East Coast snapshots
AS we enter the territory of The Railway Magazine’s illustrious quasquicentennial (125th) year, it is worth reflecting on how one of the main line railways has changed during that time by putting the microscope on three specific events.
While idling away a few minutes looking at the Railway Performance Society (RPS) archive with this in mind, I fell upon an account of a run from King’s Cross to Grantham undertaken by driver William Peel of the Lincolnshire depot. The details were brought to the attention of the Great Northern Railway Society (GNRS) during the ‘A4’ celebration held at Grantham in 2013, the details being written up by Steve White and kindly lodged in the RPS archive by the GNRS.
“Driver Peel was one of that vast unsung body of artisans on which the prosperity of Edwardian Britain was founded”
On August 17, 1910, driver Peel was in charge of large-boilered Atlantic No. 286 at the head of the 6.05pm King’s Cross to Manchester London Road via Retford and Sheffield. Mr C C J Marchington of Corstophine (Edinburgh) was timing the train at every full milepost and subsequently sent a copy of the log to driver Peel. I have interpolated the milepost figures to give a geographical basis to the log using easily recognisable passing points as shown in Table 1.
Mr Marchington’s signature is not clear, so apologies if the name is incorrect. He assessed the load as 165tons, which is thought by the GNRS to be one of the specially built 1906 three-coach sets constructed for these trains (made up of a Brake Third, Open Third and Composite Dining Car, totalling 123tons), augmented by other vehicles, perhaps a Hull portion.
Driver Peel would have been approximately 55 years of age at the time of the run, arguably at the peak of his prowess. He had entered railway service in 1872, completing almost 44 years up to his retirement and died in 1937 aged 82.
On the summer’s evening in question, the Ivatt 4-4-2 was 1min late starting but made an energetic departure passing Finsbury Park in 4m59s at 50mph and seeming to balance at
