FAST RAILWAY TRAVEL

Press, Volume LIX, Issue 17813, 12 July 1923, Page 14

FAST RAILWAY TRAVEL

AN ENGLISH "RECORD." (BT CABLE—PBES3 ASSOCIATION —COFTEIOHT.) (aUSTEALIAN AUD N.Z. CABLE ASSOCIATIOa.) LONDON, July 10. A Great Western express train, inaugurating an acoelerated service, travelled from Swindon to Paddington, 77{ miles, in 72 minutes. The train attained a speed of 83 miles an hour between Swindon and Didcofc, a' repord for the British Isles and probably, for the world. i Practically all the pre-war passenger train services Have now toeeU,!reai«ox«sU in llritain, and in some cases extensions uav« tieen maclo. Jlor example, mere ai-e now ten daily two-nour express Drains ' between London and iiirmingiiam by the Ureat vyestern route liu* miles, winle lour otner trams on tnis route taUe only five minutes longer, live Lontion and JNorth-Western Company gives eleven expresses a day between London and .Birmingham, covering the journey of 113 miles in two hours, while two others take 2 hours 5 minutes. The fastest start"to-stop running compares favourably with pre-war achievements. The North-Lantern Hallway has reinstated the'famous timing of Darlington to i'ork 44J miles in 43 minutes, speed 61.7 miles an hour, by a heavier train than formerly. Other "mile-a-minute" runs are:—Paddington (London) to Bath, 106J miles, in 105 minutes by two "slip-coach" trains; Aylesbury to Leicester, 65 mileSj in 65 minuies; Birmingham to Coventry, 19 miles, in 19 minutes. Other remarkablo runs are' Leicester to Nottingham, 22i miles in 22 minutes; Birmingham to Willesden (London), 107J miles in 109 minutes; Euston (London), to Coventry, 94J miles in 97 minutes. Of the four 2-hour trains now run between Paddington and Bristol, two "down" travel via Bath, 118J miles, and two "up" via Badminton, 118 miles. The 3.15 p.m. Victoria (London) to Margate covers the 74 miles in 1 hour 35 min.; the Paddington to Oxford, 63£ miles, in 70 minutes; and the Paddington to Worcester, 120} miles, in 2 hours 10 minutes. . A wmei in the "Morning Post" Inst month, says there is no European country that can touch English speeds at the present time. It is true that before the war certain expresses on the Northern of France were faster than our own, but with this exception no European country touched our own as regards, speed,. And this pre-eminence in railway speeds is held undisputed by this country in post-war days, the English railways being the only ones in Europe that have restored their prewar time-table. English main lines are seldom flat, and the marvel is that such high speeds are attained. The "Cornish Riviera Limited" performs its daily journey of 226 miles at a speed of ovei fifty-four miles per hour, which is not a bad performance when some very stiff banks such. as the Dainton bank between Newton Abbot and Totnes. with a gradient of 1 in 36, have to be negotiated. The trouble of nnpunctuality in England is lnrgely due to the fact 'that the time-table speeds are so high that any time lost through a signal check cannot be easily made up. The question arises whether it would not >e"better to have lower timetable speeds, which would allow a large margin, so that in the case of nnv delav the tim> lost could be easily recovered.