‘LIZZIE’ HEADS FOR CORNWALL
Mention of LMS ‘Pacifics’ brings me to Steam Dreams’ recent incursion into Cornwall with No. 6201 Princess Elizabeth. This was a four-day trip overall, with two spare days at Penzance in the middle. Departure from Victoria was on Saturday September 17, with the return made the following Tuesday. The train was due to recess at Exeter for over two hours while No. 6201 was serviced, coaled and watered. Network Rail treated the continuation to Penzance as a separate movement, so far as the timetable was concerned. West Coast Railways insisted on a diesel at the rear for the reasons of ‘performance risk’ and insurance against failure (with no vacuumbraked rescue engine in the vicinity). However, from Exeter, the diesel was due to follow the special, and I understand that weight restrictions on bridges in Cornwall was the reason (in which case it is surprising the diesel did not stay with us to Plymouth). That’s all the more surprising when No. 46100 had a diesel attached to and from Penzance on RTC’s Great Britain IX tour earlier in the year. (Network Rail is nothing if not inconsistent.) Having been thwarted so many times this year by diesels being attached to the rear of steam charters, it was too good an opportunity to miss, to travel over the Devon Banks with unassisted steam. A 16.23 departure from Exeter made for a very pleasant afternoon’s trip to Plymouth, for which the log is set out in Table 2. I was unable to travel further west because it was not possible to get home in East Devon from the next stop at St Austell. There was good acceleration away from Exeter, with the nine-coach train’s speed rising to 71mph on the level beyond Exminster. No. 6201 was in the capable hands of WCR’s Andy Taylor, with Simon Scott as fireman and Phil Lockley as traction inspector.
Clock’s fast?
The schedule included a pathing stop at Dawlish Warren for 13 minutes to allow the 07.50 Glasgow-Penzance CrossCountry service to overtake, but this was running around 20 mins late so we were allowed to omit the stop. A combination of signal checks and a pws from Dawlish Warren almost to Teignmouth, followed by a further signal check approaching Newton Abbot, meant that the 20.2 miles to this point occupied 31 mins 5 secs. The schedule was generous, so we were still just ahead at Newton Abbot. There was a terrific acceleration away - my notebook records ‘Great noise!’ We attained 54mph by the foot of the 1-in-98/57 which prefaces the climb to Dainton at ever-steepening gradients. Over the last mile from the site of Stoneycombe Siding to Dainton Tunnel, speed fell from 39 to 24mph. The descent to the Dart Valley at Totnes offered some respite. Here, the
It was too good an opportunity to miss, to travel over the Devon Banks with unassisted steam
speed was 55mph against a 60mph line limit, which leads me to believe that No. 6201’s speedometer may be reading fast, and that theory is also borne out by the maxima with this locomotive usually being in the 71-72mph range, rather than the full 75mph permitted. Speed fell steadily on the climb away through the foothills of Dartmoor to Rattery and Marley Tunnel. The steepest gradient is the 1-in-52 to Tigley, where speed fell to 28mph, but there was a recovery up the valley of the Harbourne River to 34mph on 1-in-90, falling to 31½mph on 1-in-65 to Rattery. The next mile, at 1-in-200, then 1-in-131 through Marley Tunnel, meant speed rose to 39½mph. There is a more gentle rise to the summit at Wrangaton, where the minimum was 43mph. The line limit varies between 55 and 60mph on the curving gradual descent from Wrangaton, and brakes had to be used to keep within the speed limits. Speeds of 70mph and more are often reached after Hemerdon on straight track down the 1-in-42 to Plympton, but on this occasion Andy Taylor was content with a maximum of just 60mph. A signal stop with the locomotive just inside Mutley Tunnel could not prevent the train arriving 28½mins early at Plymouth. In the next issue I shall describe No. 6201’s return run from Penzance, on which I travelled throughout to Exeter, another run that was equally devoid of diesel assistance.