150 / 142 drag race

strange6 · 26 Jun 2011

I found myself in a terrific situation yesterday when returning to Man Vic from Rochdale. I was on a 150 from Leeds and we pulled up about a mile and a half from outside Victoria at a red signal on the 'slow down' waiting for a platform. On the 'fast down', in exactly the same position, was a 142 waiting for platform entry too. Believe it or not but both signals cleared at exactly the same time and my 150 driver give it full power. Not so sure about the pacer man, but the 150 pretty comprehensively beat the 142 from start. I wish I had used my mobile to film it but I didn't know that both signals were going to clear simultaneously. It was great fun nevertheless. It was quite funny actually because the driver of the pacer was sat-up, staring straight ahead and fully concentrated and yet the guard in the back cab, sat in the drivers seat, was slumped in it and half asleep when the pacer re-overtook us on entry into man Vic. Still, it was about the closest thing to a drag race that I will ever see and top marks to the Manchester North signaller for pulling both off at the same time! brilliant!

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flymo · 27 Jun 2011

strange6 said:
I found myself in a terrific situation yesterday when returning to Man Vic from Rochdale. I was on a 150 from Leeds and we pulled up about a mile and a half from outside Victoria at a red signal on the 'slow down' waiting for a platform. On the 'fast down', in exactly the same position, was a 142 waiting for platform entry too. Believe it or not but both signals cleared at exactly the same time and my 150 driver give it full power. Not so sure about the pacer man, but the 150 pretty comprehensively beat the 142 from start. I wish I had used my mobile to film it but I didn't know that both signals were going to clear simultaneously. It was great fun nevertheless. It was quite funny actually because the driver of the pacer was sat-up, staring straight ahead and fully concentrated and yet the guard in the back cab, sat in the drivers seat, was slumped in it and half asleep when the pacer re-overtook us on entry into man Vic. Still, it was about the closest thing to a drag race that I will ever see and top marks to the Manchester North signaller for pulling both off at the same time! brilliant!

Marvellous

The only thing I can remember coming close to that was heading south out of York. It has happened a few times to me over the years, the one that sticks out most to me was during the loco hauled Newcastle - Liverpool services. The London bound HST I was on and the Liverpool bound 47 went head to head on the race to Colton Jcn. The 47 got the upper hand initially but the HST quickly caught up and eased past the 47 before Colton Jn.

All good fun....

pemma · 27 Jun 2011

I miss the xx:24 simultaneous departures from Piccadilly for Chester (usually 142) and Birmingham (22x). The Pacer quite often got dispatched a few seconds ahead of the Voyager so started ahead but the Voyager caught up before clearing Piccadilly and was always pulling out of platform 1 at Stockport before the Pacer strolled in at platform 2.

NXEA! · 27 Jun 2011

jcollins said:
I miss the xx:24 simultaneous departures from Piccadilly for Chester (usually 142) and Birmingham (22x). The Pacer quite often got dispatched a few seconds ahead of the Voyager so started ahead but the Voyager caught up before clearing Piccadilly and was always pulling out of platform 1 at Stockport before the Pacer strolled in at platform 2.

I usually get a similar sort of thing at Liverpool Street in the evening peak. A year or so ago, there were three services that left Liverpool Street all in the space of a minute, a Shenfield Metro, a Southend service, and a Enfield service and quite often the Enfield service would leave slightly late and pull out the same time as the other services, and this would result in a race to Bethnal Green. Quite often the 315's on the Enfield service and Shenfield service would beat the 321's, but the 321's would overtake the Shenfield service around Pudding Mill Lane. Good fun.

notadriver · 27 Jun 2011

I wonder if the departure for Shenfield services is more restrictive ? I would have thought 317/321s could easily show a 315 a clean pair of heels.

I like racing 171s. Leave them for dead - they are so slow pulling away lol

NXEA! · 27 Jun 2011

notadriver said:
I wonder if the departure for Shenfield services is more restrictive ? I would have thought 317/321s could easily show a 315 a clean pair of heels.

I like racing 171s. Leave them for dead - they are so slow pulling away lol

No, I think its because there are more trains on the fasts, thus more congestion. They usually run parallel to the old entrance to Shoreditch High Street, where the drivers start whacking on the power on the 315's, and 9 times out of 10 they'll fly like a bat out of hell and leave the fast services behind till just before Pudding Mill Lane. In my experience anyway.

Metrailway · 27 Jun 2011

If there is a problem on the Metropolitan line (a common occurance :lol:

), you can sometimes see both a Chiltern to Aylesbury and a Met to Amersham arrive at Harrow at the same time. On the very rare occasion that both the slow and fast lines are clear ahead, a 165 and A Stock would race each other all the way till Moor Park, some 6 miles!

lm321412 · 27 Jun 2011

This reminds me.

On Saturday, I was coming out of Liverpool Street on a 315, alongside an Intercity MK3 set. I must say, the 315 did very well and we was nearing Stratford before we finally lost the Norwich set running alongside us.

Coxster · 27 Jun 2011

Mondays to Saturdays there is an xx:59 'race' out of Woking towards Waterloo. The up semi-fast (p1) is normally a Class 450, and depending on what time it is the xx:59 up fast service (p2) is either a Class 444 or 450. Normally lasts about 4/5 minutes until the semi-fast service has to brake for Weybridge.

Hydro · 28 Jun 2011

lm321412 said:
This reminds me.

On Saturday, I was coming out of Liverpool Street on a 315, alongside an Intercity MK3 set. I must say, the 315 did very well and we was nearing Stratford before we finally lost the Norwich set running alongside us.

Racing the local services with a pair of 37's out of Liverpool Street is awesome. The noise on full power is immense. The EMU's have the acceleration advantage but the top end power of two multi'd tractors just keeps going.

Matt Taylor · 28 Jun 2011

Happens every half hour at Waterloo, Readings, Wokings and Salisburys all go at 20/50 past the hour!

WestCountry · 28 Jun 2011

I was on a 365 at Stevenage last year, and left southbound at the same time as a 225 set. The 365 accelerated faster and pulled well ahead at the beginning, but the EC service slid past a few minutes later, as it took advantage of the much higher speed limit on the fasts.

43167 · 28 Jun 2011

Before the last TT change, at Leeds, there could be a race at xx40 to Whitehall Jct. with the Hull-Manchester & Leeds-Kings Cross. Sometimes it could be a 3 way battle with Northerns Leeds-Bradford FS service.

Anvil1984 · 28 Jun 2011

Depending on signals was always a good race between the 1612 York - Hull and the 1613 York - Blackpool North for a couple of miles both 158s

Techniquest · 29 Jun 2011

I remember something similar in what I assume was in 2004. Departing Stafford on a CT 170 on a Liverpool service (boy doesn't that seem like a long time ago, 170s on Birmingham to Liverpools!), we had the upper hand on an 87-hauled VWC working.

Soon enough, the 87's charging past us, but not before my mate and I noticed the 87 driver's huge grin!

Jordy · 29 Jun 2011

Saw an interesting one at York a few months back, a 90 hauled railtour was in platform 5 waiting to head to Kings Cross, and a 47 was in platform 9 waiting to head towards Leeds, they got the signal within seconds of eachother and left pretty much at the same time - I have no idea what happened but it could've been an interesting race!

Mojo · 10 Jul 2011

You catch this on the hour at Liverpool Street when the Enfield Town, Norwich and Shenfield services all depart. Tend to notice the units get going quicker, then the Enfield Town vanishes into the tunnel, and you don't know which is ahead, then the 90 comes along and overtakes the Shenfield unit!

causton · 10 Jul 2011

One that will be gone in a year or two will be the A stock vs 96 stock race at Finchley Road northbound. The 96 starts off at full whack under auto and accelerates much faster but has to slow down and the A stock eventually catches up by West Hampstead... and usually overtakes about 3 more Jubilee line trains before Wembley Park!

robertbishop · 10 Jul 2011

I have video of 3 323s departing Manchester Piccadilly simultaneously:

Three xClass 323 Drag Race

Not mine but this (has been posted many times):
Paxman Valenta MML 125 HST races a Class 319 EMU out of Luton

Class172 · 11 Jul 2011

A couple of weeks ago at Worcester Forgate Street, the 16:02 to London Paddington arrived 5 mins late - the whistle blew for it to leave at exactly 16:07. Whilst on the other platform, the whistle blew for the 16:07 service to Whitlocks End. The HST had a 30 second head start and took the lead but then you hear the sound of the 150 and it easily trounced the HST after just 10 secs.

Minilad · 11 Jul 2011

We get this quite often at Reading. Heading back to Birmingham, Voyager on the Relief and HST on the Main. The Voyager absolutely trounces the HST on acceleration. Despite the Main being 125 and the Relief 100 it is usually getting on for Cholsey before the HST passes. Sometimes it isn't until close to Didcot.
They might not be anyones cup of tea but they sure can shift !!

strange6 · 11 Jul 2011

XCDriver said:
We get this quite often at Reading. Heading back to Birmingham, Voyager on the Relief and HST on the Main. The Voyager absolutely trounces the HST on acceleration. Despite the Main being 125 and the Relief 100 it is usually getting on for Cholsey before the HST passes. Sometimes it isn't until close to Didcot.
They might not be anyones cup of tea but they sure can shift !!

Those Cummins engines are superb, particularly for torque.

jopsuk · 11 Jul 2011

Surely it's the Alstom Onix motors that are good for the torque, the Cummins engines, on the Voyagers, are "just" generators.

NXEA! · 11 Jul 2011

causton said:
One that will be gone in a year or two will be the A stock vs 96 stock race at Finchley Road northbound. The 96 starts off at full whack under auto and accelerates much faster but has to slow down and the A stock eventually catches up by West Hampstead... and usually overtakes about 3 more Jubilee line trains before Wembley Park!

I had that today. Also an interesting one today was Fast A Stock vs stopping S Stock in the London direction after pulling out of Harrow-on-the-Hill. The S Stock got going first by about 50 seconds and pulled out quite quickly. Our train got the all clear and pulled out as well, but we didn't catch the S until after it has stopped at Northwick Park, and the rear coach had just cleared the platform as it came into view. Anyway, we powered past it as expected, but just as we were about to go ahead the driver decided to brake, so the front carriage got level with the front carriage of the S Stock, and it was quite amusing to see the S Stock driver grin and accelerate even faster and pull away from us. :lol:

Our driver started to accelerate too, and we left it behind on the approaches to Preston Road. A good race.

Techniquest · 12 Jul 2011

XCDriver said:
We get this quite often at Reading. Heading back to Birmingham, Voyager on the Relief and HST on the Main. The Voyager absolutely trounces the HST on acceleration. Despite the Main being 125 and the Relief 100 it is usually getting on for Cholsey before the HST passes. Sometimes it isn't until close to Didcot.
They might not be anyones cup of tea but they sure can shift !!

Last time I remember seeing that, sometime last year, the Voyager was left behind just before Tilehurst! The Voyager did of course have the lead for a bit, but we obviously had a good set going on and a driver who wasn't hanging around!

Minilad · 12 Jul 2011

Techniquest said:
Last time I remember seeing that, sometime last year, the Voyager was left behind just before Tilehurst! The Voyager did of course have the lead for a bit, but we obviously had a good set going on and a driver who wasn't hanging around!

I would imagine the Voyager would have been on restrictive aspects or something then as there is no way a HST would catch up that quick if both were at full power

strange6 · 12 Jul 2011

XCDriver said:
I would imagine the Voyager would have been on restrictive aspects or something then as there is no way a HST would catch up that quick if both were at full power

And lets not forget that train drivers hardly race each other! Incredibly dangerous and sackings would result!

Yew · 12 Jul 2011

strange6 said:
And lets not forget that train drivers hardly race each other! Incredibly dangerous and sackings would result!

Its not racing, its getting the best start to the journey, to mitigate any possible delays...

strange6 · 12 Jul 2011

Yew said:
Its not racing, its getting the best start to the journey, to mitigate any possible delays...

Get away! And there was i thinking they wanted to get to the first signal first because the last one there is a sissy!! haha lol Would be good to have a drag race though say from Bolton to Salford Crescent on the up and down lines. I wonder.....!!!!

trickyvegas · 12 Jul 2011

You get two 323s head to head as far as Ardwick from Manchester Piccadilly with the xx48 Hadfield & Stoke services.

150 / 142 drag race

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