TABLE 2:KING’S CROSSTOYORK
hurtled down towards Crewe at a full 125mph picking up another 1min recovery allowance, making us a little more than 4min early.
The Euston to Manchester ‘Pendolinos’ use the Up side platform 5 at Crewe so it was unlikely we would be able to maintain our early running. So it proved as we passed the collection of ancient and modern stock, that characterises the approach to the railway town, at severely reduced speed. Arrival was 1min early in 89min 28sec at an average start to stop speed of 106mph. The net time was a shade over 86min, which would represent an average speed of almost 110mph. The fastest actual time in the Railway Performance Society (RPS) electronic archive is 88min 01sec. Ontrain catering and ticket checks had been faultless and the train had been well loaded in both classes despite the high frequency and mid-morning departure.
‘Fake News’
While delving into the wealth of information contained in the RPS records, I checked on where the railway stood prior to Virgin Trains taking over the franchise in 1997.
‘Fake News’ and ‘Management by Press Release’ were tactics understood even a quarter of a century ago. New services were usually compared with extended journey times that contained engineering allowances for the improvement work necessary. The problem was management sometimes appeared to believe its own publicity. The true position that British Rail bequeathed to Virgin is perhaps best demonstrated by the run shown in Table 1 recorded by RPS member Bill (W E) Long in 1995 with a relatively lightweight nine-coach train hauled by Class 87 No. 87023 Velocity rather than a then modern Class 90. By 1995 Velocity was more than 20 years old.
The 100min 22sec run is the fastest locohauled run from Euston to Crewe in the archive, but it is not unrepresentative as the run was a restrained one, despite the prima facie evidence of an 8½min early arrival. The February run with the 17.25 Euston-Glasgow ‘Caledonian’ was of course in darkness so Mr Long has shown averages where necessary (shown in italics in the table).
Power Cars
Load*
Train
Date Recorder/Position 43290 + 43208 2+9/306/335/476
10:00 King’s Cross-Aberdeen November 4, 2019
J Heaton 9th of 11
Miles Timing Point
0.00 King’s Cross
0.65 Belle Isle
2.41 Finsbury Park
4.88 Alexandra Palace
9.05 New Barnet
12.65 Potters Bar
17.60 Hatfield
20.21 Welwyn Garden City 15 21.90 Welwyn North (½) 23.69 Woolmer Green 16 24.94 Knebworth <1> 27.50 Stevenage 20½ 31.85 Hitchin 22½ 35.53 Three Counties
36.94 Arlesey
41.06 Biggleswade
44.03 Sandy
46.28 Everton
51.60 St. Neots
55.80 Offord
58.70 Huntingdon
61.90 MP 62
63.35 Abbots Ripton
67.26 Connington South
69.23 Holme
72.56 Yaxley
76.26 Peterborough a.
76.26 d./p.
79.38 Werrington Jct
81.80 Helpston
84.70 Tallington
87.00 Greatford
92.11 Little Bytham
96.99 Corby Glen
99.65 Stoke Jct
105.35 Grantham
107.71 Peascliffe TSP
109.58 Barkston South Jct
115.24 Claypole
116.76 Balderton
120.03 Newark
122.88 Bathley Lane
126.21 Carlton
131.85 Tuxford
134.40 Askham TNP
138.51 Retford
141.59 Sutton
143.89 Ranskill
147.61 Bawtry
151.26 Rossington 87½ 153.08 Black Carr Jct (½) 155.89 Doncaster 90½ 157.93 Arksey (1) 160.19 Shaftholme Jct 94 165.78 Balne (½) 169.10 Temple Hirst Jct 99 174.90 Hambleton North Jct 102 [1] 182.90 Colton Jct 107 186.44 Chaloners Whin Jct
188.40 York
WTT 0
2
4
6
11
28½
35½
[1]
41½
45½
50 (½)
58 (1) 62
67 [1] 70½ 80 [1]
111
MS
0 00 247 452 658 942 1152 14 32 1612 18 01 19 24 20 11 21 39 26 28 28 54 29 40 31 43 33 08 3412 36 45 38 47 40 14 41 48 42 31 44 22 45 24 47 26
49 33 5114 52 30 53 55 55 01 57 28 59 53 61 15 67 19 6902 7104 74 29 75 14 76 53 78 31 80 17 8304 84 23 8632 88 06 89 18 9145 93 38 94 32 96 03 97 16 9833 101 37 103 13 107 19 112 05 113 58 116 36
43098 + 43110
MPH
T
31
70/rbt58
85
97
103
115/sigs
48
74
87
97 111/115/sigs13 67
109
115/128
126
124
128
124/128 119/118 123/124
120
125/127
123
102/96
100/106
103
115
121
124
126
124/120
122 112/115/sigs35 72/91
76/50tsr 43
72
118
123/125
103
109
119/122
119
115
113
123/125
90tsr 86
104
118
123
95
107/109
102
120
127/sigs41
76
117/120
87
A clear run and 2min of allowances allowed No. 87023 to pass Tring in 22min 05sec with obvious easing to avoid being checked by the preceding 17.20 Euston-Northampton, perhaps not entirely successfully. Bill Long also suspects the speedometer was over-reading as the maximum speed was so often 107mph, where 110mph might have been expected.
This speed was probably not low enough to represent deliberate dissipation of time and, if it was so, it did not work as the substantially early 2+8/272/300/441
12.00 King’s Cross-Inverness January 11,1993
J Heaton 8th of 10
WTT 0
2
4
6
10½
14½
16½
18½ 20½
26½
33
38½
42
47 55 58
60½
64½ 75 [2] <1>
87
89
<2>
103
107½
M S 000 251 457 643 925 11 37 14 19 15 41 16 35 17 33 18 12 19 29 21 37 23 24 24 05 26 03 27 30 28 36 31 16 33 40 35 11 36 51 37 36 39 30 40 33 42 25 45 50 47 52 51 52 53 28 55 14 56 35 59 29 62 17 63 52 67 01 68 25 69 25 72 13 72 57 74 32 76 13 78 05 81 07 82 30 84 38 86 10 87 22 89 45 91 44 92 42 94 39 96 17 97 44 100 51 102 38 105 43 109 55 111 48 114 17
MPH
5½L
30
69
93/90
96/99
96
118
113
112
110
117
120/129
128
123
126
125
120 125/100tsr 96
113
117
114
117
125
108/105
110 crew change only?
82
97
102
105
106
104
100/115
98
107
115
124
125
115/93
105
110/113
110
111
120
120
91
100
115
110/sigs
70
86
95
109
113
113
118
94 arrival testifies.
The gross schedule of the 1995 ‘Caledonian’ was 109min, and the net 99min, compared to the ‘Pendolino’s’ 90½min and 86½min, respectively. The Class 87’s actual time was 100½min, net 100min, compared to No. 390044’s 89½ and 86min. The 18½min saving on the gross schedule during Virgin’s tenure is an outstanding achievement. The improved running speed from 110mph to 125mph has been partly responsible, as has the
commitment to running tilting trains without the problems abandoned by British Rail with its Advanced Passenger Train. The 10min improvement between No. 87023’s actual time and that of the ‘Pendolino’ is perhaps less impressive.
The aim of my trip had been to reach
Crewe in time to connect with a three-car Class 331/0, one of Northern’s new EMUs, which have set new acceleration standards. That train arrived with a pair of Class 142s on electric timings. I suppose the appearance of this endangered species was the modern equivalent of a steam 2-6-4T on three coaches substituting for a DMU in 1967, but somehow it did not seem as attractive a proposition so I declined the opportunity.
Over on the East Coast the introduction of bi-mode ‘Azumas’ on Aberdeen and Inverness trains marked the coming of the end for London North Eastern Railway’s HST fleet. There is no shortage of takers for the displaced sets and we await the final outcome of the share-out with interest. LNER marked its final departure with special trains from December 18 to 21, some of which had rather mixed fortunes
‘Last journey’
I must admit to not enjoying ‘firsts and lasts’, preferring to remember passing chapters of railway history in terms of normal operation. On my journey to York on the
10.00 King’s Cross-Aberdeen ‘Northern
Lights’ on November 4, I was conscious this would probably be my last journey from King’s Cross with an HST appropriately, I thought, in the path of what most of us still think of as the former, but now non-existent, Down ‘Flying Scotsman’.
Table 2 shows the log of the run. Now carrying a ‘W’ instead of the traditional ‘S’ in its train reporting number, 1W11 was booked to cover the 188½miles in 111min at an average speed of 101.9mph. Apparently no longer the first train on the planner’s graph, the reasonable 4min recovery time has an extra 1min performance allowance and no fewer than six pathing allowances totalling another 4min, where the named train fails to command a path through three congested areas. However, subtract 9min from the gross schedule and you are left with a testing 102min 110.9mph timing.
East Coast HSTs started as seven-car sets and expanded to eight and then nine intermediate coaches, putting extra pressure on the power car engines. At one stage after the addition of the ninth car it looked as if it might prove too much, but new MTU engines met the challenge. The second run in Table 2 shows a King’s Cross to York run at the nadir of HST performance with a 2+8 run that was not too unusual for the time on the 12.00 ‘Highland Chieftain’ from King’s Cross to Inverness, which required a 107½min gross, 102½min net run to the Yorkshire city. The late start was caused by waiting a replacement driver following disruption to Up journeys, with the booked crew joining at a special Peterborough stop. Despite the urgent situation the performance on Stoke Bank was pitiful.
The 2019 ‘Northern Lights’ power cars
Nos. 43290/43208 started slowly from the London terminus, dropping a minute to Finsbury Park and conducting a 70mph to 58mph running brake test immediately thereafter. Potter’s Bar was passed at only 103mph, failing to reach the maximum permissible speed of 115mph until just before Welham Green. Running 1min late with ½min pathing allowance over Welwyn Viaduct should have effectively converted the allowance to recovery time, but the timetable was creaking badly so Aberdeen was brought down to just 48mph as a 12min-late 09.21 King’s CrossCambridge performed its Welwyn North stop with a fast Thameslink EMU behind it. With the stopper overtaken on the Down slow line from Woolmer Green Jct, and despite reaching 111mph at Stevenage, the HST caught up the EMU, which was turning onto the Hitchin flyover to Cambridge, bringing the HST down to its knees at just 13mph.
Hitchin was passed 4min late at 67mph, still losing time, and one might have forgiven the HST driver for losing motivation at this stage. Instead, we were reminded of just what an HST can still do, nine coaches and all. Regaining 125mph after Arlesey, the express took just 302sec for the 10.54miles from Biggleswade to St Neot’s, averaging 125.6mph. Despite an unchecked run, swooping down from Abbot’s Ripton to Stilton Fen and 1min recovery time, the Aberdeen train was still 4min late passing through Peterborough, where the limit is 105mph. What would our 2+9 set manage on the legendary climb to Stoke tunnel? Full speed was reached immediately after passing the shell of the former DowMac concrete sleeper factory at Tallington level crossing. The minimum speed up the 1-in-200 after Little Bytham was 120mph, rallying to 122mph at Corby Glen before easing over the summit.
The Scottish express was now 3½min late with 1min pathing allowance through Grantham. Unfortunately, the 08.56 NorwichLiverpool Lime Street was running 6min late and allowed to proceed from Stoke Jct despite this. Had 1W11 been on time the unit might have been held. A signal check to 35mph as the Class 158 entered the Down slow platform at Grantham followed by a 50mph temporary speed restriction (tsr) at the former Barkston South Jct, where the Skegness branch used to part company with the main line before the Allington chord was constructed, caused terminal damage to aspirations of a punctual arrival at York. Running 7½min late passing Claypole at 97mph, but still accelerating, and with just 5min of allowances, even a clear run would be to no avail.
Punctuality
A booked 90mph tsr at Ranskill on the 125mph section cost ½min and the usual Doncaster signal check failed to prevent the HST catching up the 07.45 Reading-Newcastle ‘Voyager’, 13min late through Hambleton North, checking the HST to 41mph. The privilege of a clear run into York was an assistance, although the 4min allowance from Colton Jct to the platform still proved too tight for us to achieve. Arrival was 116min
36sec from King’s Cross, still 5½min late on a slack schedule. ‘Slack schedules produce slack working’ was the mantra preached to me in my early years on the railway. Look no further than this run for a clear indication of why East Coast punctuality continues to disappoint.
The two legendary main line adversaries have both undergone transformation at the end of 2019, the East Coast in terms of technology and the West Coast by way of organisational disruption. The latter should be easier to encompass. On my first run with the new
Avanti West Coast train operating company, from Manchester to Euston on the third day of the winter 2019/20 timetable, the only discernible signs of transition were different coloured place mats and antimacassars. Even Virgin’s signature balloon mural in the toilet had survived, as well as the so-called humorous toilet seat remarks which must surely by now try the patience of even the most jocularly inclined regular travellers. ■
“‘Slack schedules produce
slack working’ was the mantra preached to me in my early years on the railway. Look no further than this run for a clear indication of why East Coast punctuality
continues to disappoint.”