THE RAILWAY WORLD

Evening Star, Issue 18022, 17 July 1922, Page 6

THE RAILWAY WORLD

BRITISH TRAIN SPEEDS.

“RECORDS” OF 1922.

The announcement by a number of railway companies of accelerations of train serVices to take effect next month direc a attention to the subject of tram speeds for which British railways have long held a high reputation. . Perhaps the most remarkable featme which emerges from an examination o railway speed records is that, while iho number of trains travelling at high speeds has undergone a material increase during recent years, the maximum speed attained by main lino trains is little in excess of the best speeds recorded many years ago. It is iho case, however, that the Joeoniolives haul much heavier loads, which calls for the employment of much greater power. Tins in turn has raised the whole question of permissible weights on bridges, and has involved railway companies in considerable expenditure. Excluding felip-coach records, the London and North-Western Railway Company heads the speed table for 1922 with the run between Birmingham and Coventry at an average speed of sixty miles per hour. The Great Western Company s achievement of running tho 107 miles between Paddington and Bath, where a slip-coach is detached, in Ihr 45mm, givjim an average speed of sixty-ouo miles per hour, is in some respects a finer performance; and the same company lias an excellent achievement standing to its credit in tine two-hour train to Bristol via Box, which represents an average speed of 59.1 miles per hour. The two-hours trains to Birmingham on both the London and North-Western and the Great Western are slower by comparison; but the average, speed of' these trains (about fifty-five miles per hour) is greater than it was, as the run is now performed in two hours by both routes with an intermediate stop. THE MIDLANDS .AND THE EAST. Tho Great Central Railway a bhdi place among high-speed runs. The best trains of this company .are those ranniim m the London and Manchester service over a road which is very severe in Comparison with those of the NorthWestern and Great Western Companies. The best average speed of the Great Central London and Manchester services is 50.29 miles per hour, and the highest booked speed attained by tho same tram is for the 68J miles between Quninton road and Leicester, which is covered in 56min, giving an average speed of 62.89 miles per hour. This is not, of course, a start-to-stop run, as the train does not call at Quainton road. Tho highest speed run on the Caledonian Railway is that from Forfar to Perth, 52$ miles in 34min; of the. Midland Railway, Kettering to St. Pancras, seventy-two miles in 77inin, giving an averago speed of 56.1 miles _per hour; of the North-Eastern Railway, York to Darlington, 44$ miles in 48min, which works out at 53.3 miles per hour: and of tho Great Northern Railway, Grantham to Doncaster, fifty miles in 'an average of over fifty-four miles per hour. The best Great Northern long-distance trains aro the Scottish express, King’s Cross to York, 183 miles, at an averago speed of nearly fifty-two miles an hour, including one stop; and to , Peterborough, including stops, seventv-six miles, at an average speed of nearly fifty-two miles per hour. The fastest North British trains aro those between Glasgow and Edinburgh, with an average of forty miles. SOUTHERN RAILWAY ACHIEVEMENTS. Nor do the Southern lines, in spite of the handicap in some instances of heavy gradients and speed restrictions on account of bridges, fall far short of the records set up by the trunk railways serving the Midlands and tho North. The South-Western Company has in service trains which cover the 103 miles from Waterloo to Bournemouth at ,an average speed of fifty-four miles an hour; the Brighton and London services, fifty-ona miles in 60min, aro known to most people; and the"boat trains of the South-Eastern Company to Dover and Folkestone a,re, considering tho character of tho road, as good as can be expected. The Dover train makes the trig at an average-speed

of forty-five miles per hour, which is not. however, quite so good as that of a lira!ted train in ilia pre-war period, which had an average speed of fifty-one miles and ran to Hover in one and a-half hours. The new train to Folkestone Harbor, which is coming into the time-table next month, and will do the journey in Ihr 35min, is almost as good, as the train has to stop and reverse at Folkestone Junction. This represents ;m average speed of 52.4 miles. The best performance of the Great Eastern Railway is the London and Cromer express, which makes the journey of 158 miles at a speed of 474 miles per hour. Notable Irish train speeds are the Great Northern, Dublin to Dundalk, fifty-one miles per hour, and (he Great Southern and Western, 48.5 miles per hour. LONG NON-STOP RUNS. The most famous of the long rune on British railways is that between Paddington and Plymouth, a distance of 225| miles, for which 247 minutes are allowed, giving an average speed of 54,8 miles per hour. Second place was formerly occupied by the non-stop Marylcbone to Sheffield Groat Central train on a timing for 165 miles of 177 minutes, but there is apparently no immediate intention of reinstating this train. Second place is now held by the Euston to Crewe non-stop trains, which for 158 miles show an average speed of 534 miles per hour, this being fallowed by the North-Eastern, Newcastle to Edinburgh, 1244 miles at 50. S miles per hour.

It is improbable that anything beyond small improvements in average speed will be _ made by British main-line railways while _si cam operation remains the rule. I’oiyhigher speeds it will be necessary to await tho advent of electric traction on main lines. It is known that (he Brighton Railway Company has plans well advanced for the conversion of its main-line route from steam to electric traction, and it has been suggested that when this reform is carried out it would be possible to run a service every fifteen minutes between London and Brighton and to perform the journey by non-stop trains in forty-five minutes. The fact has also been made public that a passenger locomotive is being built by the North-eastern Railway Company which will ho designed for a, maximum speed of ninety miles per hour. The electrically-operated trains on the underground railways) although ones does not associate these services with high averago speeds owing to tho numerous stops, are capable of average speeds up to twentyfive miles, and the Liverpool and Southport electric services of thirty miles—relatively high epoeds for stopping trains. Tho maximum speeds must be in the neighborhood of fifty miles per hour.— ‘ The Times.’