on-time 14:03 Liverpool South Parkway - Preston

(j) Delayed by late running 10:16 Manchester Oxford Road - Liverpool Lime Street ahead, and then whilst

being overtaken via down main by the late running 08:06 Newcastle - Liverpool Lime Street


FASTEST TIMES UPDATE Martin Robertson Welcome to another Fastest Times Update and in particular to all members who have forwarded contributions in the last few months. I have been inundated with new or re-opened FT’s with large contributions from Alan Varley, Brian Milner and David Ashley, together with John Rishton and John Heaton’s regular logs. As noted in the last article I will look at the northern sections of the cross-border lines. We start with what might be termed the current Blue Riband of British train performance, the southern leg of the 05:40 Edinburgh-Kings Cross, which is scheduled non-stop from Newcastle to Kings Cross with a four timing from Edinburgh to London. Brian Milner supplied the log, which is only the second log I have seen of the service, possible due to the likely ticketing restrictions on the Business service. Brian’s comments on the run, which was recorded in 2013:- I wasn’t too hopeful about this journey as I know that it is unusual for this train (1E01 The Flying Scotsman) to make up time between the Newcastle departure and arrival in the Cross but I thought that it was worth trying. When we left Newcastle 8 min late I thought that there was a good chance that, being out of path, there would be lots of signal delays causing further delay or, just perhaps, all of the 8 minutes would be made up and a brilliant overall time would result! The Train Guard advised that there had been signalling problems near Morpeth and that was the reason for the delay. 1E02 06:00 Berwick to Kings Cross (due out of Newcastle at 06:55) was also late and was held in Newcastle so that 1E01 was not further delayed. There were several other examples of such good operating practice on the journey. No delays to Darlington and one minute recovery time resulted in passing there seven minutes late; perhaps more time could be made up before York! The driver was certainly trying – over the 27.81 miles between East Cowton J and Tollerton J, the average speed was 128.3 mph – pretty fast these days but it only made up 0.5 min and a subsequent 50 mph tsr resulted in passing York 7.5 min late at 29 mph. Then from MP 181 to Shaftholme J (20.72 miles), the average was 128.1 mph. This was followed by signals down to 30 mph before Doncaster. Maximum speeds may indicate that the speedometer was showing lower speeds than it should? Signals down to 42 mph before Grantham were followed by an average of 128.5 mph over the 17.66 miles from Corby Glen to Werrington Jn. Signals down to 60 mph after Holme LC were again followed by speed over 125 mph either side of Offord. The driver was trying very hard but the result was that overall half a minute had been lost by Sandy. Then, on the approach to Hitchin, signals brought us down to 25 mph, delaying us by a further 3 mins. Perhaps surprisingly, there were no further delays, resulting in a RPS Fastest Time. That was pretty amazing as I have only ever travelled on the train once! The speeds maintained by the driver were excellent with 128 appearing to his normal running level with brief maximum above this. The signal checks were probably what were expected given Brian’s initial comments and the relative laxity of the schedule. Table 2 is provided by Alan Varley and provides a betterment of the Berwick to Edinburgh dmu time. Good running by the driver of the Voyager unit, but a relatively rare, in my experience, unchecked entry into Edinburgh Waverley assisted in the new FT. Alan comments:- The Berwick-Edinburgh time was unexpected, though the units had been making good times throughout: 25 19 York-Darlington, 15 14 on to Durham, 11 12 to Newcastle. With change of driver the running seemed to get less sharp, 24 01 to Alnmouth with slow stop, but 19 37 to Berwick with 80 TSR after Goswick was not bad, and did involve quite sharp final braking. All 5 engines were obviously working, but 96 attained at Little Mill in just over 4 mins showed the slight drop in performance due to derating. Nothing special about the running after Berwick, .


TABLE 1 Miles M C Location sch m s mph aver

Date 19/06/2013 101.43 167 15 Heck OB 60 19.0 128 128.0

Train 0540 Edinburgh-Kings Cross 103.33 165 23 Balne L'gate 61 12.5 128 127.9

Loco 911xx 105.93 162 55 Heyworth [1.0] 62 25.5 128 128.2

Load 10,412/440/525 108.33 160 23 Shaftholme J 66.0 63 33.0 128 128.0

Recorder B Milner 2/11 110.59 158 02 Arksey LC 64 43.5 73/ 30 115.5

Miles M C Location sch m s mph aver 112.63 155 79 DONCASTER 68.5 67 28.5 56 44.5

0.00 80 16 NEWCASTLE 0.0 0 00.0 8.0 L 114.61 154 00 Potteric Carr J 69 01.0 96 77.4

0.75 79 36 K Edward Br SJ 2.0 2 32.0 27 17.8 116.61 152 00 Lov'sall Carr J 70.5 70 09.0 112 105.9

2.56 77 51 Low Fell OB 4 30.0 83 55.3 119.11 149 40 Pipers Wood 71 26.0 119 116.9

4.88 75 26 Birtley Jn (Sign) 5.5 5 54.0 108 99.1 120.96 147 52 Bawtry UB 72 23.0 112 116.8

6.68 73 42 Ouston Jn OB 6 52.5 112 110.8 122.78 145 67 Scrooby PC 73 19.5 120 115.5

8.28 71 74 CHESTER le ST 7 43.5 113/114 112.9 124.64 143 78 Ranskill LC 74 14.0 125/129 123.0

10.45 69 60 Plawsworth VN 8 52.5 112 113.5 126.91 141 56 Sutton LC 75 18.0 128 128.0

12.55 67 45 Newton Hall 10 09.0 91 98.8 128.86 139 60 Babworth 76 13.0 127 127.6

13.94 66 14 DURHAM 11.0 11 08.0 80/ 75 84.7 130.00 138 49 RETFORD 77.0 76 45.5 123 126.0

15.11 65 00 Relly Mill 12 02.0 82 78.3 131.16 137 36 Grove Road 77 20.0 120 121.3

17.36 62 60 Browney 13 33.0 92 89.0 133.11 135 40 Gamston 78 19.5 117 118.0

19.85 60 21 Hett Mill LC 15 06.5 105 95.8 134.86 133 60 Markham Smt 79 13.3 118 117.1

21.11 59 00 Tursdale Jn 16.0 15 48.0 112/117 109.5 136.69 131 74 Tuxford North 80 08.5 120 119.0

23.86 56 20 Ferryhill SJ 17.0 17 14.0 114/110 115.1 138.61 130 00 Milepost 81 03.5 130 126.0

25.11 55 00 Milepost 17 54.0 116 112.5 141.16 127 36 Crow Park 82 15.0 128/126 128.4

27.11 53 00 Milepost 18 55.0 118 118.0 143.91 124 56 Cromwell 83 32.0 131 128.6

29.11 51 00 Milepost 19 56.5 116 117.1 145.65 122 77 Bathley Lane [1.0] 84 21.0 125/126 127.7

30.75 49 29 Aycliffe Jn 20 54.0 87 102.5 147.83 120 63 Newark X 87.0 85 26.5 102/ 99 119.5

32.64 47 38 Kenton House 22 05.0 99 95.7 148.46 120 12 NEWARK 87.5 85 49.5 101 99.8

34.25 45 69 Springfield [1.0] 22 58.5 115/120 108.5 150.29 118 26 Bullpit Lane 86 50.0 113 108.6

35.99 44 10 DARLINGTON 25.0 23 53.5 101/ 90 113.7 153.28 115 27 Claypole 90.0 88 19.5 125 120.2

37.23 42 71 Croft Jn 24 40.5 100 94.8 154.90 113 57 Westboro' 89 06.0 127 125.8

38.63 41 39 Croft Spa 25 27.0 114 108.4 156.95 111 53 Hougham 90 03.5 128 128.3

41.16 38 76 Eryholme Jn 26 45.0 121 117.1 158.94 109 54 Barkston SJ 91 01.5 108/ 42 123.4

42.78 37 27 East Cowton J 27 32.0 127/129 123.5 160.80 107 65 Peascliffe TS 92 56.0 58 58.6

45.11 35 00 Milepost 28 37.5 128 128.5 163.18 105 35 GRANTHAM 95.0 94 48.0 96 76.3

46.35 33 61 Danby Wiske 29 12.0 128 129.1 164.61 104 00 Milepost 95 39.0 106 101.5

48.38 31 59 L Wiske Moor 30 09.0 128 127.9 166.50 102 09 Gt Ponton 96 41.0 113 109.6

50.11 30 00 N'ALLERTON 32.0 30 58.0 128 127.7 168.86 99 60 Stoke J 97.5 97 55.0 117 114.9

51.61 28 40 Milepost 31 40.0 129 128.6 171.53 97 07 Corby Glen 99 12.5 129 123.7

53.61 26 40 Otterington 32 36.0 128 128.6 173.61 95 00 Milepost 100 10.5 129/128 129.6

56.11 24 00 Milepost 33 46.0 129 128.6 176.40 92 17 Little Bytham 101 28.5 129/128 128.7

57.93 22 15 THIRSK 36.0 34 37.0 128 127.9 178.61 90 00 Milepost 102 30.5 129 128.5

60.11 20 00 Milepost 35 38.5 128 128.0 179.83 88 63 Essendine 103 04.5 128 128.4

62.14 17 78 Sessay 36 35.5 127/129 127.9 181.53 87 07 Greatford 103 52.0 129 128.8

64.11 16 00 Pilmoor 37 31.0 128 128.1 183.81 84 64 Tallington 105.0 104 56.5 126 127.7

66.74 13 30 Raskelf 38 44.5 128 128.6 185.20 83 33 Lolham LC 105 36.0 128 126.5

68.89 11 18 Alne 39 45.0 129 127.9 186.73 81 71 Helpston LC 106 18.5 129/130 129.2

70.59 9 42 Tollerton J 42.0 40 32.5 128/129 128.8 189.19 79 34 Werrington J 107 27.5 127 128.5

72.61 7 40 Milepost 41 31.0 100/ 49 124.6 190.61 78 00 N England N [0.5] 108 08.5 121 125.1

74.61 5 40 Beningboro' 43 24.0 51 63.7 192.28 76 27 PETERBORO' 110.0 109 00.5 108/104 115.1

76.61 3 40 Milepost [1.0] 45 16.0 83/100 64.3 193.61 75 00 Fletton Jn 109 46.0 108/115 105.8

78.49 1 50 Skelton Jn 47.0 46 29.0 78 92.5 195.81 72 64 Yaxley OB 110 56.0 110/100 113.1

80.11 0 00 YORK 49.0 48 29.5 29 48.5 197.61 71 00 Milepost 111 58.5 104/109 103.7

82.03 186 47 Chaloners W 50 43.5 81 51.4 199.29 69 26 Holme LC 112 55.0 101/ 60 106.7

83.83 184 63 Copmanthorpe [0.5] 51 53.0 103 93.2 201.36 67 20 C'ngton SJ 115.0 114 37.0 75 73.2

85.63 182 79 Colton Jn FB 54.0 52 51.5 117 110.8 203.61 65 00 Milepost 116 10.5 96 86.6

87.61 181 00 Milepost 53 50.5 125 121.3 206.61 62 00 Leys Smt 117 54.0 112 104.3

89.61 179 00 Milepost 54 47.0 128/129 127.4 208.61 60 00 Milepost 118 54.0 125 120.0

91.61 177 00 Milepost 55 43.0 128 128.6 209.78 58 67 H'TINGDON 119.0 119 27.0 128/130 126.8

93.61 175 00 Hambleton NJ 58.0 56 39.5 127 127.4 212.70 55 73 Offord LC 120 49.5 124/120 127.6

95.61 173 00 Milepost 57 36.0 128/129 127.4 214.61 54 00 Milepost 121 46.0 122 121.9

97.61 171 00 Milepost 58 32.0 128/129 128.6 216.91 51 56 ST NEOTS 122 53.5 125/128 122.7

99.36 169 20 Temple Hirst J 61.0 59 21.0 128 128.6 218.61 50 00 Milepost 123 41.5 127 127.5


. Miles M C Location sch m s mph aver Miles M C Location sch m s mph aver

220.41 48 16 Allington Hill 124 32.5 128/129 127.1 248.29 20 26 WELWYN GC 139.0 141 10.5 116/120 112.5

222.24 46 30 Everton LC 125 23.5 128 128.8 250.91 17 56 HATFIELD 142 30.0 118 118.9

224.49 44 10 SANDY 126.0 126 27.0 128 127.6 252.86 15 60 Marshmoor 143 29.5 118/115 118.0

226.49 42 10 Shortmead 127 23.0 128/125 128.6 254.13 14 39 B'MANS PK 144 08.5 116 116.5

229.19 39 34 East Road 128 40.0 126 126.2 255.86 12 60 POTTERS BR 143.0 145 04.5 107/102 111.7

231.61 37 00 ARLESEY 129 48.5 129 127.4 258.06 10 44 HADLEY WD 146 21.0 103/105 103.5

232.96 35 52 Three C'ties 130 26.5 127 127.9 260.26 8 28 OAKLEIGH PK 147 37.5 103 103.5

235.00 33 49 Cadwell 131 46.0 41/ 25 92.3 262.15 6 37 N S'GATE 148 43.5 103 103.0

236.66 31 76 HITCHIN 132.0 134 16.0 62 39.9 263.61 5 00 ALEX PAL 147.5 149 37.0 96 98.4

238.61 30 00 Wymondley 135 47.5 90 76.7 [1]

241.01 27 48 STEVENAGE 134.0 137 15.5 105/118 98.2 266.10 2 41 F'BURY PK 150.0 151 14.5 83 91.8

243.61 25 00 KNEBWORTH 138 37.0 112 114.8 [2]

244.80 23 65 Woolmer Gn 136.0 139 16.0 105/109 109.6 267.86 0 60 Belle Isle 154.0 153 03.0 34 58.5

246.66 21 76 WELWYN N [1.0] 140 18.5 108 107.3 268.53 0 07 KING'S X 156.0 155 56.0 8.0 L 13.8

though brakes/power through the slacks was generally quite smart. With only 105 at Stenton I thought we were easing for the final stage but apart from that we returned to more-or-less limit running with the usual magnificent but pointless charge from Prestonpans. Clear road into Waverley, and it was clear that we were heading for the west end of the station (this train was going through to Glasgow) so I thought a good time would be impossible. But we used the new platform 10, approached by the straight run along the wall with I suppose 40 possible right the way along. And we did keep speed quite well up - power on out of Calton Hill tunnel - and made another sharp stop.

Table 2 miles m c Location m s mph ave

Date Tu 4.8.15 23.74 33 64 Innerwick 17 16.0 108/115 102.5

Train 0828 Penzance-Glasgow 26.39 31 13 Oxwellmains 18 42.0 95* 110.9

Loco 221123 27.54 30 01 Broxburn 19 27.0 90 92.0

Load 5,273/285 28.49 29 05 Dunbar 20 05.5 83* 88.8

Recorder/pos A Varley 5/5 Showery, SW 30.56 27 00 Beltonford 21 29.0 95 89.2

miles m c Location m s mph ave 32.62 24 75 Stenton 22 41.5 105 102.3

0.00 67 00 Berwick 0 00.0 1 late 34.20 23 29 E Linton 23 36.5 101*/100 103.4

1.55 68 40 MP 1 58.5 75 47.1 35.38 22 14 Markle 24 18.5 101 101.1

2.88 54 49 Lamberton Toll 2 58.0 85/95 80.5 36.86 20 57 E Fortune 25 07.0 112/116/112 109.9

4.52 53 00 Catcairn 4 02.0 94 92.3 39.81 17 61 Drem 26 40.0 114 114.2

5.64 51 70 Burnmouth 4 44.5 96 94.9 41.31 16 21 Ballencrieff 27 28.5 105* 111.3

8.03 49 39 Bone Mill 6 21.0 82*/95/93 89.2 42.82 14 61 Aberlady Jc 28 19.5 111/112 106.6

11.39 46 10 Reston 8 35.0 95 90.3 44.33 13 20 Longniddry 29 08.5 110* 110.9

13.30 44 18 Mt Alban 9 50.5 89/91/82* 91.1 45.92 11 53 St Germains 30 00.5 110 110.1

14.66 42 69 Sign 350 10 47.0 83/74*/77 86.7 48.09 09 40 Prestonpans 31 10.5 115 111.6

16.30 41 17 Grantshouse 12 05.0 75 75.7 49.90 07 55 Wallyford 32 05.0 122/88* 119.6

17.47 40 04 A1 OB North 13 01.5 65*/92 74.5 52.38 05 14 Musselburgh 33 33.5 95/96 100.9

19.68 37 70 Pease Lye 14 40.0 90*/91 80.8 54.21 03 31 Portobello RR 34 43.0 89 94.8

21.07 36 40 C'burnspath 15 35.0 */86* 91.0 56.16 01 35 St Margaret TS 36 05.5 70* 85.1

22.26 35 23 Bilsdean 16 24.0 95 87.4 56.80 00 64 Abbeyhill Jc 36 42.0 55 63.1

57.56 00 03 Waverley 38 27.0 26.1

For Table 3 we move over to the WCML with Sandy Smeaton providing a fine example of Pendolino running to take just over half a minute out of his previous FT between Carlisle and Lancaster. Sandy comments:- The departure was late due to checks between Central and Carlisle caused by the 07:52 Central to Lanark, which stops at Cambuslang and Uddingston, departing 6 mins late and later at Craigenhill for reasons not apparent. There was also a tsr between Kirkpatrick and Quintinshill. The betterment of my previous run was mainly due to a faster finish in from Carnforth.


Table 3 miles Ms Ch LOCATION Sch Mn Sc Avge

Date: Mon 16.11.15 29.38 39 58 Shap 19 54.9 96.1

Train: 0800 Glasgow-Euston 30.10 39 00 MP 20 22.9 93.2

Loco: 390013 30.85 38 20 " 20 54.7 84.9

Load: 9,452.5/460 31.48 37 50 Shap Summit 21½ 21 23.5 78.1

Weather: Overcast and light wind 32.10 37 00 MP 21 51.3 80.9

Recorder/Method: A.Smeaton/Stopwatch 33.10 36 00 " 22 27.7 98.9

Recorder's position: 5/9 33.95 35 12 Scout Green 22 54.3 115.0

Miles Ms Ch LOCATION Sch Mn Sc avge 35.10 34 00 MP 23 28.7 120.3

0.00 69 08 CARLISLE (P4) 0 0 00.0 4L 36.10 33 00 " 23 57.9 123.3

0.19 68 73 Carlisle PSB 0 53.1 12.7 36.60 32 40 " 25 24 12.4 124.1

1.10 68 00 Upperby 2 51.3 27.8 38.10 31 00 MP 24 56.3 123.0

3.10 66 00 MP 4 24.8 77.0 39.10 30 00 Dillicar 25 26.7 118.4

4.10 65 00 " 5 03.0 94.2 41.10 28 00 MP 26 45.7 91.1

4.91 64 15 Wreay 5 33.9 94.7 42.10 27 00 " 27 31.2 79.1

6.10 63 00 MP 6 18.0 96.9 42.93 26 14 Grayrigg 29 28 09.0 78.6

7.10 62 00 " (Southwaite) 6 51.7 106.8 44.10 25 00 MP 28 58.3 85.8

9.10 60 00 " 7 52.4 118.6 44.85 24 20 Lambrigg 29 26.8 94.7

10.10 59 00 " 8 21.5 123.7 46.60 22 40 Hay Fell 30 34.0 93.7

10.71 58 31 Calthwaite 8 39.1 125.3 48.10 21 00 MP 31 31.3 94.2

11.10 58 00 MP 8 50.4 123.5 49.10 20 00 " 32 10.0 93.0

12.10 57 00 " 9 19.5 123.6 49.99 19 09 OXENHOLME 33½ 32 45.0 91.3

13.10 56 00 Plumpton 9 48.1 125.9 51.10 18 00 MP 33 29.8 89.4

14.10 55 00 MP 10 17.2 123.7 52.10 17 00 " 34 04.0 105.3

15.10 54 00 " 10 47.3 119.6 53.60 15 40 Hincaster Jn 34 53.0 110.2

16.10 53 00 " 11 17.7 118.4 55.10 14 00 MP 35 40.9 112.7

17.10 52 00 " 11 50.9 108.4 55.56 13 43 Milnthorpe 35 55.0 118.1

17.85 51 20 PENRITH 13 12 19.8 101.4 57.10 12 00 MP 36 39.8 123.5

18.10 51 00 MP 12 29.6 93.0 58.35 10 60 Burton 37 16.3 123.3

19.10 50 00 " 13 10.0 89.6 59.10 10 00 MP 37 38.1 123.9

20.10 49 00 " 13 48.1 94.5 59.60 9 40 MP 37 52.9 121.6

21.10 48 00 Eden Valley Jn 14 26.0 95.0 61.10 8 00 MP 38 36.2 124.7

22.10 47 00 Clifton 15 03.0 97.3 62.10 7 00 MP 39 05.0 125.0

23.10 46 00 MP 15 39.3 99.2 62.85 6 20 Carnforth 41½ 39 26.9 123.3

24.10 45 00 " 16 21.1 86.1 64.10 5 00 MP 40 04.0 123.0

25.10 44 00 " 17 06.0 80.2 64.71 4 31 Bolton-le-Sands 40 21.3 123.9

26.10 43 00 Thrimby Grange 17 47.9 85.9 65.96 3 11 Hest Bank 40 57.6 124.0

27.10 42 00 MP 18 30.0 85.5 66.60 2 40 MP 41 16.7 120.2

27.44 41 53 Harrison's Sdg 18 43.3 84.9 67.19 1 73 Morecambe SJ 43½ 41 36.2 108.5

28.10 41 00 MP 19 09.0 92.8 68.10 1 00 MP 42 13.6 87.8

29.10 40 00 " 19 44.6 101.1 69.10 0 00 LANCASTER 45½ 43 58.9 34.2

2.5L

. Table 4 miles m ch Location m s mph ave

Date M 10.8.15 8.61 08 47 Gretna station 6 31.0 122* 124.1

Train 1657 Euston-Glasgow 10.41 10 31 Quintinshill OB 7 34.0 94* 102.9

Loco 390 005 13.02 13 00 Kirkpatrick 9 03.0 119/120 105.6

Load 9 coaches 14.60 14 46 OB 9 50.5 119/126 119.7

Recorder A Varley 7/9 GPS 16.64 16 49 OB south 10 49.0 125 125.5

Weather Overcast, fresh west 18.30 18 22 Footbridge 11 40.0 113* 117.2

miles m ch Location m s mph ave 20.24 20 17 Ecclefechan 12 41.0 115/113 114.5

0.00 -00 02 Carlisle 0 00.0 3.5 late 22.50 22 38 OB south 13 52.5 116 113.8

0.76 00 59 Caldew UB S 2 02.0 20/19/52 22.4 24.07 24 04 OB Mallscastle 14 41.5 115 115.3

2.10 02 06 Kingmoor 3 10.0 90 70.9 25.46 25 35 Loop south 15 30.0 60* 103.2

4.10 04 06 Rockcliffe 4 17,5 112 106.7 25.84 25 65 Lockerbie 16 36.0 20.7

6.11 06 07 Floriston 5 18,5 125/126 118.6

In Table 4 we head north from Carlisle with a short sharp run to Lockerbie, recorded by Alan Varley. He comments: The other WCML time was an oddity: this was the 16:57 from Euston and south of Preston the running was frankly poor; one would have said the set had an over-


reading speedo as we mostly ran at around 123, and accelerations lacked zip. Total change after Preston, though as is so often the case today the stops left something to be desired. From Carlisle the acceleration was sharp but delayed through Caldew and the stop was poor - below 60 a minute before the stop. Everything else was about right though. The next stage was good too - a brilliant start, 192 seconds to 125, so we were quickly about 20 secs ahead of my FT run to Motherwell. We dropped a bit through Carstairs but were heading for a time well under 38 mins - until we hit severe sigs approaching Motherwell.

Table 5 miles m c Location m s mph ave

Date F 7.8.15 32.40 62 50 Irchester 19 52.5 115 102.3

Train 1715 St Pancras-Nottingham 34.86 65 04 Welingboro' 21 28.0 78*/77 92.7

Loco 43046/66 36.03 66 20 Neilson's Sdgs 22 22.0 86 78.0

Load 2+8 HST, 412 tare 430 gross 37.95 68 14 Finedon 23 37.0 98 92.2

Recorder A Varley 8/10 GPS 39.09 69 25 Burton Latimer 24 16.5 105/107 103.9

miles m c Location m s mph ave 40.48 70 56 Kettering SJ 25 04.0 100* 105.3

0.00 30 17 Luton 0 00.0 3L 41.78 72 00 Kettering 25 57.5 82* 87.5

0.79 31 00 MP 31 1 43.0 55 27.6 44.28 74 40 Glendon SJ 27 44.0 89 84.5

2.56 32 62 Leagrave 3 14.0 82 70.0 45.56 75 63 Glendon OB 28 32.5 96 95.0

3.79 34 00 MP 34 4 05.0 94 86.8 48.05 78 22 Desborough 30 04.0 99 98.0

7.04 37 20 Harlington 5 54.5 119 106.8 50.20 80 34 PC 31 17.0 112 106.0

9.99 40 16 Flitwick 7 19.0 128 125.7 52.19 82 33 Little Bowden 32 40.0 55* 86.3

12.03 42 19 Ampthill T S 8 17.5 125 125.5 52.71 82 75 Market Harboro' 33 43.0 29.7

13.54 43 60 Millbrook 9 01.0 126/127 125.0 35 25.0

15.94 46 12 H Conquest 10 15.0 111* TSR 116.8 1.63 84 45 Great Bowden 2 23.5 77 40.9

17.04 47 20 Elstow 10 51.0 108/103 110.0 3.56 86 40 East Langton 3 44.0 94 86.3

19.68 49 71 Bedford 12 20.5 106 106.2 5.27 88 17 UB 4 47.0 98 97.7

21.21 51 33 Oakley Jc 13 11.5 111 108.0 6.74 89 54 Kibworth N 5 40.5 100/112 98.9

22.74 52 76 Oakley 14 00.5 113 112.4 8.60 91 43 Great Glen 6 43.0 110*/99*/100 107.1

24.79 55 00 MP 55 15 03.5 120 117.1 10.54 93 38 Kilby Bridge J 7 53.0 99 99.8

26.46 56 55 Sharnbrook 15 56.5 106 113.4 12.51 95 36 Wigston Magna 9 08.0 83*/78 94.6

27.80 OB 16 53.0 75 TSR/74 85.4 13.68 96 47 OB 9 59.5 83/90 81.8

29.53 59 60 MP Summit 18 11.5 84 79.3 15.18 98 09 Knighton T N 11 03.0 69* 85.0

16.12 99 05 Leicester 13 03.0 28.2

Table 5 has another offering by Alan Varley on an HST on the Midland Main Line on one of the evening commuter services which have additional stops. Two successive FT’s were recorded between Luton to Market Harborough and onto Leicester. Alan comments: MML runs are mostly defaults to/from Luton stops, but quite good running nonetheless. The down run made a good stop in Leicester, 14 mph maintained to sharp final braking. I made three up HST runs during the week; two were very similar through Bedford and climbing out of the Ouse valley with 127-128 max at Bedford and 121/123 (this run) or 122/124 on the Flitwick easing. The 122/124 run then went over the summit at 117; this one clearly eased at Harlington and I think I saw double yellows ahead on the curves through Sundon. Alan provided a south bound run from Market Harborough to Luton with an unchecked time of 32m 25s. (see table 5A) For Table 6 an offering from John Rishton with two consecutive FT’s behind a Class 68 starting from Marylebone, on his return from a RPS Committee meeting in London. John’s comments: In the dark it is difficult to be absolutely sure if your progress is good or poor, especially so on a route that you do not know “blindfolded”. I had this run classed as mediocre by the time we were passing West Hampstead LT as I thought there was a lack of urgency climbing through the tunnels. Whilst I began to change my mind once we reached the “ton” I was still thinking that it took longer than average to get there. Only later, when we were running along the platform at High Wycombe, did I begin to appreciate the way my GPS had been hugging 100mph for mile after mile. An excellent run which must be close to the best you can expect from a “legal” log.


Table 5 (A)

Date Thur 28.01.16 Tu 11.8.15

Train 1032 Nottm-St Panc 1630 Nottm-St Pancras

Loco 43068/075 43076/049

Load 2+8 HST, 412/420 2+8 HST, 412/425

Recorder J Rishton 9/10 Gps A Varley overcast

miles m c Location m s mph ave m s mph ave

0.00 99 06 Leicester d P3 0 00 3L

0.63 98 36 Leicester South Jn 2 07 45 17.9

3.05 96 02 Wigston N'th Jn 4 11 75 70.3

5.59 93 39 Kilby Bridge Jn 5 58 94 85.4

7.50 91 46 Great Glen 7 09 99 96.9

10.11 88 77 Kibworth 8 38 110 105.6

12.81 86 21 Melton Road 10 06 112 110.4

15.25 83 66 Main Street 11 35 85 98.7

16.14 82 75 Market Harborough 12 58 38.6

0.00 82 75 Market Harborough 0 00 4L

0.52 82 33 Little Bowden 1 19 46 23.7

2.51 80 34 PC 3 14 74 62.3

4.66 78 22 Desborough OB 4 52 84/87 79.4

7.15 75 63 Glendon OB 6 20 113 101.9

8.43 74 40 Glendon S Jc 7 02 108/109 109.7

10.93 72 00 Kettering 8 28 96* 104.0

12.23 70 56 Kettering S Jc 9 16 99 97.5

13.62 69 25 Burton Latimer OB 10 04 110/112 104.3

14.76 68 14 Finedon 10 41 111 110.9

16.68 66 20 Neilson's Sdgs 11 46 104 107.2

17.85 65 04 Welingborough 12 33 82* 89.6

20.31 62 50 Irchester 14 10 96 91.3

23.18 59 60 MP Summit 15 56 98 97.0

26.25 56 55 Sharnbrook OB 17 38 114 108.9

27.92 55 00 MP 55 18 30 117 114.5

29.97 52 76 Oakley 19 32 121 119.0

31.50 51 33 Oakley Jc 20 16 126/125 125.2

33.03 49 71 Bedford 21 00 127/128 125.2

34.92 48 00 MP 21 54 125 127.2

36.77 46 12 Houghton Conquest 22 46 127 126.9

39.17 43 60 Millbrook 23 56 123 124.3

40.68 42 19 Ampthill T S 24 40 121 122.2

42.72 40 16 Flitwick 25 40 123 122.4

45.67 37 20 Harlington 27 10 113 118.7

48.92 34 00 MP 34 28 56 109 110.4

50.15 32 62 Leagrave 29 38 103 105.4

51.92 31 40 MP 31 30 27 78* 130.0

52.71 30 17 Luton 32 25 24.0

This was my first start behind a Class 68 from High Wycombe, so nothing to compare with, but in the dark it did not appear to be exceptional. Once clear of Princess Risborough a steady 100mph was held, except for a brief respite approaching Bicester, until adverse signals were sighted after leaving Ardley Tunnel. The delay was caused by the 16:43 from Marylebone to Banbury, which calls at Kings Sutton. It must have been running late as it was due at Banbury at the time we passed Kings Sutton but was not far ahead as its passengers were still climbing the footbridge steps as we came to a stand at Banbury. Table 7 has a short snippet from David Adams from Birmingham Moor St to Solihull with Class 68 traction. David comments:- A solid performance with better than average braking. Table 8 has a final offering from Alan Varley on an evening Cross Country service from Birmingham to Leicester. Alan comments:- The New St-Leicester was a standard Cl 170 run,


Table 6 Miles mm cc location WTT mm:s mph avge

Day/Date Sat 28th November 2015 18.71 7 18 Gerrards Cross 16.5 15:16 100 99.8

Train 17:10 Marylebone-Snow Hill 21.44 9 76 Sear Green 16:55 100 99.3

Motive Power 68.012 + 6 Mk3 TSO + DVT 23.01 11 42 Beaconsfield 17:51 100 101.0

Load (tons) 337/355 = 10.6 hp/ton 24.84 13 28 Whitehouse tunnel 18:57 100 99.8

Weather damp 27.90 16 33 High Wycombe 23 21:51 63.3

Rec. Pos. GPS J Rishton - 3/8 - GPS 0.00 16 33 High Wycombe 0 00:00 4L 0.0

Miles mm cc location WTT mm:s mph avge 0.76 17 14 The Pastures 01:33 55 29.4

0.00 205 74 London Marylebone 0 00:00 4L 0.0 4.91 21 26 Saunderton 5 04:48 86 76.6

0.45 205 43 St. Johns Wood t'l 01:10 30 23.1 8.09 24 40 Princes Risborough 7.5 07:05 84 83.6

1.49 204 35 Hampstead tunnel 02:39 50 42.1 11.96 28 28 Kingsey [1] 09:30 100 96.1

1.88 204 04 03:07 50 50.1 13.88 30 21 Haddenham & T Pk 12 10:39 100 100.2

3.73 202 16 Willesden Green 05:20 49 50.1 16.34 32 58 Chilton Road (1) 12:08 100 99.5

5.10 200 66 Neasden south jn 7 06:43 73 59.4 19.94 2 38 Brill tunnel 14:18 100 99.7

6.50 4 79 Wembley Stadium 8 07:46 84 80.0 23.74 6 22 Akeman Street 16:35 100 99.9

7.81 3 54 Sudbury & Harrow Rd 08:40 90 87.3 25.74 8 22 Bicester south jn 20.5 17:47 99 100.0

8.73 2 61 Sudbury Hill Harrow 09:16 95 92.0 26.83 9 29 Bicester North 22 18:27 97 98.1

9.76 1 58 Northolt Park [0.5] 09:54 99 97.6 29.65 12 15 M40 20:10 100 98.5

10.59 0 72 Northolt Park jn 11.5 10:24 100 99.6 33.28 15 65 Ardley tunnel 22:21 100 99.8

11.54 0 04 South Ruislip 12 10:58 101 100.5 35.89 81 16 Aynho junction 28 24:23 72sigs 77.0

13.35 1 69 West Ruislip 13 12:03 100 100.3 37.35 82 53 Kings Sutton [0.5] 26:02 38 53.1

16.13 4 51 Denham 13:43 100 100.1 39.73 85 03 M40 <0.5> 30:25 49 32.6

16.99 5 40 Denham Golf Club 14:14 100 100.0 40.89 86 16 Banbury 34 32:42 0 30.5

. Table 7

Date Fr 27-11-15

Train 1212 Snow Hill-Marylebone

Loco 82303/68010

Load 7,273/278

Recorder/pos/GPS D Adams 3/8 Y

Miles m c m s mph

0.00 128.67 BHAM MOOR ST 0.00

29*

0.74 128.08 Bordesley 1.38 45/60

1.73 127.09 Small Heath 2.39½ 58

X/OVER 57*

2.78 126.05 Tyseley 3.44½ 60

3.70 125.11 Acocks Green 4.33½ 75

4.71 124.1 Olton 5.17½ 88/91

6.54 122.24 SOLIHULL 7.17

. Table 8

Date Tu 11.8.15

Train 1552 New St-Leicester

Loco 170103

Load 3,135/145

Recorder/Loc/GPS A Varley 1/3 Y

Weather Light overcast

miles m c Location m s mph ave

0.00 04 00 Hinckley 0 00.0

0.47 04 38 OB 1 07.5 45 25.1

1.71 05 57 UB 2 21.5 73 60.3

3.15 07 12 Elmesthorpe OB 3 24.0 90/87/91 82.9

4.33 08 27 OB 4 12.0 90/91 88.5

5.72 09 58 Croft OB 5 10.0 75*/74 86.3

6.92 10 74 OB 6 06.5 81/82 76.5

7.80 11 64 Narborough 7 19.0 43.7


with a smart stop in Narborough that just pipped the previous time (actually 7 18.3 on my stopwatch). I've included the next stages with Sth Wigston stop though this isn't in the FT tables, but it would seem logical to include them as now part of the regular stopping pattern. Table 9 heads west on the Berks and Hants line with a re-opened FT between Reading and Taunton recorded by John Heaton. I have omitted the date of the run and the power car numbers in view of John’s comments:- The Reading-Taunton run was strange in that it employed DAS frequently - coasting from Little Bedwyn to Crofton, , to Heywood Rd, over Brewham and to Castle Cary. Poor old DAS machine - as soon as it managed to waste a bit of time the driver made it work overtime by running over the limit. This train has a booked clash with the 14:07 Manchester - Paignton at Cogload, and is supposed to follow the Voyager to Newton Abbot despite the latter's two extra stops. If the driver follows DAS he arrives at Cogload Jn to find the Voyager has been legged up as usual by a Weston local from Bristol so both arrive Taunton late in adjacent platforms. This time, at least the Taunton passengers were on time. The Manchester was 5L though and left in the path of the HST. If DAS had been observed today the Manchester would probably have been 6L at Taunton and the HST another minute away. And I see Scotrail is purchasing this super intelligent piece of equipment next. Not sure what the DAS equipment does, but it will probably reduce the already limited interest in running when Class 170 units are the traction.

Table 9 Miles M. Ch Timing Point Sch. m s M.P.H. avge

Date xx-2-16 45.11 81 07 Patney 30 30 112/88 113.5

Train 1606 Paddington-Penzance 51.05 87 02 Lavington 34 05 104 99.4

Loco 43xxx+43xxx 52.10 88 06 Lavington X 36½ 34 40 110 108.0

Load 2+8 55.55 91 42 Edington [1] 36 32 113 110.9

Recorder/Position J Heaton 8/10 58.63 94 48 Heywood Rd J. 41½ 38 15 91/88 107.5

Miles M. Ch Timing Point Sch. m s M.P.H. avge 61.01 96 79 Fairwood J. 43 39 52 90 88.6

0.00 35 78 READING d. 0 0 00 P7 T 60.99 111 16

0.92 36 72 Reading West 1 59 51 28.0 64.31 114 40 Clink Rd. J. 45 42 00 100/104 93.4

1.80 37 62 Southcote Jct 3 2 58 59 53.4 66.29 116 38 Blatchbridge J 46½ 43 10 101 101.6

5.33 41 24 Theale 5 35 96 80.8 66.26 116 53

7.51 43 39 Ufton 6 56 99 97.2 70.60 120 78 E Somerset J. 49 45 47 89 99.5

10.76 46 59 Midgham [1] 8 55 93/101 98.3 72.28 122 52 Brewham 47 02 77 80.4

12.96 48 75 Colthrop 10 18 99 95.4 75.74 126 09 Bruton 49 27 98/102 86.0

13.60 49 46 Thatcham 10 41 100 99.8 79.18 129 44 CASTLE CARY 55 51 38 83/105 94.5

17.10 53 06 NEWBURY 14 12 44 108/110 102.4 79.15 115 27

20.14 56 09 Hamstead 14 26 107 107.2 84.04 120 16 Keinton Mand. 54 36 99/102 98.8

22.50 58 38 Kintbury 15 53 92 97.8 89.98 126 11 Somerton G. F. 61½ 58 09 99 100.4

25.56 61 43 Hungerford 18 08 73/96 81.7 93.70 129 69 Langport E. 60 20 104 102.4

30.45 66 34 Bedwyn 22½ 21 25 90 89.3 98.83 134 79 Athelney 67 63 20 102 102.5

32.08 68 04 Crofton L.C. 22 35 68 83.6 [1]

34.14 70 09 Savernake 24 10 84/105 78.2 (2)

39.35 75 26 Pewsey 27 20 99 98.8 101.99 138 12 Cogload Jct 72 65 22 89/99 93.3

42.94 78 73 Woodborough 31 29 21 114/115 106.7 101.96 158 32

106.73 163 11 TAUNTON 76 69 15 7E 73.6

Table 10 has two offerings from David Ashley which provided improvements on the Victoria to Brighton line sections. On the Horley to Burgess Hill section the driver exceeded the permitted 90mph briefly on a couple of occasions. No further comment from David. The Gatwick to Victoria run only had a minor signal check to contend with. David comments:- This is a rare Gatwick-Victoria record. The rarity is probably due to the premium-pricing of Gatwick Express services which may have excluded such services from RPS members’ travel arrangements, rather than this run representing the best that can be achieved. Southern continue to attempt a premium-pricing product by limiting travel on Gatwick Express services to those with “any permitted route” tickets.


Table 10 Date 19.12.15

Date 16.12.15 Train 1048 Brighton-Victoria

Train 1450 Victoria-Brighton Loco 442401

Loco 377418/421 Load formation 5

Load formation 8 Recorder D Ashley

Recorder D Ashley Position/ GPS Bright 3/5 Y

Position/ GPS Cloudy 4/8 Y miles M C Timing Point Sch. m s mph ave

miles M C Timing Point Sch. m s mph ave 23.91 26 50 Gatwick Airport 0 0 00 7L

0.00 25 59 HORLEY 0 00 8L 24.80 25 59 Horley 1 47 57 29.9

0.89 26 50 Gatwick Airport 2 1 20 57 39.9 27.10 23 35 Salfords 3 36 81/86 76.0

3.53 29 21 Three Bridges 4 3 33 84 71.4 28.93 21 49 Earlswood 5 4 55 79/84 83.2

5.18 30 73 M23 4 44 85 83.7 32.04 18 40 Quarry TS 7 16 83 79.5

8.09 33 66 Balcombe 6 48 88 84.6 33.24 17 24 Quarry TN 8 10 87/90 80.0

9.73 35 37 Ouse V N 7 58 84/91 84.2 37.18 13 29 Purley 11.5 10 49 86 89.2

11.99 37 58 Haywards Heath 10 9 32 90 86.6 38.10 12 35 Purley Oaks <1> 11 28 84 85.4

14.86 40 48 Wivelsfield 11 34 67 84.8 39.26 11 22 S Croydon 12 33 49sigs 64.4

15.66 41 32 Burgess Hill 13.5 12 50 7L 37.9 40.20 10 27 East Croydon 15 14 07 27/59 35.9

41.15 9 31 Selhurst 16 15 33 58/71 39.8

41.89 8 52 Thornton Heath 16 14 69/70 64.8

43.09 7 36 Norbury <1> 17 17 69/68 68.6

43.91 6 50 Streatham Common 18 01 69 67.5

45.88 4 53 Balham 21.5 19 57 56 60.9

46.45 4 07 Wandsworth Common 20 34 60/56 55.9

47.79 2 60 Clapham J 23.5 22 00 59 56.0

49.24 1 24 Battersea Park 23 52 38 46.6

50.39 0 12 VICTORIA 29 27 53 5L 17.2

This run is unusual in that the route was clear, apart from signal checks approaching East Croydon. There were knock-on effects due to delays to the preceding 10:32 and 10:35 ex Brighton running eight minutes late from the Balcombe area. As these trains divert away from the main line at East Croydon, they didn’t affect the 10:48 Brighton beyond there, so the train was not subsequently delayed. In the unlikely event that the line was clear throughout, a 27min time from Gatwick would seem realistic. Table 11 gravitates to our International service with an offering from Tony Leopard of a Eurostar run between Lille Europe and Ebbsfleet International. Tony did not offer any comment on the quality of the running, or otherwise. Table 11 km hh:mm:ss avge

Date 20/08/2011 137.60 English crossover 00:40:26 157.8

Train 1406 Paris-St Pancras

154.66 Chan.Tun.N.Portal 00:46:56 157.5

161.74 Sandling Tun.W. 00:49:24 172.2

Loco 3103/3104 177.96 Ashford W Jc. 00:53:32 235.5

Load 18+2 186.89 Lenham Loop S. 00:55:36 259.3

Recorder A Leopard 198.65 Eyhorne Tun.N. 00:58:03 288.0

km hh:mm:ss avge 211.88 North Downs Tun.N. 01:00:47 290.4

0.00 Lille Europe 00:00:00 221.08 Halfpence Lane Tun.E 01:02:49 271.5

4.36 PRCI Lambersart 00:03:12 81.7 230.21 Ebbsfleet International 01:06:34 146.1

19.73 PRCI Erquinghem 00:08:19 180.2 0.00

44.44 PRCI Hondeghem 00:13:49 269.6 4.00 Thames Tun W 00:02:47 86.2

69.07 PRCI Quilleval 00:18:54 290.7 15.79 London Tun E 00:06:04 215.5

88.42 PRCI Rodelinghem 00:22:52 292.7 26.49 Stratford International 00:08:54 226.6

104.20 Chan.Tun.S.Portal 00:27:41 196.6 34.64 London Tun. W. 00:12:43 128.1

119.98 French crossover 00:33:44 156.5 35.86 St Pancras International 00:15:03 31.4

My thanks again for all those who have contributed their logs in the recent months. Without your contributions this article could not feature the variety of routes, or traction, which are featured. I would like to think that the Scotrail services could offer the same opportunities but these have taken a back seat for myself with the re-routed Virgin and Serco overnight services, which have featured elsewhere in this issue of Milepost.


THE FESTIVE SETTLE SCOTSMAN Sandy Smeaton ‘Great UK Railtours’ are Compass/West Coast re-branded and ‘The Festive Settle Scotsman’ was one of the handful of shopping/sightseeing tours in the pre-Christmas period running to various parts of the country. The ‘Scotsman’ (1z46) started from Blackpool at 0658 and picked up at Poulton, Preston, Blackburn, Whalley, Clitheroe and Hellifield. Although unadvertised, it was booked to stop in Carlisle from 1052 to 1119 where I planned to try and negotiate a single to Waverley. This was my first trip to Carlisle since the chaos of Storm Desmond on 5 December. The train manager had announced on the 0840 from Central that there would be a slight delay before Carlisle and, after being diverted via Holytown Junction with only marginal loss of time, we had two dead stands for about a minute each between Kingmoor and Caldew Junction. The Eden and Caldew had returned to their normal level but the evidence of the flooding was apparent by the silt lying on all surfaces of the approaches to and from the Caldew Viaduct. There was also, partially repaired, damage to the south side of the retaining wall between Bridge Street and Citadel station. The 0840 had taken 82¼ minutes against its booked 67. All trains, both north and south were being delayed by the rectification work at Caldew Junction. The down goods line appeared to be in use but the up was rusty and probably still out of order. 1z46 was six minutes late at Petterill Bridge Junction so I expected it about 1058, but No. 66716 with an empty MGR (not shown on RTT) climbed up round the curve from London Road Junction to stop on Platform 3 just after 1100, followed by the 0643 Euston – Edinburgh into Platform 1, running eight minutes late. Once the latter had cleared Platform 1, a WCR Class 47 and a set of Mk 2F coaches appeared under St Nicolas Bridge coming north on the WCML, which was indeed 1z46 despite its route. The chief steward directed me to the buffet where there were plenty of seats. The rest of the seating accommodation was well filled. The reason for the apparent bizarre routing was No. 47826, which had been leading from Blackpool, was losing power and the set was reversed between London Road and Upperby Bridge Junctions so that 47804 could lead. The total load, assuming 47826 was not working, was 453½ tons tare and about 485 gross. Two checks of two and one minutes were suffered before getting past Caldew Junction. The maximum speed at the Solway was 79½ mph with Gretna Junction passed at 75½, and seven minutes lost on schedule due to the Caldew Junction checks. The minimum at MP 14½ was 66½ mph, recovering to 79 after Kirtlebridge and then falling to a minimum of 70 at Castlemilk Summit. 93½ was achieved just after Nethercleugh, 88½ at the MP 33½ minor summit and then 92 at the foot of the long climb to Beattock Summit. Beattock station site was passed at 79½ and then the hill took its toll with Greskine passed at 42½. For once I was relieved that we were not steam hauled as the conditions were atrocious with mist shrouding the trees on the sides of the narrow glen of the Evan Water and heavy fine drizzle falling. 47804 nevertheless ground up the 1 in 75 falling only to 34½ mph at MP 48¾. Passing Beattock Summit only 3¼ minutes down on the schedule, we had climbed Beattock bank a mere second more than the 13 minutes allowed. The pathing stop at Abington was not required so after 93 mph at the Clyde and 94 at Thankerton we turned east at Carstairs South two minutes early. Carnwath was passed at 36½ mph, followed by a maximum of 65 before Auchengrey and a minimum of 61½ at Cobbinshaw. We had been 4½ minutes early passing Auchengrey and consequently were stopped at Midcalder Junction and Haymarket, twice, before stopping in Waverley’s Platform 1 only one minute late.


Date: Fri 18.12.15 Miles Ms Ch LOCATION Sch* Mn Sc Av Speeds

Train: 1z46 0658 Blackpool-Edinburgh 49.75 49 60 Beattock Smt 50 53 12.1 36.2 39½

Locomotive: 47804 2,580hp Co-Co 51.60 51 48 Bodsbury LC 55 05 59.0 76

Load: 10 coaches+47826/ 453½/ 485 52.61 52 49 Elvanfoot 55 50.7 79.8 83

Weather: SW blustery wind/Occ rain to C'stairs. 55.00 55 00 Crawford (MP) 57 30.6 86.0 89½

Recorder: A.Smeaton/GPS 56.48 56 38 OB-Rock Face 58 35.1 82.3 78½

Position: 8/12 57.86 57 69 Abington 59/64 59 37.0 80.7 84½

Miles Ms Ch LOCATION Sch* Mn Sc Av Speeds 60.00 60 00 MP 61 04 88.4 92

0.00 0 00 CARLISLE P3 0 0 00.0 ~ ~/11-1L 62.00 62 00 " 62 21.9 92.4 93

0.25 0 20 MP 1 44.4 8.6 10½ 63.25 63 20 Lamington 63 10.8 92.0 91

0.35 0 28 Sigs stop 2 ( 2 32.9 7.4 ~ 65.50 65 40 MP 64 41.9 88.9 86

0.69 0 55 " " ( 7 58.3 ~ ~ 66.61 66 49 Symington 65 28.3 86.3 87

0.75 0 60 Caldew Jn 8 24.0 8.8 14 68.50 68 40 Thankerton 66 44.3 89.4 95

2.08 2 06 Kingmoor 11 06.0 29.4 46 70.00 70 00 Leggatfoot 67 44.0 90.5 85/85½

4.00 4 00 Rockcliffe 13 10.0 55.9 64½ 71.60 71 48 Pettinain UB 69 00 75.8 S 52

6.09 6 07 Floriston 14 55.8 71.0 76½ 73.20 73 16 Carstairs SJ 76 72 28.7 27.6 P14½

7.00 7 00 MP 15 37.7 78.4 79/79½ 73.76 73 61 Carstairs E 81 74 29.1 16.8 23

8.75 8 60 Gretna Jn 10 16 58.8 77.7 75½ ~ 74 15 " " ~ ~ ~ ~

10.25 10 20 Quintinshill 18 12.1 73.7 72 74.58 75 00 Carnwath 76 07 29.9 36½

12.00 12 00 MP 19 42.0 70.1 68 75.58 76 00 MP 77 33.6 41.6 51

13.00 13 00 Kirkpatrick 14 20 35.0 67.9 67½ 77.53 77 76 Ampherlaw 79 34.8 57.9 64½/65

13.53 13 42 Cove LC 21 03.0 67.5 67 79.00 79 34 Auchengray 87 80 56.7 64.8 64

14.50 14 40 MP 21 55.5 66.9 66½ 79.83 80 20 Wilsontown NJ 81 43.6 63.3 61½

16.75 16 60 Kirtlebridge 23 47.7 72.2 75½ 80.58 81 00 MP 82 26.7 62.6 62½

17.40 17 32 OB 62 24 17.8 77.7 79 81.58 82 00 " 83 26 61.5 58½/58

19.00 19 00 MP 25 31.9 77.7 75½ 82.08 82 40 Cobbinshaw 90 83 56.8 58.4 59

20.21 20 17 Ecclefechan 26 30.6 74.4 73½ 84.61 85 03 Torphin 86 03 72.4 89

22.00 22 00 Castlemilk S 28 01.0 71.2 70 85.58 86 00 MP 86 41 91.2 94

24.00 24 00 MP 29 33.2 78.1 84½ 88.05 88 38 Linhouse VS 88 51.8 68.1 S 37½

25.84 25 67 LOCKERBIE 26 30 50.4 85.7 89 88.96 89 31 Sigs stop ( 91 20.0 22.2 ~

27.00 27 00 MP 31 36.5 90.8 92 " " " " ( 95 31.7 ~ ~

28.69 28 55 Nethercleugh 32 42.5 92.0 93½ 89.34 89 61 Midcalder Jn 100 96 48.9 17.5 31½

29.75 29 60 MP 33 23.5 93.3 93 90.49 90 73 KIRKNEWTON 98 19.6 45.6 58½

31.75 31 60 Dinwoodie 34 41.4 92.7 90½ 92.58 93 00 MP 100 09 68.7 79½

33.50 33 40 MP 35 52.0 89.2 88½ 94.18 94 48 Gowranhill PC 101 17.8 83.7 89/89½

34.50 34 40 Wamphray 36 31.7 90.7 91½/92 95.08 95 40 CURRIEHILL 101 54.4 88.5 83

37.00 37 00 Murthat (MP) 38 11.6 90.1 87 96.78 97 16 W. HAILES 103 17.1 74.0 64

39.75 39 60 Beattock 37 40 10.7 83.1 79½ 97.58 98 00 KINGSKNOWE 104 07 57.7 54

41.00 41 00 MP 41 10.3 75.5 71½ 98.58 99 00 SLATEFORD 110 105 41.5 38.1 27½

42.00 42 00 " 42 04 67.0 64 98.95 99 30 Sigs stops (2) ( 107 22.1 13.4 ~

43.00 43 00 " 43 03 61.0 57 99.71 100 11 " " ( 113 24.4 ~ ~

44.25 44 20 " 44 30 51.7 48 100.09 100 41 Haymarket EJ ~ ~ ~ ~

45.14 45 11 Greskine 45 41.2 44.9 42½ ~ 45 72 " " ~ ~ ~ ~

46.00 46 00 MP 46 57.2 40.9 39½ 100.25 46 05 HAYMARKET 113 115 33.3 15.0 24/~

47.00 47 00 Harthope 48 33.2 37.5 36 ~ 1 16 ~ ~ ~ ~

48.00 48 00 MP 50 15.8 35.1 35½/34½ 100.94 0 41 FB 117 08 26.1 18

49.00 49 00 " 51 57.5 35.4 36 101.54 0 -

07 WAVERLEY P1 120 119 42.9 14.0 1L

The edbhp on the 1 in 200 gradients to MPs 14 and 22 was just above 1,700. On Beattock it hovered about 1,900, or about 74% of the engine’s rated output of 2,580hp - not bad for a 50 year old engine.


MORE OF MY EARLY TRAIN TIMING EXPERIENCES John Rishton Following are a few more of my early journey logs, all from the first decade after steam haulage ceased. There are three logs this time, from the winter of 1969 and one from early 1977, all recorded on the Western Region. For starters, run 1 is a log of a Paddington to Penzance train, as far as Taunton, with Class 52 haulage. It was a dry but very cold day with no wind. On departure from Paddington full power was applied once on the down fast. Acceleration continued until Langley and either the schedule was very easy or the load of nine coaches was unusually light as we had gained a half minute by Westbourne Park and a late start of a minute was eradicated by Southall. After coasting through Slough, power was reapplied until Taplow from where we coasted until beyond Maidenhead. Twyford was passed exactly two minutes inside schedule but some time was then lost on to Reading where, due to a 15 mph temporary speed restriction over some outlying points, arrival was just inside the allowance from Paddington. Departure from Reading was still a minute down and the schedule on towards Newbury appeared much tighter than previously such that we were nearly a further minute down there though recovery commenced thereafter bringing us back to a quarter minute lost by Bedwyn and with an engineering allowance of 2½ minutes immediately afterwards we would then be ahead of time onwards. Our maximum speed of the run occurred approaching Lavington when, just beyond MP 86 we topped 95 mph. This spurt down the 1 in 222 gradient brought us through Lavington, a WTT timing point, ahead of time having saved a half minute since passing Bedwyn coupled with that recovery allowance. On the level beyond Lavington speed was held around 85 mph, the driver possibly taking it easier now back on time. We passed Heywood Road junction at 83 mph which I think was a little in excess of the maximum speed allowed at the time. Fairwood was passed at 76 mph where I think 75 mph applied. The two Frome junctions were taken at 76 and 79 mph which my notes state were ‘legal’. We topped Brewham with a minimum of 79 mph followed by a maximum of 92 mph before Castle Cary, passed at 16:09:32, scheduled 16:12:30, so it was looking good for a punctual arrival at Taunton. My notes state we touched 95 mph around MP 124¼ but now that my calculations can be checked against the Society distance charts I think I must have seriously erred in that statement, the actual maximum at the foot of the 1 in 264 fall from Charlton Mackrell probably being a shade under 87 mph – almost certainly after coasting the previous three miles. Again, on to Athenley my notes stated we averaged over 90 mph with a maximum of 96 before MP 133 but detailed examination shows otherwise. There was a 40 mph restriction at Athenley and, afterwards, a maximum of 75 mph, suggesting our driver was anticipating the temporary speed restriction and had built some reserve into his plans for the section. We came to a stand at 16:32:49; the schedule requested 16:36:00 so no time was lost due to the Athenley restriction. A short diversion regarding my initial distance computations - my sources at that time were the miles and chains distances then noted in working timetables against timing points, a copy of the ‘Birmingham New Street distance book’ giving miles and chains to most other stations in the country and finally, one-inch Ordnance Survey maps. Not ideal, but the best I could find at the time. A new faster service between Paddington and Penzance was being very heavily hyped in the railway press during the late autumn of 1969. Double heading using Class 42 locomotives was


RUN 1 Miles mm cc location WTT mm:s mph* avge

Day/Date Wed 26th November 1969 32.63 68 48 Crofton curve J [2.5] 29:44 60 67.7

Train 1430 Paddington-Penzance 33.39 69 29 Wolfhall junction 30:28 62 62.1

Motive Power class 52 34.14 70 09 Savernake 31:12 62 61.4

Load (tons) 9/298/320/431 = 6.3hp/ton 34.95 70 74 Burbage Wharf 31:55 73 67.8

Weather dry, very cold 39.36 75 27 Pewsey 35:14 82 79.8

Rec. Pos. GPS J Rishton- Stopwatch 42.84 78 65 Woodborough 37:51 80 79.8

Miles mm cc location WTT mm:s mph* avge 45.13 81 08 Patney & Chirton 39:26 88 86.8

0.00 0 12 London Paddington 0 00:00 1 late 0.0 47.03 83 00 Milepost 40:42 91 90.0

1.10 1 20 Westbourne Park 4 03:32 38 18.7 49.03 85 00 Milepost 42:00 94 92.3

2.10 2 20 Kensal Green 04:48 58 47.4 50.03 86 00 Milepost 42:38 95 94.8

4.09 4 19 Acton Main Line 06:37 70 65.7 50.93 86 72 Lavington 46 43:13 88 92.5

5.54 5 55 Ealing Broadway 07:49 75 72.5 55.36 91 27 Edington 46:22 82 84.4

8.93 9 06 Southall 11.5 10:26 81 77.8 58.59 94 45 Heywood Road J 51.5 48:40 83 84.3

13.09 13 19 West Drayton 13:21 87 85.6 61.04 97 01 Fairwood J 53.5 50:35 76 76.7

14.56 14 57 Iver 14:21 90 88.2 62.38 112 45 Standerwick 51:37 78 77.8

16.13 16 22 Langley 15:23 92 91.2 63.71 113 72 Berkeley Marsh Ln 52:37 80 79.8

18.29 18 35 Slough 18.5 16:49 90 90.4 64.34 114 42 Clink Road J 56 53:06 76 78.3

20.78 20 74 Burnham 18:29 88 89.7 66.28 116 37 Blatchbridge J 57.5 54:36 79 77.6

22.30 22 36 Taplow 19:30 90 89.7 68.38 118 60 Woodlands 56:09 83 81.3

24.11 24 21 Maidenhead 22.5 20:44 87 88.1 70.41 120 63 Witham 57:36 81 84.0

27.89 28 03 Shottesbrook 23:24 84 85.0 72.28 122 52 Brewham 59:00 79 80.1

30.88 31 02 Twyford 27.5 25:30 86 85.4 75.74 126 09 Bruton 61:35 78 80.4

32.75 32 72 Woodley Bridge 26:49 84/tsr 85.2 77.41 127 63 River Brue 62:47 92 89.7

35.83 35 78 Reading 32 31:51 p4 36.7 79.18 129 44 Castle Cary 67.5 63:57 80 85.0

0.00 35 34:52 1 late 81.24 117 32 Alford Halt 65:25 87 84.3

0.92 36 72 Reading West 02:37 30 21.1 82.80 118 77 overbridge 66:29 88 87.8

1.86 37 67 Southcote junction 3.5 03:57 45 42.3 84.04 120 16 Kenton M'ville 67:20 88 87.5

2.91 38 71 Burghfield Road 05:07 61 54.0 86.29 122 36 Charlton Mackrell 68:51 89 89.0

4.03 40 00 Calcot 06:12 64 62.0 88.11 124 22 underbridge 70:06 87 87.4

5.34 41 25 Theale 07:21 72 68.3 89.49 125 52 Somerton 71:07 79 81.4

8.84 44 65 Aldermaston 10:04 80 77.3 91.70 127 69 Long Sutton 72:43 85 82.9

10.78 46 60 Midgham 11:35 71 76.8 93.16 129 26 Union Drive 73:43 91 87.6

13.60 49 46 Thatcham 13:55 74 72.5 93.86 130 02 Langport East 74:11 91 90.1

17.10 53 06 Newbury 16 16:49 70 72.4 94.86 131 02 Curry Rivel J 74:50 93 92.3

18.53 54 40 milepost 18:01 72 71.5 95.84 132 00 occ crossing 75:29 90 90.5

20.13 56 08 Hamstead 19:16 79 76.8 97.25 133 33 Holly Moor 76:26 89 89.1

22.53 58 40 Kintbury 21:08 75 77.2 98.83 134 79 Athenley 78:05 40tsr 57.5

23.86 59 67 Kennet & Avon 22:12 75 74.8 100.34 136 40 milepost 79:41 62 56.6

25.56 61 43 Hungerford 23:39 61 70.3 101.78 137 75 Cogload J 81:01 69 64.8

27.01 62 79 Kennet & Avon 25:00 69 64.4 102.09 158 40 milepost 81:17 70 69.9

30.45 66 34 Bedwyn 27.5 27:48 75 73.7 104.34 160 60 Creech J 83:08 75 73.0

106.75 163 13 Taunton 91 87:14 0 35.3

*Speeds calculated from milepost sightings as near to timing point as possible.

to be the motive power and the first stop was at Exeter. A New Year’s resolution was to travel on the train as soon as possible and Run 2 is the result. A colleague with a keen interest in observing trains at Exeter St. Davids whenever possible was persuaded to travel with me from Birmingham to Exeter by using the new service and we both managed to arrange a day off work on 10 February – and off we went. I remember we travelled to London via Rugby, and changed there, but I can’t remember why, nor can I find any log of the trip to Euston. We departed Paddington around 90 seconds late and I remember thinking that we may have both a better chance of a clear road and an incentivised driver as a result. Certainly we managed a clear road but I am not so sure about the driver’s desire for a punctual run. It may well have been that one of the locomotives was not at its best. A recent study of other runs


RUN 2 Miles mm cc location WTT mm:s mph* avge

Day/Date Tue10th February 1970 75.19 75 27 Pewsey 63:02 90 82.7

Train 1030 Paddington-Penzance 78.76 78 65 Woodborough 65:27 86 88.6

Motive Power class 42x2 80.96 81 08 Patney & Chirton 66:58 89 87.0

Load (tons) 9/298/320/480 = 9.2hp/ton 82.86 83 00 Milepost 69:17 20tsr 49.2

Weather dry 86.75 86 72 Lavington 71.5 74:54 88 41.6

Rec. Pos. GPS J Rishton -/11-Stopwatch 91.19 91 27 Edington 77:58 86 86.9

Miles mm cc location WTT mm:s mph* avge 94.42 94 45 Heywood Rd J 76.5 80:14 80 85.5

0.00 0 12 London Paddington 0 00:00 1 L 0.0 96.87 97 01 Fairwood J 78.5 82:04 80 80.2

1.10 1 20 Westbourne Park 3 03:00 44 22.0 98.21 112 45 Standerwick 83:03 82 81.8

3.10 3 20 Old Oak Common W 05:11 63 55.0 99.54 113 72 Berkeley Marsh Ln 84:01 83 82.5

4.09 4 19 Acton Main Line 06:05 70 66.0 100.17 114 42 Clink road J 81 84:28 83 84.0

5.54 5 55 Ealing Broadway 07:16 77 73.5 102.11 116 37 Blatchbridge J 82.5 85:58 75 77.6

8.93 9 06 Southall 9.5 09:39 88 85.4 104.21 118 60 Woodlands 87:31 83 81.3

13.09 13 19 West Drayton 12:28 89 88.6 106.24 120 63 Witham 88:57 86 85.0

14.56 14 57 Iver 13:27 90 89.7 108.11 122 52 Brewham 90:18 82 83.1

16.13 16 22 Langley 14:30 90 89.7 111.57 126 09 Bruton 92:55 75 79.3

18.29 18 35 Slough 16 15:57 89 89.4 113.24 127 63 River Brue 94:10 82 80.2

20.78 20 74 Burnham 17:36 90 90.5 115.01 129 44 Castle Cary 92 95:29 81 80.7

22.30 22 36 Taplow 18:37 90 89.7 117.12 117 32 Alford Halt [1.5] 97:00 84 83.5

24.11 24 21 Maidenhead 20 19:49 91 90.5 119.86 120 15 Kenton M'ville 98:58 83 83.6

27.89 28 03 Shottesbrook 22:19 91 90.7 122.02 122 28 Charlton Mackrell 100:31 84 83.6

30.88 31 02 Twyford 24.5 24:18 91 90.5 125.35 125 54 Somerton 102:56 81 82.7

32.75 32 72 Woodley Bridge 25:36 82 86.3 127.52 127 68 Long Sutton 104:28 87 84.9

35.83 35 78 Reading p4 28.5 28:45 38 58.7 129.56 129 71 Langport East 105:52 88 87.4

36.75 36 72 Reading West 30:14 34 37.2 130.61 130 75 Curry Rivel J 106:34 91 90.0

37.69 37 67 Southcote junction 31 32:12 20tsr 28.7 134.66 134 79 Athenley 111:29 22tsr 49.4

38.74 38 71 Burghfield Road 34:10 45 32.0 137.49 137 66 Cogload J 117:43 66 27.2

39.86 40 00 Calcot 35:17 73 60.2 140.17 160 60 Creech J 119:53 80 74.2

41.16 41 25 Theale 36:18 79 76.7 142.58 163 13 Taunton 113 121:42 80 79.6

44.67 44 65 Aldermaston 38:55 81 80.5 144.17 164 60 Norton Fitzwarren 122:51 85 83.0

46.61 46 60 Midgham 40:28 70 75.1 145.48 166 05 Victory crossing 123:47 84 84.2

49.43 49 46 Thatcham 42:46 80 73.6 148.42 169 00 Poole siding 125:54 84 83.3

52.93 53 06 Newbury 42.5 45:15 88 84.6 149.70 170 23 Wellington 126:50 82 82.3

54.11 54 20 Enborne junction 46:03 88 88.5 152.58 173 13 Whiteball tunnel 129:01 78 79.1

55.96 56 08 Hamstead 47:21 80 85.4 153.42 174 00 Whiteball summit 121.5 129:40 76 77.5

58.36 58 40 Kintbury 49:11 75 78.6 154.20 174 63 Burlescombe [1.5] 130:14 86 82.7

59.69 59 67 Kennet & Avon 50:15 74 74.8 156.46 177 03 Sampford 131:45 91 89.4

61.39 61 43 Hungerford 51:45 60 68.0 158.53 179 09 Tiverton Junction 133:10 80 87.6

62.84 62 79 Kennet & Avon 53:06 69 64.4 160.86 181 35 Cullompton 134:53 84 81.5

66.28 66 34 Bedwyn 52.5 55:49 78 76.0 164.93 185 41 Hele & Bradninch 137:48 83 83.7

68.46 68 48 Crofton curve J [4] 57:42 60 69.5 166.18 186 61 Silverton 138:42 84 83.3

69.22 69 29 Wolfhall J 58:25 65 63.6 169.62 190 16 Stoke Canon 141:12 80 82.6

69.97 70 09 Savernake 59:07 64 64.3 172.08 192 53 Cowley Bridge J 137 143:14 60 72.6

70.78 70 74 Burbage Wharf 59:50 73 67.9 173.32 193 72 Exeter St. Davids 139 145:12 0 37.8

*Speeds generally calculated from milepost sightings as near to timing point as possible.

with similar motive power in the Society database suggests we experienced a journey that was far from good. The schedule requires even time shortly beyond Southall and I was very pleased to have that achievement ‘banked’ well before West Drayton. We passed Slough at 89 mph in just under the required 16 minutes and by Twyford we had regained almost a quarter minute. However, possibly due to adverse signals, though I did not notice any, the approach to Reading was very cautious and we lost a half minute on running time. At Southcote junction a 20 mph temporary restriction was in force and this appeared to make the onward journey to Newbury a rather poor effort. Newbury was passed over 2½ minutes down and despite seven minutes recovery to come before the first stop our punctuality was going to get no better as the run progressed.


After Newbury our progress appeared to improve though we were over three minutes late by Bedwyn. A 20 mph restriction near MP 83 lost us more time despite a four-minute recovery allowance. The best we could manage was 88 mph by Lavington, passed 3½ minutes down. Good progress was then made through the cut offs and Brewham was passed at 82 mph. We then took it very easy down through Bruton, passed at 75 mph, to Castle Cary, where we were still 3½ minutes down. We passed through Castle Cary at just over 80 mph and then speed gradually rose up towards the class maximum of 90 mph when a long standing temporary restriction at Athenley of 40 mph the previous November had by now been reduced to 20 mph. Recovery was rapid and we reached and held 80 mph by Taunton with a maximum of 85 mph at Norton Fitzwarren before the climb to Whiteball took its toll. The summit was passed at 76 mph, easily my fastest to date. Our top speed on the decent was 91 mph, reached for the third time on this run, but beyond Tiverton Junction the driver appeared to take it more easily and thus we regained no lost time, dropping over six minutes on the schedule by our Exeter stop. After the hype I felt quite disappointed by this run and did not repeat the journey in either direction whilst the double headed Class 42 option was available. Run 3, a further trip to the south west followed a week after Run 2 and was on a train running well out of path. My diary of travel between Tamworth or Wilnecote and Birmingham (to and from work) shows 1970 to be my most unpunctual year of both commuting and leisure journeys, and this trip was just the beginning of that year! The period immediately following the Hadfield derailment would possibly have been worse but I was then commuting from Butlers Lane on the Lichfield to Birmingham route and due to its much lower line speed and frequent stops those trains were relatively unaffected. My diary shows I joined the train, already late, at Hereford. Inadvertently eavesdropping on some conversations from around the coach suggested the delay may have been due to a long dwell (engine change?) at Crewe. I had anticipated the reversal at Newport would result in a scheduled engine change but a new engine did not materialise and the Class 45 ran round its train. It was the rarity of such an engine between Newport and Bristol that prompted me to time the run. I continued timing after Bristol as the engine was still not changed. I alighted at Taunton to make a journey over the soon to be closed Minehead branch but with hindsight I wished I had continued to Plymouth with the Class 45. The passage of time shows that the Minehead line was not to close for long, but Class 45 journeys soon ceased. The train, twelve vehicles including the engine, departed Newport 39 minutes late and was on a 470-ton schedule according to the working timetable. I thought to reach 67 mph before Severn Tunnel Junction was excellent. We then averaged over 71 mph through the following tunnel. Having entered at 63 mph and exited at 62 mph that suggests a maximum of around 80 mph at the foot of the tunnel. Speed fell to a very creditable 55 mph at Pilning and after a slight improvement on the following level fell back to a shade under 50 mph at the summit. This effort regained four minutes of lost time from Newport but the run down to Bristol was very cautious, perhaps we were following something. Arrival at Temple Meads was without any further gain other than from a one-minute allowance. We departed Bristol 34 minutes late with the same engine but a different driver. Steady acceleration was managed all the way to the MP 123 summit, passed at 60 mph. Our speed continued to rise on the downgrade and though we were losing a little time slight acceleration was discernible on the levels until, at 89 mph, we began to slow for the Highbridge check.


RUN 3 Miles mm cc location WTT mm:s speed* avge

Day/Date Wed 18th February 1970 0.00 Bristol Temple M 43 38:44 34L 0.0

Train 08:50 Liverpool-Plymouth 0.99 119 26 Bedminster 3.5 03:43 30 16.0

Motive Power class 45, number unknown 1.84 120 14 Parson Street 05:08 42 36.0

Load (tons) 11/379/400/535 2.87 121 16 South Liberty J 06:22 53 50.1

Weather Dry 4.67 123 00 summit 08:13 60 58.4

Rec. Pos. GPS J Rishton - 2/13 – Stopwatch 5.94 124 22 Flax Bourton 9 09:23 68 65.4

Miles mm cc location WTT mm:s speed* avge 8.08 126 33 Nailsea&Backwell 11:06 77 74.8

0.00 158 49 Newport (Gwent) 0 00:00 39L 0.0 10.63 128 77 Claverham 12:58 84 81.9

0.71 157 72 Maindee east J 01:53 38 22.6 11.98 130 25 Yatton 13.5 13:55 86 85.3

3.75 154 69 Llanwern 05:29 57 50.7 15.65 133 79 Puxton & Worle 16:28 87 86.4

7.43 151 15 Magor 09:03 64 61.9 16.79 135 10 Worle junction 17 17:15 87 87.4

9.84 148 62 Severn Tunnel J 12.5 11:13 65 66.7 19.73 138 05 Uphill junction 19 19:15 88 88.2

10.98 15 29 Severn tunnel 14 12:20 63 61.3 24.17 142 40 Brent Knoll 22:15 89 88.8

15.33 11 01 Severn tunnel 15:59 62 71.5 26.94 145 22 Highbridge 24 24:47 50 65.6

16.80 9 43 Pilning 21 17:28 55 59.4 29.08 147 33 Puriton Road [1.5] 27:01 65 57.5

17.28 9 05 Pilning junction 17:58 59 57.6 30.73 149 05 Kings S'moor drn 28:26 72 69.9

20.38 5 77 Patchway 25.5 21:28 50 53.1 33.26 151 48 Bridgwater 31.5 31:37 0 47.7

21.54 4 64 Filton 27 22:59 41 45.9 0.00 32.5 32:04 34L 0.0

24.71 1 50 Stapleton Road [1] 27:30 30 42.1 1.26 152 68 Meads crossing 02:12 52 34.4

25.35 0 79 Lawrence Hill 28:40 36 32.9 4.63 156 18 Bankland Lane 05:22 72 63.8

25.75 0 47 Doctor Days J 34.5 29:25 20 32.0 6.48 158 06 Cogload flyover 7 06:52 75 74.0

26.26 118 27 Bristol Temple M 38.5 33:18 0 7.9 9.16 160 60 Creech junction 9.5 [1.5] 08:58 77 76.6

11.56 163 12 Taunton 14.5 12:35 32L 39.8

*Speeds generally calculated from milepost sightings as near to timing point as possible.

There was nothing spectacular after that effort and we came to rest at Bridgwater in just over 31½ minutes, losing 1½ minutes from Bristol, but still a good effort. After a very short stop we were away still 34 minutes late and with a maximum of slightly under 80 mph and 1½ minutes recovery we arrived in Taunton 32 minutes down. The final table, run 4, jumps forward a few years as it was timed in early 1977. The run is briefly mentioned on page 110 of ‘From Birmingham to the Board’ by Stan Hall. This was the first log I was asked to record for my employer, BR(LMR). The purpose of the run was to see how good these new headline grabbing trains actually performed compared with our newly electrified main-line out of Euston. I remember Stan went and spoke to the driver before departure so presumably the driver was aware details of the journey were being recorded. Following a very punctual start we achieved even time before Ealing Broadway; very impressive, especially as my previous best was even time around MP 10 – almost twice the distance. We did not quite make 100 mph before slowing for a temporary speed restriction of 80 mph at Southall. By Slough our speed was hovering a disappointing fraction under 125 mph, but still easily the fastest I had ever travelled by land transport at the time. The remainder of the run to Reading was taken at the same speed and I assumed the driver had decided that it was to be a textbook run that was required. Reading was reached three minutes early, or 30 seconds if recovery time is deducted so the schedule was fairly easy. The station stop was quite prolonged and we were away a minute late with a cautious start to Reading West. A couple of temporary speed restrictions then followed, 90 mph at Tilehurst, rising to 110 mph at Pangbourne, before we could return to high speed running. Didcot was passed in under 11 minutes from the restart but further temporary slowings then followed, 120 mph from Milton to Steventon, falling to 100 mph on to Uffington. There was then an opportunity to reach 123 mph before a signal controlled approach to the island platform at


RUN 4 Miles mm cc location WTT mm:s speed avge

Day/Date Sat 22nd January 1977 0.00 Reading 28 28:51 1L 0.0

Train 1400 Paddington-Swansea 1.02 37 00 Reading west J [1] 02:00 55 30.6

Motive Power High Speed Train 2.02 38 00 MP 02:52 81 69.2

Load (tons) 9/395/410 2.67 38 52 Tilehurst 03:19 87tsr 86.7

Weather Wet 4.02 40 00 MP 04:14 93 88.4

Rec. Pos. GPS J Rishton - Stopwatch 5.56 41 43 Pangbourne 05:07 108tsr 104.5

Miles mm cc location WTT mm:s speed avge 7.02 43 00 MP 05:56 108 107.4

0.00 0 12 London Paddington 0 00:00 T 0.0 8.77 44 60 Goring & S 06:51 119 114.5

1.10 1 20 Westbourne Park 02:32 49 26.1 11.02 47 00 MP 07:57 124 122.7

4.05 4 16 Acton Main Line 04:48 86 78.1 12.46 48 35 Cholsey 08:39 124 123.4

5.01 5 13 Acton west junction 05:26 93 91.0 17.16 53 11 Didcot 12.5 10:54 125 125.3

5.55 5 56 Ealing Broadway 05:46 96 94.7 19.02 55 00 Milton 11:49 118tsr 121.7

6.39 6 43 West Ealing 06:17 98 97.5 20.50 56 38 Steventon 12:34 119 118.4

7.20 7 28 Hanwell 06:49 88 92.5 27.86 63 67 Challow 17.5 16:36 99tsr 109.5

8.93 9 06 Southall 8 08:04 80tsr 83.0 30.63 66 49 Uffington [2] 18:18 98 97.8

10.78 10 74 Hayes & Harlington 09:21 90 86.5 39.52 75 40 mp 22:57 123/sig 114.7

13.09 13 19 West Drayton 10:48 102 95.6 41.31 77 23 Swindon 28 26:07 0 33.9

14.56 14 57 Iver 11:36 115 110.3 0 30 29:12 T 0.0

16.13 16 22 Langley 12:24 121 117.8 1.71 79 00 MP 02:46 78 37.1

18.29 18 35 Slough 13 13:27 124 123.4 4.71 82 00 MP 04:51 91 86.4

20.78 20 74 Burnham 14:40 122 122.8 5.80 83 07 Wootton Bassett 5.5 05:50 62tsr 66.5

22.30 22 36 Taplow 15:24 125 124.4 9.65 86 76 Brinksworth [1] 08:21 104 91.8

24.11 24 21 Maidenhead 16 16:16 125 125.3 12.46 89 60 Little Somerford 09:50 117 113.7

27.89 28 03 Shottesbrook [1] 18:05 125 124.9 16.96 94 20 Hullavington 13 12:06 120 119.1

30.88 31 02 Twyford 21 19:31 125 125.1 22.71 100 00 Badminton 15:10 110tsr 112.5

32.75 32 72 Woodley Bridge [1.5] 20:25 125 124.7 27.45 104 59 Chipping Sodbury 17:39 118 114.5

35.83 35 78 Reading 26 23:03 0 70.2 29.86 107 12 Westerleigh west J 21 19:06 91sr 99.7

34.49 111 62 Bristol Parkway 24.5 23:30 0 63.1

Swindon. The restrictions to our speed cost two minutes but with recovery time of three minutes we were away on schedule. More speed reductions followed, a temporary 60 mph check over the points at Wootton Bassett was followed by a 100 mph limit at Brinksworth, a 120 mph through Hullavington falling to a 110 mph from Alderton through to Badminton. I think the 91 mph through Westerleigh was the standard restriction at that time. Notwithstanding, we ran from Swindon in exactly the time allowed and with recovery, arrived a minute early. Looking at the run now it appears the motive power was possibly ready for high speed running before the track upgrade was complete. History may be about to repeat itself on the same route! That concludes this article. Four different motive power examples on three fairly easy schedules and one apparently demanding one. It is perhaps a pity that services that are heavily promoted as being exceptionally fast are often so tightly timed as to have little in reserve to accommodate even the slightest of out of course delays from any cause and thus ultimately disappointing an informed customer. Runs 1, 3 and 4, however, all demonstrated an ability to recover time between stops and I am sure passengers appreciated that.

EMUs on the ECML: Past and Present Part 2 Andrew James Performance currently on the slow lines of the ECML between Stevenage and Huntingdon is constrained by 75/80 mph limits in either direction. If there is one service I do fantasise about


potential improvement, it is the current Kings Cross-Peterborough service. First Capital Connect and their successors Thameslink and Great Northern have done a good job on this route in my opinion in the service they provide, but imagine if there didn’t exist the bottlenecks at Welwyn and Holme respectively and 100 mph was permitted where the alignment allowed. I could imagine a limited stop service from the ‘Cross’ to Peterborough with, say, four stops doing the 76¼ miles to Peterborough in barely over an hour. A schedule of 60-62 minutes for example, should be attainable. A peak hour, non-stop - or with one stop - between the two cities would be attainable in 53-55 minutes and provide stiff competition with the express services currently operated by Stagecoach with discernibly cheaper fares to boot. A comparison which has actually happened, is on the neighboring WCML where London Midland have been able to exploit the current infrastructure improvements of raised line limits on the slow lines and an increase in speed on their fleet of Class 350s, from 100-110 mph. I suspect the Class 365 ‘Networkers’ would be quite comfortable at this higher speed. Their riding is amongst the best on the current privatised network, despite them getting on for two decades old. Given the fact that they can storm up the 1 in 200 gradients on the ECML at 100 mph on a good day, they could, I imagine, attain this higher figure on the flat with relative ease. However, there is no doubt a cogent economic case preventing this from ever becoming a reality. The consolation is provided, however, with the continuation between Huntingdon and Peterborough. This is another excellent venue to assess current EMU performance when the units get fast lines throughout. The 1 in 200 gradients either side of Abbots Ripton, and the level section from Connington to MP 71½ or thereabouts, provide an exacting environment for the older Class 317/321 units, in particular. Generally speaking, in the up direction these units struggle to reach their nominal maximum of 100 mph by Connington and the climb to Abbots Ripton pulls them down to around 90 mph. However, as can be seen below, the electrification to Peterborough in 1987 did provide a discernible edge over what it replaced in the performance stakes. Another eloquent tribute to what the much maligned British Rail did achieve when given the requisite finance. Brian Milner was on-hand to record this effort pre-electrification effort behind a Class 101/ Metro Cammell unit in Run 1. The DMU did manage to reach the lofty heights of 70 mph at Connington, after a fairly laborious ascent to Leys summit. I suspect the driver was struggling with the affliction of 4th gear syndrome, which plagued the vast majority of the 1955 Modernisation plan units which incorporated mechanical transmission, as most of them did. The responding low engine revolutions when changing from 3rd to 4th gear would cause a dip in the power curve, and hence lower power. I suspect the driver of this unit was suffering acutely from this on the ascent. The service featured in Run 1 below, is reminder that the service configuration to places like Biggleswade and Huntingdon was quite different to that provided today. Biggleswade, for example, was in the main served in this era by a Hitchin-Huntingdon local all-stations working or by Kings Cross-Huntingdon semi-fast service. The latter until 1987 was served by regular diet of expresses whose destinations were north of Peterborough. Run 2 is behind No. 317363 in the inaugural year of electrification and shows what the Class 317s did in comparison with what they replaced, despite current line limits. In Run 3, 317347 romped away to the summit at Leys after the restart from Huntingdon. In over a quarter of a century since their introduction on this route, they have lost none of their lustre, it would seem, the unit consequently reaching 100 mph at Holme on the level.


Table 1

Run no 1 2 3

Date 03 January 1987 1987 19 November 2014

Train 12.42 Hitchin- Kings Cross- 9.35 Kings Cross-

Peterborough Peterborough Peterborough

Motive Power E51442/?/101 317363 317347

Load 2/58/63 4/137/142 4/137/142

Recorder B.Milner D.L.R A.James

M C [sch] m s mph m s mph [sch] m s mph

27 48 Stevenage 0 00

31 76 Hitchin 4 48 80/71

31 76 0 00 0 00

35 50 Three Counties 4 50 65 3 58 83

37 00 Arlesey 6 05 67/65/69 5 04 66/73

41 12 Biggleswade [10] 10 14 8 54

41 12 0 00 0 00 60/80

43 00 Mp 3 08 50/52

44 10 Sandy [4.5] 4 44 4 03

44 10 0 00 0 00

47 38 Tempsford 4 48 58/62 3 18 75/74/82

51 56 St Neots [10.5] 9 19 7 11

51 56 0 00 0 00

54 07 Cordells 3 42 1/2 58

55 72 Offord 5 27 1/2 65/62/67 4 24 67*/79

58 64 Huntingdon [8.5] 8 37 7 19

58 64 0 00 0 00

62 00 Leys Summit 5 23 44 3 24 78

63 16 Abbots Ripton 6 51 1/2 56

63 40 Abbots Ripton 4 31 82

67 20 Connington 10 31 70

67 28 Connington North 6 56 100

69 26 Holme 12 21 1/2 66 8 07 100

72 63 Yaxley 15 36 60 10 15 95

75 00 Fletton Junction 17 44 12 01 60

76 25 Peterborough [21.5] 19 51 [17] 14 58

** Schedule Autumn 2014 Great Northern timetable

Before electrification spread to Peterborough in May 1987, the somewhat limited Peterborough-Kings Cross service in this era and vice-versa was in the hands of Class 47s. The need for something more powerful than a Class 31 for pathing purposes no doubt became more pressing after the advent of the HSTs in 1978. Unfortunately, I have not been able to trace any logs in the RPS archive behind these Type 4s. The 31s did periodically appear on these workings right up to electrification, no doubt standing-in for the more powerful ‘Duffs’ and had a much longer innings than their more esteemed contemporaries and so it seems equally fitting that their running should appear in Table 2. Runs 4 and 5 underline good, typical Class 31 running on these duties, one would imagine. Due to a shortage of suitable material I have used a couple of ‘Golden Oldies’ from the 1967-1970 period. D5603 did very well to surmount the summit at Abbots Ripton at 74 mph despite only having six vehicles at the drawbar. Whilst exact comparisons cannot be made between these and 317343 in Run 5 due to the differing stopping patterns, the improvement in performance is palpable. The vastly better acceleration over the venerable English Electric product is hardly surprising. The difference in power: weight ratio between Runs 5 and 6 based on nominal values: is 3.09


Table 2

Run no 4 5 6

Date 18 June 1967 1970 05 November 2014

Train 16.46 Peterborough- 19.00 Peterborough- 11.16 Peterborough-

Kings Cross Kings Cross Kings Cross

Motive Power D5603 D5597 317343

Load 6/198/210 7/242/255 4/137/142

Recorder M.Barrett D.L.R A.James

M C [sch] m s mph [sch] m s mph [sch] m s mph

76 25 Peterborough * 0 00 0 00 run 6

75 00 Fletton Junction 3 35 49 2 21 67

72 63 Yaxley 5 49 66 4 03 88

69 26 Holme 8 43 75/81 6 16 97

67 28 Connington North 7 30 1/2 95/96/92

63 40 Abbots Ripton 13 18 74/81 9 57 1/2 94

62 00 Leys Summit 10 55 94

58 64 Huntingdon [18] 17 50 [18] 14 48

58 64 0 00 0 00

55 72 Offord 4 23 52/tsr/61 3 11 1/2 71/76

54 07 Paxton 4 39 1/2 74

51 56 St Neots [9.5] 9 13 [8] 7 17

51 56 0 00 0 00

47 38 Tempsford 5 15 73/70/74 3 57 1/2 75

44 10 Sandy [9.5] 8 45 [7] 7 13

44 10 0 00 56 max 0 00 75 max

41 12 Biggleswade [?] 4 55 [4] 3 33

41 12 0 00 0 00 79 max

37 03 Arlesey [5] 4 47

37 00 Arlesey 5 40 68 0 00

35 50 Three Counties 6 56 68/69 1 50 72/80

31 76 Hitchin [14] 12 08 [6] 5 21

31 76 56 max 0 00

28 53 Stevenage (old) [?] 6 42 3 24 71

27 46 Stevenage [6] 4 49

hp/ton. Electric traction also has the inherent advantage of providing a temporary surge of power under acceleration where the continuous rating of the traction motors can be briefly exceeded, and thus can make a nonsense of any nominal power: weight ratio, of which I’m sure many readers are aware. We now concentrate on the Cambridge line and feature the service as it was prior to the completion of the electrification scheme to the university city, which terminated formally at Royston. It is on short start-to-stop runs where suburban EMUs excel over older traction and the introduction of Class 312s on this route in 1978 was no different. The section between Hitchin and Royston is, perhaps, a little less known than the ECML proper and a brief description of the topography encountered may of be help to some readers. The line until very recently veered to the right across a flat junction to the north of Hitchin station and climbs towards Letchworth on a ruling ascent of 1 in 161.The line then descends towards Baldock and undulates as far Ashwell, where it falls once again to Royston on a ruling gradient of 1 in 163. The maximum speed, I think, when the runs were recorded behind the 312s was 80 mph and certainly at the time of dieselisation in 1959-1960 was rated at nothing better than 60 mph. Run 7 features a noisy pair of Craven units which were soundly thrashed by No. 312715 in Run 8 on all the successive stretches. The maxima to Ashwell and Royston respectively, are an eloquent a testimony as any, to the benefits of electrification. That is not to speak disparagingly


Table 3

Run no 7 8

Date 03 October 1965 05 March 1986

Train 16.16 Kings Cross- 13.04 Kings Cross-

Cambridge Royston

Motive Power 105 312715

Load 4/108/120 4/156/162

Recorder P.Smith M.Tasker

M C [sch] m s mph [sch] m s mph

31 73 Hitchin 0 00 28/45 0 00 67 max

34 51 Letchworth [7] 4 59 [?] 3 29

34 51 0 00 45/11/tsr 0 00 69max

36 48 Baldock [4] 4 19 [?] 2 41

36 48 0 00 56 max 0 00 81 max

40 79 Ashwell & Morden [6] 4 53 [?] 4 40

40 79 0 00 55 max 0 00 80 max

44 72 Royston [6] 7 49 [?] 4 45

Table 4

Run no 9 10

Date 29 May 1974 17 February 1978

Train Cambridge- Royston-

Kings Cross Kings Cross


Load 7/237/250 4/156/162

Recorder P.Tromans P.Tromans


44 72 Royston ** 0 00 0 00

40 79 Ashwell & Morden [7] 4 34 [?] 4 35

40 79 0 00 60 max 0 00 81 max

36 48 Baldock [7] 5 51 [?] 4 54

36 48 0 00 0 00 60 max

34 51 Letchworth [4] 3 46 [?] 3 44

34 51 0 00 61/sigs 0 00 72 max

31 73 Hitchin [6] 5 05 [?] 3 46

** Typical schedule Eastern Region timetable 1973/1974 Cambridge-Kings Cross stopping service

of the DMUs either, which in a subtler way were as revolutionary when they replaced steam traction two decades or so before. Run 9 is behind a Class 47 which did periodically appear on this route prior to electrification, normally on the residual buffet car expresses. The time between Royston and Ashwell looks quite creditable even with only seven vehicles at the drawbar and it is a pity that Phillip Tromans didn’t manage to record a maximum on this stretch. The proceeding stretch to Baldock is where the 312 operated to best advantage, although the driver of No. 47215 had no reason to hurry, as can be seen from the schedule column on the left-hand side. We now move north to West Yorkshire and feature a much older variety of EMU. The Class 307 units, it will be recalled, were introduced for the 1956 electrification scheme between Liverpool Street and Southend Victoria, but by the late-80s had undergone an extensive refurbishment programme and were transferred to Leeds-Doncaster services as a stop-gap pending the arrival of the Class 321 units. The climb out of Leeds features a 1 in 100 ascent, in the main between Beeston and Ardsley; the crest of the summit is in the vicinity of MP 180 as shown in the logs below. The attainment of 58 mph by both 307102 in Run 11 and 307122 in Run 12 was typical for a EMU of this


Table 5

Run no 11 12

Date 01 December 1990 24 October 1990

Train 15.51 Leeds- 9.51 Leeds-

Doncaster Doncaster


Load 4/154/160 4/154/160

Recorder C.Foss I.Umpleby


185 70 Leeds 0 00 0 00

185 29 Whitehall East Junction 1 36 1 58 1/2

184 00 Mp 3 15 49/61 3 47 54/62

182 00 Mp 5 18 57 5 48 59

180 00 Mp 7 25 58/76 7 50 58/76

178 26 Outwood [?] 9 21 [?] 10 10

178 26 0 00 0 00

177 00 Mp 1 47 69 1 59 60/sigs

175 62 Wakefield Westgate [?] 3 25 [?] 4 13

Table 6

Run no 13 14

Date 16 August 2013 16 August 2013

Train 13.48 Leeds-Sheffield 15.20 Leeds-

Doncaster


Load 2/48/52 4/138/148

Recorder A.James A.James


185 70 Leeds 0 00 0 00

185 29 Whitehall East Junction 1 29 1/2 29

184 00 Mp 3 38 55/59 2 58 72

182 00 Mp 5 47 55 4 38 1/2 68

180 00 Mp 7 53 60 6 22 1/2 70

178 26 Outwood [?] 10 23 [?] 9 18

178 26 0 00 67 max 0 00 68 max

175 62 Wakefield Westgate [?] 3 32 [?] 3 25

vintage which utilised AC transmission. In one sense they do provide a glimpse of the performance standards that could have been reached in the early to mid-60s had the plans to electrify the ECML under the 1955 Modernisation Plan come to fruition. Table 6 features a diesel and electric comparison between a Pacer in Run 13 and a Class 321 in Run 14. The 321 won hands down, not surprisingly, and the difference between the two on the 1 in 100 ascent to MP 180 is especially marked. In the case of No. 142026, it is a reminder to what running was like prior to electrification of this route in 1989. I believe there were also a few first generation DMUs knocking about on other local services in this era and one would expect a discernibly lower figure of about 40 mph on the same inclination, given a typical power/trailer two-car configuration with a nominal power: weight ratio of 5.5-6.0 hp/ton. Part 3 will feature some more Class 321 logs south of Peterborough as well as some Up running between Stevenage and Kings Cross.


NO FURTHER FASTEST TIMES in Kent, Sussex and Hampshire. Michael Rowe

The last decade has witnessed an almost meteoric rise in UK rail passenger numbers and even a small increase in route mileage. It is easy to forget by how much the network has shrunk from its peak. Whilst many of the closures were as a result of the (to many infamous and to others inevitable) Beeching Report, others occurred earlier. However, the result for us RPS Members is there are more than 8,000 miles where all fastest times are historical. This article will review performances over some of the closed routes in Kent, Sussex and Hampshire. The Isle of Thanet, almost as far east as one can go within the Kingdom, appears an appropriate place to start. On 2 July 1926 the Southern Railway completed the rationalisation of its inherited network in the Margate and Ramsgate area, a hangover from the former competing routes built by the South Eastern and London Chatham and Dover Railways. This included the closure of the SER’s Margate Sands branch and the former LC&D Ramsgate Harbour station including the connecting line to Broadstairs. The Harbour station was cramped, and departing trains were faced with a climb at a 1 in 75 gradient from the platform end, initially through a tunnel (1,639 yards) and for a further half mile after. Whilst there appear to be no published logs for the section, Pattinson does touch on performance in his 1897 monograph on the LC&D. Quoting verbatim (with the author’s insertions in brackets), ‘On this heavy grade three observations were made, the last quarter mile at the top being run at 23¾ mph by engine 190 (an M3 Class 4-4-0) with 14½ coaches (probably 150 tons tare), 24 mph by engine 191 (M3) and 13 coaches (c.140 tons tare) and at 29 mph by engines 52 (an Enigma Class 2-4-0) and 12 (M3) with 20 on (c.210 tons).’ The SER Elham Valley line, connecting Folkestone with Canterbury, was another product of the LC&D/SER dog fight. In this case the SER was responding to a LC&D proposal to build a route to Folkestone (the Alkham Valley). Although passing through a rural area, which even before the advent of the motor car offered scant revenue prospects, the SER was compelled, as part of its objection to the Alkham scheme, to build the line with double track, effectively to main line standards. During the First World War, following the closure of the SER route from Folkestone to Dover for four years after the major earth fall in Folkestone Warren in December 1915, the Elham Valley route assumed national significance. Indeed, shortly after the earth slip occurred the SER introduced three return trains per day twixt Folkestone and Dover via Canterbury and Minster. They started at Folkestone Junction, stopped at Folkestone, Shorncliffe and then Canterbury. The quickest of the three, the 1720 ex-Folkestone Junction, after further stops at Minster and Deal, reached Dover Priory, 50 miles distant, at 1849. In the opposite direction the best overall time was by the 0500 from Dover Pier which with the same intermediate stops reached Shorncliffe in 83 minutes. This was to be the pinnacle of Elham Valley running; by the time the late S.A.W. Harvey travelled the route there were five weekday trains in each direction between Canterbury and Dover, with an additional two services between Dover and Lyminge and much of the route had been singled.


There were two double track alternative routes between London and Brighton - from East Croydon via Eridge, Uckfield and Lewes, and via the Mid Sussex route to Horsham and then Steyning and Shoreham.

Date 05/08/1934 11/08/1935

Train 1538 ex Dover 1820 ex Dover

Loco H Class 1532 H Class 1265

Load 70/74 93/95

Recorder S A Harvey S A Harvey

m.ch location gradients sch actual sch actual

0.00 Folkestne Jct 0-00

0.79 Folkestone Cen 1/230R 2 2.40 0-00

0.55 Shorncliffe 1/280R 2 2.06 2 2.03

0.60 Cheriton Halt 1/264R 2 1.50 2 1.50

0-50 Cheriton Jct 1/264R 1-50 (30) 1.43

3.68 Lyminge 1/90R 9 8.30 9 8.46

1.73 Elham 1/120D 1/216D 5 3.33 5 3.42

4.09 Barham 1/227D 1/228D 8 6.03 8 6.57

2.22 Bishopsbourne L 1/242D 5 4.19 5 4.20

1.40 Bridge 1/121D 1/80R 4 3.12 4 3.27

1.68 S’th Canterbury 1/183D 4 3.12 4 3.50

2.10 Canterbury West 1/70D 5 6-00 (a) 6 5.12

.(a) 30 secs stop at Harbledon Jct The former complex Oxted line system is now reduced to the section from East Croydon to Oxted plus the Uckfield and East Grinstead branches (plus the heritage railways Bluebell, Spa Valley and at Isfield). There were a few trains booked non-stop between Uckfield and Lewes. The line fell gently from Uckfield to Lewes with a sharp curve and short 1 in 60 gradient down before entering Lewes station.

date 13/07/1961 29/08/1961 1961 07/05/1961

loco / class 30917 / V 31892 / U1 31735 / D1 31838 / N

load tons 6/199/205 6/200/205 5/158/165 4/128/-

recorder MJR MJR DLR DLR

m.ch location actual mp actual mph actual mph actual mph

0.00 Uckfield 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

2.71 Isfield 4.36 52 5.05 05-00 50 4.35 56

pws 22 pws 28 pws 17

4.73 Barcombe Mills 8.01 43 8.30 - 07-00 75 7.42

MP9 11.35 52 11.48 53 9.37 72 10.42 64

8.43 Lewes 14.03 13.49 12.20 12.37

…

Date 29/05/1939 15/06/1939 17/06/1939 21/05/1945

loco / class 2045 / B4X 1749 D1 2075 I3 2076 I3

load tons 163 ‘gross’ 95 ‘gross’ 95 ‘gross’ 5/-/-

recorder N.Harvey N.Harvey N.Harvey N.Harvey

m.ch Location actual mph actual mph actual mph actual mph

0.00 Lewes 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

3.23 Culver Jc 5.43 6.00 5.05 5.20

3.70 Barcombe Mills 6.13 6.35 46 5.35 64 5.52 64

5.72 Isfield 8.23 9.15 40 7.30 70 7.56 68

8.43 Uckfield 12.30 13.28 10.55 11.35

The Schools Class 4-4-0 and U1 2-6-0 performances were typical of the 1640 Victoria to Brighton. David Lloyd Robert’s experiences (complete logs on the RPS data base) with the Sunday 1110 Tonbridge to Brighton exhibited, as the timetable required, more energy. The running time for the D1 4-4-0, with stops at Crowborough, Uckfield and Lewes over the 32.24 miles from Tunbridge Wells West to Brighton was 51m 42s, the N 2-6-0 took 50m 44s (48½ net), schedule 52½. Norman Harvey’s Up runs include, albeit with light trains, two lively snippets with I3 Class 4-4-2 tanks.


An excuse for including the Eridge - Eastbourne route (the Cuckoo Line), other than it was a personal favourite, dates from 1884/5. The SER obtained running powers over the LB&SCR route and for 20 months ran from London to Eastbourne via Tunbridge Wells and Heathfield. Overall time was circa two hours. Overall time was c. two hours. November 1885 Bradshaw gives Charing Cross departures at 11.20 (“Hastings and Eastbourne Express”).and 17.35 ("Eastbourne Express"). Departures from Tunbridge Wells (LB&SC) were at 12.15 and 18.35 with a 65-minute non-stop booking onwards to Eastbourne. In the Up direction Eastbourne departures were at 0930 and 1505 with 68 minutes allowed to Tunbridge Wells West. The morning train reached Cannon Street in five minutes over two hours, the afternoon service Charing Cross in the even two hours.

date 13/04/1961 11/07/1961 date 08/08/1964

loco 80068 80084 loco 80085

load 6/193/200 7/222/230 load 8/244/250

Recorder MJR MJR Recorder J.H.Daykin

m.ch location gradient actual mph actual mph m.ch location actual mph

0.00 Eridge 1/176R,1/90R 0.00 0.00 0.00 Eastborne 0.00

1.24 Red PMJct 188R,1/56R 3.35 33/9 3.36 1.79 Hamden Pk 4.22 33

3.11 Rotherfield 1/50R,1/50D 7.24 33/30 7.53 29min 2.18 Polegate 4.38 41/37

2.60 Mayfield 1/50D,1/50R 6.38 24 7.41 20½ 2.79 Hailsham 5.44 48

3.62 Heathfield 1/50D 7.48 a) 9.36 b) 1.63 Hellingly 4.35 48

2.41 Horam 4.32 48 5.09 44 3.48 Horam 7.46 53/29

3.48 Hellingly 1/80R,1/80D 5.32 42 6.36 2.41 Heathfield 9.21 18/25 c)

1.63 Hailsham 3.45 29 4.11 27 3.62 Mayfield 7.41 52/46 57

2.79 Polegate 1/283D 5.05 56 5.32 51 2.60 Rotherfield 8.19 d) 56

2.18 Hamden Pk Level 3.59 58 4.09 44 3.11 Red PMJct 6.02 sigs

1.79 Eastborne 3.54 41 4.34 4.35 Eridge 8.14

Running sch/actual 58½ 48-37 57½ 55-21 54-40

Overall sch/actual 64 56-52 71 69-18.

a) Successive quarters on 1/50 39, 32, 24, 24, 23, 21, 21, 21

b) Successive quarters on 1/50 33, 28, 24, 23, 20, 16, 16, 16

c) Successive quarters on mainly 1/50 :21, 18, 22, 19, 21, 20, 26

d) Successive quarters on 1/50 : 26, 19, 18, 16, 14

The Eridge to Eastbourne run with BR Class 4 2-6-4 tank No. 80068, with the through coaches from London off the 1550 ex Victoria, was the product of a crew attempting to recover a 15 minute late start. They were partially frustrated by having to wait some time at Heathfield for an Up train. The run by No. 80064, with the through coaches from the 1038 ex-Victoria indicates what was required to keep time with a seven coach train. John Daykin’s experience was on the 0900 Eastbourne to Redhill via Eridge and Tonbridge which included three vans as far as Tonbridge. At these low speeds 80068 developed an Equivalent Drawbar Horsepower of approximately 790 at 21 mph on a 1 in 50, 80084 approximately 720 at 18 mph at MP31 and 80085 approximately 790 at 18 mph at MP28½. Although the BR Standard Class 4 2-6-4 tanks were the norm over the Cuckoo Line during the sixties, occasionally Bulleid light Pacifics ventured forth. Unrebuilt Battle of Britain Pacific No.34066 with the Sussex Downsmen Railtour in 1964 was one such. With a nine coach train, 330 tons gross, it ran nonstop from Tunbridge Wells West to Hailsham in 61m 23s, schedule 60 minutes. Speed fell to 12 mph on the 1¼ miles at 1 in 50 after Rotherfield and on the 2¼ miles at 1 in 50 up to Heathfield, to 14½ mph on the curves half way up, but then recovered to 15½ mph. The Sussex Downsman continued to Pevensey via the now closed Eastbourne avoiding line from Polegate East Junction to Stonecross Junction. There have been other connecting line closures in the south east. They invariably are missed only when emergencies dictate alternate routes e.g. between Crowhurst South and North


Junctions. This enabled through running from Tonbridge to Oxted and provided an alternative route between Tonbridge and East Croydon to that via Redhill. The Selsdon to Woodside line afforded a route into London by Oxted line trains that bypassed East Croydon. (The data base contains logs by S.A.W. Harvey and others that cover these routes). Oxted line DMUs assumed many duties prior to the closure of the Cuckoo Line between Redpost Mill Junction and Hailsham in 1965 and then over the remaining rump to Hailsham until its closure three years later. On 6 March 1965, a three coach set ran Eridge to Eastbourne in 62m 37s, schedule 63 minutes, running time 47m 46s, schedule 54. The Mayfield to Heathfield stretch occupied 7m 18s. On Mr Daykin’s run with No. 80085 it appears the Tonbridge crew had a final flourish from Groombridge up the 1 in 88 and 1 in 100 to Tunbridge Wells West (now part of Spa Valley Heritage Railway), running the 3m 2ch in 5m 51s start to stop with 43 mph attained at MP43. A splendid effort. The criterion was perhaps established by O.S. Nock writing in British Locomotives from the Footplate. I3 Class 4-4-2 tank No. 2028 and an eight coach train of 275 tons, with the regulator wide open and cut off set at 50%, took 5m 37s with a ‘sustained speed of 41 to 42 mph up the grade.’ The Tunbridge Wells West to Three Bridges via East Grinstead route was single line from Ashurst Junction to Three Bridges. Post the introduction in 1955 of the Oxted interval service the Tunbridge Wells West to Victoria trains ran via East Grinstead. After Forest Row the line climbed from the Medway Valley to the Wealden Ridge at East Grinstead. This included three miles at 1 in 80. The nine-minute schedule between Forest Row and East Grinstead with an eight coach train demanded a significant effort from a Class 4 locomotive. BR Class 4 4-6-0 No. 75069 developed an EDHP of 900 at least, sufficient to keep schedule with six seconds to spare. The Fairburn LM 2-6-4 tank gained a minute with the lighter train whilst developing some 150 EDHP less.

date 02/11/1958 11/01/1960 28/08/1961

loco 42074 80083 75069

load 5/157/170 6/197/210 8/274/280

train 10.47 exTWW

15.47 exTWW

13.47 exTWW

recorder MJR MJR MJR

m-ch

location Actual mph actual mph mph

0.00 Forest Row 0.00 0.00 0.00

1.00 MP 38½ 3.03 25

1.40 MP 28 3.31 32 4.12 32 4.10 27½

2.00 MP 37½ 5.10 30

2.40 MP 37 5.17 36 6.13 29 6.11 30

3.39 East Grinstead 7.51 stop 9.03 stop 8.54 stop

The alternative Brighton Route, via Sutton, Dorking, Horsham, and the long-since closed section from Itchingfield Junction to Shoreham, closely followed Stephenson’s original preferred route to Brighton, utilising the Adur Gap through the South Downs The line descended from Itchingfield Junction to the Adur valley for 3¼ miles at gradients varying from 1 in 299 to 1 in 100. Stephenson’s route would then have remained at river level, but in an attempt to siphon off more traffic the line was diverted to serve Henfield, resulting in a mile rising at 1 in 100 followed by 1¼ miles falling at a similar gradient. The three logs in the Down direction indicate why the line earned the epithet Linger and Die. Bruce Nathan timed an SLS Special in the opposite direction behind a Billinton K Class 2-6-0 with seven coaches (7/224/245). The schedule from Brighton to Horsham was 61 minutes,


Driver Giles, hardly a slouch, managed - with the help of a signal stop - to spin out 60m 11s, the 12.7 miles from Shoreham to West Grinstead run in a very gentle 23m 36s.

date 09/04/1939 23/03/1964 09/04/1939

loco I3 4-4-2T 2078 N 2-6-0 31411 B4 4-4-0 2051

load 9/-/280 9/302/330 9/-/280

train 10.16 exTooting LCGB special 18.58 exBrighton

recorder N.Harvey MJR N.Harvey

m.ch location sch actual mph sch actual mph m.ch location sch actual mp

0.00 Horsham 0 00-00 0 00-00 0.00 Hove 0 0.00

2.31 Ch.Hospt’l 4.45 30 4(a) 07.45 pws 4.34 Shoreham 9 8.50 44

4.47 S’thwater 8.17 44 10.51 57 Sh’ham sb sigs

7.43 W.Grins’d 12.18 36 14.19 54 8.35 Bramber 16.44 44

9.72 Partr’ge G 15.55 30 16 17.41 stop 9.14 Steyning 21 18.44 stp

11.73 Henfield 20.40 20 * 4.18 12.81 Henfield 7.03 36

15.40 Steyning 25 27.55 30 10 8.57 49 14.82 Partr’ge G 10.56 40

16.19 Bramber 29.42 17.11 W.Grins’d 14.07 32

Sh’ham sb sig (4-32) Stop) 14.45 sigs 20.07 S’thwater 19.29 30

20.20 Shoreham 45 43.35 19 16.52 22.23 Ch.Hospt’l 27 24.34

24.54 Hove 54 51.50 30 27 25.27 pass 24.54 Horsham 30 30.40 sig

(a) Itchingfield Jct - 2m76ch. * slow

The original route from Southampton to Bournemouth and Weymouth ran via Ringwood. The Southampton to Dorchester section is always referred to as Castleman’s Corkscrew in recognition of the Wimborne solicitor who was involved with the original planning and the line’s curvature. The sections from Southampton to Lymington Junction and then from Hamworthy Junction to Dorchester South of course remain in rude health. Bournemouth trains until the opening of the more direct route via Sway in 1888 ran via the Corkscrew to Ringwood and then over the 25 mph restricted line to Christchurch. All Weymouth traffic continued via the Corkscrew until the Holes Bay-Hamworthy link opened in 1893. Post-1893, increasingly less through traffic ran via Ringwood. After WWII the Ringwood - Wimborne route, apart from diversions, was used by the early morning newspaper train from Waterloo to Weymouth via Salisbury and some summer Saturday trains from Swanage and Weymouth to Waterloo (four on Saturdays in 1954). The Hamworthy Junction to Broadstone section was reduced to single track in 1933. Leaving the Weymouth to Bournemouth route at Hamworthy Junction the line climbed for a mile at 1 in 150, two thirds of a mile at 1 in 204 and then 1 in 100 to Broadstone station. After the station the line was level for two thirds of a mile, then 1 in 100 down to Wimborne. From there to West Moors included 1½ miles up at 1 in 260 followed by a fall at 1 in 200 for 1¾ miles. The route was then overall level to Ringwood, with intermittent short ups and downs, the steepest at 1 in 128. After Ringwood there was a four-mile rise, mostly at 1 in 176, followed by a fall for 2½ miles past Holmsley, mostly at 1 in 200, then a mile up at 1 in 200 and a final fall at 1 in 200 for two miles to Lymington Junction. (Refer Railway Magazine Gradient Profiles, Tothill Press, Section 3D). Thanks to Michael Hedges, we have several logs of performance between Wareham and Brockenhurst, three of which are tabulated. Bulleid West Country Class Pacific No.34093 kept the initial eight-minute schedule to pass Hamworthy Junction with a 395 ton train but then lost a minute and a half on to Broadstone despite attaining 36 mph on the 1 in 100 after slowing to 5 mph for the single line section. This section often proved difficult for the slip-prone Bulleid Pacifics. No. 34106, with 13 coaches (six from Swanage, seven from Weymouth), on the same train took 19 minutes from Hamworthy Junction to Broadstone. One quarter mile with constant slipping required 3m 45s.


No. 34093 ran well from Wimborne to Lymington Junction with an excellent average of 54.7 mph. The BR Class 4 2-6-0’s running exhibited some good features, particularly No. 76011 - 60 mph at Holton Heath, 39 before Broadstone and Holmsley (5.9 miles) passed in 9m 38s from the Ringwood start.

date 18/08/1951 20/8/61 18/08/1957

loco WC 4-6-2 34093 BR Cl4 2-6-0 76015 2-6-0 76011

load 11/357/395 6/193/200 8/263/270

train 11.34 ex Swanage 17.57 ex Swanage 17.57ex SW

recorder M.Hedges M.Hedges M.Hedges

m.ch location sch actual mph sch actual mph actual mph

0.00 Wareham 0 0.00 0 0.00 RT 0.00 1ML

2.09 Holton H’th 4.33 47 4.22 5.08 60

4.73 Hamw’y Jct 8 8.05 52/5* 8.03 51/34 7.37 25

8.28 Broadstone 14 15.33 36mx 17 14.48 13.51 39

10.6 Wimborne 19.16 5 5.40 5.38

15.31 W. Moors 24.23 64 8½ 8.08 7.20

17.60 Ashley Hth 26.39 65/60 4½ 5.44 4.57 sigs

20.22 Ringwood 29.25 62/42 4 5.10 9.36

26.17 Holmsley 37.01 60 11.35 9.38 45

30.22 Lym. Jct 48 40.57 65/60 18.47 16.43 53

31.17 Brockenh’st 42.25 54sig 21 20.37 1ML 19.35 3ML

41.58 Totton 52.51 68

42.30 Redbridge 62 53.42 49

44.66 Soton 67 63.56 sigstp

· Slow to pick up tablet for single line section to Broadstone

The Corkscrew witnessed the longest regular non-stop booking on the London and South Western Railway, a feat probably never equalled during Southern days. The South Western Railway General Act of 1871 stated, ‘Every train arriving at Poole or passing to or from the London and South Western Railway from or to the Bournemouth and Poole Railway shall stop at the station at Poole.’ Perhaps for this reason the L&SW routed its half day excursions to Weymouth and Swanage via the Corkscrew. The public advertisement for the 1906 Whit Sunday excursion read, ‘A splendid opportunity to visit the Sunny South. Express half day excursion to Wareham, Corfe Castle, Swanage, Dorchester and Weymouth.’ The fare was four shillings and three pence. Waterloo departure was at 1130, Swanage arrival 1430, Weymouth 1435. The best weekday service in June 1914 reached Swanage in three hours and Weymouth in 3h 6m; in June 1939 Swanage 2h 51m, Weymouth 2h 54m and in June 1961 2h 57m and three hours. Excursion passengers were well served in Edwardian times! The train split at Wareham: the front six coaches for Weymouth, the rear four for Swanage. The return service departure times were 1915 and 1920. The L12 Class 4-4-0 ran the harder of the two, gaining two minutes over the smaller T9 Class 4-4-0 between Basingstoke and Winchester. After the water stop at Wimborne, and including the earlier delays before Clapham Junction, Wareham was reached 18 minutes late according to the published poster, although to be fair the poster did say ‘Wareham arr. abt 2.03 pm’. The T9 was allowed an extra five minutes and arrived a minute early. The average speed from Brockenhurst to Hamworthy Junction was 50 mph and the time of 52 minutes from Southampton to Wareham stop compares well with steam timings via Bournemouth. The post WWII (after 1957) two hour Bournemouth trains were, for instance, allowed 34 minutes Southampton to Bournemouth, another 10 minutes to Poole and another 10 to Wareham. These long nonstop runs were made before the advent of superheating.


date 04/06/1906 Aug-08

loco 112 4-4-0 424 T9 4-4-0 [310 series)

load 10/-/250 10/-/250

recorder Frank E,Box ‘Old Timer’

miles actual actual

0.0 Waterloo 00-00 RT sig stop 5 mins 00-00 RT

3.9 Clapham Jct 12-20/15-02 stop 08-00/09-30 stop

20.5 Woking - sigs Surbiton 29-00 sigs Surbiton

43,9 Basingstoke 58-53 57-00

62.7 Winchester 79-03 75 max 79-00 72 max Eastleigh

75.2 Southampton 91-05 96-30

89.9 Brockenhurst 108-08 - 112-30

99.8 Ringwood 122-10/125-02 water stp

111.5 Broadstone Jct - 138-15

119.9 Wareham 153-29 stop 18ML 148-30 stop 1ME

Sch 1906 : Clapham Jct depart 11.38, Wareham “arr. abt. 14.08

The concept of a half day excursion to Weymouth behind steam for £23 to-day is mouth- watering, and time for a return trip to Yeovil over Evershot.

Three Steam Logs from the old Great Central Main-Line. William Alcock. In Milepost 32 (April 2011), our editor included a reprint of an article I wrote for Steam World, which described three runs on the old Great Central main-line; the article did not, however include the logs, and it may be that since they are unpublished, members may like to have them for the record. My acquaintance with the Great Central route from Marylebone to Manchester was in fact slight, indeed I never did travel via the G.W & G.C Joint line, all my recordings being via Aylesbury. One of the runs is on the old night newspaper which, because of the nocturnal hour at which it left Marylebone never appeared much in print. Run 1 was on Saturday 1 March 1952, on the ‘South Yorkshireman’ departing from Marylebone at 1650. The locomotive was A3 Pacific No. 60102 Sir Frederick Banbury, with a load of 378 tons tare, perhaps 395 gross (the train was half empty). The driver was Henson of Leicester, who proved to be both informative and forthcoming. Before he started he not only wrote out for me the working times, but also took me along the platform holding a long iron bar with which he demonstrated the incredible amount of play in the right hand combination link bearing. Despite this considerable defect the performance en-route was quite good, even if the Gresley triple beat seemed pretty irregular on the climb from Rickmansworth to Amersham. The 62.5miles stage from Aylesbury to Leicester was completed in 69m 19s, inclusive of a severe signal check before Brackley and a hampering TRS on the final descent to Leicester Central. Net time was probably 65 minutes, and actual time 1¾ minutes within the 71minute schedule. Run 2 was also on a Saturday and also on the South Yorkshireman, this time southbound from Sheffield. There must have been some event that September Saturday for the train was exceedingly crowded and the total of 12 coaches may have been exceptional, the loading being 405tons tare and quite 430 gross. Certainly B1 No. 61160 to which we were entrusted as far as Leicester found this quite enough up the lengthy 1 in 100 climb from Staveley to Pilsley, its exhaust was strenuously audible, and in retrospect I feel that in view of the load it


Table 1 Miles. Place Sch Min.Sec . mph

Date Sat 1-Mar-52 Dutchlands 53 53/25trs

Train 1650 Marylebone-Sheffield- South Yorkshireman

33.3 Wendover 48.54 25

37.9 AYLESBURY 57 54.54 68/

Engine: A3 4-6-2 60102 St Frederick Banbury

0.0 0 0.00

6.2 Quainton Road 8.45 56

Load 378tare/395gross 8.9 Grendon Underwood J 12 11.32 61/65

Crew Dvr Henson Leicester, Fireman unknown

10.9 Calvert 13.23 64/60

16.6 Finmere 18.43 67/55/15sigs

Recorder William Alcock 21.4 Brackley 24.45 30

Miles. Place Sched. Min.Sec . mph 24.6 Helmdon 31.25 41/56

0.0 Marylebone 0 0.00 28.2 Culworth 32 35. 13 59/60

Kilburn area trs 25 29. 7 Culworth J. 36.31 69

5.1 Neasden South Jet. 9.57 46 31.2 WOODFORD HALSE 37.53 64

9.2 Harrow-on-the-Hill 15.31 37 33.6 Charwelton 40.11 65/62

11.4 Pinner 18.21 51/tsr33 40.6 Braunton 46.20 77

13.7 Northwood 22.18 33 45.3 RUGBY 50.17 66

Watford South Jet. 25 10 54/56 48.9 Shawell Box 53.18 72/60

17.2 RICKMANSWORTH 26.42 28* 52.1 Lutterworth 56.21 72/61

21.6 Chalfont & Latimer 37 34.34 38 56.0 Ashby Magna 59.53 72

23.6 AMERSHAM 38.32 29 60.5 Whetstone 63.24 79/tsr37

28.8 Great Missenden 46 44.04 70 65.2 LEICESTER CENTRAL 71 69.19 -

. Date: 05-Sep-53 miles sch m s mph

Train:

1134 Sheffield-Marylebone - South Yorkshireman

0.0 LEICESTER Central 0.00 -

4.7 Whetstone 8.02 48

9.2 Ashby Magna 13.56 44

Engines: To Leicester B1 61160 13.1 Lutterworth 18.56 60

From Leicester V2 2-6-2 60836 16.3 Shawell 22.10 59/69

Crews: Unknown 19.9 RUGBY 25 26.00 70/

Recorder: William Alcock William Alcock 4.7 Braunston 6.29 62

miles sch m s mph 8.1 Staverton Road 10.00 52

0.0 SHEFFIELD(Victoria) 0.00 - 11.7 CharweIton 14.21 48

2.0 Darnall 5.10 39 14.0 Woodford Halse 16.54 62

4.9 Woodhouse 9.12 52/- 15.8 Culworth Jet. 18.30 71

Beighton trs 30 20.7 Helmdon 22.50 73/71

8.2 Killamarsh .14.22 34/36 23.9 Brackley 25. 34 76/82

Eckington 16.59 48/25tsr 28.7 Finmere 29. 18 71/79

12.0 Staveley Town 19.45 28 34.4 Calvert 33.30 84/77

14.9 Duckmanton Sth.Jct. 24. 35 28 36.4 Grendon Underwood 35.04 72

17.9 Heath 31.50 32 39.1 Quainton Road 37.37 71

20.5 Pilsley 36.00 38 45. 2 AYLESBURY 56 43.42

Tibshelf 37.42 50/54 2.2 Stoke Mandeville 5.46 30

27.5 Kirkby Sth.Jct. 44.34 44/62 4.6 Wendover 9.42

Hucknall Central trs(2) ( i ) 40 (ii)20

7.5 Dutchlands

13.12 35

24.9 Bulwell Common 54.52 20/45 9.1 Great Missenden 15. 54 74

New Barford 56.32 - 14.3 AMERSHAM 20. 50 53

38.2 NOTTINGHAM (Victoria) 57 59.44 - 13.3 Chalfont & Latime 22. 50 74

0.9 Arkwright Street 2.38 /15trs 18.5 Chorley Wood 24.42 76

4.4 Ruddington 20.7 RICKMANSWORTH 26.45 36*

6. 6 Gotham Jet. 11.16 44 27.35 sig

East Leake 14.22 45 28.02 stop

7.6 Branston 46 Moor Park 31.58

13.5 LOUGHBOROUGH 19 19.45 56/- 26.5 Pinner 38.35 sig

2.1 Quorn 4.37 39 38.55 stop

4.9 Rothley 8.39 46 28.7 Harrow on the Hill 43.47

7.6 Belgrave 12.00 53/45 Neasden SJ 48.12 66

9.9 LEICESTER 13 15.04 55/- 37.9 MARYLEBONE 56 55.38


did not do too badly to lose only two minutes to Nottingham despite three TSRs; of course the timing may have allowed for any of these which were long term in this colliery area. We had left Sheffield 11 minutes late, and when we restarted from Leicester with V2 No. 60836 we were 15 late. .

Date: 13-Mar-54 Miles Place sch m s mph

Train: 0145 Marylebone-Nottingham (News)

54. 5 Finmere 68.00 55/54

59.3 Brackley 72.00 75/64

Engine: B1 4-6-0 No:61187 62.5 Helmdon 75.05 59

Load: 164 Tare, 185 Gross 66.1 Culworth 78.20 68/70

Recorder: William Alcock. 69.1 WOODFORD HALSE 84 81.59

Miles Place sch m s mph 2.4 Charwelton 4.54 54

0.00 MARYLEBONE 0.00 9.4 Braunton 11.51 77

5.1 Neasden Jet. 8.35 14.1 RUGBY 16 16.40 _

9.2 Harrow on the Hill 12.45 50* 3.6 Shawell 5.40 -/54

11.4 Pinner 15.25 65/trs10 6.8 Lutterworth 9.15 61/53

12.7 Northwood 18.37 36/55 10.7 Ashby Magna 13, 25 63

17.2 RICKMANSWORTH 23. 50 25* 15.2 Whetstone 17.25 75

14.4 Chorley Wood 27.41 37 19.9 LEICESTER CENTRAL 24 21.29 73/-

21.6 Chalford & Latimer 30.51 42 0.00 LEICESTER CENTRAL 0.00

23. 6 AMERSHAM 33.55 38 2.30 Belgrave 3.54

28.8 Great Missenden 39.10 77 5.00 Rothley 6.50 52

30.4 Dutchlands 57 7.80 Quorn 60

trs 30 9.90 LOUGHBOROUGH 11.27 68

33.3 Wendover 44.02 66/trs 12.90 Burnston 63

37.9 AYLESBURY 48.51 30* 14.40 East Leake 15.30 64

44. 1 Quainton Road 56.30 64/trs 15 Gotham J 65

48.8 Calvert 61.56 65 19.00 Ruddington 19.46 64/sigs

22.40 NOTTINGHAM 28 25.07

At first there was no real sign of vigour, and we lost a minute to the stop at Rugby. The crew then made a real effort, and actually ran this weighty train over the 45.2 miles to the Aylesbury stop in under even time in 43m 42s. This involved speeds of 82 mph below Brackley and 84 before Calvert; in doing so they regained no less than 12 minutes. Hopes of reaching Marylebone on time, however, were dashed (as so often on this route) by severe delays from Metropolitan traffic, and our arrival at Marylebone was late (there had been station delays at Aylesbury). With a load as low as 185 tons gross Run 3 has little of performance interest, but it does at least throw light on the working of this rarely-timed train. What the run did reveal to me was that the rural areas through which this line ran, especially north of Aylesbury, were very dark indeed (the date was 13 March 1953). In those days the countryside was nothing like as well- lit at night as it is nowadays. It will be seen that time was kept easily by our B1 4-6-0 I hope that these three logs will prove of interest to readers familiar with the old G.C route.

MEMBERSHIP RENEWALS Members are reminded that 2016 subscriptions are now overdue. If you have not paid, could you please do so


ALMOST AN ARCTIC CIRCLE Mike Burrow After booking a holiday with Great Rail Journey’s ‘Arctic Circle Express’ package in 2014 hopes were high of travelling on and logging some more unusual railway operations including the Swedish Inlandsbanan and the Lulea to Narvik route via Kiruna. We commenced our journey at Stockholm Central on the SJ line to Ostersund. The plan was then to take the Inlandsbanan from Ostersund and travel 400 miles northwards into the Arctic Circle before catching the SJ Lulea to Narvik train at Gallivare; from Narvik to travel by coach and ferry to Fauske, where the Bodo to Trondheim (Nordland) line is met, and proceed to Dombas for the 70 mile scenic route down to Andalsnes. At one point on this line three distinct track levels can be seen on the opposing valley sides. Then, our route was to be by road, again over the mountains, to visit the remarkable Flam Railway, with its adhesive gradients as steep as 1 in 18 and then by express boat to Bergen for a tour finale on the Bergensbanen to Oslo S. during which a summit of over 4,000ft is reached at Finse. However, the best laid plans of mice and men, as we all know, can go astray and the above proved no exception! Run 1 Stockholm to Ange: 451 km (Table 1) On Sunday 3 August, at 0809 the Stockholm to Are Inter City slowly moved out of Central Station scheduled to call at Arlanda C. Uppsala, Gavle, Ange and Ostersund, an eight coach load hauled by one of the capable Rc6 ASEA Electric Locos of 4,895 h.p. Initially, the train’s speed hovered around the 20 mph level for 1½ miles before it was brought to a stand, probably due to a conflicting movement on the Vasteras/Enkoping line. Speed then increased rapidly through the Stockholm suburbs and even slightly exceeded the 160 km/h limit for this class at Norrviken and Rotebro, before stopping at Arlanda C. which was reached four minutes late due to the earlier hold up. Returning to the original alignment off the Arlanda loop at Myrbraken Junction the train quickly accelerated to 160+ km/h, if only briefly, before Uppsala was reached. The reason for these high speeds soon became apparent when the 0817 Snabbtag (Fast-train) from Stockholm to Hudiksvall, a 200k m/h Regina Class EMU halted alongside us at Uppsala shortly afterwards and departed within a minute of stopping. We were obviously lower down the pecking order. However, the four minutes previously lost to Arlanda had now been recouped due to a time of 17m 04s for the 19.7 miles to Uppsala (69.3 mph) and reduced station dwell time. After Uppsala, we remained on the high speed line northwards and were soon travelling at the 100 mph level again, averaging 100.5 mph for the next 40.04 miles until we were brought to a stand by signals for 35 seconds at Skutskar. Gavle, our next scheduled stop, was obviously not ready and this delay cost us 1½ minutes, with a time of 55m 27s for the 71.45 miles from Uppsala (78.2 mph), compared to the 54 minutes scheduled. At Gavle our route to Ange diverges from the main line to Sundsvall and the Rc6 locomotive continued in the 80/85 mph range. The next 101.2 miles were rolled off in 84m 11s and the few speed variations were due to track curvature rather than gradient or operational factors. Further stops were also made at Jarvso, Ljusdal and Ange with average sectional speeds in the upper 60s to lower 70s. The schedule to Ostersund was easily maintained, with a couple of minutes in hand.


Table 1: STOCKHOLM C. to ANGE

Date 3rd August 2014

Train 08.09 IC Stockholm to Are

Loco Rc6 SJ Bo-Bo Electric No.1414

Load 8,376/400

Recorder M J Burrow

Kms Mls Sch Actual Av.km/h Av.mph Av.km/hr Av.mph

0.00 0.00 STOCKHOLM C. 0 0 - 00 ~ ~

2.10 1.31 Karlberg 4 - 08 sigs. 19

sig.stop 10secs

5.18 3.24 Solna 12 - 09 23.5 14.7

7.09 4.43 Ulriksdal 14 - 39 45.8 28.7

10.90 6.81 Helenelund 17 - 05 93.3 58.3

13.20 8.25 Sollentuna 18 - 01 145.3 90.8

17.05 10.66 Norrviken 19 - 22 171.1 106.9

19.05 11.91 Rotebro 20 - 03 171.4 107.1

24.38 15.24 Upplands Vasby 22 - 02 159.9 99.9

27.35 17.09 Skavstaby Junc. 23 - 11 155 96.8

39.05 24.41 Arlanda C. 25 29 - 09 80.4 50.3

10.52 6.58 Myrbracken Junc. 7 - 28 84.7 53

14.21 8.88 Knivsta 8 - 55 152.7 95.4

20.25 12.66 Ekeby 11 - 07 164.7 103

26.89 16.81 Saby 13 - 28 169.5 106

31.52 19.70 Uppsala C. 21 17 - 04 110.9 69.3

2.32 1.45 Loten 5 - 29 25.3 15.8

6.45 4.03 Samnan 8 - 03 97.1 60.7

12.30 7.69 Storvreta 10 - 34 140.5 81.4

20.22 12.64 Vattholma 13 - 31 161.1 100.7

26.34 16.46 Skyttorp 15 - 47 163.2 102

32.50 20.31 Jarlebo 18 - 05 160.7 100.4

43.61 27.26 Orbyhus 22 - 13 160.7 100.4

61.70 38.56 Tierp 28 - 52 163.2 102

76.37 47.73 Mehedeby 34 - 28 157.2 98.2

96.25 60.16 Skutskar 42 - 52 sig stop 35s 88.8

114.32 71.45 Gavle 54 55 - 27 123.7 78.2

16.74 10.46 Oslattfors 11 - 15 89.3 55.8

38.40 24.00 Ocklebo 23 - 19 107.9 67.4

44.65 27.91 Mogrindar 26 - 16 127.1 79.4

56.17 35.11 Lingbo 31 - 18 136.9 85.5

72.88 45.55 Rostbo 38 - 35 137.3 85.8

81.84 51.15 Kilafors 43 - 02 120.8 75.5

98.93 61.83 Bollnas 54 52 - 01 114.2 71.3

14.48 9.05 Arbra 9 - 15 93.9 58.7

19.91 12.44 Vallsta 11 - 38 135.6 84.8

47.81 29.88 Jarvso 28 24 - 08 118.8 74.2

15.20 9.50 Ljusdal 10 8 - 02 113.3 70.8

6.95 4.34 Tallasen 5 - 01 83.4 52.1

27.60 17.25 Hennan 16 - 40 104.1 66.5

47.82 29.89 Ramsjo 27 - 22 113.4 70.9

66.23 41.39 Mellansjo 35 - 31 135.5 84.7

84.21 52.63 Ostavall 43 - 12 141.9 87.6

100.57 62.86 Ovansjo 53 - 05 99.2 62

104.01 65.01 ANGE 60 57 - 46 108.1 67.5

Summary

450.84km (281.78mls) covered in 242m52s running time at an average speed of 111.4km/hr (69.6mph

Maximum Line Speed for Rc 6, 4,895hp ASEA Electric Locomotives is 160km/hr.(100m p h)


Run 2 The Swedish Inlandsbanan from Ostersund to Vajkijaur: 653km An early start was called for the following day with the two car train departing Ostersund for Gallivare at 0705. We would be leaving it at Varjistrask after a mere 653 km (408 miles) which was scheduled to take 13h 20m. Not exactly a snabbtåg! Marketed as a tourist trip, halts for drink, meal and sight-seeing breaks totalled no less than 2½ hours, including a 10 minute stop on entering the Arctic Circle. Departure was on time and we were soon engulfed by endless forest terrain punctuated by the occasional lake. After the first drinks stop at Jamtlands Sikas (80 km) things began to go downhill, but not gradient-wise! Even allowing for the fact that track condition left a lot to be desired, the train was gradually falling behind schedule. It became clear that something was sadly amiss. One of the unit’s engines proved to be overheating and, on adverse gradients, speed rapidly fell into single digits. In fact this became so bad that the driver was obliged to stop the train and let the offending machinery cool down. This happened several times as the outside temperature soared above 30ºC. We were soon over an hour late and logging the run had long since lost any significance before the belated lunch-break at Vilhelmina Norra (247 km). A decision was made to remove the faulty unit at Arvidsjaur Depot, 226 km away, where a refuelling stop was to be made. Until then, progress was made in fits and starts losing another 20 minutes. After Arvidsjaur Depot, and the train’s reshuffle, time recovery began in earnest using the single unit with two consequences, one particularly unfortunate. At 80 km/h on this primarily freight line, the coach body started to oscillate quite wildly such that the suspension was unable to absorb all the movement. The frequent thuds as it hit the chassis were not for the faint-hearted. The second direct effect was on wildlife which scattered in all directions in front of the train. Regrettably, we saw one deer which was not able to get out of the way in time after the horn was sounded. Our arrival at Vajkijaur (653 km) was 45 minutes late although 35 had been regained since the depot stop - a truly unique rail journey of just over 14 hours which few of us would care to repeat under similar/any circumstances. Run 3 Gallivare to Narvik: 269km The next day, arriving at Gallivare by coach, the station departures board informed us that our train, the 1310 to Narvik, was running 38 minutes late due to a lightning storm which had put out an electrical sub-station. The chance of timing some catch-up running reared its head. However, when the inadequate and already over-crowded five coach train arrived from Lulea, topped and tailed by two Rc6s, we were told that it was being terminated at the next stop, Kiruna, 169 km from Narvik. So, instead of the expected rail journey, a replacement coach was produced for the aggrieved enthusiasts for the entire trip from Gallivare to Narvik and the ‘Great Rail Journey’ was, after three days, rapidly disintegrating into Whitehall farce. Run 4 Fauske to Snasa: 493km (Table 2) After a coach and ferry trip from Narvik to Fauske, we caught the 1215 from Bodo to Trondheim. The difficulty of operating a single line with infrequent passing loops and a succession of train movements in both directions was soon demonstrated. This was first apparent at Lonsdal and then Dunderland, where the delayed northbound 0738 from Trondheim to Bodo, 25 minutes late into the loop, caused a similar delay to our own train. Subsequent running eventually resulted in an arrival 38 minutes late in Trondheim. An


Table 2: FAUSKE to SNASA

Date 07-Aug-14

Train 12.15 Bodo to Trondheim

Loco N S B Co-Co Diesel Di 4 655

Load 5,216/230

Recorder M J Burrow 04/06

Kms Miles Alt. (m) Sched Actual Av.km/h Av.mph Av.km/hr Av.mph

0.00 0.00 FAUSKE 34.0 0 0 - 00 - -

26.47 16.54 Rognan 12.4 21 19 - 43 80.6km/hr 50.5m p h

13.32 8.33 Rokland 24.4 8 8 - 54 89.9km/hr 56.2m p h

32.29 20.98 Lonsdal 511.8 26 25 - 32 78.8km/hr 49.3m p h

31.06 19.40 Bolna 549.6 22 22 - 09 84.1km/hr 52.6m p h

service stop 5m 00s outside station

28.04 17.52 Dunderland 127.2 29 31 - 21 63.8km/hr 39.9m p h

30.40 19.00 Skonseng 47.6 20 19 - 45 91.2 57.7

45.07 28.17 Mo-I-Rana 3.5 32 30 - 29 88.7km/hr 55.4m p h

29.30 18.31 Bjerka 15.6 20 19 - 06 92.0km/hr 57.5m p h

27.91 17.44 Drevvatn 92.9 19 19 - 11 87.2 54.5

62.67 39.17 Mosjoen 6.8 46 42 - 08 89.2km/hr 55.8m p h

38.77 24.23 Trefors 81.1 30 29 - 29 78.9km/hr 49.3m p h

45.50 28.44 Majavatn 319.9 33 39 - 01 70.0km/hr 43.8m p h

31.49 19.68 Namsskogan 215.9 21 24 - 08 78.2km/hr 48.9m p h

35.61 22.26 Lassemoen 136.1 23 29 - 08 73.3km/hr 45.8m p h

18.85 11.78 Harran 100.2 11 14 - 57 75.7 47.3

35.10 21.94 Grong 50.9 34 27 - 15 77.3km/hr 48.3m p h

interesting feature was the way that local passengers were quick to get off the train and stretch their legs at the slightest hold up. Run 5 Trondheim to Dombas: 210km (Table 3) We were now back on the electrified main-line again at Trondheim with Class 18 haulage and a respectable load of eight coaches on the 0823 to Oslo. The principal interest in the run was the rate of climbing between station stops. The summit of the line at Hjerkinn is at 3,356 ft. The final section before we alighted at Dombas was covered in better than even-time with the 24.19 miles from Hjerkinn taking 22m 56s, (four seconds less than schedule), at an average speed of 63.2 mph. However, the line had fallen 1,180 ft over this distance! Norwegian distance charts also contain heights above sea-level in metres, a useful reference.

Table 3: TRONDHEIM to DOMBAS

Date 09-Aug-14

Train 08.23 to Oslo S.

Loco N S B Electric Loco; Cl 18 No.2254

Load 8 / 376 / 400


Kms Miles Alt. (m) Sch Actual Av.km/h Av.mph Av.km/hr Av.mph

0.00 0.00 TRONDHEIM 5.1 0 0 - 00 - -

2.11 1.32 Marienborg 8.6 4 - 40 27.2 17

11.46 7.16 Heimdal 143.5 14 11 - 44 58.5km/hr 36.6mph

4.30 2.69 Nypan 72.9 5 - 54 43.7 27.3

9.32 5.83 Melhus Skysstasjon 24.4 9 - 00 97.2 60.7

16.09 10.06 Kval 50.3 13 - 05 99.1 61.9

26.63 16.64 Lundamo 34.3 20 - 11 89.1 55.7

33.52 20.95 Hovin 54.8 24 - 56 87 54.4


Kms Miles Alt. (m) Sch Actual Av.km/hr Av.mph Av.km/hr Av.mph

40.21 25.13 Storen 66 29 29 - 48 81.0km/hr 50.6mph

14.60 9.13 Soknedal 299.3 11 - 29 76.2 47.6

23.89 14.93 Garli 398.2 17 - 39 90.6 56.6

34.85 21.78 Berkak 450.6 25 25 - 02 83.5km/hr 52.2mph

11.18 6.99 Ulsberg 438.6 9 - 14 72.5 45.3

19.95 12.47 Gisna ~ 15 - 22 85.6 53.5

25.00 15.63 Fagerhaug 540.4 18 - 20 91.1 57

37.07 23.17 Oppdal 544.9 27 24 - 45 89.9km/hr 56.2mph

7.50 4.69 Driva 560.4 5 - 20 84.1 52.6

13.34 8.34 Engan 620.4 9 - 14 59.4 37.1

22.16 13.85 Drivstua 691.2 14 - 48 95.4 59.6

36.05 22.53 Kongsvoll 886.5 23 24 - 55 88.9km/hr 54.3mph

11.49 7.18 Hjerkinn 1017 7 8 - 02 85.6km/hr 53.5mph

20.09 12.56 Fokstua 951.6 10 - 35 113.7 71.1

38.70 24.19 DOMBAS 659.3 23 22 - 56 101.2km/hr 63.2mph

Summary

Distance of 209.83km (131.14mls) was covered in 147m 12s at an average speed of 145.4km/hr.

Maximum Class 18 power output is 5,880kw (7,890hp) and Continuous power output is 5,400kw (7,200hp)

with a Maximum speed of 120m p h.

Runs 6 & 7 Dombas to Andalsnes. Flam to Myrdal. Neither of these lines was logged since the opportunity demanded that they be appreciated initially from the scenic and engineering points of view. Both lines deserve to be on anyone’s must-do list, such is their uniqueness in the world-wide railway context. Run 8 Bergen to Oslo S: 493km (Table 4) The final leg of our Arctic Tour was on the 1158 from Bergen to Oslo S. a distance of 308 miles (493.1 km) which includes a climb to 4,058 ft (1,237 m) reached inside Finse tunnel. This journey typifies the Norwegian difficulty of producing a sustainable and viable railway in a country with one of the lowest population densities in Europe yet conversely, has a high per capita usage of domestic air travel. For this reason, trains between these two cities seem to adopt different roles at various stages of the journey. We left Bergen on time and after transiting the operational bottle-neck of the single-tracked Ulriken Tunnel, made our first stop at Arna (9.32 km). Although this tunnel saves many journey miles and much time compared to the original route, severe curvature after Arna restricted our Class 18 locomotive’s performance with its load of eight coaches, 323 tonnes net. The average speed to Dale only just topped 45 mph. On to Voss, surprisingly, we achieved even time within seven miles of the restart but were then restrained by track curvature again, the average speed for the 24.98 miles stabilised at 50.8 mph. After Voss, the climbing really does begin in earnest onto Myrdal. Performance-wise we climbed 2,673 ft in 30.95 miles on an average gradient of 1 in 61. Time taken was 22 seconds over the scheduled 41 minutes. This gave an average speed of 44.9 mph (71.9 km/h). Myrdal is effectively the terminus of all local trains from Bergen connecting as it does with the southern end of the Flam Line and the ‘Norway in a Nutshell’ tourist route. For the next 160 km however, our train takes on another persona stopping at all stations, many at localities without road access on the central plateau. After Hallingskeid we commenced with an unexpected sprint to Finse over the summit of the Bergensbanen (4,057 ft) attaining an


Table 4 BERGEN to OSLO S.

Date 14th August 2014

Train 11.58 Bergen to Oslo S.

Loco 8 / 323 / 346

Load N S B Electric Bo-Bo Class 18 No. 2255


Kms. Mls. Alt. (m) Sch Actual Av.km/hr Av.mph Av.km/hr Av.mph

0.00 0.00 BERGEN 3.9 0 0 - 00 ~ ~

9.32 5.83 Arna 8.0 11 9 - 06 61.5km/hr 38.4m p h

3.30 2.06 Takvam 3 - 08 62.9 39.3

9.52 5.95 Trengereid 15.7 9 - 12 61.7 38.6

21.40 13.38 Vaksdal 16.0 17 - 02 90.8 56.8

29.71 18.57 Stanghelle 2.5 24 - 00 71.7 44.8

36.64 22.90 Dale 43.4 30 30 - 26 72.2km/hr 45.1m p h

11.16 6.98 Bolstadoyri 8.2 6 - 42 99.9 62.4

21.63 13.52 Evanger 15.5 15 - 49 69 43.1

25.49 15.93 Saghaug 19 - 09 69.13 43.2

32.74 20.46 Bulken 50.9 24 - 10 87 54.4

39.97 24.98 Voss 56.5 30 29 - 31 81.3km/hr 50.8m p h

3.76 2.35 Gjerdaker 4 - 11 53.7 33.6

6.29 3.93 Ygre 168.0 6 - 15 74 46.3

13.80 8.63 Urdland 304.0 12 - 37 71 44.4

15.92 9.95 Oyeflaten 14 - 06 84.8 53

19.02 11.89 Skiple 16 - 43 71.5 44.7

22.59 14.12 Reimegrend 464.6 19 - 43 79 49.4

31.10 19.44 Mjolfjell 627.2 26 - 35 74.5 46.6

35.95 22.47 Ljosanbotn 30 - 10 80.8 50.5

43.17 26.98 Upsete 850.2 36 - 06 72.8 45.5

49.52 30.95 Myrdal 866.8 41 41 - 22 71.9km/hr 44.9m p h

13.00 8.13 Hallingskeid 1110.1 13 14 - 05 55.3km/hr 34.6m p h

15.90 9.93 Bergensbanens Summit 1237.0 8 - 30 112.2 70.1

20.70 12.94 Finse 1222.2 16 11- 25 108.9km/hr 68.1m p h

26.60 16.63 Haugastol 988.0 19 17 - 36 90.7km/hr 56.7m p h

10.83 6.77 Ustaoset 990.6 9 9 - 00 72.2km/hr 45.1m p h

11.93 7.46 Geilo 794.2 12 10 - 12 70.2km/hr 43.9m p h

24.53 15.33 Al 436.6 19 19 - 07 77.1km/hr 48.2m p h

10.38 6.49 Torpo 326.6 7 - 28 83.6 52.2

25.83 16.14 Gol 207.4 18 18 - 57 81.8km/hr 51.1m p h

16.96 10.60 Nesbyen 168.8 12 12 49 79.5km/hr 49.7m p h

6.69 4.18 Liodden 162.6 5 - 50 68.6 42.9

33.42 20.88 Fla 155.0 23 27 - 07 74.0km/hr 46.2m p h

23.72 14.83 Organvika 268.7 18 - 50 75.5 47.2

40.01 25.01 Sokna 143.4 29 - 49 88.8 55.5

Sig stop 27s

62.43 39.02 Honefoss 96.8 48 47 - 07 79.5km/hr 49.7m p h

13.53 8.46 Tyristrand 78.9 10 - 38 76.2 47.6

19.02 11.89 Nakkerud 74.2 14 - 16 90.2 56.4

28.30 17.69 Vikersund 67.1 21 20 - 24 83.2km/hr 52.0m p h

4.46 2.79 Geithus 66.2 3 - 29 81.3 50.8

10.54 6.59 Amot 22.7 8 - 27 73.7 46.1

16.13 10.08 Skotselv 17.1 12 - 39 79.9 49.9

Sig stop 3m06s

25.69 16.06 Hokksund 8.0 22 24 - 02 73.6km/hr 46.0m p h

3.22 2.01 Steinberg 5.4 3 - 42 52.2 32.6

Sig stop 2m14s

6.19 3.87 Mjondalen 5.2 9 - 43 47.5 29.7


Kms. Mls. Alt. (m) Sch Actual Av.km/hr Av.mph Av.km/hr Av.mph

14.95 9.34 Gulskogan 8.0 14 - 33 108.4 67.7

17.36 10.85 Drammen 2.2 22 17 - 35 67.9km/hr 42.4m p h

2.10 1.31 Brakeroya 3.4 1 - 39 76.4 47.6

6.02 3.76 Tuverud 2 - 55 134.4 84

17.30 10.81 Asker 104.6 13 11 - 40 89.1km/hr 55.7m p h

9.69 6.06 Sandvika 12.0 6 - 31 89.4 55.9

16.83 10.52 Lysaker/ Fornebu 7.0 12 11 - 47 85.6km/hr 53.5m p h

2.64 1.65 Skoyen 7.5 3 - 03 51.9 32.5

4.62 2.89 Nationaltheatret 6 - 16 37.1 23.3

5.75 3.59 OSLO S. 11 9 - 22 36.9km/hr 23.0m p h

average of 68.1 mph (108.9 km/h) for the 12.94 miles. The next station, Haugastol (16.63 miles), was reached in a commendable 17m 36s but this was not to last. The frequency of stops, combined with much restricted running on the falling gradients, resulted in generally lower speeds although I did note severe flange squeal on some of the curves as we descended to lower climes. From Nesbyen the character of the train changes again and adopts a more selective stopping regime for the remaining 130 miles to Oslo S. Despite this, a circuitous route is taken from Honefoss and, with increased traffic, the single line becomes prone to passing-loop delays. The timetable appears to allow for these and by taking the fast line from Drammen, Oslo S. was actually reached one minute early. In summary, the journey of 308.16 miles, was scheduled to take 7h 7m. Actual running time was 6h 26m 17s, an average speed of 47.9 mph (76.7 km/h). Long distance end to end journey times in Norway are not regarded critically, due to the mountainous terrain which often has to be negotiated, but piece-meal improvements, sometimes quite substantial, are achieved with strategic tunnelling (e.g. the Ulriken and Finse tunnels.) In future, rerouting trains from Honefoss to Oslo via the shorter freight line through Sundvollen is planned after the necessary up-grading but HS2, Norwegian style, is still well in the future. Conclusion The Arctic Circular Tour was a challenging exercise with many highs (The Flam & Bergensbanen) and lows (Inlandsbanan and the missing Gallivare to Narvik section in Sweden). However, on balance, we were delighted by the scenery, hugely impressed by the railway engineering and indeed surprised by the high speeds being achieved in Sweden. Would we do it again? Of course, but, forgive the pun, under our own steam next time and in reverse order without the Inlandsbanan. Finally, I would like to thank the indefatigable Ian Umpleby for his assistance in supplying distance information and would also recommend reference to European Railway Maps by M. G. Ball for an overview when planning such journeys.

Cab ride to Bendigo By Malcolm Simister I have timed many trains between Melbourne and Bendigo but my most interesting and enjoyable runs were two I was privileged to share with driver Colin Holly in the cabs of Vlocity DMUs in August 2014.


Never having ridden in a V/Line cab previously I was curious to observe how the units were driven, details of their operation and seeing what else went on. Also, naturally, I was rather excited by it! The Vlocitys’ cabs have a slightly off-centre driver’s seat and another seat to its right, on which I sat comfortably. The view through the large front window is excellent and the driver’s controls are arranged conveniently. The most used are the lever on the driver’s left which controls both power and braking (push forward to brake and pull back to accelerate), the horn, also on the left, and door controls which are on the console in front. The horn is used frequently as V/Line’s long-standing practice is to give a short warning hoot before the train moves and on Vlocitys the driver releases and, when the train conductor radios that station work is complete, closes the passenger doors. In addition to radio communication with the conductor, the driver also has two other radios, one for contacting the V/Line Train Control Centre and a local radio used for speaking to Metrol, the suburban network’s operations centre. V/Line drivers can speak directly to each other by radio and I saw how useful this is when between Gisborne and Macedon the driver of the ‘N’ Class diesel locomotive on the morning Up passenger train from Swan Hill radioed to us as our trains passed that there was smoke drifting across the line ahead from a fuel reduction burn (an attempt to limit summer bush fires). There was no danger but the radio call alleviated any concerns that driver Holly may have had. Incidentally, something that passengers don’t see is the wave that drivers give each other when trains pass, whether VLine, suburban or freight. After satisfying myself that it was accurate using the DigiHUD app on my smartphone, I recorded the speeds using the Vlocity’s digital cab speedometer. Interestingly, my smart phone received a good satellite signal in the cab throughout both journeys, whereas in Vlocitys’ passenger saloons there is no signal at all. Topographically, the Bendigo line climbs almost continuously from Melbourne for 75 kilometres to surmount the Great Dividing Range just before Woodend, descends for 51 kilometres to Castlemaine and then undulates in the remaining 37 kilometres to Bendigo. Trains in both directions face numerous, steep gradients in the 1 in 50s to 100s. The three car Vlocity on the Sunday 0936 from Melbourne Southern Cross (Table 1) departed from Platform 16, one of two new platforms built on the far side of the suburban platforms from the V/Line terminus. These platforms are part of the new A$4 billion Regional Rail Link tracks (RRL) that separate V/Line’s Bendigo, Ballarat and Geelong trains from electric suburban trains between Southern Cross and Sunshine. Increasing congestion in the suburban area necessitated building the RRL and, now fully commissioned, it has allowed V/Line to improve reliability, but in August 2014 there was a temporary speed limit of 40 km/h until past Spion Kop. The schedule for the 0936 was fairly slack in the suburban area, so much so that despite easy running from Diggers Rest and a signal check approaching Sunbury we still stood there for five minutes awaiting time. However, after Sunbury it was a different story as the schedule was very tight and even using full power we dropped a few seconds on several sections. The Vlocity achieved speeds just over 100 km/h using full power on the initial climbs from Sunbury (three kilometres of 1 in 50), Riddells Creek (three kilometres of 1 in 56) and Macedon (four kilometres of 1 in 52) and then flew down from Woodend towards Kyneton where the schedule appears to make no allowance for this train crossing from the west to the east track to access Platform 1, necessitating advanced slowing for the 65 km/h cross over. Hence, we left Kyneton two minutes late.


Table 1: V/Line 09.36 Melbourne - Bendigo Table 2: V/Line 12.32 Bendigo - Melbourne

Date: Sun 31 Aug 2014 Date: Sun 31 Aug 2014

Formation: 1 x 3 car Vlocity set 35 Formation: 2x2 car Vlocity sets 02&01

Weight/power: 171 tonnes tare, 1,677 kW Weight/power: 228 tonnes tare, 2240 kW

Timed with: Cab speedo & DigiHUD Timed with: Cab speedo & DigiHUD

Recorder/position: Malcolm Simister/front cab Recorder/position: Malcolm Simister/front cab

Km WTT m:s km/h Km WTT m:s km/h

0.0 Southern Cross plat 16 0 0.00 RT 0.0 Bendigo platform 1 0 0.00 ½L

2.8* Spion Kop 3 3.42 44 2.2 Golden Square 2 2.13 98/115

3.5 South Kensington 6/(1) 5.01 77/80 4.8 Kangaroo Flat 4.01

5.6 Footscray 7.04 4 4.40

9 8.50 6.8 Big Hill Tunnel in 4.05 130

3.4 Tottenham 2.41 114/129 10.2 Loop start ('Ravenswood') 6 5.35 135/161

6.7 Sunshine 5 4.28 77 19.1 Loop end ('Harcourt') 10 9.06 128/134

7.0* Anderson Rd Junc 6 5.04 79 24.4 Harcourt (closed station) 11.29 130/134

12.2 St Albans 9 8.19 94 31.9 Castlemaine 15.30

17.6 Watergardens 14/(2) 11.23 112/130 17 16.20

27.1 Diggers Rest 15.50 121/sigs 4.5 Km 121 2.58 131

32.7 Sunbury 20.37 10.2 Elphinstone Tunnel out 5.39 125/132

26 25.55 RT 12.2 Loop start ('Elphinstone') 7 6.33 117

3.7 Km 42 (top of 1 in 50) 2.56 104 16.5 Taradale station (closed) 8.25 162

5.7 Km 44 (top of 1 in 125) 3.59 127 19.0 Loop end ('Taradale') 10 9.23 158

12.1 Clarkefield 7.17 148 max 23.3 Malmsbury 11.44

7 7.47 12 12.10

3.6 Km 54 (top of 1 in 110/136) 2.34 126 128 max

6.5 Riddells Creek 4.23 139 max Sigs-app. cont 100

5 4.50 7.2 Km 95 4.18 122

3.1 Km 60 (top of 1 in 56) 2.24 101 10.6 Kyneton 7.13

6.1 Km 63 (top of 1 in 57) 3.59 120 8 7.57

7.3 Gisborne 5.05 6.4 Carlsruhe station (closed) 3.46 132

6 5.34 13.5 Woodend 7.36

3.8 Km 68 (top of 1 in 69) 2.28 126 8 8.25

5.6 Macedon 3.40 3.1 Km 75 2.13 125

4 4.17 8.3 Macedon 5.09 131 max

5.0* Overbridge (top of 1 in 52) 3.17 109 6 5.37

8.3 Woodend 5.28 139 max 5.6 Gisborne 3.40 131 max

6 6.14 4 4.08

5.9 Km 84 (end of initial desc) 2.54 162/sigs 7.3 Riddells Creek 4.32 133 max

13.5 Kyneton 7.49 5 5.14

7 8.31 2L 6.5 Clarkefield 4.08 133 max

5.4 Km 97 3.06 160/a c 62 5 4.58

10.6 Malmsbury 5.39 Sigs 134 max

6 6.05 108max/sig 8.4 Km 42 (2) 4.45 78

4.3 Loop start ('Taradale') 3 3.07 63/115/sig 12.1 Sunbury platform 2 9.51

6.8 Taradale station (closed) (1) 4.39 99/36 min 12 42.23 31L

11.1 Loop end ('Elphinstone') 10 10.40 63/133 5.6 Diggers Rest 3.17 142/33

18.8 Km 121 (end of 1/59 desc) 14.34 131 15.0 Watergardens 9 11.06 109

23.3 Castlemaine 17.24 20.5 St Albans 13 14.05 112

17 18.03 3L sigs 30

7.5 Harcourt (closed station) 4.16 134 25.8* Anderson Road Junc. 16 18.13 45

12.8 Loop start ('Harcourt') 7 6.34 129/164 26.1 Sunshine 17 19.00 77

21.7 Loop end ('Ravenswood') 10 10.11 135/144 29.3 Tottenham 20.49 129

25.1 Big Hill Tunnel out 11.42 134 32.8 Footscray 23.28

31.9 Kangaroo Flat 15.04 161 max 22 23.58

16 15.35 2.1 South Kensington 2 1.51 78

2.6 Golden Square 2/(2) 1.53 116 max 2.8* Spion Kop 4/(2) 2.59 43

4.8 Bendigo 6 4.15 1L 5.6 Southern Cross p 15A 11 6.51 29L

Recovery/pathing time in brackets. * Estimated distance Recovery/pathing time in brackets. * Estimated distance


After Kyneton, the line is single track with long passing loops to allow trains to pass at speed if both are on time. Approach control signals for the seven kilometres-long Taradale loop that starts well after Malmsbury meant that we reduced speed earlier than would otherwise have been necessary for the station stop there. In the loop afterwards we were checked badly due to an Up Vlocity from Echuca running late and signal overlap meant a slow trundle to near the end of the loop, even after the Up train had passed. Then, from Elphinstone tunnel, gravity did most of the work down to Castlemaine at around the line speed of 130 km/h. The 12 kilometres climb out of Castlemaine is quite steep with no gradient less than 1 in 166 and three kilometres of 1 in 55 and 79 near the top, but the Vlocity maintained the 130 km/h line speed without difficulty, raced through the Harcourt-Ravenswood loop and regained a few seconds from Big Hill tunnel to Kangaroo Flat. We arrived at Bendigo one minute late. The return run to Melbourne on the 1232 from Bendigo comprised two, two-car Vlocitys (Table 2). The seven kilometres climb from Kangaroo Flat to Big Hill tunnel is mostly on 1 in 56 and 67 gradients and once again the Vlocitys showed their power by accelerating up to the 130 km/.h line speed well before the summit and beat the schedule to Castlemaine, offsetting the impossibly tight timing from Bendigo to Kangaroo Flat. On the 10 kilometres climb out of Castlemaine the Vlocitys accelerated to 131 km/h in less than four kilometres, almost all on 1 in 85 and 86 gradients, and speed only dropped off slightly to 125 km/h on the ensuing 1 in 59 and 50 to Elphinstone tunnel. On another occasion I watched a couple of Vlocitys on an Up train powering away from Castlemaine and their ‘grunt’ was obvious from the lineside too. After Malmsbury, approach control signals for Kyneton hindered our progress more than the 1 in 77 and 87 gradients and after the latter station we were routed on the east track which has a speed limit of 130 km/h. However, despite the rising but comparatively gentle gradients we were still quicker by a few seconds from Kyneton to Woodend than we had been that morning in the opposite direction at 160 km/h on the west track. From Woodend, diesel power provided the initial acceleration from station stops but then gravity assisted in maintaining line speed and we were on time until adverse signals well out from Sunbury hinted at something amiss. Rather than use Platform 1 at Sunbury as scheduled, we were crossed over to Platform 2 and told by V/Line Train Control that we would terminate there due to a police operation ahead and that the passengers would be taken by bus to Melbourne. However, after half an hour’s delay we were allowed to continue but asked to go very cautiously through the affected area and we eventually arrived at Southern Cross almost half-an-hour late. Despite this, I thoroughly enjoyed these tightly timed runs with Colin Holly and I am very grateful to him for the experience of seeing from the ‘sharp end’ just how well Vlocitys perform on the challenging gradients of the Bendigo line.

GRADIENT PROFILES Ian Allan has again reprinted its Gradient Profile book, this time titled “Gradients of the British Main Line Railways” at £15 (hardcover). It is available from Amazon at £13.49


LETTERS

Comments on ‘Coast to coast’ running Peter Absolon’s letter in Milepost 363/4 describes extensive coasting during his Paddington-Swansea HST journey on 20th September 2015. The TRUST running log for 1B46 that day obtained through a Freedom of Information request to Network Rail (this facility does have its uses!) reveals not only a revised Sunday schedule but also a late amendment which created additional headroom following cancellation of planned engineering work between Paddington and Reading. The advertised public timetable station departure times (used by platform staff for train dispatch) were throughout generally several minutes earlier than the booked WTT times and resulted in DAS (which performs its calculations on the latter) providing advice to the driver for frequent coasting at the expense of ‘available’ run-time, even though rather bizarrely to anyone on board the train it would have seemed to be running late. The two-stage coasting between Didcot and Swindon plotted by Peter may look dramatic, but modelling reveals that it only added around a minute to the journey time whilst saving an estimated 15-20% of the normal fuel used for that segment. The coasting between Reading and Didcot (6 miles), Didcot and Swindon (8.5 miles), Severn Tunnel Junction and Newport (4.5 miles) and Newport and Cardiff (6 miles) is all consistent with standard HST resistance data and an assumed 5% rotational inertia. Most interestingly however the HST rail traction power derived from accelerations in Peter’s data and other ‘model-verification’ checks of runs with MTU re-engined sets appears to be consistently close to the full continuous rating of the Class 43 traction motors and in general around 12% greater than that provided when the HSTs were powered by the original Paxman Valenta engines. The effects of this can be seen directly in the timing data with MTU-engined 2+8 sets before the recent imposition of a 110 mph ‘protection of the public’ sighting restriction at Uffington normally attaining a speed of around 120 mph by MP 65 between Didcot and Swindon compared to 116 mph previously with Paxman engines. In conversation others remark on similar improvements elsewhere and it would seem that there may have been a ‘quiet revolution’ going on with the MTU re-engined sets which affects operational running performance as well as more noticeably engine sound - something perhaps worthy of further more-systematic investigation. David Stannard, RPS Technical Officer

Dear Editor, A4 vs Brush 4 Regarding Bill Hemstock’s current article in Milepost 36 ¾. I will stick my neck out and say that a double chimney A4 could just about match 1509’s performance from Newark to Stoke, or at the very least get very close. Looking at Nelson’s log on the up Elizabethan where speed fell from 76 at Grantham to 66 mph at the summit, this would involve around 1510 edhp (Equivalent drawbar horsepower/2020 ihp (indicated horsepower) By the standards of the period, this would have been regarded as an excellent effort, given the fact it was on the marathon non-stop in particular, but still some way below maximum power for an A4. I have utilised Doug Landau’s estimate of an average gradient of 1 in 210 between the two locations and a nominal weight of 168 tons for the A4. I have also used his formulas for coaching stock and loco resistance which both apply to the traditional jointed track. The formulas for the A4 and coaching stock just give the answer in ibs per ton and should be multiplied by speed and weight and divided by a factor of 375. 2.4 V/20+V2/1100 (for the coaching stock) 7.1 V/20 +V2/900 (for the A4)


Hypothetically let’s just say in the instance of the A4 that speed fell from 76 at Grantham to only 74 mph at the summit as in the instance of the class 47 which passed through the former at 83 mph .Based on an average speed of 75.2 mph between these two locations and the benefit of continuous welded rail, which the diesel would have marginally benefitted from due to the lower rolling resistance of the latter the two formulas below gives a figure of around 2010edhp and a corresponding 2560 ihp for the A4. 2.4 +V/26+ V2/1100 (for the coaching stock) 7.1 + V/26+V2/900 (for the A4) Looking at the best efforts behind this class in double chimney form, suggests that this was certainly in the realms of possibility given the short duration of effort over the 5½ miles. From Newark and based on assumption of around 2350 ihp for the entire distance to Stoke would closely approach the 47s effort. To do so however, would probably take the efforts of two firemen or at least the presence of an inspector to bring the coal forward. The Class 47 by contrast managed 1680/2086edhp/rhp (rail horsepower) between Grantham and Stoke with a corresponding 2550 bhp. Once again I have used Doug’s formulas for the 47s resistance. 9.6 + V2/875= rail horsepower Again this needs to be multiplied by weight and the speed. He then uses the rhp and divides this by 0.87 +150 hp for the auxiliaries to derive the brake horsepower (power developed at the engine crankshaft) At the time Bill recorded this effort behind 1509, it would suggest that derating from 2750 to 2580 bhp had occurred. However, to muddy the waters I have not allowed any allowance for ETH. Kind Regards Andrew James

David What’s in a name? Milepost readers may remember that a few years ago (Milepost 26½), the magazine printed a short story by Stephen Kirkby, called “What’s in a name?”. The same author has now written a crime novel, available through Kindle and entitled “Translation to Murder”, set partly in England and partly in France. It may interest RPS members for two reasons: first, in addition to the car chase that is a standard feature of this type of fiction (but that ends rather unusually in this case), it features a perfectly credible race between two trains; secondly, as he did in his short story the author has derived many proper names (people, places, etc.) from station names or other rail-related features in the UK. I have acted as Stephen Kirkby’s publisher on Kindle, and with the agreement of the Chairman and the Editor I am offering a prize of a first-class return ticket from Paris to any main-line station in France to the Milepost reader who can identify the largest number of these stations. There are almost 50 in all; many of them are straightforward borrowings so the award will only be made to an entry finding at least 42. The general geographical focus is suggested by some


of the borrowings – Preston, Carlisle, Kirkpatrick, Newton… Other names are distorted or pass by way of translation via French, German or Italian. The novel is easily available – and not expensive – for those who have a Kindle reader; the text can also be downloaded onto other devices but a Kindle/Amazon account is necessary to make the purchase. But there is no compulsion to buy – you can beg, borrow or steal the text, or submit joint solutions (though the prize will still be just one ticket!). Entries should be submitted to me by the end of 2016 (e-mail or post – see addresses inside front cover), after which a full list of names and their derivations will be available on request. Enjoy the novel! Alan Varley

David, Apologies for an error that has crept into Milepost 36¾ . On page 289, within Fastest Times Update, I inadvertently recorded a loco 67.014 as power for my Solihull to Warwick Parkway submission. At the time of that run 67.014 was happily heading towards Holyhead. My engine was 68.014. I doubt if any class 67 could get even 6 vehicles through Widney Manor in two minutes from Solihull! Apologies again, John Rishton

David, I have noted some copying errors in Martin's FT article as follows. Page 289, run 2, the speeds at Finwood Road and Hatton are shown as 88*/102 and 95/86*/89. They should read 102/88* and 89/86*/95 as shown on the log I submitted. Reference to 85 through Hatton in the text (page 287) is not what I quoted and is incorrect. Speed was 89 through Hatton station dropping to 86 before the start of the downgrade at MP 111¾ David Adams Apologies. This may have arisen due to a misunderstanding in a log received for printing in “inverted” format - Ed

David Two minor corrections are need for my A4 Vs Brush 4 article in Milepost 36¾. In the final paragraph at the bottom of page 307, the final sentence shoud read “… and though no speed was shown at Newark …” The addition of “no” makes the text explain the data in table 2 correctly. In Table 3, in the third column the locomotive was 4493 Woodcock, not 4901 Capercaille. The text and tables 2 and 3 now make sense!


Apologies if my handwritten draft was not up to scratch Yours faithfully Bill Hemstock Apologies - Ed

NEWS

100 mph Scheduled Services 2015/16 - Jeremy Hartill

I have again gone through the winter timetable taking us into 2016 to update the 100 mph runs list which will be available on the RPS website. As before 100mph running is confined to the WCML, ECML and HS1. The GWML is notable by its absence. The first table shows the growth in 100mph running seems to have eased off Table 1 2011 summer timetable 332 runs 26,700 miles 2012 summer timetable 363 runs 29,135 miles 2013/14 winter timetable 391 runs 30,101 miles 2014/15 winter timetable 424 runs 31,283 miles 2015/16 winter timetable 428 runs 32,074 miles

The individual trains are listed on the website with little change this year from last year’s results. It is interesting to note that whilst the fastest train is on HS1, the second fastest is on the WCML and the third is on the ECML, with only about 1mph separating each them. Table 2 compares the individual fastest trains with previous surveys. Table 2 2011 07.55 Stevenage to Grantham 77.71 miles in 42 min 111.0 mph class 222 2012 18.55 York to Stevenage 160.74 miles in 88 min 109.6 mph class 91 2013/14 20.17 Grantham to Stevenage 77.71 miles in 42 min 111.0 mph class 91 2014/15 7 trains Stratford to Ashford 50.22 miles in 27 min 111.6 mph class 395 2015/16 7 trains Stratford to Ashford 50.22 miles in 27 min 111.6 mph class 395

As ever if anyone finds any runs I have missed do let me know.

Sleeper Diversions - Martin Robertson

The several severe storms which have crossed Scotland in the December / January period has brought significant disruption to the internal Scotrail services. However, the most severe disruption has been to the WCML with the discovery of severe scouring to at least one of the bridge piers which support the rail bridge over the River Clyde at Lamington. It appears that the bridge deck itself may also have suffered some structural damage. The line reopened in late February The disruption has had its benefits for the enthusiasts and those interested in railway performance. After around a week of bus substitutions between Glasgow and Carlisle, Virgin have been able to provide an hourly service between Glasgow and Carlisle via Kilmarnock and Dumfries using Super Voyager units. Southbound they run from 0722 to 1922, Mondays to Saturdays. Sundays have a 0922 start. Weekday services have woefully easy schedules


Southbound Sleeper for Lamington Bridge Closure miles m c Location wtt m s mph ave

Date Tues 9th Feb 2016 46.62 56 24 MP 75 01.0 58 57.4

Train 23 40 Glasgow - London Euston 48.37 58 04 Upper Cairn 76 37.5 65/68 65.3

Locos 47843/812 50.65 60 26 Ob 78 42.0 60br 65.9

Load 14/558/570/800 51.42 61 08 Ob 79 30.5 51br/sc8 57.2

Recorder M D Robertson 52.69 62 29 KIRKCONNEL 84 83 21.0 39 19.8

Pos/Weather/Gps 6/14/cold dry/Gps Y 54.54 64 17 Sunnyside 85 33.5 50 50.3

miles m c Location wtt m s mph ave 56.00 65 54 SANQUHAR 87 46.5 22/16* 39.5

0.00 102 21 GLASGOW C P1 0 00.0 56.30 65 78 Ub PSR 88 42.0 21* 19.5

0.20 102 01 Sig Gantry A 1 15.0 9.6 58.52 68 16 Mennock (8) 92 12.0 59/63 38.1

0.56 101 56 Bridge St 2 2 34.5 16.3 60.76 70 35 Ardoch 94 32.5 46*/51 57.4

0.71 0 71 Eglington St Ob 3 28.0 12.3 62.25 71 74 Enterkin BV 96 22.5 46/49 48.8

1.35 0 19 Muirhouse C J [2] 4 54.5 26.6 63.39 73 05 D'lanrigg TN 97 48.5 48 47.7

1.59 1 19 Muirhouse S J 7 5 46.0 20 tsr 16.8 64.62 74 24 Carronbridge 99 14.0 56 51.8

2.10 1 60 CROSSMYLOOF 6 56.0 26.2 66.35 76 02 Ob 100 58.0 60/63 59.9

3.10 2 60 P'SHAWS W 8 10.0 48.6 67.95 77 50 Thornhill 98.5 102 31.0 60 61.9

4.27 3 74 KENNISHEAD (3) 9 26.5 56 55.1 69.24 78 71 Ob 103 43.0 67/69 64.5

5.64 5 23 NITSHILL 10 57.0 55.5 54.5 70.71 80 31 Closeburn 105 03.5 60br 65.7

7.32 6 78 BARRHEAD 17.5 12 51.0 47.5 53.1 71.77 81 36 Ob (2) 106 09.5 33/31sc? 57.8

8.35 8 00 Ob 14 10.0 45 46.9 73.12 82 64 Ob 108 22.0 55 36.7

9.32 8 78 Neilston Ob 15 25.5 39 46.3 74.54 84 17 Auldgirth B 109 41.5 68/71 64.3

10.79 10 37 Shilford 17 52.5 34 36.0 77.32 87 00 Portrack VS 112 04.0 68 70.2

12.40 12 04 Caldwell Ob 20 02.0 40 44.8 78.74 88 33 Hollywood 109.5 113 27.5 60 61.2

14.01 13 53 Lugton SBx 25 22 45.5 37 35.4 80.50 90 14 Ob 115 15.0 58 58.9

15.27 14 73 Bourock Ob 24 32.0 45 42.6 81.15 90 66 Ob A75 (2) 115 56.0 56 57.1

16.35 16 00 DUNLOP 26 09.0 38 40.1 82.15 91 66 DUMFRIES 115 117 22.0 33* 41.9

17.26 16 73 Ob 27 32.5 46 39.2 83.19 92 69 Ob 119 10.5 43 34.5

18.60 18 20 STEWARTON 28 56.5 67/70 57.4 83.94 93 49 Brasswell 120 08.0 53 47.0

20.36 20 01 Ob 30 52.0 46/57 54.9 86.05 95 58 Racks 122 18.0 60 58.4

21.82 21 38 KILMAURS 32 31.5 49br 52.8 87.41 97 07 Ub 123 39.0 62 60.4

22.74 22 31 Ob [2] 33 58.0 39 38.3 88.36 98 03 Ob 124 34.5 59.5 61.6 24.06 33 59 KILMARNOCK 36.5 35 56.5 26* 0.3 89.57 99 20 Mp 125 50.0 59.5 57.7

25.21 34 71 Ub A77 37 56.0 40 34.6 90.64 100 25 Ruthwell 126 50.5 67 63.7

25.82 35 40 Hurlford 38 55.0 40 37.2 92.37 102 04 Ub B724 128 19.0 75 70.4

26.82 36 40 Psr 40 28.5 34/32 38.5 94.20 103 70 C'trees 130 00.5 60/58/67 64.9

28.05 37 58 Woodhead 42 36.5 36.5/32 34.6 96.39 106 05 Ob 132 08.0 64 61.8

29.37 39 04 Ob A76 44 50.5 36.5 35.5 97.57 107 20 ANNAN 129.5 133 12.5 64 65.9

30.62 40 24 Garrochburn (4.5) 46 46.5 40 38.8 99.20 108 70 Ub 134 47.5 64.5 61.8

31.57 41 20 Mossgeil TN 48 34.0 23.5 sc 31.8 100.57 110 20 Eastriggs 136 03.0 67.5 65.3

ss 53 41.0 54 20 102.56 112 19 Ob 137 45.5 71 69.9

33.46 43 11 Mauchline 53 55 28.0 33 16.4 103.59 113 20 Riggs Ob 138 35.5 74 74.2

34.57 44 20 Ballochmyle V 57 01.5 52.5 42.7 104.37 114 04 Stonehouse 139 16.0 73 69.3

35.79 45 37 Ob 58 27.0 50 51.4 105.52 115 16 GRETNA GR 136.5 140 22.0 42br 62.7

36.79 46 37 Barony Jn Ob 59 34.0 55 53.7 106.61 8 47 Gretna 142 05.0 37* 37*

37.90 47 46 AUCINLECK 57.5 60 46.0 51 55.5 107.26 7 65 Mossband J 143 04.0 47 39.7

39.89 49 45 Cummnock 63 08.5 40sc 50.3 109.11 6 07 Floriston 145 04.5 61 55.3

41.22 50 72 Craigens Rd 65 42.0 31 31.2 111.14 4 06 Rockcliffe 146 57.0 67.5/71 65.0

42.77 52 36 Polquhap Ob (5) 68 37.0 32 31.9 113.12 2 05 Kingmoor 148 43.5 70 66.9

44.20 53 70 Bank Jn RR 71 25.5 22sc 30.6 114.45 0 60 Caldew Jn 150 08.5 35br 56.3

45.24 54 73 N CUMMNOCK 69.5 73 34.5 48 29.0 115.20 0 00 C'LISLE P4 144 152 55.0 16.2

but southbound they tend to be severely checked by the local Scotrail services. Northbound the services are equally undemanding, although they appear not be so badly affected by the Scotrail services. Sunday mornings are the best hope for unchecked runs, with fewer freight services also running. The Serco operated Sleeper services from Aberdeen, Inverness and Fort William have been routed via the ECML whereas the Edinburgh and Glasgow services have started from Glasgow running via Kilmarnock and Dumfries. Similar arrangements operate for the return workings. On the odd occasion when the Scotrail-operated Sleeper services have been


diverted via the GSWR line, a pair of Class 67’s have been provided as power with the standard sixteen coach load. With the Sleeper services now operated by Serco, who in theory have their own dedicated locomotive fleet to both operate the services and work the ecs turns, the additional expense of hiring in a pair of Class 67’s was possibly too much, as they currently hire Freightliner Class 90’s to work the services when under the wires. Therefore, motive power was the three Class 47’s which worked the ecs services, 47812,843 and 847, all of which will be fifty years plus old. The trailing load was reduced to fourteen coaches weighing around 560 tons, which with the passenger complement and a pair of Class 47’’s as traction, weighed in at around 800 tons. This is still not the heaviest train I have timed, having a Finsbury Park 47 and twenty coaches in tow from Larbert to Perth one morning. I was fortunate to have a business trip to London, to investigate the structure of a Vue cinema, which give the opportunity of sampling the services both ways. My southbound run which is included had 47843 and 812 as traction with a punctual departure. I am not sure of the schedule to Carlisle, but with a number of freight services using the line and relatively long sections between signal boxes we were unlikely to have clear run. It is a slow exit from Glasgow Central with a 20mph tsr at Strathbungo Jn before the locos can be opened up. Speed reached the mid-fifties on the rising grades before the 1:70 ascent to Shilford. Whether we were suffering signal checks or the driver was not working the locos on full power, the minimum was a disappointing 34mph. The possible sc’s continued until passing the loop at Stewarton with a burst of speed up to 70mph on the downgrades before a sc approaching Kilmarnock. We passed a southbound container train which was recessed into the northbound platform. The next major climb is the 1:100 ascent to Mossgeil Tunnel but again we appeared to be suffering sc’s with a stop at Mauchline following The sc’s appeared to continue with slow running up to Polqhap summit and severe checks at New Cummnock and Kirkconnel signal boxes. Once past Kirkconnel it is fifteen miles to Thornhill the next signal box which allowed some spirited running on the general downgrades of the Nith Valley. No obvious reason for the severe reduction in speed around the reverse curves at Mp 82. If a tsr it had not been in place three days earlier. A second container service was passed at Dumfries, again recessed into the northbound platform. From Dumfries an unchecked run with speed exceeding 70mph on a couple of occasions, The minimum speed on the 1:150 ascent to Mp99¼ was 59½ mph, not great, but quite satisfying. We arrived in Carlisle in just under 153 minutes, not too bad given the checks we had experienced. Freightliner’s 90046 took the service forward, with speed almost certainly in excess of 80mph south of Crewe, as we arrived in London just before 0700. I had a sleeper berth on the return on Wednesday night, with the intention of getting up at Carlisle to time the service onto Glasgow. However, although I woke up at Carlisle for a 0528 departure, the 3hr 02 min schedule to Glasgow suggested that performance interest might be fairly limited, with the warmth of the sleeper berth more appealing than standing at an open window for three hours. This was my first southbound loco hauled service since October 1999 and although of limited performance interest, it was well worth the effort required to record the service. It appears that the signal checks were probably caused by its proximity to the 2312 stopping train from Glasgow to Dumfries with arrival at Dumfries at 0115 – beware of the rush! With


long signalling sections (up to 20 minutes), it was about 15mins behind the stopper around Kilmarnock and 20 minutes beyond there - Ed

VIRGIN SHUTTLES for LAMINGTON BRIDGE CLOSURE As Good as it Gets – Almost Martin Robertson As explained above, West Coast services were severely affected by the closure at Lamington. The single line sections between Glasgow and Kilmarnock, Barrhead to Lugton, Lugton to Dunlop and Stewarton to Kilmarnock are significant hinderances to running an hourly service over and above the regular Scotrail services to Kilmarnock and Carlisle. The hourly Scotrail services to Kilmarnock, in both directions from around 0900 to 1900 were withdrawn, to be replaced by bus substitutions, although Kilmarnock passengers were served by the Virgin Shuttles services. On Sundays the hourly Scotrail service to Kilmarnock was maintained. The schedules in both directions were extremely lax, with 132 minutes southbound and similar northbound. The southbound services had to endure around 90 miles of running behind the all stations Scotrail services to Carlisle which generally depart at 12 minutes past the hour. With some lengthy signalling sections of fifteen to twenty minutes, signal stops at various points were common for the Shuttle services. The Shuttle services crossed at Lugton, which generally delayed both services. I had a run in early January on the 0922 service on a Saturday morning, with 41mins to Kilmarnock and 105mins thereafter to Carlisle. Returning north was not much better with 94mins to Kilmarnock and 38mins onto Glasgow. The Sunday services which started southbound from Glasgow at 0922 and 1200 back from Carlisle offered the best chance of running without checks from Scotrail services. The two runs shown were on the 1022 service, retimed to 1030 and its 1300 return from Carlisle. I was not sure why the 1022 service was being advertised as a 10 30 departure, with services later in the day back to the xx 22 departure, however this reduced the schedule to 124 minutes, still relatively easy. We left on time from Platform 1 and by the time we had passed the 20mph tsr at Muirhouse S Jn, I had the feeling that the driver was in a hurry. A brisk acceleration soon had the train up to the 70mph line limit, which was generally maintained to Stewarton where we were brought to a stand at the end of the double track section from Dunlop. We sat for over 15 minutes to allow a Scotrail service from Kilmarnock to clear the single line section. The public schedule from Kilmarnock to Stewarton is 6 minutes, so why we were not allowed through first is a mystery. We were soon back to the 70mph line limit before a diversion through the northbound platform at Kilmarnock - again why? The 1:100 ascent to Mossgeil Tunnel was taken at a constant 70mph and thereafter the driver was right on the permitted line speeds on the adverse gradients to the summit at Polquhap. The line speed thereafter is generally 70mph which the driver never quite achieved before the tsr after Sanquhar. A brief 69 was attained before the 55mph restrictions around the curves from Ardoch to Drumlanrigg. From Carronbridge there is a short section of 60mph psr, which is signed, before the line speed returns to 70mph at MP 75. There is no sign here to advise of the higher limit and the driver appeared to be unsure what the line limit was with 62/63mph generally down the falling gradients in the valley of the River Nith.


Virgin Shuttles for Lamington Bridge Closure miles m c Location m s mph ave

Date Sunday 06.02.16 45.24 54 73 N CUMMNOCK 62 18.0 65 66.3

Train 10 30 Glas-Carlisle 46.82 56 40 MP 63 43.5 66 66.5

Unit 221 106 48.37 58 04 Upper Cairn 65 08.5 66 65.6

Load 5/262/270 50.32 60 00 Mp 66 55.0 67 65.9

Recorder M D Robertson 51.32 61 00 Mp 67 50.0 66 65.5

Pos/Weather/Gps C2/Cold Wet/Gps No 52.69 62 29 KIRKCONNEL 69 02.5 65 68.0

miles m c Location m s mph ave 54.54 64 17 Sunnyside 70 43.0 66 66.3

0.00 102 21 GLASGOW C P1 0 00.0 56.00 65 54 SANQUHAR 72 14.0 35br 57.8

0.20 102 01 Sig Gantry A 1 02.0 15 11.6 56.30 65 78 Ub PSR 72 50.0 20 30.0

0.56 101 56 Bridge St 1 55.5 25 24.2 58.52 68 16 Mennock Ob 75 20.5 69 53.1

101 40 60.76 70 35 Ardoch Ob 77 25.0 55* 64.8

0.81 0 62 Eglington St Ob 2 39.5 30 20.5 62.32 72 00 Mp 79 05.0 53 56.2

1.35 0 19 Muirhouse C'l J 3 39.0 30 32.7 63.39 73 05 Drumlanrigg TN 80 16.0 55* 54.3

1.59 1 19 Muirhouse S J 4 13.0 20 tsr 25.4 64.62 74 24 Carronbridge 81 39.5 60 53.0

2.10 1 60 CROSSMYLOOF 5 01.5 37.9 66.32 76 00 Mp 83 17.0 63 62.8

3.10 2 60 P'KSHAWS W 5 56.0 72 66.1 67.95 77 50 Thornhill 84 53.0 62 61.1

4.27 3 74 KENNISHEAD 6 55.5 65 70.8 69.32 79 00 MP 86 12.0 62 62.4

5.64 5 23 NITSHILL 8 05.0 70 71.0 70.67 80 28 Closeburn 87 30.5 62 61.9

7.32 6 78 BARRHEAD 9 36.0 67 66.5 72.32 82 00 Mp 89 06.0 60 62.2

8.35 8 00 Ob 10 30.0 68.7 74.54 84 17 Auldgirth B'ng 91 16.0 62 61.5

9.32 8 78 Neilston Ob 11 25.0 64 63.5 76.82 86 40 Mp 93 29.5 63 61.5

10.76 10 35 Shilford 12 46.5 64 63.6 78.74 88 33 Hollywood 95 21.0 63 62.0

12.46 12 09 Caldwell 14 17.5 67 67.3 80.32 90 00 Mp 96 50.0 65 63.9

14.01 13 53 Lugton SBx 15 41.5 66 66.4 81.15 90 66 Ob A75 97 36.5 67 64.3

15.27 14 73 Bourock Ob 16 46.5 66 69.8 82.15 91 66 DUMFRIES 98 46.0 40* 51.8

16.35 16 00 DUNLOP 17 42.0 70 70.1 82.72 92 40 Mp 99 45.5 48 34.5

17.35 17 00 Mp 18 34.5 70 68.6 83.94 93 49 Brasswell 100 52.0 67 66.0

18.60 18 20 STEWARTON 20 21.5 20sc 42.1 86.05 95 58 Racks 102 39.0 82 71.0

ss 21 29.0 -36 38 87.41 97 07 Ub 103 40.0 80 80.3

20.36 20 01 Ob 38 25.0 71 72.1 89.57 99 20 Mp 105 19.5 77 78.2

21.82 21 38 KILMAURS 39 38.5 70 71.5 90.64 100 25 Ruthwell 106 09.0 77/80 77.8

22.74 22 31 Ob 40 35.0 52sc 58.6 92.37 102 04 Ub B724 107 32.0 74* 75.0

23.89 23 42 Mp chnge 94.20 103 70 Cummertrees 108 57.0 79 77.5

24.06 33 59 KILMARNOCK 42 29.5 30* 41.5 95.57 105 20 Powfoot Jn 109 58.5 80 80.2

25.21 34 71 Ub A77 44 18.0 38.2 97.57 107 20 ANNAN 111 34.0 71* 75.4

25.82 35 40 Hurlford 44 54.5 58 60.2 99.20 108 70 Ub 112 51.0 81 76.2

26.82 36 40 Psr 45 51.5 67 63.2 100.57 110 20 Eastriggs 113 52.0 79 80.9

28.07 37 60 Woodhead 47 00.0 70 65.7 102.56 112 19 Ob 115 21.5 80 80.0

29.37 39 04 Ob A76 48 06.5 70 70.4 103.49 113 12 Riggs 116 02.0 81 82.7

30.62 40 24 Garrochburn 49 10.0 70 70.9 104.37 114 04 Stonehouse 116 43.0 79 77.3

31.57 41 20 Mossgeil TN 49 58.5 70 70.5 105.52 115 16 GRETNA GRN 117 39.5 60br 73.3

33.46 43 11 Mauchline 51 35.0 70 70.5 106.49 116 13 Mp Change

34.57 44 20 Ballochmyle V 52 33.0 65 68.9 106.61 8 47 Gretna 119 08.5 44.1

36.57 46 20 Barony Jn 54 28.0 65 62.6 107.26 7 65 Mossband J 120 05.0 41.4

37.90 47 46 AUCINLECK 55 36.0 70 70.4 109.11 6 07 Floriston 121 15.5 93 94.5

39.89 49 45 Cummnock 57 22.0 66 67.6 111.14 4 06 Rockcliffe 122 28.5 104/110 100.1

41.22 50 72 Craigens Rd 58 37.5 65 63.4 113.14 2 06 Kingmoor 123 35.0 105 108.3

42.77 52 36 Polquhap Ob 60 02.5 65 65.6 114.45 0 60 Caldew Jn 125 02.5 53.9

44.20 53 70 Bank Jn RR 61 21.5 65 65.2 115.12 0 06 CARLISLE P7 127 16.0 18.1

Once through the restriction at Dumfries the line speeds increase to 80mph which the driver soon achieved and thereafter ran very close to the limits until braking for the psr at Gretna Jn. A final flourish down the Wcml with 110mph achieved after Floriston and a relatively slow entry to the Bay Platform 7 at the north end of the station with the Pendolino to Euston awaiting on the opposite side of the platform. Arrival in Carlisle was 3¼ mins late after a 15 minute stand at Stewarton, and around a minute lost for the diversion at Kilmarnock and the tsr at Sanquhar. The lack of running up to 70mph down the Nith Valley, cost around a minute and quarter.


Date Sunday 06.02.16 miles m c Location m s mph ave

Train 13 00 Carlisle-Glasgow 54.54 64 17 Sunnyside Ob 54 36.5 68 68.3

Unit 221 106 52.69 62 29 KIRKCONNEL 56 15.0 65 67.6

Load 5/262/280 51.32 61 00 Mp 57 29.0 67 66.6

Recorder M D Robertson 50.32 60 00 Mp 58 23.0 66 66.7

Pos/Weather/Gps C4/Cold Wet/Gps No 48.37 58 04 Upper Cairn 60 06.5 66 67.8

miles m c Location m s mph ave 46.82 56 40 MP 61 28.5 66 68.0

115.12 0 06 CARLISLE P7 0 00.0 45.24 54 73 N CUMMNOCK 62 54.5 66 66.1

114.45 0 60 Caldew Jn 2 08.0 50/rbt 18.8 44.20 53 70 Bank Jn RR 63 48.5 67 69.3

113.14 2 06 Kingmoor 3 25.5 60 60.9 42.77 52 36 Polquhap Ob 65 04.5 69 67.7

111.14 4 06 Rockcliffe 4 56.0 95 79.6 41.22 50 72 Craigens Rd 66 27.0 67 67.6

109.11 6 07 Floriston 6 06.5 110 103.7 39.89 49 45 Cummnock 67 42.0 63* 63.8

107.26 7 65 Mossband Jn 7 06.5 85br 111.0 37.90 47 46 AUCINLECK 69 28.5 69 67.3

106.61 8 47 Gretna 7 51.0 46* 52.6 36.57 46 20 Barony Jn 70 35.5 70 71.5

106.49 116 13 Mp Change 34.57 44 20 Ballochmyle V 72 20.0 64* 68.9

105.52 115 16 GRETNA GRN 9 12.5 62 48.1 33.46 43 11 Mauchline 73 21.5 67 65.0

104.37 114 04 Stonehouse 10 09.5 76 72.6 31.57 41 20 Mossgeil TN 75 00.5 69 68.7

103.49 113 12 Riggs 10 52.0 77 74.5 30.62 40 24 Garrochburn 75 51.5 70 67.1

102.56 112 19 Ob 11 34.0 77 79.7 29.37 39 04 Ob A76 76 56.0 69 69.8

100.57 110 20 Eastriggs 13 04.5 76 79.2 28.07 37 60 Woodhead 78 06.0 66 66.9

99.20 108 70 Ub 14 08.5 78 77.1 26.82 36 40 Psr 79 15.5 63* 64.7

97.57 107 20 ANNAN 15 26.0 69* 75.7 25.82 35 40 Hurlford 80 12.0 64 63.7

95.57 105 20 Powfoot J 17 03.5 78 73.8 25.21 34 71 Ub A77 80 45.5 64 65.6

94.20 103 70 Cummertrees 18 06.0 65*/80 78.9 24.06 33 59 KILMARNOCK 82 01.0 50* 54.8

92.37 102 04 Ub B724 19 38.5 67 71.2 23.89 23 42 Mp Change

90.64 100 25 Ruthwell 21 02.5 79 74.1 22.74 22 31 Ob 83 15.5 69 63.8

89.57 99 20 Mp 21 50.5 80/78 80.3 21.82 21 38 KILMAURS 84 04.5 69 67.6

87.41 97 07 Ub 23 30.0 77 78.2 20.36 20 01 Ob 85 21.5 55psr/68 68.3

86.05 95 58 Racks 24 34.5 75 75.9 18.60 18 20 STEWARTON 87 01.5 68 63.4

83.94 93 49 Brasswell 26 25.5 69 68.4 17.35 17 00 Mp 88 07.5 68 68.2

82.72 92 40 Mp 27 54.5 47* 49.3 16.35 16 00 DUNLOP 88 59.0 70 69.9

82.15 91 66 DUMFRIES 28 43.0 39* 42.3 15.27 14 73 Bourock Ob 90 00.0 sc 1/65 63.7

81.15 90 66 Ob A75 30 00.5 70 46.5 14.01 13 53 Lugton SBx 92 59.0 25 25.3

80.32 90 00 Mp 30 43.5 68 69.5 12.46 12 09 Caldwell 95 11.5 69 42.1

78.74 88 33 Hollywood 32 07.0 68 68.1 10.76 10 35 Shilford 96 41.5 70 68.0

76.82 86 40 Mp 33 48.0 69 68.4 9.32 8 78 Neilston Ob 98 00.0 65 66.0

74.54 84 17 Auldgirth 35 49.5 68 67.6 8.35 8 00 Ob 98 55.0 66 63.5

72.32 82 00 Mp 37 49.5 66* 66.6 7.32 6 78 BARRHEAD 99 51.5 70 65.6

70.67 80 28 Closeburn 39 19.0 68 66.4 5.64 5 23 NITSHILL 101 21.0 68 67.6

69.32 79 00 MP 40 31.0 67 67.5 4.27 3 74 KENNISHEAD 102 33.5 67 68.0

67.95 77 50 Thornhill 41 44.5 68 67.1 3.10 2 60 P'KSHAWS W 103 36.5 70 66.9

66.32 76 00 Mp 43 12.0 67 67.1 2.10 1 60 CROSSMYLOOF 104 35.0 45br 61.5

64.62 74 24 Carronbridge 44 51.0 60/57 61.8 1.59 1 19 Muirhouse SJ 105 33.5 25tsr 31.4

63.39 73 05 Drumlanrigg TN 46 01.5 52* 62.8 1.35 0 19 Muirhouse Cl J 106 04.5 30 27.9

62.32 72 00 Mp 47 13.5 55* 53.5 0.81 0 62 Eglington St Ob 107 12.0 25* 28.8

60.76 70 35 Ardoch Ob 49 01.0 53* 52.2 101 40

58.52 68 16 Mennock Ob 51 07.0 67 64.0 0.56 101 56 Bridge St 107 55.0 20* 20.9

56.30 65 78 Ub PSR 53 03.0 68 68.9 0.20 102 01 Sig Gantry A 108 54.0 22.0

56.00 65 54 SANQUHAR 53 19.5 68 65.5 0.00 102 21 GLASGOW C P1 110 07.0 9.9

The connecting 0845 service from Euston did not arrive until 1310 with a subsequent fifteen- minute late departure. It was the same Train Manager and Catering Crew, but not sure if it was the same driver. The running, although close to the line limits never appeared to have any degree of urgency. However, with a clear run to Stewarton where we passed a Scotrail service, our first check was approaching Lugton Loop. The southbound service had possibly been allowed into the loop first as we never quite stopped although down to around 1mph. A brisk run into Glasgow gave an arrival at 1505, which was at least on time and possibly early. It would be difficult to better the time by much, although with a completely unchecked run, it may be possible to complete the run in around 108 minutes in either direction.


Generally, the units sit in Glasgow for over an hour, but our unit went back as the 1522 service to Carlisle after a quick clean. The Shuttle service appears to have worked well and although initially loadings were relatively low - a bus service also being provided - towards the end of the diversions the Voyager Units have had a healthy passenger complement on the daytime services. The Wcml north of Carlisle was reopened on Monday 22nd of February, with the Virgin and Trans Pennine services back to their normal route. Conspiracy theorists might wonder why the reopening coincided with the return of unrestricted heavy goods vehicles to the Forth Road Bridge, which was also closed to all traffic for a short period. There has been a significant amount of freight diverted over the GSWR, with one of the more impressive trains being the Tesco container service from Rugby, 28 bogies, all carrying containers, with a pair of GB Railfreight Class 66’s as power - it passed through Kirkconnel on successive weekends at around 60mph.

Class 73/9’s in Scotland- Sandy Smeaton

The first Class 73 modified by Wabtech at Brush’s Loughborough works to succeed the Class 67’s for the Scotrail sleepers, arrived in Scotland in October last year. Since then 73966 has been joined by two successively numbered sisters. They have undertaken various duties, including test and driver training runs and have worked, initially in tandem with other locomotives, sleeper emcars between Craigentinny and Polmadie, the sleeper stock servicing centre. The test runs between Aberdeen and Edinburgh employed SRPS stock and 73966 and 73967 appeared at the SRPS Diesel gala in January. Engineering work on the West Highland Line north of Crianlarich on three weekends in February, commencing 12/13th, required a diversion to Oban for the sleeper. As the RA8 Class 67s are too heavy for the Oban line, the new Class 73/9s were given their first revenue earning work. On each weekend of the diversion 73967 and 73968 were coupled top and tail with the lead engine only working. As there is no readily available means of servicing the sleeper laundry and toilets at Oban the stock was worked back empty to Polmadie from Oban at 12.25 returning on Sunday afternoon. An extra 200 miles for a fresh towel, but a bonus for the photographers! On a day of foul weather, I timed the down run on February 20th, when the normal four coach load was increased to five by the addition of a third sleeping car. This brought the total load to 272 tonnes tare, including the 76.5 tonnes of 73968. On boarding at Queen Street I managed to find a seat on the milepost side, but rear-facing, among some comatose horizontal bundles. It was not until the Taynuilt pathing stop I discovered that nearly all the bundles had morphed into refugee enthusiasts, some of whom had fled a steam-less south. The log gives full details of the run, at least from Ardlui when the posts started to become visible. The schedule from Queen Street to Crianlarich was unchanged from the normal service. On the initial section to Westerton over-cautious running caused a loss of 2½ minutes and the 20 tsr between Glen Douglas and Arrochar caused a further two minute loss, but otherwise the schedule was mostly kept. After Dalmally the schedule was extremely lax. An overly-generous 47 minutes were allowed at Taynuilt to cross the 08.57 from Oban and transfer to the bus for Fort William. I saw no custom that morning. Although no call at Connel Ferry was scheduled, a stop was made. The wait outside Oban was to re-set the ground frame to enter Platform 4.


Date: Sat 20.2.16 Ms Ch LOCATION Sch Mn Sc Speeds Avge

Train: 0450 Edinburgh-Oban 24 29 Creag/Ardain TN 8 03 37/40 40.3

Locomotive: 73967 1,600hp Bo-Bo 25 37 FB 9 43 38/41½ 39.5

Load: 5+73968,272/275 27 49 ARDLUI 14 13 54 3L 30.9

Weather: Rain &gusty south westerly 28 00 MP 1 42 26 13.6

Rec/Method/Position: A.Smeaton/GPS/ 6/7 28 60 " 3 08 34½ 31.5

Ms Ch LOCATION Sch Mn Sc Speeds Avge 29 40 " 4 28 32½/31½ 33.8

0 37 QUEEN ST LL 0 0 00 1L ~ 30 00 " 5 24 32½ 32.0

1 20 CHARING X 2 22 ~ 19.9 30 40 Glenfalloch 6 28 Psr 20 28.1

1 60 Finneston T W 3 35 22 24.7 30 60 Glenfalloch VN 6 57 33 31.6

2 19 Finneston E Jn 4 49 23½ 23.7 31 00 MP 7 24 34 33.1

3 00 PARTICK 6 53 27½ 22.3 32 00 " 9 14 31½ 32.7

3 56 HYNDLAND 8 16 28½ 30.0 33 00 " 11 06 31 32.1

4 50 ANNIESLAND 10 07 34½ 30.1 34 00 " 12 56 32½ 32.6

0 18 Knightswood TE 10 44 40½/30 38.0 35 00 " 14 46 36½/41½ 32.8

0 68 Knightswood NJ 11 58 37 30.2 35 40 " 15 31 40 40.1

6 13 WESTERTON 12 28 43 38.5 36 23 CRIANLARICH 20 18 03 3L 18.7

7 20 DRUMCHAPEL 13 43 60 51.6 36 34 Crianlarich Jn 0 57 17½ 8.7

8 13 DRUMRY 14 37 58½ 61.7 0 35 L Crianlarich J 1 45 46½/50 32.7

9 00 SINGER 15 29 51 58.0 31 00 MP 2 42 49 48.7

9 75 DALMUIR 15½ 17 55 3L 23.0 32 00 " 4 00 50/52 46.2

10 36 UB 1 36 37½ 19.3 33 00 " 5 12 48½ 50.3

11 20 KILPATRICK 2 48 47 39.9 34 00 " 6 33 41 44.1

12 00 OB 3 39 61½/63 52.5 34 40 " 7 19 31 39.1

12 72 BOWLING 4 37 46½ 56.7 34 68 TYNDRUM LWR 8 8 56 ~ 13.0

13 22 OB 5 05 49/57½ 47.4 35 00 MP 1 04 18 8.4

DUMBARTON E 7 48 37½ 52.7 35 20 " 1 49 21½ 20.0

16 07 DUMBARTON C 9½ 9 34 2L 23.3 35 40 Tyndrum Smt 2 30 23½ 22.2

16 40 DALREOCH 1½ 1 23 30 18.0 37 00 MP 4 40 52½ 41.3

17 05 Dalreoch TW 2 24 43/59 32.8 38 00 " 5 46 57/51/54 55.3

19 24 OB Ferry Road 4 58 Psr 43 52.4 39 00 " 6 55 49/54/46 52.2

19 53 CARDROSS 5 27 44 45.2 40 00 Glenlochy 8 08 46/48½ 49.0

20 30 Brooks Farm 6 19 53 49.9 42 00 MP 10 46 44½/49½ 45.7

21 19 Ardmore East 7 14 57/P37 56.4 43 20 " 13 04 Psr 30 32.5

0 09 Craigendoran 9½ 9 37 41 43.7 44 00 " 13 53 47/50 55.6

0 52 UB 10 28 36 37.9 46 72 DALMALLY 18½ 19 12 3L 32.6

1 23 OB 3 11 37 31 33.4 48 40 2 59 48/45/48 32.1

1 49 OB 4 12 14 29½ 30.9 49 48 LOCH AWE 7 4 29 46½/40 43.9

2 07 H'SBURGH UPP 13½ 13 39 2L 20.3 52 70 F/CRUACHAN 15 8 49 46 45.5

2 30 MP 1 05 29/38½ 15.9 53 60 MP 10 01 P27/24 43.4

3 21 Ardencaple 2 47 34½ 31.4 57 00 " 15 39 46/52½ 34.7

3 44 OB9 3 17 33 33.8 58 53 TAYNUILT 29½ 18 51 11E 31.1

3 72 Rhu 3 54 35/47 34.0 59 38 UB 2 35 28½ 18.9

6 52 Shandon OB 7 56 43½ 41.0 59 75 Parkhill LC 3 18 41/46/40 38.4

8 01 OB 21A 9 59 27/33 39.6 61 00 MP 4 51 34/47/P 15

41.2

8 76 G'LOCHHEAD 12 12 32 1L 22.1 63 00 " 8 14 43/45/P18 35.4

9 30 FB 1 57 24 13.0 65 00 Achaleven 11 18 23 39.2

9 55 G'lochhead VN 2 41 28 25.9 65 30 CONNEL FRRY 20½ 12 50 18E 14.7

9 78 OB 3 16 29 29.1 65 40 MP (Pass) 0 44 18 10.3

10 34 Whistlefield 4 13 30 28.5 66 40 " 3 09 28 24.8

11 37 Finnart VS 6 24 P27/44 28.6 66 75 UB 4 01 34 30.3

15 10 Glen Douglas 13 12 43 P11/25 34.8 67 40 MP 5 06 30½ 31.2

15 56 OB 14 27 22/27/T19 19.9 68 00 " 6 07 28/26½ 29.5

16 42 PSR 40 Sign 16 31 34 23.9 68 40 Glencruitten 7 11 30½/29½ 28.3

17 69 FB 18 31 43/44 40.2 69 40 MP 9 20 P16/30½ 27.8

19 04 FB 20 15 34½ 41.0 70 40 " 11 32 30 27.2

19 45 ARROCHAR 21 22 51 5L 11.9 71 03 Sigs stop 13 50 -1602 14.0

20 37 Hut 2 09 43/37/44 25.1 71 39 OBAN 39½ 18 46 16E 9.9


73967 appeared to have no problem taking its 275 tonne load up the ascents from Garelochead to Glen Douglas, Ardlui to Crianlarich, out of Tyndrum Lower and from Connel to Glencruitten. In the Class 27 era the sleeper usually exceeded 300 tons gross with Ardlui to Crianlarich taking 21 to 22 minutes. The loads lightened after the Class 37’s took over, but of five runs with loads greater than 300 tons (including two of my own not on the database), four took remarkably consistent times between 19m 41s and 19m 53s, the fifth took 17m 46s only. The range for 13 runs loaded to about 265 tons, worked by Class 37’s was 15m 59s to 18m 25s. 67011, with only 4/149/152, but restricted by its axleload, took 18m 58s on 21.5.14. 73967 took 18m 03s from Ardlui to Crianlarich loaded to 275 gross and on the evidence of the run above seems capable of equalling a Class 37 performance. The Class 73/9’s power deficit of 150hp compared to a Class 37 is more than balanced by a locomotive weight approximately one coach lighter than a Class 37. The power unit was far quieter than a Class 37, in fact, it was mostly inaudible from the fifth coach. The real test will be working through the winter when rail head conditions deteriorate, but the light standard load of four coaches does not present a hard task. However, the main benefit of the class 73/9’s is their lower axle load which frees them from the dozens of slacks on the West Highland line which badly hampered the Class 67’s.

Network Developments – Ian Umpleby

This report is being written on the day that Virgin East Coast officially launched its Class 800 Azuma train at Kings Cross with aspirations to run it at 140 mph once in service. However, shortly after the previous report was written some appalling weather hit the British Isles, the legacy of which still remains with long term closures of the Appleby to Carlisle and Folkestone to Dover lines. On a brighter note by the time you read this the Norton Bridge flyover should be in use giving 100 mph access from the WCML Slow Lines to the Stone/Stoke-on-Trent line. The existing connection will be disconnected until a bi-directional Norton Bridge East Chord is activated over it at the end of May. A consequence of this scheme is that the Down Slow is relocated to the west of its former path, which is in effect a short cut reducing the Euston-Golborne Jn distance by 16 chains. The only PSR change of any significance during the last 3 months is the elimination of a long-standing 45 mph restriction at Walkers Crossing on the Northallerton to Eaglescliffe line. Other large ongoing or starting projects proliferate, firstly Waterloo where the former International platforms are being refurbished to allow platform lengthening on the down side platforms. The first serious work on the Ordsall Lane connection in Manchester was to take place during a week long Easter closure centred on Manchester Victoria and, to release capacity at the latter, construction of a southbound bay at Rochdale is well advanced. The situation around London Bridge remains largely unaltered with quadruple track extending from Charing Cross to Ewer Street Jn (1m 35ch) before reducing to two tracks as far as London Bridge - three tracks through the station both lines - where it and the double track Cannon Street lines run in parallel to the connections at North Kent East Junction. The extension of Chiltern services from Oxford Parkway into Oxford has been delayed until December but much enabling trackwork is under way at the latter. Just to the north the Banbury station area is being remodelled. From the 20th March until August Glasgow Queen St High Level is closed with services diverted via a newly created loop through the Low Level station with a passenger queueing system in place for safety reasons; Inverness/Aberdeen trains will use Central station and travel via Carmyle/Cumbernauld. The Kettering to Corby doubling continues. Crossrail surface work continues to accelerate with the lines in the area of the south east tunnel exit at Abbey Wood being realigned and work in progress over the entire Paddington to Maidenhead area. Enabling trackwork is in progress on the GE section. Preparatory work for the Christmas layout changes/resignalling at Cardiff continues. One for


the future is the start of the process for the straightening out of the curve at Market Harborough. The Gospel Oak to Barking electrification work starts in earnest shortly with the year-long closure of the eastern half to be followed later this year by the remainder. Further electrification work continues between Glasgow and Edinburgh and Manchester and Preston; many concrete bases are in place on the latter but only three masts had been erected by mid-March. The proposed opening of Kenilwoth station is reliant on dmus being released when the ongoing Rugeley scheme is up and running. The delays to the Great Western Electrification have been well documented but mast erection is now taking place well to the west of Reading towards Swindon. They may have only a two hourly dmu service but passengers en-route to Bishop Auckland can observe the newly electrified Hitachi Factory Test Tracks at Newton Aycliffe. Following completion of the North Lincolnshire resignalling scheme over Christmas the Swindon area resignalling was completed by March with little alteration to tracks or PSRs. The delayed East Kent scheme is scheduled for this Easter and will facilitate the opening of the new westwards facing bay at Rainham and a new down loop at the relocated Rochester station once the signal box there has been demolished. The link from the ECML at Belle Isle to St Pancras International Low Level is now officially available for traffic. Work continues on the partial redoubling of the Ebbw Vale branch. Slippage in the opening dates of new stations continues although it is expected that Lea Bridge will open in Spring as scheduled. Kirkstall Forge may open this month but Low Moor has met delays due to the discovery of mine shafts in the area. Coventry Arena/Bermuda Park stations have finally opened and a loco hauled train was initially provided when Wasps Rugby Club had a home match. Ilkeston appears no nearer starting and a dispute between landowners and Council has hit the start of construction at Worcestershire Parkway. It is confidently expected that Cambridge Science Park and Edinburgh Gateway stations will open in December. In Northern Ireland the relocated station and new loop at Bellarena have yet to be commissioned but on a positive note the Lisburn to Antrim line is expected to be available for traffic again after a winter closure for remedial work. In the Republic Phoenix Park Tunnel, Dublin remedial work continues and reballasting work is nearly complete between Dublin and Ballybrophy. When the new Heuston Lines timetable is inaugurated later this year 100mph running will be possible throughout apart from the Curragh and Portarlington areas; work will then be concentrated west of Ballybrophy. The continuing elimination/upgrading of crossings has progressed to the extent that only 49 manned crossings remain. A sad end to this piece is that recording of horse traction appears to be at an end with the Douglas Horse Tramway extremely unlikely to reopen this year.

That’s good – it’s 10 minutes late David Ashley

There was a recent thread on a UK rail forum of a very fast run from Warrington to Euston in 98 minutes - which was taken from RTT - and was two minutes faster than the RPS fastest time of 100m17s. Looking at services around that time, there were similarly-impressive runs that were also worthy of investigation. The initial run was on the 1246 Carlisle-Euston on Sunday 21st February 2016 and it left Warrington 8L, and arrived in Euston 3E. The 1040 Glasgow-Euston on 22nd February left Warrington 12L and arrived Euston 1L, and the 0630 Glasgow-Euston on 23rd February left Warrington 10L with a punctual arrival in Euston. Calculated elapsed times were 98m51s, 99m17s and 98m20s respectively. It has long been known by RPS members that trains departing a few minutes late stand a better chance of producing a good run than those starting punctually – where it may be necessary to dissipate unrequired recovery. This seems to be the case here. The reason for the delayed starts may have been due to problems caused by the Lamington Viaduct disruption. The Sunday run was the last day of the diversions via the G&SW, and the connecting Voyager arrived at Carlisle six minutes late on an optimistic timetable. Consequently, the Pendolino left three minutes late, and this had increased to six minutes by


Penrith (maybe also due to the recent bad weather). Monday 22nd February was the first day that the main line had reopened, and tsrs in the vicinity of Lamington resulted in a six-minute late departure from Carlisle, which had increased to 12 minutes by Lancaster. A similar situation occurred on the 0630 Glasgow on Tuesday 23rd February. So with all the trains running between eight and twelve minutes late, the scene is set for good runs. Recovery in the timings was 3½mins between Warrington and Crewe, 2mins Crewe-Rugby, 1min Milton Keynes-Watford Junction and 2mins beyond – 8½mins in total. The trains in the vicinity of the Glasgow train are the xx55 Manchester-Euston which runs non-stop from Crewe 9mins ahead of the Glasgow, and the xx50 Birmingham which departs Rugby 2½mins after the Glasgow passes. There were only minor tsrs on the route at this time: Norton Bridge 70mph, Rugeley 80mph and Wolverton 80mph. So, a punctual Glasgow train from Warrington not requiring recovery time could be four minutes early by Crewe and could be hindered by a slightly-late-running Manchester train. Similarly, a 10-minute late departure from Warrington could be four minutes late at Rugby and could be delayed by the Birmingham train. Thankfully, in the examples shown, all the Birmingham trains were held for the Glasgow train to pass - and without significant delays to them. So, we have three good journeys, but we now need to see if it is possible to construct logs from Open Train Data. Firstly, we will look at the detail from Realtimetrains (RTT) for the 1246 Carlisle train. Problems with the data concern the rounding of passing times to 15 seconds, and there is further uncertainty whether the data is actually rounded down, rather than to, the nearest 15 seconds. Consequently, there are strange average speeds appearing, and in some cases there seems to be additional problems which produces incorrect speeds. Whilst it cannot be said with confidence that the Raildar data is correct, it seems to be more consistent, so an attempt was made to correct their data. This was achieved by comparing one of my own journeys with the Raildar data, and establishing where they appear to be taking their readings. Strangely, this can be up to a minute away from the true position (2 miles), so it can’t be due to taking the signal berth nearest to the timing point. Whilst this could cause problems when speeds are varying significantly within a section, it is not such a concern here when the train is running consistently around line-speed. The corrected positioning from my own journey was then applied to the three logs, and these are shown in the table. The two RPS fastest times are also shown. The other concern with data taken from signal berths is the accuracy of the berth offsets when departing and arriving. There doesn’t seem to be cause for concern when comparing the start from Warrington, with the calculated times to Weaver Junction being comparable with the RPS Fastest Times. The approach to Euston appears to be more of a problem. The RPS logs took 9mins and 9min25sec from Wembley, whilst the calculated logs show 8m25s, 8m04s and 7m57s – considerably faster than the RPS records. However, my own recent unchecked runs have taken 8m05s, 8m39s, 8m06s, 8m29s and 8m15s, so this may indicate that the RPS fastest times runs were checked in some way or were diverted to a more distant platform at Euston. So whilst we may not be able to confirm that these logs are completely accurate, we may be able to expect that, in ideal circumstances, it should be possible to improve on the RPS fastest time on this section – preferably with the train arriving at Warrington about 10 minutes late


Train 1246 Carlisle 1040 GLC-EUS 0630 GLC-Eus RPS FT

Date 21/02/2016 22/02/2016 23/02/2016

WTT elapsed mph elapsed mph elapsed mph elapsed mph mph

exc rec RTT Raildar Raildar Raildar elapsed elapsed

Warrington 00:00:00

Acton Grange J 00:02:30 00:02:15 49.9 00:02:41 41.8 00:02:18 48.8 00:02:25 46.4 00:02:09 52.2

Weaver J 00:04:30 00:05:15 114.8 00:05:36 118.1 00:05:12 118.8 00:05:22 116.7 00:05:04 00:05:13 112.3

Acton Bridge 00:05:30 00:06:30 97.9 00:06:37 121.0 00:06:13 121.0 00:06:23 121.0 00:06:14 00:06:20 109.6

Hartford 00:07:30 157.2 00:07:52 125.9 00:07:29 124.1 00:07:38 125.0 00:07:32 00:07:37 122.5

Winsford 00:09:30 00:10:00 105.1 00:09:56 127.0 00:09:36 124.3 00:09:44 125.3 00:09:38 00:09:44 124.2

Crewe 00:14:00 00:14:00 111.9 00:14:00 110.1 00:13:49 105.8 00:13:58 105.6 00:14:20 00:14:10 101.0

Basford Hall J 00:15:00 00:15:00 106.2 00:15:00 105.1 00:14:53 100.3 00:15:02 99.8 00:15:28 81.7

Madeley 00:18:30 00:18:00 122.4 00:18:32 104.0 00:18:03 116.0 00:18:48 97.6 00:18:42 113.6

Norton Bridge 00:24:00 00:24:00 113.5 00:24:33 113.2 00:23:56 115.8 00:24:25 121.2 00:24:35 00:24:57 109.0

Stafford 00:27:30 00:27:45 84.8 00:27:54 95.1 00:27:13 96.9 00:27:54 91.4 00:27:56 00:28:08 99.9

Colwich 00:32:00 00:31:30 103.4 00:31:58 95.1 00:31:13 96.9 00:32:08 91.4 00:31:59 00:32:16 93.8

Rugeley N J 00:34:00 00:33:00 102.4 00:33:27 103.6 00:32:43 102.4 00:33:36 104.7 00:33:42 00:34:03 86.1

Lichfield NJ 00:38:00 00:36:45 132.0 00:37:20 127.3 00:36:39 125.7 00:37:32 126.1 00:37:37 00:37:55 128.0

Nuneaton 00:47:30 00:47:00 112.4 00:46:57 119.8 00:46:20 119.1 00:47:29 115.7 00:47:18 00:47:35 119.2

Brinklow 00:51:00 137.9 00:51:28 122.1 00:50:55 120.1 00:52:03 120.7 00:52:01 124.4

Rugby 00:54:30 00:54:15 99.0 00:54:05 122.7 00:53:33 122.1 00:54:41 122.2 00:54:23 00:54:45 89.5

Weedon 01:01:00 01:00:00 134.1 01:00:27 121.2 00:59:59 119.8 01:01:10 118.9 01:01:01 01:01:14 118.9

Hanslope J 01:07:30 01:06:15 126.2 01:06:44 125.6 01:06:18 124.9 01:07:27 125.6 01:07:20

Milton Keynes 01:10:30 01:10:00 107.2 01:09:57 125.3 01:09:33 123.8 01:10:41 124.3 01:10:37 01:10:52 125.0

Bletchley 01:12:30 01:11:45 109.0 01:11:29 123.8 01:11:06 123.0 01:12:14 123.3 01:12:11 01:12:25 123.1

L Buzzard 01:14:00 172.5 01:14:39 122.3 01:14:19 120.9 01:15:26 121.4 01:15:21 01:15:36 121.9

Cheddington 01:16:00 121.8 01:16:35 126.1 01:16:17 123.6 01:17:22 125.5 01:17:33 124.9

Tring 01:19:30 01:18:45 96.4 01:18:41 126.8 01:18:24 125.0 01:19:31 124.0 01:19:32 01:19:41 124.3

Berkhamsted 01:20:15 151.2 01:20:30 124.2 01:20:15 122.8 01:21:21 122.9 01:21:32 122.6

H Hempstead 01:22:00 117.6 01:22:09 125.1 01:21:54 124.5 01:23:01 123.8 01:23:11 124.7

Apsley 01:22:45 111.2 01:22:51 118.7 01:22:38 114.6 01:23:43 120.2

Watford J 01:26:30 01:25:15 135.6 01:25:43 118.7 01:25:32 116.9 01:26:36 117.5 01:26:36 01:26:52 114.7

Harrow & W 01:30:00 01:28:15 121.4 01:28:42 122.0 01:28:33 120.5 01:29:36 121.7 01:29:37 01:29:56 118.8

Wembley C 01:31:00 01:30:15 100.2 01:30:26 115.7 01:30:16 116.8 01:31:20 115.6 01:31:17 01:31:34 122.7

Wilesden WJ 01:32:30 01:31:30 127.2 01:31:56 105.5 01:31:44 108.4 01:32:50 105.5 01:33:01 109.7

EUSTON 01:39:00 01:38:30 46.3 01:38:51 46.8 01:38:20 49.1 01:39:17 50.2 01:40:17 01:41:09 19.1

FROM THE RPS WEB-SITE

EUROSTAR WTT ORDSALL LANE CURVE LEGAL CHALLENGE LEWES-POLEGATE LANDSLIP GALTON JUNCTION REMODELLING NORTON BRIDGE CHANGES REALIGNMENT AT ABBEYWOOD IRISH FLOODS WEST COAST RAILWAY PROBLEMS WATERLOO PLANS SEVERN TUNNEL CLOSURES VIRGIN AZUMA LIVERPOOL AREA CHANGES GLASGOW QUEEN STREET CLOSURES MARKET HARBOROUGH CURVE EASEMENT WORK STARTS


SATURDAY 21st MAY 2016

AGM and 40th Anniversary discussion of HSTs

The Lamb, Bloomsbury LONDON WC1 – 1215 for 1230

THURSDAY 26th MAY 2016

Area Meeting

Borough, LONDON

THURSDAY 30th JUNE 2016

Area Meeting (NOW 1600 start)

BRISTOL PARKWAY

SATURDAY 9th JULY 2016

Mass Timing Day

See flyer

TUESDAY 19th JULY 2016

Area Meeting

LEEDS

GALLERY In future, we are proposing to add colour pictures to the back cover of the magazine. If you have pictures that you would like to submit for consideration please send them, in digital format, and preferably in portrait orientation to the Editor. The photgrapher will be credited.


Two Class 221s pass at Lugton during GSWR diversions (page 62) Photo Martin Robertson


Documents

MILEPOST 37 - RPSTel 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]