4464 Bittern at 90mph!

[irishrail123]

Now thats quite something!! A steam loco doing 90mph!

 

[Warbonnet]

It's great that they're being allowed to stretch their legs a bit more for the Mallard 75 celebrations. Sure A4s are only getting into their stride at 90!

[Railer]

How can the UK take their vacuum braked Mk1s to 90mph and beyond when even our Mk2Ds are/were 75mph limited? Can't purely be down to bogies.

 

Great to see the A4s being able to stretch their legs again.

[Flying Scotsman 4472]

Imagine Mave back on the rails stretching her legs like that over here.

Probably will never happen I know. (Before you all start).

That why I envy the English so much when it comes to running preserved locos and stock.

Great video Irishrail123

[Warbonnet]

Imagine Mave back on the rails stretching her legs like that over here.

Probably will never happen I know. (Before you all start).

That why I envy the English so much when it comes to running preserved locos and stock.

Great video Irishrail123

 

You can recreate it when you build up that kit, hang the preserved 141 off the back as a top and tail!

[Flying Scotsman 4472]

You can recreate it when you build up that kit, hang the preserved 141 off the back as a top and tail!

 

Could you imagine that in real life Fran.

[Warbonnet]

Could you imagine that in real life Fran.

 

It'll always be the dream! Looking forward to seeing Merlin mind you.

[snapper]

How can the UK take their vacuum braked Mk1s to 90mph and beyond when even our Mk2Ds are/were 75mph limited? Can't purely be down to bogies.

 

Great to see the A4s being able to stretch their legs again.

 

AFAIK some of the UK Mk 1s have air brakes

[Southern Yard]

Bittern is hardly breaking sweat looking at those videos, and looks like it has a lot left in the tank. Lovely sound from one of the finest locomotives ever built.

 

You have to admire the lengths they goto in the UK to further the steam preservation movement with these type of events. Bigger population and deeper pockets are a big factor of course.

 

Tornado will be next for 90mph.

[irishrail201]

Ireland (particularly the government) has always has been more interested in building GAA football pitches than heritage railways.......

 

Just look at poor 6111 now having an uncertain fate at inchicore

[Southern Yard]

According to the comments on another YouTube video Bittern averaged 93mph for 6 miles! Not bad for a steam engine.

 

Agree there's a big difference between both countries on how we view our heritage, Ireland was an early adopter to railways but we view it as something the British built hence we don't value railways for heritage value.

 

At least we can enjoy what we have here and the events like this in the UK.

[Railer]

Bittern is hardly breaking sweat looking at those videos, and looks like it has a lot left in the tank. Lovely sound from one of the finest locomotives ever built.

 

You have to admire the lengths they goto in the UK to further the steam preservation movement with these type of events. Bigger population and deeper pockets are a big factor of course.

 

Tornado will be next for 90mph.

 

I was reading on Wiki that Deutche Bahn have said that if the Trust ever managed to get Tornado hauled through the Chunnel to their network they would left them run Tornado as fast as they wanted to see what it can do. They seem more relaxed over there than the UK that are only going to allow them to run Tornado to 90mph.

[Mayner]

The LNER & Eastern Region had a great tradition of high speed, the region went for the Deltics in the early 60s as the only diesels that could match the streaks for power and speed.

 

John

[Southern Yard]

Today saw A4 pacific Bitterns first of three 90 mph runs for the Mallard 75 celebrations travelling from Kings Cross to York. Youtube has gone into over drive and large crowds lining out at stations along the route. The loco was in fine form also, looking very comfortable at 90mph from the videos posted, obviously designed for this type of running.

 

[Garfield]

Great footage! It's just a pity Mallard herself is out of commission at the moment.

[Southern Yard]

Yes a pity mallard couldn't take part but its been a static display for some years now. Bittern is more than making up for it. Top speed recorded from the train was 93mph!

 

The ton maybe yet achieved before these trips are finished.

[Warbonnet]

Great footage Southern Yard. The third shot over Doncaster was very train set-esque!

[Northman]

Great footage,its a real pleasure to watch a steam train,elegant an sleek compared to diesels.

[Southern Yard]

The 90mph runs concluded this week after been deferred from August. The A4 makes this look easy.[video=youtube_share;KtQwDBeU0nc]

 

Why is steam limited to 60mph in Ireland and generally 75mph in Britain? With no.85 coming back in 2014 I'be no doubt 70mph is easily achievable from it?

[Mike 84C]

Excelent filming Southern Yard, was Bittern on the Santa Special to Lincoln Christmas market and where on the ECM did you film? It went by our village and I missed it! AAAAgggghhh!!!! Thanks for shareing.

[Southern Yard]

Not my filming! It was on the capital streak York London return leg as part of the mallard 75 celebrations. This was the 3rd 90mph run.

[leslie10646]

When I'm not commissioning wagons, I'm "timing" steam trains - I have logs of more than 100,000 miles with steam over the past fifty years and in 25 countries.

 

Last Thursday's run from Newcastle to York gave me my fastest ever average speed start to stop - 72.5mph, beating the 72mph of the run in June. The maximum on Thursday was 94mph, when he eased to avoid doing a ton (and getting the sack!). I only made it 92 in June - several times.

 

Saturday's runs were more measured, as the Powers that Be apparently took a dim view of the 94mph! We did 92 agin and just missed a 70mph start to stop average by a whisker.

 

Previous to this year, I DID have one 70mph average speed run - in 1967 during the Waterloo Sunset, West Country 34001 "Exeter" ran Basingstoke to Woking in just under twenty minutes. That night we did 92 at the appropriately named Fleet and 95 at Brookwood - a place I regularly catch trains from (I live a mile from the line today). They were amazing days to experience, but June's run was simply the best - "Silver Jubilee" running but with a train half as big again.

 

I would hang up my stopwatches now, except that, by God's grace, I may get timing THREE BLUE 4-4-0s in 2015!

 

Floreat Vapor!

 

Leslie

[Southern Yard]

The runs sound like they were top class, the ton is easily capable in those machines. in steam railway mag this month some old A4 drivers reckoned they regularly hit 130mph+ with them in the 1950s, one reckoned he nearly hit 140 but that's hard to imagine!

 

Did you do much timing of steam in Ireland ? And if so what was the max speed you recorded and best average speed?

[Lough Erne]

Interesting stuff Leslie, though there will only be 2 blue 4-4-0 on the go as 131 was never blue (apart from a very small period of time for an inchicore open day) and I doubt very much that she will be blue though never say never as it will all depend on tender availability! - 3 engines and 2 tenders - unless we paint 171 black and wait a while until 131 has her own tender prior to painting 171 blue, though this may have GNR fans somewhat irked.

[heirflick]

Now thats quite something!! A steam loco doing 90mph!

 

 

wouldnt you love to see our 800 Meave getting a run like that? never will happen, but a nice thought just the same!

[Horsetan]

wouldnt you love to see our 800 Meave getting a run like that? never will happen, but a nice thought just the same!

 

The only place it could try now would be on the Victorian network, S.E. Australia. Don't know of any high-quality 5'3" lines anywhere else.

[Broithe]

The only place it could try now would be on the Victorian network, S.E. Australia. Don't know of any high-quality 5'3" lines anywhere else.

 

Looking North-East out of Ballybrophy..

 

 

..you might need to ease off for that bit..

[Southern Yard]

That looks fit for about 60 mph max! Check this out with sparks flying and obviously in a hurry!

[video=youtube_share;QIaf3PTyeP0]

[Dunluce Castle]

Wow

[leslie10646]

The runs sound like they were top class, the ton is easily capable in those machines. in steam railway mag this month some old A4 drivers reckoned they regularly hit 130mph+ with them in the 1950s, one reckoned he nearly hit 140 but that's hard to imagine!

 

Did you do much timing of steam in Ireland ? And if so what was the max speed you recorded and best average speed?

 

Naturally, I started here (sorry, I mean in Northern Ireland) - in 1963, using a wrist watch!

 

As for my best speed, that was Class WT No.10 on 9 April 1966, driven by Timmy Crymble. The train was a football special to Ballymena from Belfast and we did 83mph near Muckamore (just before Antrim). It explains why one of my two model WTs is No.10!

 

Good averages were hard to come by and I never had a mile a minute run Ireland. However, on one immortal day in 1965, Alan Robinson drove No.4 from Ballymena to Antrim (11.7 miles) in 11min34sec - surely one of the shortest ever mile a minute runs, anywhere - the top speed was 80. As luck would have it, I had been on the same train a week earlier - still I don't begrudge my friends who were there!

 

My best average was probably 17 August 1966 with No.10 again! She was past her best and very rough to ride on - I was on the footplate with Sammy Sloane from Antrim to Belfast. There is little doubt he was intent on scaring the life out of me - it worked - the writing in my logbook is all over the place! We did that run in 21min59secs for the 19.3 miles - 52.6mph.

 

Doesn't sound like much? BUT, the first TEN miles is all uphill (1 in 200 or worse) - run off in the low sixties with a minimum of 57 and a top speed of 70mph - I was sure that he was going to do some tremendous speed down over the curving Bleach Green viaduct (where you regularly prayed hard, as you approached it in the low seventies!) - but sanity prevailed! A very light train, but what a train - FOUR North Atlantic Express coaches!

 

A month later the University authorities had the good sense to chuck me out for not working hard enough, or indeed having the brainpower, and I moved to England to begin accumulating 10,000 unrepeatable miles on Southern Region behind nearly half a century of Oliver Bulleid's wonderful pacifics.

 

Now to run the story off, I had runs with all eighteen Class WT, the 46 Bulleids at the end of steam now number over fifty, thanks to the preserved ones, but my biggest "classes" for haulage are the Russian "L" Class 2-10-0s (75) and the Chinese QJ 2-10-2s - over eighty of those!

 

I must get the logs "written up".

 

Goodnight all.

 

Leslie

[Dunluce Castle]

Fantastic information Leslie, it was absolutely fascinating to read, thank you.

[leslie10646]

Interesting stuff Leslie, though there will only be 2 blue 4-4-0 on the go as 131 was never blue (apart from a very small period of time for an inchicore open day) and I doubt very much that she will be blue though never say never as it will all depend on tender availability! - 3 engines and 2 tenders - unless we paint 171 black and wait a while until 131 has her own tender prior to painting 171 blue, though this may have GNR fans somewhat irked.

You're quite right, of course, but Richard McLachlan has given the RPSI the drawings for the tender, so all we need is the money! By the way, we have the full drawing set to built No.211 (or a new "207 Boyne") - anyone got a couple of million?

 

Once the RPSI has a third tender, it will be difficult to resist the temptation to have THREE blue 4-40s? A livery put together in Heaven, or was an angel guiding George Howden and his team when they came up with it?

 

Leslie