The Silver Jubilee Talisman - 26th September

Slows to cross over to Heaton depot with the ecs

 

Video passing Offord



John

 

Filmed at Brookmans Park:

 

Tornado at it's reliable best yet again yesterday. Trip was stop and start as we knew it would be but remarkable pick up of speed from stops and checks. Maybe not too surprising really. Impressive to say the least. Change of loco at York was less s o and put us behind for the first time really. Long but enjoyable day. One or two shots here.

 

Yes that's what impressed me most the rapid acceleration from stops, the one from Potters Bar being the fastest though it is down hill. Difficult to believe that we had 13 in for 500 tons. I was tempted to walk back to the end of the train to check that there was no diesel in the back. Tornado also picks up speed very fast in the 65-75 mph range. It ought be a 90 mph engine. After all that's what was intended originally. It would make life much easier when sorting out paths. If you read this GB there's a job for you. Modern engine which has proved itself si why not?

 

Its rather heartening to read these perspectives on Saturday's run after some of the more downbeat stuff when the timings were first confirmed ("What a waste of £119"/ "I was considering booking this: now I'm glad I didn't"). In the event, I think that Tornado's effort on Saturday - or more especially the northbound run - was more a ringing endorsement for the positivity of Big Al's Post No. 18

The parts that were good made the whole thing worthwhile, and definitely worth the price of admission. Langley Junction-Holme water stop has been mentioned, but a strong climb of Stoke from the Helpston crossover check, the even time run from Claypole to the Holgate signal stop outside York (despite a severe check approaching Doncaster), and also a sprightly run from Darlington to Newcastle, including a rousing passage of Durham, all made for a thoroughly enjoyable outing.

Best, perhaps, to draw a veil over the fragmented, bitty run back from Newcastle to York. But at least as a finale, for modern traction fans, the replacement Class 90, when it eventually departed from York 20 minutes late, did deliver a lively return run (well, that's how it felt from Mark 1 Coach J just behind the locomotive) including start-to stop average speeds of 87.5 mph from Doncaster to Peterborough and 89.7 mph on to Potters Bar.

In summary, the sum of the parts was definitely greater than the proposition of the whole, and I'm sure that this is a benchmark of how we should realistically tune our future expectations of steam runs along the ECML, pending any possibility of exceptional Bittern-style high speed events. I do hope that we get to see some coverage of the decent parts of the northbound run in a future issue of HR, but for the time being, I think a word of thanks is due to Tornado's crew/s and all the A1ST steward and volunteer support staff for their success in delivering a lengthy but highly enjoyable day out.

 

Yes I am happy to eat my words about the waste of £119. It certainly wasn't and it just shows that you cant always tell from the planned times. Of course it helped that we had two good drivers. And yes I am in the process of writing my column covering the northbound run plus some sections from the 2009 run and this will appear in the next issue due out on 22nd October.

Don

 

That's really good news. Many thanks for that, and I shall look forward to 22nd October and the insights and perspectives on this run with eager anticipation

 

Apologies for the late filing of this: it's been a busy week! Good to see many of the 'steam greats' on board: McAlpine, Townsend, Ward, Cameron, Champion, all the Tornado gang and many other 'regulars'. Sad that the schedule was so unworthy of such an illustrious gathering. It was also good to meet gricerdon, and I'm looking forward to your article in Heritage Railway!

Silver Talisman Tornado 26 September 2015

The Talisman was one of the iconic East Coast steam flyers of the 1950s and 60s and, thirty years later, was adopted by the A1 Trust as the name for its annual fundraising steam run from London to Darlington. The Trust is 25 years old this year, so The Silver Jubilee Talisman was marketed as something very special.


Sadly there was nothing to be jubilant about in the schedule. Nothing like the original back in the day, and very little like the pacy schedules Graeme used to prise out of Network Rail for special runs in the late ‘noughties’.


So we ambled north from Kings Cross, stopping once for passengers and twice for signals, with 72 through Hatfield the only highlight. On restarting from Langley Junction however the A1 at last had a chance to show her paces. We reached 76 just after Hitchin, 74 at Arlesey, 74 at Biggleswade, 72 at Sandy another 76 through the Offord curves and reached the Holme water stop in even time start to stop.


The climb from Peterborough really only began at Helpston Junction but we reached 62 at Essendine before slowing a little into Stoke tunnel. Out at 66, we reached 75 before the brakes went hard on for us to crawl through the loop at Grantham for no apparent reason. Then a short sprint, reaching 75 before our next splash at Claypole. Another sharp getaway saw us reach 75 at Gamston and continue around the limit right through Retford and Bawtry to the outskirts of Doncaster, through which we then crawled again. We reached Fenwick at 70 and hit 75 shortly after Temple Hirst Junction, continuing thus right through to Copmanthorpe on the outskirts of York.


Of the following run along the racing stretch to Darlington there is little to say as we moseyed along the slow line in the fifties, only remembering who we were with a brief 67 at Eryholme Junction. Another spurt after Newton Aycliffe saw us reach 72 at Tursdale Junction and 76 in the dip at Sunderland Bridge. The climb to Durham slowed our 13 coaches to 65 but we then had a fast run down through Chester le Street (76) slowing only as we reached Birtley.


The return run from Newcastle was very disappointing, with two long pathing stops and a maximum of 65 until just before Darlington, when we managed a spurt up to 72 into the dip at Croft Spa. We only breached 70 once more before Danby Wiske, followed by another dreary plod down the slow lines.


Over an hour from Darlington to York is rubbish by any standard, especially for those of us who remember that glorious run with Bittern. The silver jubilee of the A1 Trust would have been the ideal opportunity for Tornado to put ‘over 90’ onto the books officially, but it was sadly missed. Is there really no more excitement before the P2 arrives?

20 photos are at http://pjhtransportpix.zenfolio.com/p985199006

Peter, on a sunny morning in Manchester
http://pjhtransportpix.zenfolio.com

 

Sorry for being so late in posting this, we had tripped the hot axlebox detectors in the Stoke area. That is why we were put in at Grantham. But we shouldn't have been, signallers instructions are that steam loco hauled trains should be ignored when tripping them. That is if it is the first seven or so axles. The signaller was not aware that a steam loco was hauling the train. As we were stationary, the offending axle (2) was checked anyway and was cold, heat from the cylinder probably.

 

Thanks Wayne. I will put this in as a follow up in the next issue of Heritage Railway.

The issue with full details of this trip and others with Tornado in the HR due out tomorrow, 22nd. It runs to four pages this month so worth buying

Don