VOYAGEOS NTHE 'GOLDEN HIND'
OJohnHeatonFCILT analyses some of the performances on the 'Golden Hind' train between London and the South West, covering diesel locos, HSTsand also the new Class 80x IETsets.
N THE evening of June 12, 1990, a freight train had been derailed at Hemerdon and single-line working was being initiated.
As area manager at Exeter, I made my way to St David's. The operating team there was more than capable of handling the incident, but it never hurt to be seen when trouble was afoot. On reaching the duty manager's deserted office I found the telephone ringing incessantly.It needed answering.
"Duty manager's office. Area manager speaking."
"It's the Penzance driver and guard of the 'Golden Hind' here on platform 4."
"Yes ...... ?"
It had been there half an hour. The crew would be wanting to get home.
"We were wondering how long we were going to be here."
From what I had picked up walking onto the station any attempt at a prediction would be just a guess.
"We can't sayjust yet. I should get yourselves to the front of the station and start with a bus down to Plymouth."
The driver's response was preceded by a moment's hesitation. "We can't do that!" he exclaimed. "Our
LDC would make our life hell if we came home without the stock for tomorrow's 'Hind'."
Click. By 'LDC' he meant the Penzance drivers' staff representatives.
This one example demonstrates the importance of the 'Golden Hind' to the railway ethos of the West Country. Unlike many titled trains this name had its beginnings not in any of the many so-called Golden Ages of pre-Nationalisation, and even pre-Grouping companies, but 16 years into the existence of British Rail, and in the teeth of the hurricane that blew away so much of the railwayinfrastructure during the 1960s - not only in the Beeching era but also during the incessant process of contraction that had preceded it.
Gerard Fiennes in his seminal biography I tried to run a Railwayrelates how the West Country became 'pretty bolshie'. The 1963 Beeching Plan proposed closure of almost all the branch lines of Devon and Cornwall. The main line from Penzance to Plymouth was under threat, and it had been suggested that Fowey's annual half-million tons of china clay traffic would not save it from extinction.
If ever a gesture of good faith had been crucial it was then. Fiennes credits Plymouth divisionalmanager David Pattison with the breakthrough. To a fanfare of publicity he
launched the fastest ever service from Plymouth to Paddington with a dedicated fleet ofDlO00 (later Class 52) diesel-hydraulic 2,700hp locomotives, limited loads and high-quality catering.
In summer 1963 Plymouth to London daytime service comprised just seven trains, the first leaving at 06.30 and the last at 16.30. The 06.30 ambled up to Exeter, taking 96min before it left St David's station, another 36min to its departure from Taunton and then 153min for the 143miles to Paddington, arriving at 11.15.
The 'Golden Hind' constituted a revolution. It left Plymouth at 07.05, Exeter St David's at 08.18, Taunton at 08.48, and arrived at Paddington by 10.55. The journey time had been lopped by almost an hour and even the Taunton to Paddington average speed had been increased by 11½mph to 67½.
Cornwall was not forgotten either. There was a connection from St Austell, possibly as a sop to the headquarters of the china clay industry, leaving at 05.30, but by 1965 this became a Truro starter at 05.15 to serve the Cornish county town. By 1970 the Truro connection had been improved to 05.25, with a smart 5min transfer at Plymouth.
Devon's new train required compulsory seat reservations - not a new concept to the West Country, for instance on summer Saturdays, but not something with which the residents of Devon and Cornwall were familiar on their business trips. The statement was clear. This was a high-quality product with a limited supply. Reserve now to avoid disappointment.
Dropped
The Down train had yet another stipulation for those joining at Paddington: 'seats should be claimed 10 minutes before departure'. I do not recall any other similar requirement being demanded elsewhere, but it was quietly dropped in 1970. Fiennes claimed an overall load factor of '70% and rising' within three months of the launch. An inaugural Plymouth to Paddington schedule of230min was shaved to 225min in 1968 and just 220min in 1971, with a Plymouth departure of07.10 for 10.50 at Paddington.
Table 1 shows the earliest 'Golden Hind' run in the Railway Performance Society (RPS) electronic archive, from June 1964, with
No. D 1027 i¼stern Lancer, timed by the
Rev R S Haines, a well-known contributor to performance articles from as early as the 1930s.
Unfortunately, only the average speeds are shown, but it is evident running in the mid-80s was sufficient to keep time on what was then a much lower speed railway.Mr Haines has shown all the allowances in a circle or, conventionally nowadays, as pathing, but I think most of it was recovery so I have taken some liberties in making alterations to the schedule part of the log.
The following year, No. 1051 i¼stern Ambassadorfailed at Taunton to be replaced by the first loco to hand, 'Warship' D807 Caradoc,an operation that incurred just 12½min overtime. This was a light train, but the 'Warship' nevertheless belied the reputation of its class with a splendid performance that involved much 90mph running, recorded by RPS member KB Stone.
One of the high averages showing 97.7mph 0.00 TAUNTOdN
4.74 CogloadJct
7.90 Athelney
12.97 LangporEt
22.69 KeintonMand
27.55 CASTLCEARY 30.99 Bruton
34.45 Brewham
36.26 EastSomerseJt
40.44 8/atchbridgJe
45.73 FairwoodJ
48.10 HeywoodRdJ
51.18 Edington
54.69 Lavington
61.62 Patney
63.79 Woodborough
67.38 Pewsey
72.59 Savernake
76.28 Bedwyn
81.17 Hungerford 84.23 Kintbury
89.63 NEWBURY 93.13 Thatcham
95.96 Midgham 101.40 Theale
104.92 SouthcotJe
106.73 READING 111.67 Twyford
118.44 Maidenhead 121.78 Burnham
124.27 SLOUGH 131.77 Hayes&H 133.62 Southall
136.98 EalingB.
138.47 ActonMainL 141.49 WestbournPeark
142.56 PADDINGTOa N 0 6 18 26 29 31
35½ 41 49
[2] 61 70 72 76 80
83
87 90 [5]
100 000 ½L
419 96 65.9 610 109/111 102.5 901 106/105 106.7 1431 110/113 106.0 1716 95 106.0 1919 102 100.7 2125 92 98.9 2229 105/107 101.8 2459 99/112 100.3 27 57 107 107.0 2939 70/tsr40 83.6 3213 91 72.0 3426 108/tsr60 95.0 3905 79 89.4 4024 103/112 98.9 4222 106/110 109.5 45 21 93/70 104.8 4801 96/101 83.0 5111 77 92.7 5314 94/tsr20 89.6 5819 90/106 63.7 6022 103 102.4 6204 98/106 99.9 6511 104 104.7 67 38 60/40 86.2 6958 50/sigs 46.5 7429 97 65.6 7812 119 109.4 7948 127 125.2 8058 129 127.9 8427 131 129.2 8518 129 130.6 8655 124.8 87 42 101/sigs 113.9 9006 10/- 75.6 9352 16.9 0
1812 22 05 2454 27 52 2916 32 06 35 52 37 36 3950 4216 4715 4848 5118 5512 5812 62 37 6507 71½ 6922 [3½] 7211 7427 7854 8312 8602 9017 9511 97 35 103½ 9922
[2] 10454 111½ 10616 (4½) 10846 10956 11328 11720 21½ 32 36 38
[3] 46 50½ 58 61½ 90 94½ 99½ 122 127 000 5 07 7 25
AveMPH 12½L 55.6 82.4
82.3
75.1
73.3
70.0
77.6
88.5
84.3
82.0
82.7
86.5
83.4
84.0
86.2
80.2
73.8
66.4
73.4
76.2
74.6
74.9 73.3/sig! 49.1
38.3
69.7
83.0
83.4
83.7
81.3
81.2
80.7
79.4
51.4
16.5 0 21½ 32 36 38
[3] 46 50½ 5012 5232 5615 5932 63 25 65 56 6950 7159 73 57 7804 8047 83 22 87 47 92 24 9435 103½ 9612
[2] 10109 111½ 10223 58 61½ 71½ [3½] 90 94½ 99½ 123 000 547
12 50 1944 2317 2612 2942 31 05 33 50 37 32 3916
43 52
10842 11152 11904
70.0 84.5 82.1 70.8 59.3 78.5 91.2 85.8 82.0
86.0
86.2 92.3 84.1 67.4 75.6 73.0 83.1 97.7 86.3 79.3 77.7 42.0 67.1 88.1 91.7 92.3 90.9 90.0
46.1 57.3 8.9
looks a little out of place, but Ben specifically claimed 98mph approaching Newbury. He assessesthe net Taunton to Paddington timing as being 113min, with which I agree.
Coincidentally, D 1001 Western Pathfinder had taken 113min 01sec with the pre-introduction press run on April 8, 1964. Class 50s lasted only a short period of time on the 'Golden Hind' during 1975/6. Of the three archive runs the fastest is 122min 50sec.
The scope for further schedule reductions was finite: there was clearly a limit to what a diesel locomotive could achieve on the low-speed railway of Devon, followed by the Berks & Rants route, from Taunton's Cogload Jct to Reading, which had its own limitations. Indeed, it still has, but there was eventually an improvement in the mid-1980s with Westbury re-signalling. To make such progress on a route slated by Beeching for closure, eventually but reluctantly commuted to the much improved status of 'not for development', constituted a remarkable victory.
Even in the mid-1980s, maps used to emerge from board headquarters with the Frame and Westbury avoiding lines missing - facilities without which primary rail route the far west to London might just as well have reverted to the Bristol route of pre-1906. However, Western Regional management led a second successful rearguard action against the anonymous backroom boffins.
It was in 1972 when the 'Golden Hind' achieved the breakthrough of starting at Penzance, an extension eagerly embraced by the Cornish. The start was 05.10, with a journey of 328min to Paddington, and just 218min from Plymouth, with an 07.00 start from the Devon city, and an arrivalofl0.38. An allegedly unresponsive and production-oriented nationalised industry had discovered the ideal
marketing time for a breakfast train. It must surely have been some sort of accident.
By now the Class 52 locomotives were around only 10 years old, but the authorities had eyes on eliminating diesel-hydraulic traction with replacement by diesel-electrics,ultimately Class 50s displaced from the West Coast after the 1974 completion of electrification to Glasgow. The heroic 1972 timings were eased in 1973 and 1974 by 5min to Plymouth and a further 3min to Paddington.
In 1975, the timetable was extended by yet another 12min. Someone had lost the plot. Just when the Eastern Region was making an impact on business travel with its 'Deltic on 8' operation, the 'Golden Hind' often grew to 10 coaches and sometimes more. One presumes a timetable that had been planned at the onset of the oil crisishad resulted in pressure to increase productivity and business travel had been depleted both by economic uncertainty and industrial unrest.
The Penzance departure time was advanced by 18min to an ungodly 04.47 and that of Plymouth similarlyto 06.44, although the London arrivalwas at least also earlier, at 10.35. The 'Golden Hind' had arguably ceased, at least for the time being, to be a crack express when measured by national standards.
After another year of these 348/23lmin timings, the 1977 timetable restored post-05.00 Penzance and 07.00 Plymouth departures with a 336/222 schedule, handled by the mercurial Class 50s: normally admirable but inherently untrustworthy.
Pared
The Penzance to Plymouth time was pared by lmin for 1978, which was maintained in 1979. It should perhaps be added here that the Penzance and Plymouth times have been compared for clarity and consistency, but there was little Penzance-originating business, and travel from Exeter and Taunton was crucial to the viability of the 'Golden Hind' throughout existence. It is also worth noting the train had various extensions to its title from time to time, such as 'Executive' and Pullman', depending on fashion.
It was October 1979, when the 'Golden Hind' assumed the guise it adopted to become the Western Region's top train (pause for momentary, if insincere, apologies to the
'Cornish Riviera' and perhaps the 'Welsh Dragon'). The dramatic effect IC125 high-speed trains (HSTs) brought to the Western is no better demonstrated than by the sea change the 'Golden Hind"s 312/207min timing achieved; a 78min 27% improvement on the pre-Hind
1963 timing of the 06.30 departure.
Confidence was high, with the 1980 timetable promising a record-breaking 5hr transit from Penzance to Paddington and a sub200min timing from Plymouth ofl98min. its
Results indicated even better could be offered: 1981 saw 300/198 improved to 295/198 by advertising 05.19 Penzance, 07.00 Plymouth and 10.14 Paddington.
The dinosaurs of pre-sector railway management could see some low-hanging fruit. Well at least the vegetarian ones and omnivores could.
The aspiration of the 10.00 Paddington arrival preferred by many business customers waswithin reach. Bysacrificingthe optimum 07.00 Plymouth departure and moving the Penzance time forward from 05.19 to 05.07 even deer could benefit as the 1982 'Golden Hind' feasted on the extra business generated by a 293/195min timing.
Logs of the 'Golden Hind' in Cornwall are scarce. The combination of the early start and high fares providing an effective deterrent.
It is not that high fares are justified by there being no spare space, it is simply that trading down from full First Class to bargain Standard Class fares at a ratio of perhaps 5:1 is counterproductive. Party travel, on the other hand, can sometimes be accommodated because First Class ticket-holders cannot 'buy in' to the lower fare.
Table 2 shows two runs from Penzance to Plymouth, one by an HST and one with an IET, both timed by RPS Penzance resident Chris Hogg. There is a slight advantage to be had by the HST, but overall there is little to choose between the two until the Plymouth approach.
The short station-to-station runs in Cornwall suit the IET's better acceleration to low speeds than an HST, which does not have much headway to pull it back by their better performance from around 50mph. Nevertheless, HST net running times are 1½min quicker than those ofIETs, although ½min shorter dwell times at five intermediate stations more than offset the HSTs' benefit.
Attaching
The practice of attaching a second five-coach portion at Plymouth incurs extra time not only for coupling but also for the cautious running into the platform. Presumably the extra mileage savings through the use of the single set exceed business lost from the longer Plymouth dwell time, unreliability, extra staff and Cornish passengers having to walk along the platform for breakfast, not to mention overcrowding when the move is unsuccessful and only one set can go forward.
The London arrivaltime of no later than 10.00 became the traditional feature of the golden years of the 'Golden Hind' for a full quarter of a century. The earliest scheduled 'Golden Hind' arrival in the capital was 09.55 in 1987, aided by Exeter and Westbury resignalling improvements, a time revisited for a year in 1997.
The preferred 07.00 Plymouth departure time was restored in 1988, with a 180min schedule to Paddington. Departure time from
0.00 TAUNTOdN 4.74 CogloadJct
7.90 Athelney
12.97 LangporEt
22.69 KeintonMand
27.55 CASTLCEARY 30.99 Bruton
34.45 Brewham
36.26 EastSomerseJt
40.44 8/atchbridgeJ
45.73 FairwoodJ
48.10 HeywoodRdJ
51.18 Edington
54.69 Lavington
61.62 Patney
63.79 Woodborough
67.38 Pewsey
72.59 Savernake
76.28 Bedwyn
81.17 Hungerford 84.23 Kintbury
89.63 NEWBURY
93.13 Thatcham
95.96 Midgham 101.40 Theale
104.92 SouthcoteJ
viaunderpass 106.85 READINaG
0.00 d
4.94 Twyford
11.71 Maidenhead 15.05 Burnham
17.54 SLOUGH
25.04 Hayes&H
26.89 Southall
30.25 EalingB
31.74 ActonMainL 34.76 WestbournPeark 35.83 PADDINGTOa N 18½ 24½ 27[1] 31(1) 33½
37½ (½) 42½
[1] 52 61½ [2] 73½
77 80½ 5 8½
11½ 15 16
18½ [2] 25½
4130 4336 4656 4946 5310 55 28 5856
61 03 6251 7453 7930 437 807 946 1059 1441 15 36
1813 2244 2828
107
94/97
82/69
94/99 51 75/89 [1] 70tsr 79
109 60½
97 92
-/sig8s /33 72½ 103/123 122/124 121
123
120
122
92/sigs sigs [2]
76 78½ 5 8½
11½ 15 16
19 (½)[2] 27
41 39 42 56 4457 4824 5116 5439 5645 5953
62 04 6349 6705 6948
7409 7855 3 58 712 847 958 13 33 1425 1603 2618
38 100 (½) 106/111 44 97
81/69 91/97/7'52½ 76/92 91/109
101
99/103 95/102 100/sigs 47/sigs 60½
61 07 62 SS 6615 70½(2) 72 57
78
82½ 124/127/1419 123/128 7½ 127 126/125 10½ 1247 128/126 14 1652 128/126 15 2024 sigsl 11 (½) 22 38 sigs 3/47 17½ 23 33 (½)[1] 2630 23½ 2905
7709 82 22 332 651
95
92/99 90/sigstop 22/39 123/125 120/123 20tsr 19 71/124 110/sigs3 50/108 105
97
40