With Full Regulator
LOCOMOTIVE PERFORMANCE THEN AND NOW
Don Benn looks at some of the memorable workings by recently retired driver Ray Churchill.
In his latest column, Don Benn completes the story of the performance of No. 45699 Galatea running as No. 45562 Alberta on the ‘Cumbrian Mountain Express’ on October 10, 2020. The main workings featured are with the recently retired Ray Churchill, driving No. 5043 Earl of Mount Edgcumbe, No. 34067 Tangmere and with GWR steam railmotor No. 93. All images by the author.
IT SEEMS that it will still be a while before we see a return to main line steam operation. Therefore, this time I am looking back at some of the great main line steam performances which the recently retired Vintage Trains driver Ray Churchill delighted us with in recent years, plus a rare chance to see the performance of the GWR Steam Railmotor No. 93.
First however, as promised in my last column, table one shows the completion of the ‘Cumbrian Mountain Express’run from Carlisle on Saturday, October 10, 2020; the section from Hellifield to Preston. Once again I am grateful to Sandy Smeaton for the very full details shown in the table. After a good effort down from Appleby with the 12 coach load driven by Mick Rawling and with Craig Todd firing, the train left Hellifield on time.
Sandy describes the progress: “After ambling down to Clitheroe, passed six minutes early, Mick Rawling made sure he had a clear road through Whalley and accelerated to 47½mph through the station. At Langho speed had fallen to 24½mph and then 17mph entering Wilpshire Tunnel. However, coming out of the damp, leafy south end the engine slipped and speed fell to 9½mph, with a half mile of 1-in-86 still to climb. There were no more slips however and speed rose marginally to 10½mph at Ramsgreave station and the Summit gradient post was passed at 13mph.
“Still running early, we were stopped at Daiseyfield Junction and in Blackburn station, before running down to wait again outside Preston to cross over into Platform 5, eventually stopping 6½ minutes late, hardly justice after the excellent effort made by the crew throughout from Carlisle.”
I was on several of the great runs which Ray Churchill coaxed out of GWR Castle 4-6-0 No. 5043 Earl of Mount Edgcumbe, and the one which stands out for me was the nonstop trip from Birmingham Moor Street to London Marylebone on Saturday, April 6, 2013. This must have taken a lot of careful planning to secure a non-stop path, which in the event was nearly negated by a lineside fire at Ardley and the reaction to this as we shall see.
Anticipation
With a high degree of anticipation we arrived at Moor Street via the 6.22am Cross Country service from Southampton to New Street and a short walk to Moor Street in good time to see Class 47 No. 47773 bring the empty stock in from Tyseley with No. 5043 at the other end of the train heading the water carrier and eight coaches. The tare weight was 280 tons, being 320 tons full as the train was full, and also allowing extra weight for the water.
With Ray Churchill were Alastair Meanley on the shovel and inspector Andy Taylor. It was a bright but cold day with a keen wind from the north east, which would play its part later. We were timed right behind the 9.54am semi fast train to Marylebone at 9.57am, but actually left two-and-a-quarter minutes late, which I was pleased with as it avoided signal checks in the early stages.
Table two shows the detail. The start was steady I guess deliberately to try to avoid catching the 9.54am Marylebone in front, but we still caught it at Leamington. A superb climb of the 1-in-187 of Fosse Road bank with 57mph at Harbury Tunnel and 68½mph minimum on the 1-in-239 after Fenny Compton. Then some very fast running to Kings Sutton, where the train was now threequarters of a minute early, despite the checks and with the help of some high-speed running challenging the 75mph limit for some miles.
Another signal check down to 14mph intervened at Aynho Junction prior to a storming climb of the 1-in-200 to Ardley Tunnel at 37mph, which had the unfortunate consequence of causing a lineside fire, fanned by the wind and aided by the dry ground. This was followed by a lovely spell of unchecked fast running over easy gradients to Haddenham where the train was three minutes late due to the Aynho check which could hardly have occurred at a worse place.
The subsequent climb of gradients as steep as 1-in-88/100 to Saunderton summit beyond Princes Risborough was another fine piece of work, with speed only falling to 65½mph at the top. The dash down to High Wycombe saw us through there just 28 seconds outside the schedule and still three minutes late. To show how tight the schedule was over this last section, the average over the 24.7 miles from Bicester to West Wycombe was 74.3mph, which included 72½mph
minimum up the 1-in-200 to Brill Tunnel, a gain of
“A superb climb of the 1-in-187 of Fosse Road bank with 57mph at Harbury Tunnel followed, with 68½mph minimum achieved on the 1-in-239 after Fenny Compton. Then some very fast running to Kings Sutton, where the train was now three-quarters of a minute early, despite the checks and with the help of some high-speed running challenging the 75mph limit for some miles.”
just four seconds on the schedule!
After recovery from the High Wycombe restriction we caught the 10.47am from Aylesbury at Beaconsfield, but this was put into Platform 1 at Gerrards Cross to let us past. Then came a very fast descent down past Denham where the train was a minute inside schedule and Ray trying hard to recover the last minute of the late departure, but then disaster struck.
Signal
After Milepost 4 and approaching West Ruislip the brakes came on and we crept through the station at walking pace approaching a red signal, though the signal beyond was showing green. It was thought at the time by those on the train that this was a signal failure, but in fact it wasn’t.
I asked Ray about this recently and he replied:“I can do no better than type out part of the late Mike Notley’s report for you.‘Signal ME82 remained adamantly red and it looked as though a stop was inevitable. It seems that the signallers wanted to talk to the crew about the fire/fires we had, at that time, allegedly started and were going to stop the train to do so. However, this is where modern technology came to our aid. GSM-R (Global System for Mobile Communications – Railway) has been rolled out over part of the network and allows contact with Signalling Control Centres without the need to stop.
‘However, driver Churchill was fully occupied with
trying to keep No. 5043 crawling slowly forward and fireman Meanley with his duties. We were fortunate indeed that Andy Taylor, West Coast Railway Company’s operations manager south, was travelling on the footplate and, using GSM-R and all his negotiating skills, managed to persuade‘Control’to wait a little while to discuss the problem and, with No. 5043 within a few yards of the signal it quickly flicked to green, Ray Churchill opened No. 5043’s regulator and a clearly audible cheer went through the train. The check had been costly and as we passed South Ruislip we were nine minutes late and with all hope of a punctual arrival gone.
‘The whole point of the exercise was a non-stop run and that was achieved with a clear road into platform
2 at Marylebone where we stopped a little over eight minutes late.’”
Significance
With a 74mph maximum at Wembley Stadium, we recovered nearly two minutes from passing Northolt Park. Overall, a very fine net time of 108 minutes for the 111.51 miles had been achieved.
It was then, I suppose, inevitable that the return journey wouldhaveadiesellocomotiveonthefrontandsoitproved as when we returned to Marylebone after lunch, Class 47 No. 47245 was sitting ahead of No. 5043. Indeed, the diesel did most of the work to Banbury, reached six minutes late, where we abandoned the train to return home by Cross Country train after photographing the soon-to-be-replaced semaphore signals. Al in all, it was a day not to be forgotten.
“With no heroics needed, the minimum over Whiteball was 38mph and a lovely dash down the Exe Valley was enough to get us into Exeter over five minutes early. After a prolonged stop here, departure was just over three minutes late for the nonstop run to Plymouth accomplished in 12½ minutes under the easy timing giving an arrival nine minutes early. The minimum speed at Dainton tunnel was 16mph after some slipping over the last mile or so, and then 17½mph over Tigley.“
My next offering with Ray Churchill driving is shown in Table Three and was on ‘The Royal Duchy’ of Sunday, September 7, 2014. The early morning drive to Bristol was uneventful and after a brief breakfast we adjourned to the platforms to watch proceedings. First, just after 8am, Class 37 No. 37706 ran through platform 4 without stopping with the empty stock for our train, prompting concerns that our booked engine, No. 34067 Tangmere had failed.
Then LNER A4 Pacific No. 4464 Bittern, already coaled and watered, appeared to shunt the stock for its train, ‘The Torbay Express’, due to depart behind us at 9.15am. Our fears were groundless as when we walked to the other end of the platform, Tangmere was sitting quietly at the head of its nine coach train, weighing 322 tons tare and 345 tons full. Will this two train spectacle ever be seen again as diesel haulage from Bristol now seems to be the norm as far as Taunton, at least for the Par train or was before the current crisis?
What we didn’t know at the time was that the supply of coal for Tangmere was limited and our crew had to contend with this all the way to Par. Despite this, the performance throughout was excellent. Leaving on time the first section to Yatton took 18 minutes 44 seconds against the 17 minutes booked, with a maximum of 69½mph. We then ran the 32.83 miles nonstop to Taunton in 31 minutes 59 seconds with a maximum of 77½mph after Brent Knoll, arriving at Taunton a minute-and-a-half early before leaving on time.
Table three shows the section to Exeter St Davids reached in 35 minutes 42 seconds for the 30.75 miles. With no heroics needed, the minimum over Whiteball was 38mph and a lovely dash down the Exe valley was enough to get us into Exeter over five minutes early. After a prolonged stop here, departure was just over three minutes late for the nonstop run to Plymouth accomplished in 12½ minutes under the easy timing giving an arrival nine minutes early. The minimum speed at Dainton Tunnel was 16mph after some slipping over the last mile or so, and then 17½mph over Tigley.
Overall time was a respectable 70 minutes 32 seconds. As we had an evening commitment, we returned to Bristol on a Cross Country train, thus missing a great performance on the return journey. This trip had been a perfect example of how well Ray Churchill could handle the sometimes temperamental Tangmere.
Rarity
Finally, this time a very unusual steam machine for Ray Churchill to drive – the Great Western Society’s GWR Steam Railmotor No. 93, which on two days in October 2014 worked shuttles on the remaining section of the Southall to Brentford branch. We had tickets for the 11.20am shuttle on Saturday, October 18, but when we arrived it was clear that all was not well. The trailer coach No. 92 was unavailable, so the timetable had been abandoned and the crew were doing as many trips as possible.
We didn’t have to wait too long and our shuttle left at 12.13pm with Ray Churchill and Andy Taylor in charge. Table four shows the details of the performance, probably the most unusual performance log I have ever compiled, but full of interest on this fascinating branch. I don’t have much information of the gradients, except that it climbs at 1-in-110 from Trumpers up to Southall. The table ends at what I have named Brentford, though in truth this was short of the old Town station.
A week later I was timing A4 No. 60009 Union of South Africa at 79mph on the East Coast Main Line. Could there be a greater contrast?
Next time I hope to include a performance log of a train driven by Ray Poole, who has also retired recently. In addition, a run behind Thompson B1 4-6-0 No. 61306 Mayflower from 2015 – plus something from the 1960s.