MILEPOST APRIL 2013 - Railway Performance Society

Milepost 34 - 1 - April 2013

MILEPOST APRIL 2013

Current East Coast Performance From page 10

RPS

railway performance society

www.railperf.org.uk

34


Milepost 34 - April 2013 The Quarterly Magazine of the Railway Performance Society Honorary President: Gordon Pettitt, OBE, FCILT Commitee: CHAIRMAN Frank Collins 10 Collett Way, Frome, Somerset BA11 2XR Tel: 01373 466408 e-mail [email protected] SECRETARY & VC Martin Barrett 112 Langley Drive, Norton, Malton, N Yorks, YO17 9AB (and meetings) Tel: 01653 694937 Email: [email protected] TREASURER Peter Smith 28 Downsview Ave, Storrington, W Sussex, RH20 (and membership) 4PS. Tel 01903 742684 e-mail: [email protected] EDITOR David Ashley 92 Lawrence Drive, Ickenham, Uxbridge, Middx, UB10

8RW. Tel 01895 675178 E-mail: [email protected] Fastest Times Editor David Sage 93 Salisbury Rd, Burton, Christchurch, Dorset, BH23,

7JR. Tel 01202 249717 E-mail [email protected] Distance Chart Editor Ian Umpleby 314 Stainbeck Rd, Leeds, W Yorks LS7 2LR Tel 0113 266 8588 Email: [email protected] Database/Archivist Lee Allsopp 2 Gainsborough, North Lake, Bracknell, RG12 7WL Tel 01344 648644 e-mail [email protected] Technical Officer David Hobbs 11 Lynton Terrace, Acton, London W3 9DX Tel 020 8993 3788 e-mail [email protected]

David Stannard 26 Broomfield Close, Chelford, Macclesfield, Cheshire,SK11 9SL. Tel 01625 861172 e mail: [email protected]

Steam Specialist Michael Rowe Burley Cottage, Parson St., Porlock,Minehead, Somerset, TA24 8QJ . Tel 01643 862182 E-mail: [email protected]

Committee member: Michael Bruce, 234A Otley Rd., West Park, Leeds LS16 5AB Tel 0113 305 0367 E-mail: [email protected]

Richard Howlett, 93 Newbury Gardens, Stoneleigh, Epsom, Surrey, KT19 0NY Tel: 020 8394 0340 E-mail: [email protected]

Non-committee official:- Topical points Martin Robertson 23 Brownside Rd, Cambuslang, Glasgow, G72 0NL

e-mail: [email protected] Directors of RPS Rail Performance Consultants Ltd.:- Frank Collins (chairman), Peter Smith (secretary), Martin Barrett CONTENTS Notices 2 ECML Timetable Part 1 Martin Barrett 10 Training for hill-walking Martin Robertson 20 Fastest times Martin Robertson 23 4.49pm E Croydon-London Bridge Don Benn 30 And now for something different D H Wilson 33 Peak Power Bill Hemstock 37 From OS Nock’s notebooks Sandy Smeaton 39 Lesser lights of London Midland Andrew James 42 Swiss Practice and Performance David Adams 48 Letters 55 News 55 Enclosures: MTD Parts 3 and 4, AGM papers and Annual Report, UK Distance Charts, UK Fastest

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

Use of the material in the magazine is permitted only for the private purposes of the reader No material in the magazine can otherwise be used for publication or reproduction in any form without the express permission of the Society The views expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of the RPS, the Editors or any of their advisers. Whilst efforts are made to ensure accuracy, the Editor his advisers and the RPS accept no responsibility for any loss or damage arising from any inaccuracies howsoever caused. Readers are asked to note that the RPS encourages contributions from all members, and articles may appear that are interesting in content, but occasionally may not be to the standard of the rest of the publication. Material sent to the Editors, whether commissioned or freely submitted is provided entirely at the contributors own risk; neither the Editor nor the RPS can be held responsible for any loss or damage howsoever caused. Published by The Railway Performance Society Limited, 92 Lawrence Drive, Ickenham, Uxbridge, Middx, UB10 8RW Printed by Prontaprint Harrow, 7 Central Parade, Station Rd., Harrow, Middx, HA1 2TW.

mailto:[email protected]








PUBLICATION OF MILEPOST

Milepost is published in April, July, October, and January. If you have not received your copy by the end of the month of publication it may have gone astray. Requests for replacements of missing or defective copies should be directed please to the Editor. REPRESENTING THE SOCIETY The RPS is always keen to be represented at special media-type occasions. However, we do ask that anyone wishing to do this should do so with the express agreement of the Committee. Should the opportunity arise for any member or in exceptional circumstances, friend of a member, to do this please can contact be made with the Secretary (either by telephone or e-mail) setting out the circumstances of the occasion. Please give us at least one week in advance of the occasion. SUBMITTING ARTICLES Submissions may be sent as attachments to an email or by post as documents on a CD or diskette or as a printed document. If sending a diskette or CD, please enclose a hard copy of the article; this helps if file(s) are unreadable for any reason. Please send all submissions to the editor whose contact details are in the inside front cover of Milepost. The editor will normally acknowledge email submissions within a few days, and always within 3 weeks. If sending by post and you wish to have a receipt, please enclose an SAE for reply. If you wish any material/CD/diskette to be returned, please clearly state this. Milepost 23¾ gave detailed guidelines for submissions. The editor is happy to supply these, on request by email or by post. Please note that page margins are critical: one inch or 2.54cm top, bottom, left and right.

Distance Chart Editor’s Report With space in the envelope limited again attention has been focused upon completing the tricky Waterloo to Weymouth chart to the exclusion of everything else. Thanks are due to Sean Emmett and David Sage for their help with this. The proposed Irish issue has had to be deferred to July although the current speed data is to hand. Please contact me if you need any WTT or speed data for Irish Rail. Thanks to those members who have helped me over the past three months and, as ever, don’t forget to look at the web site for updates. FASTEST TIMES Please send all Fastest Times contributions to David Sage at the address on the inside cover. This is with the following exceptions:- David Ashley for Voyagers, 180s, Pendolinos and 222s. Bill Long for DB material. If in doubt then e-mail or post to my contact details on the inside cover. Please, where practicable, also copy claims and logs to Lee Allsopp for the Society archive, and to Martin Robertson for material for his Fastest Times articles. Note that the Members area of the RPS website – see www.railperf.org.uk - has the latest GB and Overseas Fastest Times. These times are also there in the general area, but without the recorder’s initials. At present all entries are as up to date as possible from submissions received. I must still confess to a time-lag with regard to the general area, but Member’s site is fine. Please note my new e-mail address: [email protected]

http://www.railperf.org.uk/



OVERSEAS CHARTS For those who may be interested, charts are available for the recently opened LAV from Barcelona Sants to Figueres Vilafant and also the line from Figueres Vilafant to Perpignan. Please contact me via the e-mail address above or write to my address on the inside cover of Milepost. David Sage HISTORIC FASTEST TIMES If you have any items to offer for the 2013 issue, please contact me by email at either [email protected] or [email protected], or by post to Bevan Price, 24 Walmesley Road, Eccleston, St. Helens, Lancs., WA10 5JT. Bevan Price SALES ITEMS

Back Numbers: Certain back issues of Milepost, from Milepost 6 onwards, can be supplied at a price of £2.50 each including postage. Supplies are extremely limited and once sold they will not be reprinted. Details of issues available will be supplied on request.

Milepost is available in the British Library; the Bodleian Library, Oxford; the University Library, Cambridge; The National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh; The Library of Trinity College, Dublin, the National Library of Wales, the National Railway Museum and the Railway Studies Library at Newton Abbot Library. Where a requested edition is out of print the member will be provided with a letter of authority from the Society (as copyright holder) to enable a complete copy to be taken from any of the Library copies.

Indices for volumes 7, 8, 10, 12 to 19 and 21 are available and will be supplied free of charge on receipt of an A5 size stamped addressed envelope. Distance Chart Supplements. All supplements are issued in A5 loose leaf format. Following a review, the price of these supplements has been reduced, but they will no longer be supplied with binders. UK Distance Supplement: £17.00 The complete collection of RPS distance charts compiled to date. Individual new and revised charts are issued with Milepost when they become available. Overseas Distance Supplement (Section 1 France): £8.50 The complete collection of Issue 2 distance charts compiled to date. Individual new and revised charts are distributed occasionally with Milepost to those members who have paid a small supplementary membership fee. Overseas Distance Supplement (Section 2 Ireland): £7.50 The complete set of Irish distance charts as published in 2005/6. If any revised charts are published they will be distributed with Milepost to those members who have paid a small supllementary membership fee. UK Fastest Times £5.00 2010 and 2011 supplements in loose-leaf format




Historical Fastest Times 2004, 2006 Editions: £2.00 each; 2004/6/7 pack: £7.50

Orders for all above sales items please to Peter Smith. All prices include postage. Please enclose the correct remittance with your order and allow 28 days for delivery.

VOYAGER, ADELANTE, CHALLENGER, PENDOLINO and Reopened ECML, GE and GW RECORDS. The notice of members is drawn to the monthly e-mail update of Fastest times for Classes 180/220/221/220+221/222/390 and the re-opened lists for FGW/ecml and GE. If anyone would like to start receiving these lists please let me know by e-mail to [email protected]. If a current recipient wishes to withdraw his name, please let me know. For the benefit of new members the re-opened lists refer to the fastest performances recorded on and from the arbitrary start date of 18/5/08 They are usually, but necessarily, slower than the printed book Fastest Times, many of which were achieved pre-data recorders and involved speeds that are unlikely to be repeated. The re-opened records are for HSTs from FGW services plus Wakefield Westgate to Penzance, Class 91s and HSTs on Fastest Time book 'ecml' sections and for Class 90s on GE sections. Submissions must be made in excel or works spreadsheet and the format used on the lists issued, unless the member does not have access to the technology. This is to minimise copying errors and compilation time. It would be a good idea therefore for new members to wait until they have received an issue of the lists before participating to save them from indulging in unnecessary detail. No logs are needed for this exercise, although David Sage and Martin Robertson would appreciate a copy if the record is also a new Fastest Times book entry, as opposed to just a re-opened one. If in doubt please do not hesitate to contact me on the above e-mail address, by phone on 01895 675178 or letter to David Ashley, 92 Lawrence Drive, Ickenham, Uxbridge, Middx, UB10 8RW

THE MEETINGS SECTION

SATURDAY 11TH

MAY 2013

THURSDAY 23RD

MAY 2013

THURSDAY 27TH

JUNE 2013

SATURDAY 29TH

JUNE 2013

TUESDAY 30TH

JULY 2013

The Brunswick Inn DERBY (altered venue)

The Royal Oak, Borough, LONDON

The Beaufort Arms BRISTOL PARKWAY

Mass Timing Day Leeds - Manchester

The Grove Inn LEEDS

1200 for 1215 1645 1645 1700

Annual General Meeting

Area Meeting Area Meeting Area Meeting

DIRECTIONS TO THE VENUES

DERBY – The Brunswick, 1 Railway Terrace, DERBY DE1 2RU. On leaving Derby station turn right and walk north parallel to the railway and the Brunswick is about 200 yards on the left hand side. LONDON – The Royal Oak, 44 Tabard Street, London SE1 4JU. From Borough tube station, turn left and at first road junction turn right into Great Dover Street and the almost immediately left into Long Lane. Tabard Street is a few yards on the right (5 minutes walk). OR from London Bridge walk down approach road and turn left into Borough High Street, Turn left by Southwark Local Studies Library, with St Georges Church on right, into Tabard Street. Cross Long Lane and continue down Tabard Street with Royal Oak on right (just over 10 minutes). Please let Richard Howlett know if you are coming on 020 8394 0340 or [email protected]

LEEDS – THE GROVE INN, Back Row (off Neville Street), Leeds The Grove Inn is around 400 yards south of Leeds City station (under10 minutes walk). From the south concourse at Leeds City station go past M & S Simply Food, cross the road and into a circular building, go down the steps and turn sharp right at the bottom, continue under the railway on Neville Street, past the Hilton Hotel, over the river, cross Water Lane, next on the right is a large new office complex called Bridgewater Place with Starbucks and a Tesco Express, turn immediately right after Bridgewater Place into Back Lane and The Grove Inn is on the right (an old building surrounded by



modern office blocks). It is highly visible from Neville Street at this point). If you are going to attend this meeting, it would help if you can let Chris Taylor know on 07941 315846 or [email protected] BRISTOL PARKWAY - THE BEAUFORT ARMS Members should leave Parkway station along the approach road, passing the bus stops and, at the mini-roundabout where the station approach joins Hatchet Road, turn right. Walk 100 yards and at the next mini-roundabout, turn right again. You are now walking along North Road. Meetings are held at The Beaufort Arms, BS34 8PB, which is on the left side of North Road after a further 50 yards. Meetings start at 16:45 and conclude around 19:15. The Beaufort Arms is open all day and food is served at all times. You can order and eat during the meeting should you wish. Further information is available from John Rishton on 07804 418896 or [email protected]

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

. BRISTOL MEETING FEBRUARY 28

th 2013 – John Rishton

Fifteen members attended on probably the warmest day of the month, ideal for a spot of train timing on the way to the venue. On the way to the meeting I recorded two new fastest times and two other members volunteered that they had also recorded fastest times earlier in the day; a minimum of five more timings to add to the main Society listing. The usual wide range of topics were raised and discussed. These included the likelihood of future quoted IEP journey times being like for like comparable with today’s service pattern and timings; the benefits to train timing, and accuracy, of opentraintimes and realtimetrains and the ability to now be able to check on punctuality of services ahead of you, including freight trains, whilst travelling. There followed a detailed description of the terminal arrangements for emptying the Zinc hoppers at the end of one of the Irish freight flows and, back home, details of the disruption caused by an up freight failure at Theale and also on the recovery of services from Paddington to Exeter and Plymouth following delays, all thanks to members being on the spot. Several journey logs were presented to the meeting including an excellent stop at Chippenham (the last 1.95 miles in 102 seconds), examples of electronically timing to signal maps on the West Coast main line, a Birmingham to Reading non-stop run and a mini mass timing event between Crouch Hill and Upper Holloway. As is usual, many other topics were also briefly covered as the evenings conversation progressed. Yet another evening that ended all too soon! LONDON AREA MEETING, Thursday 24th January 2013 – Richard Howlett . Despite the wintery conditions ruling throughout much of the country, eight members gathered at our usual venue, The Royal Oak, Borough for a evening of good food, ales and chatter. Added to which we had seven members who sent their apologies. The ‘formal’ meeting started promptly at 5pm although the general discussion had begun earlier in the bar as one and another arrived – at which we were pleased to welcome Gordon Dudman, both to this forum and as a relatively newly joined member of the RPS. Martin Barrett opened by giving a ‘plug’ for the forthcoming York Area meeting, when Adrian Scales of the National Railway Museum was due to give an illustrated presentation on the Scarborough Spa Express service. Also, at the AGM in Derby on Sat 11th May, Bruce Nathan will give a slide show of the Reading – Redhill line and John Heaton will give a brief outline of our recent timing exercise over the route for FGW.




The merits/demerits of the Realtimetrains.co.uk and Opentraintimes.com were discussed at various points during the meeting in one context or another, with our ‘Northern brethren’ discussing their experiences earlier that day in coming to the meeting as revealed on Gordon Dudman’s ipad. The recent rash of railway oriented TV programmes was noted, namely: – Michael Portillo’s “Great British Railway Journeys” then showing on BBC2. – To be immediately followed (during the week of Jan 28th) by a four part series of half hour

programmes on the “Welsh Railways” also on BBC2. – “Locomotion: Dan Snow’s History of Railways”. A three part series of one hour programmes on

Tuesday evenings on BBC2, each at 9pm. - Finally John Rishton talked through the outline details of an exciting six part series of one hour programmes titled “The Railways: Keeping Britain on Track”. This series has been made by the BBC in conjunction with such as, Network Rail, TOCs and BTP, it has been almost two years in the making. The first episode is due to be shown on Tuesday 12th at 9pm again on BBC2. Thinking of Dan Snow’s series, referred to above, we then went on to discuss briefly the reference made to the building of the Liverpool – Manchester line across Chat Moss – along with the problems being encountered installing the overhead line equipment for the current electrification scheme. A number of interesting journeys were reported and discussed during the evening together with Lee Allsopp announcing that he is shortly due to visit South Korea – so maybe some ‘firsts’ for the Archive here?? WE then went on to discuss timetable design where more than one TOC was carried on any particular route to include both passenger and freight traffic along with, may be, open access users as well. David Ashley produced a very interesting extract from a recent survey he’d made on Midland main line working pattern showing the integration of both fast and slow line running. Gordon Dudman made specific reference to the North London line, where he had personal experience in this field. He cited the timetable set for the considerable Olympic passenger traffic anticipated (and realised) along the North London line, where to avoid the LTE repercussions of heavy usage of the western shared terminus at Richmond, the service being alternated between there and Clapham Junction. We then went on to discuss the newly opened southern section of the ‘London Outer Circle’ between Highbury & Islington and Clapham Junction via the East London line, using part of the ‘late lamented’ London Bridge-Victoria loop between Queens Road Peckham and Wandsworth Road. [The class 378 Capitalstar EMUs are not the most user-friendly for train logging, for, with seating placed along the coach sides, the recorder is forced to sit diagonally in his seat, often being wedged in between his fellow travellers, both male & female!] We also talked briefly about the recent celebratory run of the Metropolitan Railway’s 150 anniversary steam/electric working from Kensington Olympia and Moorgate on the morning of Sunday 13th January. It was understood that further runs will be arranged later in 2013. [Watch the TFL website??] Richard J Howlett MARTIN TASKER MEMORIAL LIBRARY – Lee Allsopp The Society holds a large number of books (~170) containing articles on performance, or containing information of use to Society Members. Full details of the books held are contained in past issues of Milepost. The books are available for borrowing by contacting me by letter, phone or E-Mail. The borrower will be responsible for postage in both directions. It will be possible in many cases for arrangements to be made to pass books on at Society Meetings to avoid postage costs in one direction at least. The length of the loan can be flexible by agreement. The Society will be happy to receive donations to the Library. Items should be related to Railway


Performance (no Magazine Collections please). Again please contact me regarding this. New items received into the Library will be notified in updates published in Milepost. The entire contents of the library will are listed on the Society Website. 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 2012

Milepost 33¾

Mass Timing Day 2012 Part 1

Latest runs from Bob Jennings

Latest runs from Peter Smith

Latest runs from Richard Howlett

11 more Notebooks from Bernard Harrison covering 1997 to 2001, mainly in Yorkshire, and occasional commuting between York and London, but with a good selection from all around the country and abroad as well. This collection is now complete

Logs from John Rishton to go with his Fastest Times entries

Latest runs from Charles Foss

30 more notebooks from Nigel Smedley’s vast collection, covering the period Aug 1986 to Apr 1993. Including many railtours, and much more.

More runs from Richard Neville-Carlé, from the 1990s onwards

Fastest Times received from December to March

17 more books from a vast collection by Allan Heaton, covering Oct 1974 to Feb 1976. Many more to come!

Many more runs from Philip Tromans, covering running on the MML

3 more folders of runs from Mark Warburton, covering Steam Railtours, Exeter Bristol and GW Steam.

Two more notebooks from Frank Collins, covering Oct 2009 to Mar 2010.

9 books from David Lloyd-Roberts covering a wide variety of running over the years throughout the country.

Tony Leopard’s travel in 2012, including India, Austria, Croatia and Germany.

Sandy Smeaton’s logs from a series of ‘Great Britain’ Railtours RPS ARCHIVES – Coming soon! – Lee Allsopp 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.

Several hundred notebooks containing ~10,000 logs recorded by Allan Heaton. These have been lent to the Society and will appear in the coming months

A CD from Richard Neville-Carlé with about 800 runs on it. More to follow.

~55 more Notebooks from Nigel Smedley covering 1993 – 1998

6 more folders of logs from Mark Warburton, covering a wide range of material in the West Country.

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!

Archives and Database As I am sure you will all appreciate, in the on-line Archives and database the Society has a resource which so far as we know is unique in the world. There are now over 350,000 data entries. To date, building up this vast database has been down almost entirely to the efforts of Lee Allsopp in scanning members material and then adding it to the archive storage and database. It would be good to have both some assistance for Lee in the scanning process – at times the pile of material awaiting attention is quite substantial and takes several months to clear through – but also to have some other members who understand how the system works, to act as back-ups/understudies to Lee when needed The sort of skills that would be helpful for this are;- Scanning - No particular skills required for this, just a keenness to help! Geography is a factor here with the need to move the material around from donor to scanner and vice versa – and members live all over the country and not always close to Lee's home in Berkshire! You need to have access to a scanner and be able to copy files to a CD/DVD. Archive Support Ideally you will find it useful to have;- -A basic knowledge of databases and spreadsheets, ideally Microsoft Access and Excel -knowledge of the Basic SQL commands, DELETE, INSERT, UPDATE -Ability to organise large number of files in a logical directory structure -the knowledge to Use a database management tool, eg mySQL to manage the RPS archive database, both for the Archive and the Distance Charts Lee is very happy to train people up – so don't worry if you don’t have the necessary skills at the moment, as long as you have the willingness and ability to learn! Being able to travel to Lee's home for training may therefore be helpful I very much hope that you feel able to assist with this very important facet of the Society. Please feel free to contact either myself, or Lee direct, if you are able to help Frank Collins Chairman

. IN COMMITTEE: MARCH 2013 The committee meeting that precedes the AGM is chiefly concerned with ensuring that all the AGM paperwork is in order – everything from fonts to budgets. The financial position provided some further discussion, with the loss of MLI income. However, prudency had always been exercised and measures were in hand to accommodate the effects of the lost revenue. Ideas for speakers are always welcomed by Martin Barrett, who had a few names in the pipeline. One of the chief aims of the committee is to safeguard the future of the RPS electronic archive. Frank Collins had developed an idea for a charitable trust that would allow donations to be gift-aided. Detailed proposals are being developed. After the usual discussion of ‘interest vs cost’, the Mass Timing Day route was selected as


Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Victoria to Leeds and Brighouse (both via Huddersfield) and vice versa. This includes Leeds-Brighouse stoppers via Dewsbury. Martin Barrett will also accommodate Brighouse-Halifax for those still requiring to add the Greetland-Dryclough Jct (very steep) curve as well as Bradley Wood Jct to Bradley Jct to their list of routes they have travelled. Preliminary results of the renewal membership survey showed a high percentage in favour of retaining Milepost as a hard copy and it was resolved to continue indefinitely as at present. John Heaton, Dawlish

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SUBSCRIPTIONS Members are reminded that subscriptions are now overdue. Could those who have not yet renewed, please do so as soon as possible

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The ECML Timetable: Are we being taken from a ride- Part One Martin Barrett After my heart operation, I was advised to keep active but not do too much strenuous exercise for a couple of months, so I decided that travelling up and down the ECML just fitted the bill. There has been some criticism of the journey times being rather on the slow side, especially on the Up with two full hours allowed from York to Kings Cross non-stop. Over June and July 2011, I spent some time travelling on a variety of trains both south and north of York and here are my conclusions. I will deal with the runs in date order, firstly south from York and then north from York. York to Kings Cross For a standard interval southbound timetable, there are many variations in the non-stop timings intermediately but they all end up with a WTT time of 114 minutes. Five minutes is added that for the public time arrival and given that York departure time is advertised one minute earlier, this gives the two hour public schedule. There are slight variations between Class 91 and HST schedules, but of the 114 minutes, four minutes are performance allowance and 7½ minutes pathing time for Class 91s (three minutes for HSTs) giving a net schedule of 102½ minutes for Class 91(110.3 mph av.) and 107 minutes HST (105.6 mphav.), which is quite demanding. Run 1 shows a journey on 07.30 from Edinburgh which left York only 1½ minutes late, but even with easy running we were brought to a stand at the infamous D300 signal on the approach to Doncaster whilst 09.45 from Leeds crossed our bows into the platform. The pattern here is for the Leeds train to arrive in front of the non-stop, run SL to Loversall Carr Jn and then follow the non-stop. This demands very precise timekeeping and, even in the best circumstances, an on-time non-stop will not avoid a delay as there is 3½ minutes of allowances approaching Doncaster with a 3½ minutes margin! For example a three minute reoccupation of Platform 4 from 11.05 to 11.08 followed by an 11.12 arrival into Platform 8 is


only just achievable whilst any delay to 11.10 departure to York is bound to react on 11.15 arrival from Leeds and then 11.18½ passing on the Up Main. Just to compound matters, any delay to 11.58½ departure to Sheffield from Platform 4 is bound to delay 11.03 arrival from the south into the same platform.

Sample hour at Doncaster for ECML trains

Plat 4 4 8 8 4 DM 8

From KX KX KX SH KX KX KX

Arr 11.03 11.08 11.12 11.17½ 11.23 11.40

Dep 11.05 11.10 11.14 11.19½ 11.25 11.31 11.43

To York York Leeds York York York Leeds

Plat 1 UM 3a 1 3a 4 3a

From Leeds York York Leeds York York York

Arr 11.15 11.23½ 11.44 11.52 11.56½ 12.05½

Dep 11.17 11.18½ 11.25 11.46 11.54 11.58½ 12.08½

To KX(ESL) KX KX KX KX SH KX

Having passed the Leeds train on the SL south of Doncaster running was quite restrained and punctuality declined from three minutes late at Loversall Carr Jn to five minutes late by Tallington, which cannot all be put down to the 80 mph tsr before Carlton. However the allowances between Peterborough and Hitchin were not necessary so we approached Hitchin a few seconds early and were just checked by 10.53 KX – Cambridge crossing our path, but with no other delays we arrived in Kings Cross 1¾ minutes early (WTT) and almost seven minutes early as far as the general public were concerned – I bet they were impressed, although no mention of this was made by the train crew. Run 2, six days later on the same train, was a completely different kettle of fish. Due to delays north of York departure was 7½ minutes late, with the unusual experience of the 10.01 starter from platform 6 leaving parallel to us on the Leeds line. There was more urgency shown here with running up to line speed and apart from a slight check approaching Doncaster (reason unidentifiable) and the tsr before Carlton, three minutes had been regained by Grantham. The 09.45 from Leeds had been passed stood on the USL at Loversall Carr Jn. We then experienced one of those annoying problems – a signalling fault at the boundary between Doncaster and Peterborough PSBs so what had been 4½ minutes late at Grantham was turned into 18 minutes late at Stoke. However, there was just 54½ minutes left to get to Kings Cross on time as far as the public were concerned. Could we do it? No! Although we regained time so Hitchin could have been passed five minutes down on the schedule (12½ mins late actual), preference was given to 11.15 Cambridge – KX non-stop so we idled along behind it and lost another two minutes. If we had been given preference, I reckon we could have arrived in 118 minutes from York. However, as far as the charter was concerned, it was ‘on time’, actually arriving 9m 50s late on the public time. Are we being ‘conned’ here as the total allowances are really 21½ minutes between York and Kings Cross? Another week later (run 3) I was an hour later on 08.30 from Edinburgh which was HST worked. This departed even later, 8½ minutes down, but the running was top notch with 126 mph being maintained after Templehirst Jn, but we caught up 10.30 Hull to KX which we passed on the USL south of Doncaster, but we were still one minute better off than when leaving York. The brisk running just caused us to get a slight check approaching Carlton as a freightliner cleared into the loop and then again another check approaching Peterborough where we passed the 10.45 from Leeds (which we should have passed at Doncaster). .

Run 1 2 3

Date Thursday 16 June 2011 Weds 22 June 2011

Tues 28 June 2011


Train 0956 York - KX 0956 York - KX

1056York - KX

Motive Power DVT/9/91XXX DVT/9/91XXX

11 HST/43239/43305

Recorder/loc/GPS Martin Barrett 4/11 Y Martin Barrett 4/11 Y

Martin Barrett 4/11 Y

Weather showers sun pds/hvy shwrs cloudy, shwrs ex Pbro

m ch location sch m s mph m s mph sch m s mph

188 36 York (Plat 5) 0 0 00 1½ late 0 00 7½ late 0 0 00 8½ late

184 60 Copmanthorpe 3 56 102 3 52 106 3 55 93

183 00 Colton Jn 5 4 55 112 4 49 117 5 5 00 104

180 04 Ryther Viaduct SE 6 25 123 6 16 125 6 36 117/126

175 00 Hambleton N Jn 9 8 53 123 8 43 124 9½ 9 04 123

174 20 Hambleton S Jn 9 15 120/118 9 04 122 9 26 124

169 20 Templehirst Jn 12 11 43 123 11 35 125 12½ 11 51 125

167 20 Heck (1) <1> 12 43 123/121 12 28 124 (1)<1> 12 48 126

165 74 Balne 13 21 124/121 13 07 124 13 26 126

163 00 Moss 14 46 124

14 50 126

160 48 Joan Croft 15 56 121

16 02 78sigs

160 16 Shaftholme Jn pts 18 16 08 121 15 52 125 19 16 25 42/32/62s

158 02 Arksey (1½) 17 18 88sigs 17 06 70sigs (1½) 19 00 50

19 29 D300 sig

sigs

20 23 stop

156 00 Doncaster 22 22 32 39 18 37 89 22½ 21 26 74

154 00 Decoy S Jn 24 22 88 19 48 111 22 50 96

152 00 Loversall Carr 24 25 36 106 20 50 121 24½ 24 00 107

151 29 Rossington 25 57 107/108/105 21 09 121/122 24 22 107/111

147 60 Bawtry 27 59 105 23 00 109/108 26 19 110

144 00 Ranskill 30 02 117/122 25 00 119/125 28 20 118/125

138 49 Retford 30½ 32 43 116 27 37 117 32 30 59 121

137 37 Grove Road <1> 33 19 116 28 14 117/113 <1> 31 34 119

134 40 Askham Tnl NE 34 54 110 29 46 116/112 33 06 114

130 29 Egmanton 37 06 120 31 55 125 35 14 123/127

tsr 78 tsr 78

tsr/sigs? 70

126 25 Carlton 39 47 91 34 22 91/112 38 00 66/65

123 00 Bathley Lane 41 47 107 36 18 110 40 41 93/101

120 63 Newark Crossing 40½ 43 04 96 37 32 99 42 42 01 98

120 12 Newark NG 41 43 27 98 37 55 105 42½ 42 24 103

115 27 Claypole 43½ 46 02 120 40 25 122 45 45 02 116

111 40 Hougham 47 57 119 42 18 123/111 46 59 121

108 29 Peascliffe Tnl NE 49 38 105/96 43 56 113 48 56 113/116

105 40 Grantham 48½ 51 23 98 45 33 97/105 50½ 50 11 100

49-00/52-18 sig st

D2 signal

57-29/59-19 sig st

4 5 6 7

Friday 08 July 2011

Friday 08 July 2011 Weds 13 July 2011

Weds 13 July 2011


0956 York - KX

1401 York - KX 0830 York - KX

1256 York - KX

DVT/9/91XXX

DVT/9/91109 DVT/9/91113

11HST/43318/43310


Martin Barrett 4/11 Y Martin Barrett 4/11 Y


heavy shwrs s of NNG heavy shwrs cloudy cloudy

m s mph sch m s mph sch m s mph sch m s mph

0 00 3½ late 0 0 00 ¼ late P6 0 0 00 P3 13 late 0 0 00 P3 2 late

3 59 104

4 23 102 4 05 97

4 56 115 5 5 07 102 5 5 21 114 5 5 07 104

6 25 125/122 6 42 121 6 49 125/123 6 44 117

8 53 123 9 9 10 123 9 9 14 126 9½ 9 11 127

9 15 120/123 9 33 121 9 36 122 (1) 9 33 127

11 43 122 12 12 05 123 12 12 00 126 13½ 11 54 125

12 42 121 12 59 123 (1)<1> 12 58 126 <1> 12 52 126

13 22 124 13 37 123 13 36 126/124 13 30 128

14 55 91sigs/59 15 03 123 15 00 125/126

16 55 86 16 13 123 16 09 125 16 01 126

17 12 91 16 16 25 123 18 16 21 124 19 16 13 126

18 30 110/111 (1) 17 33 89 17 29 85 (1) 17 44 43sigs

sigs 3/31 XSL

sigs 28/38 XSL 19 46 D814 sig

19 58 stop

19 41 95 21 22 24 P3A 22 21 04 P3A

41 XSL

23 24 41 SL 24 22 30 22 23 17 P1 22 XML

20 50 113 Sl 2 54 56/51/64 3 27 79 26 00 77

21 51 121 6 5 05 38sigs 4½ 4 45 102 24 27 23 95

22 10 122 5 58 56 5 07 105/112 27 47 97

24 02 107/105 8 34 109 7 06 110 29 51 112

26 03 120/122 10 34 120/122 9 02 124/125 31 50 120/126

28 42 117 15½ 14 31

11 11 37 121 31½ 34 26 123

17 15 58

29 20 119 2 13 62 <1> 12 12 117 <1> 35 01 120

30 51 113 4 22 99 13 45 115/113 36 32 114

123 6 34 123 15 51 126 38 38 127

34 58 123 8 33 120/123 17 47 124/126 40 33 124

36 36 119 10 12 121 19 24 122 42 09 127

37 48 97 11½ 11 25 64 21 20 43 68 41½ 43 16 100

38 12 104 12½ 12 47

22 21 54 42 43 39 104

14 14 01

23½ 23 46

40 44 120/122 5½ 4 31 110 5½ 4 48 109 44½ 46 14 118

42 39 120 6 30 122 6 46 121 48 09 121

44 18 112 8 07 110 8 23 115/98 49 49 86/36sigs

45 56 96 11 10 41

10½ 10 00 99 50 53 31 59

sigs 44/56 12½ 13 38

sigs

(1½)

.

Run 1 2 3


101 00 Stoke Tnl NE 53 52 112 60 20 20 52 47 107/105

99 60 Stoke Jn 51½ 54 32 115 61 58 64 54 53 29 107

97 12 Corby Glen 55 50 123/126 63 47 109/125 54 50 125/126

92 17 Little Bytham 58 13 124/121 66 14 124/122 57 11 125/106s

87 07 Greatford 60 44 124 68 42 125 59 47 118

84 64 Tallington 58½ 61 51 122 69 49 123 61½ 60 55 125/126

81 71 Helpston (1) 63 17 123 71 14 125 62 19 125

79 40 Werrington Jn 64 28 116 72 23 122 63 30 118

sigs

78 00 New England N 65 16 108 73 08 114 64 54 36

76 27 Peterborough 64 66 12 105/104 74 02 106/103 66 66 33 81

108

112

75 16 Fletton Jn

72 63 Yaxley (2) 68 14 103/98 76 02 109/98 68 49 106/99

69 26 Holme 70 18 104 78 05 106

67 20 Connington S Jn 71 71 27 109 79 13 112 71 72 01 113

63 00 MP (1½) 73 47 115/124 81 26 120/124

113

58 67 Huntingdon 76½ 75 50 123 83 28 122/124 75½ 76 19 125

55 72 Offord 77 18 116 84 54 119 77 48 118

51 56 St Neots 79 25 121/124/120 86 57 124/121 79 53 121/127

47 38 Tempsford 81 30 123 89 01 125 81 56 125

46 30 Everton 82 02 123 89 33 125 82 28 125

44 10 Sandy 83½ 83 09 122 90 38 120 83 83 32 126

41 15 Biggleswade <2> 84 35 122/117 92 04 124/120 <2> 85 45 37 XSL

37 00 Arlesey 86 41 123 94 08 124 90 06 79

33 49 Cadwell

sigs 100/106 sigs 43 93 27 37 XFL

32 00 Hitchin 91½ 89 25 101 97 51 56 91 95 17 68

27 48 Stevenage 93½ 91 50 116 100 57 109/114 93 98 32 86

sigs

25 00 Knebworth 93 14 103 102 23 96 100 14 94

23 65 Woolmer Green 95½ 93 55 103 103 11 81 95 100 58 87

22 00 Welwyn North (½) 95 00 106 104 30 87 102 14 92

20 20 Welwyn GC 98 95 56 113/114 105 38 96 97 103 25 88

17 56 Hatfield 97 18 112/111 107 14 97 105 03 101

15 46 Welham Green 98 26 114 108 29 110/111 106 17 107

14 40 Brookmams Park 99 01 110

106 54 111

12 60 Potters Bar 102 100 01 100 110 03 100 101 107 51 104

10 44 Hadley Wood 101 20 98 111 22 98/100 109 08 99

9 14 New Barnet 102 11 99 112 13 99

8 28 Oakleigh Park 102 41 99 112 43 99

6 37 New Southgate 103 50 95 113 54 84sigs 111 38 94

5 00 Alexandra Pal 106½ 104 46 94 114 59 80 106 112 33 94

. .

4 5 6 7


50 57 48 4 31 102 12 27 115/116 56 54 93

52 08 70 5½ 5 15 106 15 13 07 115 53½ 57 41 99

53 50 112 6 36 123/121 14 24 126/123 59 07 119/129

56 17 122 9 01 123 (1) 16 46 125/124 61 28 127

58 48 123 11 34 119 19 13 126 63 54 125

59 56 121/119 12½ 12 42 122 23 20 28 70/37sigs 61 64 59 126

61 22 124/121 14 09 122 (1) 23 26 90/110 (1) 66 23 127

62 33 123 15 19 123 24 49 107 67 30 125

sigs

63 17 118 16 06 85/29sig/39 26 07 28/34/sig 68 14 122

64 09 104/102 18 19 09 P2 29½ 30 00 P2 66½ 69 06 105/116

114 20 21 29

31½ 31 44 SL/32

3 25 16 XML

66 07 113/90

98 6 25 88 69 02 114/99

68 13 102/100 6 21 104 8 30 107 73 02 107

69 23 108 7½ 7 29 112 7½ 9 37 112 71½ 74 08 114

117 9 45 116 (2½) 11 52 119 76 24 115/116/30s

73 46 122/123 11½ 11 49 123 14 13 52 127 76 80 39 29 plat line

75 12 116/115 13 17 116 15 17 120/119 83 38 88

77 18 122/118 15 24 121/123/119 17 20 125/122 86 11 106

79 24 122 17 30 123 19 23 125 88 23 123

79 56 123 18 02 123 19 55 125 88 54 126

81 02 124 18½ 19 08 124 21 21 00 125 83½ 90 00 125

82 30 121/117 20 35 122/120 22 25 124/121 <2> 91 23 127/125

84 35 123 22 39 123 23 27 125 93 22 128

sigs 107/111

87 03 116 24½ 25 16 109/113 27 26 51 121 91½ 95 45 124/121

89 16 122/114 27½ 28 44

29 29 00 127 93½ 97 55 124/127

29 30 13

90 34 116 3 03 84 30 15 122 99 09 125

91 09 118/102 4 3 49 98 31 30 50 114 95½ 99 42 122/103

92 12 106 4 52 105 <½> 31 52 103 100 43 106

93 11 113/115 6 5 50 113 33½ 32 51 116/114 97½ 101 42 114/117

94 32 112 7 11 112/111 34 10 115/113 103 01 116

95 40 115 8 19 113 35 19 116 104 07 117

96 14 112/113 8 54 111 35 52 111 104 41 114

97 11 103 10 9 53 101 37½ 36 51 98/97 101½ 105 37 107/100

11 13 99 38 10 101 106 54 101

99 22 98 12 04 98 39 00 101 107 44 100

99 53 97 12 34 98 39 29 102 108 14 101

100 01 96 13 43 97 40 37 101 109 22 99/94

101 57 93 14½ 14 39 94 42 41 32 95 106½ 110 16 96

. .


Run 1 2 3

4 00 Hornsey 105 25 91 115 44 77 (½) 113 11 65sig

3 33 Harringay 105 49 83 116 12 74 114 01 32/20sig

2 40 Finsbury Park 108 106 30 73 116 58 68 108 116 15 30

[2]

[2]

sigs 20/56

0 60 Belle Isle 112 108 26 38 118 50 35 112 119 09 33

0 07 KX 114 110 47 P2 121 18 P5 114 121 41 P4

adv 119 (120 adv to adv) adv 119 (120 adv to adv)

Run

7a 7b

Date

Thurs 15 Sept 2011 Thurs 22 Sept 2011

Train

0956 York - KX 1356 York - KX

Motive Power

DVT/9/91XXX 11HST/43296/43313

Recorder/pos/GPS

Martin Barrett 4/11 Y Martin Barrett 4/11 Y

Weather

bright periods sunny pds,windy

m ch location

m s mph m s mph

188 36 York (Plat 5)

0 00 P5 2L 0 00 P5 5½ late

184 60 Copmanthorpe

3 46 105 4 06 93

183 00 Colton Jn

4 46 117 5 10 103

180 04 Ryther Viaduct SE

114/121

175 00 Hambleton N Jn

8 36 124 9 22 117

174 20 Hambleton S Jn

8 58 122 9 45 119/120

169 20 Templehirst Jn

11 24 124 12 17 118

167 20 Heck

12 22 124 13 18 118

165 74 Balne

13 01 124 13 58 120

163 00 Moss

14 25 124 15 26 118

160 48 Joan Croft

15 42 80sigs 16 39 119

160 16 Shaftholme Jn pts

16 00 79 16 51 117

158 02 Arksey

17 44 68sigs 18 06 78/74sigs

156 00 Doncaster

19 13 90 19 40 85

154 00 Decoy S Jn

20 25 109 20 57 102

152 00 Loversall Carr

21 28 117 22 05 110

151 29 Rossington

21 48 118/119 22 26 107/100

147 60 Bawtry

23 44 107 24 30 105

144 00 Ranskill

25 42 123/124 26 34 115/119

138 49 Retford

28 20 112 29 19 115

137 37 Grove Road

28 58 114 29 56 112

134 40 Askham Tnl NE

30 31 116 31 34 106

130 29 Egmanton

32 37 124 33 47 120/121

126 25 Carlton

34 34 124 35 48 115

123 00 Bathley Lane

36 11 122 37 32 115

120 63 Newark Crossing

37 20 95 38 47 93

120 12 Newark NG

37 44 101 39 11 97/101/21s

.


4 5 6 7

102 36 90 <2> 15 17 91 <1½> 42 10 92 110 54 93

103 00 86 (½) 15 41 86 42 34 88 111 16 89

103 39 75 18 16 19 75 45 43 23 78 108 112 00 53sig

[2]

sigs

[2]

[2]

sigs 32/46

105 38 32 22 18 56 28 XDM 49 45 09 32/33 112 114 49 sigs 20/22

108 38 P1 24 21 49 P7 51 47 47 P0 114 117 28 P5

adv 29 (31 adv to adv) adv 56 (57 adv to adv) adv 119 (120 adv to adv)

Run 7a 7b

Date Thurs 15 Sept 2011 Thurs 22 Sept 2011

Train 0956 York - KX 1356 York - KX

Motive Power DVT/9/91XXX 11HST/43296/43313

Recorder/pos/GPS Martin Barrett 4/11 Y Martin Barrett 4/11 Y

Weather bright periods sunny pds,windy

m ch location m s mph m s mph

115 27 Claypole

40 15 123

44 40 60

111 40 Hougham

42 15 75/72tsr

47 32 95

108 29 Peascliffe Tnl NE

44 26 100/103

49 26 102

105 40 Grantham

46 10 98

51 12 94

101 00 Stoke Tnl NE

48 40 114

53 53 105

99 60 Stoke Jn

49 19 116

54 35 107

97 12 Corby Glen

50 36 124/123

55 56 121

92 17 Little Bytham

53 00 124

58 24 120/118

87 07 Greatford

55 28 124

60 58 120/113

84 64 Tallington

56 35 124/122

62 09 116

81 71 Helpston

58 01 124

63 38 120

79 40 Werrington Jn

59 10 123

64 53 114

78 00 New England N

59 54 122

65 39 102/98

76 27 Peterborough

60 46 99

66 40 100/107

72 63 Yaxley

62 43 120/86

68 42 103/93

69 26 Holme

64 53 103

70 51 95

67 20 Connington S Jn

66 01 110

72 03 106

63 00 MP

68 19 116

74 28 108/121

58 67 Huntingdon

70 22 124

76 37 120/114

55 72 Offord

71 49 117

78 08 115/114

51 56 St Neots

73 53 123/124/120 80 19 117/121

47 38 Tempsford

75 59 124

82 27 119

46 30 Everton

76 30 124

83 01 116

44 10 Sandy

77 36 124

84 10 120/116

41 15 Biggleswade

79 02 123/121

85 40 120/116

37 00 Arlesey

81 04 125

87 48 120

32 00 Hitchin

83 30 121

90 21 117/115

27 48 Stevenage 85 40 125 92 38 120/122

.


Run 7a 7b

25 00 Knebworth 86 54 118 93 57 112

23 65 Woolmer Green 87 33 112 95½ 94 36 104/100

22 00 Welwyn North 88 34 100/79tsr 95 41 101

20 20 Welwyn GC 89 50 88 97½ 96 41 111/113

17 56 Hatfield 91 22 105 98 04 107

15 46 Welham Green 92 32 114 99 17 106

14 40 Brookmams Park 93 06 114 99 53 106

12 60 Potters Bar 94 03 102 101½ 100 54 100

10 44 Hadley Wood 95 21 98 102 14 96

9 14 New Barnet 96 11 100 103 07 96

8 28 Oakleigh Park 96 41 99 103 38 96

6 37 New Southgate 97 50 99 104 50 93

5 00 Alexandra Pal 98 46 95 106½ 105 47 91

4 00 Hornsey 99 23 92 106 27 91

3 33 Harringay 99 47 87 106 52 82

2 40 Finsbury Park 100 30 58 108 107 37 62

sigs 37/45 [2]

0 60 Belle Isle 103 00 31 112 110 02 27

0 07 KX 105 51 P0 114 112 35 P2

adv119 (120 adv to adv)

Despite these checks we were still only 9½ minutes down with still an outside chance of meeting the public arrival time, but a problem on the up main required us to run SL from Biggleswade to Cadwell whichcost us another five minutes. I wondered why we used Cadwell, a 40 mph connection, as opposed to Hitchin South, a 70 mph one, but as we passed the 10.55 from Cambridge arriving at Stevenage, which would have been at Hitchin around the same time as us if we had run SL, and then received a check from 11.15 from Cambridge, which preceded us later on, it would have been to no avail. Thus, we lost more time and arrived 10½ minutes late on the public time – I’m sure this would creep in the 10 minute later charter time. I noted 11.15 from Cambridge had only arrived a few seconds before us in Platform 7 having run SL from Holloway – hence the check to us. We now ‘fast forward’ 10 days to 8 July for Run 4. Once again, back to the 07.30 from Edinburgh and this time departing at the ‘optimum’ lateness of 3½ minutes, which should ensure an unchecked run through Doncaster. It didn’t quite work out as we received a check before Joan Croft (perhaps due to the late lowering of Arksey barriers), but we certainly had a clear road through Doncaster so we gradually recovered the lost time, only to be checked approaching Stoke by an on-track machine clearing to the SL. However, after that we had a clear run to Kings Cross arriving two minutes early (WTT), seven minutes early (PTT) – once again no announcement about arriving early. Having made a quick dash back to York, I was now on 14.01 starter from York (Run 5), all stations. This service is more demanding than the non-stops with only [2], <2> and (2½) allowances. Departing virtually on time running all the way barely exceeded 123mph, but this was just sufficient to keep time. We lost a minute to Doncaster as we were checked to 3 mph and the Grand Central service, booked to leave York at 14.05, passed us only 1m 45s after our arrival. We ran SL to Loversall Carr Jn – the six minutes allowance seems excessive – surely there must be about (1) here? At Grantham we had the unusual experience of a train being held for connecting passengers from a late running Skegness to Nottingham service. As usual, the approach control affected our arrival into Peterborough – 5½ minutes pass-to-stop from Tallington is definitely insufficient. Although we were a couple of minutes late into KX, we were still early according to the public arrival. The following Wednesday I turned up at York for 06.25 from Edinburgh only to find 05.45 from Edinburgh about to run in. A few maths quickly made me realise that I was likely to get a better run on the delayed train rather than wait. 13 minutes late gave just 122 minutes to


arrive on time (public) with three stops. Now that really is a challenge! Most helpfully, the traincrew let us know the delay was caused by a track circuit failure at Pegswood – very helpful for me but probably completely meaningless for the majority of travellers. It was soon apparent (Run 6) that the driver was really up for the challenge with speeds just over the limit before Doncaster, albeit that acceleration from all the stops was slower than normal. By Tallington, four minutes had been recovered, but at Peterborough there was a failure in Platform 4 and down ECML services were being diverted via Platform 3. This caused a little delay and necessitated us running USL to Fletton. However, once we cleared the area, and lost 2½ minutes in the process, we ran the last 67¼ miles from Connington S Jn to KX in 38m 08s at an average of 106 mph, picking up 5¼ minutes in the process. This resulted in a public arrival only four minutes late in 125¾ minutes from York, with the 06.25 from Edinburgh arriving on time five minutes later. Finally, later the same day, I joined the 07.52 from Aberdeen (Run 7) leaving York only two minutes late. With really brisk running and speeds in the high 120s, we were one minute early by Shaftholme Jn, but this time we were stopped at D814 signal for a few seconds, the one before D300, and I thought it strange we should stop so far back for the 12.45 from Leeds to precede us. Howver, we then passed this train as it stood on the Leeds line at D302 signal and we were then routed through Platform 1 at Doncaster and back onto the UM – non-stop! It transpired that a MGR train had been routed through the station in front of us on the up main and then put over to the 2 way slow.This routing us via USL at Marshgate and round via Platform 1 minimised the delay from a slow freight negotiating a 15 mph crossover. However, maybe it was a bit of a risk putting the freight in front anyway. So, by Loversall Carr Jn we were now 5½ minutes late and all went well until a check approaching Grantham. Once again, we had been tweaked by freight (this time a freightliner) clearing to the SL in front of us. Not daunted, the driver streaked away with a momentary 129 mph down Stoke bank before settling down to 125/126 mph. With a clear run through Peterborough, I was hopeful of a punctual arrival at KX, but, lo and behold, we were then routed through the platform line at Huntingdon due to another track fault, losing 4 minutes in the process. So, even with the slight delay approaching the terminus due to a Grand Central train leaving, we just crept in at the advertised arrival time. So to summarise all the up journeys – of the seven runs, only two managed to arrive at or before the working time, two achieved the public arrival time and the other three met the 10 minute charter time. Of the delays, the [2] was only required on two days for the 80 mph restriction in the Carlton area – otherwise it was in effect performance allowance. Performance allowance en route is meant to cover minor delays on the day such as the small delays due to poor operating and probably one infrastructure delay. I presume the advertised later arrivals are to cover the bigger delays and ensure the ‘on time’ figures look good. The charter allowance is there purely to save money and avoid refunds! I think where there is pathing allowance then that should act as performance allowance as the position of both allowances seems rather random and where the pathing allowance totals five minutes or more then the later advertising should be deleted. This would keep operators and Network Rail on their toes and not just use the allowances as a cover for sloppy working. Maybe there is also a case for reducing the 10 minutes charter allowance to five minutes as a first step to abolishing it. Having said that the net schedules look very tight especially with running brake tests not included and the introduction of ‘professional driving’. Maybe a review of these would be act as a balance to the reduction in allowances? To be continued


Training for Hill Walking Martin Robertson

I confine my hill walking these days to going out for pleasure, having completed the Scottish Munro’s - i.e. hills above 3,000 feet - back in 1995. A recent day out allowed a visit to the West Highland Line and the northbound sleeper service from Crianlarich to Tulloch. From the station the plan was to walk back up the line to Fersit, to cross the River Treig to reach Stob a’ Choire Mheadhoin and Stob Coire Eassain, the two Munros on the west side of Loch Treig, before walking out Spean Bridge to return on the evening service to Crianlarich.

Table 1

Run 1 2 3

Date Sat 24-8-85 Sat 17-06-00 Sat 20-08-11

Train 0600 Glasgow-Ft William 2130 Euston-Fort William 2130 Euston-Fort William

Loco 37407 37405 67004

Load 7,252/262/367 4,141/145/250 5,194/194/198

Recorder/position/GPS MDR 7/7 N MDR 4/4 N MDR 4/5 Y

Miles m c Location m s mph ave m s mph ave m s mph ave

0.00 36 23 Crianlarich d 0 00

0 00.0

0 00.0

0.71 37 00 Mp 37 2 01 26 21.1 2 14.5 30 19.0 2 08.0 25/41 20.0

1.71 38 00 Mp 38 4 08 33 28.3 3 55.0 40/41 35.8 3 52.0 38 34.6

2.71 39 00 Mp 39 5 59 32.5 32.4 5 24.0 40/36* 40.4 5 23.0 40/9* 39.6

3.71 40 00 Mp 40 7 50 33 32.4 7 18.5 31 31.4 8 24.0 15 19.9

4.46 40 60 Mp 403/4 9 15 31.5 31.8 8 36.5 37 34.6 9 23.0 39 45.8

5.01 41 24 Tyndrum Upper a 10 41

23.0 9 53.0

25.9 10 59.0

20.6

0.00

d 0 00

0 00.0

0 00.0

0.95 42 20 Mp 421/4 2 32 32 22.5 2 16.5 37.5 25.1 2 56.5 41 19.4

1.74 43 03 Summit 3 54 34 34.7 3 26.5 40 40.6 3 47.0 39/41 56.3

2.70 44 00 Mp 44 5 12 45 44.3 4 54.5 37 39.3 5 13.0 41 40.2

3.70 45 00 Mp 45 6 47 31* 37.9 6 48.5 37/29* 31.6 7 10.0 20*/27/19* 30.8

4.70 46 00 Mp 46

8 53.5 37 28.8 9 34.0 38/42 25.0

5.70 47 00 Mp 47 10 02 46 36.9 10 13.5 50 45.0 11 03.0 39/42 40.4

6.70 48 00 Mp 48 11 16 50 48.6 11 20.5 56 53.7 12 30.0 38 41.4

7.55 48 68 Bridge of Orchy a 12 42

35.6 13 16.0

26.5 14 38.0

23.9

0.00

d 0 00

0 00.0

0 00.0

1.15 50 00 Mp 50 2 31 41 27.4 2 15.0 45 30.7 2 30.0 33 27.6

2.15 51 00 Mp 51 3 49 51/53 46.2 3 36.0 45 44.4 3 57.5 41 41.1

3.15 52 00 Mp 52 5 00 45 50.7 5 04.0 35 40.9 5 30.0 34br 38.9

3.50 52 20 Viaduct

33*

32* 6 12.5 19* 29.6

4.65 53 40 Mp 531

/2 7 30 38 36.0 7 29.0 41 37.2 8 16.5 41 33.4

6.15 55 00 Mp 55 9 49 39/33 38.8 9 56.5 37 36.6 10 08.5 42 48.2

7.65 56 40 Mp 561/2 12 15 44/45 37.0 12 07.5 47 41.2 12 20.0 41/40 41.1

8.65 57 40 Gortan 13 36 43 44.4 13 40.0 37 38.9 14 12.0 42 32.1

10.15 59 00 Mp 59 15 17 58 53.5 15 20.5 67/69 53.7 16 23.5 39 41.1

11.15 60 00 Mp 60

16 13.5 65/63 67.9 17 53.5 38 40.0

12.15 61 00 Mp 61 17 26 52 55.8 17 12.5 64/44* 61.0 19 23.0 42/26* 40.2

13.15 62 00 Mp 62

18 28.5 48 47.4 21 16.0 40 31.9

14.15 63 00 Mp 63 19 50 47 50.0 19 42.5 52 48.6 22 46.0 42 40.0

14.72 63 48

23 54.5 19*/36 30.0

15.60 64 36 Rannoch a 22 43

30.2 22 23.0

32.5 26 12.0

25.3

0.00

d 0 00

0 00.0

0 00.0

0.55 65 00 MP 65 1 42 28.5 19.4 1 33.0 28.5 21.3 2 05.0 32 15.8

1.80 66 20 Mp 661/4 4 16 29.5 29.2 3 42.0 35 34.9 4 10.5 41.5 35.9

2.55 67 00 Mp 67 5 25 43 39.1 4 52.5 49 38.3 5 17.5 39 40.3


4.05 68 40 Mp 681/2 7 27 44 44.3 6 42.0 46/50 49.3 7 36.0 41 39.0

5.55 70 00 Mp 70 9 27 45 45.0 8 32.5 45 48.9 9 50.0 39 40.3

6.55 71 00 Mp 71 11 31 20 tsr 29.0 10 00.0 37 e'd 41.1

7.25 71 56 Currour a 13 34

24.8 11 20.0

31.5 13 15.0

29.9

.

Table 2

Run 1 2 3

Date Tues 2.10.2001 Sat 17.06.00 Sat 20.08.11

Train 20 40 F't Wil'am-Euston 12 00 F't Wil'am-Glas 16 05 Mallaig-Glasgow

Loco 37405 156474/477 156465/456

Load 4/152/155/260 4/142/150 Tons 4/142/150 Tons

Recorder/position/GPS MDR 4/4 Gps No MDR 4/4 Gps No MDR 2/4 Gps Yes

Miles m c Location m s mph ave m s mph ave m s mph ave

0.00 71 56 Currour d 0 00.0 15 0 00.0

0 00.0

1.70 70 00 Mp 70 2 08.5 58 47.6 2 23.0 60/48 42.8 2 16.0 51/63/55 45.0

3.20 68 40 Mp 681/2 3 46.5 55 59.0 4 16.0 56 47.8 3 53.0 61/63 55.7

4.70 67 00 Mp 67

5 49.0 62 58.1 5 19.0 66 62.8

5.45 66 20 Mp 661/4 6 14.5 53 54.7 6 35.0 58br 58.7 6 02.5 58 62.1

Mp 65 7 05.5 34*

6.70 65 00 Footbridge

7 44.0 39 44.3

7.25 64 36 Rannoch a 9 41.0

9 51.0

9 16.0

21.5

0.00

d 0 00.0

0 00.0

0 00.0

0.87 63 48 Viad S'th

1 47.5 45 29.1

1.45 63 00 Mp 63 2 39.0 40* 32.8 2 13.0 50 39.2 2 35.0 46.5 44.0

2.45 62 00 Mp 62 3 55.5 51 47.1 3 21.5 57/53 52.6 3 47.0 56/51* 50.0

3.45 61 00 Mp 61 5 14.0 42* 45.9 4 26.0 55 55.8 4 56.0 49 52.2

4.45 60 00 Mp 60

5 29.0 56 57.1 6 00.0 61 56.3

5.45 59 00 Mp 59 7 40.5 48/53 49.1 6 32.5 57/61 56.7 6 58.5 60 61.5

6.95 57 40 Gortan 9 26.5 51 50.9 8 05.5 54br 58.1 8 32.0 53 57.8

7.95 56 40 Mp 561/2 10 30.5 43 56.3 9 08.5 60 57.1 9 34.5 60 57.6

9.45 55 00 Mp 55 12 26.5 50/52 46.6 10 46.0 46* 55.4 11 13.0 46* 54.8

10.95 53 40 Mp531/2 14 10.5 50 51.9 12 37.0 58/61 48.6 13 03.0 60/61 49.1

12.45 52 00 Mp 52 16 10.0 40* 45.2 14 17.0 45 54.0 14 47.5 42 51.7

13.45 51 00 Mp51

45

15 52.5 61 55.4

14.45 50 00 Mp 50 18 56.0 40 43.4 16 28.5 56 54.8 16 52.0 57 60.5

15.60 48 68 Bridge of Orchy a 21 38.0

25.6 18 30.0

34.1 19 01.0

32.1

0.00

d 0 00.0

0 00.0

0 00.0

0.85 48 00 Mp 48 2 27.0 42 20.8 1 49.0 45 28.1 2 01.5 44.5 25.2

1.85 47 00 Mp 47 3 48.5 46/48 44.2 3 04.0 50/54 48.0 3 19.5 47/53 46.2

2.85 46 00 Mp 46 5 09.5 39* 44.4 4 13.5 50/29* 51.8 4 32.0 47/25* 49.7

3.85 45 00 Mp 45 7 07.5 33* 36.2 6 10.5 34 30.8 6 23.5 34.5 32.3

4.85 44 00 Mp 44 8 49.5 37 35.3 7 45.5 40 37.9 7 58.5 38.5 37.9

5.81 43 03 Summit 10 23.5 37.5/52 36.0 9 11.5 41 40.2 9 25.5 41 39.7

6.60 42 20 Mp 421/4 11 25.5 38 45.9 10 12.0 46 47.0 10 25.5 46 47.4

7.55 41 24 Tyndrum Upper a 12 47.0

43.7 12 00.0

37.2 12 33.0

26.8

0.00

0 00.0

0 00.0

0 00.0

0.80 40 40 Mp 401/2

1 25.0 53 38.3 1 32.5 52/54 31.1

1.55 39 60 Mp393/4

2 29.5 29* 41.9 2 39.0 28* 40.6

2.30 39 00 Mp 39

3 45.5 45 35.5 3 47.0 49 39.7

3.30 38 00 Mp 38

4 57.0 52 50.3 5 04.5 42 46.5

4.30 37 00 Mp 37

6 25.5 31* 40.7 6 32.0 38 41.1

5.01 36 23 Crianlarich a 8 32.0

8 02.0

26.5 8 23.0

23.0

After a brisk drive to Crianlarich and a fine cup of tea from the refreshment room, No. 67004 arrived on time with five coaches in tow. The load is nothing to tax the capabilities of a Class


67 loco, particularly when it is restricted to 40 mph throughout. Table 1, Run 3 includes the run in comparison with runs on the sleeper service in 1985 and 2000. From Crianlarich, after crossing the viaduct over Strath Fillan we were quickly at 40 mph on the 1 in60 grades until the easing for the 10 mph psr over the viaduct at Auchtertyre. We sat in Tyndrum Upper for almost 10 minutes, for no obvious reason, unless the driver was having difficulty in obtaining the electronic token. We were again soon up to 40 mph on the ascent to County March Summit and continued at this speed other than for psr’s at the larger viaducts on the line. Even the 1 in 53 ascent from Rannoch was breasted at over 40 mph. The final arrival at Tulloch was around five minutes late. What is evident is that each section was slower than Run 2 when No. 37405 had the usual four coach load. Although the power to weight ratio was much lower than for the Class 67 hauled service, the higher speeds permitted over the viaducts, and a general 50 mph limit on the more favourable sections of the line was sufficient to better the Class 67 times. I am not sure why the driver of No. 37405 was in such a hurry over Rannoch Moor with speeds up to 69 mph. Run 1 was recorded with No. 37407, very much the best of the Eastfield Class 37/4s, on the then standard seven coach load. There would have been few if any differences in the permitted speeds in the intervening 15 years. The times achieved by the driver of No. 37407were not far behind No. 37405’s, other than on the continuous climbs from Crainlarich to Tyndrum and from Rannoch to Currour, where gravity took its toll. Table 2 has three runs southbound from Spean Bridge to Crianlarich. I had reached Spean Bridge an hour before the departure time and retired to the adjacent Hotel bar for a well earned pint of beer. I was quietly happy when Nos. 156465/ 456 arrived at Spean Bridge as both units are among the better performers of the Scottish Sprinter units. There was a delay of several minutes as the young lady driver obtained the electronic token. Run 3 has the run on which the speed limits were generally observed. The Sprinter units have to be driven quite hard on the line to maintain the speed limits where gradients are against the train. We did not recover any time until Tyndrum Upper where we crossed No. 66725 on a train of Rio Tinto Alcan bauxite tanks. I counted 19 tanks with several more hidden behind the station buildings. Possibly 25 tanks at 45 tonnes each, which were accelerated easily out of Tyndrum Upper by the GBR Class 66. The complete train was seen on Monday morning, for the first time, in the PW sidings opposite Rutherglen station with the loco at the Glasgow end. The same train was present at Rutherglen the following Monday. This must surely be one of the most difficult freight workings in Britain when considering the load, the gradients and the number of severe psr’s which are present for loco hauled services. Well worth recording if GBR would provide such an opportunity. I was surprised to find that this run was my first southbound since 2001 when I had a run with No. 37405 and the standard four coach Sleeper service. Details are included in Run 1. This was before GPS units were around with the run being timed in darkness from an open window. The driver obeyed the general limits despite a late start from Fort William and a cautious climb from Tulloch to Currour after advice of a possible landslide in the section. Would Network Rail have allowed the train to proceed at caution today? Probably not! Run 2 has my last southbound run with Sprinter units, again a pair, back in 2000. Speeds were similar to those of Run 3. The line is well worth a visit for the Sprinters which have to work hard on the adverse gradients. The sleeper services are of no real interest performance-wise but do offer the only opportunity for Class 67 haulage, which is available to those not using the overnight services. .


FASTEST TIMES UPDATE Martin Robertson

Welcome to another look at the latest Fastest Times submitted by our members. As usual the winter months tend to see fewer records submitted but we have runs ranging from Plymouth to Georgemas Junction in this article. My thanks to all contributors who have submitted material whether electronically or in paper format in the past three months.

Table 1

Date Tuesday 18th December 2012

Train 07:35 Manchester Picc-Euston

Motive Power 390.047

Load (tons) 460/480 = 16.6hp/ton

Weather damp

Rec. Pos. GPS J Rishton - 2/9 - GPS

Miles mm cc location WTT mm:s s mph avge

0.00 97 10 Nuneaton 0 00:00

8 late 0.0

1.98 95 11 Attleborough S J [1] 02:19

80 51.3

3.62 93 40 Bulkington

03:21

107 95.3

5.35 91 62 M69

04:12

125 122.1

9.05 88 06 Brinklow

05:59

124 124.5

13.78 83 27 Trent Valley J 10.5 08:17

119 123.4

14.65 82 38 Rugby 11 08:43

121 120.3

15.65 81 38 Hillmorton J 11.5 09:12

125 124.2

18.96 78 13 Kilsby Tunnel

10:52

109 119.1

21.87 75 20 Welton

12:25

123 112.6

24.47 72 52 Whilton locks

13:41

125 123.2

27.47 69 52 Weedon J 17.5 15:09 psr 118 122.7

29.52 67 48 Heyford

16:11

122 119.1

32.67 64 36 Banbury Lane

17:42

125 124.6

34.26 62 69 Blisworth

18:29

123 121.8

37.31 59 65 Roade

19:59

123 122.0

40.62 56 40 Hanslope J 24 21:35

124 124.1

44.75 52 32 Wolverton

23:35

125 123.9

47.32 49 66 Milton Keynes C 27 24:50

124 123.4

50.50 46 52 Bletchley 29 26:27 tsr 109 118.0

54.90 42 20 Chelmscote

28:40

121 119.1

56.97 40 14 Leighton Buzzard

29:41

121 122.2

59.58 37 45 Ledburn J 33.5 30:58

123 122.0

61.03 36 09 Cheddington [1] 31:42 sigs 112 118.7

65.45 31 56 Tring 37 34:29

90 95.3

69.23 27 73 Berkhamsted

36:36

118 107.1

71.61 25 43 Bourne End J 40 37:47

122 120.7

72.66 24 39 Hemel Hempstead

38:18

122 121.9

74.05 23 08 Apsley

39:00

118 119.1

76.21 20 75 Kings Langley

40:06

115 117.8

77.65 19 40 Watford tunnel

40:52

104 112.6

79.71 17 35 Watford Junction 45 42:57 5

late 59.3

brought speed down to around 90mph before the driver realised he was following this London Midland service - now speeding at 110mph along the up fast since Milton Keynes.

We start on the WCML with a fine effort recorded by John Rishton between Nuneaton and Watford Jn. This section has the potential to provided a relatively high start to stop average speed if a clear route is obtained and the driver makes a well judged stop at Watford. John’s comments on the run are: Perhaps I was hoping too much to take the record on this journey. It was a damp day and less than a week before the ritual public holiday closing of the West Coast route south of Rugby. However the late start gave me cause for optimism, as long as we did not get behind the 08.30 from Birmingham at Rugby, which calls at Milton Keynes. We were first at Rugby and thus our expert driver did his best to recover the late start from Nuneaton, managing to claim back over two minutes by Rugby and a further half minute by Ledburn. However the 07.33 from Birmngham must have been running slightly late as we were checked approaching Cheddington and this


Speed was cautiously built up to around 120mph and we did not need to slow for it again until in sight of Watford Tunnel. On a good day it might be possible to improve upon this time by another 45 seconds or so but I suspect there are not many of these sort of days. The following day when the train left Nuneaton only 4 minutes late, was not anywhere near as good a run. Table 2 continues on the WCML with an offering by Sandy Smeaton between Oxenholme and Carlisle featuring a pair of Virgin Super Voyagers. A clear run was obtained which allowed an improvement of almost half a minute on the former FT. Sandy’s comments are: The current Oxenholme-Carlisle fastest time for a Class 221 was 34m 37s. This run shaved 25 seconds off this time with the two units being driven very close to the line limits and little excess, only a momentary 128mph where the gradients steepens at Mp 57. The current Class 390 FT is 34m 01s. The 221’s were 23s behind passing Penrith but a fast finish into Carlisle reduced this to 11s by the time the 221’s had stopped in Platform 1.

Table 2 Miles Ms Ch Location Sch Mn Sc Spd Ave

Date: Sat 16.2.13 20.59 39 58 Shap 14 21.0 93 86.3

Train: 1S51 1020 Birmingham-Ed'bgh 21.86 41 00 MP 15 10.1 93 93.5

Unit: 221.113 + 117; 7,500 hp 22.53 41 53 Harrison's Siding 15 36.2 83 91.4

Load: 10 cars/ 544/ 550 23.86 43 00 Thrimby Grange 16 35.5 81 81.2

Weather: Dry, overcast and little wind 25.86 45 00 " 18 04.0 83 81.6

Recorder/Method: A.Smeaton/ Stopwatch(½mile) 27.11 46 20 " 18 51.4 106 94.9

Position: 8/10 27.86 47 00 Clifton 19 16.9 106 105.9

Miles Ms Ch Location Sch Mn Sc Spd Ave 28.86 48 00 Eden Valley Jn 19 50.3 106 107.8

0.00 19 11 OXENHOLME 0 0 00.0 Dep ½L 29.86 49 00 MP 20 26.6 89 99.2

0.86 20 00 MP 1 25.4 61 36.4 30.86 50 00 " 21 12.7 73 78.1

1.86 21 00 " 2 17.2 76 69.5 32.11 51 20 PENRITH 23½ 22 14.1 74 73.3

3.36 22 40 Hay Fell 3 22.3 88 88.7 33.86 53 00 " 23 31.7 90 85.7

3.86 23 00 MP 3 42.5 91 89.1 34.86 54 00 " 24 09.0 106 96.5

5.11 24 20 Lambrigg 4 30.2 96 94.3 35.86 55 00 " 24 41.6 117 110.4

6.36 25 40 Mosedale Hall 5 18.7 91 92.8 36.94 56 06 Plumpton RR 25 14.1 120 119.1

7.03 26 13 Grayrigg 5 45.2 87 90.0 37.86 57 00 MP 25 41.5 128 121.5

7.86 27 00 MP 6 17.8 92 92.5 39.26 58 32 Calthwaite 26 21.2 122 127.0

8.86 28 00 " 6 57.4 90 90.9 40.86 60 00 " 27 07.0 125 125.9

10.86 30 00 " 8 15.6 99 93.8 42.61 61 60 Southwaite 27 58.9 106 116.9

11.86 31 00 " 8 51.1 101 101.4 43.86 63 00 MP 28 43.2 99 101.6

13.08 32 17 Tebay 11 9 33.9 106 104.8 45.05 64 15 Wreay [2] 29 27.4 96 96.7

13.86 33 00 MP 10 01.0 106 106.6 46.86 66 00 MP 30 30.6 110 103.2

14.86 34 00 Greenholme 10 34.4 105 106.2 47.86 67 00 " 31 03.0 109 111.1

16.01 35 12 Scout Green 11 13.8 103 105.1 48.86 68 00 Upperby (MP) 31 42.9 85 90.2

16.86 36 00 MP 11 43.9 101 101.7 49.73 68 69 Carlisle PSB 33 24.7 ~ 30.5

18.49 37 50 Shap Summit 12 51.9 79 78.7 49.96 69 08 CARLISLE (P 1) 37 34 12.0 ~ 18.1

Average spd: Oxenholme-Carlisle 87.7mph 2½ E

Table 3 has two offerings by Alan Varley on Cross Country HST services from Morpeth and Alnmouth to Berwick Upon Tweed, on successive evenings. The run from Morpeth was well behind schedule but the departure from Alnmouth was only slightly down. Both runs featured excellent running until the approach to Berwick with both drivers making relatively poor approaches to Tweedmouth and the crossing of the Royal Border Bridge into Berwick Upon Tweed station. Table 4 features an improvement of the Leuchars to Haymarket timing with exemplary running by the driver, and Network Rail doing its part in holding the Fife Circular service at


Table 3

Date W 17-Aug-2011 Tu 16-Aug-2011

Train 1323 Plymouth-Edinburgh 1223 Plymouth-Edinburgh

Loco 43301/xxx 43387/303

Load 2+7,386/390 2+7,386/390

Recorder/pos/GPS AV 8/9 Gps Y AV 8/9 Gps Y

Miles m c Location m s mph ave m s mph ave

0.00 16 50 Morpeth dep 0 00.0 (-24)

1.93 18 44 Pegswood 2 32.0 85 45.9

3.56 20 15 Longhirst 3 32.0 109 97.8

6.63 23 20 Widdrington 5 15.0 99* 107.3

8.99 25 49 Chevington 6 39.5 108/113 100.5

11.88 28 40 Acklington 8 14.0 109 110.1

13.38 30 00 Coquet Viad 9 07.5 87/85* 100.9

15.21 31 67 Warkworth 10 21.0 99/105 89.6

16.84 33 37 Shilbottle 11 17.5 103 103.9

18.20 34 66 Alnmouth 12 11.5 86/84* 90.7 0 00.0 (-2)

19.21 35 67 Ledbury 12 54.0 85 85.6 1 39.5 63 36.5

20.90 37 42 Longhoughton 14 01.5 95 90.1 3 00.0 84 75.6

22.80 39 34 Little Mill 15 10.5 105 99.1 4 15.5 98 90.6

24.59 41 17 Whinney Hill Ob 16 09.0 114/120 110.2 5 17.5 108 103.9

26.38 43 00 Christon Bank 17 04.0 112/122 117.2 6 16.0 113/123 110.6

29.38 46 00 Chathill 18 36.0 121 117.4 7 46.0 120 120.0

30.90 47 42 Ob 19 25.0 108 111.7 8 36.0 105* 109.4

32.59 49 17 Lucker 20 19.5 115 111.6 9 31.0 114/123 110.6

34.95 51 46 Belford 21 30.0 124/127 120.5 10 42.5 122/127 118.8

38.36 54 79 Smeafield 23 08.0 126 125.3 12 20.5 126 125.3

42.03 58 52 Beal 24 57.0 115* 121.2 14 09.5 114* 118.9

44.21 60 67 Goswick 26 03.5 122/123 118.0 15 15.5 123/124 118.9

46.95 63 46 Scremersten 27 24.5 118 121.8 16 36.5 115 121.8

49.34 65 77 Tweedmouth 29 01.0 62* 89.2 18 19.0 55* 83.9

50.36 66 78 Berwick u Tweed a 30 52.0 (-25) 33.1 20 13.0

32.2

Thornton Jn to allow the fast service to precede. The run was recorded on the day of the Scotland vs Italy Six Nations rugby match at Murrayfield which I was going to, via Aberdeen. An uninspiring northbound run, was followed by the non-appearance in Aberdeen of the 10.38 Inverurie-Edinburgh service, described as being delayed for operational reasons at Inverurie. The spare unit in Aberdeen was pressed into service with departure from Aberdeen around 5 minutes late. With several tsrs north of Dundee we were seven and a half late from Dundee and nine minutes late away from Leuchars. By now the interior of the unit resembled a sardine tin, as the service, on such occasions, is usually strengthened by a Class 158 unit. The Turbostar unit 170422 was not in the best of mechanical condition but the driver extracted what he could from the unit and with late braking for the intermediate restrictions, right on the limit and almost immediate acceleration thereafter, he set about re-gaining time. An Edinburgh-Edinburgh Fife Circular was held at Thornton Jn, much to the annoyance of its driver, who was hanging out of the cab window as we passed at the permitted 80mph. There were reasonable speeds between the severe restrictions along the Fife Coast and we managed to attain 90mph after Turnhouse on approach to Edinburgh. The 70mph restriction at Saughton Jn was obeyed before a fortunate clear road into Haymarket allowed the driver


to reach the high seventies before a well judged entry into the station. An excellent all round effort by the driver with the time of 46m 51s achieved, likely to be hard to better. To round off a good day Scotland produced their best Six Nations performance in years to thrash Italy.

Table 4 miles m c Location m s mph ave

Date S 09-Feb-2013 16.87 34 00 Mp 15 30.0 79 73.5

Train 1038 Inverurie-Ed'brgh 17.64 33 19 Markinch 16 04.5 81 80.3

Loco 170422 18.87 32 00 Mp 16 59.5 80 80.5

Load 3,133/150 20.16 30 57 Thornoton Jn 17 57.0 81 80.8

Recorder/pos/GPS MD Robertson,1/3,Y 21.12 29 60 Randolph Sid 18 40.5 79 79.4

miles m c Location m s mph ave 22.90 27 78 Dysart 20 00.5 80 80.1

0.00 59 20 DUNDEE d 0 00.0 (-7.5) 23.65 27 18 Sinclairtown 20 38.5 62* 71.1

0.76 58 39 Esplanade 2 07.0 25 21.5 24.99 25 71 Kirkcaldy 21 51.5 67 66.1

1.50 57 60 Tay Br High Gird N 3 44.5 35 27.3 26.12 24 60 Invertiel Jn 22 48.0 77 72.0

2.10 57 12 Tay Br High Gird S 4 46.0 34 35.1 26.87 24 00 Seafield 23 23.5 75 76.1

2.77 56 38 Tay Bridge South 5 55.0 35 35.0 28.15 22 58 Kinghorn 24 42.5 43* 58.3

3.75 55 40 Mp 55 1/2 7 12.5 56 45.5 28.52 22 28 Kinghorn T'l (out) 25 23.0 29* 32.9

4.65 54 48 St Fort 8 02.0 75 65.5 29.87 21 00 Mp 21 26 52.5 67 54.3

6.25 53 00 Mp 53 9 15.0 80/84 78.9 30.76 20 09 Burntisland 27 54.5 39* 51.7

7.75 51 40 Mp 51 1/2 10 21.5 71br 81.2 31.92 18 76 Chalmers Rd Ob 29 16.5 63/66 50.9

8.37 50 70 LEUCHARS 11 28.0

33.6 33.54 17 27 Aberdour 30 54.5 51* 59.5

0.00

d 0 00.0 (-9) 43.8 34.87 16 00 Dalgetty Smt 32 22.5 60 54.4

1.41 49 37 Farm C'ing 2 15.0 56 37.6 36.30 14 46 Dlagetty Bay 33 34.0 74/76 72.0

2.12 48 60 Mp 2 59.0 61.5 58.1 37.27 13 48 Inverkiething E Jn 34 33.0 48* 59.2

3.30 47 46 Dairsie 3 56.0 73 74.5 37.72 13 12 Inverkiething 35 12.5 40* 41.0

4.87 46 00 Mp 5 12.0 86/56* 74.4 38.87 12 00 Mp 36 44.0 49 45.2

6.30 44 46 Cupar 6 28.0 58 67.7 39.59 11 23 North Q'ferry 37 34.5 50 51.3

7.51 43 29 Gate 7 36.0 67.5 64.1 41.44 9 35 Dalmaney 39 48.0 58 49.9

8.59 42 23 Springfield 8 32.5 71 68.8 42.41 8 37 Dolphinton OB 40 42.0 69 64.7

10.30 40 46 Bow of Fife LC 9 52.5 83/60* 77.0 43.57 7 24 Almond Viad 41 37.0 86 75.9

11.80 39 06 Ladybank 11 09.0 66 70.6 44.32 6 44 Turnhouse Ob 42 07.5 90 88.5

12.66 38 17 Kingskettle 11 53.5 72 69.6 46.31 4 45 South Gyle 43 28.0 90/73* 89.0

14.72 36 12 Falkland Road 13 38.5 68/66 70.6 47.62 3 20 Saughton Jn 44 28.5 75/78 78.0

15.87 35 00 Lochmuir Smt 14 41.0 68 66.2 48.54 2 27 Haymarket W Jn 45 11.0 77 77.9

49.66 1 17 HAYMARKET a 46 51.0 (-2) 40.3

Table 5 has a Cross-Country Trains service from Gloucester to Stansted Airport recorded by John Rishton on the first two sections east of Birmingham. As I have never been over the line I will leave the comments to John:- I noticed the driver bringing the train in from Gloucester, he was known as one of the best of the Central Trains men. Perhaps he was one of the recent transfers to Cross Country causing the current London Midland driver shortage. He stayed with the train at New Street and I hastily checked if I could stay on board beyond Leicester. Unfortunately he went no further than Leicester. Even more unfortunate – we caught up a Rail Head Treatment train between Hinckley and Croft and lost 10 minutes as a result. The start, to Proof House Junction, was identical to my previous best but the driver was keen to recover time and constantly drove at one or two miles over the limit through the restricted section to Washwood Heath. There was no need for a running brake test as the train and driver were both running through New Street without a change of direction or crew so a few seconds were saved there. We had passed 90mph by Castle Bromwich, my fastest recorded on a Class 170 service, before power was shut off for the approach to Water Orton along the down fast. Braking only down to 41mph for the crossover we were almost passing the


Table 5

Day/Date Tuesday 27th November 2012

Train 07:10 Gloucester to Stansted Airpt

Motive Power 170106

Load (tons) 3/134/142

Weather Damp

Rec. Pos. GPS J Rishton - 1/3 - GPS

Miles mm cc location WTT mm:s s mph ave

0.00 42 24 Birmingham New St 0 00:00 12 late 0 0.0

0.70 41 48 Proof House J 2 02:01 up dby 33 20.8

1.59 40 57 Landor Street J 3.5 03:17

43 42.2

1.70 40 48 Saltley

03:26

45 44.0

2.63 39 54 Stechford - Aston

04:26

64 55.8

3.81 38 39 Bromford Bridge

05:26

77 70.8

5.30 37 00 Castle Bromwich

06:29

91 85.1

7.65 34 52 Water Orton 10 09:00

41/32 56.0

8.38 33 74 M42

10:04

54 41.0

9.18 33 10 Coleshill Parkway 12.5 11:13 10 late 0 41.7

0.00 33 07 Coleshill Parkway 0 00:00 10 late 0 0.0

1.26 31 69 Whitacre Junction 2 02:04

34 36.6

2.98 1 58 Shustoke [1] 04:08

65 50.0

5.28 4 02 Arley (1) 06:07

66 69.6

6.72 5 37 Church Lane

07:20

71 71.1

7.53 6 22 Arley Tunnel in

08:02

69 69.4

7.95 6 55 Arley Tunnel out

08:23

70 72.0

9.71 8 36 Arley Tunnel ob

09:54

70 69.6

10.97 9 57 Abbey Junction 13.5 11:21

42 52.1

11.82 97 04 Nuneaton 16 13:10 7 late 0 28.1

Table 6

Day/Date Thursday 24th January 2013

Train 1210 Fenchurch St-Shoebury

Motive Power 357.035 + 357.222

Load (tons) 315/325 = 12.4hp/ton

Weather damp

Rec. Pos. GPS J Rishton - 4/8 - Stopwatch

Miles mm cc location WTT mm:s mph average

0 4 07 West Ham 0 00:00 r/time 0.0

0.23 4 25 ob

00:33

25.1

0.50 4 47 Plaistow

00:50

57.2

0.95 5 03 Carter Road

01:14

67.5

1.34 5 34 Upton Park

01:33

73.8

1.92 6 00 6

02:07

61.4

2.17 6 20 East Ham

02:22

60.0

2.97 7 08 Barking West Jn

03:30

42.4

3.40 7 42 Barking 5 04:43 21.2

The final offering from John is a short snippet on the Fenchurch to Shoeburyness line, in Table 6, between West Ham and Barking. John’s comments are:- I wanted to get from the Underground to sample Class 172 units on the Gospel Oak route. Little did I anticipate a FT in doing so. If I had realised at the time I would have stayed with the driver but I had left the train before I checked the records.

platform shelter before further braking brought us down to the 30mph of the next turn out. With little time to accelerate again before Coleshill we did not quite manage a 60mph on this stretch. The standard schedule was recently extended by a minute between Birmingham and Coleshill. This was one of the few journeys I have made where the previous time of 11.5 minutes was sufficient. From Coleshill we managed 45mph before slowing for the recently increased speed of 35mph over Whitacre Junction. I thought this easing would have the

record for the section in the bag but the driver was now keeping exactly line speeds although we were still eight minutes late(two minutes gained since leaving New Street, plus two minutes recovery time). Perhaps he was now confident of being in Leicester before departure time. We clung to the 70mph line limit, but so did the driver of the previous record, and no further time was gained onto Nuneaton over the previous record. The new FT was a result of the Whitacre improvements only. Nuneaton was reached seven minutes behind schedule.


Table 7

Date s 4-Feb-12

Train 1126 Exeter-Waterloo

Loco 159008/159004

Load formation 4

Recorder D Ashley

Position/ GPS Snow 3/6 Y

miles M C Timing Point m s mph ave

0.00 168 41 PINHOE 0 00

1.82 166 55 Broad Clyst 2 08 80/87 51.3

5.51 163 00 Whimple 4 46 79 84.0

8.22 160 23 Talewater Rd 6 50 84 78.8

9.19 159 26 Feniton 7 34 77/88 78.8

11.45 157 05 Ashfords Rd 9 12 81 83.1

13.83 154 55 HONITON 11 31 61.5

. Table 8

Date 27/01/2013

Power Cars 43xxx/43198

Load 2+8

Train 15.57 Paddington to Plymouth

Recorder/Position J. Heaton 7/10

Miles M. Chns Timing Point Sch. Min. Sec. M.P.H. Avge

0.00 53 06 NEWBURY 0 0 00 2½L

3.04 56 09 Hamstead 3 28 88/98 52.6

5.40 58 38 Kintbury 5 01 86 91.5

8.46 61 43 Hungerford 7 15 70/69 82.3

13.35 66 34 Bedwyn 10½ 10 37 97/98 87.1

14.98 68 04 Crofton L.C. 11 49 65 81.3

17.04 70 09 Savernake 13 26 83/100 76.5

22.25 75 26 Pewsey 16 45 97/110 94.3

25.84 78 73 Woodborough 19 18 49 109/88 104.2

33.95 87 02 Lavington 23 36 100 101.8

35.00 88 06 Lavington xover 24½ 24 13 108/106 102.2

38.45 91 42 Edington [1] 26 09 108/109 107.1

41.53 94 48 Heywood Rd J. 29 27 58 96/100 104.4

43.91 96 79 Fairwood J. 30½ 29 26 98/sigs ac 23 97.7

47.21 114 40 Clink Rd. J. 33½ 33 16 29/36 51.7

48.26 115 44 Frome a. 35½ 35 16

0.00 115 44 d. 39 38 02

0.92 116 38 Blatchbridge Jct 2½ 2 35 35/90 21.4

5.24 120 78 East Somerset J. 6 6 04 87 74.4

6.91 122 52 Brewham 7 14 85 86.1

10.38 126 09 Bruton 9 38 94/100 86.6

13.81 129 44 CASTLE CARY 13 12 46 65.8

Table 9 continues on the West Country line with two consecutive FT’s recorded east of Plymouth, by Brian Milner. The lower line limits disguise the severity of the gradients, either on the ascent to Hemerdon or the descent into Totnes. Brian did not offer comment on the running. Finally Table 10 heads north to the Far North line to reach Georgemas Junction. A recent trip to Thurso provided my fastest Forsinard to Georgemas Junction time, recorded with the current class 158 traction. The run is compared with my fastest loco hauled time, from 1984

Table 7 has a short snippet on the South West line to Exeter recorded by David Ashley. The two Class 159 units ran up to the line limits and with a reasonable finish the new FT was achieved.

Table 8 has two consecutive sections between Newbury, Frome and Castle Cary with a Great Western HST unit, recorded by John Heaton. Newbury to Frome is an unusual section – occasioned this time by this Sunday service calling at Frome instead of Westbury – and the FT list does not include a time for the section, but does for the shorter Frome to Castle Cary section. John does not offer any comment on the quality of the running or the driver’s performance.


Table 9

Date W 03-Aug-11

Train 1500 Newquay-Paddington

Loco 43037/43088

Load 8,273,295/440

Recorder/pos B Milner 5/10

Miles M C Location HST8 m s mph aver.

0.00 245 75 PLYMOUTH 0.0 0 00.0 2.0 L

1.50 244 35 Lipson Jn 2.5 3 00.0 65 30.0

2.94 243 00 Tavistock Jn

4 19.5 65/ 60 65.1

3.94 242 00 Plympton

5 14.0 71/ 72 66.1

6.65 239 23 Hemerdon 8.5 7 48.5 56 63.2

8.94 237 00 Milepost

10 10.5 59 58.0

10.44 235 40 Ivybridge West

11 39.5 61 60.7

11.59 234 28 IVYBRIDGE 14.0 13 26.0 1.5 L 38.9

0.00 234 28 IVYBRIDGE 15.5 14 44.0 1.5 L

2.35 232 00 Wrangton

3 21.5 57/ 63 42.0

3.89 230 37 Aish Crossover 4.5 4 53.5 61/ 56 60.2

6.85 227 40 Rattery

7 57.5 58/ 57 58.0

8.85 225 40 Tigley

10 00.5 60/ 62 58.5

10.35 224 00 Milepost

11 29.5 60 60.7

11.54 222 65 TOTNES 13.0 13 37.0 2.0 L 33.5

.

Table 10

Run A B

Date S 22-Dec-84 Fr 21-Sep-12

Train: Inverness-Wick/Thurso 0600 1359

Loco 37114 158704

Load 9,299/310/415 2,74/77

Recorder MD Robertson MD Robertson 1/2 Mild Y

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

0.00 125 69 Forsinard d 0 00

0 00

0.54 126 40 Mp 1 35 46 20.5 1 16 50/57 25.6

2.14 128 00 Mp 3 55 31.5 41.1 2 58.5 49.5 56.2

3.14 129 00 Mp 5 35 41 36.0 4 07.5 57 52.2

3.89 129 60 County March S'mt 6 40 41 41.5 4 58.5 59.5/76 52.9

5.14 131 00 Mp 8 01 62 55.6 5 58.5 66* 75.0

6.14 132 00 Mp

6 52.5 71 66.7

7.29 133 20 MP 10 07 68 61.4 7 48.5 89 73.9

8.09 133 76 Altnabraec 10 55 44* 60.0 8 22 75* 86.0

9.14 135 00 Mp 12 10 47.5 50.4 9 13 67* 74.1

10.14 136 00 Mp

10 23 22tsr 51.4

11.14 137 00 Mp 14 09 73 60.5 11 51 68 40.9

12.64 138 40 Mp

13 05 74 73.0

14.14 140 00 Mp 16 40 66 71.5 14 20 72/75 72.0

15.89 141 60 Mp 18 13 69 67.7 15 40.5 71 78.3

17.16 143 02 Scotscalder 19 24 61 64.4 16 51 73 64.9

18.29 144 20 Mp 20 34 62 58.1 17 52.5 70 66.1

19.14 145 00 Mp 21 18 64 69.5 18 40 47/32* 64.4

19.86 145 58 Halkirk 22 01 62 60.3 19 51.5 34/49 36.3

21.40 147 21 Georgemas Jn a 24 37 22 24

compare the time in from Halkirk with the loco hauled service and the Sprinter. My thanks to all those who have contributed in the recent months, without which I could not compile this article. As usual I am happy to receive articles electronically or in paper format.

lower restriction. The level crossing at Halkirk, which was the location of a multiple fatality a number of years ago, requires a significant drop in speed before a final acceleration on the climb to Georgemas Junction station to arrive punctually. The brief tsr after Altnabraec cost around 40 seconds, which still does not quite let the net time reach a mile a minute timing, due to psr at Halkirk,

when 37114, which was in excellent mechanical condition, had a heavy nine coach load on the weekend before Christmas. Time had been steadily lost due to the volume of mail which had to sorted and unloaded at each station. The Wick driver took full advantage of the falling grades from County March Summit to achieve a fine time. The driver Class 158 unit had dawdled along between Kildonan and Forsinard to depart four and a half minutes late. The unit made much the faster start to County March Summit and took advantage of the brief, two miles, section of 90mph track, to reach 89mph before braking hard for the next


Log runs in Excel and text in Word are the simplest files to manipulate. By the time Milepost reaches you, I will have been back to Murrayfield for the Scotland vs Wales game, again via Aberdeen using the excellent Club 55 flat fare of £19, to anywhere in Scotland, with a free upgrade to First Class in both directions, for being a season ticket holder. Hopefully the running and the Rugby will be as good as for the Italy game.

The 4.49 pm EAST CROYDON TO LONDON BRIDGE

Don Benn During 1966, I worked in the Materials and Progressing Section at Southern Region HQ at Waterloo, my job entailing moving the stocks of spares for the remaining steam engines between depots to keep the engines working. The spares stocks for modern traction had been centralised under the CM&EE and therefore my application for promotion to the Accounts section of the CM&EE at Southern House, Croydon in December 1966 was a natural career progression. At that time I was still living at home in Shirley, near West Wickham, but rarely did I go straight home after work. Steam still clung on out of Waterloo until July 1967 and I was engaged to be married to a young lady who also worked on the railway and lived at Tunbridge Wells. My normal journey after work ended at 4.30 pm each day, at least until the end of steam, involved catching the 4.49 pm East Croydon to London Bridge, whence I could either catch one of the remaining steam hauled trains out of Waterloo, or meet the aforesaid young lady or a combination of both! I soon realised that the 4.49 pm Up was a very rare and interesting train, for it was a 12 LAV formation originating from Reigate and after arrival at London Bridge formed one of the last main line workings with LAVs, probably returning on the 5.26 pm to Reigate. Whilst my main interest was timing steam hauled trains I had always timed a selection of modern traction and retain the same balanced view on matters to this day. In theory a 60 mph speed limit applied in the suburban area out as far as South Croydon but scant regard was paid to this in those far-off pre spy-in-the-cab and HSE days. The line from East Croydon to London Bridge starts with the continuation of the 1 in 264 fall from the North Downs and then levels out before Norwood Junction. Then it is level or slightly downhill to the north end of Forest Hill station from where the line falls steeply at 1 in 100 until just before New Cross Gate station, a distance of 2.7 miles. With the right driver, this section produced all the excitement on the 4.49 pm. In those days there were no missing or misplaced mileposts, which unfortunately cannot be said today when there is barely one correctly placed post over the whole of this stretch, many having gone missing and/or been replaced with modern posts in the wrong places. The table shows a selection of my best runs and a remarkable degree of consistency is apparent. As can be seen, the train wasn’t always pure 12 LAV formation as quite often a 4 SUB was substituted and on one occasion a BIL plus HAL, but always it was 12 cars. Run 1 shows that the inclusion of a SUB did nothing to slow down progress; indeed the 80 mph maximum speed below Brockley was one of the highest I recorded on this train. It wasn’t a case of the LAVs pulling the SUB along either as I timed a lone SUB at this speed and location the following year. Run 2 was my fastest ever time from East Croydon to London Bridge and the performance of this 1933-built stock with 275 hp traditional traction motors and control gear stands well in the RPS database against far more modern Class 319s. The running was typical with a steady start and, no doubt, the controller held right round against the stop until what would today be regarded as very late braking for the curve through New Cross Gate and the speed restriction at Bricklayers Arms Junction. Run 2 also contains my highest speed on this stretch with a multiple unit of any sort, 82 mph, and a very fast finish quite impossible to emulate in today’s environment.


Run 3 also contained an 80 mph but signal checks too approaching the terminus, probably as we were late and out of course. Run 4 was also another 80 mph run, showing that it wasn’t just Driver James who had the monopoly of these. Incidentally, No. 2947 was the only LAV unit to suffer damage from bombing in the war. Run 5 was the run where the formation included a BIL and a HAL unit and

449 pm EAST CROYDON TO LONDON BRIDGE

SCHEDULE 15 MINS

Run No. 1 2 3

Date 6th January 1967 2nd February 1967 3rd February 1967

Units 4SUB 4289 +2 x 4 LAVS = 12 4LAV2953+2x4LAV=12 4LAV2923+2 x 4LAV=12 LAV

Driver James, Reigate James, Reigate James, Reigate

Timed by Don Benn Don Benn Don Benn

time mins secs speed time mins secs speed time mins secs speed

0.00 East Croydon 1½ L 00 00 5 L 00 00 16 L 00 00

0.50 Windmill Bridge Jct

00 59 42 00 55 40 00 59 41½

1.67 Norwood Junction

02 24 54 02 37 53½ 02 26 54

2.11 MP 8¼

02 59 55½ 03 08 54½ 02 58 55½

2.77 Anerley

03 36 58 03 51 56 03 38 57

3.17 Penge West

04 04 60 04 18 59 04 06 59

3.86 Sydenham

04 47 64 05 02 60½ 04 49 62½

4.73 Forest Hill

05 34 65½ 05 47 63 05 37 64

4.86 MP 5½

05 43 66½ 05 56 64½ 05 45 65½

5.62 Honor Oak Park

06 21 70 06 36 72 06 25 70

6.36 MP 4

06 57 75 07 11 76 07 02 75

6.66 Brockley

07 10 78 07 25 80 07 16 78

6.86 MP 3½

07 20 80 07 33 82 07 25 80

7.48 New Cross Gate

07 48 *66 07 58 *70 07 52 *72

8.71 Bricklayers Arms Jct

08 38 *50 08 46 *63/60 08 43 *51 sigs

9.21 Spa Road

09 57 55½/sigs 26* 09 47 61½ 10 15 52/sigs 16*

10.36 London Bridge 1½ E 12 14 1½ L 11 43 14 L 12 54

Net time

12 mins

11¾ mins

11¾ mins

Run No. 4 5 6

Date 1st March 1967 10th March 1967 18th April 1967

Units 4LAV 2947+2 X 4LAVs=12LAV 2 BIL 2620+2 HAL+ 2 X 4LAV=12

4LAV2926+2X4 LAV=12 LAV



0.00 East Croydon 2 L 00 00 1½ L 00 00 1½ L 00 00

0.50 Windmill Bridge Jct 01 05 41 00 58 41 00 55 41½

1.67 Norwood Junction 02 34 54 02 29 53 02 31 53

2.11 MP 8¼ 03 06 55 03 00 55 02 59 54½

2.77 Anerley 03 48 56 03 41 57 03 45 56

3.17 Penge West 04 14 59 04 08 58½ 04 13 59

3.86 Sydenham 04 58 62 04 43 62½ 04 56 61½

4.73 Forest Hill 05 45 63 05 37 63 05 45 63

4.86 MP 5½ 05 54 64½ 05 46 62 05 53 64

5.62 Honor Oak Park 06 34 72 06 26 66 06 33 70

6.36 MP 4 07 11 74½ 07 06 70 07 10 73

6.66 Brockley 07 24 78 07 20 73 07 24 75

6.86 MP 3½ 07 34 80 07 31 74½ 07 34 76

7.48 New Cross Gate 07 58 *61 07 59 67 08 06 *60

8.71 Bricklayers Arms Jct 08 53 *47 08 51 *48 08 59 *51

9.21 Spa Road 10 20 53/*30 sigs 10 06 50½ 10 07 56

10.36 London Bridge ½ E 12 36 1½ E 12 24 1½ E 11 59

Net time

12 mins

12½ mins

12 mins


Run No. 7 8 9

Date 19th April 1967 23rd May 1967 24th May 1967

Units 4 LAV 2927+ 4 SUB 4715+ 4 LAV 2928= 12

4LAV2939+2954+2941=12 4SUB4689+4LAV2923+2935=12

Driver James, Reigate James, Reigate



0.00 East Croydon 3½ L 00 00 1½ L 00 00 T 00 00

0.50 Windmill Bridge Jct 00 58 41½ 01 04 41½ 01 06 40½

1.67 Norwood Junction 02 24 54 02 31 53 02 34 53½

2.11 MP 8¼ 02 56 56 03 02 55½ 03 06 56

2.77 Anerley 03 36 58½ 03 43 58 03 45 58½

3.17 Penge West 04 02 61 04 09 60 04 13 61

3.86 Sydenham 04 44 63 04 52 63 04 53 64½

4.73 Forest Hill 05 31 64½ 05 38 64 05 40 65

4.86 MP 5½ 05 39 65 05 46 65½ 05 48 66

5.62 Honor Oak Park 06 18 71½ 06 25 70 06 28 70

6.36 MP 4 06 55 78 07 03 74 07 06 74

6.66 Brockley 07 08 *72 07 16 76 07 19 76

6.86 MP 3½ 07 21 *61 07 27 77½ 07 30 75

7.48 New Cross Gate 07 54 64 07 54 *66 07 59 *64

8.71 Bricklayers Arms Jct 08 48 *50 08 45 *55 08 50 *53½

9.21 Spa Road 10 01 53½ 09 48 60 09 59 56½/*9 sigs

10.36 London Bridge ½ L 11 54 1½ E 11 48

2½

E 12 23

Net time

11¾ mins

11¾ mins

11¾ mins

* brakes/speed restriction

was slightly below par for the course. Run 6 was a sub-12 minute run with no real fireworks but Run 7 gave me my fastest time from East Croydon topassing Brockley and also included a SUB in the formation. Run 8 was pure James on 12 LAV and yet another sub-12 minute run with another very fast finish. To round off, Run 9 with another SUB in the formation was just typical but with a maximum of ‘only’ 76 mph. In July 1967 steam out of Waterloo ended, I usually finished work later and I then soon married and moved to Ashford in Kent so ending this interesting and exciting spell of train timing. I hope that these runs show that the LAVS could produce some sparkling performances rather than just plodding around the Southern metals on semifast and stopping services as shown in an earlier article in Milepost.


And Now for Something Slightly Different D H Wilson

Note: All timings in these logs used a clockwork stopwatch accurate to 1/10th of a second, and all distances are rounded up/down to the nearest 0.05 of a mile.

A miscellany of journeys that get longer:

Table 1. Substitution the first.

Table 1

Date 01/02/1964

Train ??? To Moorgate

Locomotive D8232

Load 8,214/234

Miles Location Sched Mins Secs Speed

0.00 New Barnet 0 0 00

0.85 Oakleigh Park

1 57 41

2.70 New Southgate

3 59 62.5

4.20 Wood Green

5 29 62

5.10 Hornsey

6 27 58

5.75 Harringay

7 28 47

6.65 Finsbury Park 10 8 47 44

Table 2 Substitution and bustituion.

Table 2 Train As above

Date 13/09/1963 Locomotive A3 60106

Train 1650 KGX-NCL Load 12/409/4471 12, 409/447

The Tees Tyne Pullman Miles Location Sched Min Sec Speed

Locomotive D8048 0.00 Peterborough 0 0 00

Load D241+12/542/580t 3.30 Werrington Jct 6 6 58 55

Miles Location Sched Min Sec Speed 8.45 Tallington 12 52 62

0.00 Hitchin Pass 0 0 00 12.45 Essendine 14 16 21 69.5

5.20 Arlesley 4 45 66.5 15.80 Little Bytham 20 28 60/tsr 21

9.25 Biggleswade 8 26 68.5 20.85 Corby Glen 29 23 tsr 19/52

12.25 Sandy 9 19 11 Sigs 4m42s 23.80 Stoke Summit 27 32 50 52.5

19.85 St. Neots 28 35 Tsr 30/69 29.10 Grantham Pass 32 39 58 55.5

26.95 Huntingdon 22 35 07 72.5/64.5

31.60 Abbots Ripton 40 29 60/47

37.45 Holme 45 47 71

40.70 Yaxley

48 46 67

44.45 Peterborough 43 53 50 66

D241 failed in the Stevenage area and D8048 came from Hitchin to take the train on to Peterborough, where 60106 took the train north as least as far as York. By the time we reached Grantham we were so late that it was dark. On arrival at York my last Scarborough service was long gone, so I and the rest of the coast-bound passengers had our first experience of ‘bustitution’.

The only time I recorded a Class 15 on a suburban service, presumably substituting for a failed larger loco.


Table 3 Substition the Third

An early attempt at ecological fuel saving was the derating of several Class 111 units to half power, which made for some interesting journeys from Bradford Interchange up the 1 in 50 climb on a sharp curve up to New Pudsey. In 1984 Skipton retained sidings for overnight loco stabling so when the half power unit failed, No. 25256 was available to tow the set to Leeds running as the normal service.

Table 3

Date 11.2.1984 18.2.1984

Train 07.30 Skipton-Leeds 07.30 Skipton-Leeds

Unit 78957+78707 360h.p. 25256+78966+78710

Load 2/64/66t 2/64/66t

Miles Location Sched Min secs Speed Min Secs Speed

0.00 Bingley 0 0 00 0 00

2.95 Shipley 8 5 29 44/tsr31 5 49 58/tsr l7

0.00 Shipley 0 0 00 0 00

3.95 Apperley Junction 5 23 59.5 4 59 61

8.05 Kirkstall 9 10 67 8 50 65

10.85 Leeds 17 14 56 62/sigs34 14 59 58

Table 4 The mystery train.

What this train was and why a Hull K3 was working it, I have no idea. Leeds - Doncaster services were usually in the hands of either an A3, V2 or Bl, which is why I have included No. 60044 for comparison although it was working a Leeds - London service.

Table 4

Date 1961 x.1.1959

Locomotive K3 61951 A3 60044

Loco allocated to Hull Kings Cross

Load 11,345/370 Load 12/365/400 t

Miles Location Sched Min Secs Min Secs Speed

0.00 Wakefield Westgate 0 0 00 0 0 00

1.55 Sandal 3 33 40 3 13 45

3.95 Hare Park Junction 6 10 50

5.50 Nostell 8 46 45/36.5

6.50 Fitzwilliam 10 48 44 9 28 50

8.15 Hemsworth 12 48 54.5 10 55 69

11.25 South Elmsall 16 06 47/60 13 40 69

15.85 Carcroft 24 42 62/tsr 24 17 38 73

18.20 Bentley 27 27 04 63

19.85 Doncaster 31 29 34 22 33

Table 5A + 5B Along came the Deltics.

The ‘West Riding’ was the star turn calling only at Wakefield and Doncaster in steam days and arriving in the capital at around half past eleven. When the Deltics took over in September 1961 the Doncaster stop was omitted advancing the arrival time to eleven o’ clock, even with an increased load. I have chosen my best A1 log and compared it with my first Deltic run.


Table 5A Miles Location Sch M S Speed

Date 13.9.1960 40.60 Claypole 42 36 79

Train 07.50 Leeds-Kings Cross 50.50 Grantham 52 51 42 66.5

The West Riding 53.85 Great Ponton 55 01 62

Locomotive A1 60114 W.P.Allen 58.80 Corby Glen 58 41 82.5

Load 9/275/300t 63.70 Little Bytham 62 02 89

Miles Location Sch M S Speed 67.20 Essendine 65 64 18 96

0.00 Wakefield Westgate 0 0 00 71.10 Tallington 66 51 95

1.55 Sandal 2 43 41 79.60 Peterborough 80 76 54 86.5/15

5.50 Nostell 8 32 46/tsr 32 83.45 Yaxley 83 16 60

8.15 Hemsworth 12 01 58 86.60 Holme 86 24 66.5

11.25 South Elmsall 14 53 70 92.45 Abbots Ripton 91 44 66.5

15.85 Carcroft 18 21 82 97.10 Huntingdon 97 96 09 69

18.20 Bentley 25 21 22 62 104.30 St. Neots 102 43 64

19.85 Doncaster 29 25 12 111.85 Sandy 108 108 56 75

0.00 Doncaster 0 0 00 114.80 Biggleswade 111 24 74

4.65 Rossington 8 21 54 124.05 Hitchin 121 120 17 69

8.35 Bawtry 12 24 62 130.95 Knebworth 130 14 Sigs 47

12.00 Ranskill 15 50 Tsr 17/53 134.05 Welwyn North 132 52 72

17.35 Retford 19 21 44 56 138.30 Hatfield 138 137 13 75

24.00 Tuxford 28 45 60 143.25 Potters Bar 142 142 07 69

28.55 Crow Park 32 22 82 146.80 New Barnet 147 145 32 66

35.85 Newark 37 38 59 79 153.45 Finsbury Park 154 151 44 65

155.95 Kings Cross 160 157 13

Nett time 153 mins

. Table 5B Miles Location Sch Mins Secs Speed

Date 9.10.1961 73.70 Great Ponton 67 03 90

Train 07.50 Leeds-Kings Cross 78.65 Corby Glen 70 33 90

The West Riding 83.60 Little Bytham 73 50 94

Locomotive D 9007 Pinza 87.05 Essendine 77 76 11 87

Load 11/363/390t 93.95 Helpston 80 40 Tsr 20/63.5/19

Miles Location Sch Mins Secs Speed 99.50 Peterborough 89 89 03 75.5

0.00 Wakefield Westgate 0 0 00 103.05 Yaxley 93 24 Tsr 9/60

1.55 Sandal 2 23 58 106.50 Holme 101 45 87.5

8.15 Hemsworth 8 48 76/71 117.00 Huntingdon 106 110 01 Sigs27 secs/82

11.25 South Emsall 11 22 73.5 124.20 St. Neots 118 01 93

15.85 Carcroft 15 15 67.5/72 131.70 Sandy 119 122 57 94

18.20 Bentley 18 17 13 73 134.65 Biggleswade 124 50 94

19.85 Doncaster 20 20 56 Sigs 5 140.20 Three Counties 128 27 92

24.55 Rossington 26 46 Sigs 10/75 143.90 Hitchin 131 130 49 72

28.20 Bawtry 29 34 78.5 150.80 Knebworth 137 135 50 81/67/75

31.90 Ranskill 35 04 Tsr 16/69.5 158.15 Hatfield 143 141 39 74

37.25 Retford 38 38 02 83.5/60 163.10 Potters Bar 147 145 41 74.5

40.35 Gamston 41 54 74 166.35 New Barnet 148 37 64.5

48.40 Crow Park 47 50 82 170.85 Wood Green 152 34 64.5

55.75 Newark 53 53 55 Tsr 60/82/61 173.30 Finsbury Park 157 154 51 Sigs

66.15 Barkston South 60 59 89 175.75 Kings Cross 162 159 11

70.40 Grantham 64 64 14 82.5 Net time 151 mins

Table 6 Eventually the fast train.

In my penultimate year studying with the Open University, Summer School was held at Stirling to which, of course, I travelled by train. After a week talking about art, seeing my first


Table 6 Miles Location sch m s Speed

Date 23.8.1975 54.00 Mp 155

43 44 88

Train ? Glasgow-Euston 58.95 Madeley

46 40 103

locomotive 86224 67.00 Mp 142

51 28 106/96

Load 11/353/380t 70.15 Norton Bridge

53 33 86

75.45 Stafford

56 55 103/65

Miles Location Sch m s Speed 79.45 Milford

60 10 83

0.00 Carlisle 0 0 00 84.70 Rugeley

63 37 94.5

5.10 Mp 64 6 05 87.5/82 92.75 Lichfield

68 25 102

10.70 Calthwaite 9 39 97 99.00 Tamworth

76 01 Tsr 21/84

17.85 Penrith 14 14 13 100/76.5 102.50 Polesworth

78 11 102

23.10 Mp 46 17 56 95 106.70 Atherstone

80 56 103.5/72.5

26.10 Thrimby Grange 20 07 77 111.90 Nuneaton

84 46 100/Tsr 28

31.45 Shap Summit 23 58 88/78.5 119.00 Mp 90

89 54 105

37.15 Tebay 29 27 16 104 124.00 Mp 85

92 48 104

42.10 Mp 27 30 53 93/75.5 126.45 Rugby

95 07 53

50.00 Oxenholme 39 36 25 91/79/86 133.70 Welton

99 49 104

55.55 Milnthorpe 40 12 95/88 139.30 Weedon

103 05 108/72

63.00 Camforth 47 44 32 103 146.15 Blisworth

107 25 96

66.00 Hest Bank 46 26 100 149.10 Roade

109 28 94

69.10 Lancaster 51 48 30 95/77.5 156.60 Wolverton

113 41 108.5

74.85 Bay Horse 52 20 99 162.35 Bletchley

117 00 106

85.40 Barton 58 20 106 168.80 Leighton Buz

121 07 79.5

90.15 Preston 69 62 47 172.90 Cheddington

123 46 98

Net time 62m 45s 177.35 Tring

126 23 107/98

0.00 Preston 0 0 00 181.05 Berkhamstead

128 47 85/97

4.00 Leyland 4 18 89 191.55 Watford J

136 56 Tsr51/106

10.00 Mp 10 8 59 103 197.60 Harrow + W

140 19 108.5

15.15 Wigan N.W. 11 15 97/76.5 200.95 Wembley Cent

142 16 104

23.40 Winwick J. 16 59 96/73 203.50 Willesden J

143 50 99

26.85 Warrington B Q. 19 32 85 207.50 Mp 1.5

147 20 84

34.45 Weaver Jet. 24 40 103 209.00 Euston 164 151 30 Sigs

36.50 Acton Bridge 28 20 Tsr 20/67 Net time 144 mins 39.20 Hartford 30 07 98 43.40 Winsford 32 40 104.5 51.00 Crewe 39 35 101/19

live opera and generally having a good time, it was time to return home to Buckinghamshire. A DMU to Glasgow Queen Street and a short walk across the city took me to Glasgow Central from where I caught the Euston service. The train was heavily delayed to Motherwell as well as on to Carlisle so I did not time it. However the road was now clear all the way south as Table 6 shows, regaining 6¾ minutes to Preston, and an amazing further 12½ minutes to Euston.

Table 7 The Longest Day.

With retirement looming, a week’s All Line Rover enabled me to travel not only to Wick and Thurso but also over Cornish branches such as St. Ives, Falmouth and Newquay. However, on my last day I decided to go for maximum mileage, Table 7 is the result, not an all time record I’m sure but certainly a personal one.

Table 7 The Longest Day 21/22.6.2005

Traction Travelled/Timed Between Mileage Cumulative Mileage

90040 23.41 Glasgow-Euston via Birmingham International 407.30 407.30

390018 07.45 Euston-Preston 5 stops 209.00 616.30

390050 Preston-Euston 07.48 ex Glasgow 5 stops 209.00 825.30

43115+43112 14.00 Kings Cross-Newcastle 2 stops 268.60 1093.90

220013 17.20 Newcastle-Doncaster to Bristol 4 stops 112.75 1206.65

43039+43108 Doncaster-Skipton 18.03 ex Kings Cross 3 stops reverse at Leeds 56.05 1262.70

333014 21.18 Skipton-Bingley 4 stops 12.45 1275.15


.

PEAK POWER Bill Hemstock In 1975, air-conditioned rolling stock began to appear on the Midland, so on 28 June, I took the 16.03 from Nottingham to St. Pancras to see what effect the air-con had on the ‘Peaks’ tractive capabilities. I was rewarded with a performance that remains unprecedented in my records. No. 45104’s tractive performance was so outstanding that I suspect that the Sulzer 12LDA 28B power plant was developing more than its rated 2,500 hp. Throughout the run, accelerations and hill climbing were outstanding, and the following deserve specific comment for the Peak-plus-nine air-conditioned coach formation:

1. The acceleration from the 21 mph tsr over Trent Junction to 87 mph at Loughborough was exceptional - even with 70 mph over Trent Junction, a full 90 mph by Loughborough was unusual

2. 70 mph at Wigston North Junction. The locomotive had to be eased for approximately ½ mile to restrict speed to the 70 mph limit, hence the asterisk.

3. The acceleration from 49 mph through Market Harborough to 65 mph at Desborough. The 65 mph was not a balancing speed on the gradient before the train started to traverse the vertical curve here.

4. The climb from Houghton Conquest to MP 34 was very fast throughout; the 90 mph just south of Flitwick is unequalled in my own records – and that includes two ‘Peaks’ with only seven steam-heated coaches in tow.

5. Signal checks approaching London prevented a fast overall time, but the St. Pancras arrival was about five minutes early.

For contrast, is a log between Leicester and St. Pancras with No. 45144 and an identical trailing load. Power output appears normal, but a 21 minutes late start meant that the driving was full power/full speed/full brake throughout. As both trains here, for all working purposes, were driven to the specified speed limits throughout, it is interesting to use the fastest sectional times from these two runs to give a notional passing time at Hendon of 68m 49s (80.5 mph) – pretty good given the line and loco limit of 90 mph, the psr’s and gradients.

.


Date 28/06/1975 04/11/1976

Train 1603 Nottingham-St Pancras 1130 Leicester-St Pancras

Loco 45104 45144

Load formation 9,305/325/463 a/c 9,308/325/463

Recorder P Hemstock P Hemstock

Position/ GPS Warm, sunny little wind

miles M C Timing Point m s mph ave m s mph ave

0.00 NOTTINGHAM 0 00 T

3.31 123 20 Beeston 4 26 76/78 44.8

4.64 121 74 Attenborough 5 27 75 78.2

7.31 119 20 Trent J 8 49 21tsr 47.7

10.24 116 26 Kegworth 12 41 72 45.4

12.16 114 32 Hathern 14 13 81 75.3

15.00 111 45 Loughborough 16 14 87 84.4

17.62 108 75 Barrow 18 03 87 86.7

19.91 106 52 Sileby 19 36 88 88.5

22.56 104 00 Syston S J 21 22 90 90.0

24.81 101 60 Thurmaston 22 51 91 91.0

27.49 99 06 Leicester 26 52

40.0

0.00 99 06 Leicester 28 30

0 00 21L

3.19 95 71 Wigston S J 4 44 70* 40.4 5 01 65 38.1

7.29 91 63 Great Glen 8 01 84/82 74.9 8 37 79/78 68.3

10.14 88 75 Kibworth 10 04 /91 83.4 10 36 /92 86.2

12.76 86 25 East Langton 11 49 89 90.0 12 20 93 90.9

16.15 82 74 Market Harborough 14 47 49* 68.5 14 56 53* 78.2

18.64 80 35 Braybrook 17 24 60/65 57.0 17 39 57/61 54.9

20.99 78 07 Desborough 19 37 /91 63.6 19 59 /90 60.4

24.50 74 46 Glendon S J 21 57 85 90.3 22 19 90 90.3

27.08 72 00 Kettering 23 50 80* 82.0 24 08 80* 85.0

30.83 68 20 Finedon 26 27 90 86.0 26 50 90/92 83.3

34.01 65 05 Wellingborough 28 51 59* 79.7 29 03 64* 86.3

36.41 62 53 Irchester 30 50 78 72.6 31 05 72 70.8

39.33 59 60 59.75 33 13 72 73.3 33 40 66 67.6

42.41 56 53 Sharnbrook 35 24 92 84.8 35 57 91/93 81.1

46.08 53 00 Oakley 37 52 82*/67sig 89.1 38 22 88/92 90.9

49.24 49 67 Bedford 40 26 79/89 73.9 40 30 90 88.9

53.16 45 73 Houghton Conquest 43 12 88 85.1 43 06 91 90.6

57.33 41 60 Ampthill 46 05 85 86.6 45 59 83 86.6

58.88 40 16 Flitwick 47 10 89/90 85.8 47 04 87 85.8

61.83 37 20 Harlington 49 08 88 90.0 49 09 83 85.0

65.08 34 00 34 51 23 85 86.7 51 34 81 80.7

66.33 32 60 Leagrave 52 15 /90 86.5 52 28 86/90 83.3

68.83 30 20 Luton 54 01 75* 84.9 54 10 78* 88.2

71.83 27 20 Chiltern Green 56 14 88/91/87 81.2 56 25 86/88 80.0

74.44 24 51 Harpenden 58 01 89/91 87.9 58 11 90/91 88.7

79.20 19 70 St Albans 61 15 79*/89 88.4 61 25 76*/90 88.4

83.88 15 16 Radlett 64 59 47sigs 75.1 64 41 88 85.9

86.64 12 35 Elstree 67 53 69 57.2 66 36 85 86.5

89.73 9 28 Mill Hill 70 11 86 80.5 68 40 90 89.6

92.08 7 00 Hendon 71 58 72* 79.1 70 21 74*/77 83.8

93.96 5 09 Cricklewood 73 33 68*/35sig 71.5 71 50 74* 76.3

95.54 3 43 Finchley Rd 75 44 61 43.3 73 30 51sigs 56.7

97.55 1 42 Kentish Town 77 43 60* 60.9 75 32 57/61 59.4

78 28 sig

*

80 28 stop

27tsr

99.01 0 05 ST PANCRAS 83 21 15.6 79 07 24.5


From O.S. Nock’s Notebooks: 9.25am Crewe-Perth (1.45pm Carlisle-Carstairs) on Saturday 28 March 1953

Sandy Smeaton

In ‘60 years of West Coast Express Running’ O.S. Nock described a run with ‘Clan’ No. 72008 from Carlisle to Carstairs on the 09.25 Crewe-Carlisle loaded to 400 tons gross as poor and ‘one of the kind that gave the class their indifferent reputation’. However, Beattock bank was climbed unaided with a load of 400 tons gross, so was the run really that bad? Only an abbreviated log is given in ‘60 years....’, so all the details from Nock’s notebook on the RPS database are shown in the accompanying log. The following points should be noted: 1. In Ref. 1 the speed at Gretna Jn is given as 58½ mph. This speed is, in fact, the

maximum on the short level at the Esk Viaduct before the start of the 1 in 193 rise to

Gretna. The actual speed passing Gretna Jn was 49 mph

2. The regulator positions between Carlisle and Beattock were unfortunately not recorded.

It is safe to assume that it was full open from Beattock to the Summit

3. There are four sets of speed, cut-off and boiler pressure readings given between

Greskine and the Summit. It has been assumed that they were taken at Mileposts 46 to

49.

At the time of the run No. 72008 was only one year old having entered service in March 1952 and was therefore virtually a new engine. Nock noted that the engine was ‘very harsh and noisy riding; engine steady, but fierce metallic clangour all the way – horrible!’ The start from Carlisle was three minutes late and time was gradually lost throughout. 2½ minutes were lost on Beattock Bank against the 22 minutes allowed. Arrival at Carstairs was eight minutes late. The weather was foul throughout with almost continuous rain and wind on the exposed sections. Steam pressure never exceeded 200 psi at any stage of the run. On the climb from Quintinshill to MP22 pressure fell from 200 to 175 psi. On the easier section onward to Dinwoodie, when the engine was being eased, pressure did not recover until the Minor Summit before Wamphray. However, on Beattock Bank pressure remained steady at 200 psi until just before the Summit when it fell to 195 psi, despite the cut-off having been lengthened from 38% passing Beattock to 52% at MP48. It seems that when the engine was worked hard it would steam. At no point in the run did pressure fall to the extent of threatening a stop for a blow-up. Just how hard No. 72008 had to be worked can be seen from the cut-off figures. 30%-plus was needed until Castlemilk Summit was cleared and 26% on the easier section to Wamphray. Nock timed No. 72003 on the same train in July 1957 with a heavier load, 15 coaches, 448 tons tare and 475 gross. This engine produced a superior performance, but the driver stopped for a banker at Beattock due to the load, 98 tons over limit. The time to pass Lockerbie was 30m 55s, just under two minutes faster than No. 72008. Nock’s notes show that No.72003 only required to be worked at 25% to produce this time. The 1957 full load limits for a Class 6 between Carlisle and Carstairs were:


Section Full load (tons tare)

Carlisle - Beattock 455

Beattock - Summit (Non stop) 350

Summit to Glasgow Central 495

Driver Bryce on No. 72008 would have been within his rights to stop for a banker as the engine was overloaded, but he chose not to and managed alone, slowly but steadily to the Summit. Despite the heavy rain the engine did not slip, even when opened out to 52%. Had they stopped for a banker, the climb with a good Fairburn tank assisting would have taken at best 20 minutes, plus another two or three minutes for slowing and waiting for the banker to buffer up, a total of 22/23 minutes. As the actual climb took 24½ minutes only 1½ to 2½ minutes would have been saved. No. 72008 was clearly not in the best of fettle, nevertheless the Polmadie crew must have had a degree of confidence in the engine to tackle Beattock unaided with a load almost 30 tons over the limit and in such poor weather. Was Nock’s presence on the footplate all the encouragement the crew needed? Bryce and McKerracher were described ‘as a good pair’ by Nock and they certainly must have been to coerce No. 72008 along under such circumstances. It is hard to reach a different conclusion from Nock’s regarding No. 72008’s performance, but that the crew deserved the highest praise. P. Ransome-Wallis in ‘On engines in Britain and France’ (Ref. 2) described a run in 1955 with another Class 6, Jubilee, No. 45724 ‘Warspite’ on the 09.30 Manchester-Glasgow (he had been looking for a run with a ‘Clan’) which struggled badly, mainly due to bad coal, with a load of 11/363/390. No. 45723 took 34m 50s to pass Lockerbie with a minimum of 41 mph at Castlemilk, two minutes longer than No. 72008. A banker was taken at Beattock. No. 72008 fared better than this. In ‘British Railways Standard Steam Locomotives’, E.S. Cox describes an improvement made to the Clans’ steaming capability. When new they had 5¼” diameter blast pipes. However tests at Rugby with the Class 5, No. 73008, showed that this blast pipe size did not produce enough draught to match the boiler’s steam raising capability. Consequently the Class 5s and Clans were subsequently fitted with 5” blast pipes during 1953 and 1954 sharpening up the blast and improving their steaming. In addition to Nock’s good run with No. 72003 in 1957, Robin Nelson timed No. 72001 in August ’55 with 15/475/505 which passed Lockerbie in an excellent 31m 6s (‘British Railways in Action’ by Nock). Nock’s horrible ‘clangour’ experienced on No. 72008 was rectified after 1952 on the Britannias and Clans by substituting for the LNE drawgear between loco and tender the LMS type, which was more suited to two cylinder engines.


Date: Sat 28.3.53

Train: W27 09.25 Crewe - Perth

Loco: 72008 'Clan MacLeod', 6MT, 4-6-2

Load: 13 coaches/ 378 tons tare/ 400 tons gross

Crew: Driver/Fmn Bryce/McKerracher; Polmadie

Weather: Mostly raining

Recorder: O.S.Nock

M Ch LOCATION Sch Mn Sc Av

Spd Speeds Regulator Cut off

%

Boiler pressure

psi

0 00 CARLISLE 0 0 00 ~ ~

3L

0 60 Carlisle No.3 2 2 18 19.6 ~ 30/25 190

2 06 Kingmoor Box 4 22 38.5 ~ 27

4 07 Rockcliffe 6 58 46.4 52½ 195

6 05 Floriston 9 11 53.5 58½

8 47 Gretna Jn 11 11 54 55.8 49 32

4L

10 12 Quintinshill 13 54 46.9 45½ 33 200

13 01 Kirkpatrick 17 48 44.0 43 35

14 40 Minor Summit ~ ~ ~ 44½ Eased 32 190

16 59 Kirtlebridge 22 25 48.4 56 29

20 11 Ecclefechan 26 18 52.5 49 38 180

22 00 Summit ~ ~ ~ 45 Eased 175

22 54 Castlemilk 29 33 46.8 ~

25 67 LOCKERBIE 31 32 52 57.2 62 27

5L

28 58 Nethercleuch 35 40 61.9 63½ 26 175

31 61 Dinwoodie 38 35 62.5 60 26 180

33 40 Minor Summit ~ ~ ~ 58½ 26 200

34 41 Wamphray 41 24 58.6 63½

36 70 Murthat ~ ~ ~ 65 Wider

39 59 BEATTOCK 45 46 59 56.1 50 30

5L

42 20 Auchencastle Site 50 33 42.3 35 35 190

45 31 Greskine 57 20 27.8 22½ 47

46 00 MP ~ ~ ~ 20/20½ 48 200

47 00 " ~ ~ ~ 17½ 50 200

48 00 " ~ ~ ~ 19½ 52

49 00 " ~ ~ ~ 18 47 195

49 55 Summit 67 71 25 18.3 ~ Coasting 57

7½L

52 49 Elvanfoot 75 23 44.2 57/53½ ½ open 25 175

55 24 Crawford 78 12 57.2 61½ "

57 68 Abington 80 41 61.6 64½ "

60 32 Wandelmill 83 01 65.6 69 "

63 18 Lamington 85 23 71.6 75 " 200

66 67 SYMINGTON 83 88 41 65.7 59 200 8½L

68 40 THANKERTON 90 25 57.5 67/69½

70 03 Leggatfoot 91 50 65.1 64

73 49 CARSTAIRS 91 96 18 48.0 ~ 8L

Timing points in italics are assumed.

These two improvements would explain the difference in performance and riding qualities between No. 72008’s 1952 run and No. 72003’s in 1957. No. 72003 was described as being in superb mechanical condition in Nock’s ‘Main Lines across the Border’. In ‘Steam City Carlisle’ by Howard Routledge, a caption under a photograph of No. 72009 in Kingmoor workshop attributes the Clans’ relative popularity at Kingmoor to ‘A small un-official device lodged in the exhaust to aid steaming’. Has any ‘Milepost’ reader heard of ‘Jimmie’s’ being fitted to such modern engines as the Clans?


Lesser Lights of the London Midland. Andrew James During the steam era quite naturally the ‘crack trains’ received most attention from Messrs Allen and Nock. The former London Midland Region was no different in this respect and the MML with its strenuous XL limit bookings for Jubilees seemed to receive a gargantuan amount of attention from the timing cognoscenti, if the RPS archive is anything to go by. I guess that the amount of material in the archive is literally scratching the surface as far as what was actually recorded on the MML during the Post-War steam era. For many years now I have often wondered what else went on during the steam era on the more minor services of the former LMS network and also the work of the lower powered classes which seldom if ever featured in the racing pages of the Railway Magazine and contemporary Trains Illustrated and Railway World. Was it always soporifically pedestrian, or were matters a little more brisk than previously thought? I have often pondered this and was delighted to find partial answers to the question in the RPS archive. This article certainly can’t give a conclusive answer, but the author will endeavour to give a taste of what happened in those far-off days. I should point out that yours truly was only born in 1973 and this article concerns times long before I was on the scene, so if I do make any gaffes or anachronisms please forgive me. We commence on the former Northampton-Peterborough line. As I’m sure many RPS members will be aware, the section from Yarwell to Peterborough is now the preserved Nene Valley Railway. This is a very apt title as the former secondary line traversed the serpentine river on no less than 13 occasions over the 43 mile course to Peterborough. In many ways the line was very much the archetypal secondary service in the steam era north of the Thames, both in terms of speed profile and the service frequency. Overall average speed between the two points did not even reach 30 mph start-to-stop. Service frequency generally followed the trend of many secondary routes on the former LMR with only around half a dozen services in each direction. My Post-War LMR timetables show in fact only four trains between these two points with an additional Yarmouth/Lowestoft service on Summer Saturdays only. Like many secondary steam lines in the 1950s, the route boasted a wide variety of motive power, although, naturally, some types appeared more frequently than others. Staple power in the early to mid-fifties were 4Fs and 2Ps from Spital Bridge (Peterborough) along with Eastern Region types featuring the former graceful D16 4-4-0s and latterly B1s. Additionally, Northampton and Rugby sheds provided Class 5s with the various differing types of Class 4 tanks also appearing. The line did not boast any gradients of any real significance and generally followed the lie of the land along the valley floor, only the section between Thorpe and Oundle had gradients steeper than 1 in 200 in either direction. Table 1 takes us back to Coronation Day 1953. Our former President, P. Semmens, obviously decided to forgo any of the pre-planned festivities that were occurring in the country at the time. Much of the British populace of course congregated in their living rooms around finite, grainy screens and embraced the exciting, novel medium called ‘television’. This, perhaps, was the seminal moment in British broadcasting history.


A cursory glance at Table 1 would not entice you from the regal proceedings on the ‘box’, a Spital Bridge 4F providing a distinctly uninspiring performance. The overall line limit at the time was 60 mph, but there was a 50 mph limit east of Wellingborough to

Table 1.

Run 1

Date 2-6-1953

Train 5.10 PM Northampton Castle-Peterborough East

Loco 4F 44097

Load 3/70/75

Recorder P.Semmens

M C [sch] m s mph

65 68 Northampton Castle

0 00

65 53 Northampton No.1

0 56

0 16 Duston North Junction

0 00 Bridge Street Junction

4 29

4 52 Northampton Bridge Street [3] 3 56

4 52

8 54 Billing

8 26 38/47

11 47 Castle Ashby &Earls Barton [11] 12 34

11 47

0 00

15 46 Wellingborough London Rd [11] 8 30

15 46

0 00

20 00 Irthlingborough [8]] 8 18

20 00

0 00

22 59 Ringstead and Addington [6] 5 53

22 59

0 00 41/max

25 62 Thrapston Bridge Street [7] 6 10

25 62

0 00 37/max

28 30 Thorpe [6] 5 20

28 30

0 00 42/max

31 43 Barnwell [7] 6 46

31 43

0 00 43/max

34 03 Oundle [7] 4 48

34 03

0 00

38 14 Elton

7 08 43

39 54 Yarwell Junction

9 11

40 51 Wansford [12] 10 51

40 51

0 00

41 75 Castor

2 58

47 08 Fletton Road Junction

/42

100 16

100 02 Peterborough East [11] 12 03

marred the overall time to Castle Ashby which took 11m 17s. This was on the The Cobbler Railtour, which traversed the section between Northampton and Wellingborough, having made the connection at Blisworth, which was still open for freight traffic at this time. The railtour concerned has the distinction of been perhaps the most photographed and filmed train in Northamptonshire during the steam era. The Class 4Fs never seemed to have enjoyed the best of reputations and this run does little to challenge that. Other runs the author has seen behind members of the Class do show a certain competence at times, but performances behind them always seem to lack a certain ‘punch’.

Peterborough. However, old photographs of the line suggest that the actual alignment was a lot better, than the line limit suggested. I suspect there were many instances of this on the former BR network at the time, where due to a lack of any commercial imperative things went on at much the same pace they had always done. Given that the departure was six minutes late away from Northampton Castle Station, one would have expected at least a modicum of energy to be exerted, but this was sadly lacking on this occasion. It is perhaps salutary to remember when looking back to those far-off days, just how indifferent ‘operating’ was in the post-War steam era on many parts of the former BR Network. The run can only be classified as something of a ‘sedate-trundle’, although overall the schedule was just kept. The maximum speed of 47 mph was attained on gentle downgrades towards Castle Ashby and given the distance concerned, the acceleration bordered on ‘protracted agony’. The late J. Daykin did, however, experience a more sprightly run behind sister loco No. 44260 with 4/134 on 19 July 07 1964, which reached the lofty heights of 53 mph at Little Houghton, a tsr after Billing


The Ivatt Class 2 tanks on the other hand seemed to have won universal plaudits, all round although supporting evidence is still somewhat thin on the ground. The tanks on this route have been alleged to have run at very high speeds on the Wellingborough-Northampton section. I have heard rumours of 70-75 mph, behind these locos on the two coach push-pull set workings which traversed this section, but unfortunately no supporting evidence has come to hand. Theoretically, such feats are on the cards given the fact that these engines could develop around 800 ihp giving a potential power: weight ratio of 6.5-6.7 hp per ton. P. Semmens did, however, record this effort in Table 2 for posterity. The loco concerned just managed to reach the 60 mph mark on the only downgrade section of the line in this direction. The maximum reached perhaps reflected the upper speed range these engines were expected to attain on a daily if not exceptional basis.

Table 2.

Run 2

Date 31/05/1953

Train 9.28 pm Wellingborough Mid Rd-Northampton Castle

Loco 2MT 41219

Load 2/56/60

Recorder P.Semmens

M C [sch] m s mph

0 00 Wellingborough MR 0 00

1 00 Wellingborough London 3 20

15 46 Road

14 00 Mp 5 55 40

11 47 Castle Ashby & Earls Barton 9 08 50

10 00 Mp 10 57 54

8 54 Billing 12 26 53

7 00 Mp 14 15 60

4 52 Northampton Bridge St 17 02

4 29 Bridge Street Junction

0 00

0 16 Duston North Junction

0 56 Northampton No.1

65 53

65 58 Northampton Castle [22] 19 38

Table 3 takes us to the semi-fast services out of St Pancras. Unfortunately, due to pw and signal checks on the second run it is not possible to make a valid comparison between the Fowler tank and the Standard 4 4-6-0. However, the climb from Hendon to Elstree perhaps shows the relative strengths of the two designs, the Standard having the slightly better of it managing around 720 edhp. Reference to the BTC Bulletin on the class shows this to correspond to a steaming rate of around 13,500 IBS/hr. At a maximum steaming rate of 19,600 IBS/hr, a figure of approximately 1,100 edhp would be developed, indicating that No. 75043 was still someway within capacity. Most of the runs in the RPS archive behind these engines out of St Pancras show light loads and as a result the potential for maximum effort is heavily influenced by this factor. The Fowler Tank also did its job competently and kept time managing around 620 edhp on the section. The most famous Class 4 exploit out of this terminus featured No. 42685 with 10/243/280. The time of 22m 51s to St Albans speaks volumes for the run concerned which involved a blistering climb through Elstree surmounted at 59 mph, a figure which would do credit to a


‘Jubilee’ on the same load. Senior members of the RPS will not be surprised to learn that the late Harry Edwards was the driver, renowned for his exploits on the down ‘Palatine’ among many others. D. Landau has done a power output analysis of the run and the climb for comparison with the two other efforts previously mentioned from Hendon to Elstree shows an average figure of around 920 edhp, indicative of showing maximum tractive capacity.

Table 3.

Run 3 4

Date unknown 17/09/1955

Train 5.18 PM St Pancras-

Harpenden

Recorder R.Knight D.Twibell

Motive Power 4MT 42361 4MT 75043

Load 9/258/280 10/277/300

m s mph [sch] m s mph

M C

0 04 St Pancras 0 00

0 00

1 42 Kentish Town 3 54 34 3 55 32/sigs

3 73 West Hampstead 8 21 34 11 35

5 07 Cricklewood 10 03 41 13 45 38

6 79 Hendon 12 31 53 18 07 38

9 28 Mill Hill Broadway 15 26 48 21 53 41

12 35 Elstree & Borehamwood 19 18 44 26 08 44

15 16 Radlett 21 58 68 sig

stop

18 13 Napsbury 24 58 60 41 15 45

19 70 St Albans 27 15 [28] 44 19

Table 4 features what was, perhaps, the racetrack of the LMR during the Post-War era of steam. The well-known descent through the Chilterns between Luton and Bedford was well renowned for 90+ mph running behind Class 5s and Jubilees, with the later Scots and Britannias reaching the exclusive 100 mph club. Although not as impressive as their larger contemporaries, speeds in excess of 75 mph behind Class 4s were, I suspect, quite rare on the region.

Table 4.

Run 5. Run 6.

Date 17/09/1955 18/11/1952

Train 3.22 PM St Pancras-

Kettering

Recorder D.Twibell M.Ranier

Motive Power 4MT 75043 4MT 43018

Load 10/277/300 7/210/220

m s mph [sch] m s mph

M C

30 21 Luton 0 00

0 00

32 62 Leagrave 4 38 52 5 00 50

34 00 Mp

57

37 20 Harlington 8 51 75/77 9 32 71/73

40 16 Flitwick 11 10 77 12 02 67

41 60 Ampthill 12 28 69/75 13 23 69

43 62 Millbrook 14 09 75 14 59 77

47 18 Elstow 17 08 66 18 06 63

49 67 Bedford 21 20 [23] 22 10

Both the engines would probably have been governed more by their riding capabilities than sheer boiler power. Rudimentary estimates of power between Leagrave and Flitwick suggest


that only a moderate amount of power was required for the runs in question. Of course, the schedule was another prime factor. The speeds attained by the Standard and the Ivatt Mogul are about the highest I have seen in print behind the two respective classes. Further variety of class 4 power was of course provided by the remaining stud of ‘Compounds’ . Logs by M.Rainier show a similar trend of speed to the runs above. We now cross over to the WCML. The late, great C.J. Allen did make the odd reference to suburban running out of Euston behind tank engines, but tantalisingly did not often elucidate very much on the actual times and speeds reached.. Richard Knight did, thankfully, record what was going on. This effort in Table 5 behind a Standard Class 4 2-6-4 Tank certainly shows promise and although not in the ‘boiler busting’ category, represents good running. Between Willesden and Harrow edhp hovered around 780. This is not too dissimilar from what one would expect from their initial replacements, the Class 24s. Developing more than 1,000 ihp for a Class 4 was beginning to push things a bit.

Table 5.

Run 6

Date

Train 4.56 PM Euston-Tring

Motive Power 4MT/80067

Load 7/201/225

Recorder R.Knight [sch] m s mph

M C

0 04 Euston 0 00

Camden No.1 2 58

3 55 Queens Park 6 35 56

5 37 Willesden 8 38 35

8 03 Wembley 11 57 53

8 69 North Wembley 12 48 54

9 35 South Kenton 13 25 56

10 25 Kenton 14 20 66

11 30 Harrow and Wealdstone 15 23 64

12 45 Headstone Lane 16 35 64/sigs

13 24 Hatch End 17 34

14 57 Carpenders Park 19 21

15 77 Bushey 20 47 58/20/tsr

17 35 Watford Junction [23] 23 35

Finally we return to the MML and we head north to Kettering. Senior members of the RPS will recall that there were two routes from here to Nottingham. The first diverged at Glendon South Junction and took the route through Manton and Melton Mowbray, and the other, of course, goes via Leicester through the Trent Valley. The former route did have a very limited stopping service, but this is the first time I have actually come across a service of this nature which went via Leicester and can be considered something of a curiosity. However, from the performance point of view it is all too easy to forget that services of this nature ran largely unnoticed by the performance cognoscenti. The start from Kettering up to Glendon evoked memories of my own first attempt at this timing business. A clapped out Class 108 DMU Derby unit in June 1990 from Bletchley depot which reached about the same speed up the gradient concerned before diverging off to go to Corby, but I digress. Despite a very light load, there seems a certain briskness in No. 42181’s work and the maximum reached at Kilby Bridge would be certainly comparable with say a Jubilee or a Class 5 with eight or nine on. The acceleration from Kibworth summit down to the aforementioned place was quite impressive.


The continuation from Leicester on flatter grades is less impressive, but there was no need for any real exertion and one cannot be critical of the crew. The acceleration from Loughborough on the flat was the highlight on this section. Many of the stations featured here have long since passed into history of course, although the reopening certain stations north of Leicester is a very promising development to support the city’s burgeoning commuter belt.

Table 6. M C [sch] m s mph

Run Run.8

Date 20/12/1956 88 75

0 00

Train 9.00 Kettering- 89 55 Kibworth North 2 06 33

Nottingham Midland 91 43 Great Glen 4 03 64

Motive Power 4MT 42181 93 69 Kilby Bridge 6 02 74

Load 3/90 95 71 Wigston North Junction 7 58 45*

Recorder G.Aston 97 44 Knighton South Junction 10 12 sig stop

M C [sch] m s mph 97 77 Knighton North Junction 13 13

72 01 Kettering 0 00 99 07 Leicester Midland [14] 17 26

73 26 Iron & Coal Sidings 3 38 34 99 07

0 00

74 47 Glendon South Junction 5 44 37 99 65 Humberstone Road 2 05 35

75 46 Glendon & Rushton [9] 7 37 101 62 Thurmaston 4 33 56

75 46

0 00 103 64 Syston 6 38 59

78 07 Desborough and Rothwell [7] 5 04 39/max 106 48 Sileby 9 30 59

78 07

0 00 108 72 Barrow-on-Soar 11 45 62

78 39 Desborough North 1 26 25 111 47 Loughborough Midland [17] 14 56

80 35 Braybrook 3 48 65/70 111 47

0 00

82 74 Market Harborough [7] 6 19 114 32 Hathern 4 19 58/62

82 74

0 00 116 30 Kegworth [6] 6 55

84 35 Great Bowden 2 57 51/60 116 30

0 00

86 25 East Langton [7] 5 18 118 36 Ratcliff Junction 4 31 51

86 25

0 00 119 18 Trent Junction 5 36 sig stop

88 75 Kibworth [6] 4 55 43/max 120 02 Trent [7] 9 56

In conclusion, none of the runs are outstanding exploits behind the engines concerned, but there are not enough logs even in the RPS archive to come to any sound conclusions. The run behind the Standard Tank was probably the best. I suspect that some of the more senior members of the RPS do have some ‘hidden treasure’ in a dusty loft waiting to see the light of day and perhaps a modicum of analysis.


HOW DO THEY DO THAT? SWISS PRACTICE AND PERFORMANCE IN 2012 DAVID ADAMS I have been an annual visitor to Switzerland since 1996 and also back in the 60’s and 70’s, my passion for this country being aroused by the late C.J.Allen’s excellent publications on Swiss public transport. Of course the nature of the Swiss terrain does not generally lend itself to high speed running and curvature of the line often restricts the amount of power that can be applied. Therefore I have, until my most recent visit, never undertaken any serious Swiss train timing activity. The magnificent scenery on offer from the train window has captured my attention, as did a field of 6-7 Great White Egrets I noted a few minutes west of Yverdon-les-Bains on my way back to Geneva. So searching for unfamiliar timing points and kilometer posts comes well down my priority list on these visits. However, with many thanks to Ian Umpleby for his logs on the RPS database, I secured information on distances and timing points for a few selected lines for my purpose prior to my latest visit. Despite travelling extensively, this was not going to be a mass timing week and I confined my timing activity to the high speed line and other selected sections described below. Since 200 kph running has been permitted on the “Neubaustrecke” (NBS), the high speed line that runs 40 km from Rothrist, south of Olten, to Mattstetten, about 12 km short of Bern, a consequent speed up of services that run non-stop between Olten/Zofingen and Bern has taken place. European Train Control System (ETCS) cab signalling is used to good effect on the NBS allowing much reduced headways I arrived at Geneva Airport over an hour late as a result of flight delays due to bad weather over northern Europe. My destination was Erstfeld and I set off on the 18.01 which should have been a through train to Luzern. In the event the screens were showing Olten and I eventually discovered that due to track renewal at Aarburg South Junction (on a Monday) the train was terminating at Olten with a forward connection to Luzern which luckily was the train I had intended to join at the latter. I decided to time the train from Bern but the run into Olten was via the slower route from Rothrist through Aarburg-Oftringen. Due to the number of tunnels I soon found that GPS was not a reliable option, so have given average speeds in the logs that follow. Trains on the NBS are mainly hauled by class 460 locos, a few being formed by DB ICE units with the odd ETR 610 and ICN. Most ICN units only use the northern section taking a high speed turn out to/from Solothurn. Table I shows two runs over the NBS, one with a class 460 leading and the other with a 460 at each end of the train. Run 1, the 18.01 from Geneve Aeroport mentioned above, produced speeds just below the permitted maximum. Run 2 is timed to depart Bern at 17.02, 2 minutes behind the 17.00 to Luzern. I suspect that this held us back a little, witness the slower start and easing in the Langenthal Tunnel area after nearly 11 km at 200.5 kph. Despite the diagrammed double power available on this train there was nothing to suggest this had any significant impact on performance. 12 EC/IC/ICE/ICN/IR trains arrive in Zürich HB (platforms 3–18) from all directions in a 15 minute period between xx.48 & xx.02 where they interconnect. 5 of these use the same line from Killwangen-S in an 11 minute period and early running only results in signal checks. In this case signals checked us in the Aarau area, but the overall run was only a minute outside the advertised schedule. A similar situation occurs every 30 minutes. Table 2 shows a run from Olten to Zürich with a pair of tilting ICN units. Despite signals in the Rupperswil area and again soon after entering the Heitersberg Tunnel arrival in Zürich was a minute early. It was refreshing to see that most drivers ran into stations much faster


than the current norm in the U.K., making well judged smooth stops and that was the general trend all over the system with few exceptions, especially when lost time was being recovered. Even arrivals at termini were noticeably quicker than we are now used to in the U.K. without being reckless. On the other hand line limits were strictly observed and only exceeded by a very small margin in a couple of instances. It was also quite clear that adhering to the timetable was a priority due to the intensity of service but sustained maximum power outputs were not needed to keep time. Drivers had to pace themselves to limit signal checks.

TABLE 1

RUN 1 2

TRAIN 1801 GENEVE AERO 1549 BRIG

DATE MO 24.09.12 TU 25.09.12

LOCO 460037 460070+460076

LOAD 10/450/480 1/10 10/469/510 3/10

DISTANCE ACTUAL AV.SPD ACTUAL AV.SPEED

KM M . S . KPH M.S. KPH

0. 00 BERN 0 0 0.00 (1 LATE)

3. 10 Bern Wankdorf FB 3 04.5 60.5 3.16 56.9

5. 57 Grauholz Tunnel SP 4 35.5 97.7 4.42.5 102.8

11. 79 Grauholz Tunnel NP 7 09.5 145.4 7.15.5 146.4

19. 28 Emmequerung Tunnel SP 9 40.5 178.6 9.59 164.9

30. 11 Heriswil Tunnel SP 12 57.5 197.9 13.13.5 200.5

36. 60 Gishubel Tunnel WP 14 56.0 197.2 15.13 197.2

42. 88 Langenthal Tunnel WP 16 52.0 194.9 17.05 183.2

48. 17 Agerten Tunnel WP 18 32.0 190.0 18.47 186.7

53. 98 Murgenthal Tunnel NP 20 25.0 185.1 20.39 186.7

56. 37 Rothrist Sub 21 27.0 138.8 21.38 145.8

59. 57 Aarburg-O 23 41.5 85.7

63. 38 OLTEN * 26 .46 * 74.3

58. 18 Born Tunnel SP 22.27.5 131.6

62. 23 OLTEN 24.36.5 113.0

65. 87 Dulliken 26.59.5 91.6

68. 58 Daniken 28.35.5 101.6

Sigs.#

75. 74 AARAU 33. 01 97.1

79. 16 KP 38 35. 08 96.9

81. 50 Rupperswil 36.16.5 123.0

85. 21 LENZBURG 38.03 124.4

89. 46 Othmarsingen 40.05 125.4

95. 16 Heitersberg Tunnel WP 42.37 135.0

101. 07 Killwangen-S 46.02.5 103.5

106. 23 Dietikon 48.35.5 121.4

113. 00 Zurich Altstetten 51.58.5 120.5

115. 25 Zurich Harbrucke OB 53.27.5 91.0

116. 59 ZURICH HB 56.45 24..4

(2 LATE)

* TERMINATED DUE TO TRACK RENEWAL WORK AT # FOLLOWS 2 MINS BEHIND 15.45

AARBURG STH JNC.- NORMAL DESTINATION LUZERN LAUSANNE ICN, AARAU DEP 1730

Table 3 sets out a run in the reverse direction on the 09.32 from Zürich which was to time despite a slowing between Olten and Rothrist where we caught up a preceding train. Later reference to a timetable revealed that this train was the 09.31 from Basel to Interlaken Ost, due away from Olten at 09.59 and arriving in Bern just one minute before us at 10.27. I suspect that the working time is 10.26½. We passed Olten at 10.00½, reducing speed as we did so. Speed was down to 30 kph before Rothrist but once the 09.31 Basel was clear we accelerated like a rocket from Rothrist on the down grade to Murgenthal Tunnel. No hanging back with power notches in hand to conserve energy consumption here. Getting back


TABLE 2

TRAIN 15.45 LAUSANNE

DATE SA 28.09.12

UNIT 500033/500004

LOAD E/F POS. 14/710/750 4/14

DISTANCE ACT AVGE

KM M S KPH

0.00 OLTEN 0.00 (RT)

3.64 Dulliken 2.34 85.1

6.35 Däniken 3.51½ 125.9

13.51 AARAU 7.30 118.0

0.00 0.00

3.42 KP 38 2.00 102.6

Sigs.

5.76 Rupperswil 2.53 91.0

9.47 LENZBURG 4.30 137.7

13.72 Othmarsingen 6.30 127.5

19.42 Heitersberg Tunnel WP 9.02 135.0

Sigs.†

25.33 Killwangen-S 13.58 71.9

30.49 Dietikon 16.17 133.6

TSR

37.26 Zürich Altstetten 20.15½ 102.2

39.51 Zürich Harbrücke OB 21.42½ 93.1

40.85 ZÜRICH HB 25.02 24.2

(1 EARLY)

† FOLLOWS 2 MINS BEHIND

1636 BERN VIA BRUGG AG

Two runs from Luzern in table 4 make interesting comparisons both between themselves and the NBS section in table 3. The 09.00 Luzern follows the 09.02 from Zürich HB at Rothrist arriving in Bern just two minutes behind it. Hence the signal checks approaching Rothrist while we awaited its passage. Probably the best run will be on the first train in a flight but even then a train via Burgdorf is only 4 minutes in front when it joins the route at the end of the NBS near Mattstetten.

TABLE 3. DIST M S KPH

TRAIN 09.32 ZÜRICH 50.72 Dullikon 25.56 108.4

DATE 41184

Sigs.

LOCO 460042 (propelling) 54.36 OLTEN 28.31 84.5

LOAD E/F POS 10,469/495 9/10

Sigs.

DISTANCE ACT 57.60 Born Tunnel NP 31.34 63.7

M S KPH

Sigs.

0.00 ZÜRICH HB 0.00 RT 59.82 Rothrist Sub 35.07 37.5

1.34 Zürich Hardbrücke 2.34 31.3 62.61 Murgenthal Tunnel NP 36.12½ 153.3

3.59 Zürich Altstetten 4.00 94.2 67.36 Murgenthal Tunnel SP 37.49 177.2

10.36 Dietikon 7.19 122.5 72.60 Langenthal Tunnel EP 39.26 190.8

15.52 Killwangen-S 9.35½ 136.1 79.99 Gishubel Tunnel WP 41.46½ 189.4

21.43 Heitersberg Tnl WP 12.08½ 139 85.08 Heriswil Tunnel NP 43.20½ 194.9

27.13 Othmarsingen 14.40 145 95.67 Emmequerung Tunnel NP 46.27 204.4

31.38 LENZBURG 16.52 115.9 97.30 Emmequerung Tunnel SP 46.57 196

35.09 Rupperswil 18.36 128.4 104.80 Grauholz Tunnel NP 49.23 184.9

40.85 AARAU 21.05½ 141.5 111.02 Grauholz Tunnel SP 51.59½ 143

48.01 Dänikon 24.26 128.6 113.49 Bern Wankdorf 53.14½ 118.6

116.59 BERN 56.19 60.5

RT

quickly to its timetabled slot to maintain system wide punctuality was quite rightly the priority, unlike the current short sighted trend in the U.K. which fails to account for energy wastage caused by out of course stops to many other services by a couple of minutes late running. We were no doubt soon on its tail, speed being held around 190 kph before a short burst at 204 kph. What is even more remarkable is the fact that the 09.31 Basel is scheduled to depart Olten just one minute after the 09.06 Zürich – Bern via Brugg AG departs, due in Bern at 10.25. Three trains arriving at Bern off the same line in 3 minutes seems a recipe for poor timekeeping but despite this very close timetabling we arrived in Bern just 14 seconds late without any adverse signals slowing our arrival there. This demonstrates the close headways achieved with ETCS cab signalling over the NBS compared to those attainable with conventional lineside signalling.


Table 5 shows a non-stop run from Luzern to Olten with an Re4/4¹¹. It beat both class 460 runs in table 4 to Nottwil despite 460026 making a faster start from Luzern. I suspect that the Re4/4¹¹ driver was trying to offset the time that would be lost by the TSR at Aarburg South Junction.

TABLE 4.

RUN 1 2

TRAIN 0900 LUZERN 0900 LUZERN

DATE 28/09/2012 29/09/2012

LOCO 460026 460004 Propelling

LOAD E/F POS 7,317/330 1/7 7,315/350 6/7

DIST ACT AVGE ACT AVGE

KM M S KPH M S KPH

0.00 LUZERN 0.00 (RT) 0.00 (½ LATE)

Sigs.

2.12 Gütsch UB 2.47½ 45.6 3.26 37.0

5.75 Emmenbrücke 4.48 108.4 5.31 104.5

11.35 Rothenburg 8.27½ 91.8 9.11 91.6

16.91 Sempach-N 11.51 98.4 12.26 101.6

22.12 Nottwil 14.18 127.6 14.48 132.1

26.86 SURSEE 16.52 110.8 17.13 117.7

0.00 0.00 (1 LATE)

2.23 St Erhard-K 1.51½ 72.0 2.05 64.2

6.50 Wauwil 3.58½ 121.0 4.00 133.7

10.30 Nebikon 6.06½ 106.9 6.05½ 109.0

16.11 Reiden 8.46 131.3 8.50 127.1

21.61 ZOFINGEN 11.36 116.5 11.39 117.2

0.00 0.00 (RT) 0.00 (½ LATE)

3.46 Aarburg S Jnc. 3.04½ 67.5 3.16 63.6

Sigs. Sigs.

6.52 Rothrist Sub 5.56 64.3 6.24 58.6

8.91 Murgenthal Tunnel NP 7.24 97.8 7.30 130.7

13.66 Murgenthal Tunnel SP 9.11½ 159.1 9.08½ 173.6

18.90 Langenthal Tunnel EP 10.51½ 188.6 10.48 189.6

26.29 Gishubel Tunnel WP 13.12½ 188.7 13.14 182.2

31.38 Heriswil Tunnel NP 14.46½ 194.9 14.52½ 186.0

41.97 Emmequerung Tunnel NP 17.56 201.2 17.59½ 203.9

51.10 Grauholz Tunnel NP 20.56 182.6 21.03 179.1

57.32 Grauholz Tunnel SP 23.28½ 146.8 23.39½ 143.1

59.79 Bern Wankdorf 24.41½ 121.8 25.03½ 105.9

62.89 BERN 27.48 59.8 28.14 58.6

( RT) (1 LATE)

Turning now to the section between Luzern and Arth Goldau via Rotkreuz, table 6 shows two southbound runs. This route has a faster section than many, namely between Ebikon and Gisikon-Root where an average of 154.2 kph was recorded on run 3 in table 7 The superior acceleration of the ICN is evident at Ebikon but a signal stop approaching Rotkreuz on run 1 spoilt the comparison. The maximum permitted speed for an Re4/4¹¹ is 140 kph and for a class 460, 200 kph, which of course is only applicable on the NBS at present. 160 kph appears to be the maximum line speed on conventional lines, but only in a few locations. The three runs in table 7, all with class 460’s, show the effect of tight timetabling as signals checked the first two runs as early as Buchrain. The third run ran over the southbound line from Arth Goldau to Immensee and did not see adverse signals until Ebikon. The 08.21 Luzern – Baar Flirt unit has to clear the single line section west of Ebikon alongside Rotsee


before the 07.47 from Baar to Luzern, due in 4 minutes ahead of us, can proceed. Nevertheless all three 460 runs arrived just ahead of schedule.

TABLE 5 DIST ACT AV SPD

TRAIN 0606 BELLINZONA KM M S KPH

DATE 30/09/2012 26.86 SURSEE 16.19½ 131.8

LOCO 11181 29.09 St Erhard-K 17.29 115.5

LOAD E/F POS 7,315/330 6/7 33.36 Wauwil 19.22½ 135.4

DIST ACT AV SPD 37.16 Nebikon 21.29 108.1

KM M S KPH 42.97 Reiden 24.07 132.4

0.00 LUZERN 0.00 (½ LATE) 48.48 ZOFINGEN 26.41½ 128.4

2.12 Gütsch UB 3.08½ 40.5

TSR

5.75 Emmenbrücke 5.08½ 108.9 51.94 Aarburg S Jnc. 29.02 88.7

11.35 Rothenburg 8.34 98.1 52.93 Aarburg-O 30.02 59.4

16.91 Sempach-N 11.46½ 104.0 56.74 OLTEN 34.26 52.0

22.12 Nottwil 14.10 130.7

.

TABLE 6

RUN 1 2

TRAIN 2004 BASEL 1704 BASEL

DATE 24/09/2012 30/09/2012

LOCO/UNIT 11157 500017

LOAD E/F POS 8,362/375 5/8 7, 355/375 4/7

DIST ACTUAL AV SPD ACTUAL AV SPD

KM M S KPH M S KPH

0 LUZERN 0.00 (1 LATE) 0 0 (RT)

2.12 Gütsch UB 3.01½ 42 2.42 47.1

3.59 Friedenthal Tunnel WP 4.10 77.3 3.48 80.2

8.47 Ebikon 7.24 90.6 6.50½ 96.3

9.99 Buchrain 8.08½ 123 7.30½ 136.8

11.8 Root D4 8.57 134.3 8.17 140.1

14.3 Gisikon-R 9.59½ 141.7 9.19 142.8

12.15 Sig.

13.30 Stop

18.1 ROTKREUZ 15.08 11.15½ 118

21.7 KP 103 13.33½ 94.2

Sigs.

25.9 Immensee 20.40½ 84.7 16.44½ 79.4

32.3 Rindefluh Tunnel NP 25.28 80.5 21.52 75.3

34.5 ARTH GOLDAU 27.31 (2½ LATE) 24.5 (1 EARLY)

. Finally some examples of performance on the Gotthard north ramp between Erstfeld and Göschenen are shown in tables 8 & 9. The gradient rises mostly at 1 in 38 which starts just off the platform end at Erstfeld and the line rises 734 meters in 28.96 km, an average gradient if 1 in 39.5. It levels or eases briefly through three former stations, Amsteg-Silenen, Gurtnellen and Wassen and an easing to stay within the line limit can be felt at these points on most southbound runs. Re4/4¹¹’s still dominate on the weekday InterRegio services to Locarno with a few diagrammed for class 460’s. The latter tend to be more in evidence at weekends. The trains serving Lugano and stations south towards Milan produce ICN units as far as Chiasso and ETR 470 units on those which cross the border into Italy. The exception at the time of my visit was one off pattern EC train each way formed of a dual voltage SBB class 484 loco and SBB stock due to the very limited availability of the unreliable ETR 470’s.


TABLE 7.

RUN 1 2 3

TRAIN 0606 BELLINZONA

DATE 28/09/2012 29/09/2012 30/09/2012

LOCO 460078 460095 460033

LOAD E/F POS 8,362/370 3/8 9,407/415 4/9 7,317/325 2/7

DIST ACT AVGE ACT AVGE ACT AVGE

KM M S KPH M S KPH M S KPH

0.00 ARTH GOLDAU 0.00 (RT) 0.00 (RT) 0.00 (RT)

DOWN LINE

2.17 Rindefluh Tnl NP 2.09 60.6 2.24 54.2 2.11 59.6

UP LINE

8.60 Immensee 7.08½ 77.3 7.22½ 77.5 7.02½ 79.4

11.81 KP 105 8.44½ 120.3 8.57 121.0 8.34 126.3

16.42 ROTKREUZ 12.28½ 74.1 12.42½ 73.6 12.18 74.1

20.24 Gisikon-R 14.34½ 109.1 14.48½ 109.1 14.27½ 106.2

Sigs. Sigs.

24.51 Buchrain 16.40 122.5 16.52 124.5 16.23 154.2

Sigs.

26.03 Ebikon 17.33½ 102.2 18.02½ 77.6 17.16½ 102.2

30.91 Friedenthal T.WP 21.11½ 80.6 21.36½ 82.1 20.36½ 87.8

Sigs.

32.38 Gütsch UB 22.23 74.0 22.53 69.2 22.51½ 39.2

34.50 LUZERN 25.45 37.8 26.06 39.5 26.02 40.1

(1 EARLY) (½ EARLY) (1 EARLY)

Southbound all three runs ran at just below the 80 kph line speed and all bettered the 25 minute schedule by a small margin. Northbound the 460 was trying to regain lost time and ran a little closer to the limit making a smart run into Erstfeld. 11134 was checked approaching Erstfeld as the up through platform was occupied by a freight and the turnout into the platform loop is not conducive to a fast run in. Speed was kept in check on the steep descent by the use of regenerative braking on the 460 and dynamic braking on the Re4/4¹¹. I am no technical expert but I understand that both forms of braking use the traction motors but only regenerative braking returns power to the overheads. I have noticed some drivers in the past using the dynamic brake to come almost to a halt at stations before applying the conventional air brake.

TABLE 8

RUN 1 2 3

TRAIN 0609 ZURICH 0609 ZURICH 0604 BASEL

DATE 25/09/2012 26/09/2012 01/10/2012

LOCO 11223 11157 11214

LOAD E/F POS 7,317/325 6/7 7,317/325 6/7 7,317/325 6/7

DIST ACTUAL AVGE ACTUAL AVGE ACTUAL AVGE

KM m s kph m s kph m s kph

0.00 ERSTFELD 0.00 (1 LATE) 0.00 (1½ LATE) 0.00 ( 2 LATE)

4.98 Amsteg Silenen 4.37 64.7 4.31 66.2 4.35½ 65.1

8.39 Intschi 7.22 74.4 7.11½ 76.5 7.15 76.5

12.83 Gurtnellen 10.51½ 76.3 10.37½ 77.6 10.40½ 77.8

21.13 Wassen 17.32 74.6 17.09½ 76.2 17.09½ 76.8

25.06 Eggwald X/Over 20.32 78.6 20.08 79.3 20.10 78.4

28.96 GÖSCHENEN 24.00 67.5 23.31 69.2 23.34 68.8

(RT) (RT) (½ LATE)


.

TABLE 9

RUN 1 2

TRAIN 1645 LOCARNO 1645 LOCARNO

DATE 28/09/2012 01/10/2012

LOCO 460033 11134

LOAD E/F POS 9,407/415 4/9 8,362/370 3/8

DIST ACTUAL AVGE ACTUAL AVGE

KM M S KPH M S KPH

0.00 GÖSCHENEN 0.00 (9 LATE) 0.00 (3½ LATE)

3.90 Eggwald X/Over 3.16½ 71.5 3.34 65.6

7.83 Wassen 6.14½ 79.5 6.35½ 78.0

16.13 Gurtnellen 12.35½ 78.5 13.12 75.4

20.57 Intschi 16.00 78.2 16.38½ 77.4

23.98 Amsteg-S 18.37½ 77.9 19.14½ 78.7

Sigs.

28.96 ERSTFELD 22.48 71.6 23.59 63.0

(8 LATE) {PLAT 4 – 4 LATE)

One thing became quite clear, although there is a general 7% slack in the schedules to allow some time recovery there are no huge chunks of recovery/charter time approaching a train’s final destination. The Swiss punctuality targets are indeed set at very high levels and the requirement for passenger services is that 75% of all trains should arrive no later than 59 seconds late and 95% no more than 3 minutes 59 seconds late. These requirements not only concern arrivals at final destination but also times at key points across the network. Station dwell times vary and at least 2 minutes can be expected at busier intermediate stations. Overall timekeeping was generally, as usual, very good with many right time and one minute late arrivals at the point where I alighted from a train. A few trains exceeded this by a small margin, 2-3 minutes being experienced occasionally, a few others were even later. Almost inevitably the one ETR 470 I failed to avoid ran 15 minutes late and it is the cross border International services that pose the biggest threat to Swiss punctuality. It is therefore something of a myth that Swiss trains run with the clockwork precision for which they are acclaimed but they certainly come much nearer to it than any other system I have experienced, especially one running such a highly intensive and integrated timetable. The next major timetable change will be December 2016 when the new Gotthard base tunnel should become fully operational. A recent order for another batch of ETR 610 units to work through the new tunnel will surely be the death knell for loco hauled passenger services on the Gotthard as well as many passenger sector Re4/4¹¹’s. By that time only refurbished Re4/4¹¹’s top n tailing former class 450 double deck stock on Zürich commuter services are likely to remain in the passenger sector fleet. The following highly recommended link gives an interesting insight into operational practices between Killwangen-S and Zürich HB. In the U.K. for cars read wagons! http://railweb.ch/funnel/on_time/rush.htm

http://railweb.ch/funnel/on_time/rush.htm


LETTERS

Dear Editor, Having advised fellow lazy or forgetful RPS members that the set number was shown in a routine Cross Country WiFi connection, I thought I had better warn them about a pitfall I have just discovered. Do not rely on a Virgin WiFi connection to tell you how many coaches there are on your Pendolino because it seems that the WiFi on Pendolinos still retains the Class 390/0 9-car numbering systems on Class 390/1 11 car trains. Perhaps the system might have caught up by publication of the next Milepost though. John Heaton – Dawlish January 2013

Date S 23-May-1953

Train 3.05pm Bournemouth-Waterloo

Loco V2 2-6-2 60908

Load formation 12 Southern inc RK + van 432t

Recorder N Proudlock

miles Timing Point Sch. m s mph ave

0.00 BASINGSTOKE 0 00 0.5L

5.55 Hook 6 47 61/63 49.1

7.95 Winchfield 8 57 67 66.5

11.25 Fleet 11 47 73/77 69.9

14.54 Farnborough 14 20 77 77.4

15.56 Sturt Lane 15 10 76 73.4

16.76 31

72

19.78 Brookwood 18 25 81 77.9

23.44 WOKING 26 22 25 3E 54.9

Yours Noel Proudlock

NEWS APT logs: another postscript – Alan Varley Another APT log has come to light. In fact this is one that was already in the RPS database but that I unfortunately overlooked as it was indexed by unit number rather than power car number. It was timed by Bernard Harrison and submitted to the database by Noel Proudlock – my apologies to all concerned for having missed this run in my original search. This was the return working after the up run timed by David Adams on 21 March 1984. It is an almost unique example of a punctual APT run and it goes into the records as the fastest Euston-Stafford start-stop time, and the second fastest from Crewe to Preston – see the accompanying log. It was a steady rather than a spectacular performance, with the slowing through Willesden that affected all APT runs at this time, a severe TSR after Leighton and a check through Rugby. The approach to Stafford was slow – probably slightly checked too. Similarly there was almost certainly a check into Crewe after the severe TSR at Madeley. On to Preston the run seems to have been unchecked, apart perhaps from a slight slowing through Winsford, but the speeds were not as exuberant as on runs 7 and 11 of my APT catalogue. This was perhaps a deliberate choice on the driver’s part as the train was about 5 early into Preston. A worthwhile addition to our series of APT runs, as an example of what everyday running on

Dear David Don Benn’s most illuminating experiences between Basingstoke and Woking made me think readers might be interested to see what a V2 2-6-2 could do in 1953 when the Southern Pacifics were temporarily withdrawn following an axle problem. I was impressed at the time because I had not personally experienced a V2 to do anything like this – and it positively gleamed!


the WCML might already have been like 25 years ago if the APT project had been taken to a successful conclusion. Net times are not easy to calculate, but allowing 3 minutes for the Leighton TSR and then very approximately 1 each for Willesden, Rugby (very conservative – but it is not clear at what speed an APT was supposed to be able to go through Rugby) and the Stafford approach the net time to Stafford would be about 74 minutes – well up to Pendolino standards.

Date W 21-3-84 miles M C Timing Point m s mph ave

Train 1630 Euston-Preston 97.02 97 04 Nuneaton 58 07 120/125 124.8

Loco 49006/3 102.27 102 24 Atherstone 60 44 118 120.4

Load formation 8+2 106.47 106 40 Polesworth 62 52 128 118.1

Recorder B Harrison 110.03 110 05 Tamworth 64 44 109 114.5

miles M C Timing Point m s mph ave 116.22 116 20 Lichfield 67 54 125 117.2

0.00 0 04 EUSTON 0 00 /83 124.25 124 22 Rugeley 71 47 120 124.0

5.34 5 31 Willesden 7 06 60 45.1 127.03 127 05 Colwich 73 23 105 104.5

8.02 8 05 Wembley Cen 8 49 112 93.5 133.50 133 42 Stafford 79 51

60.0

11.33 11 30 Harrow & W 10 29 128 119.3 0.00 133 42 Stafford 81 12

15.95 16 00 Bushey 12 44 120 123.3 3.43 136 68 Gt Bridgeford 3 36 /128 57.2

17.39 17 35 Watford J 13 24

129.4 9.48 143 00 MP 6 47

114.0

20.89 20 75 Kings Langley 15 14 116 114.5 13.48 147 00 MP 8 54 106 113.2

24.44 24 39 Hemel Hempstead 16 57 127 124.1 16.65 150 14 Madeley 12 57 20tsr 47.0

31.65 31 56 Tring 20 30 123 121.9 19.70 153 18 Betley Rd 15 30 122 71.8

36.07 36 09 Cheddington 22 39 125 123.1 24.54 158 05 Crewe 21 15

50.5

40.13 40 14 Leighton Buzzard 25 09 125/20tsr 97.5 0.00 158 05 Crewe 23 32

46.60 46 52 Bletchley 30 53 128 67.8 7.41 165 38 Winsford 6 29 126/110 68.6

49.78 49 66 Milton Keynes 32 24 127 125.6 11.75 169 65 Hartford 8 50 125 110.7

52.35 52 32 Wolverton 33 40 124 122.0 14.41 172 38 Acton Br 10 08 125 122.9

62.82 62 68 Blisworth 38 47 127 122.7 16.45 174 41 Weaver J 11 08 126 122.3

69.67 69 56 Weedon 42 09 107 122.1 24.09 182 12 Warrington 14 57 109 120.1

75.22 75 20 Welton 45 00 124 116.8 27.49 185 44 Winwick J 17 00 100/95 99.5

82.47 82 40 Rugby 49 33 50sigs 95.6 35.81 6 46 Wigan 21 45 125/90 105.2

93.45 93 38 Bulkington 56 24 126 96.2 46.98 17 59 Leyland 27 35 122 114.8

50.95 21 57 PRESTON 31 32 60.4

OPEN RAIL DATA- David Ashley In this section, we provide readers with an update of the Open Rail website changes since those notified in the January 2013 edition, and also look at using the information to examine the Reading to Paddington route in the morning peak. John Heaton recounts discussions with his friend Neville Hill concerning a return journey on a Trans-Pennine Express. Recent changes include:

Freight trains have been added to both the Open Train Times (OTT)and realtimetrains (RTT) website – actual times are shown on RTT only. They also appear on the OTT signalling maps. Steam and other special trains are also included (although they may appear as freight). They appear as “anonymised” which effectively means that they appear in their entirety, but without a reporting number.

Punctuality statistics on OTT now also show a section for actual punctuality (i.e >59secs late) – they tend to be in the 45-55% range. The formula for calculating PPM has been corrected.

OTT Signalling maps: The Rugby map has been extended to Shilton and the Bedford map to beyond Sharnbrook. Signal aspects have been added to certain maps, although they only show green (which signifies single yellow, double yellow and green) and red. The Marston Vale line has been added which also shows level- crossing status


Although the RTT site appears to show real times for about 24 hours, earlier trains may be accessed by viewing the train in today’s timing and amending the date in the URL (for a period of up to two to three weeks)

CONFIRMING OUR SUSPICIONS? The availability of open rail data has provided a wealth of information to support or deny our long-held suspicions. One such doubt is why trains always seem to be delayed between Reading and Paddington. Firstly, I have looked at the typical off-peak working timetable from Slough. What is initially striking is the variability in the amount of the recovery, which in these days of DAS could be the difference between a good and indifferent run.

TRAIN - EX BR

IST

OL

HE

AT

HR

OW

WO

RC

ES

TE

R

SW

AN

SE

A

HE

AT

HR

OW

CH

EL

TE

NH

AM

BR

IST

OL

PA

IGN

TO

N

HE

AT

HR

OW

OX

FO

RD

HE

AT

HR

OW

CA

RD

IFF

SLOUGH 1358.0

1411S 1414.0

1420.5 1424.5 1429.5

1442S

1447.0

[2.5]

[1]

[4]

AIRPORT J 1401.5 1407.0 1417.5 1420.0 1422.5 1425.0 1428.0 1433.0 1437.0 1448.5 1452.0 1454.5

[0.5] [1.5] [1]

EALING BDWY 1404.0 1410.0 1421.0 1423.0 1426.0 1429.0 1431.0 1435.0 1440.0 1452.0 1455.0 1458.0

[1]

[.5] [1] [1] [1.5] [1]

[1] [.5] [1]

LADBROKE GROVE 1408.0 1414.0 1424.0 1427.0 1430.5 1432.0 1436.0 1439.5 1443.5 1456.0 1459.0 1502.0

[3] [2.5] [2] [1.5] [1] [1] [0.5] [1] [1.5] [1] [1] [3]

PADDINGTON 1414.0 1419.0 1429.0 1431.5 1435.0 1437.0 1439.5 1444.0 1449.0 1500.0 1504.0 1508.0

TOTAL RECOVERY 4 2.5 2 4.5 2.5 4.5 3 2 1.5 2 1.5 8

One theory is that Heathrow Express trains are given priority. Whilst the Cardiff train could have preceded the Heathrow train, an extra 4mins recovery between Slough and Airport Junction ensures that it doesn’t. Strangely, prior to 1400hrs the Swansea trains do precede the Heathrow trains! However, the other Heathrow trains do not seem to conflict with trains coming up the main line, although the Cheltenham train is eased slightly to separate it from the earlier Heathrow train. The Swansea train appears to catch up the preceding Worcester/Oxford train, which stops at Slough and departs just three minutes before the Swansea train passes. The Swansea train acquires 2.5mins recovery as a consequence. If there is no other obvious reason for the perceived delays, what could be causing the problem? It may be due to the spacing of the trains. Whilst accommodating 12 trains an hour on the main line shouldn’t be a problem, seven of them arrive in Paddington within 20 minutes (between xx29 and xx49), there are two 10/11min gaps (partially caused by the Slough stops) and the remaining three trains arrive within 19 minutes. Spacing trains more evenly may help. So what happens on the ground? I have analysed activities on the fast line in the morning peak period using data from the realtimetrains website. I chose three days when trains were generally arriving punctually at Reading. The table shows arrivals in Paddington between 0730 and 0915 (33 trains) and shows punctuality at Slough/Airport Junction and arrival at Paddington. Start/pass/stop times are shown from Airport J to Paddington and from


Reading to Paddington for non-stop trains. Cells are shaded where trains were probably affected by signal checks. Times are shown in chronological order. On the 15th March, everything went swimmingly for the first hour with no trains more than 3mins late, although they were probably all affected by signals prior to 1A04 (14 trains in 41mins). With times from Reading between 27 and 33mins, John Heaton’s “modern” fastest time of 22m52s was never threatened. Ironically, it was a late-running Heathrow Express 1Y33 that caused the first problem. Leaving the airport 7mins late, 1P16 from Didcot was allowed precede it, but didn’t make particularly good progress. Consequently 1Y33 lost further time and was 10mins late into Paddington. Such is the congested timetable that the next 14 trains were all delayed over the next 42mins, and a punctual arrival was not achieved until the final train 1A07 arrived at 0913. Interestingly, this improvement may have been due to the 7min gap from the preceding train at Slough. The spread of Reading-Paddington times was 28-35mins and all trains were delayed somewhere. On the 18th March, both 1A03 from Bristol and 1K71 from Bristol, via Westbury, presented slightly late. 1A03 followed, rather than preceded the Heathrow train and lost further time. 1K71 regained 4mins mainly due to 6½mins recovery in the schedule. Compared with the previous day, these delays didn’t seem to have the long-term affect – possibly due to the excess recovery mentioned above. However, the situation deteriorated later with 1A72 from Frome arriving 43mins late, and 1A73 from Exeter which follows it and was 19mins late. Once again, the subsequent bunching caused the next six subsequent trains to arrive up to 8mins late. And again, punctuality was eventually restored with the arrival of 1A07 from Weston-super-Mare, and this was probably the fastest run in the sample - at 25mins. The three trains between the two disruptions were the only consecutive ones unaffected by signal checks. The Reading-Paddington times were in the range 25-32mins. Things started normally on 20th March, although 1Y32 was slipped in front of 1L08 running 3mins late. Most of the early trains were running Reading-Paddington in 26-28min range. Problems with the 1P19 from Charlbury caused it to be withdrawn from Charlbury to Oxford, and it was also held in the platform at Reading for 12mins resulting in it running 10mins late from Slough from where it had a clear run. The delay caused a tailback in Reading which again wasn’t cleared until 1A07 from Weston-super-Mare 38mins later, but in this case it was 1min late due to a slow run in from Ladbroke Grove. So what can we establish from this data? Firstly, it cannot be denied that the line is running at maximum capacity in the morning peak, but if trains present punctually at Reading, the service runs fairly reliably.However, even in these circumstances trains are liable to be affected by signals, although this may be due to drivering to the DAS facility. When trains are running late, bunching occurs and then each train replicates the performance of the one in front and is unable to regain time. This can cause further delays if the preceding train is limited to 90mph. The slipping of a Heathrow Express train into the sequence will also hinder performance on the main line. Presumably the saturation has been caused by the inability of FGW to run longer trains due to there being no surplus HST carriages and the failure to increase the platform lengths on both the fast and slow lines. This results in FGW having to run shorter trains – it has been said that most other operators are now able to run 12 car trains into London – until Crossrail/electrification arrives, this will not be possible in the Thames Valley. A “spare” path would enable late-running trains to regain time, but hey, very few of the trains actually breached the PPM regulations, so there’s no problem!


WTT 15/03/2013 1P06 1P07 1L05 1Y30 1P08 1A03 1Y31 1K71 1P11 1P13 1L08 1Y32 1L10 1A72 1A04 1A05 1Y33 1P16

Ex Did

cot

Worc

Sw

ansea

Heath

row

Did

cot

Bristo

l

Heath

row

Br/

Westb

ury

Henle

y

Gt M

alv

ern

Sw

ansea

Heath

row

Worc

/Chelt

Fro

me

Bristo

l

Bristo

l

Did

cot

READING 0702 0716 0722 0727 0734 0738 0740 0747 0752P

1L T T 1E T 1E T 1L T T T 1L 1L T 1L 2L 1E

0 SLOUGH 0710 0714 0717 0724 0728 0735 0738 0741 0746 0750 0752 0759 0803 0806

3.5 AIRPORT J 0715 0717 0720 0722 0729 0733 0737 0740 0743 0745 0749 0753 0755 0758 0803 0807 0810

5.5 EALING BDWY 0718 0720 0723 0727 0732 0737 0741 0743 0747 0749 0752 0756 0759 0801 0806 0809 0816

9 LADBROKE GROVE 0724 0728 0731 0734 0736 0740 0744 0749 0752 0755 0759 0801 0804 0806 0810 0813 0821

12 PADDINGTON 0728 0732 0735 0737 0741 0744 0750 0752 0756 0800 0802 0804 0807 0809 0814 0816 0825

1L 2L 3L 2L T T 1L 1E T 1L T T T T 1L T 1L

READING-PADD 33 28 30 33 28 29 29 27 24

18/03/2013 1A03 1K71

READING ? ? 0722 0727 0730 0736 0740 0747 0751P

1L T 1L T 1L T 5L T 8L 4L 2L 1L 3L 1L 1L T 1E

SLOUGH ? 0714 0718 0726 0734 0738 0742 0745 0748 0752 0759 0802 0806

AIRPORT J 0715 0717 0721 0723 0731 0737 0739 0744 0746 0749 0751 0753 0756 0803 0806 0807 0811

EALING BDWY 0718 0720 0724 0727 0734 0741 0744 0747 0750 0752 0754 0758 0800 0805 0808 0811 0814

LADBROKE GROVE 0722 0725 0729 0731 0737 0744 0748 0751 0754 0757 0759 0802 0805 0809 0813 0816 0818

PADDINGTON 0726 0730 0733 0734 0742 0749 0752 0755 0757 0800 0802 0805 0808 0815 0817 0818 0826

1E T 1L 1E 1L T 8L 1E 4L 1L T 1L 1L 2L 1L T 2L

READING-PADD 30 30 30 26 28 28 26

20/03/2013 1Y32

READING 0703 0720 0726 0732 0738 0740 0743 0749

T T T 1E T 3L T 4L 2L 2L T 3L 3L 3L 3L T T

SLOUGH 0709 0714 0716 0724 0732 0738 0740 0743 0749 0752 0755 0801 0807

AIRPORT J 0715 0717 0720 0722 0729 0736 0737 0742 0746 0748 0752 0754 0758 0801 0805 0807 0811

EALING BDWY 0718 0720 0722 0725 0732 0739 0741 0745 0749 0751 0756 0758 0801 0805 0808 0811 0814

LADBROKE GROVE 0722 0725 0727 0729 0736 0743 0745 0748 0753 0755 0759 0802 0805 0809 0811 0813 0818

PADDINGTON 0726 0728 0731 0733 0740 0746 0748 0752 0758 0759 0802 0805 0808 0811 0815 0817 0821

1E 1E T 2E 1E 2L 1E 1E 1L T 2E 3L 1L 2L 2L 1E 3E

READING-PADD 28 26 26 27 27 28 28 26

Cancel


WTT 15/03/2013 1Y33 1P17 1P19 1L14 1Y34 1A73 1L16 1A06 1Y35 1P21 1L20 1P22 1A74 1Y36 1P24 1A07

Ex Heath

row

Henle

y

Charlbury

Sw

ansea

Heath

row

Exete

r

Chelte

nham

Westo

n s

m

Heath

row

Here

ford

Sw

ansea

Oxfo

rd

Ply

mouth

Heath

row

Oxfo

rd

Westo

n s

m

READING 0759 0805 0811 0817 0820 0824 0827P 0837 0839 0847

7L 1L 1L T T 2L 3L 2L 2L T T 3L 2L 2L 1L T

0 SLOUGH 0812 0815 0817 0823 0829 0832 0836 0838 0844 0849 0852 0859

3.5 AIRPORT J 0814 0817 0819 0822 0823 0827 0832 0836 0839 0841 0844 0849 0852 0854 0857 0902

5.5 EALING BDWY 0820 0822 0825 0828 0831 0833 0836 0839 0843 0846 0848 0851 0855 0858 0901 0905

9 LADBROKE GROVE 0825 0827 0830 0834 0836 0839 0843 0846 0850 0853 0856 0859 0901 0904 0907 0909

12 PADDINGTON 0828 0831 0834 0837 0839 0842 0846 0852 0854 0856 0859 0904 0905 0907 0910 0913

10L 4L 4L 4L 4L 4L 6L 8L 6L 5L 5L 6L 4L 3L 4L 1E

READING-PADD 35 32 31 29 32 32 32 28 31 26

18/03/2013 1Y34 1A72 1A73

READING 0759 0806 0814 0819 0822 0825 0827 0830P 0837 0840 0847

T T 1E 2L 1L 1L 1L 43L 19L 3L 3L 2L 5L 1L T

SLOUGH 0811 0814 0819 0827 0831 0835 0837 0840 0842 0844 0849 0852 0859

AIRPORT J 0816 0818 0822 0823 0830 0834 0838 0841 0844 0847 0850 0853 0855 0857 0900 0902

EALING BDWY 0820 0822 0825 0828 0833 0837 0842 0846 0848 0850 0853 0857 0859 0901 0904 0906

LADBROKE GROVE 0824 0826 0829 0832 0836 0841 0845 0850 0852 0855 0857 0901 0903 0905 0908 0910

PADDINGTON 0828 0830 0832 0835 0840 0845 0848 0853 0856 0858 0901 0906 0906 0908 0912 0914

1L T 3E 2L T 1L T 44L 5L 20L 7L 8L 5L 4L 6L T

READING-PADD 31 29 26 26 31 31 31 31 29 32 25

20/03/2013 1P19 1L14 1A06

READING 0810 0812 0817 0820 0824 0826 0829P 0835 0840 0847

1E 1E 10L 9L 8L 6L 6L 3L 2L 4L 1L 1L T T

SLOUGH 0809 0824 0826 0829 0832 T 0836 0839 0841 0845 0848 0851 0859

AIRPORT J 0814 0822 0828 0830 0832 0836 0837 0840 0842 0845 0851 0853 0854 0857 0903

EALING BDWY 0818 0826 0831 0833 0835 0838 0841 0843 0846 0848 0854 0857 0859 0901 0906

LADBROKE GROVE 0821 0829 0834 0837 0840 0843 0845 0848 0850 0854 0857 0901 0903 0907 0909

PADDINGTON 0827 0832 0837 0841 0844 0846 0848 0852 0854 0857 0902 0906 0907 0911 0915

T 3E 7L 8L 6L 6L T 8L 3L 3L 4L 5L 3L 5L 1L

READING-PADD 27 29 27 26 28 28 28 31 31 28 .


TRAVAILS WITH TECHNOLOGY: FROM CALDER TO TYNE- by John Heaton FCILT With more time on our hands lately, I was able to catch up with my close friend and confidante Neville Hill the day after having taken a leisurely trip for a family and friends lunch. Sometimes verging on the patronising, Neville considers I am a notoriously ‘late adopter’ of new technology, having most recently procrastinated over the purchase of a smart phone, due to fear of the internet charges when away from the guarantees of wi-fi.

Table 1: Huddersfield to Newcastle

Loco/Unit 185136

Load 3/169/190 reducing from Leeds

Train 09p06 Man. Airport to Newcastle

Date 22/02/2013


Miles M Ch Timing Point Sch.

M. S. M. P. H. Ave.

0.00 25 62 HUDDERSFIELD d. 0 0 00 ½E

1.06 26 67 Hillhouse No. 2 1 35 60 40.3

1.99 27 61 Deighton 2 28 70 62.8

2.71 28 39 Bradley Jct 4 00 sigs 28.4

sig stop 4.47-6.30

4.15 29 74 Heaton Lodge E. Jct 4 9 24 50 16.0

4.15 29 72

4.96 30 57 Mirfield 10 09 70/75 63.0

6.55 32 26 Ravensthorpe 6 11 34 65 68.3

8.01 33 63 Dewsbury a. 8½ 14 45

27.6

0.00 33 63 d. 9½ 16 32

1.33 35 09 Batley 1 53 62 42.2

2.53 36 25 Morley TWP 2 57 68 67.5

4.51 38 24 Morley 4½ 4 42 68/75 68.1

6.25 40 03 Cottingley [2] 6 12 55/75 69.5

8.24 42 02 <2> sig stop 9.17-13.28

8.24 185 00 (2)

8.50 185 21 Whitehall E. Jct. 14½ 14 00 20 17.3

9.10 20 47 LEEDS a. 16½ 16 19

15.4

0.00 20 47 d. 21 18 59

1.59 19 00 Neville Hill W. Jct. 2½ 2 43 65 35.1

4.43 16 13 Cross Gates 5 5 10 75 69.5

7.33 13 21 Garforth (½) 7 08 90/sigs30 88.5

9.73 10 69 Micklefield 9 9 54 70/93 52.0

sig stop 15.05-16.52

14.84 10 59 Church Fenton 12½ 18 34 28 34.6

16.70 8 70 Ulleskelf 20 36 83 55.0

18.03 7 44 Bolton Percy 21 28 94/102/sigs 91.7

20.08 5 40 Colton Jct 16 22 44 78/50tsr49 97.1

21.40 4 14 Copmanthorpe SB <2> 24 07 58/80 57.5

23.62 1 77 Chaloner's Whin 25 54 70 74.4

25.58 0 00 YORK a. 23 28 55

39.0

0.00 0 00 d. 31 28 55

1.64 1 51 Skelton Jct 2 2 23 72/103 41.2

5.50 5 40 Beningbrough 4 56 97/100 90.9

9.50 9 40 Tollerton 7 7 23 99 98.0

I recounted how my Class 185 TransPennine Express had set off punctually before grinding to a halt before Heaton Lodge Jct, allegedly due to a preceding slower train. If so, it was not something that had passed Huddersfield in the ten minutes before departure. The approach to Dewsbury felt no more super-cautious than usual but I felt there might have been something dithering around in the platform in front of me, perhaps some dilatory Manchester Victoria-Leeds stopper via Brighouse. Yes, I never thought I would see such days. “Why didn’t you check on realtimetrains?” Neville asked, anticipating my likely response. “I did,” I smirked, taking pleasure from his shocked expression “And?” “No trains in this time selection or something.”


11.24 11 19 Alne 8 26 100/99/103 99.3

13.38 13 30 Raskelf 9 42 99 101.3

16.08 16 06 Pilmoor 11 19 100 100.2

17.98 17 78 Sessay 12 28 99/101 99.1

22.20 22 16 Thirsk 14½ 15 01 100/99 99.4

26.46 26 37 Otterington 17 36 100 99.0

30.00 30 00 Northallerton a. 20 20 42

68.5

0.00 30 00 d. 21 21 42

3.75 33 60 Danby Wiske 3 23 102/103 66.5

7.18 37 14 Cowton est 5 26 99 100.2

8.95 38 76 Eryholme est 6 31 96 98.3

11.55 41 44 Croft Spa

-

14.10 44 08 DARLINGTON a. 10½ 10 45

73.0

0.00 44 08 d. 12 11 50 -/-

5.49 49 47 Aycliffe est 4 40 -/102 70.6

7.81 51 73 Preston Crossing 6 09 100 94.0

12.11 56 17 Ferryhill South Jct 8½ 8 45 99/100 99.2

14.76 58 69 Tursdale Jct 10 10 21 99/101 99.4

16.16 60 21 Hett Mill 11 12 97 98.8

17.90 62 00 Croxdale 12 20 85 92.0

21.11 65 17 Relly Mill 14 46 49 50tsr 79.2

22.08 66 14 DURHAM a. 15½ 16 25

35.0

0.00 66 14 d. 16½ 17 26 -/98

5.66 71 73 Chester-le-Street a. 5 5 24

62.8

0.00 71 73 d. 6 6 23

1.49 73 32 Ouston Jct [1] 1 58 83 45.4

3.41 75 26 Birtley Jct 4½ 3 09 102 97.6

5.65 77 45 Low Fell <1> 4 31 95 98.2

7.61 79 42 K. Ed. B. S. Jct 8½ 6 23 25/sigs 63.1

8.24 80 12 NEWCASTLE C. a. 11½ 8 44 16.0

est=estimated tme

(both tables)

Table 2: Newcastle to Huddersfield

Loco/Unit 185110

Load 3/169/195 No power from rear engine

Train 16.15 Newcastle-Man. Airport

Date 22/02/2013


Miles M Ch Timing Point Sch. M. S. M. P. H. Ave.

0.00 80 12 NEWCASTLE C. a. 0 0 00 T -/28

0.63 79 42 K. Ed. B. S. Jct 2 2 08 26/39 17.6

sig stop 5.01-6.07

2.59 77 45 Low Fell 7 33 55 21.7

4.83 75 26 Birtley Jct 5½ 9 32 80 67.7

6.75 73 32 Ouston Jct 10 52 88 86.6

8.24 71 73 Chester-le-Street a. 8½ 12 54

43.9

0.00 71 73 d. 9½ 14 00 -/82

5.66 66 14 DURHAM a. 6 6 41

50.8

0.00 66 14 d. 7 8 00

0.96 65 17 Relly Mill (½) 2 02 52 28.4

4.18 62 00 Croxdale 4 33 89/93 76.6

5.91 60 21 Hett Mill 5 42 92 90.7


7.31 58 69 Tursdale Jct 5½ 6 36 95 93.3

9.96 56 17 Ferryhill South Jct 7 8 14 99 97.3

11.91 54 21 Bradbury 9 24 101/99/102 100.3

16.59 49 47 Aycliffe est 12 20 83/98 95.6

22.08 44 08 DARLINGTON a. 15½ 16 46

74.3

0.00 44 08 d. 17 18 36

0.0

2.55 41 44 Croft Spa 3 06 80 49.4

5.15 38 76 Eryholme 4 53 90 87.5

6.93 37 14 Cowton 6 00 100/101 95.4

10.35 33 60 Danby Wiske 8 03 100/sigs21/45 100.2

14.15 29 76 Northallerton a. 11 13 07

45.0

0.00 29 76 d. 12 13 59 -/87

3.49 26 37 Otterington 3 37 79/78/80tsr/103 57.9

7.75 22 16 Thirsk 5½ 6 27 99/101 90.3

11.98 17 78 Sessay 8 59 100/99 100.1

13.88 16 06 Pilmoor 10 08 101 99.1

16.58 13 30 Raskelf 11 45 99 100.2

18.71 11 19 Alne 13 02 101 99.9

20.45 9 40 Tollerton 13 14 04 101 100.9

24.45 5 40 Beningbrough [1]<1> 16 28 100/sigs 100.0

28.31 1 51 Skelton Jct 20 (½) 19 26 73/sigs 78.1

29.95 0 00 YORK a. 23 21 25 Pfm 3 49.5

0.00 0 00 d. 26 24 57 -/51

1.96 1 77 Chaloner's Whin (½) 3 31 sigs 40/55 33.5

4.18 4 14 Copmanthorpe SB 6 45 sigs25 41.1

5.50 5 40 Colton Jct 5 9 13 52 32.2

7.55 7 44 Bolton Percy (1½) 11 01 81 68.3

8.88 8 70 Ulleskelf 11 56 93 86.7

10.74 10 59 Church Fenton 10½ 13 20 70/83 79.8

15.85 10 69 Micklefield 14 17 15 66 78.4

18.25 13 21 Garforth (1) 19 17 83/91 70.8

21.15 16 13 Cross Gates 18½<2> 21 17 90 87.0

23.99 19 00 Neville Hill W. Jct. 21 23 39 40tsr 41 71.9

sig stop 26.39-27.45

25.58 20 47 LEEDS a. 26 30 08

14.7

0.00 20 47 d. 30 32 58

0.60 185 21 Whitehall E.Jct 1½ 1 44 29 20.8

2.85 40 03 Cottingley 4 45 52/65 44.8

4.59 38 24 Morley 5½ 6 40 43 54.4

6.57 36 25 Morley TWP 8 43 68/sigs 58.2

7.77 35 09 Batley 9 56 50tsr 45 59.2

9.10 33 63 Dewsbury a. 10 12 30

31.0

9.10 33 63 d. 11 13 29

10.56 32 26 Ravensthorpe 2 2 06 69/75 41.8

12.17 30 57 Mirfield 3 27 73 71.7

12.99 29 72 Heaton Lodge Jct 4 4 10 59 (toc 60) 68.0

14.40 28 39 Bradley Jct 5 32 68/73 62.0

15.12 27 61 Deighton 6 09 68/70 70.5

16.05 26 67 Hillhouse No. 2 7 00 64 65.3

17.11 25 62 HUDDERSFIELD a. 8 8 33 41.1

“Perhaps you had the wrong combinations- wrong TOC or only passing trains or something similar.” I shrugged and continued my account.


6min of allowances to Leeds should have repaired the damage of all this. Approaching Leeds just 1min late we had then been held for two Northern trains at Whitehall East Jct, so still 6½min late. Had the Leeds station signaller failed to deduct the recovery time when planning his moves? 2min were cut from the extended station dwell time. I always interrupt my train timing to survey what is going on at my friend’s eponymous depot and reflect that it was much busier when I worked there. Or at least it always seemed to be. A brisk start had failed to match the 5min running time by 10sec and then a slight overspeed to 92½mph was interrupted by an all-too-frequent signal check before Micklefield. “You know there is ½min pathing allowed,” Neville pre-empted. “Yes, I had the opentraintimes schedule on my phone.” It was only last year that working times were state secrets never to be divulged and now they are available to everyone, everywhere, saving a lot of time even for those who had spent a lot of time cultivating their contacts in the lean years. As soon as one had recovered from that shock, along comes realtimetrains with open access to the TRUST data, mileages and even freight trains in some form. Anonymised’ it says on the website. Anonymised? Hmmm. Although it does not show reporting number you can get the details of the starting time, origin, destination, intermediate times and freight company. Why not the lot then? “You will have noticed that realtimetrains has a lot more passing times than opentraintimes?,” I said. “Of course, and you will have noticed the extra ones look like guesses no doubt. Stick to the normal points on opentraintimes, I suggest,” Neville quickly replied. My TPE Class 185 ground to a halt before Church Fenton due to ‘sheep on the line’ and limped towards York at no more than 102mph, arriving 10½min late. The 8min dwell time was cut to six and so the service was just 4½min late despite having suffered 21½min delay in 42miles. Don’t start Neville on his favourite topic of how much time could be cut from schedules without TransPennine electrification, I thought. TPE timings north of York are tight and time will be lost if the train is not driven hard. The start from Platform 11 (16 in pre-decimal units) probably accounted for losing ½min to Northallerton, although allowing speed to drop, once as low as 97mph, did not help matters. See Table 1. The late-running had certainly caused disruption at Longlands Jct though - where my scruffy notes showed two Freightliner Heavy Haul empty coal trains waiting in line. “They were both Ferrybridge to New Cumnock, one booked to leave Longlands 1½min after my train had left Northallerton and the next booked a 9min stand before following closely behind.” I thought that it had seemed as if this might have been an audacious attempt by the short term planners to run two trains in one path. Neville agreed. “I interrogated the phone for short term planning and variable paths as well as those in the WTT,” I said, effecting a knowledgeable air. “See you missed your timing points at Cowton, Eryholme and Croft Spa though,” Neville gloated. Clearly, I will need to work on his multiple-tasking in this modern age.


More ½mins were lost to Darlington, again on the start from the Teesside town and once more leaving Durham any, or all, of which might have been low power or some misguided attempt to save the planet. “I’m pretty sure there was a 50mph tsr after Relly Mill,” I added. “If you had used your phone to consult Ian Umpleby’s list of current speed restrictions on the RPS website you would have been more than pretty sure,” countered Neville. The only two minutes of spare time in the last 80miles to Newcastle were still to come and it was a surprise to see that the schedule was realistic into bay platform. “Three minutes late, not bad, said Neville. “Should have been nearer 20min late on a decent schedule or on time by this apology for one,” was my curmudgeonly response. It thought it better to skip my usual blow-by-blow account of the Wetherspoon’s menu and went straight to the return trip on the 16.15 to Manchester Airport. No fuel saving options on this trip though. The rear engine was out of action throughout and unpleasantly cold. Table 2 shows the effect his had on running and timekeeping. Not good. The first delay occurred before Low Fell where we caught up what I had hesitatingly identified as a GBRf Tyne Dock to Kellingley Colliery service of what looked like coal in redundant iron-ore tipplers. At Danby Wiske, he caught up a North Blyth to Cottam Freightliner heavy haul coal train that was around 10min late and then followed a Butterwell-Drax DB coal train until it could shift its bulk over to the Normanton lines. The Airport train was now in the path of the following 16.48 Scarborough to Liverpool Lime Street and therefore behind the off-pattern extra 17.01 Hull-Huddersfield with its Dewsbury stop. Fourteen minutes late at Huddersfield concluded an unusually unsatisfactory TransPennine journey but one which Neville was confident I must have found enjoyable through the extra dimension that had been added by smart use of my phone. He had not been sitting in the cold and trolley-less set for 135min though. As we gathered our belongings, Neville could not resist another exchange. “How late was the train at the Airport?” “Dunno,” I replied. “Should have looked on realtimetrains when you got home.” But that was not his parting shot “Have you tried the new Indian train tracker site?” he shouted over his shoulder as he walked away without even breaking step and certainly not pausing for my reply.


NETWORK DEVELOPMENTS – Ian Umpleby

A relatively quiet last three months has seen few changes to PSRs. The main development has been the remodelling of Settle Junction to finally rectify the temporary arrangement installed for Carnforth Line trains in 1979 following a derailment. Single leads are still used but the PSR rises from 15 to 25 mph. Two southbound miles south of Bromsgrove have been upgraded to 100 mph and the new island platform at Cambridge has better approach speeds. Details of a major upgrade of PSRs on the Midland Main Line from December including some 125 mph stretches were revealed at press date. The new station at Conon Bridge duly opened and that at Stratford (upon Avon) Parkway should do so in May, but nothing else is in view. Sadly, that immense challenge for ascending trains, the Folkestone Harbour branch, has been officially closed but in a surprise move the Oxley curve at Wolverhampton is to see a regular train service from Shrewsbury to Stafford and London from December. At Easter the through lines at Reading were to be reorganised and two new island platforms opened. . This may well allow Swindon bound trains to approach more quickly but west side arrivals/departures will be slower until the next remodelling stage is implemented. The redoubling of Swindon to Kemble is now under way and that between Swansea and Llanelli approaching completion. Double-tracking of the St Johns-Nunhead to Lewisham line is well under way. Upgrading work on the Peterborough-Lincoln-Doncaster line is accelerating and reopening of the defunct northbound Sleaford Avoiding Line is imminent. Work continues on the Track Capacity Upgrade in the Finsbury Park-Alexandra Palace area, track has now been installed on the Hitchin flyover line and Peterborough’s new platforms are taking shape. In Scotland the Borders line restoration has started. Tribute should be paid to the Bluebell Railway for their remarkable effort in restoring their train services to East Grinstead. Initial track modifications have started for the Nottingham resignalling/remodelling taking place this summer. Signalling schemes implemented have seen the taking over by Manchester SC of the boxes on the Swinton Loop and at Blackrod. Level Crossing issues have further delayed the Crewe to Shrewsbury resignalling until at least October. The South Wales SC has taken over control of the Barry-Bridgend line. Electrification work is in full swing on the first stage of the Nort West Electrification and, although the extent of future electrification work in Scotland remains fluid, that from Glasgow to Cumbernauld is going ahead bringing wires to Glasgow Queen Street (High Level) for the first time. In Ireland the first stage of the Coleraine to Londonderry line upgrade was completed early The PSR upgrades out of Dublin Heuston towards Cork, Galway and Carlow duly came into effect at the start of the year. Oranmore station near Galway is yet to open.

Riding Train G 79 in China on the World’s longest and fastest High Speed Railway - Gordon Pettitt

The title demands that I set out the basis and context of this bold claim, so here goes. Train G79 is a regular scheduled service that runs 7 days a week from Beijing West to Guangzhou South, a distance of 2298 km (1427 miles) .The present terminal of the line is at Shenzhen North 116 km further south, but the ultimate destination is West Kowloon (Hong Kong) When line is completed to there in 2018, it will be 2440 km (1516 miles) from Beijing. The route has been designed for trains to operate at speeds up to 350 km/h but the current max speed for G trains is 313 km/h in order to save on energy and reduce costs. However the start to stop timings for G 79 suggest that there are exceptions and that turns out to be the case To set the distance in context, the longest continuous section of high speed line in Europe is the 1134 km from Perpignan in France to Malaga in Spain. The longest in the remainder of the world is the 1069 km line between Tokyo and Hagata in Japan.


Train G79 is scheduled to make 4 intermediate stops of 2 or 3 minutes, all at cities with populations between 7 and 12 million inhabitants. The journey is scheduled to take 7 hours 59 minutes at an average of 287.8 km/h (178.84 mph) including stops. The November 2011 edition of the Railway Gazette published a survey of the fastest start-to-stop runs in the world. China headed this list for the first time with 4 G trains, running non stop from Wuhan to Guangzhou Nan, at an average speed of 308.9kmh. Since that time an additional stop has been included at Shangsha South. On my trip in March, G 79 was formed of a sixteen car Class CRH 380 BL set with distributed power. The first set entered service in 2010. It is an upgraded version of the eight coach CRH3C which in turn was derived from the Siemens ICE3 (class 403). From both inside and out it is clearly a member of the ICE3 family. The trains have 1004 seats in three classes. Power rating is 18.4 kW (25,017 HP) i.e. more than twice that of a Eurostar. China has two classes of train designed to run at 380 km/h. The CRH 380 BL forming G79 is one. The second CRH 380 AL is a totally Chinese train of 20.4 kW power. Both classes have achieved world speed records for “production trains”. The 380 A 486.1 km/h (302 mph) on 3.12.10 and the 380 B 487.3 km/h (302.75 mph) on 10.1.11. The similarity of the speeds reminds me of the famous SNCF trails in 1955 between a BB and a CC locomotive where it was said at the time that both locomotives had achieved 331 km/h. It was only revealed 31 years later that the CC had only attained 326 km/h. It turned out that it had been agreed between the parties in advance (including the two manufacturers) that if the difference in the maximum speed was only around 5 km/h the highest speed achieved would be cited for both. I suspect a similar situation between the two manufacturers of 380 A and B. The actual performance details of G 79 between Beijing and Guangzhou South are shown in the table below. The train was full throughout the journey (with over 1,000 passengers); those detraining en route being replaced by similar numbers joining.

Distance Schedule Actual Actual

Miles Mins Mins Ave speed

mph

Beijing West-Shijiazhuang South. 174.5 67 66.28 158.04

Shijiazhuang South-Zhengzhou East 255.9 81 81.35 188.79

Zhengzhou East –Wuhan 333 104 102 195.89

Wuhan- Shangsha South 224.9 78 78.8 171.25

Shangsha South-Guangzhou Sth. 439.2 138 135.7 194.21

It will be noticed how the actual performance of the train was very close to schedule throughout. This was a feature of all the HSL trains travelled on during my visit so there was no opportunity to see any difference in performance when recovering time lost. The maximum time allowed at intermediate stations was three minutes but despite the large numbers joining and alighting, maximum lateness on departure from any station was 48 seconds. Similar to the practice on most HSL’s the access to and egress from station platforms is via very high speed points. This system gives flexibility in timetabling and for a following train to pass during a 3-4 minute stop. The technique on departure was full power until line speed was reached and then cruise at between 304 and 308 km/h until nearing the next stop. The latter speeds were taken from the display at the end of each coach but it clear from the scheduled and marginally faster actual times that G 79 is probably scheduled at speeds at least up to 325 km/h. I can only assume the public speed display was under recording due to a defect or for “policy reasons”

Note; Distances based on those in the public timetable and confirmed by observation of Km posts on the OHL (add 4 km from Beijing West to start of the HSL)


As to be expected on such a new railway the riding was superb throughout with trains passing in the opposite direction without with any noticeable effect .My impression is that the slab track installed throughout does give an improved ride .Only time will tell whether the expected long term life cost savings will be made. So to conclude, G79 travelled the longest distance that any high speed train can on a continuous stretch of high speed railway built so far. Three of the start to stop runs were faster than any scheduled in the world to date. The were two highlights from a speed perspective. The first: Zengzhou East to Wuhan at an average of 195.89 mph. For a UK comparison the distance is almost the same as Kings Cross to Berwick covered in 1 Hour 42 minutes. The second (and better from a scenic point of view) was the last leg from Shangsha South to Guangzhou South at an average of 194.21 mph. In this case the UK comparison is Kings Cross to Stirling where the distance is exactly the same but the Journey time on G79 2 hours 18 minutes.

The world start to stop speed record is now 315.29 km/h but for how long?

SCARBOROUGH SPA EXPRESS Following the meeting in York on 23rd March, Adrian Scales advised us that he has an archive on the Scarborough Spa Express consisting of photographs, and also a list of all steam workings into Scarborough since 1968. Adrian is always on the look out for photos of the SSE to add to the archive so if you have any that may be of interest to him please email him on [email protected] Alternatively, if you are at NRM at York, Search Engine will always accept anything for him

MASS TIMING DAY: SATURDAY 29TH JUNE 2013 LEEDS – HUDDERSFIELD – MANCHESTER This year we are going ‘up north’ and will concentrate on the core North Trans-Pennine route between Leeds and Manchester. In addition to the 4 fast trains an hour we also hope to cover the following stopping services:- Leeds – Huddersfield/Brighouse Huddersfield – Manchester Vic Huddersfield – Brighouse – Halifax Huddersfield – Wakefield Stalybridge – Manchester Vic This will give the potential of recording 8 different types of traction: 185, 170,156,155,153,150,144 and 142. To cover all the trains we need 19 recorders, but with 15 we can cover the ‘essential’ trains. In addition we think it would be advisable to have a static recorder at Guide Bridge to monitor the 14 passenger movements each hour. Why not volunteer!



The cheapest ticket available to cover the route for a day is the ‘South Pennines Day Ranger’ at the cost of only £21 (£14 with a railcard), but it is NOT available on the few Grand Central services. David Ashley is organising the diagrams and booking arrangements, so contact him by email at [email protected] or by phone on 01895 675178 For those not familiar with the area John Heaton has prepared a short description of the route: Leaving Leeds from the recently enlarged station, the viaduct that formerly carried the former LNW main line over the rooftops of Holbeck steam shed can be seen snaking away to the left. The late 1960s closure of the G. N. Leeds Central brought about the concentration of services on a new station that combined disparate elements of the Midland, LNW and North Eastern accommodation. Straying across Midland metals at Whitehall Jct and climbing steeply to the extinct Copley Hill steam shed, the current passenger service rejoins the old viaduct route at Farnley and Wortley closed station. A new rain forest on the right hand (down) side of the train marks the forlorn remains of Farnley Jct shed where the early 1960s housed a row of rusting Royal Scots. The bank up to Morley tested steam and early diesels but your Class 185 is likely to decide on eco-mode and coasting to reach the summit. The timings reflect the brief 55mph limit through the station which was quickly put back to the original 45mph figure, due to clearance reasons. Emerging from the long Morley Tunnel the train could average 75mph through to Heaton Lodge Jct but there are a few modern obstacles. Dewsbury station stops occur on half the expresses of course but there are long standing ride-comfort TOC imposed restrictions at Batley and over the junction itself at Heaton Lodge. Recently, Network Rail have agreed with TPE and imposed a proper 50mph tsr for the subway alignment at Batley. The 60mph at Heaton Lodge remains ‘unboarded’. The LNW Jct to Heaton Lodge section was four track throughout after bridge widening at Mirfield until track rationalisation eventually took place. This was the area of LMS speed-signalling and Guinness Book of records title of the foggiest place in Britain. Mirfield Yard was on the left before the station, with its precarious headshunt high above the River Calder. The shed was on the right after the station, before four tracks used to continue up both the Calder and Colne Valleys. I was fortunate enough to train at Heaton Lodge Jct for a time in the late 1960s before coal traffic to the Lancashire utilities dried up. After it had done so, in 1970, the 25mph junction restriction was raised and trains were diverted via the grade-separated former Spen Valley (‘New’ Line of around 1904) formation, to rejoin the existing line at Heaton Lodge East Jct via a new spur. After further revisions, only down trains now use the underpass. The climb up the valley side to Huddersfield is at 1-in-147 past the site of the former Hillhouse shed. If you have never seen the frontage at Huddersfield station you must arrange a break there, as it is arguably the finest in the country. The next task is to reach Standedge Tunnel, at 1-in-96/105 to Marsden and a virtually impossible timing. The computer sectional running time is 6min36sec. The four tracks have long been altered to two, but at higher speed; 75mph uphill and 85mph downhill. An eleven coach Class 40 might have touched 45mph uphill on a good day.



Standedge Tunnel is the only stretch of level track on the whole run and had water troughs situated inside the tunnel. At just over 3miles it is the third longest tunnel in Britain, behind the Severn Tunnel of course (discounting the HS1 and Channel tunnels, our line chart editor reminds me,) The run down to Stalybridge often used to be pell mell but it is a more decorous affair nowadays. No power needed at 65mph due to braking restrictions on the new signalling that completely lacked foresight. In steam days there were two more tracks at the other side of the valley, with trains often using different routes depending on what was about. Stalybridge is famous for its traditional pub of course. Its most recent claim to headlines has been the addition of two entirely new platforms, so beware on westbound nonstop trains that they usually skirt the south side of the layout and there is no platform on your left. The tedious link across to Guide Bridge no longer gives the observer a chance to see a line-up of EM1s at Guide Bridge but at least one is spared the Stalybridge-Stockport dmu. On reaching Manchester Piccadilly via the former Great Central lines there is at least the compensation of three London trains and two cross country ones per hour plus a Cardiff, and usually a Scottish through train. The line is not what it once was, but neither has it yet fulfilled its potential. Electrification is not far over the horizon with six fast trains per hour, two to Piccadilly direct, two to Liverpool via Victoria and two the Manchester Airport via Victoria and a new curve. Will that mean re-modelling Stalybridge again to make the Victoria line the faster route? If you choose a Stalybridge to Manchester Victoria stopper you will follow the original LNW line which was used by (sometimes double-headed) Newcastle-Liverpool trains in steam days. In the 1950s and 1960s, EM1s could again be glimpsed at Ashton Moss North Jct, as well as Bury electrics nearer to Victoria. Overhead-electric trams can now be seen on the route, but it is not quite the same. Miles Platting bank provided a stiff test of trains starting from the old Exchange station (west of Victoria and now demolished) even with a banker. The through platform from Victoria was the longest in Britain opposite which used to sit banking locos, in the last years of steam usually a Class 5 or two but in the 1950s often a disreputable collection of elderly, although appropriate, Victoriana. For those using either Wakefield station to gain access to the route, there is the novelty of dropping down the bank from Wakefield to Kirkgate, the latter now in the process of a facelift that should cause it to lose its ‘most disreputable station in Britain’ tag at long last. There is a four-track section to Horbury Jct, possibly Britain’s noisiest manual signal box, directly alongside the M1. It is recommended that timers with a delicate disposition should consider closing their eyes while the train passes Healey Mills yard. To those of us who worked there, it is a cause of some distress to view its current state of decay. Did we really have two pilots shunting all night with trains queuing on the flyover? 120 arrivals and 120 departures in 24 hours in 1969? Were there really two parallel lines from the up departure sidings so that freights could depart for fast and slow lines parallel to each other? The line rejoins the Leeds route at Mirfield East Jct before reaching the Mirfield stop, but the traditional Thornhill LNW Jct timing point has been retained for the purposes of the chart. You might find it interesting to use the Huddersfield or Mirfield to Brighouse and Halifax services. The down Colne-Calder curve leaves the down main line at Bradley Jct, passes through a short tunnel and rejoins the up Calder Valley (former four track at this point) main line at Bradley Wood Jct. After reaching the re-opened Brighouse station, the train passes the site of a proposed Elland station re-opening and through the tunnel to Greetland Jct


where the line to Halifax diverges steeply to Dryclough Jct, meeting the Manchester Victoria to Bradford Interchange line before entering Halifax station. These two curves were redundant for many years after withdrawal of summer Saturday services until the re-introduction of regular local services, and now even King’s Cross Grand Central trains in the case of the Greetland curve.

FROM THE RPS WEBSITE Faster into Cambridge Island platform Pawlett Meads crossing near Bridgwater closed. Selhurst Slow Line slower Mirfield, Mossley and Marsden platforms extended Leicester psr altered Twickenham psr reduced Settle Junction to Carnforth psr lifted Stainforth slip update Some night Sheffield-Manchester trains routed via Huddersfield and Wakefield Kirkgate Virgin’s new Euston-Shrewsbury services to stop at Rugby, Stafford and run via Oxley Chord Up to 50% off Londonmidland off-peak and advance tickets booked on their website until 21st April MML limits from December to be 125mph at mp15 (short), mp25 to mp45 and around mp110 (Wellingborough 80mph?) Welsh bubble car to be withdrawn. Shrewsbury-Crewe resignalling delayed until at least October


SATURDAY 11th MAY 2013

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

DERBY

THURSDAY 23rd MAY 2013

Area Meeting

Borough, LONDON

THURSDAY 27th JUNE 2013

Area Meeting

BRISTOL PARKWAY

SATURDAY 29th JUNE 2013

MASS TIMING DAY

Leeds – Manchester + branches

TUESDAY 30th JULY 2013

Area Meeting

LEEDS


MILEPOST APRIL 2013 - Railway Performance Society

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