Chasing the record
Official timekeeper John Heaton FCILT describes the record-breaking attempt and how it came to just miss out.
NEWLY-NAMED ‘Pendolino’
No. 390044 Royal Scot, standing in Platform 16 at Euston station on Thursday, June 17, had been specially selected as being the most responsive and reliable in the Avanti fleet, but it had been a close decision between that and classmate No. 390008.
Experienced Preston driver Neil Barker was charged with the task of running the 401.28 miles to Glasgow Central nonstop in a scheduled 3hr 53min, but the not-so-hidden agenda was a desire to achieve the fastest run ever on the route and beat the long-standing Advanced Passenger Train record of 3hr 52min 40sec, which had been achieved with a 2+8 formation featuring power cars Nos. 49003/6 during the short time the prototype tilting trains had been in service in 1984.
The press special back then was recorded for TRM by Peter Semmens, whose account appears in the April 1985 issue – an unusual event, in that it took place in darkness with a 16.35 departure on a December evening. In those days ‘after railjoints and before GPS’, the log relied on average speeds.
Careful planning
Looking to see whether the record could be beaten by a modern unit with speed monitoring equipment and signal overrun protection monitoring, two factors were obvious. First, the APT had not achieved uniformly high speeds throughout. The best averages were around 128mph – such as Lockerbie to Beattock, followed by a 310sec ascent to the summit of the typically 1-in-75 climb at a startling average speed of 116mph. Second, the special run had been hampered by a point detection fault at Stafford, which had resulted in a dead stand and cost 7min – in addition to likely Temporary Speed Restriction (TSRs) assessed at 13min for which due allowance had been made in the 237½min schedule.
Looking at the planned speed restrictions for the ‘Pendolino’ trip, it had been decided a 90mph slack at Nuneaton could be removed for the occasion and a reduction to 80mph progressing north in stages from Lockerbie could be avoided, leaving only a 50mph TSR from Carstairs South Jct for 1.54miles, which is required until remodelling is undertaken. When compared to the normal 90mph allowed here, a delay of 1½min after braking and accelerating constituted one of the reasons why a schedule any lower than 233min could not reasonably be quoted.
To achieve even this figure required the planners to alter 26 trains, of which the most obvious were the 10.23 Euston-Chester ‘Pendolino’ to run slow line from Ledburn Jct to Hanslope Jct and No. 397004 working the TransPennine Express 12.02 Preston-Glasgow Central being held at Carlisle to ensure there was no risk of a check to Royal Scot as the Class 397 would otherwise need to be looped en route.
The cooperation of Avanti, Network Rail and the train operating companies – including West Coast Railways at Carnforth, which moved two of its trains – could be seen to presage the approaching new era of railway management.
One must not forget the driving force behind the venture of retiring Railway Magazine editor Chris Milner, or the Department for Transport for sanctioning the initiative during the Covid-19 crisis. The message for the day from Network Rail chairman Sir Peter Hendy was that the railways were both back in business and seeking business.
Good start
The special train made a 12sec early start, good for timekeeping but not for pathing if the aim was to gain time, but it was soon evident from the purposeful driving that we were going to ‘go for it’. The timings were based on the slightly more powerful nine-car ‘Pendolino’ version, with a net 2min scratched from the sectional running times but, in the modern fashion, with no dispensations regarding permanent speed restrictions. Driver Barker improved on the tight schedule by 17sec at Wembley Central and 28sec by Tring, figures to be added to the 12sec early start to judge the run against booked clock time. If the margins achieved by Tring could have been maintained, the record would be in the bag, but it was not to be as easily won as that. By Milton Keynes Central, the lead had cut back to around 12sec, but we were 27sec down by Milepost 116 just before Lichfield. The times quoted are from the centre of the train whereas schedules are calculated from the front. A driver had commented on an internet forum that a record would depend on passing Milepost 116 in 60min, whereas we had taken 60min 19sec. Overhead line problems earlier in the day at Stafford had been cleared away, and then the enhanced speed of 115mph instead of the former 90mph at Norton Bridge helped the cause. Crewe gave the special a clear run to pass the railway town in exactly 83min on an 83min schedule! The 51miles to Preston required some precise driving and signalling, so it is to the credit of all concerned that our train managers Brad Joyce, James Dobson and Stephen Sands – who regularly apprised their passengers of timekeeping – were able to announce we had passed Preston in 112min 33sec on the 112½min schedule.
Northern climbs
We flew through Lancaster on time, taking Grayrigg at 89mph and Tebay at 106mph, just 3sec down on schedule. Royal Scot made short shrift of Shap, as is now commonplace, passing Scout Green at 109mph and easing over the summit. There was consistent 125mph running after Penrith until Wreay, but the passage of Carlisle seemed funereal with a maximum speed allowed of 20mph for all of 0.61miles plus, of course, the length of the train. The APT in 1984 had run through Carlisle at 38mph. Now 43sec ‘down’, over a minute would have to be recouped to get the record. My assistant timekeeper was Railway Performance Society publicity officer Baard Covington, who had brought his sophisticated Racelogic GPS equipment to the party. We agreed there was every chance we would arrive on schedule but fail to claim the record, with the record time dissipating from our grasp as we ran down the platform. There was Beattock still to ascend, but ‘Pendolinos’ normally coast much of the way to the intermediate decreasing speed restrictions. Our time for the 10m 2ch climb was 346sec at an average speed of 104.3mph, but the 10½min lead we had over the APT back in the North Midlands had now been whittled down to only 5min, and we had the Carstairs slack still to come. The final 29miles to Glasgow are always frustratingly slow, with slacks to 60mph after Law Jct, 80mph at Motherwell and
“The cooperation of Avanti, Network Rail and the train operating companies could be seen to presage the approaching new era of railway management”
nothing over 100mph until the final tortuous approach over the complex layout into Central station, where the reception party on Platform 1 awaited us.
It was with a profound sense of anti-climax that Baard counted down the seconds to the record and then those in excess. The final time was 233min 1sec on a 233min schedule, an average start to stop speed of 103.3mph – 11sec early, but 21sec behind the 1984 APT. A pedant might point out that the time would have had to be 22sec faster to beat the record!
The news was met with a mixed reception by the broadcast media. Even radio station Talksport at 05.00 the following morning opined that we should ‘have known about the speed restriction at Carstairs.’
Next time?
Another attempt might come after this Scottish junction has been remodelled, but it is worth analysing what other measures might have secured the record. A driver has suggested starting from the north end of a longer platform at Euston, such as No.15, might have saved over 10sec. At Glasgow, the use of the longest platform with a temporary stop board at least two coaches from the buffers might have reduced the distance of the necessary final crawl. Another factor might have been the decision to perform most of the run on ‘speed set’, as it is believed driver Barker was instructed to do, in order to mitigate the chances of a brake intervention through marginally over-speeding if driving manually. In normal running, 123mph instead of 125mph makes little difference – although I personally find it frustrating, especially when running late – but in these conditions a full 125mph would have been helpful. It is said, for instance, that on a gradient of around 1-in-330, such as the 6mile climbs to Tring in both directions, ‘speed set’ will deliver 123½mph whereas manual driving can find a position between notches 2 and 3 that will keep a unit with an accurate speedometer spot on 125mph. There will be more on such methods in next month’s Practice and Performance article. It has also been suggested that running slow line from Amington Jct to Colwich instead of braking to 65mph for the peculiar kink in the layout at the latter point, where the four tracks continue as two to Stafford, would have been faster overall. When all is said and done, the journey was indeed the fastest nonstop run between the two capitals because the APT stopped once, although such a claim would rightly be seen as a pyrrhic victory. Despite the disappointment, I would like to reflect the gratitude of all those on board to the many individuals and organisations involved in undertaking such a challenge and getting so close, so frustratingly close, to creating railway history.