A Modern 100

Here is a list of GWR 100's - I'm sure there will be some missing from the later years. I've added a few that came close to 100 - esp with heavy trains or on near level track.

1904 3440 100mph 120tons Wellington
1906 2903 120mph light engine Little Somerford (claim by C B Collett)
1927 5000 108mph light engine Little Somerford (claim by K J Cook)
1927-30 There were claims that every King was run up to 100mph light engine when new. When asked if this was true Collett stated that they were designed for high speed and tested as such.
1933/34 It seems there was an attempt at 100 mph around this time with 6000 that failed.
1937 5039 reached 95mph on almost level track at Didcot on Cheltenham Flyer with 235 tons.
1938 5032 reached 98mph in the Severn Tunnel with 420 tons.
1939 4086 100mph 255tons Honeybourne.
1947 5056 reached 96.8mph with 141 tons at Maidenhead (almost level track) on ATC test train.
1955 6018 102.5mph 250tons Dauntsey - timed by Nock.
1955 6015 103mph Lavington after being fitted with double chimney.
1955 6015 108mph Lavington a few days later.
1955 6015 100mph Curry Rivel Jn - same run as line above.
1956 6024 101.5mph 305tons Dauntsey - timed by Baron Vuillet.
1958 7018 100mph Little Somerford.
Suspect that a thorough reading of magazines from this period would uncover other 100 mph on Bristolian.
1962 7030 103mph 180tons Blackthorn.
1962 7030 103mph 180tons Denham - same run as above.
1964 there are accounts of several 100mph at Honeybourne while choosing which Castles to use for 9th May rail tour - think one was 5054.

 

It would be as well to qualify 2903 as "approx 120" seeing as Collett most certainly did...

 

How many of these runs are backed up by detailed logs from experienced timers other than the two already mentioned?

 

those with logs:
3440 Rous Marten
4086 Charlewood
6018 Nock
6024 Vuillet
7018 - not sure who timed this - the log appears in several books
7030 - not sure who timed this, log may have come from dyno car

Those timed from footplate with stopwatch:
2903 C B Collett
5000 K J Cook
6015 S O Ell
6015 Inspector Andress

1964 runs down Campden bank - not known - perhaps just from speedometer.

 

The run with 6024, which was actually on 25th May 1957, was timed from the footplate by Gerard Vuillet. The run was the down Bristolian, with 8 coaches, 305 tons gross, and 101.5 mph was acheived down the 1/100 of Dauntsey bank, at mp 87.25 to be precise. Vuillet comments that at this point the regulator had to be closed due to drifting steam obscuring the drivers signal sighting. Vuillet also notes:-" The riding was smooth,with no vibration; one heard the cylinder valves ticking."

Gerard Vuillet was a lucky man, riding on steam in many diverse parts of the World. His book is worth picking up if you see one on the secondhand stall at your local heritage railway. (" Railway Reminiscences of Three Continents". Nelson, 1968)

 

yes, sorry - 1957

I think I'm right in saying there are only two occasions where Vuillet describes traveling at 100mph on the footplate - once on the Hiawatha and once on the Bristolian.

 

Thanks for that list.

When I get going I will have to tie it in with the list of properly authenticated GWR 100 mph runs that has already gone through some sort of scrutiny by my peers. Peers who are some way ahead of me in their abilities re steam loco performance analysis. That gives 2 or possibly 3 such runs by Kings. And 3 from Castles. I don't know which ones they are yet.

But for the present I have other tasks to complete.

 

2 years since the last post in this thread....thought a bump may be relevent.

Hasn't the landscape changed.

 

If you can be patient and wait a few years how about HS2.


Oh, and I noted there was a list of GWR 100s of varying credibility, how about Hurricane in September 1839!

 

Another GWR loco which almost touched 100 was 5043 in June 1958. See http://www.tyseleylocoworks.co.uk/tlw/5043.htm I'm sure the VT wesbite featured a log of this run, but I can't find it now.

 

And having looked back over this thread Lester and some of the many claims made, that one may as well be added to the list! And Rocket as well!.

I have so much on at present I really don't have time to start my detailed review of authentic UK steam loco 100 mphs. But I may email a group of my peers to at least get an outline.

But my earlier estimate of a total of 70 was frowned upon as being a bit too high. Genuine, properly recorded steam loco 100 mphs were never ever commonplace. So many that appear on lists etc were from loco speedos, or someone on the footplate taking a couple of stop watch times. One of those, a 108 mph claim for a King where a timing log did exist was analysed for me in incredible detail by someone who knew what they were doing. That one may not even appear on the 100 mph list. It may well be yet another near miss. And I recently mentioned a Light Pacific run that has gone down in history as 106mph, backed up by a speedo photo. I was on that run, and at very most we touched 90 mph for just 1/4 mile. And so it goes on. Run after run that is way out on speed.

Even some of the preservation high speeds can be quoted some way out. I checked an oft reported very near miss by an A4 on the WR. I checked the Railway Performance Society Archive and a timing friend of mine of whom I have the greatest respect, (we first timed together in 1963) who was on it. Both agree a maximum 5 mph short of the magic figure.

There seems to be a vision of UK railways in the past with locos that undoubtedly had and probably still have the capability of running up to 100mph and doing it almost on a daily basis.

There is absolutely no proper evidence that happened.

Yes, some genuine 100mphs would have happened and been un-recorded. But schedules never required it and drivers were unlikely to put their jobs on the line by regular breaches of speed limits etc. What happened on the SR towards the end was unique. And done partly I suspect, (I never asked at the time), because the track and signalling had been substantially upgraded and towards the very end the new emus were being tested and used for crew training at speeds over the previous 85 mph limit. The exact date of it's raising I do not know.

But steam loco timers are attracted to fast running locos and crews like bees to pollen. They even went to the USA not long after the turn of the last century when really fast running started, (the P&RRR Camel back Atlantics are a very good example). If such as A4s were running at and over 100mph as regularly as some claim, the front coach would have rarely been without a couple of experienced timers. That's how it has worked for over a century now.

But people love to believe the UK was once a railway with steam locos running at or over 100mph on a regular basis. The question of proper substantiation gets left far behind. And when I do eventually publish what I will make sure is a list authenticated by my peers, I know it will have virtually no impact on established beliefs. But for the sake of reality and history it needs to be done and lodged within the relevant archives.