“The highlightoft he down journeywas nowtofollow–
thelesserknown westboundclimb to Sapperton. Aftera
shortlevel sectionthisthenclimbsat1-in-143toCoates
and1-in-400/200, before averyshortpiece of leveltrack
overthe disusedThames andSevernCanal ,thenthe final
twomiles of 1-in-100/94tothe summitatt he west endof
Sappertontunnel.”
FiremanMathew Earnshawiss eenon‘BlackFive’
No.44871 afte rarrivalat Worcest erShru bHillon
May23.DONBENN
LOCOMOTIVEPERFORMANCETHENANDNOW
WITH FULL
REGULATOR
Date Thursday, May23, 2019
Train 9.15amLondonVictoria to Worcester Shrub Hill
Loco ‘BlackFive ’4-6-0 No.44871
Load 9coaches,315 tons tare, 340 tons full
Driver RayPoole
Fireman MathewEarnsh aw
Recorder DonBenn
Position 9thcoach
Weather Sunnyspellsmiles schedmins secs speed
Swindon 0.00 0.00 00 00
RiverRay 1.59 03 27 55½
BremellSidings 2.71 04 26 65
Purton 3.71 05 22 67½
MP 83 5.71 07 11 61½
GambolsCrossing 6.43 07 53 60
Minety&Ashton8.18 09 36 64½
MP 86 8.71 10 05 63
MinetyCrossing 9.61 10 55 64½
Oaksey 11.15 12 23 61
Kemble 13.71 19.00 17 36
0.00 0.00 00 00 1¼ mins early
MP 92 1.00 02 53 40½
MP 92½ 1.50 03 36 44½
Severn Canal 1.83 04 02 46½
MP 93¼ 2.25 04 35 46
MP 93½ 2.50 04 54 45½
MP 94 3.00 05 34 45
MP 94½ 3.50 06 13 44½
Sapperton3.63 06 24 44
ShortTunnel
Tunnel Exit 3.83 06 40 43½
Summit
Sapperton3.88 06 45 44
Long Tunnel
FramptonCrossing5.42 08 35 35*
Frampton 5.71 09 02 44
ViaductMid
Chalfor d7.07 11 19 40*
St Mary’sCrossing 7.80 6.00 12 13 50/53
BrimscombeBridge8.92 13 33 47*
Stroud 11.1 816214 8½
Stonehouse 13.89 19 18 60
Standish Jct15.92 17.00 21 43 40*
Haresfield 17.27 23 02 57½
Broo kthorpe 18.75 24 47 66½
Tuffle yJct 21.00 26 51 48*/21*
Glos Yard Jct22.07 30.00 29 26 24/19*
Glou cester Signal 22.47 33.00 30 55 3¼ mins early*brakesors peedrestrictionTABLEONE:SWINDONTOGLOUCESTERIn hislatestcolumn,DonBenndescri besmoregood
work by LMS‘Black Five’4-6-0 No.44871,running on its
ownand also with LNER A4 PacificNo. 60009Unionof
SouthAfricaon anearrecord-breaking runoverBeattock,
together with somefine runningbyClass86electric
locomotive No.86259LesRoss–and with ‘Black Five’
No.45148 on the2pm from Glasgowin1965.
LASTtime,Iincluded details of partof Steam Dreams’
trip toWorcester onMay23, whenLMS‘BlackFive’
No.44871producedastunning climbof Sapper ton
bankduring whichRayPoole and Chris Birmingham
worked the engine hardenoughto resultino ne of the
highest poweroutputs ever knownfromaClass5
locomotive. On abeautifulsunny morningwe had
joined the trainat ReadingwhereRay Poole and
Mathew EarnshawtookoverfromPeteRoberts.The
loadwas ninecoaches for340 tons full andno diesel on
the backforonce.
Ihad aseatint he lastcoach on themilepost side,
so waseagerly anticipatingagood dayout with pure
steam.The initialscheduletot he waterstopatChallow
wasaverytight 29 minutesforthe 27.87 miles,which
would have beenachievable witha75mph rated
locomotive, but impossible with onerestric tedto
65mph and withaslowstartupt he 1-in-82over the
new flyover,evenwith RayPoole driving.
At leas twewereonthe down main line and speed
soonrose to 65mphjust afterPangb ourn e–and then
washeld in the63-65mphrangeup th eeasy gradients
of theThamesValley until entering theChallo wloop
atWantage Road,except of an unexplained braking
downto 55mphat Milton. We took 32 minutes 17
seconds fromReadingwhichhad been leftjust under
aminut elate,acommendable loss of only three and
aquarter minutes.FromChallo wweleftont ime and
made an unscheduled stop inSwindonin17minutes
47 secondsforthe 13.55miles afteramaximum speed
of 63½mphnearShrivenham.AssaultonSapperton
Table One shows the con tinuationfromthe Swindon
restar t. Afte rnegotiating therestric tedsectionto
Swindon Junction,Ray Poole took fulladvantageoft he
1-in-260/308/576downgradientstomilepost 79½ and
thenthe mile of level and 1-in-404 downto Purton towindup No.44871to67½ at Purton beforetopping
the twomiles of 1-in-330 which finishesjust after
GambolsCrossingat 60mph.Speedwasthen heldin
the 61-64mphrange to Oaksey, beforeeasingfor the
Kemble stop,where quiteafew participants left the
train to visit ChavenageHouse.
Thehighlightofthe down journeywas no wtofollow
–the lesserknownwestbound climbtoSapperton.
Afte rashortlevel section this then climbsat 1-in-143
to Coatesand 1-in-400/200, beforeaveryshortpieceof
level trackover the disusedThamesand Severn Canal,
then the finaltwomiles of 1-in-100/94to the summit
at the west en dofSappertontunnel. No.44871was
thunderous throughout, reaching 46½mphoverthe
canaland then all but holding 44/45mph beforeaquite
superb minimum of 43½mph.
This greateffor twas worth1480equivalentdrawbar
horsepower(edbh),averyhighfigurefor aclass 5
locomotivebut eclipsedby the 1690 on thereturn
run. Unlike the eastboundclimb, the mileposts are
much easierto spot on this section.Thetrain then
drif teddownthe restric tedsectionto Stonehouse,
whereIrecorded abrief 60 mph beforebrakes came
on forStandish Junction. No.44871 thenroared upto
66½mphat Brookthorpe beforestopping in Gloucester
Yard overthree minutes earlyhaving gained nearly two
minutesfromSwindon.Anotherfaststart
Afte rkeepingthe 11-minutescheduleto the
Cheltenhamstop, we were awayfro mthere just
over aminuteearly and treatedtoanamazingly fast
start,reaching 60mph in undertwo miles andthen
averaging 63mphexactly over the 13.67 miles from
SwindonRoad Crossingto Pirton Crossing (wewerethe
wrong sideformilepostson this stretch).Thefaststart
wasaided by the1-in- 322/305/297downgradients
as far as HomedownCrossing,justbefor eAshdo wn64 Heritagerailway.co.uk indusonwww.facebook.com/heritagerailway
MAIN LINE PERFORMANCE