Cheltenham Spa Express
| Cheltenham Spa Express | |
|---|---|
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| Train type: | Long-distance train |
| Countries: |
 United Kingdom
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| First drive: | 1923 |
| Today's operator: | First great western |
| Former operator: | GWR |
| route | |
| Departure station: | Cheltenham |
| Intermediate stops: | 4th |
| Destination station: | Paddington Railway Station , London |
| Route length: | 195.5 km |
| Technical specifications | |
| Rolling stock: | Passenger car with GWR Castle class |
| Gauge (s) : | 1435 mm |
| Cruising speed: | 1935: 115 km / h |
| Train run | |
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The Cheltenham Spa Express is a UK long-distance train that runs from Cheltenham Spa in Gloucestershire to Paddington Station in London . In the 1930s, the Great Western Railway (GWR) -operated train became known under the unofficial name of the Cheltenham Flyer . Measured against the scheduled cruising speed of 114.9 km / h, it was the fastest train in the world at the time. This record did not refer to the entire distance traveled by the train, but only to the Swindon – Paddington section, which was passed without stopping on the way there.
history
Development of cruising speed on the Swindon – Paddington section
Even before the First World War , the Great Western Railway operated a long-distance train Cheltenham – London, which covered the 146 km Kemble Junction – Paddington route in 103 minutes. After the war, an additional stop was introduced in Swindon and the train took 85 minutes to travel the 124.3 km to Paddington.
In 1923, the first express train locomotives of the Castle class, designed by Charles Collett , were put into service, which enabled a significant reduction in travel times. The train was now known as the Cheltenham Spa Express and covered the distance between Swindon and Paddington in 75 minutes. This corresponded to an average speed of 99.5 km / h.
In the 1920s and 1930s there was fierce competition between the four most important railway companies in England to operate the country's fastest commercial long-distance train, which is why the Cheltenham Spa Express was accelerated further. In July 1929 the scheduled journey time was 70 minutes, which corresponded to an average speed of 106.5 km / h. In 1931 the average speed was increased to 111.4 km / h. This was the first time in railway history that a long-distance train ran at a scheduled average speed of over 110 km / h. In the same year locomotive No. 5000 Launceston Castle covered the distance at a cruising speed of 127 km / h, breaking the record of 126 km / h set in 1905 by the Philadelphia and Reading Railway on the 55 km Camden - Atlantic City route . The train had since been nicknamed the Cheltenham Flyer , which was never the official name.
On Monday, June 6, 1932, the train broke its own speed record for the fastest commercial long-distance train with a travel time of 56 minutes 47 seconds. The average speed of 131.3 km / h had never been reached before. The train was pulled by the Castle-class locomotive No. 5006 Tregenna Castle , which was operated by engine driver Harry Rudduck and stoker Thorp from the London depot Old Oak Common.
In September 1932, the scheduled travel time between Swindon and London was reduced to 65 minutes and the average speed of 114.83 km / h for the 124.4 km route, which was exceptional for the time, was achieved.
The Cheltenham Flyer record was broken in May 1933 by the Flying Hamburger . The German diesel multiple unit covered the 286 km long Berlin – Hamburg line in 138 minutes, which resulted in a cruising speed of 124.3 km / h. The Cheltenham Flyer lost the British record in 1937 when The Coronation of the LNER achieved an average speed of 115.75 km / h between London's King's Cross station and York .
Development after the GWR period
During the Second World War , the train was stopped. British Rail , the successor to the GWR, only used the name Cheltenham Spa Express again from the summer schedule of 1957 until the 1960s and then again from 1984. The route is now operated by the First Great Western . In 2018, a pair of trains with the traditional name still ran on weekdays. The train begins in Worcester , stops in Ashchurch for Tewkesbury and no longer covers the Swindon – Paddington section on the Great Western Main Line without stopping, but serves Didcot Parkway and Reading.
Train run
The train runs from Cheltenham Spa in Gloucestershire via Gloucester , Stonehouse , Stroud , Kemble , Swindon , Didcot and Reading to Paddington Station in London , with the train making head in Gloucester.
From Cheltenham, the train first travels south-west along the cross-country route shared by GWR and LMS between Cheltenham and Yate except for the area around Gloucester. At Standish Junction, the train leaves the Cross-Country Route and follows the Golden Valley Line through the Cotswold Hills . After Brimscombe, the line climbs 13-17 ‰ until it reaches the 1700m long Sapperton Tunnel . Behind Kemble the route is almost level again, so that the steam train already reached 120 km / h here.
After Swindon, the actual race track begins on the Great Western Main Line to London, which runs roughly down the slope of the Thames , with Swindon only 90 m higher than Paddington. The greatest of the only slight gradients on the route are between Swindon and Didcot: from Swindon the line falls with 1.2 ‰ to Shrivenham and from there with 1.1 to 1.3 ‰ to Didcot, after which the gradient is a maximum of 0, 8th ‰. After leaving Swindon, the steam trains passed Shrivenham, 9.2 km away, at 120 km / h in just under seven minutes, and reached 130 km / h near Challow or Wantage Road, which is the speed for most of the Ride was held. If the train driver had to catch up with a delay, the speed could sometimes be increased to 145 km / h. The maximum speed could then usually be maintained between Steventon and Slough. Only between Goring and Tilehurst did the speed drop by 3 to 5 km / h because the train's resistance to running increased in this section of the route - on the one hand because the steam locomotive replenished its water supply from the trough at Goring on the other hand, because of the higher rolling resistance of the cars in the counter turns near Pangbourne.
At the west end of Reading station, flat crossings with movable double frog tips were laid at the time of the steam train so that the speed in the route did not have to be reduced. After Reading, if the train was delayed in the Twyford – Maidenhead section, it was able to reach speeds of 134 to 138 km / h to catch up on time. When driving through West Drayton and Hayes to Southall , the speed could drop to 125 km / h. The train then accelerated again to 130 km / h for the journey through Ealing and Acton , especially in the event of delays , until it approached the large gasometers near Westbourne Park , where the regulator of the steam locomotive was closed and the braking was initiated so that the Train passed Westbourne Park station at 80 km / h and reached Paddington in just over two minutes.
In the 1930s, the train movement began in broken today railhead Cheltenham Spa St. James and reached already after two minutes the first stop in the station Cheltenham Spa Malvern where the branch line from the railhead, the main route Birmingham - Stratford-upon-Avon - Bristol reached. After the GWR stations were closed in the 1960s, today's Cheltenham Spa Express runs from the former LMS Lansdown station , which is now called Cheltenham Spa .
Travel times
The train timetable has not changed over the years. The train leaves Cheltenham at around 2:40 p.m. and arrives in London before 5:00 p.m. The return train leaves London at around 5:45 p.m. and arrives at Cheltenham at around 8:00 p.m.
| railway station | 1930s
Years |
2018 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Worcester Shrub Hill | Departure | 13:06 | |
| Ashchurch for Tewkesbury | Departure | 13:24 | |
| Cheltenham Spa St. James | Departure | 14:40 | |
| Cheltenham Malvern Road | Arrivals | 14:42 | |
| Cheltenham Spa
(until 1925 Lansdown ) |
Departure | 14:36 | |
| Gloucester | Arrivals
Departure |
14:53
14:58 |
14:52 |
| Stonehouse | 15:07 | ||
| Stroud | Arrivals
Departure |
15:14
15:16 |
15:14 |
| Kemble | Arrivals
Departure |
15:33
15:35 |
15:29 |
| Swindon | Arrivals
Departure |
15:51
15:55 |
15:43 |
| Didcot Parkway | Arrivals | 16:03 | |
| Reading | Arrivals | 16:16 | |
| London Paddington | Arrivals | 17:00 | 16:44 |
Rolling stock
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In the 1930s, the Cheltenham train route began with five 1st and 3rd class cars. In Gloucester, a dining car and a through car from Hereford were attached to the train , so that the Cheltenham Spa Express continued with seven cars in the direction of London. From Gloucester, the train was hauled by a Castle class locomotive, which brought the 218-ton train to London. Additional wagons were given to the train in the summer months and on weekends.
In 2018, HST trains were used for the Cheltenham Spa Express.
| Route section | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| << Cheltenham Spa - Gloucester | GWR steam locomotive | Seating car
3rd class with Train driver's compartment |
Seating car
3rd grade |
Seating car
1st and 2nd class |
Seating car
1st and 2nd class |
Seating car
3rd class with Train driver's compartment |
||
| Gloucester - London >> | Through car
Hereford - London |
Dining car | Seating car
3rd class with Train driver's compartment |
Seating car
3rd grade |
Seating car
1st and 2nd class |
Seating car
1st and 2nd class |
Seating car
3rd class with Train driver's compartment |
Steam locomotive of the |
literature
- R. Korthais: The "Cheltenham Flyer", one of the fastest trains in the world . In: Railway amateur . 1st year, no. 1/2 , June 1947, p. 14-16 .
- The “Cheltenham Flyer” . In: Railway Wonders of the World . Part 42, November 15, 1935 ( html ).
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f Railway Wonders of the World
- ↑ M. Schijatschky: The third man . In: Railway amateur . 6th year, no. 5 , May 1952, p. 132 .
- ^ Locomotive Speed Records . In: Railway Wonders of the World . Part 17, May 24, 1935 ( railwaywondersoftheworld.com ).
- ^ Great Western Railway Magazine, July 1932
- ↑ Ronald Krug: From the train transport service: The fastest steam trains. International comparison of records, top speeds and travel speeds . EK-Verlag, Freiburg im Breisgau 2014, ISBN 978-388255-770-1 , p. 138
- ↑ Günter Stiller: Flying Hamburger - only the ICE was faster . In: Hamburger Abendblatt . May 15, 2008 ( abendblatt.de [accessed September 10, 2018]).
- ↑ Ronald Krug: From the train transport service: The fastest steam trains. International comparison of records, top speeds and travel speeds . EK-Verlag, Freiburg im Breisgau 2014, ISBN 978-388255-770-1 , p. 140
- ^ Fritz Stöckl : European railway trains with sonorous names . Carl Röhrig Verlag, Darmstadt 1958, p. 91
- ^ A b The South Cotswolds line . In: Great Western Railway (ed.): Great Western Railway Timetable . 2018 ( pdf ).
- ↑ Mark Appleby: 43091 & 43185 at Gloucester with The Cheltenham Spa Express. 01/02/2017. In: YouTube. February 1, 2017, accessed September 12, 2018 .