RECORD RAIL SPEED

Dunstan Times, 13 May 1935, Page 6

RECORD RAIL SPEED

TRIUMPH FOR BRITAIN

NEWCASTLE TO LONDON

Tvvo world records were lowered early last month by a London and North-eastern Railway train travelling between Newcastle and Loudon. A seven-year-old steam locomotive. Papyrus—named after a famous Derbj’ winner—drawing six coaches, travelled at 108 miles an hour near Little Bytham, in Lincolnshire, and maintained an average speed of 100.6 miles an hour for 12J miles between Corby and Tallington, near Grantham. These speeds are the highest ever recorded by a steam train anywhere in the world. The train had previously the 268 miles between London and Newcastle in the record time of 3h 56Jmin —a start-to-stop average of nearly 68 miles an hour. The same train with the same engine set off from Newcastle a few hours later and did the return journey to London in 3h 51min —an average of 69.5 miles an hour. It had thus covered 536.4 miles in. 7h 47^min. The journey to Newcastle was Hi lOJmin quicker than the Flying Scotsman—the fastest existing service between London and Newcastle. But for the derailing of some trucks of a goods train near Doncaster, this speed would have been surpassed. The blocked line caused a stop of smin on the northward journey and delay on the return. The object of the run was to test the theory that, in England, better results can be obtained from the use of light units drawn by steam locomotives than by Diesel-engined trains. For this purpose the Papyrus, an ordinary passenger engine, was brought into use. It was hitched to three first class corridor coaches, restaurant car, brake van, and dynamometer car—a seating capacity of 204. DRIVER UNMOVED BY FEAT. It left King’s Cross, London, at 9.8 a.m. and reached Newcastle at 1.4| p.m.—nearly four minutes ahead of schedule It is estimated that a Dieseldriven train would have taken 4 hours 12 minutes Driver Harry Guttendge, of Kentish Town, who is 65 and has been in the railway service for 45 years, was very enthusiastic about his engine’s performance. “ She has behaved like a real lady,” he said on arrival at Newcastle. “ We have had a top-hole run. His fireman, Mr Arthur Wightman, of Stoke Newington, had to load the furnace with over four tons of coal. A crowd of several hundred gathered nt King’s Cross to welcome the tram on its return to Loudon with a different crew. When railway officials went to congratulate Driver Sparshatt on his record, they found that he had disappeared from his cab. With a flare-lamp in his hand he had gone to make his routine examination of the bearings. He was completely unmoved at having been the first man to drive a train at 108 miles per hour. “ It’s no more exciting than driving at 60, ho said. Driver Sparshatt and Fireman Webster are veteran record-breakers. They were in the cab of the L.N.E R. train which some time ago broke all records on the Leeds route by covering the 188 miles in 190 minutes. During the return run Fireman W T ebster shovelled five tons of coal into Papyrus’ coalbox. “It’s not as much as it might have been. We were only pulling 210 tons behind us,” he said. ENGINE’S LOUD-SPEAKER. Mr V. M. Barrington-Ward, superintendent of the line, was among those who made the journey to and from Newcastle in the special coach. lie said: “We gave no special orders to the driver; we left it to him to do as well as he could.” A dynamometer card inspector, Mr 0. C. Jarvis, rode on the footplate throughout th< record run. He said: “ We kept up 105 miles per hour for nearly three mile'j and then just touched 108 miles per hour. It was smoother then than at the lower speeds.” Describing how they had been in constant communication with the dynamometer car throughout both journeys, he said : “ We have a loud-speaker fixed in the roof of Papyrus which shouts at us all the time, but it is very difficult to hear over the noise of the engine.” It is believed that the L.N.E.R. are considering a service of fast trains from London to important provincial centres to supplement ordinary express services. Papyrus acquitted itself so well on the northward journey that on examination at the Gateshead sheds it was found to be in fit condition to haul the train on its return journey instead of bringing into use a reserve engine which was at hand. At 3.47 p.m. the train left Newcastle with Driver William Sparshatt, of New Barnet, and Fireman Webster, of King’s Cross. OTHER SPEED RECORDS. The previous fastest speed, which was unofficial, was 102 miles an hour by the Great Western Railway engine, City of Truro, on a run between Plymouth and Paddington, in 1904. The world’s fastest regular steam train is the Cheltenham Flier, which dailj covers the 77 \ miles from Swindon to Paddington in Gsmin—an average start-to-stop speed of 71.3 miles per hour. The stream-lined Diesel train, Zcph.il r, in a non-stop run of 1,015 miles from Denver to Chicago last May, maintained an average of 77 miles an Hour, and at times reached over 112 miles per hour. The Flying Hamburger, running on oil. runs between Berlin and Hamburg at 77.4 miles per hour, and reaches a maximum of 100 miles an hour. On electrical linos, the highest speed is 93 miles per hour, on the Paris-Orlcans railway.