102mph ‘Castle’

Thank you for the excellent special on GWR ‘Castle’ class locomotives. As a native of Didcot I had plenty of opportunities to see these engines in action. During the 1950s I travelled to school in Abingdon each day by train. The return home was usually on a train that departed Abingdon just before 5pm. Very occasionally, I managed to catch an earlier train before 4pm, and I arrived back at Didcot shortly before the Up ‘Bristolian’ was due. At that time it was the fastest scheduled service on BR, so I often waited to see it run through at a speed probably approaching 80mph. On one occasion, I arrived at Didcot and saw that the signals were off, so I did not have to wait long. When it came it shook me - along with the whole station. The noise and vibration was incredible. It sped through and was away into the distance, travelling far faster than any train I had ever experienced before. The next day I was shown a small report in The Daily Telegraph that said the ‘Bristolian’ had passed through Didcot at 102mph. But even then, no one would believe that I had seen it travelling at such a speed, especially as there was never any explanation for this. It was only in recent times that a knowledgeable railway contact provided a possible explanation for what I had seen. Apparently, the railway was considering reducing the journey time by five minutes, but was unsure how much recovery time it would have in hand for any unexpected delays en route. Therefore, for just one week, they invited the drivers to ignore the scheduled timings and to see how much time they could save. The same engine, No. 7018 Drysllwyn Castle, was used every day. Tony Stockwell, Redditch, Worcestershire

I enjoyed your ‘Castle Tribute’ issue, but feel I must take you to task on number 36 of your ‘73 memorable ‘Castle’ moments’ feature. While No. 5227 was indeed built in 1924, No. 4073 Caerphilly Castle had already emerged from Swindon Works in August 1923, so is unlikely to have been in the works at the same time as No. 5227 was under construction. David Patrick, by email