Fantastic run, Lamplight, and a chink of light that the time might be achievable, albeit there’s a fair bit of time we need to find yet. Your biggest gain actually appears to be by making a faster start out of Chinley - nearly 30 seconds quicker than me on the short run to Chapel. From there your climb to Peak Forest is actually slightly slower (presumably because you used up more boiler pressure with the faster start) but your overall time from Chinley to Peak Forest remained quicker. Your biggest gain is from Peak Forest to Millers Dale - and it’s reflected in your maximum speed, 4mph faster than mine. Perhaps you went over the summit with more boiler pressure (mine was a positively ridiculous 125psi - barely enough to keep the brakes off) which would give you quicker acceleration downgrade. Your braking for Millers Dale was probably better too. Mine was poor. After Millers Dale our times are very similar. Great pictures! I love the one with the viaducts particularly, and there’s also something about the focus on the one with the splitting distants in the foreground - those signals come out so sharply, it gives such depth it almost looks like a 3D picture - I feel as if I could reach out and grab the signal post.
By the way, here’s some drone footage of Chapel Milton viaducts, seen in your second picture, as they are today. I drive under them from time to time. They do dominate the village rather, although I don’t think anyone who lives there now could complain - given that they’ve been there for 150 years. Magnificent engineering.
Thanks, lcyrrjp. True about the latter part of the climb. I was really happy until we hit the tunnel and speed started to drop off. Admittedly, I could have started opening her up a bit sooner given that 205psi was still plenty of steam but I didn’t want to risk ruining a good start by getting too greedy. An idea I had that could improve my approach was to perhaps ease off (a bit) through Chapel sticking to 25mph (instead of accelerating) and then use the regained pressure to keep that 25 going as long as possible afterwards. As I said, my technique stayed within the 225-205psi bracket, so maybe that way 25mph all the way through is possible. Something to test in the future perhaps. I can’t give you an exact figure (didn’t check) but I certainly had more than 150psi, probably more than 175psi at the summit and I can confirm, the old girl blasted down the hill like a rocket when I opened her up. My braking was either excellent (if you look at the time) or dreadful (if you ask my passengers) As a side note, what you said about pressure at the summit is really important. To tell you the truth, I’ve actually had 3 attempts on the down Palatine in the meantime - none of them worth reporting back on since I couldn’t even reproduce my personal best, never mind something approaching the run by matt#4801. What I noticed was that having plenty of pressure to blast downhill is important to save time, using it all up for a final push and then trusting the gradients to help you out seems like a false friend to me based on those 3 runs. I think learning to climb with a steam loco is the most difficult thing I’ve yet encountered in TSW I’d dearly love to get a better run in for the down Palatine, but that seems like the one run I just can’t get a grip on. Still, I’ll keep trying. Oh, thanks for sharing. It’s lovely to see that they’re still around - even if they’re looking a little worse for wear. It’s also nice to see them from a drone perspective, which is eerily similar to how we’re seeing them with external cams in TSW.
Good run there Lamplight , definitely gives me a bit to reflect on! I haven't yet had a go at this run but as I feel I said, it does look as if it will be a task to shave time off and there will have to be balancing on that initial climb up to Peak Forest and from there on there is very little chance to make owt up. I do think I will go for the quicker climb out of Chinley, even if from Chapel to Peak Forest has to suffer a bit. Looking forward to this one! I must say I love every single one of those screenshots, but I think that one from the 4f cab takes the win for me. Though I love screenshots where the depth is adjusted in such a pleasing manner, and who doesn't like a nice viaduct, so it is very close. I know I have said this too, but I really do love this spreadsheet, very readable!
Buxton area is a favourite of the Mrs and myself and so I have seen these viaducts in the flesh many times and they really do dominate the area, but are really stunning to see every single time. Even in this video they are stunning, thanks for sharing!
Today, I'm bringing you something a little different. I'm not entirely sure whether it belongs on our spreadsheet (very much open to feedback on that) but I did want to report back on it and the spreadsheet is the most convenient thing to do so. Flying Scotsman +10 with dampers at 25%: Peterborough - Newark - Doncaster Some backstory: Like many others, I was immensely disappointed by the lacklustre physics of Scotsman. As such, she's mostly been gathering dust for me in a digital corner while I enjoy the Jubilee and 8F. However, I was getting rather sick of that and wanted to do something about it. Thus, I got onto our trusty side and found this: an A4 railtour that fits perfectly onto TSW's ECML. Encouraged by having some real data to work with, I set out to have a go and see how TSW's A3 compares. For this, I used the Scotsman +12 mk1s formation and got rid of two coaches to replicate the load of 10 in the full ECML timetable. I adhered to a 75mph limit since the original log seems to have as well. For the dampers, I used an external keyboard to set the front and back damper ([M] and [CTRL]+[M]) to 25% but I could only see one lever in the cab, so I don't quite know how that worked out. My run is here. What I expected to happen was for Scotsman to shoot off like a rocket. What I didn't expect was that Scotsman's numbers didn't seem all that outlandish. I'd love to hear your thoughts about my numbers and what your impression is, should you attempt the run. The start out of Peterborough and up Stoke seemed rather sluggish. On the flat and small uphill gradients, Scotsman didn't really like going over 60mph, which dropped further down to about 50 up Stoke. Using Scotsman's cut-off was a real challenge after having grown intimately accustomed to the Jubilee. 40-50% cut-off gave you power but ate through steam rather quickly at high speeds. Going significantly lower than 40% gave extremely anaemic performance - sometimes even losing speed! Therefore, I figured I had to find a spot between 30-40%, where I would still get performance but conserve pressure. I played around with 33%, which seemed to work ok-ish, but not very satisfactory. Once Stoke was behind us, we could thunder downhill and finally hit 75mph. Generally speaking, the speeds up to Grantham were a fair bit below the A4 log but not totally unlike this A3 log, which had a heavier load though. I arrived at Newark a minute and a half later than Sir Nigel Gresley but well within the schedule, which seems unusually slack to me. Leaving for Retford just a tad after schedule, I experimented more with the cut-off and found 35% with the regulator in the 40s to be a good compromise - it gave me a little bit of traction and kept the pressure at around 200psi. In this section Newark - Doncaster, I seemed to gain quite a bit of time on the A4. Maybe they were not pushing as hard since they were so well on time? Anyways, I pushed on frequently hitting 75mph until I arrived at Doncaster. Unfortunately, my platform seemed to have been occupied by a cloned Scotsman! I encountered double amber, then amber and finally red. Thankfully, just as I was getting ready to stop, the red changed to amber and I could proceed into my platform. Therefore, the signals slowed me down a little but overall couldn't have had any impact larger than a few seconds at most given the speed limits for entering the platform at Doncaster. I arrived about a minute ahead of Sir Nigel Gresley and three minutes ahead of the slack schedule. Overall, it felt somewhat weird on Scotsman's footplate. The Jubilee feels clean and precise in what she's doing but with Scotsman, I always felt like she reacted a little off. The cut-off is a perfect example of this. Of course, I knew going in from previous posts that Scotsman's reverser is screwed up in a different way to the Jubilee's but 40-50% seems to provide traction, which unbelievably quickly disappeared once you moved lower than 40%. Anything under 30% seems to not work at all but the leftover 30-40% bracket seems to work somewhat though. As a caveat, with the countless hours spent on the Jubilee and the few on Scotsman, it's entirely possible that it's just a matter of experience (or lack thereof). I'm truly excited to hear your thoughts - both on Scotsman's performance and on whether the run belongs on the spreadsheet. This was just an attempt out of the blue and not backed by testing in the way lcyrrjp did before settling on 25% dampers for the Jubilee. I don't want Scotsman to mess with the realistic part of the spreadsheet but adding the run felt like the easiest way to share it and potentially compare runs if someone else is curious to have a go. Spoiler: Just one this time around... 60103 'Flying Scotsman' almost looks trapped in between the modern units in Peterborough.
Interesting stuff, Lamplight. I fear your experience doesn't tempt me to buy Flying Scotsman, with those extremely high cut-offs and inability - even then - to achieve the high speeds of the real thing. It feels as if it's probably a good thing there was a 75mph speed limit as it doesn't sound as if it would have been capable of much more! All the same, it's an interesting read, and I'm tempted to try the same run with the Jubilee to see how it compares. I've updated the first post of this thread to reflect the addition of our first East Coast challenge. I've also added the gradient profile of the route, from "Gradients of the British Mainline Railways" by Ian Allan.
Wise choice, I reckon. Since I wanted the Vectron anyways and she turned out amazing, I don’t mind having bought the edition containing both back then, but this run probably confirmed to me that it’s a challenge (and not in the positive way like our thread) to get any satisfaction from Scotsman. As I said, if I spent more time on her footplate and experimented, I’m sure I could coax more out of her. The big problem to me is the handling. I don’t think a written report can do justice just how weird Scotsman feels - everything feels somewhat sluggish and unresponsive. I don’t know, maybe I’m biased against Scotsman at this point and that influences my perception. All I’ll say is I was glad to be back on our beloved Jubilee for a short stint after my ECML run. You’re not alone in that - I’m half tempted to give the Jubilee a spin on this as well. At the very least, it would make it easier for me to judge Scotsman’s performance on the ECML having the Jubilee as a benchmark.
I tried to do this run with the Jubilee over the weekend, but the game crashes every time I try to open up any train on the East Coast route. All other routes are working fine. I tried verifying the files on steam but it didn’t solve the problem. Anyone else having issues with East Coast? (You can see I’m trying to turn this into an ‘enough is enough’ thread to get us to 97 pages…)
That’s odd. The only problem I faced on PS5 were extremely blurry ballast textures. As reported back in various threads, consoles are for some reason suddenly suffering from this. Apart from that though, all worked fine. I did also pluck down a Jubilee on ECML shortly after my last post but only ran for a mile or two since I didn’t have the time for a full run. Does it crash for you in the full timetable, reduced timetable, empty freeroam, …?
Yes for all of the above. Which stock I choose makes no difference either - it always crashes to desktop after a couple of seconds of trying to load the route. I’ll try it again tonight and see if anything’s changed. If not, I’ll raise a ticket and see if I get a response.
Oh, I must get my PFR run done! If I am honest I'd completely forgot as I have been playing about with the blue diesels (primarily the Peak) and livery designer for the past couple of weeks.
Looking forward to it, Matt. I gave it another go, using more steam earlier in the climb, and it was a total disaster (couldn’t even bring myself to share the log). Lamplight made it work, though, and you’ve always had a knack with that approach to the long climbs which I’ve never been able to replicate, so I’m interested to hear how you do.
Hear, hear. From the Huddersfield - Marsden climb to Millers Dale - Peak Forest, you’ve very consistently blown lcyrrjp and I out of the water on the climbs, matt#4801!
Yes, it did cross my mind after posting that we were piling on the pressure rather, here! Anything less than ‘Herculean’ please go back and try again…
Well, I got the run done and have just finished it now in fact. How it went? I don't think I will be giving that away now, not only for tension purposes but we have our Grandson over and his Mum just rung us to ask when he is coming home, so I think I should take that hint! I will try to get my write up done tonight but if not I will have to leave it for tomorrow. There were not a dull moment though!
Unable to access East Coast at the moment, I was drawn back to what I think (although it's a close run thing) is my favourite route for steam - Northern Transpennine. I took on one of our earliest challenges, the 06:15 Manchester Victoria - Leeds, calling at Stalybridge, Huddersfield and Dewsbury. The challenge is described in post 115 here. The log of my run today, compared against our previous attempts, is here. 45632 'Tonga' was in charge, and early running gave little indication that anything notable was to come. The climb up Miles Platting bank was a struggle - 12mph much of the way up as I tried, with limited success, to maintain pressure for the gentler gradients beyond. We passed through Miles Platting in the unremarkable time of 6m16s with pressure at 200psi. After that speed was mostly in the low thirties as far as the summit at OAGB Junction, which we passed at 33mph, arriving at Stalybridge almost 4 minutes late. Once out of Stalybridge we began the long climb to Standedge, and there were the first signs that Tonga was finding her rhythm. 30mph on the initial 1:125 became 32mph on the 1:150 and, later in the climb, 34mph on the 1:175. Then, on that final steep section of 1:125 I wound the cut-off up to 24% and opened the regulator to 58% and we held that 34mph into the tunnel then gathered speed on the level ground, up to 53mph before braking for the curve at Marsden. A fast run down the other side - Slaithwaite came and went as the low sun flickered through the trees - gave us an arrival into Huddersfield 4m14s late and a glimmer of hope that an on time arrival at Leeds may still be possible. Out of Huddersfield we made a fast start, touching 68mph before braking for Heaton Lodge, then more spirited running and 64mph before Ravensthorpe. A final effort on the climb from there to Dewsbury meant that on arrival we had the deficit down to 1m38s. The last ascent, to Marsden Tunnel, I always enjoy, as an opportunity for some more vigorous climbing, knowing once over the top it's downhill all the way to Leeds. With 21% cut-off, I gradually opened the regulator from 34%, eventually to 51%, giving 33mph entering the tunnel, then faster acceleration before shutting off for the 50mph around the curve at Morley. A final burst of speed after that meant that by the time we began the long, slow crawl into Leeds, I knew we were home and dry. Arrival was 39 seconds early. A total running time of 1:12:21 was the second quickest we've achieved to date, and I felt pleased with the effort, having not driven steam Eastbound on this route for a long time. This was a thoroughly enjoyable run and a reminder, for me, of what a great route this is for steam. The low morning sun picks out the details of the grime of the cities as well as the glorious scenery of the Pennines and the gradients and speed restrictions make for challenging but lively running which suits the Jubilee well. Furthermore the excellent scenery patch by Bescot (link here) really improves the look of the route and makes it well worth re-visiting.
Jubilee 45681 'Aboukir' +8MkIs Chinley - Ambergate, 2 stops After the pressure piled on me in the hours leading up to this run I certainly felt I couldn't flop and do what I have done before in the past, completely forgetting the run ever existed so I set myself up ready to go and as the clock turned to 1455 I got on my merry way from Chinley swiftly and smoothly without any sort of fuss. I knew that we had our work cut out with the climb and it were a long one so once up to about 20mph I sat her at a calm 37/21 on the regulator and reverser respectively which took us slowly to 22mph at which point I gave a bit more on the reverser and just aimed to beat the fastest time to Chapel so far, that being 5mins and 38 seconds from Lamplight. Speed still wasn’t doing as I would have liked and pressure were still sitting at about 215PSI so as I came off the viaduct I adjusted to 49/22, which made sure that we got to Chapel-en-le-Frith in 5m 15s, 13 seconds faster than Lamplight, passing at the same speed of 26 mph, though pressure lower at 200PSI. Although I were pleased to be ahead at this point I knew that an early goal isn’t always the best thing to have so I kept my head down and continued similarly, just moving the regulator back to about 35-40% as I couldn’t afford such a rapid decrease in pressure. I did actually forget to make any notes at Dove Holes but I think I would have been going 24-25mph, with me holding 24mph through the tunnel and right up to the summit. Once the majority of the train were going down the hill I adjusted to 37/17 and glided through Peak Forest at 15:09.39 going 32mph with 175PSI in front of me. I were very happy going down here as pressure and steam climbed nicely getting to 73mph and about 205PSI by the bottom of the hill. I then focused on my braking for Millers Dale which did the job, but could have been better and came to a halt there at 15:15.04. After our minute of rest we were ready to go and knowing that it were downhill most of the way now, I gave her the beans to get up that initial climb from the station, which gave us a good platform to stand on. I then adjusted back to 39/17 as we continued on downhill towards Bakewell. Again at the small climb at Monsal Dale I gave her the beans to keep her right at the limit only dropping a couple of mph before adjusting back to 37/17. I must say I am rather pleased with the way I used the brakes to manage the speed to stop any speeding apart from flickering 1mph above here and there. I were expecting this to be where I fell because of my adjusting to driving the Peak on that section. Of course I would mess my braking up somewhere and that somewhere were Bakewell where I undershot the 50mph PSR by 6mph, though luckily I had the pressure to be able to recover from this relatively quickly having to shut off and begin a bit more braking. From here I continued to Rowsley with yet more adequate braking and once round Rowsley’s curve gave her the beans with something like 50/18 which took us to a maximum speed of 68mph before braking for Matlock. From here on I had my grandson on my knee though he were happily distracted by trying to earn £50 by finding the rabbit I said were on the train ticket he found in his pocket from a heritage line, yes it had been punched! We set off from Matlock with me confident the £50 would stay in my pocket, though being 3 seconds behind Lamplight unsure if I would be able to beat the real life time. Nonetheless I ploughed on and I must admit nothing particularly of note happened apart from some dodgy braking for the restrictions, but all was recovered with the healthy amount of pressure in front of me. At High Peak Jn Box I were at 48mph for the restriction and passed it at 15:40.38 now 2 seconds in front of Lamplight’s timings. As I approached Ambergate I hadn’t remembered what time Lamplight got there but I knew I were close to it and had missed the scheduled pass time. I began braking for the 25mph PSR ever so slightly early meaning I were at 25mph earlier than would have been ideal and then watch the clock closely with my final time being 15:44.43, just one second slower than Lamplight, who, for now, still holds the trophy for this run. That gave me a final run time of 49 minutes and 43 seconds. Although I had missed out with this, I did keep my 50 quid as the rabbit must have gone down the hole on the ticket as we couldn’t find him! Spoiler: It wouldn't be a proper report without screenshots! I know the screenshots don't show the headlamps, I did have them but they messed the focus up for some reason so chucked them out for the screenshots!
Well, looks like we're in for a hat-trick today. I've got a report too. Since I was feeling like it and fortunately do still have access to ECML, I sat about trying the A4 railtour on the ECML with the Jubilee +10. Just like before limited to 75mph. Leading today was 45690 'Leander' - though as a first for the thread, I think, not by chance but by design. I fancied having AWS bells and all for my railtour so I decided to use Rivet's preserved Jubilee that I had picked up in a recent sale, which is not something I plan on making a habit out of. For one, I don't entirely trust Rivet that the physics are the exact same (though I didn't feel like Leander acted different from any other Jubilee I've driven) and secondly, the cut-off-link actually morphs as the loco drives along. Do yourself a favour and look anywhere but there. While I'm busy with the disclaimers, let me add another one: The speeds will not be as precise as usually since I was reading off the in-cab speedometer, which was actually blurry - I have no idea what DTG did to ECML, but the graphics are entirely broken on console now: everything is extremely blurry and LOD change way too soon (more on that in the screenshots). Let's get to it. My log is here. The start was rather uneventful with settings typical for the Jubilee. The speeds were not all that impressive - the needle touched 60mph for the first time next to the unnamed industrial sidings just after the lines coming out of Peterborough split up. The climbs up Stoke then really took their toll and showed a pronounced difference in the performance of the Jubilee and Scotsman. Leander managed to stick to 40mph up until the final, steepest bit (which was also when I switched cut-off), where speed dropped all the way to 36mph. After Grantham, the running was easier and I could just let the old girl work away with 29 on the regulator and 19 cut-off. However, my braking for Newark was utter rubbish. I don't know ECML well enough and misjudged my braking point, which left me braking way too early. A punctual arrival with the Jubilee is perfectly possible. My braking cost me that alone. Running up to Retford after our short break was not as relaxed as I had hoped. Plenty of gradient changes I didn't even take much note of on Scotsman were crucial to observe on Leander. We finally hit 60mph again at Carlton level crossing and proceeded to pass Retford at speed. For Retford-Doncaster, the main challenge was only to stick as close to 75mph as possible, which required concentration, but not much skill given the full kettle you'll have at this point. Coming into Doncaster, I was once more signal-checked, which I now realise is probably just approach control. Be that as it may, I almost stopped in front of the red with how late it was cleared. It probably didn't cost me more than a couple of seconds though. I stopped at Doncaster after a thoroughly enjoyable run two minutes after my run on Scotsman, one minute after the real A4 run, but still 40 seconds before schedule. What I can say is that the Jubilee is a lot more fun to drive. She gave a great performance and having such a long run on her without any crawling climbs felt great. While I started this particular challenge to make use of Scotsman, I can say the run is wholly worth it on the Jubilee alone to get some mainline feeling. Spoiler: Here is where I'd put crisp screenshots if ECML actually cooperated... As teased before, ECML is - visually - completely broken on PS5. Almost all textures turn completely blurry and the LODs lose detail too fast. Have a look at the two screenshots below. That is how far I could get away from the loco without her turning into an unrecognisable monster. And you can see how some of the textures are blurred even though I tried to hide it. My camera having been thus sabotaged, I thought the only way to get some decent-ish screenshots would be to work around the issue by redirecting the focus: 45690 'Leander' thunders through Grantham. An unusual sight greets passengers in Retford, should they enter at the right time. After a long run, Leander catches her breath in Doncaster.
What a lovely idea! You're making me want to get back into the Jubilee after having just done a 1 1/2 hour stint Your screenshots also communicate well what you describe - NTP is such a lovely route and the low sun (particularly in the first and last shot) really shows the best of the route and rolling stock. Also, very good effort on the run itself Impressive to just get the second fastest run in like that but then again, we all have learned a great deal since then. Your run certainly did not disappoint and as we predicted, your climb is the fastest yet. And while I'm humbled by your mention of a trophy, if we were to give out such things, surely the two of us would hold it together. After all, a second is more than made up for in differences of when exactly one notes down the time Looking strictly at the times, it seems your prediction came true. You were well ahead of me in Chapel (23 seconds actually, if I'm reading things right) but the pressure loss cost you on the rest of the climb, since you were only 3 seconds ahead of me in Peak Forest. Your long shots continue to amaze. No. 3 is my firm favourite. I could get lost in that one matt#4801, I added your run here. Do let me know if anything needs changing. For everyone, this is once more the link to the fully up-to-date spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1OyqHC_XQz3S8AGTlDSLU-nIWsLd-QcS6icPQ8vegA5s/edit?usp=sharing
Great run, Matt, very much living up to expectations! The fact that you and Lamplight were so close together throughout - within seconds of each other - perhaps suggests we’re close to the limit of the Jubilee’s capabilities against this schedule. That’s not to say I’d discourage anyone from giving it another go, mind you! There’ll be a few more seconds to find somewhere, no doubt. I need to make another attempt to try to get close to you guys in any case. Great shots - I think the second one is my favourite. Something about the viewpoint down below the line, setting the train against the sky works really well. There’s a real sense of power about that last picture at Church Lane, too.
Really interesting account, Lamplight - thank you. It sounds as if that railtour schedule is a pretty good fit against the capabilities of the Jubilee, even if it was a bit slack for the A4. Newark is a really awkwardly placed station call for a steam locomotive on the East coast - right in the dip between the summits at Stoke and Askham Tunnel - exactly where you don’t want to stop and lose all your momentum. Timetabling of trains, and deciding the best stopping pattern to maximise revenue must have been a very different business in steam days. Nowadays most station stops, even on a fast route, come with a time penalty of only around 3-4 minutes, as the train will quickly get back up to speed after departing. I don’t know what the time penalty was for a Newark call in steam days, but it must have been huge! Good effort with the pictures, artistically working your way around the focus issues! I can never quite get on with the appearance of steam locomotives under modern OLE, but I do like that one through the doors at Retford! That must have taken some precise timing. Hopefully at some point I’ll get my access to East coast back, and I can give it a go.
I agree. The schedule isn’t exactly hard to match but you can’t fall asleep either. I’d say it’s like SoS if the speed limits either side of Sutton Weaver/Runcorn didn’t exist. I’ve been thinking about the same thing recently. Nowadays, gradients are essentially irrelevant for passenger trains (not absolutely but you get my point) - if the speed limit on a climb is 80mph, you’ll likely be doing that up or down. In steam days though, it must have been difficult to work with a climb in a timetable you can thunder down but that steam locos need to give it their all to get up at all. Certainly a different kind of railroading than today. Button smashing more like I had paused the game a little earlier when I found the open doors flying around so I quickly unpaused and paused again, which thankfully worked out. Not to derail our discussion but I’m curious since I’m still comparatively new to UK railroading. Was steam under OLE that rare in the UK? Or is the type of OLE too new? In (West-) Germany, steam under OLE was somewhat common or at least not that rare, so it doesn’t quite catch my eye in the same way it does for you.
There were certainly some UK examples of steam under OLE. On the Woodhead route steam ran for many years under the DC wires, and the lines out of London Liverpool St also had electrification (initially DC) well before the end of steam. The West coast electrification (at the southern end) was also in place at 25kv AC before the end of steam, although I think running steam under it was discouraged. Many locos at that time had a diagonal yellow stripe painted on the side of the cab, which denoted a route restriction which I think may have related (in part) to avoiding running steam under the wires. I’m hazy on this so - someone else will come in and fill the gaps, I’m sure. No doubt there are other examples of steam under the wires (those are just off the top of my head) but it wasn’t the norm, and where it did occur, the gantries and catenary looked very different to the modern stuff on the East Coast.
An interesting run mate, that is not bad going, I assume the unnamed sidings would be Tallington and 60mph by there is not bad at all and then the climb up Stoke is decent enough as well, though the jubilee is no match for the A4s! Again although shadowed by SNG it is interesting to see how the Jubilee matches the timetable nicely. Newark is a bit of a bugger for a steam loco to deal with having to stop at, though as said the way the 80xs deal with it, you would hardly know it were there. That is certainly a major positive of modern EMUs! I would love to give this run a go but I am just not sure I can bring myself to compete against an A4 on the ECML with an LMS loco! The door screenshot is a lovely one, though my heart is also going out for the one at Grantham with the sign in the foreground and the Jub whizzing behind. I had never come across the yellow stripe until a couple of years ago when a model I bought had it and well from what I could find it indicated that the loco couldn't travel south of Crewe on the WCML due to the wires, I assume to to clearance. It seemed to just be applied to LMR locos near the end of steam. I would imagine there will be someone who can add some more filling to the sandwich but I hope that adds enough for now!
Thank goodness our Jubilee doesn't have the stripe, otherwise we wouldn't be allowed to do our Cross City and East Coast challenges! Although now I come to research a bit further, it looks as if the restriction only applied to the West Coast South of Crewe, and they could still run under wires elsewhere. It seems the clearances were different.
Glad to hear! Yes the first half of the climb was very strong but she just didn't have the puff to fully attack the last section as I had planned which did lead to our timings by peak Forest near enough aligning. I must admit that those long shots are very addictive to take and really, to me, capture steam in it's finest form and I suppose are the quintessential vision of a steam loco. I must admit it would be something from the ER rather than the LMR, but I suppose we'll let it go! Lovely, thanks for adding that mate, looks all good to my eye. Again thank you muchly James, I do think it will be much harder to make an improvement on this run due to its downhill nature, though I did enjoy this run a lot due to the braking needing to be done to manage speed. Thanks, I do think that both the second and to some extent the third are ruined slightly by the safties but still happy with them. The one at Church Lane were actually quite lucky as I took it there planning a different shot, but the photo mode opened in near enough this position and with a bit of fiddling, this screenshot turned out nicely too. Another thing which I will just put as more of a footnote that is somewhat related is I did this exact same run with the same load in a Peak just to see how it compared, and the results are rather predictable. I have added it to my personal table to compare the runs, though with the Peak obviously being a diesel I will put it in a spoiler below. Spoiler: Peak comparison to the kettle Not quite as impressive as the kettle but the landscape more than makes up for that! Beautiful route. Again less spectacular than steam, but I do think the Peaks look great. A shame we haven't got a green one with a head code box on the front...
lcyrrjp, matt#4801, thank you both for your input regarding steam under wires. I had come across the stripe restricting running south of Crewe before but it’s all still a learning experience to me It’s a very fun run but I understand that an LMS loco is a little out of place on the ECML Also, thanks for filling in some blanks with Tallington. Unfortunately, TSW doesn’t give you any names apart from the principal stations for the Azumas, which is also why my log only has Grantham and Retford as references between stops. I do like this one, which was a happy little accident actually. I only regret that it doesn’t capture any of the momentum of Leander - she looks almost stationary. I must say that I agree! I can’t really explain why but long shots of steam locos just feel right Amazing shots of the Peak as well. The Peaks will always have a special place in my heart. 45041 ‘Royal Tank Regiment’ was the first loco I had ever driven in real life. My current profile picture is actually my own shot of her after my stint in the cab. I’ll have to take out a Peak on PFR as well, I think…
I wanted to share something that captivated me so, I felt it a shame not to share it with you lovely people. It’s a series of videos/films centred on Clive Groome, who began his career working on steam locos in 1951 and sadly passed away earlier this year. Apologies if he is very well known and I’m the only one who was unfamiliar with him but the man seemed to have had an incredible, inexhaustible knowledge about steam locos and equal passion for them. His tales from the footplate and instructions on working with steam locos are fantastic to listen to. Driving and Firing - The Art of Firing Driving and Firing - The Art of Driving Driving and Firing - The Big Four (Part 1) Driving and Firing - The Big Four (Part 2)
I hadn’t come across these before. I’ve only watched the first few minutes of one but it was really good. I look forward to watching the rest. Thanks for the find, Lamplight.
Stunning footage here from the footplate of 5029 'Nunney Castle' between Newport and Salisbury in 1963. It really gives a feel for what the experience of being on the footplate was like, and there's some great footage of railway and stations along the route as well. Interesting to note that the train had a call at Stapleton Road (to my mind a peculiarly small station for a train of this kind to call at), presumably in order to give it a calling point in Bristol (albeit not very near the centre!) without the time penalty of going into Temple Meads and reversing. The locomotive was later saved for preservation and returned to the mainline in 1990.
I'm bringing you a new feel-good run today - not really a challenge, but something unique never done before in our thread. Which other train could it be than The Palatine - not the one that got away but the one we can't get away from! I brought you the Down Palatine, lcyrrjp brought you the Up Palatine, and now I'm bringing you the Up Palatine ... wait, what? Looking through our logs, I noticed that the Up Palatine also has the running from Derby to Leicester logged, which I had overlooked before. There is a catch though - or two actually. For one, the log has a Black 5 leading, which will have an effect on the flat MML. In addition, the log does not have a Black 5 leading, but two Black 5s leading making this the first run in our line of challenges where we can make use of the double heading that PFR introduced. In Derby, The Palatine had 3 coaches added along with a second Black 5 as a pilot. For us, that will mean two Jubilees and 11 coaches. MML: The Up Palatine - 2x Jubilees with 11 coaches: Derby - Leicester 45614 'Leeward Islands' with The Palatine in Derby (Source) Some general notes on setting up the run: You can use the free roam spawning in timetable mode to assemble the train. Get one mk1 coach (e.g. from the Jubilee +7 mk1s consist) and delete the rest. Then, spawn the 2x Jubilee +10 mk1s formation and assemble the train. Set a waypoint in Leicester and you are good to go. It worked out for me in the timetable but I do not own the two cargo packs, so I don't know if that messes up the run. When releasing the brakes, make sure to give two whistles to make the AI driver behind you release the brakes in the second loco. Also, run back to the second loco to do our set-up (25% on the dampers and open firebox door). Edit: I forgot to mention that Sheet Stores Junction seems to have had a 60mph speed restriction compared to TSW's 70mph. The 60mph should be adhered to for comparison's sake. The official timetable, the logged run, and my attempt can all be found right here. Let's not beat around the bush - it is probably not a surprise to anyone that two Jubilees on the flat had no problem outperforming two Black 5s. From the very first comparison point in our logs, you can already see that I had started building a lead in timing and speed on the real run. The two Jubilees got the train up to 60mph quicker than I could really comprehend. But the majestic sound of two kettles chuffing along together was marvellous. I never needed anything but my trusty 29 regulator, 19 cut-off combination. After all, there was more than enough power at the front of the train. I shut off the regulator early for Sheet Stores Junction since I was making good time and wanted to brake gently, which I succeeded in. After that, it was simply enjoying the visual and auditory pleasure of the two locos sprinting along the mainline. There were quite a few meets along the way and it was lovely to meet HSTs that were altogether not that much faster than me. That was until I passed Syston and got on to Leicester. Just like the log, I got signal checked into Leicester. I was trying to see how fast I could get while still braking gently (an impressive 94mph when I shut her off!), which almost made me miss the ambers. I chucked the brakes on fully and was down to 15mph by the time my way was free and the signal let me pass. As I said, not really a challenge given the Jubilees in the lead but absolutely great fun. We've done some high speed running on MML before but never something like this with two locos. Now that I think about it, it might also be a fun idea to attempt the run still with 11 coaches but only one Jubilee. Looking at the performance of the two Black 5s in the log, it doesn't seem all that outlandish to at least get close with a single Jubilee, though the time required to accelerate to those speeds will likely be significantly longer. The two 5s were still about a minute ahead of the schedule though, so who knows? Spoiler: Thankfully, I did not need two cameras as well... Enthusiasts gather around to watch the spectacle of 45623 'Palestine' (pilot) and 45703 'Thunderer' re-enacting a special Palatine railtour. After a strong start, the two locos are chuffing happily through the countryside towards Sheet Stores Junction. Just after the junction, the two locos emerge from the tunnel opposite Ratcliff power station in a cloud of steam. Palestine and Thunderer thunder through Loughborough.
So, I was intrigued by the idea of doing the new Palatine run with one Jubilee as discussed before and did so last evening. Quite an interesting run, actually. Also, I realise now that I forgot to mention that there seems to have been a 60mph speed restriction (instead of TSW's 70mph) at Sheet Stores Junction, which should be adhered to for comparison's sake. My single loco run is here. This time, I went all in with the railtour theme and used Rivet's 5593 'Kolhapur' for the run with the mk1s still from the PFR formations. I have grown both used to and fond of our green Jubilees but I have to admit, Kolhapur looks very fetching indeed in red. As expected, acceleration was much slower with only one Jubilee. Where two of them had no trouble sprinting along with the heavy load, the single loco was pulling hard and had her work cut out for her. We crept our way up to the 60s on the way to Sheet Stores Junction. With the anaemic top speed of 65mph compared to the two Jubilees, I barely had to ease off the regulator to make it down to 60mph for the restriction. Much of the rest of the run is made up of gentle climbs. Kolhapur really had to put her back into it to pull 11 coaches at speed and thus speed was quite stagnant around 60mph. On some climbs, it dropped down to no less than 57mph and rose again on some downhill bits to 62 (or maybe even 64 - not quite sure anymore). All in all, the average speed was a comfortable 60mph. My timings at Borrowash and Sheet Stores Junction gave me mixed feelings. I was falling more and more behind the 5s but I also wasn't that far away from them. Still, I was almost a minute and a half behind schedule at Sheet Stores. Loughborough was more promising: only 50 seconds behind the 5s. It seems I made up that time at the junction: The 5s dropped all the way to 56mph while I hit the PSR spot-on with 60mph. I don't see where else I could have gained the time when comparing our running speeds. If so, this really highlights how important nailing these speed restrictions in front of climbs (even if gentle) is. It reminds me of the crucial Kings Norton PSR on our BCC run. Unfortunately, I missed Syston so I don't have timings for that. It would have been interesting to compare given that I stopped a mere 20 seconds after the scheduled arrival, making this a pretty good on-time arrival despite the lack of a second loco. And that was with gentle braking - a more aggressive stop likely would have shaved some more seconds off. I can certainly recommend both versions of the run - with pilot as in the log and without. The pilot run is sheer joy marvelling at the powerful display and the single loco run is a more traditional challenge as we love them (though MML is, of course, not a particularly challenging route given its flatness). Spoiler: You've got red on you... The footbridge at Spondon offers an excellent view of Kolhapur running through. Two very different kinds of steam engines. The tunnel portal opposite the power station is an excellent spot. Looks almost like in the olden days. Loughborough was the place for a meeting of two very different kinds of express services. Kolhapur pulling into Leicester.
Thank you for another really interesting challenge, Lamplight. Having read about your run with a pair of Jubilees last night, I spent the day at work thinking about the best way to tackle it with a single Jubilee, and whether it would be achievable - then arrived home to find you'd beaten me to it! I suspected it would be tight but that, with a good run, it might be manageable. Your run seemed to confirm that, qualifying for a 'right time' arrival, but I wanted to see whether it was possible to get those last 21 seconds. 45625 'Sarawak' was in charge of the heavy 11-coach load, and we eased out of Derby on time. My plan was to take it easy on the first section to Sheet Stores Junction, given that the 60mph restriction there would cost us any real momentum we'd built up, then take advantage of the resulting high boiler pressure on the longer section from Sheet Stores to Leicester. This being so, after the start I quickly settled down to 25% regulator and 20% cut-off and as a result, acceleration was unremarkable. We passed Borrowash at 55mph, and, despite the falling gradients, only touched a maximum of 63mph before easing off for Sheet Stores. Unfortunately I'd overdone the conservatism and the safety valves lifted before passing over Sheet Stores Junction at 60mph. Once clear of the junction, we slowly gained speed on the flat section before Loughborough and went through there at 62mph with boiler pressure still close to the red line. On the gentle climb beyond speed dropped away to 58mph through Sileby and only then, as the gradient levelled out, did I start to open up the regulator - to 35% by Syston, with speed climbing to 62mph, then holding speed on the rising gradients by continually opening the regulator further, taking us to 63mph before shutting off for Leicester. Braking into Leicester was good, and arrival was at 16:26:53 - 7 seconds ahead of schedule. I'm certain there's a little more time to be had here. I could have worked the locomotive harder before Sheet Stores Junction and avoided the safety valves lifting. That would have left me less reliant on getting the braking spot-on for Leicester - which isn't going to happen every time! None the less, this was a really enjoyable run, and I'd recommend it to anyone as a great way to enjoy the much-improved Midland Mainline. Full timings of the run are here. Note also that the gradient profile for this run is in this post.
Lovely account, lcyrrjp. I’m not surprised that you managed to shave a fair bit off my run. After all, I just let the old girl run as she pleased whereas you responded properly to the route. (And I do like your first ‘grass’ shot very much ) As you noticed yourself, I don’t think there’s much point in holding back on the way to Sheet Stores Junction. The route is so flat that even an aggressive driving style should not use up more pressure than the 60mph restriction at the junction allows you to regenerate. Couple that with a spot-on 60mph at the junction and your last push into Leicester and I’d hazard a guess that that would be the ‘ideal’ strategy for getting the best time. Happy to have given you a reason to return to MML. I’ll say, that route is starting to grow on me more than I expected when I picked it up. For now, I’m waiting for the cargo packs to go on sale. In the meantime, this’ll certainly not be the last time I’ll let a Jubilee thunder down the track there.
Confident that I could shave off a few more seconds, I made a second attempt at Derby - Leicester. This time I had 45726 'Vindictive' (a locomotive I hadn't driven before) with the same 11 coach load. My intention was to run harder before Sheet Stores Jn, avoiding the lifting of the safety valves there, while still maintaining enough pressure for the section to Leicester. The times for this run are here. As I prepared for departure though, the heavens opened and I knew I'd need to make a more cautious start. Despite my best efforts, the big wheels slipped as we departed Derby and time was lost while Vindictive recovered her footing, but once I was confident we had enough momentum to avoid further wheelslip I used higher regulator settings and passed through Borrowash slightly faster than Sarawak managed on my previous run, albeit having dropped a little time due to the wheelslip. We made up a little of the lost time to Sheet Stores Junction, and sure enough I was able to avoid the safety valves lifting as a result of that harder running, with the needle being just below the red line as I again opened the regulator as we crossed over the Trent. For this second section of the run I decided to use a similar tactic and work the locomotive harder at first, using up more pressure, but hoping to gain time overall. In reality, using more regulator made little difference on the climb to Loughborough, which we passed at the same speed as Sarawak had, but with 30psi less in the boiler. We then paid for that on the remainder of the run, falling into the dreaded cycle of having to use more regulator and cut-off to maintain speed, causing boiler pressure to fall still faster, and so on. By Syston we were down to 140psi and slower than the previous run. From there speed inevitably dropped away - in contrast to the final push which we made with Sarawak - and arrival in Leicester was 22 seconds late - 20 seconds slower than on the previous run and with boiler pressure at a level which did not impress my relief for the run to St Pancras. I think the tactic of working the locomotive harder before Sheet Stores Junction saved a little time - we were 5 seconds slower on that section than on the previous run, but the wheelslip leaving Derby certainly cost more than that, and my braking for the junction was also less good this time. The same approach on the second half of the run was not successful however, costing us more time and making much less efficient use of the steam. I'm still confident a faster overall time is possible, by running hard before Sheet Stores Junction then preserving steam afterwards for a final push around Syston.
lcyrrjp, sorry for not getting back to you earlier. Life happens and I got distracted. That was a good attempt. Around the same time, I had made a trial run experimenting with techniques and had similar findings. Running hard to Sheet Stores Jnc saved little time from what I recall and I had started my final push into Leicester earlier as well, which only depleted my boiler and cost me time. So I concur, just the right balance of working hard to Sheet Stores might save a bit of time if done right but you had the last leg of the run figured out in your first attempt. Anyways, after a brief hiatus, I was itching for some coal face again and thus returned to the all-time great NTP with our Manchester Victoria - Leeds run. I feel like I say this after every run but this one is great. What I love about it is that it's not as frustrating as PFR and NTP in the other direction since this run only has way shorter and less severe climbs. At the same time, it still has those climbs and is thus not as straightforward as BCC or MML. My log can be found here in our spreadsheet. While we pull out of Manchester (in our heads following along) with 45617 'Mauritius' leading, I want to preface this by saying that I switched up my tactics a bit. In one of the great videos about Clive Groome I had shared some time ago, he said something that stuck with me. In one of my BCC logs, I noted how I enjoyed watching the loco work away. Similarly, Clive Groome had commented on driving techniques saying (paraphrased) that you don't mess with the regulator and cut-off once you set it because any adjustment will throw the fireman off. Therefore, I stuck to my settings on the climbs and only made necessary changes - that means I didn't do our final push on the last leg of the climb as we usually do. Once well into the points, I started my climb to Miles Platting. It was rather uneventful, which I was thankful for since any excitement would likely have meant I made a crucial error! I started with 40 on the regulator and 20 on the cut-off, which I have grown fond of for climbing. While this did get me up the hill, the safeties never stopped blowing so I figured I needed to open her up a bit more. I switched to a cut-off of 22, then finally 24 and opened the regulator to 60 before the old girl stopped complaining. My speed never dropped below 12mph and we easily hit 20 as soon as we were at Miles Platting. On the way to Stalybridge, I used my beloved 29 regulator and 19 cut-off (or 29/19 for short) and changed to 37/16 when the climbs to Stalybridge started properly. I believe I owe credit to lcyrrjp for 37/16 from the Down Palatine on PFR. The combination of circa 40 regulator and 16 cut-off seems to work quite well on climbs so perhaps that is something to toy around with more in future runs. I arrived at Stalybridge well behind schedule but still in line with our usual timings. Up to Standedge Tunnel, I only used 40/20 until I was all the way inside the tunnel. This worked fine, I think. My passing speed into the tunnel was on the slightly lower side (as was to be expected) but I was not dissatisfied. The old girl climbed just fine and never complained once. While speeding up in the tunnel, I suddenly had a revelation - the pathing around Huddersfield! I never checked it. I checked the map and sure enough, I was routed away from any platform at Huddersfield and onto the slow lines of the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway’s route. A quick bit of on-the-fly dispatching adjusted these points in time before the tunnel ended. Down to Huddersfield, I opened her up with 40 or even 60 regulator with 19 cut-off after having used 29/19 to regenerate pressure in the tunnel. I went with a very gentle stop at Huddersfield - gentle brake application very early and stopping with almost no brakes and open ejector. I was quite pleased with myself for the good stop but I'm afraid it also cost me a lot of time vs a more brisk stop. Eager to still reach Leeds on time, I gunned the old girl out of Huddersfield and opened her up properly to barrel downhill. I did the same once on the fast line and out of Ravensthorpe before coming to a rougher stop in Dewsbury. For the following climb to Morley Tunnel, I trusted 40/20 again passing the portal doing 35mph, which seems to be quite good looking at the previous logs. I regenerated pressure with 29/19 again in the tunnel and used the pressure downhill to get from 50 to 60mph quickly - Probably quite a waste in real life but I had time to make up Following the gruelling crawl into Leeds, I finally stopped at 7:31:22 (this time with a proper, gentle stop, which was not hard given the 10mph speed limit), so still an on-time arrival in my books. I'm quite pleased with the run overall especially since I made it to Leeds in time without beating the loco within an inch of her life at any point. Spoiler: Pictures from the Pennines I'm always amazed at how incredible the atmosphere is captured in NTP. Despite the empty stations and lacklustre AI there, the art direction and lighting just make everything feel alive and lived in. A proper departure with plenty of steam. On the way to Stalybridge, the old girl was running beautifully. She just kept going with no complaints. Couldn't resist this shot with a Peak even if she is mismatched in her configuration with a Jubilee. One last sprint on the way from Morley to Leeds.
Great run, Lamplight. Particularly impressive between Huddersfield and Leeds to make up time. NTP does work particularly well with steam - I suppose partly because the route hadn’t changed all that much between the end of steam and the era the route’s set, and partly because of the interesting gradient profile. It set me wondering how Just Trains’ new route will be for steam - hopefully that will give opportunities for some interesting new challenges with the Jubilee. I love the pictures - particularly the one departing Victoria with steam blasting from safety valves, cylinder cocks and chimney! The one in Victoria prior to departure also captures NTP’s grime particularly well. I’ve managed to get East Coast running on my PC again (a mod update did the trick) so I’m planning to give your Peterborough-Doncaster challenge a go when I get some time next week. I’ll report back on how I get on. I did identify a real life timetable for an interesting challenge on Fife Circle. Unfortunately when I started my first attempt I discovered that the route gives HST line speeds to all trains, making them completely incomparable with the restrictions in steam days, making any comparisons invalid. It’s a shame, because it would actually be quite an interesting route for steam, but I can’t think of a way around that issue other than Rivet fixing the route.
Thanks, lcyrrjp. Oh, I hadn’t even considered that. True enough, it would be amazing if we could get a new run out of the JT route. BPO was another run I had considered before settling on NTP for my run. Such an amazing route and Preston station is gorgeous for a steamy arrival or departure. If not the BPO run, I’ll certainly find something else to run in the next couple of days. I’m in the mood for some more time on a kettle. Looking forward to that when you get around to it. Careful there, mate. DTG/Skyhook already owe you a sales commission for selling me BCC and MML. Aiming for the hat-trick now, are we? Joking aside, new challenges are always welcome, of course. Do we know what the speed limits are/were? I mean, if we do, we could just run it like you would with a booktimetable in Germany (for those unfamiliar: a booktimetable is a table listing the speeds along the route with the relevant points along the track and some other stuff like stations, signals, etc.). Not sure if that’s feasible since I’m not familiar with the route (neither in sim form nor in real life). Or maybe I’m entirely missing what you were trying to say?
The speed limits are displayed on the PSR boards all across the route, so it would be possible to drive the route and note the limit on each board, and then create a booktimetable as you describe. There are a lot of speed changes though (the route is a pretty endless succession of curves and junctions), so it would be quite a major task firstly to create the booktimetable, and then to learn the braking points for every restriction.
Having got East Coast back up and running on my PC, I'm finally in a position to give this challenge a go. Please note that I've added the gradient profile to the post I made immediately following the post on which Lamplight introduced the challenge (Post 409 of this thread) so that hopefully when people come across the challenge, they'll also spot the gradient profile. The logs for this run and others' attempts at the same challenge, are here. One other thing to note is that, rather than DTG's timetable, I used Mad31basher's 1991 timetable which is available here. It means that, rather than Azumas, you make the run surrounded by 37s, 47s, Sprinters and screaming Valenta HSTs - which is much more to my liking! I had 45632 'Tonga' in charge and, despite the heavy train, we made a sure-footed right time start from Peterborough. I tried to balance acceleration with maintaining boiler pressure for the climb of Stoke Bank ahead. With 26% regulator and 20% cut-off (26/20) we gathered speed steadily on the gently undulating grades as far as Tallington Level Crossing, which we passed at 59mph with 200psi. There, the climbing begins, easy at first, then progressively steeper, with speed slowly slipping away. By Corby we were struggling, and - rather ignominiously - a 158 drew past us on the Slow line. Onto the final 3-mile stretch at 1:178 I decided it was the moment to use up my carefully preserved boiler pressure and opened up to 40/20. I knew the slow line ended at Stoke Summit, and wondered whether the Signaller would give us or the 158 the road. I soon had my answer, as a double yellow glimmered in the distance. I kept my fingers crossed that the unit would have got far enough clear not to force me to ease off. Through the cutting and under the road bridge and the next signal came into view - single yellow. I sighed and reached for the regulator, but as I did so, it cleared to double yellow just in time. We forged onwards and by the time we reached the next signal it was green, as the 158 got away from us. We blasted over the summit at 34mph, with pressure down to 163psi, through Stoke Tunnel, and speed began to rise on the falling gradients. By Grantham I'd eased off as speed reached our designated maximum of 75mph and, as we roared through the station the tables were turned as I got my second glimpse of the 158, making its booked call in the back platform. We were 44 seconds late but with a fast section ahead of us, optimistic of making Newark on time. With boiler pressure fully recovered on the descent we had no problem maintaining our speed through Peascliffe Tunnel and Claypole, before easing for the Newark call. My braking was rather cautious and was responsible for us not recovering the time I'd hoped, arriving still 44 seconds late. After the one-minute stop we got the right-away, but despite the dry rails the wheels slipped as I was too eager in opening up the regulator. There was nowhere to hide as a sprinter full of passengers watched on, and a pair of 37s passed on a Southbound Freightliner. Opening up, more slowly this time, to 25/18 we gained speed steadily, touching 60mph through Crow Park at the foot of the next climb - not as long as the climb to Stoke, but my initial optimism that we'd be over the top in no time wavered as 1:300 became 1:200 and we still had 3 miles to go. We passed through Tuxford at 50mph and I opened up to 40/18 to use the last of the pressure on the gentler slopes to Askham Tunnel. One through there we accelerated on the descent and rushed through Retford at 75mph, but by this time we were over 3 minutes down. Even with plenty of impetus and full pressure in the boiler, speed dipped slightly on the final, short climb through Bawtry, and not long afterwards we glimpsed the double yellow leading to the final, slow crawl into Doncaster. Again, my braking was cautious, but arrival was at 11:51:05 - almost a minute ahead of schedule. This was a thoroughly enjoyable run with a nice combination of tough climbs, fast running and tricky station stops. The schedule - while gentle for an A4 - is (by good fortune) perfect for the Jubilee; achievable, while being challenging enough to be interesting. Thank you to Lamplight for discovering it. The 1991 timetable added a lot to the run for me, and created some interesting shots. I've also driven other, scheduled, trains using this timetable, and would recommend it to anyone interested in rather older traction. One final point - it has been mentioned in the past that the 'Dispatcher' (Signaller) in TSW is a rather delicate thing, which doesn't handle well unscheduled delays or trains running outside of booked paths. However, my experience of it since Free Roam was introduced has been very positive. Its signalling of the 158 to pass us on the Slow Lines before Stoke, then get into the back platform at Grantham for us to rush back past it - without delay to either train - was highly impressive, and very satisfying to see.
I see. Probably a time-consuming activity then and difficult to adhere to in a run (given that UK routes lack the easily visible km-boards that German routes have). What a great run. I love the timetable even if I unfortunately can't use it myself (console player and all that). I can relate to the pain of having to watch that 158 overtake you Very interesting to see how you used lower cut-offs to overtake my timings after Newark. I have started looking into them a bit more as well (more on that in my next report). I love that shot out of the coach window. I always try to use realistically achievable camera angles for my shots (most of my shots from high up are from bridges etc - not just flying) and the view out of the window is likely one familiar to all of us. As a semi-frequent user of free roam, I agree with your point about the dispatcher. It is hit-or-miss and sometimes also allows you to see wrong signals (wrongly implemented on DTGs' side, I imagine) but overall, it seems to handle the additional traffic quite well. With the aid of go-vias, I even managed to get it working on the single-track Niddertalbahn, which I didn't expect.
As teased before, I returned to BPO with our Blackpool (N) - Preston run. My log is as always on our spreadsheet. It was an uneventful run overall but enjoyable nonetheless. I chose Rivet's 5593 Kolhapur for my run. For one, the red is gorgeous on the Jubilee (as long as you don't look too closely at the spots Rivet messed up). Also, a quick look on the internet showed me that Kolhapur wore red again in the 80s, so I thought it fitting for a railtour on BPO. The start towards Layton was arduous as always. I gave her the beans to race to 15mph and then again once clear of the station limits. How they achieved a 2-minute time to Layton, I can't understand. Maybe the speed limits were different back then? Anyways, already more than a minute late, I continued on after my scheduled stop. That is, I would have if I hadn't spun the wheels. I had kept the cylinder cocks closed but wasn't careful and gentle enough in my start. Kolhapur reprimanded me as deserved. Having lost even more time to the wheelslip, I pressed on to Poulton. Still eager to make up time, I was too aggressive after my scheduled stop again and had the same wheelslip problem (let that be a lesson that rushing to fix a mistake only makes things worse!). From here on out we finally have some breathing room. Curious about lower cut-offs, I experimented using 40 on the regulator with 17, then 16 cut-off (40/17-16). Compared to my previous run to Kirkham, I seem to have been slower that way, but also keep in mind that I didn't experience wheelslip back then and had stopped more abruptly (more on that in my pictures below). Also, I had to do another brief bit of on-the-fly dispatching (I had forgotten to set a go-via at the Kirkham platform) and thus missed the opportunity for the final push. The safeties lifting as soon as I hit the points for the platform informed everyone of my mismanagement. On the final leg of the run to Preston, I only used 40/16 except for a small final push with 60/22. Again, a comparison with my previous run is interesting. I had almost the same travel time to Salwick but was 2mph faster with the lower cut-off. I was about 10-20 seconds slower into Preston but did reach a higher top speed before. The slower arrival into Preston was also caused by me over-breaking for the speed restriction (down to 25-30mph at the 35mph restriction already, I seem to recall) and a gentler stop. So, the results are mixed given external factors and different approaches I took to station stops, but I did seem to reach higher speeds with the lower cut-offs. Alternatively, it could also be that the lower cut-off allowed for higher speeds but gave me slower acceleration. Certainly something to continue playing around with. Having arrived in Preston about a minute and a half late, I was thoroughly satisfied with the run (even if not the timings). My breaking for stations felt particularly good to me - not for my timings but for breaking more like you would in real life. Also, despite my wheelslip problems, my delay lines up almost perfectly with my late arrival at Layton. It would be fascinating to get some data or documentation on how they managed this tight timing back then. Spoiler: The Red Racer The Blackpool Tower and the railtour seem to be in matching clothes! On the way to Krikham, Kolhapur could finally stretch her legs. Not to toot my own horn, but I'm particularly proud of this stop - a nice, gentle stop that happened to line up perfectly with the platform Two at this point outdated locos meet as a Class 40 pulls a short ballast train. Preston station is simply gorgeous.
