24 Putting it bluntly
John Heaton FCILT rounds off his coverage of the ill-fated GBRf ‘This time it’s personal’ tour, before looking at some extra detail of the West Coast
Main Line record attempt earlier this year, and then comparing attacks on the climb to Whiteball summit in Somerset by different traction.
John Heaton FCILT rounds off his coverage of the ill-fated GBRf ‘This time it’s personal’ tour, before looking at some extra detail of the West Coast Main Line record attempt earlier this year, and then comparing attacks on the climb to Whiteball summit in Somerset by different traction.
HAVING recovered from whatever bug struck so many passengers on GBRf ’s ‘This Time It’s Personal’ Hour-day tour, at the cost of an extra Carlisle hotel night, lost London hotel booking, and inability to travel on Day 4 of the tour, your long-suffering writer could sit back and count his lost opportunities.
In the previous Practice and Performance we reviewed the organisers’ merciful decision to head straight from Mossend to Carlisle with Class 91 No. 91130 instead of the promised itinerary along the splendid coastline from Edinburgh to Newcastle, followed by a
Class 60 trundle across the Tyne Valley, mostly in darkness at a maximum speed of 60mph. There had been insufficient space to look at this West Coast Class 91 run in detail, but the rarity value alone merits a more detailed reprise of events.
There was a certain irony in the selection of No. 91130, which proudly bore the name Lord Mayor of Newcastle, when events would lead to the diversion of the train away from that proud city. The tour brochure contained the question concerning the Class 91, “Which way round will it be leading?” causing many on board correctly to predict it would be blunt end first.
Indeed that was the case, giving many line-siders the opportunity en route for unusual shots – not only of a Class 91 ‘blunt end leading’, but also at the head of a Mk.1 set, which would be rare enough whichever way the loco was pointing.
The ensemble was eased from Mossend for a ‘set-down’ stop at Motherwell to the news there would be no dinner that night and no food at all on the final day of the tour. For those hoping for fireworks, there was some disappointment as the loco was treated gently over the three miles to Wishaw, taking nearly 5min and then sticking at 75mph. There is a 60mph permanent speed restriction (PSR) at Law Junction and the 50mph blanket temporary speed restriction (TSR) over the layout at Carstairs that had defeated the Avanti record Euston-Glasgow record attempt (see July issue). Beyond there we had no booked path, so the likelihood of a fast run was not high, although there had been a whiff of what might come with 100mph being reached at Cleghorn before the brakes were applied for Carstairs.
However, spirits on board were to be lifted by a true “Lord Mayor’s Show” as No. 91130 raced away at the stock’s 100mph speed limit. Blunt end leading, the loco was limited to 110mph, but there was no way this could be exploited. Nevertheless, the 5.25miles from Thankerton to Lamington were completed at an average speed of precisely 100mph, and the 29.67miles from Beattock Summit to Ecclefechan at 98.9mph after starting down the bank at 88mph.
We had to stand 5min at Gretna Junction for a Class 156 to sidle into Carlisle ahead of us, but we passed Kingmoor Yard in only 71min from Motherwell, although with the brakes on. There was going to be no platform available until after 20.00, so we had to sit for 45min in which time the passengers began to fall like skittles to the sick-bug. My four-day tour peremptorily terminated right there as I was unable to continue on the tour’s last day to Paddington, or anywhere else for that matter.
Class 69 let loose
I am indebted, therefore, to Railway Performance Society (RPS) magazine editor David Ashley for producing Day 4 logs from the GPS data supplied by Real Time Trains chief Tom Cairns, for which we are both grateful. A reasonable log can be completed by those versed in the art, with the exception of precise run times because the actual start and stop times remain estimates – as indeed they do on e-train running sites, which themselves have to use average offset allowances to the first and from the last ‘actual’ time available. Some discrepancies occur concerning the rate of acceleration and deceleration, and passing times at lower speeds, if GPS data is not collected frequently.
The 10.15 Carlisle-Preston leg of the tour made a 25min late start as extra cleaning was undertaken before passengers were allowed to join. No. 66712 appears to have produced an excellent performance running at or within a couple of miles per hour of its authorised maximum. Table 2 shows the ‘virtual’ log from these sources, but I have shown only David’s average speeds to smooth out any high speed wrinkles. The 68.3mph on the 1-in-125 rising gradient from Eden Valley Junction to Thrimby Grange indicates a possible equivalent drawbar horsepower of around 2275, followed by an impressive average speed of 74.3mph for almost 54miles from Shap summit to Barton, within five miles of Preston.
Here, the railtour was handed over to three Class 50s Nos. 50049+50044+50007, but the log does not show many defiant or Herculean efforts as the locos stuck rigidly to a 75mph limit. There were a few bursts of
acceleration but, for instance, the indicated speed rising from 52mph at Madeley to 64mph at Whitmore (mainly on an adverse 1-in-348 gradient) needed an edbhp of only 1100 or so from each loco.
The final leg of the tour was one I had anticipated with the greatest enthusiasm: the first passenger outing for a GBRf Class 69, converted from Class 56, especially if the loco was to be given a main line routing from Reading to Paddington. In the end, Nos. 69001 and 69002 were provided – arguably less interesting to the train timer than just one but, of course, not to haulage enthusiasts.
Tour organiser Paul Taylor says that since the locos were still on trial it was logical to provide two for insurance. This seemed to have been wise when one loco shut down with fuel pump problems at Honeybourne, but it was revitalised by the driver and on board technical staff to enable both locos triumphantly to end the troublesome journey inside the classic Paddington trainshed.
Table 3 shows a computer re-creation, again from GPS data, of the run over the final leg from Reading where it was indeed allowed to turn ‘Up main’. In this instance, the inferred spot speeds have been shown. If you have an actual log of either Table 2 or 3, please contact The Railway Magazine.
Notes on a ‘Pendolino’
Turning back in the year for a few moments to the failed Euston-Glasgow record attempt in June, there has been some discussion concerning the importance of a few seconds to punctual train running, not least the contribution of running marginally below permitted maximum speeds when sectional running times depend on their attainment.
The result is a few seconds dropped down the drain known as ‘sub-threshold delays’, which are those that remain unexplained after the monitoring system has ignored delays of under 2min.
The failure of the ‘Pendolino’ run to match the existing APT record by 21sec has rankled a few observers. The Railway Performance Society technical officer, Dr David Stannard (formerly of Jodrell Bank and therefore comfortable with light-years as well as seconds), has been further investigating the background.
Examination of both train running and individual Class 390s identified five locations where a half-minute could be stripped out of the scratch schedule: immediately after Tring, Rugby Trent Valley Junction, Stafford, Winsford and Beattock Summit.
The use of a nine-car set gave a slightly better power/weight ratio, plus the ability to accelerate from restrictions slightly earlier, and the use of ‘boost mode’ meant the train had the benefit of extra power compared to a normal non-boost run, although we saw in the Milton Keynes-Euston ‘Pendolino’ article (August issue) that ‘boost’ does not necessarily help across the gamut of performance.
Comparison of the schedule with actual running times reveals a close match except on the Preston-Carlisle section, where the plan was 42sec more optimistic than the time achieved, the pinch points being through Lancaster and the apparently interminable 20mph restriction into Carlisle.
As we discovered in the Milton KeynesEuston article, the average GPS speed climbing banks is nearer 123mph than 125mph when on speed-set, corroborated by Dr Stannard’s analysis on the 125mph stretches against the prevailing gradients to Hatch End, Tring, Roade, through Lichfield, after Carnforth, and the initial portion of Beattock bank. Dr Stannard says his evidence points to a 0.8% over-reading of the speedometer at high speed on level sections, which in practice contributed 1min to time lost.
Having received this information shortly before my latest northbound ‘Pendolino’ run from Euston, I started to take particular notice when I realised we were having a comparatively fast run. We had lost time against the record run after a slow transit of Hampstead tunnel, which seemed more than just a running brake test, followed by an easy climb towards Watford Junction.
At this point the 11-car No. 390115 was 30sec down on the nine-car record attempt of No. 390044, but after that it kept pace to Nuneaton. Table 4 repeats the record journey log but compares it to No. 390115. On its faster sections, one could claim that the 11car gained 14sec on the nine-car, but that is being too selective with approximate data. It is, however, clear the record run pulled further ahead with a smart run along the Trent Valley.
As an aside, it was disappointing to note that the schedule of the 14.10 Euston to Glasgow contained no fewer than 37min of allowances, of which 25½min were pathing from being unable to command first priority on the infrastructure. Wake up! There is competition out there.
Of course, slack schedules tend to create slack working so the 14.10 was ‘behind time’ all the way from Garstang to Penrith and arrival at Glasgow Central was 1½min late – despite having been 9min early at Colwich, standing time for 8min at Warrington Bank
Quay and passing Beattock station 5½min early before choosing to achieve nothing over 90mph to the summit to while away another 2min pathing allowance of the generous timetable.
West Country ‘Jubilee’
My autumn of railtour discontent was magnified later in the month by the news that Pathfinder’s Class 52 special from Eastleigh to Kingswear would no longer feature No. D1015 Western Champion, which had suffered a major engine failure on its test run (see Headline news last month). Instead, the Class 50 Alliance had responded to the emergency by providing two Class 50s to take the place of the Diesel Traction Group’s Class 52. I was disappointed not to be able to record the original choice in both directions over Whiteball in Somerset, as the modern infrastructure gives greater scope for uphill running than in the hydraulic’s heyday with, for instance, 100mph round Cullompton curves in both directions – a 10mph leeway over a Class 52’s maximum. In contrast, I had undertaken a great many runs over Whiteball with Class 50s, many in the cab (all officially). I was therefore grateful to Pathfinder Tours chief Peter Watts for offering an unequivocal full refund or change of bookings. Full marks for customer care with a move that has fostered goodwill and loyalty in many quarters. I had been especially keen to measure the Class 52’s performance against the Railway Touring Company’s outing to Plymouth on August 1, 2021, hauled by double-chimney ‘Jubilee’ 4-6-0 No. 45596 Bahamas ; a loco believed never to have visited Devon before.
In fact, folklore has it that there have been only three pre-preservation ‘Jubilee’ visits to the county.
Local photographer and train observer David Hunt says two Bristol ‘Jubilees’ visited in the early 1960s when Bristol Barrow Road Midland Shed had taken over some Western workings during modernisation work at Bath Road and St Philip’s Marsh. No. 45660
Rooke ventured as far as Exeter St David’s with the 3.32pm Bristol-Penzance parcel train on September 15, 1962 before being detached and sent home and, the following year, Dawlish sea wall was graced with nowpreserved No. 45690 Leander – albeit working a humble freight train to Hackney Yard in Newton Abbot. It then went to Goodrington (Paignton) for turning before heading for Bristol light engine. Dave remembers seeing its driver receiving instructions from the Starcross signalman. And the third trip? That remains a mystery but I feel sure there will be a reader who will know when, and probably how, it happened.
Over the Devon banks – just
In the summer of 2021, ‘Jubilees’ were more commonplace visitors to Devon than former GWR 4-6-0s, but double-chimneyed Bahamas remains unique amongst the unrebuilt class members of the 1960s and has enjoyed a fine reputation over the decades. I am indebted to RPS Secretary Dr Frank Price for providing details of No. 45596’s ‘Royal Duchy’ trip, even if the title was something of a misnomer with steam going no further than Plymouth, thought to be related to the status of the St Blazey turntable. Nevertheless, with Covid restrictions eased,
the nine-coach train was full and proved to be a worthwhile challenge for both locomotive and crew.
Arrival of the train from Slough for the locomotive change at Taunton coincided with a cloudburst, but a punctual departure was made from the station for the first of the climbs, westbound to Whiteball. The rain continued to fall across the Somerset/ Devon border, but the weather was to become fine and sunny from Exeter. In poor adhesion conditions, Whiteball tunnel was entered at 36mph in 15¼min from Taunton – respectable for a Class 6 loco in the prevailing conditions although, as Frank comments, perhaps not outstanding.
After a water stop at Tiverton loop, Bahamas ran through Exeter and cut a fine figure along the now ugly, modernised
Dawlish sea wall before tackling the first of the South Devon banks to Dainton, where the short tunnel was entered at 26½mph. An IET had overtaken Bahamas at Tiverton Loop and made station calls, having to make around an 8min headway to give the non-stop steam special a clear run through the long signal section from Totnes to Aish. In such circumstances, it would have been wiser for the railtour to have dissipated time downhill from Dainton instead of approaching the Devon market town 3min early. The signals stubbornly refused to clear as ‘The Royal Duchy’ made its regal progress through the centre road at Totnes and came to a stand, some say abruptly, at the signal on the 1-in-66 foothills of the initial climb to Tigley, a gradient that steepens to 1-in-46/57 before easing onwards to Rattery.
The crew was now faced with the prospect of climbing the bank from a stand. With pyrotechnics from the doublechimney, a tentative start was made but it was immediately questionable whether the momentum could be maintained or the train was going to sit down on the West of England main line. With speed down to 1mph, despite continuous sanding and a full head of steam, the odds favoured the latter, but the crew valiantly kept the wheels turning. The two miles from Milepost 224 took 14½min at an 8mph average speed but, by the time the ‘Jubilee’ reached Marley tunnel, the loco had made a strong recovery from such a dire situation and entered the single bore ‘Down main’ tunnel at 32½mph. It could well have been a different story had the earlier rain persisted. Plymouth was eventually reached some 17min late where the immaculately spruced Bahamas came off to be turned and serviced.
No. 45596 was not to be spared on its return run either, already reaching 60mph at the Plym River crossing before tackling the 1-in-42 of Hemerdon. At least this climb does not have the tortuous curves of eastbound Dainton bank to come later on the journey, but the ascent turned into a slog, with a minimum speed of just 9mph. Much as I respect the access rights of steam specials, this was the second time the railtour had been within a wheelslip of calamity.
By Totnes, Bahamas had recovered its composure to make an excellent climb to Dainton, with a minimum of 30.5mph and a time of 4m14s from MP 221½ to entering the tunnel averaging 50½mph.
Climbing to Whiteball
It transpired that these two mighty efforts were to be merely a curtain-raiser for the run out of Exeter culminating at 1-in-115 for two miles from Tiverton Parkway towards Whiteball summit. See Table 5. Following water replenishment, train timers could enjoy acceleration to 73mph into the slight dip prior to Hele & Bradninch, with speed being maintained round Cullompton curves, before 63mph at the mini-summit approaching the former Tiverton Junction. Digging in for the final climb to Whiteball summit at MP 174, the loco’s minimum speed was no less than 55mph before a high speed descent. The train was just inside even time before the brakes came on for the crossover onto Fairwater Yard reception siding, where steam gave way to diesel for the return to Slough. Comparisons can be misleading, but I have included a railtour with No. 5029 Nunney Castle from 1996 timed by C P Ritchie, who also happened to be on the 2021 Bahamas trip. The ‘Castle’ made a fast run with a heavier 11-coach train, making what seemed like an all-out assault on Whiteball taken at 42½mph. Looking back through the RPS electronic archive, I found a large number of runs by train timing doyen R E Charlewood, who recorded the fastest ‘Castle’ time from Exeter to Taunton contained in the archive with a light cross-country train hauled by No. 5057 Earl Waldegrave, which took only 32m30s for the 31mile run. Intermediate times included 10m43s at Hele (63½mph, the maximum before Whiteball) 22m22s at Whiteball itself (47mph minimum) and 25m41s at Wellington (78½mph maximum).
It was at this point I had intended to include the log of Western Champion
on its September 25, 2021 reappearance, but instead I will content myself with two excellent Exeter to Taunton runs of David Adams from the last year of Class 52 ‘Westerns’; one No. 1009 Western Invader
on a light train making a good climb and a 97mph descent, the other with No. 1056 Western Sultan on a heavier train, which did not exceed its authorised 90mph maximum on City of Truro’s Wellington bank racing ground.
Fascinating detail in the Western Locomotive Research Society’s website reveals ‘Invader’ was withdrawn four months later on November 10 with nothing worse than a broken bogie coil spring, ‘Sultan’ lasting a month longer until December 15, when it failed a ‘C’ exam. ■
■ Dr Price tells me that a few days before the Plymouth trip he travelled behind the modern reconstruction A1 No. 60163 Tornado from Edinburgh to Aberdeen. He remarks that 50 years after the return of preserved steam to the main line (see pages 30-35), it is possible to travel virtually the full length of the United Kingdom behind this form of locomotion – a remarkable achievement; one for which we should be grateful to all those who have kept this tradition alive, including the authorities for allowing main line access. I hope to cover ‘Steam to Aberdeen’ in a future article.