WITH FULL REGULATOR LOCOMOTIVE PERFORMANCE THEN AND NOW
THERE have been a lot of very good main line steam performances recently and some of the train running logs I have received will be held over for future issues. In the last issue on page 61, I referred to the good work of No. 35028 Clan Line on the Belmond Pullman from Stratford-upon-Avon on July 10 and I can now go into more detail courtesy of Alan Rawlings, who rode in the support coach.
Table one shows the section from Stratford to Banbury, which included the initial one-in-75 climb to Wilmcote and also Fosse Road bank from Leamington to Harbury tunnel.
“As Reading appeared in the distance, it also became clear that the British Pullman was going to be given a clear road through the station where all passenger services now call. It is probably as long ago as 1964 when steam last made a fast pass of Reading, so the crew took full advantage of the moment with a warning whistle for those passengers who didn’t appreciate that probably this was not their London train.”
Alan describes the running over this section:“The new venture for the British Pullman of to return to a destination of the 1980s where it was a regular visitor from Marylebone. This time the route was from London Victoria, via Oxford with servicing of the train at Tyseley. The return journey on July 10 was both remarkable and unusual as it involved sustained high speed running on the Great Western Main Line, rather than on the relief.
