I once had to take a pair empty to Cambridge due to a failure and was challenged by a colleague to see if I could beat the supposed record of 113mph through Shelford. Presumably this would have been set in the pre-OTMR days.
I declined.
Oh I would loved to see a 317 scream along at 113+, that would have been something.
I do have sources for the different speeds, and if I find a credible higher one I cross out the lower speed and update my records.
I've heard stories of drivers nudging 110 with Class 365's on the ECML although from how it sounded it was an accidental overspeed rather than deliberate.
It should be possible, they have at a rough calculation, enough power to manage about 115 or so at least, most of the late-1980s/early 1990s units do. Obviously load, line voltage, gradients etc are all going to affect things.
A 159 was officially allowed 99mph when new as part of a record run to Salisbury, 99 was touched 3 times on the run and supposedly 99 was the maximum the manufacturer would allow without voiding the warranty.
However, the Class 158 record run on the Edinburgh and Glasgow touched 109mph and they are very similar trains, so presumably BR decided the warranty didn't matter for the 158s?
I’ve no doubt several 156s and 153s have done 90mph coupled to a leading 158 etc.
Try more like 100!
Of course you do! That's assuming your 180 makes it there without breaking down of course!
Just out of interest, is that why your user name is Kneedown? As you spent a lot of time on your knees trying to fix 180s and praying they don't go wrong again after you've sorted the fault?
Also, what's the maximum possible speed of a 180, when it runs of course?
The highest I have for a 180 is 138mph which is just about the overspeed margin (137.5).
Notch falls down when you get to camshaft units (which do have notches on their power controller, but these don't directly control what power the motors are getting - only how far/fast the camshaft goes through it's resistances/field changes/etc), or Tap changers.
I'd have personally gone with a nice vague "if they leave it on full power long enough"!
The original question about "what's the fastest it can go" is ultimately going to depend on a variety of factors. The maximum speed that any train could go is the speed where the propulsive force from the traction motors is balanced out by the resistive forces (rolling resistance, drag, working against gravity on a gradient) - something that realistically can only be done by testing a given train, and dependant on where and when the test is done!
With really old resistance control you could do something with the resistances I think called "shunting" when in weak field bit it was frowned on iirc? I'm taking about really old units without automatic notching camshafts where resistance control was manual. It did something further to reduce the back EMF and gave a further speed boost. Probably using the wrong terms.
Anyway, an American GG1 electric, these were designed for 100mph but the Pennsylvania was an 80mph road, made at least 115mph on more than one occasion through this expedient method of obtaining a higher speed.
A 153 did 100mph coupled to a 170 once.
The engine didn't exactly survive, but you know....
Doesn't surprise me
