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Non-tilt ‘Pendolino’ ran at 125mph
THE recent series on titled trains was most interesting. With regard to the panel on named freight trains, we have in the Stephenson Locomotive Society collection this photograph of LNER K3 No. 58 on display in Hunslet goods yard, Leeds, in May 1935. The circular headboard states ‘Express Goods Service West Riding-London 4¾ hours Nightly’. I am unable to advise whether the headboard was used in service or was simply an advert for the exhibition. K GREENWOOD, Stephenson Loco Society, Holcombe, Somerset.
A COMMENT made in the February news item entitled ‘Alstom and Angel push Pendolino as alternative to IEP’, stated that the ‘Pendolino’ would be limited to 110mph without tilt on the East Coast Main Line. On two test runs in March, No. 390055 cruised effortlessly at 125mph, without tilt or TASS in use, and easily matched existing ECML high-speed timings. I know, as I was there! CHRIS GIBB, Chief Operating Officer, Virgin Trains
I proposed to my wife on a DMU!
MANY people, when they talk of the ‘romance of railways’, tend to conjure up images of the ‘Orient Express’ or the ‘Canadian Pacific’, but for my fiancée and I, it is the humble East Midlands Trains ‘Sprinters’ shuttling between Nottingham and Matlock that set our pulses racing every time! For it was on one of these (No. 153319 to be precise) that my beautiful lady agreed to become my wife! Frances and I have always shared a love and enthusiasm for railways, and back in the autumn we took a trip from our home town of Belper up to Matlock for a day out. After a look around the shops and a walk in the park, we climbed aboard the unit for the journey home. We still had a few minutes before the train was due to depart and began talking and thinking about how good such simple pleasures in life can be. Suddenly, I took her hand, looked into her eyes and, right there in the aisle, down I went! I was pretty sure she’d say yes, but still could hardly believe what I was doing! I was on one knee on a busy train in the middle of the day! However, my impetuous gesture was rewarded as she brushed a tear from her eye, grinned from ear to ear and replied that nothing in the word would make her happier. The old lady in the seat behind us nearly choked on her sticky bun when she overheard us. MATT St LAWRENCE, by email.
SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT ■ Due to a last-minute picture swap (June, p38), the caption to the old photo (Tyseley) got left in by mistake; The picture depicts Newport Ebbw Jct. ■ Diesel unit No. 150125 is named The Heart of Wessex Line (April, p83). ■ The ex-LNWR swing bridge at Oxford (January issue, p8) continued in use by passenger trains until October 1, 1955. ■ Finally, Chipping Sodbury tunnel was not an ideal illustration for the GW main line story on page 9, June
54 • The Railway Magazine • July 2012
Is the ‘Tornado syndrome’ taking things too far? IT is extremely likely that I will bring down the wrath of many people on my head for daring to even think this, let alone put it into writing, but I am astonished and frankly bewildered in these financially-straitened times that no heritage association or group has gone to the wall. Appeals, apparently heeded, continue without pause for money for all boilers, rivets, bolts, stays and so on for all manner of locomotives. Not only that, but we seem to be in the grip of a desire to re-create almost every kind of steam locomotive that does not yet exist in preservation in what I refer to as the ‘Tornado syndrome’. Frankly, I think this is all going too far. Heed should be taken of the plight of Flying Scotsman (‘Olympic flame goes out.... May RM), which is 90 years old and increasingly more difficult to keep in restored order. This sort of situation may well be the beginning of the end
for quite a few locomotives, age wise. Surely there is ample ‘preserved’ stock around the country, be it steam or diesel, to restore and maintain to keep any preservation society going for the foreseeable future. This is what we should all be concentrating on... also to getting rid of all the unwanted bits and pieces of scrap metal lying around, slowly rusting. As for 100mph steam running
(May RM), I would not dare! Perish the thought. JOHN MACNAB, Falkirk, Stirlingshire.
In an ideal world, it would be good to get all the ‘genuine’ locos restored before starting to build replicas, Mr Macnab, but people can’t be forced to spend their own money on things they don’t wish to fund and it’s a fact that many enthusiasts find the re-creation of their own favourites more exciting than the restoration of another Bulleid Pacific or 8F. Ed.
100mph by steam? It’s not worth the risk
IN reference to a possible 100mph running by any of our precious steam locomotives, a great big ‘No’ from me. It’s definitely not worth the risk. J SPEED (Miss), Strumpshaw, Norfolk TRYING to ‘do a ton’ by steam on HS1 or nearly any other fast stretch of ‘ordinary’ railway like Stoke bank would seem to be fraught with so many snags – of a bureaucratic as well as a technical nature – as to be ruled out. There may however, be an alternative. Now that the Old Dalby test track from Melton Mowbray to Edwalton sees less use than previously, and as it was once used for high-speed testing, one might assume it is still OK for such runs and that there would be room without getting in the way of other trains. To get a bit of a ‘run-up’, the train could possibly start at Melton Mowbray. WESLEY PAXTON, Annan, Scotland.
Coming clean about a locomotive renumbering – 43 years later! THE National Collection’s LNWR 0-8-0, No. 49395, ran this year on the Worth Valley as 49442 because that was Pete Waterman’s favourite loco and it’s due to the generosity of
that gentleman that we can enjoy this loco back at work. Back in the late 1960s, I was one of a number of enthusiastic amateurs working on the cosmetic restoration of this loco most weekends in Leicester roundhouse, where it was then based. One Sunday, paint had been applied to the lower cabside panel
and the rest of the team had retired home, cold and dirty. I found the temptation to paint the number of my own favourite loco, 49441, irresistible. After all, the second coat would obliterate it next weekend. Who would ever know? Well, as it turned out… more than I could ever guess! During the next week, someone photographed the loco, sent a print to The Railway Magazine and it was printed in the next issue. The caption raised big questions: Just which loco was it? All very embarrassing but until now I’ve kept a low profile. Now, after 43 years I finally own up. GRAHAM LEDGER, Northampton The news item in question appeared in our January 1970 issue and is reproduced on the left. Ed.