WITH FULL REGULATOR
LOCOMOTIVE PERFORMANCE THEN AND NOW
In his latest column, Don Benn looks at some recent excellent work by rebuilt Merchant Navy Pacific No. 35028 Clan Line on its home stomping ground with the UK Railtours ‘John Farrow Salute’, a very rare appearance for the Railway Touring Company’s ‘Cotswold Venturer’, and another fine performance by Carnforth’s 5XP Jubilee No. 45699, running as No. 45627 on the overloaded ‘Dalesman’.
MERCHANT Navy Pacific No. 35028 Clan Line is generally regarded as one of the most reliable main line steam locomotives, turning in top-class performances time and time again, constrained only at times by the imposition of the 75mph speed limit. This not only holds the locomotive back when time needs to be recovered but can result in excess braking and the use of harder engine working – and therefore more fuel than necessary, especially when faced with a climb after running downhill for some miles. Also, of course, extra wear and tear and higher maintenance costs result from this way of working. Significant extra maintenance costs would accrue if the speed limit were to be raised permanently but I can see no reason why, say, a 10mph excess should not be allowed in specified situations by agreement with those concerned beforehand and all those on the footplate at the time. A prime example of this would be the Southern's west of England route to Exeter via Salisbury where the extra impetus gained on the downhill sections would benefit speed, fuel use, and wear and tear on the subsequent uphill sections. Approaching Andover in both directions would be an example and I will come back to this in the description of the UK Railtours`John Farrow Salute'below.
I had booked for the `John Farrow Salute' early and made sure of being at Victoria in good time for the 8.46am departure by catching the 6.38am Southampton Airport Parkway to Waterloo. This is a train which, in normal times, is very full, but on August 18, as a result of the pandemic and holidays, it was comfortably loaded. It ran fast from Winchester to Waterloo in 56 minutes 17 seconds (booked 58) for the 66.5 miles with a very rare unchecked 90mph through Woking and a slightly early arrival despite a temporary speed restriction through Basingstoke and signal checks all the way in from Surbiton. A good omen for the day, I thought. A transfer to Victoria on Bus 507 saw me joining the waiting crowd just as 67024 brought the empty stock into platform two. I had arranged with Liz Morris, who runs UK Railtours since her father John Farrow passed on, for a block of eight seats for `my' group of `old timers'. As it happened, the stock was marshalled so we were in the second coach of the train, behind the engine and support coach.
A very fine performance
Our crew was Wayne Thompson and Dave Proctor, with inspector Geoff Ewans, and they had 12 coaches for 475 tons to deal with; 13 coaches in old money. We left slightly late and ran via Staines to Woking with a maximum speed of 62mph after Feltham. As booked, we crossed to the down fast line after Byfleet and ran into Woking close to right time – important as the Merchant Navy Locomotive Preservation Society had arranged a fast line path to Worting Junction and a respectable 63-minute booking for the 59.4 miles to Salisbury. There was much discussion within our group about if
an even time run was possible, bearing in mind that a 20mph speed restriction applied to Clan Line through Basingstoke. We decided it was, with a good start from Woking. Wayne, also, clearly had the same thought; the start with this big load was excellent and noisy, passing the summit of the climb to milepost 31 at 61½mph.
From there until the locomotive was shut off for the Basingstoke check, it was a case of running with speed as close to the limit as possible, averaging 75.47mph between mileposts 35 and 45 and so keeping the very tight 24-minute schedule, mainly against the collar, to pass Basingstoke.
Recovery from the check was again very vigorous and once past the summit at milepost 53½, it was a matter of keeping speed to the limit until the climb from Andover to Grateley. The dash down through Andover is always a highlight and Wayne then used 22% cut-off, increasing to 27% with nearly full regulator to take us over Grateley at a minimum of 66½mph. If the locomotive had been allowed to run up to 85mph through Andover, the cut-off could have been left at 22% and less steam taken to get us over the top at the same speed as in our trip. Be that as it may, we were now confident that an even time run to Salisbury was on the cards – but the Salisbury signallers had other ideas as they gave 6051, the Network Rail 10.14am Westbury to Eastleigh engineers' train, preference across in front of our heavy steam-hauled train. I will let readers decide whether this was sensible. However, we drew slowly to a stop next to milepost 82¼ in 56 minutes 14 seconds for the 58.07 miles from Woking, a start-to-stop average of 61.96mph.
We finally drew into Salisbury just over two minutes late, in 64 minutes 55 seconds from Woking. Net time was a superb 55 minutes, which compares well with the 52-minute allowance of the `Atlantic Coast Express' which, of course, didn't stop at Woking and had an 85mph speed limit. Table One shows the detail of this fine run.
Hill climb to Sherborne
The destination of our train was Sherborne for a memorial service for John Farrow, and after an extended break in Salisbury we continued still with Wayne Thompson, but now with Steve Matthews replacing Dave Proctor and Tom Rees as inspector. We left on time and ran well to the Gillingham stop, but with the climb to Semley marred by speed restrictions applying to Clan Line. Nevertheless, speed reached 69mph after Dinton and was 48½mph minimum on the 1-in-145 before Semley after recovering from 52½mph after the 14mph check through Tisbury. A speed of 76½mph downhill before the Gillingham stop saw us lose just over a minute on the tight allowance from Salisbury.
After crossing an up service train, we set off on the final section to Sherborne (see Table Two). The hill climbing was accompanied by deafening Bulleid thrash and needed full regulator and 35% cut-off. Speed was increasing on the 1-in-100 of both climbs and was the best work of the day. Arrival was more than a minute early, having gained three minutes on the schedule. The same crew was with us for the start of the return journey. The start was nearly five minutes late as insufficient time had been allowed to load the train, some of which was off the platform, though this worked to our advantage. The start from Sherborne is one of the most difficult anywhere for a steam locomotive with a big load, but of course Clan Line took the 2.55mile 1-in-80 climb to milepost 115½ in its stride. Even from the very back of the 12-coach train, as we now were, we could hear the engine working hard.
We dashed down Templecombe bank and over the hump through Buckhorn Weston tunnel before braking for Gillingham, where we were due to stop to allow a down train to pass. However, due to our late start, the train we were due to pass was already there and so after slowing to 26mph we stormed through and had a run up the 1-in-130/114/100 to Semley. Speed reached 46½mph before tailing off to a minimum of 39mph at the summit. Now luck was with us, as the 4.30pm Basingstoke to Yeovil had been terminated at Salisbury so we didn't need to be held in the Tisbury loop – though we still had a 15mph temporary speed restriction through Tisbury itself. We ran on unchecked down to Wilton Junction, with a maximum of 76mph after Dinton. I wondered what Salisbury would do with
“Clan Line took the 2.55mile 1-in-80 climb to milepost 115½ in its stride and even from the very back of the 12-coach train, as we now were, we could hear the engine working hard.”