THE EASTLEIGH CENTENARIAN 23 May 09

5 mins late from Waterloo and Green lights all the way. I recorded a maximum of 78. We only slowed when we caught up the service train in front of us.

 

slow?? slow??? ](*,) lol

look at these lol
clapham http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95efXpr4E48
farnborough http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7eavHWQDl8

 

Consensus at present is that Wayne's time is the fastest steam time to pass Worting from Waterloo since 4/6/1965. Nearly 44 years! That was done by the late Reubens Hendicott on the 8.30 to Bournemouth. 35005 load 11. Worting 47.20 after signals to 10 at Basingstoke (passed in 41.56). I suspect he may have been a tad above 75mph in many places!

The passing time to Basingstoke almost at a stand was the fastest by a long way. But Gordon Hooper with 35005 on the 21.20 on 15th May 1965 still holds the fastest start to stop, 43.48, with 77 over mp 31 and 90 after Hook. The net time for Gordon was circa 41 and a quarter as he had a 19 mph tsr at Wimbledon. That was the night the four of us timers on board recorded 105 mph approaching Winchester Junction. That run was specially set up for high speed. Totally unofficially of course!

For a heavy load train it's quite a surprise. Although it didn't quite beat 49.10. It was with 35012 on the down Belle, (12.30), on the 31 October 1964 with the usual 10 Pullmans and 1 van (426/450). The time to pass Worting was 49-20 and the crew were George Holloway and Fireman Goodison from Nine Elms. In my experience Nine Elms top link crews on the down 10.30 and 12.30 often didn't bother to run fast as they knew they could rarely get into Southampton on time because a local demu was booked just in front through the tunnel.

My best? Well, as the founder member of the Fred Hoare Fan Club it will come as no surprise to find it was the down ACE on 24 July 1964. AND with 35028 as well as Fred Hoare and Fireman Pete Allen. 11 on for just over 400 tons. Usual careful start from Fred, then lovely sustained running in high 70's/low 80s, with around 70 over mp 31. Giving 46.08 to pass Worting. With the "usual" 90 through Andover we had a net time to Salisbury of under 73 minutes. Trying to get full confirmation of the details of this run as all I have is a "copied" up version of my original, so cannot check back to my original notes to make sure I didn't make any errors in copying.

One thing that makes Wayne's run even better was a Windsor line start, which can cost close to a minute of extra time to Clapham.

 

Don't rub it in! I just could not believe it would be possible to run at decent speeds without collecting loads of signal checks!

On the plus side I did get a couple of very ordinary photos. #-o

 

I knew we were having a good run, but after reading comments here, I did not realise how good!
Yes the restriction is still on at Hurstbourne, also we have a more restrictive one at Oakley (just past Worting Jnc). Thats why we are usually coasting by Battledown flyover. Both these restrictions are a pain in the neck as we have uphill stretches to contend with beyound them. Why the one at Oakley is there, I do not know. We do not have a restriction there for heavy axle load trains of RA 10, that is 25 tons. Annoying, and what is worse, sometimes its 15 mph and other times 30.
Early starts are not everyones cup of tea but it certainly gave us the oppertunety of getting the fast run. Peter starks asked Network Rail if we could have a clear run and the message was obviously passed on. Our thanks must go to them and a big thankyou to the signalers in Woking and both the Basingstoke boxes. well done chaps.
As for driving technique, the Merchants were driven at speed with around 20% cut-off in BR service days I beleive. The coal thats available now is not as good as back then. So we generaly do not have Clan Line inside 25%. Differant drivers have differant ways of doing things, even now. I will use just over 3/4 regulator when running, which is about 20 to 30 psi below boiler presure. As I mentioned in another report here, the fire went a bit flat on us when we had been running at 25% cut-off from Walton-on-Thames to Woking. So I opened her out to 30% afterwards, which is the cut-off I personally use on the light pacifics.

 

Wayne & Kent Yeti,

Its great to have such knowledgeable contributors on the Forum. Thanks for some very interesting info. =D>

As well as my video of the train passing Worting, I've now uploaded the video I took at the same place of 34067 heading for Swanage on 2 May. An interesting comparison, even if Tangmere had a 37 on the back. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SADe-P-2N5E

 

Seen approaching Vauxhall:



If only the stock had been uniform and the EMU that got signal checked wasn't a 12 coacher!

 

http://railways.mjspencer.com/gallery/m ... temId=1129

Approaching Millbrook



http://railways.mjspencer.com/gallery/m ... temId=1131

Exiting Southampton tunnel




http://railways.mjspencer.com/gallery/m ... temId=1137

Excelerating away from Eastleigh

 

Great picture of London,Matt...
Just see Waterloo in the background.

 

I see on UKSteam that 34070 is crossed out for the return to Swanage, is there any reason why it is staying at Eastleigh? It would be nice to think it was being made ready for mainline use, but I don't think so somehow.

 

All is explained in the Eastleigh 100 event thread...not this one which is about a tour.

 

Of course, James hasn't told you where to find the thread he's refering to. It's this one, in the Galas section: viewtopic.php?f=38&t=18369&p=294759#p294759. Look for buzby2's post on Monday.

 

My shots are here:






http://mark-walker.fotopic.net/c1703318.html



Cheers,
Mark

 

As for PoW camps,the security officers seemed to think they were running one at the end of the day yesterday!


When we were leaving yesterday we were commanded to "WALK ON ZE LEFT HAND SIDE OF ZE BRIDGE,DO NOT STOP,GO DOWN THE STAIRS,OTHERWISE YOU VILL BE SHOT"


To quote a well known person..... "I am on the left hand side of the bridge you .... idiot!"


It doesn't take much to say please or thank you!
Cheers,
Mark

 

Oops, sorry, I went to get the link and got distracted by other posts and forgot about it. 8-[

 

Wayne at work! =D>

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bscVa-UU7WE

This shot of 35028 was taken by a chum of ours, pulling away from Andover after a signal check.

 

Lovely shot. Wonderful noise!

 

Hadn't seen that bit. A really excellent climb with that load. Would have been great to see what Wayne et all could have done with Clan Line coming the other way, ie up Porton bank. A problem would be starting with a cold loco from Salisbury.

Even on the up ACE most runs I timed took that climb reasonably easily. Although the Saunders/Young combination with 35003 way back in 1962 did clock a 60 before falling off to 56 on the steepest section. But that was with an unusually light ACE. Just 10 for 380 gross. A fast start to Tunnel Junction helped: certain speed limts were interpreted rather liberally back in those days! 18 mins to pass Andover was good, but there were two tsrs around Whitchurch, one down to 10 mph to gain time for. 90 mph below Basingstoke, and an average of exactly 90 from Brookwood to W Byfleet, 92 mph max. Loco eased back there as a hot bearing was smelt by the crew! With sigs outside of Waterloo we still kept inside the 80 minute schedule. Just over 72 minutes net. My best up ACE run.