The Railway Magazine – August 2019

PRACTICE&PERFORMANCE

DOUBLEHEADINGovertheWest Highland line

produced manylococombinations,but fewas

startling as th at on Saturday,August 30,1958.

That day, the5.45am Glasgow-Mallaig was

poweredbyBR‘5MT’4-6-0 No.73078 and Stanier

Class5No. 44707,but theStanier loco w as not on

form and, at Ardlui, wasremovedfromthe trai n.

Meanwhile, Iwas boundforGlasgowbehind

asingle‘BlackFive’. At Gortan passing place,

on Rannoc hMoor, we stopped in the Up loop.

Ferocious doubleexhaust beatsannounced

the arrival ofanorthbound train thathad been

waiting,correctly,for usto acome to astand

before entering theDownloop. It wasthe

dela yed5.45am from Glasgowwithits‘Standard

Five’and,coupled‘insid e’,aformer North British‘S’

class 0-6-0 (LNER‘J37’).

Coincidentally,AlastairWood wasatF ort

William,where he sawthe 10-coach 5.45am

Glasgowarrivethere,128 minutes late,behind

No.73078, onitsown (because ofFortWilliam

station’s shortplatforms,one of thepair of locos

headingalong trainwasoften detach ed by the

locodepot).Alastairthen headedsouthby the

2.12pm train, noting‘J37’No.64559 inasiding at

Rannoc hand thefailed‘BlackFive’languishing

at Ardlui.

So wherewas the‘J37’removedfromthe

Down train?If it had been taken offat Rannoch,

No.73078would have hadtotackle the 1-in-53

startthere unassisted.Corrour seems more

logical as theStandardcould easily have

comple tedthe longdescenttoF ortWilliam

on itsown. Canany reader solvethismystery?

Meanwhile,manythankstoAlastair Wood forhis

detailed accountofe ventsthatday.

speeds were muchthesame, stablingata bout

27mph, but increasing to 32 and 30mph where

the lineturns awayfrom the loch. Surprisingly,

perhaps,the‘B1’ and ‘K2’ were70seconds

quicker than Nos. 73109/44787on this

gruellingstretch.

On the descent from Corrour to Rannoch,

the gradient variesand so does thespeed. In the

1930s, Nockrecordeda‘Glen’ hereat64mph,

but themaximumreached on Alastair’s journey

was amere45–still 5mphhigher than the

officiallimit. From the Sword loch through the

snowshed and overRannochViaduct,theline

drops–aswehave seen–at1-in-53 with

check-railed curvature, and brakes areapplied..

No intermediatespeeds featureherein

GJAston’slog as he was concentrating on

coffee and, no doubt, on thepassingscene

with, perhaps,stags foraging among the sparse

vegetation. His ‘B1’ and ‘K2’ were morethan a

minute quicker to Rannoch than Alastair’s

Class 5son this shortbut memorablesection,

their start-to-stop average of 37.5mph suggesting

amaximum higher than the ‘legal’ 40!

From Rannoch, it is largely uphill toGortan

and then downhill to Bridge of Orchy.Onboth

runs, time was easily kept;and no wonder,when

beforeGorta nbothtrains momentarily exceeded

50mph andon the ensuing descent they nudged

the high‘forties’. Moresignificant istheclimb

from Bridge of Orchy to County March summit.

Here, Nos. 61344 and 61786 worked up to

34½mphbeforethe 1-in-55 alongthe flank of

Beinn Odhar loweredspeed to 24mph.

Staccato exhaust

Nine years on, AlastairWood was enjoying

high tea in therestaurant car and, rather than

study mileposts, would have had his eyes on the

dramatic sceneryashis Standardand Stanier

4-6-0s battledround the great amphitheatre

containing the Horseshoe Curve. Imagine it: the

great mountains gliding past the window as you

tackle your breaded haddock and toasted teacake

(with preserves), staccato exhaust beats providing

stirring background music. What morecould a

steam-minded Scotophile want?

Nevertheless, MrWood managed to note that,

on the concluding 1-in-55, the rate was steady

at 27mph, suggesting an equivalent drawbar

horsepower of at least 2,000,ahigh figurefor a

relatively low speed. Both trains ran cautiously

down Strath Fillan to Crianlarich and the head of

Loch Lomond at Ardlui, afteradescent of all but

1,000ft.Iuse the word‘cautiously’, but yet again

the (unrealistic?) 40mph overallrestriction was

slightly exceeded on bothruns, although speed

was reduced for the curving Eas Dubh (dark

waterfall)Viaduct halfway down Glen Falloch.

Between Ardlui and Arrochar,Ben Lomond

across the eponymous loch, thereisl ittle toreport

in the way of performance; from Arrochar it is a

different matter,with the line dropping sharply

across the isthmus between Lochs Lomond and

Long, and both pairs of locos quickly attaining

32mph to obtainarun at the final severeclimb.

To Glen Douglas summit the line twists and turns

at 1-in-53/57 and hereGJAston’s ‘B1’ and

‘K2’ almost matched the LM and BR Class 5s

(col 2), attaining 27mph but falling to 24mph at

the summit compared with 23-25mph sustained

by their rivals. Over the summit, the LNER

locos wereallowed to touch 44mph downhill

to Garelochhead.

Thereisl ittle toreportonperformance over

the final phase of theWest Highland, comprising

amodest switchback above the Gareloch before

Helensburgh (Upper), wherethe ‘B1’/‘K2’ pair

did not stop. The line descends fromacountryof

mountain and loch to prosperous housing backed

by avista of the Clyde, and at Craigendoran

Junction it is all over.Not quite, of course: for

then, as now,speed rose on well-aligned track,

the BR and LM ‘5s’ touching 61mph before

Dumbarton. Onwards, thereisafeeling of anti-

climax and impatience toreach Glasgow (Queen

Street) and, perhaps, the next leg of one’s journey.

It must have been irritating for AlastairWood

when, after leaving Dumbarton just 1½min late,

they wereheld at Cowlairs for 7min 39sec while

No. 73109 at the front and the observation car at

the back wereremoved, to enable the train to ‘fit’

the cramped Queen Street terminus.

Uncomfortable

Finally,asatailpiece,Table 4containsapre-

war ‘snippet’,recorded by the lateDSMBarrie,

of a‘B12/1’ 4-6-0 takingalightweight excursion

non-stop from Crianlarichto Craigendoran. The

low-axle load of the original Great Eastern‘B12s’

gave them accessto manysecondaryroutes from

whichother classes werebarred, and the LNER

transferred someto the former Great North of

Scotland system. Nicknamed ‘hikers’,afew were

temporarily based at Eastfield and occasionally

foundthemselvesworkingexcursions to and from

Crianlarich, travellingvia Callander one way and

by theWest Highland in theother direction.

The recorder’s note,“whatamassacre of the

schedule!”, is no surpriseafter a13min gain in

just 36 miles, includingwhat must have beenan

uncomfortable 56mphdown Glen Falloch!

My nextcontribution willlook at more re cent

West Highland performance and the (official)

speed improvements that have taken place. ■

Ararephotograph of the bizarrecombination ofaBRStandardClass 5No. 73078 double-heading with a

formerNorthBritish‘J37’0-6-0 No.64559 onAugust 30, 1958,at Gortan. KEITHFARR

28 •TheRailway Magazine•August2019

Train: Unspecifiedexcursion

Loco: ‘B12’4-6-0 No.8548

Load: 5/152/160tons

Recorder: DSMBarrie

Date: Sunday, July 4, 1937

Miles Timing Point Sched. Actual Speed

min ms mph

0.0 CRIANLARICH 00 00 -/56

8.7 Ardlui 18 13 05 20*/47

16.7 ARROCHAR 36 26 55 25*/36

21.1 GlenDouglas 47 37 25 21

26.0 Whistlefield 45 40 44

27.3 Garelochhead 60 48 15 20*/29

29.0 Shandon 65 52 35 20*

33.1 Rhu 8252 2*/41

34.2 HELENSBURGH 75 62 00 15*

36.3 Craigendoran 80 66 35 -

TABLE 4: CRIANLARICH-

CRAIGENDORAN

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