Recent Feedback & Comments: Locomotive Performance

1... What wonderful memories. Thank you. I was brought up in Birmingham, used to do Aston and Saltley 4 times a week, travel to Tamworth and Crewe. Father was a signalman at Grand Junction.

2... Absolutely Super Site!. Fascinating memories which make me regret not to have kept my train spotting books etc.

3... Fantastic!. I also have trainspotting records (but alas locos only) from 1953 and photos from 1960. Now living near Cape Town, South Africa, your website makes me nostalgic in the extreme.

4... I have taken enormous pleasure from your web-site during a brief period off work though sickness. In terms of detail and refreshingly uncliched use of language, it is better than much (not all) of what appears in the enthusiast press these days.

5... I have just found your site. Wow!!! I have just read some of the logs of Kings X steam runs. As I sit here I can look out of the window and see the ECML here at Langford. How I wish it was 50 years ago. And sometimes it almost is with the steam specials that go by! Will be looking at your site in more detail later. Many thanks for such great information.

6... You are one very sad person. who clearly has problems with the real world.
Lets hope you find a better use of your time before its too late (no name supplied)

7... Just to say how much I enjoy your site especially the steam days. Although I am old enough to recall the last days of steam I have always regretted missing the 1950's with all the loco types and pre Beeching lines to see and travel on. Congratulations.

8... The performance logs are an absolute goldmine of information, as good as anything O S Nock has written. I am particularly impressed by the runs of 5369 and King 6006.

9... What a cracking site. Only just found it, the logs on 45237 are most interesting as I have a 3.5 inch live steam model of it, it too although now rarely steamed is a free running engine.

10... I came across your website by accident! It was intriguing to see the run of Cloister on the F.R. when she seems to gained the speed record between Minffordd and Porthmadog for Quarry Hunslets. As I was firing on that trip, I feel rather big headed!

11...Very much enjoyed browsing this well set out and fascinating site. I think I was at Wigan NW on 5 September 1961 so your detailed notes made at Carlisle that day are of some assistance to me in attempting to reconstruct my long ago discarded notebooks of the 1960s.

12... Hope you don't mind me getting in touch. Your details and those of your fabulous web sites were sent to me by Brian Roberts with whom you have been in recent correspondence - I am the friend to whom Brian refers. Brian and I are both members of the Merseyside Railway Society which I joined in the late 70s when living on the Wirral. I remain a member but have lived in Devon for the past 16 years. Society members all keep in touch and a journal is published several times a year containing articles written by us. One such article was my "Snow Hill Invasion" based on my notes of a session at Snow Hill witnessing the arrival of the various Bulleid pacifics on the 27th April 1963. Incidentally Richard Strange copied that article into his Mangotsfield journal and kindly sent me a copy which I retain with pride. I should explain that I am originally from West Bromwich and was a regular at the Birmingham stations in the late fifties and early sixties. Imagine then how pleased I was when Brian told me about your web sites and directed me to your "Bulleid Invasion of Snow Hill" (interesting that we should both use the word "invasion") which I read with great interest, particularly as my article had been based on transcribed notes from which I had omitted times and details of other workings seen that day. You have filled in the gaps for me for which I thank you. I'm now enjoying reading through all your other notes by the way and have already found some other potential gap fillers. Co-incidentally I have also been reading the review in Steam World of the SRRS publication of notes relating to the West Coast Main Line in 1962. I've sent for a copy, similarly to complete my own records of some Saturday evenings spent at Lichfield Trent Valley and a day at Crewe. It is wonderful that all this information continues to enjoy such strong circulation.

Thanks again and all best

13... I've been looking at your Bulleid logs again: very sad that you rarely got a decent run with one. It's made me search and find some of my earliest efforts behind them in 1962, well before the incredible finale from the Nine Elms no 4 link drivers in 1966/67. What does rather show through is the mediocre running behind Nine Elms No 1 link drivers: who rightly earned a very poor reputation amongst train timers. Compared with Salisbury top link drivers: I timed quite a lot of runs on both the down and up ACE to and from Salisbury. I can';t find any where the net time wasn't way inside the 80 minute schedule! Best up run was with a surprisingly light ten car load, (I wonder if one of the portions didn't make it from out West!). Driver Saunders and Fireman Young got 35003 up in 78.15 with a long and severe TSR near Whitchurch and sigs entering Waterloo. Net not much more than 72. Something over 90 below Woking which may be accurate as I think I got a stopwatch part way through that weeks timing trip, (1/2 mph speeds suddenly appear!). And the loco was eased back at Byfleet as Driver Saunders told me at Waterloo he thought he had a hot box. But he only eased back into the 70s which were sustained almost until Earlsfield.On one of the days I went to Exeter I had a rather fast run between Andover and Woking, (unusual train that, not stopping at Basingstoke). 34048 on 11 averaged 82.8 from Basingstoke, (71 mph), to Brookwood, pass to pass. Something close to 38.30 net time Andover to Woking start to stop, (42 miles).

Great stuff!..Bryan Benn

14... Hit on site by chance, great job , good memories, thanks.

Also: Requests and/or information on (1) The Euston to Liverpool Cunard Specials (2) West Highland Line Class 37 workings (3) Steam Railtour with 92220 & 75069 on 27/7/1985 (4) Request by 34046 Group to use 34046 sightings info (5) UK rail miles & chains. (6) Class 25 Passenger workings (7) The 1965 Warwickshire Railway Society Waverley Railtour (8) Romney Hythe & Dymchurch Railway Gradient profile. (9) in formation on Uxbridge branch.

I was able to assist with some, but not all, of the above.

In April 2006, RAILWAYS ILLUSTRATED included the following review: One fascinating site I have recently come across is "Locomotive Performance". This is a Railway Enthusiasts site dealing with train timing and locomotive performance during the period 1954 to 2002. For example the section on BR Steam 1954-67 is a fascinating insight into the workings on the railways in that period. Just looking at the Western Region, the reader gets full accounts from journeys on the branch lines of East Devon to a "ride" on the up "Torbay Express". Then follows the modern traction section with over 200 diesel performance logs with many different runs and journey accounts, behind such favourite classes as the "50s", diesel-hydraulics and "Peaks". I can remember taking timings back in the 1980's and trying to reach that magic 100mph. Here, I believe is one of the few places on the Internet where such timings have been recorded for future generations.