The Coronation Scot Luxury Train Service
The ‘Coronation Scot’ was a high speed luxury service run between London (Euston) and Glasgow (Central Station). It went into operation in 1937 and was the London Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) reply to the high speed trains put on by the LNER in 1935 and an attempt to lure passengers away from their rival.
The train was a major feature in LMS publicity, a source of great pride to its staff and an indication of future trends in passenger services.
Background
In 1936 the LMS made the decision to introduce a brand new service between London (Euston)and Glasgow (Central Station). The train was to be made up of nine coaches (292 tons) and be able to make the journey in 6.5 hours, even though a test train had done this in under 6 hours. It was decided to call the train ‘Coronation Scot’ in order to celebrate the coronation of King George VI in 1937. A decision was made to build a brand new Pacific locomotive for this service, which was derived from the earlier Princess Royals built between 1933 and 1935.
At that time streamlining was all the rage. so right from the beginning a decision was taken, more likely by the publicity department, to ‘streamline’ the engines to show that the LMS was a ‘modern’ railway just like its rival the LNER.
The ‘Coronations’ differed from earlier locomotives, by having a bigger boiler with increased superheating. The driving wheels were increased in size by 3 inches to 6ft 9in and the cylinder diameter was fractionally enlarged in order to supply the 40,000lb of tractive effort required for the task. The inside valves were operated by rocking levers so avoiding the inconvenience of having inside valve gear. The result of all this led to the production of the most powerful express passenger locomotive built in Britain.
The Record Run
On the 29th June, the LMS took everyone by surprise by running a ‘Press Special’ from Euston to Crewe and back called the ‘Coronation Scot’. It was hauled by a locomotive simply named ‘Coronation’. The 158.1 miles was covered in 135 minutes at an average speed of 70.2mph. The driver was T.J. Clarke and the fireman was C. Lewis Also on the footplate were Robert Riddles and Inspector S. Miller. It was no secret that the LMS were after the British Railway speed record, which at the time was 113 mph held by the LNER, and the section of line between Norton Bridge and Crewe had been overhauled and the maximum speed of 90mph had been lifted.
The trip went unspectacularly until the 60mph restriction at Norton Bridge had been passed. Even then, the train did not reach full speed and it topped Whitmore summit at no more than 85mph subsequent records indicated that these locomotives could achieve 95mph here). The speed then increased but it got perilously close to Crewe before the LNER record was approached.
The entry to platform number three at Crewe was over three successive crossovers and the train was braking hard when it reached them and still travelling at speed. The train lurched severely sending crockery everywhere. The fact that everything stayed on the track was testament to the design of the locomotive and coaches.
Official timekeepers recorded a maximum speed of 112.5mph, but the LMS claimed a peak of 114mph recorded on the chart taken from the speed-recorder on the locomotive. The total journey time was 129.75 minutes at an average speed of 73.1mph. The last 1.1 miles to the stop at Crewe was achieved in 1 minute 19 seconds!
Of more interest was the return journey to London as it showed the sustained high speed potential of the ‘Coronation’ class locomotives. The time taken for the journey being 119 minutes at an average of 79.7mph, this included observing speed restrictions of 30mph at Stafford and 40mph at Rugby. The highlight of the run was the 69.9 miles from Walton to Willesden Junction, which was covered in 47 minutes 1 second at an average of 89.3mph, with a maximum speed of 100mph at Castlethorpe water troughs. All this led to the LMS being able to claim the fastest start-to-stop runs of over 100 and 150 miles.
In order to commemorate the ‘Coronation Scot’, Hornby Railways was commissioned to produce a superb train pack depicting the service. Of particular interest to collectors, the Hornby Coronation Scot Train Pack was produced in a limited run of 2000, each with a Certificate of Authenticity. The Hornby Train Pack comprises a streamlined Coronation Class locomotive and three coaches, all in the blue livery as opposed to the usual Crimson Lake livery of the LMS.
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