The 90+ Steam Hall of Fame

There is one on my 1963 90 plus list and I had a number of others where we got 85-88 mph
Don

 

Where you quote a pressure - is that the boiler pressure, or the steam chest pressure? If they are boiler pressure, some of them seem quite low (i.e. 160psi from a 250psi Bulleid) though they confirm a hunch I have about how locos were often driven from footplate records from the 1920s / 1930s.

Tom

 

Yes steam chest pressure where the gauge was working but anyway you are correct, sometimes not a lot of steam used. With Bulleid's boiler design there often wasn't much difference between the two anyway. For instance on the run with 34026 on 14th January the BP was 210 lbs and the SCP was 200 lbs.

In particular 34037 on 18th February 1966 was struggling for steam throughout and nothing Tom Moult could do kept the pressure up. Despite this we ran Woking to Basingstoke in 24/48 on the slow line with sigs at Brookwood from the preceeding Alton and also crossing from slow to fast to stop at Basingstoke, where we ran in with boiler pressure at just 130 lbs. On this run the SCP gauge wasn't working so we were using even less steam than 160 at 90 down Roundwood. Porter was using 35% cut off away from the relaying slack reduced to 22% by Weston where we were doing 80 and then increased it to 27% at Wallers Ash with speed at 86 and 30% after the blow back and finally to 35% at Winchester Jct to get speed up to 90, after we had reached 88 in the tunnel and dropped back to 86 after the regulator was shut to deal with the blow back. Porter knew that the only way to drive Bulleids was with the regulator in the roof. Ah what days they were....and what engines they were.

Don

 

To clarify most if not all my high speeds with Bulleids were with the regulator fully open so the relatively small amount of steam used was a reflection of the BP and not the use of part open regulator. I wasn't on many footplate runs where less than full regulator was used for any length of time but on 34012 on 12th January 1966 Dave Parsons was using half and 27% just after the end of the relaying slack at Steventon and the BP was 230 with 180 on the SCP and the same climbing earlier to Worting Jct from the Basingstoke stop.

Don

 

I noticed that 35022 cropped up quite a lot in your earlier runs, Don. I'm pleased that its new owner does appear to be committed to its long-term restoration. OK, we'll be seeing his other "MN" 35027 first, but the loco that gave you so many good runs and brought down the curtain on the ACE with a 90mph dash deserves better than just to be a source of spares, even though we're probably in for a long wait. 5043 was originally bought as a source of spares, in spite of a pretty decent pedigree including a run at 98mph. It's good that Tyseley had second thoughts, as 5043 has really put up some stunning performances. Hopefully 35022 will be worth the wait too.

Can't add anything else to this thread, regrettably. I was only 9 when Southern Steam ended. Still, perhaps JH might try for another 90mph derogration when 35022 does eventually emerge, if he is aware of the engine's history. I'd do everything I possibly could to make sure I was booked on such a run if it ever happens.

 

And now for 1967:

17.01.1967-34098-94 at Woking (my only 90 here) and 90 at Hersham on the 1914 Soton. Gordon Porter
19.01.1967-34036-90 at Fleet on the 1914 Soton Gordon Porter
05.02.1967-34021-90 at Winchfield/MP38 on the up Excursion Gordon Porter
16.02.1967-35013-94 at Winchfield/MP 38 on the 1914 Soton.Dave Parsons. Slipped violently and speed the reduced to 74 at Farnborough.
09.03.1967-34087-92 at Winchfield/MP 38 and again at Brookwod on the 2256 up Bill Anderson
( Also did 83 at Roundwood starting from Winchester, the highest known with steam, 195 tons)
20.04.1967-34025-90 at Winchfield/MP 38 and again at MP 35 on the 2256 up. Reuben Hendicott
22.05.1967-34001-92 at Brookwood on the 2256 up. Jim Evans (sub 20 Bas-Wok)
24.05.1967-34001-90 at Fleet/MP35 and 94 at Brookwood on the 2256 up JimEvans (19/34 Bas-Wok)
25.05.1967-35023-95 at Fleet/MP35 and 96 at Brookwood on the 2256 up Bert Fordrey
12.06.1967-35023-90 at Fleet/MP 35 on the 2256 up Frank Burridge
14.06.1967-34102-100 at Fleet/MP 35 on the 1932 up John Gaffney
19.06.1967-34093-95 at Winchfield/MP 38 on the 2256 up Reuben Hendicott
21.06.1967-34060-93 at Winchfield/MP 38 on the 2256 up Reuben Hendicott
26.06.1967-35003- 106 at Winchfield/MP 37 and 95 at Pirbright/MP 29 on the 2256 up Frank Burridge
(Bas-Woking in 18/48 with checks net 17/30. The Kent Yeti was on the footplate)
27.06.1967-35028- 95 at Fleet on the 2256 up Frank Burridge
(''please don't thrash our engine- we are buying it for preservation''- in fact it was wet and the engine was slipping at speed)
28.06.1967-35003-105 at Winchfield/MP 38 on the 2256 up Frank Burridge
04.07.1967-34001-92 at Fleet/MP 38, 91 at Newnham Siding and 98 at Winchester Jct on the 0245 down.
(Gordon Porter of course. We got sigs to 18 from a van train in front at Micheldever otherwise the ton was certain)
08.07.1967-34095-90 at Fleet/MP 38 and 93 at Wallers Ash on the 0245 down. Gordon Porter.
(I was on the footplate Winchester to Eastleigh 78 max)
08.07.1967-35023-95 at Winchester Jct on the 0830 down , Billie Hughes
(29/59 Soton to Bomo 88 at Hinton Admiral/MP 103)

And that's the lot from me. I know I missed quite a lot of 90 + runs in 1967 but no doubt Big Al and Kent Yeti can fill in the gaps.

Don. I will now retire to my study and have a quiet weep over those wonderful days the like of which I am sure were never seen anywhere else, and those great enginemen most no longer with us, especially Gordon Porter a super bloke and good friend for those short few months.

 

Thanks Al. Clearly biased results so where are the others? But a tribute to the Bulleid pacifics.

Don

 

Given that the first WC appeared in June 1945 and WWII ended in September 1945 I would assume that authorisation by SR would have been during 1944 thus require "mixed traffic" status and materials sourcing for actual production during 1944 / 45 would also be under "austerity" restrictions.

 

Got quite a few to add to that Al, but rather busy catching up on summarising Owl field notes at present. One of mine includes the only time, ( I am fairly sure), of a properly recorded steam 100mph reached 3 times on one start to stop journey on a normal service train. With 35003, behind which (on the footplate once at 106 mph), I had rather a lot of very fast runs, including a rare 90mph through Woking on the up: that location wasn't called "Stop All Junction" without good reason.

 

The war in Europe ended in May '45, VJ Day was August 15th 1945. The September "end" of WW2 is just the official signing of the Japanese surrender documents. Hostilities had ceased in August.

 

Should have qualified my post by saying "the war in Europe."

 

That's a very liberal interpretation of "entered production", even if you are only talking about the war in Europe. The prototype, 21C101 was posed, complete except for nameplates, outside Brighton Works on 7 May 1945, the same day as the surrender documents in Europe were signed! As far as I can tell, design work started around 1942 against an outline construction order the same year, and the detailed order for the first ten light pacifics were signed off in September 1944 and erection started in December 1944. So substantially, Fred is correct: regardless of delivery date of the first completed loco, the requirement was outlined, the class was designed, ordered and the initial examples built while the war was still on, and wartime restrictions in materials and on which types of loco could be constructed were still in force.

Tom

 

So when are we going to get an offically sanctioned non stop 100mph run with a MN between Waterloo and eastleigh/ Weymouth and which one? 35028 seems to be the ideal candidate