PRACTICE&PERFORMANCE
to 27mph on 1-in-58 comparedwith the1961
pair attaining 25mph fromastanding startbefore
dropping to 21mph;ont he easier continuation
to GlenDouglassummit,speed rose in both cases
to the mid-thirties. Onthesecondlong climb,
from Ardlui,thework was againsimilar, although
the 10.05am Glasgow in 1961 sufferedabrief
signal stopbeforeCrianlarichbecausean Up
train was approachingtheloop. Nevertheless, by
maintaining 27-33mph upGlen Falloch, Alasdair
Wood’s duo shavedthe22min booking fromArdlui by95 seconds.
Both setsof‘ LM5s’ made full useoft he
downhillstartfromCrianlarich, accelerating rapidly
to takearun at thecontinuing climb towards
Tyndrum and falling to 27mphon the 1-in-60.This time it wasthe10.05 Glasgow (in col 2)
that omittedacall, taking theTyndrum loop
at 19mphbeforecresting theCountyMarch at
30mph; this compares with Noel Proudlock’s pair
fighting up to26mph from theTyndrumrestart.
In steamdays on the West Highland, incidentally,
single-line tokenswereexchanged by hand,
requiringagreater reductionin speed than on
the Highland MainLine, wherethe exchange was
automatic and couldbemadeat4 0mph.‘Ceiling’
After negotiating the HorseshoeCurve, both
trainswere allowedtonudge 50mph downhillto
Bridge of Orchy,despite the 40mph ‘ceiling’. And
up to Gortan, the short‘break’ at 1-in-240/214had Noel’s ‘Black Fives’reaching 48mph,
compared with 45 on Alastair’srunand 44 by
LochLongsingle-handed withacomparable load.
The easy section across The Moor from
Gortan to theGarbh Ghaoirviaduct, at the
approach to Rannoch,is relatively straight, and
herewehave Alastair’s train in 1961 again
touching50mph, althoughNoel’s King’s Cross
sleeper was checked byatemporary speed
restriction(tsr). Predictably,both ‘Black Five’
pairings made comparatively shortwork of
the awkwardRannochstart, attaining 22 and
25½mph on the tortuouslycurved 1-in-53to
the Sword Loch. In 1959 my late-running, eight-
coach 4.36pm from Glasgow acceleratedto slightly
morethan 30mph,itstwo ‘5’s threateningto
dismantle the Cruach snowshedroof withtheir
deafening exhaust.
Returning to theruns in Table 2, we find the
two pairs of ‘Black Fives’ attaining 39 and 48mph
on the undulationstoCorrour summit. Leaving
Corrour at thestartoft he 28-mile descent to
virtual sealevel at FortWilliam, theview west
embraces the Mamoresand th eGreyCorries26 •TheRailway Magazine•August2019
Train: 7.42amMallaig-Glasgow .45pmFortWilliam-King’s Cross
Locos: ‘B1’4-6-0 No.61344 ‘BR5’4-6-0 73109
‘K2’2-6-0 No.61786 ‘LM5’4-6-0 44787
Load: 11/338/360tons 11/392½/415tons
Recorder: GJAston GAMWood
Date: August 30, 1952 August 21, 1961Miles Timing Point Sched Actual Speed Sched Actual Speed Gradient
min ms mph min ms mph 1-in
0.0 FORT WILLIAM0000- 0000 -Level
1.0 Mallaig Jct 33 59 25/40 3350 -/40 188R
2.9 MP 97 n/r 28/48 6552 8/47 59R/190R
9.2 Spean Bridge 17 17 12 -1 81 705- 100F
0.0 Spean Bridge 21/0 19 27/0 -/35 20/0 17 39/0 -/44 138F/84R
3.3 RoyBridge 701- 5½ 609- 460R
0.0 RoyBridge 7/0 14 12/0 -6904/0 -80R
1.4 MP 86 n/r 26½ 4182 6½ 64R
1.9 “85½ 5033 4½ n/r 40 126R
4.4“ 83 9402 9/27 9372 7½ 59R
5.7 Tulloch 14 12 24 -1 41 221- 65R
0.0 Tulloch 20/0 20 09/0 -0/0 17 07/0 -59R
1.7 MP 80 5162 4/23 540235 9R
3.0 “78¾ 74741 /r 38½ 444R
6.7 “751 5152 6½ 15 20 27/23 67R
8.7 “731 9243 2½ 19 55 30/24 67R
10.0 Corrour 22 07 -2 52 317- 59R
0.0 Corrour 24/0 24 00/0 -/Coffee 26/1 23 49/0 -/20* tsr 140F
7.3 Rannoch 11 40 -13½ 12 55 45max 53F
0.0 Rannoch 14/0 13 36/0 -/45 14/0 13 30/0 -/47 50F
3.4 MP 61 n/r 38 52544 0R/300F
4.4 “60 46 49/51 n/r 53/4 51 75R/L
6.6 Gortan 11 10 13 28*/49 13 9532 7/46 148R/L
15.6 Bridge of Orchy2235- 26 23 28 -6F/240F
0.0 Bridge of Orchy25/0 23 37/0 -/34½ 27/0 24 47/0 -/36 77R
5.8 County March 13 11 24/47 11 27 27/- 55R
7.5Tyndrum 16 15 48 -1 51 450- 60F
0.0 Tyndrum 17/0 16 14/0 -/45 16/0 17 32/0 -/40 60F
5.0 CRIANLARICH 9848 -9850- 64R
0.0 CRIANLARICH 13/0 14 56/0 -/45 15/0 16 36/0 -/42 66R/60F
5.9 Glen Falloch 10 45 36*/43 10 55 31*/43 60F
8.7 Ardlui 17 15 06 -1 715302 2* 61F
0.0 Ardlui 18/0 17 46/0 -ass -/23½ 66R
0.7 MP 27 345¶ -/46 17 02 20*tsr 78F
4.3 Inveruglas 8572 4* 24 13 -/43 104R
8.0 ARROCHAR 15 35/0 -3 53 041- 123R
0.0 ARROCHAR 18/0 17 11/0 -/32 36/0 31 43/0 -/32 69F
1.6 MP 18 4002 5½ 3462 4½ 53R
3.6 “16829 27 8402 5½ 57R
4.3 Glen Douglas 11 10 17 -1 11031235 7R
4.9 Summit 11 39 24/* tsr 11 42 25 56R
9.3Whist lefield 18 35 44 19 17 40 122F/54F
10.6 Garelochhead 23 21 09 -2 32 213- 58F/61F
0.0 Garelochhead 24/0 22 07/0 -/38 25/0 23 16/0 -/36 60F
2.4 Shandon 54 46 22*/36 a454S 0* 68R
d535 -/46 68R
3.7 Faslane Jct 7392 5* 8312 5* Level
5.1 Rhu 0273 5/45 10 44 40 68R
6.9HELENSBURGH 13 33 -14½ 14 07 -67F
6.9 HELENSBURGH pass -/45 15/0 15 10/0 -/38 Level
8.9 CraigendoranU1 71 804- 4407 -58F
0.0 CraigendoranU18/0 18 50/0 -/0 440/0 -60F
3.8 Cardro ss 5215 3/34* 5106 1L/236R
7.5 DUMBARTON 10 44E 37 pass 11 10 01 -385F
¶=atMP26½ E=Dumbarton East Junction S=stop to set downTABLE 3: FORTWILLIAM-GLASGOW