Chasing the record
Official timekeeper John Heaton FCILT describes the record-breaking attempt and how it came to just miss out.
NEWLY-NAMED 'Pendolino' No. 390044 Royal Scot, standing in Platform 16 at Euston station on Thursday, June 17, had been specially selected as being the most responsive and reliable in the Avanti fleet, but it had been a close decision between that and classmate No. 390008.
Experienced Preston driver Neil Barker was charged with the task of running the 401.28 miles to Glasgow Central nonstop in a scheduled 3hr 53min, but the not-so-hidden agenda was a desire to achieve the fastest run ever on the route and beat the long-standing Advanced PassengerTrain record of 3hr 52min 40sec, which had been achieved with a 2+8 formation featuring power cars Nos. 49003/6 during the short time the prototype tilting trains had been in service in 1984.
The press special back then was recorded for TRM by Peter Semmens, whose account appears in the April 1985 issue -an unusual event, in that it took place in darkness with a 16.35 departure on a December evening. In those days 'after railjoints and before GPS; the log relied on average speeds.
Careful planning
Looking to see whether the record could be beaten by a modern unit with speed monitoring equipment and signal overrun protection monitoring, two factors were obvious. First, the APT had not achieved uniformly high speeds throughout. The best averages were around 128mph - such as Lockerbie to Beattock, followed by a 310sec ascent to the summit of the typically 1-in-75 climb at a startling average speed of 116mph. Second, the special run had been hampered by a point detection fault at Stafford, which had resulted in a dead stand and cost 7min - in addition to likely Temporary Speed Restriction (TSRs) assessed at 13min for which due allowance had been made in the 237½min schedule.