5MT No.44871 isse enat Worcest erForegate Street
duringitsturningmove onMay23whileworking
Date Tuesday, April30, 2019 SteamDreams’tourfromLondonVictoria.DONBENN
Train GBX11 1318Carlisleto Edinburgh
Locos A4 clas s4-6-2 No.60009Union ofSouthAfrica
and Class 54-6-0 No.44871
Load 11 coache s, 400 tons tare420 tons gross
Crews SChipperfield andJRodgers onNo.60009
MKelly andMEarnshawonNo. 44871
Recorder ASmeaton
Position 5thcoach
Weather Cloudy,mild and drymiles schedmins secs speed
LockerbieDown 0.00 0.00 00 00 4mins early
Loop
Lockerbie 0.27 2.00 01 32 23
MP 27 1.44 03 27 47
Nethercleugh 3.13 05 17 59/58½
Dinwoodie 6.19 08 22 60
MP 33 7.44 09 38 59
Wamphray 8.94 11 06 64½
MP 38 12.44 14 32 58½
Beatto ck 14.19 16.30 16 17 62
MP 41 15.44 17 32 57½
MP 42 16.44 18 35 56
MP 43 17.44 19 41 54½
MP 44 18.44 20 48 53
Greskine 19.44 21 57 52
MP 46 20.44 23 06 52
Harthope 21.44 24 15 53
MP 48 21.44 25 24 52
MP 49 22.44 26 34 49
MP 49½ 23.94 27 12 47
BasttockSummit 24.19 30.00 27 31 49
BodsburyLC26.03 29 21 67½
Elva nfoot 27.05 30 19 61/58
Crawford 29.54 32 47 64½
MP 56 30.44 33 44 45* sigs
Abingdon 32.66 62.00 39 30
Down Loop
0.00 0.00 00 00 19 mins late
MP 59 0.77 02 43 38
MP 61 2.78 05 04 61½
MP 62 3.78 06 02 62½
Lamington 5.03 07 14 62
MP 65½ 7.28 09 32 55½
Symington 8.39 10 41 58½
Thankerton10.28 12 32 67½/69
Leggatfoot 11.78 13 56 59½
MP 71 12.78 15 04 44* sigs
CarstairsSJct 14.93 17.00 19 48 15½*/12*
Carstairs 15.38 24.00 22 21 14*
*brakesors peedrestrictionDate Saturday, July 31, 1965
Train 2pmGlasgowtoLiverpool and Manchester
Loco ‘BlackFive ’4-6-0 No.45148
Load 10 coaches,334 tons tare360 tons gross
Crew Notrecorded
Recorder DonBenn
Position Front
Weather Hotand sunnymiles sched mins secs speed
Carstairs 0.00 0.00 00 00 5_ mins late
Strawfrank SB 0.35 01 10 35
Leggatfoot 3.60 05 43 45/42
Thankerton5.05 07 33 54_
Symington 6.70 09 42 39* sigs
MP 64 9.50 13 32 53
sigs stop
Lamington 10.40 15 12 0*
15 40
Wandlemill SB 13.20 21 13 43/45
sigs stop
Abingdon 15.80 25 41 0*
31 44
Crawford 18.35 36 58 43½
Elva nfoot 20.80 40 37 49/52½
BasttockSummit 23.90 30.00 44 24 38
Harthope 25.80 46 39 63
Greskine 28.20 48 56 65*/69
MP 42 31.50 52 05 62*
Beatto ck 33.90 40.00 54 09 68/64
Murthat36.60 56 43 71½
Wamphray 39.10 58 43 74/70
Dinwoodie 41.90 61 03 72½/74½
Nethercleugh 44.95 63 36 73
Lockerbie 47.85 52.00 66 10 65½
CastlemilkSiding 50.90 69 04 62
Ecclefechen 53.45 71 23 73
Kirtlebridge 56.90 74 56 24* tsr
MP 14½ 58.75 77 58 44½
Kirkpatrrick 60.65 79 48 63½/65½
Quintinshill 63.30 82 11 62*
Gretna Jct64.90 71.00 83 56 67
Floriston 67.45 86 09 70½
Rockcliffe69.45 87 59 64
Kingmoor 71.50 89 52 66½
sigs 3*
Carlisle 73.50 81.00 94 59 19½ mins late
net time 77 minutes *brakesors peedrestrictionTABLEFOUR:LOCKERBIE TOCARSTAIRSTABLEFIVE:CARSTAIRSTOCARLISLEanet starttos topaverage of 88.7mph.Wetopped
Madeleybankat9 4mph andreached108mphat
Brinklow, beforethe muchlower speed limitat Rugby
which applied thenand where wepassedat 66mph.
106mphatWolver tonwas apreludetothe signalstop.
Tring wastopped at 98mphand the dashfor London
produced 110mph at Kings Langley and 106mphat
Wembley separatedbyarestricted 74mphatWatford
Junction.
It is thereforenosurprise thatIhaveasoftspot for
No.86259LesRoss,namedafter its owner and always
time anyrunsbehind it whichare usually on the
RailwayTouringCompany’s(RTC)‘CumbrianMountain
Express’fromEustonorCreweto Carnforth. One such
run wasonthe ill fated(forsteam thatis) trainon
February23, 2019andTableThreeshows the running
from Nuneaton, wherewedepartedfiveminutes
late to Crewe.The47-minuteschedulefor th e61.01
mileswasbetteredbynearly threeminutesdespite
asignalrestric tedapproach. Nowadays of course the
overall speed limit isn’t exceededbut th erunningwas
determined throughout. AL6 classNo. 86259 entered
serviceinJ anuary1966. It wasbuilt by BR at Doncaster
and weighs81tons producingamaximum of 4000
horsepower and withatractiveeffor tof6 0,000lbs‘BlackFive’and A4onthe GBXII
Sandy Smeatonhas kindly sentmedetails of some of
the runs onRTC’s‘TheGreat Britai nXII’touronApril 30
and continuing the‘BlackFive’theme, Ihavechosen
to showdetail softhe run northfromCarlisleover the
section between theLockerbie andAbingdonLoops
andthis is shownisTableFour.
Agleaming No.44871was coupledto A4 No.60009
Unionof SouthAfricaand thetwo engines hadaload
of 11coachesfor 42 0tons fullto co ntend with–so
super powerindeed!Thetwo locomotives setthe
second fastest timein preservation forthe climb of
Beatto ck aidedby missingout the booked stop in the
Beatto ck loop.
Sandy describes therun fro mCarlisle:“Theengines
came offto be servicedatWapping Sidings,which
inevitablytook longer than the61minutes allowed.
Departurefor Edinburghwas 13 late.60mph was
reached between MPs3½and 3¾ rising to 65½ at
Floriston.From GretnaJunctiontoMP22, speed
washeldat60mphwith arise to 65mph before
Kirtlebridge old station site. Despite theusualslow
appr oachtothe loopat Lockerbie,westopped 4¾
minutes less t hanthe 36-minuteschedule.Water
wastaken from thetanker here.The restar twas four
minutes early with60mph runningresumed,rising to
64½ downtoWamphray.The engineswereopened
out afterMP38 on theapproach to Beatto ck bank with
speedrising to 62mph throughBeattock.Speed then
fell to 52mphat Gres kine,but washeld at this rateuntil
MP48. On the final section of the climbto the summit,
speedfell to aminimum of 47mphat MP49½.
“This wasapleasantsurpriseas we hadbeen booked
to stop in the summit loop,but randowntostop
in Abington loop instead.About three late running
servicesovertook whilewe waited in the loop, perhaps
delayed by the linesidefire at Ecclefechan.The restart
was19l ateand theThankertondip pr oduced 69
beforethe sl owing forCarstairs.
“ApproachingCobbinshaw summit, we caught
up with the 3.09pmMossend-Tees Dock freight
andlateratMidcalder Junction, the Class 68-hauled
3.59pmMotherwell –Edinburghemptycoaching
stockworking.Much slack in theschedule meant we
wereonly10minutes late into EdinburghWaverley’s
Plat form 7.”
Thetime of 11 minutes 14 seconds fromBeattock to
the summitwas the second fastest in preservation –
beatenonly by atime of 10 minutes5secondsby the
amazingNo. 60532BluePeteron March21, 1998. Brian
Griersonwasthe driver thatday andthe A2Pacific had
390 tons on the drawbar and the summitwastopped
at 52mph.66 Heritagerailway.co.uk indusonwww.facebook.com/heritagerailway