Fast loco hauled runs

[Shrop]

The days of exceeding speed limits on the railways seem to be long gone now, but some of my best memories of diesel (and electric) haulage was logging speeds. The goal was always to exceed the rated maximum speed of the loco, and also to set minimum times between stations, either stop to stop or pass to pass.

Of course there were always some “enthusiasts” who would either exaggerate or make genuine mistakes when recording speeds, but I also heard some very credible accounts of some superb runs. Would anyone find it interesting to relate some accounts of their own?

 

[cambsy]

I have had quite a few fast loco hauled runs, where locos exceeded their max speed, or even line speed, my best one, was a cab ride form Holyhead to Chester, non stop relief train, in the late 80-s approx, with a 47/8 and mk2 non air con, we hit 99mph between Holyhead and Bangor, where we briefly stopped, because report of someone on the line, then ran at up to 90mph onwards towards Chester, speeds were taken from speedo, we arrived Chester about 20 mins early, i bailed out of cab at Chester and went back onto train, driver was a bit of a character.

I have had quite a few fast loco runs, most memorable being :

116 mph down Beattock and Shap,,mk2’s and Royal Scots Grey, Cross country services.
56’s reaching about 95 mph on railtours,
58’s reaching 95-100mph on passenger services and railtours,
37’s single and double headed, reaching 90mph plus, on service trains and railtours,
20x2 hitting 85mph on GSW, although line speed 75mph, on railtour,,
2x31 hitting 100nph bottom of lackey bank on service train,
91’s hitting 135-140mph, not exceeding loco speed,but line speed, in the 1990’s.

Over the years i have had many fast loco runs, and just given summary above, as be too many to write down, and put in a post, the runs were all good 10 years ago or more, as nowadays, trains are data recorded, and any speeding gets the driver, the sack, so it just doesn’t really happen anymore, it tends to be more about acceleration etc, than speeding or hard driving, if you want to see logs of fast loco hauled runs etc, then join the Rail Performance Society, as its about 18 a year, and they have a very extensive archive of train logging, from Steam to Azuma’s etc.

 

[Shrop]

Over the years i have had many fast loco runs, and just given summary above, as be too many to write down, and put in a post, the runs were all good 10 years ago or more, as nowadays, trains are data recorded, and any speeding gets the driver, the sack, so it just doesn’t really happen anymore, it tends to be more about acceleration etc, than speeding or hard driving, if you want to see logs of fast loco hauled runs etc, then join the Rail Performance Society, as its about 18 a year, and they have a very extensive archive of train logging, from Steam to Azuma’s etc.

Ah yes, I read some interesting accounts on the RPS site a while ago, and the Railway Magazine has had many interesting accounts over the years in its Practice and Performance column. Over many years of recording speeds in the 1970s and early 80s, I never got used to the official timing locations that were used in RM, I always recorded using even numbered mileposts, which sometimes meant going to the next quarter and interpolating (or extrapolating) but it was reasonably accurate.

Royal Highland Fusilier (55 019) produced my most memorable run, recording 5 consecutive 2 mile sections in 1m1s or 1m2s between Hitchin and Huntingdon, to produce 10 miles in 5m7s, ie just over 117mph. After then being slow-lined up Stoke Bank to allow an HST to pass (even though we had to wait a fair while for it to catch up first!), our train then produced a standing to standing time between Grantham and Newark of 10m48s. I've not been on that route for many years now and I guess the modern trains would beat that time pretty regularly, although it would be interesting to know, if anyone ever records that route these days. However, I do think that maybe that time could still be hard to beat, because our driver was doing 114mph past MP118 and only started to apply the brakes after that, less than 2 miles out from Newark. The braking after MP119 was quite something as even then we were still doing over 90mph, which meant that a couple of people walking towards the front of the train found themselves breaking into an involuntary jog, whilst people walking the other way had a mountain to climb! The 2 miles into Newark from MP118 were done in 1m47s, which involved the loco entering the station at around 40mph with brakes on hard - I think today's trains would approach more slowly than that. Okay, purists might raise points about timings from MPs into a station being different depending on where I was in the train and I get this, but the general picture was that the run was fascinating and pretty exceptional

 

[cambsy]

I have seen the logs of Deltics, doing over 110mph on the East Coast, and well believe the runs you logged, there is till logging of modern trains on east coast, but its more about general performance, and even though 130mph plus speeds, dont happen anymore, due to acceleration etc, they are able to put in quite a lot of fastest times on the East coast, though not deltic or loco as per say, i have had some very fast 91 runs, with Peterborough-Colton junction, near York, in 54 mins being a highlight, and quite a few other 135-140mph runs, mainly on the Scottish Pullman, Kings Cross-York-Newcastle-Edinburgh runs, also managed Newcastle-Edinburgh in 75 mins approx, with above 130mph between Alnmouth and Berwick, unfortunately i lost my logs years a go, but there are runs logged with similar speeds and timings.

There was not long ago the case of a TPE 802 unit, doing approx 145mph between York and Darlington, by mistake, it was to do with Cruise control etc, and there is recently announced, plans to do 140mph running with the Azumas etc, on the Eaast coast, once certain up grades are completed and infrastructure etc improved, so be good to time Azumas doing 140mph officially.

 

[Shrop]

Those Class 91 runs sound pretty impressive - you must be pretty miffed about losing your logs! I didn't record anything on the ECML after electrification, in fact barely even any HST runs as girls, married life and children etc took over. I was very pleased though, to re-discover a good few of my old logs buried in our attic when we moved house recently.

Talking of electrics (albeit not loco hauled), the London to Glasgow speed record attempt earlier this year was interesting, from exactly 6 months ago today in fact. Soon after, I compiled a comparison as below, showing the main points of significance and with notes which refer to the APT run.

Reasons for the Pendolino run being slower are well documented, highlighting that APT was permitted to exceed 125mph, although in practice APT didn’t actually do 140mph for long stretches as some reports have suggested. Its highest average speed for any section was actually 128mph, not a lot faster than the 124mph achieved by Pendolino on numerous sections.

What is particularly noteworthy when comparing these runs side by side is that APT was no less than 12m35s behind the Pendolino by Winsford. This was due to 2 x 20mph and 2 x 50mph temporary speed restrictions, Rugby station not having been re-modelled for faster speeds, and the same at Crewe station where a full 4 minutes were lost by APT compared to Pendolino. And all this is without the important point that APT was brought to a stand by signals for over 2 minutes south of Stafford, which cost almost another 5 minutes of running time.

The much lamented fact that Pendolino was forced to run slowly for some of the way between Carstairs and Glasgow could, from another perspective, be expressed as APT putting in an incredible performance to turn its deficit of 12m35s at Winsford, into a 21s victory by Glasgow. Especially when the APT run was well back into the last century, with rail conditions and technology 37 years into that past!

	APT	Pendolino
	Dec 1984	Jun 2021	Notes
Euston	0.00	0.00
Watford	12.45	11.56	1
Bletchley	26.50	26.17	2
Rugby	45.33	43.50	3
Nuneaton	54.23	50.54
Lichfield	63.37	60.27	4
Stafford	79.23	70.20	5
Crewe	93.24	83.00	6
Winsford	99.52	87.17
Warrington	107.15	95.40
Wigan	113.49	103.21
Preston	122.25	112.33
Lancaster	133.59	124.52	7
Carnforth	138.55	128.23
Oxenholme	145.19	135.07
Shap summit	155.38	146.47
Penrith	163.16	155.55
Carlisle	174.04	167.43
Lockerbie	188.59	183.03
B'tock summit	200.52	195.34
Carstairs	212.41	209.09
Motherwell	221.19	220.42
Glasgow	232.40	233.01
Notes re APT run
1. TSR 20 after Euston
2. No Milton Keynes station!
3. TSRs 50&20 around Rugby
4. TSR 50 after Lichfield
5. Signal stop
6. 4 mins slower through Crewe
7. TSR 40 after Lancaster

 

[AJM580]

Got lots of runs with locos over their max. Timed 47848 at 104/105 mph in 1999 between Bristol & Taunton, also back in 1990, had an HST do York - Peterborough in 61 mins start to stop (average 108/109 mph)

 

[cambsy]

I would loved to have got to go on the APT, i did try couple of times near the end of its running, but it never appeared on the trains, it did reach 135-140mph on some runs, which are in Rail Performance society logs, though on its record breaker run, it got up to around 125mph, I was lucky enough, to do the 2006 record run with 390047,Heavens Angels, which did Glasgow-Euston in about 3hrs 55 mins, on the old infrastructure, ie no Rugby 125mph, or 125mph through Nuneaton-Tamworth-Lichfield, which to me made the Heavens angels run, more impressive than the recent Avanti effort.

I have had quite a few excessive speed runs on the WCML with 86’s and MK 2’s on the Birmingham runs, I think did Euston-Coventry in about 58 mins once, and had a class 58 on a Rugby-Birmingham drag, hit about 100mph, between rugby and Nuneaton, had 2x37’s hitting over 100mph between Birmingham and cheltenham on Pathfinder Tours Traction day, and a lively run from Penzance to Plymouth on a rail tour, and between Swansea and Cardiff on another rail tour, and quite a few other fast runs, with various engines on rail tours etc.

I never had anything really fast with HST’s, as too young to do them, when they first came out on the Western Region or East Coast, at the time they had an un official 140mph club, before governors were fitted, as they were damaging the engines at those speeds, again there are logs in Rail Performance society of 135-140mph HST runs on the Western region in late 70’s, the best runs I generally had, were 91’s on the East coast in the 90’s, on the 3hr 59 mins King Cross-Edinburgh runs, as there were often some sort of delay on route, so the drivers would often hammer them, doing 135-140mph, to try make up time, and i think maybe, only once or twice managed to be on time, on these runs, as especially between Kings Cross and York, they were very tightly timed, with 101 mins allowed.

 

[John Luxton]

The days of exceeding speed limits on the railways seem to be long gone now, but some of my best memories of diesel (and electric) haulage was logging speeds. The goal was always to exceed the rated maximum speed of the loco, and also to set minimum times between stations, either stop to stop or pass to pass.

Of course there were always some “enthusiasts” who would either exaggerate or make genuine mistakes when recording speeds, but I also heard some very credible accounts of some superb runs. Would anyone find it interesting to relate some accounts of their own?

How accurate is GPS in recording speeds?

My other transport interests include shipping and as a matter of interest bought a GPS back in 2009.

ecently with fewer sailing opportunities and various restrictions on ferries and cruise ships I have drifted back more into rail travel.

After a railtour earlier this year when I noted someone clocking the speed with a GPS I thought I might try that.

Thus when I decided to take a day trip up to Newcastle on a TPE Nova 1 I took my GPS along with me.

131mph was recorded at one location north of York which was held for just under 1 minute.

 

[cambsy]

I think the speeds, you recorded on your GPS are wrong, as unless you were on the TPE 802, which did about 145mph, between York and Darlington, then its highly unlikely your driver would have done 131mph, as only a speedo malfunction etc, would lead the driver to speed that much, as no driver would run at that speed knowingly, as it would lead to dismissal, as there are data recorders, so runs can be checked, pretty much all runs. Will be in the 124-127mph range, though maybe very occasionally, a run may pop up which exceeds this, but one would be very lucky to be on one of these runs.

 

[CW2]

I've had a few over the years. I don't claim to be an expert train recorder by any means, but I knew enough to realise whether my on-the-day maths was making sense or not.
Notable exploits include:

• A pair of 20s from Carstairs to Edinburgh which reached 97 mph coming down from Midcalder. The driver claimed he had reached 100 mph, but judging by the amount of leaping around the locos were doing, I'm surprised he could even see the speedo. The driver's assistant was struck dumb by the performance. Many years later, the driver was sacked for safety violations.
• Several runs over 130 mph with 2+7 HSTs on the WR not long after introduction (mid 1970s)
• Several runs involving Deltics running in excess of 110mph, often for prolonged periods
• A Class 91 going UP Stoke Bank at 132 mph
• Several steam tours where the (then) 60 mph limit was entirely forgotten about
• Pre West Coast Route Modernisation the WCML was in a pretty shoddy condition in places, so any excessive speeds could be uncomfortable bordering on unsafe, but I have had 87s topping 120 mph long long ago. The three 86/1s were also known to shift a bit.
• 37s were originally 90 mph, so getting them up to that speed wasn't especially unusual. The re-gearing on refurbishment limited the refurb locos to 80 mph, with the unrefurbs being limited likewise, but it was still possible on occasion to exceed 90 mph in the hands of the right driver.

Nowadays with the closer scrutiny of train performance in real time, and a more professional emphasis on safety management, overspeeding of trains is now very uncommon.

 

[John Luxton]

I think the speeds, you recorded on your GPS are wrong, as unless you were on the TPE 802, which did about 145mph, between York and Darlington, then its highly unlikely your driver would have done 131mph, as only a speedo malfunction etc, would lead the driver to speed that much, as no driver would run at that speed knowingly, as it would lead to dismissal, as there are data recorders, so runs can be checked, pretty much all runs. Will be in the 124-127mph range, though maybe very occasionally, a run may pop up which exceeds this, but one would be very lucky to be on one of these runs.

Yes it was an 802 Nova 1 but lasted for a very short time probably about 45 seconds max.

 

[cambsy]

97 mph out of a pair of 20’s would have been interesting, to say the least, but definitely Hellfire, i think fastest out of 20’s i have had was 85 mph on the GSW, on a diverted rail tour, I thought the 37’s were originally 80mph locos, but some were re geared for 90mph, but I’m happy to be proved wrong, i have certainly had 100mph and over, out of 37’s many years ago.

The Deltics were definitely very fast locos, and in the final days, put up some stonking performances on the hull Executive, achieving over 110mph fairly frequently, I wasn’t bashing then, but i have had some very fast runs on service trains, since in preservation, most notably the Scottish Cross country runs, which because Royal Scots Grey, was being tested for 100mph running was allowed to do 110mph, and we reached 116mph down Shap and Beattock, partly due to under Reading speedo, and I have timed by hand, the 91’s doing 140-142mph between York and Darlington, taken from mileposts, but due to not being best timer, i would say probably was 135-140mph with reasonable accuracy.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

I think the speeds, you recorded on your GPS are wrong, as unless you were on the TPE 802, which did about 145mph, between York and Darlington, then its highly unlikely your driver would have done 131mph, as only a speedo malfunction etc, would lead the driver to speed that much, as no driver would run at that speed knowingly, as it would lead to dismissal, as there are data recorders, so runs can be checked, pretty much all runs. Will be in the 124-127mph range, though maybe very occasionally, a run may pop up which exceeds this, but one would be very lucky to be on one of these runs.

A GPS unit ( not a phone app - an actual purpose made handheld GPS which is more accurate ) will generally be accurate to +/- 3% with a clean signal; combining that with the 3 mph margin before anything will trigger on the train, the GPS indicating 131 mph could be no more than 126 mph, maybe 127 mph on the train.

The signal can also waver a bit giving slightly out speeds briefly where there are buildings and trees around, so the 131 mph being indicated for just 45 seconds would seem to be consistent with that; I would therefore agree with you that it's probably his GPS. With my first GPS unit, which wasn't as precise as the ones we have these days, I once clocked a class 455 doing "145" mph near Worcester Park - so a corrupted signal can produce some quite spectacular and obviously incorrect results if the circumstances are right.

 

[Shrop]

I never had anything really fast with HST’s, as too young to do them, when they first came out on the Western Region or East Coast, at the time they had an un official 140mph club, before governors were fitted, as they were damaging the engines at those speeds, again there are logs in Rail Performance society of 135-140mph HST runs on the Western region in late 70’s, the best runs I generally had, were 91’s on the East coast in the 90’s, on the 3hr 59 mins King Cross-Edinburgh runs, as there were often some sort of delay on route, so the drivers would often hammer them, doing 135-140mph, to try make up time, and i think maybe, only once or twice managed to be on time, on these runs, as especially between Kings Cross and York, they were very tightly timed, with 101 mins allowed.

My first HST run was in 1977 from Swindon to Paddington, which we did in around 45 minutes (in the good old days when it was possible to not stop at Reading!). With new track and rolling stock it was exceptionally smooth, and I enjoyed logging several 2 mile sections at up to 130mph. What made me laugh was that there were two middle aged women sitting opposite to me in the group of four seats who were expressing disgust, saying things like "I thought these trains were supposed to run at 125mph, which we're clearly not doing". The other one replied, "Yes, we're obviously only doing about 70mph, I can do that in my car, I'm not impressed by all this boasting when we're only going at that speed".

I couldn't resist pointing out to them that throughout their entire conversation we'd been exceeding 125mph, but they absolutely refused to believe me. When we arrived into Paddington a couple of minutes early, I told them we'd just done 77 miles in 45 minutes so our average speed must have been over 100mph. They clearly thought I was a young upstart and told me I must be mistaken because they were first hand witnesses to the train only going slowly. I gave up with them but it's always stayed with me, the way that some people will stick to their views and refuse to accept how good trains can be, even when the facts are staring them in the face!

A couple of years later I recall passing through Reading in a few seconds under 20 minutes after leaving Paddington (thus averaging 108mph from a standing start), and we were then checked by signals just outside Bristol Parkway which was a great shame, as we would otherwise have passed through there in under the hour (111.75 miles I think). Back then trains were timetabled to reach Newport in 84 minutes from Paddington on alternate hours, whereas today it takes 12 minutes longer even after electrification thanks to every train stopping more frequently. Personally I think it was helpful for passengers to be able to reach Wales quickly, but a lot of people on these pages will staunchly defend trains stopping more frequently. Those days were fun while they lasted though!

 

[Bevan Price]

In areas of weak signal, GPS sometimes gives false readings, widely on either side of the true speed. I have seen apparent speeds approaching 200 mph whilst on a Pendolino.

You also have to be careful with mileposts - some are located incorrectly. Indeed, much of the Waterloo / Exeter Central line has wrongly placed mileposts. Known errors are available to RPS members in their on-line mileage charts.

Timing points is a matter of personal choice - you don't HAVE to use those shown in Railway Magazine, or in RPS charts; all that matters is knowing the distance of your own chosen timing points - and to use the same locations for every trip. I rarely use mileposts because many are impossible to see at night, whilst others are "missing", or hidden by vegetation.

A batch of 18 Class 37s (which became 37175 - 37192) were allowed to do 100 mph at the time when pairs of Class 37s were booked to work some express services out of Paddington in the 1960s. It probably did not do the locos much good, and that use ceased once enough Class 47s were available.

 

[cambsy]

I think the 801’s and 802’s, can do London-Swindon in 45 mins with a Reading stop, due to their vastly improved acceleration, but it would definitely have been more fun to have recorded over 130mph on the HST’s, I remember some very lively running too with the 91’s north of Darlington, with some very high speeds between Alnmouth and Berwick, seen a log of 133mph around the Beal and Belford area, on one run had a cup of coffee fly off the table, as we took curves at very high speed, train was a bit late, so the driver was hammering it to make up time.

I enjoyed the running coming down from Grantham, through Clay Pole to Newark and onto Doncaster, if the driver was pushing on, as speeds could be in the 135mph range and even 140mph down through Clay Pole, which was pretty thrilling, on one run, we left Peterborough on time, and for some reason, ran very fast to Carlton Junction, in 54 mins, where we suffered a signal stop as early, I have seen a log of similar timing, wether my train or not I’m not sure, but that one did 138mph up Stoke Bank, 140 mph Grantham-Newark, then 135mph onto Doncaster, then 138-140mph onto York, and even near Kings Cross, some of the speeds could be excessive to, and un supportable today, with passing times to ?Stevenage, in the 16-17 min range.

I heard a hair raising story, which corroborated, of a certain notorious, steam train driver, taking one of the LMS Pacific’s, cant remember which one, through Wigan North Western at 91mph, as was showing off to friends, and then went onto chase the electric service in front, I have had some fast steam runs, most notable being the very high speed by Duchess of Hamilton, on its Euston-Glasgow run, also have done 90mph on the Settle and Carlisle line behind a 56 on a traction day, and a fast 47 Settle and Carlisle drag, on MK3 set.

 

[peteb]

I have had quite a few excessive speed runs on the WCML with 86’s and MK 2’s on the Birmingham runs, I think did Euston-Coventry in about 58 mins

I did Euston to Birmingham a lot in the 1980s, never timed Coventry non-stop better than 63 minutes (for 94 miles) with the standard class 86 + BG/FO/FO/FO/RB/TSO/TSO/TSO/TSO/TSO set, but that was quite often achieved with a subsequent 5 minute wait at Coventry. Riding in the Mk1 RB was lively but always a good bet for a seat on a busy train as it was so noisy most "normals" shunned it.

 

[Richard Scott]

Done on Milepost timings with a stopcock over a mile so potential errors but doing over a mile should limit errors, and had 47592 up to 107mph, 45052 97mph (sure these could top 100?), 50041 at 116mph, pair of 60s on North Wales coast day at 97mph (was confirmed by others and reputedly invalidated the warranty), a 58 at 99mph and a 56 at 103mph (can't remember loco numbers). Afraid nothing exciting from smaller classes although had some good 33 runs didn't do any timing on them.
Lots of 50s well over 100mph but other classes quite an event if exceeded 100mph.

 

[irish_rail]

I think the speeds, you recorded on your GPS are wrong, as unless you were on the TPE 802, which did about 145mph, between York and Darlington, then its highly unlikely your driver would have done 131mph, as only a speedo malfunction etc, would lead the driver to speed that much, as no driver would run at that speed knowingly, as it would lead to dismissal, as there are data recorders, so runs can be checked, pretty much all runs. Will be in the 124-127mph range, though maybe very occasionally, a run may pop up which exceeds this, but one would be very lucky to be on one of these runs.

Not quite correct. Going 6mph over speed isn't going to lead to dismissal. Yes, it'll be a plan and a blotch on the record, but in isolation no one would be sacked for that. After all drivers do not study the speedometer 100 percent of the time, and little mistakes can and do occasionally occur. Any driver out there who says they have never sped is probably lying.

 

[Shrop]

You also have to be careful with mileposts - some are located incorrectly. Indeed, much of the Waterloo / Exeter Central line has wrongly placed mileposts. Known errors are available to RPS members in their on-line mileage charts.

In general I found the mileposts to be fairly reliable. I got used to where they were in tunnels or missing, and then I used the next quarter or half milepost and made a fairly accurate estimate from there. I didn't log the Exeter-Waterloo line, my main haunts on my annual All Line Rover and other trips were ECML, WCML, occasionally the MML, the GWR routes to Exeter/Newport, and the XC route from Sheffield to Exeter. Or in other words the faster routes around the country.

It was always easier when the mileposts were on the opposite side of the tracks, heading south on the WCML or ECML was easy enough, but it was quite a challenge heading north. The sections where there were slow lines helped when they were on the nearside, and often on the challenging sections I just got used to where the yellow MP flashed by, or made reasonably accurate estimates based on the previous or next visible quarter. It was always fun though, and on the occasions where the driver seemed intent on keeping below the speed limit, it was a good chance to catch up on what was often much needed sleep, especially after an overnight journey in a seat, when a Mk1 compartment couldn't be found!

 

[Rescars]

I did Euston to Birmingham a lot in the 1980s, never timed Coventry non-stop better than 63 minutes (for 94 miles) with the standard class 86 + BG/FO/FO/FO/RB/TSO/TSO/TSO/TSO/TSO set, but that was quite often achieved with a subsequent 5 minute wait at Coventry. Riding in the Mk1 RB was lively but always a good bet for a seat on a busy train as it was so noisy most "normals" shunned it.

The RBs were fitted with heavy Continental bogies. If the RB was riding rough the trailing Mark II would end up following suit. Particularly exciting if this was the FO being used as a dining saloon!

 

[alistairlees]

I can't remember which 45/1 now, but had one at dead on 100mph (using mileposts) ... round the curve at Church Fenton. This was alarming, to say the least.

 

[peteb]

The RBs were fitted with heavy Continental bogies. If the RB was riding rough the trailing Mark II would end up following suit. Particularly exciting if this was the FO being used as a dining saloon!

Occasionally had dinner on the train (worth it to travel first class on a second class ticket) and recall soup and other incidents vividly....

 

[Bald Rick]

I have had quite a few excessive speed runs on the WCML with 86’s and MK 2’s on the Birmingham runs, I think did Euston-Coventry in about 58 mins once

I did Euston to Birmingham a lot in the 1980s, never timed Coventry non-stop better than 63 minutes (for 94 miles) with the standard class 86 + BG/FO/FO/FO/RB/TSO/TSO/TSO/TSO/TSO set, but that was quite often achieved with a subsequent 5 minute wait at Coventry. Riding in the Mk1 RB was lively but always a good bet for a seat on a busy train as it was so noisy most "normals" shunned it.

I’ve reported elsewhere that I was an occasional customer of the 2115 from Euston to Birmingham (the one scheduled non stop run in those days) in the latter days of the hauled stock, and doing it in the hour to Coventry was not unknown.

 

[EveningStar]

Back in 1983, 86249 with nine coaches on a Liverpool to Weymouth working, clocked south of Crewe, milepost 152 to milepost 141, at an average 103.9 mph, with spot readings of 109.0 mph at mileposts 146 and 144. Lively journey.

I remember some very lively running too with the 91’s north of Darlington, with some very high speeds between Alnmouth and Berwick, seen a log of 133mph around the Beal and Belford area, on one run had a cup of coffee fly off the table, as we took curves at very high speed, train was a bit late, so the driver was hammering it to make up time.

For a decade earlier this century my daily commute was the 7 o'clock or thereabouts class 91 from Alnmouth to Newcastle, almost same seat each day and got a feel for performance over the route. Recall one morning when we missed the normal braking point for Southside Curve, and remember willing the driver to brake as it is a wee bit of a sharp curve after the drop from Warkworth. Brakes went on very late compared with normal and our faster than normal progress around the curve was a bit like rolling a 50p. Either the driver lost situational awareness or overcooked it ... either way, was not a comfortable experience.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

I've had a few over the years.

• Several runs over 130 mph with 2+7 HSTs on the WR not long after introduction (mid 1970s)

Yes I had this in the early days too.

I could swear it got reported in the railway press too.

 

[SteveM70]

The high school I went to was close to Coventry station, and in the early 80s we’d hang around on the platforms after school if we had nothing else on. We’d often ask drivers if we could “cab” their engines and whilst most said no a few would oblige. One of them was a Euston - Birmingham, 87015 Howard of Effingham, and the driver casually asked us “do any of you have a ticket for this train?” I was the proud owner of a county-wide travelcard, so said yes, despite having no intention of travelling. The driver invited me to stay in the cab as far as Birmingham International. He had 110mph on the speedo between Berkswell and Hampton before what felt like a pretty savage brake application. My mates were green with envy the following day when they heard what had happened.

 

[GarethW]

My logs are long lost and whilst I can remember a few very brisk runs behind 50s out of Paddington and a memorable Sunday night bash back from Salisbury, the one run that sticks in my mind was behind a DMU.

Class 101 on a replacement out of Carlisle on a fast run south non-stop to Preston circa early 86.

Given the vagaries of hand timing lets just say it was doing much much nearer 90 mph at times than its alledged top speed.

I don’t think its any exageration to say the few people aboard were rather startled by the lurching rattling and gail force wind that whipoed through the “closed” windows. It was an almost Alton Towers-like experience.

 

[alistairlees]

I did clock a DMU (a 108? I am not really sure) at 70mph from behind the drivers cab between Barmouth and Tywyn. It was on a family holiday in about 1980 or 1981. Seemed rather fast at the time for the winding route above the sea… I have no idea what the speed limit there is though.

 

[hexagon789]

I did clock a DMU (a 108? I am not really sure) at 70mph from behind the drivers cab between Barmouth and Tywyn. It was on a family holiday in about 1980 or 1981. Seemed rather fast at the time for the winding route above the sea… I have no idea what the speed limit there is though.

In pre-ERTMS days linespeed was 55mph