The Salopian Express 22/03/16

It's a shame we're never likely to get the Earl on a heavy train. With the normal load of 9+Reg there always seems to be something in hand. The Red Dragon with an extra coach was seriously good but 'weather affected' on the major climbs on the Marches. Don't recall anyone looking at the comparisons of both engines on the southbound S&C where the Earl did run with 11 when Lizzie failed on their double header in March 2012. SG has often run with 11. Anyone like to dig the figures out??? Probably the only 'direct' comparison around.

 

Mike Notley's "Top Link" column in Steam Railway/ Issue 401 page 84 covered the Earl's quite exceptional effort in March 2012 with driver Gordon Hodgson and fireman Alistair Meanley, concentrating on what is described as the "Blue Riband section" of the S&C from MP275 south of Appleby to Ais Gill summit in some detail. Load 11 for 387 tons tare/ 425 gross. Highlights of the performance included a minimum of 43.5mph at the top of the 1 in 100 through Birkett Tunnel (MP264), and climaxed with a minimum of 45 mph (!) at MP 260, one quarter mile north of the actual summit (46). The average edhp for the climb was quoted as 1500, with a maximum of 1750 edhp on the final half mile (at 45 mph)

I hope this won't infringe any copyrights, but I just can't resist quoting what Mike Notley wrote of this run at the time. "It was obvious that the climb has been something special, but we had to wait until the record books had been consulted to find out just how special. And then we discovered that No 5043' s time of 18 minutes 54 seconds for the 15.25 mile blue riband stretch was an all time record for a 4-6-0 with such a trailing load"....."not simply in preservation , but from all known records".

And the icing on the cake? Driver Gordon Hodgson's comment afterwards that he assured (Mike Notley) that the locomotive still had plenty in hand even on this fine performance, and in his opinion the Earl could have taken another minute off the overall time.

Re-reading all this, its very difficult to be completely dispassionate about the Earl's competitive credentials in any comparison with other 7P contenders; with more time, I could take a look at SG's strongest comparable performances too, to see how they stack up. For now, this run seems to have set some kind of all-time never-to-be-beaten benchmark. But now that I read of 5043's stunning performance on Llanvihangel yesterday with the Welsh Marches, as recounted by 1020 Shireman, I'm not even sure about that any more.

 

Sapperton, on load 12, in the pouring rain on the Great Britain ! Anyone remember the logs of this trip ?

 

Seems a bit cheeky to be celebrating 5043's considerable achievements on a thread that is supposed to be all about a WCR tour with Scots Guardsman. So just very briefly, the log of the Sapperton climb that day was reproduced in SR #402 - the month following the account of the S&C run. Load 12/ 480 tons gross. 33.5 mph minimum on the 1 in 60 into Sapperton Long Tunnel. Wow!! 'Nuff said ??

 

Typically, not being a fan of 'silly' double headers - Lizzie and the Earl and 12? Please. (Who knew Lizzie would fail??) and not a fan of multi day rail tours - I didn't do either!!!.

 

You really do love making pointless responses to posts don't you Ralph?