The Bristol Railway Archive

It was reported that on 24 September one of the new GWR IET's ran from Temple Meads to Paddington in 71 minutes. No mention was made as to which route it took (Box or Hullavington) or whether there were any calling points en route. A very impressive performance regardless.

Roy

We've been discussing this on another forum. Whilst it is still extant, the RTT log is here: https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/ ... 4/advanced It ran via Badminton

The GWR press release is here: https://www.gwr.com/about-us/media-cent ... eed-record

Deep in the small print at the end under Notes to Editors, GWR quietly own up to the fact that an HST did the run in 68 minutes back in 1977. So there we are - a Newspeak version of progress - slower is faster...

Interesting that the press reports I read referred to departure at 6.50 which would have been a major challenge pathing wise especially at the top end. How many years have our railways run to the 24 hour clock???

Regarding the high speed run in 1977 I'm racking my brain to remember if this was the special 'Top of the Pops' run which was with a very shortened HST formation either 2+2 or 2+4. Does anyone else remember?

Roy

Top of the Pops run was 1984. I have some pics somewhere. I think it was a 2+4 combo.

There was a test run on 4th October 1976. Here's a rather poor quality shot of it from the time passing Badminton:

1984 has jogged my memory. The Top of the Pops run would have been when I was working in Control at Paddington shortly before we uprooted to Swindon.

The test run at Badminton is interesting. I cannot recall the station there but the milepost suggests that this working is on the up line. Around that time I would have been the technician accompanying a number of test runs between St Philips Marsh and Swindon so it is possible I was on board this one.

Roy

the green mile wrote: Thu Dec 05, 2019 8:41 am The test run at Badminton is interesting. I cannot recall the station there but the milepost suggests that this working is on the up line. Around that time I would have been the technician accompanying a number of test runs between St Philips Marsh and Swindon so it is possible I was on board this one.

1976 was a low point in my railway enthusiasm, having just got fed up with Bath Road depot and leaving BR 4 weeks previously (I did go back later), and having two under-school-age kids at the time, my mind was on other things! However, I recall that there was something special about this run, special enough for me to go out to Badminton to see it. I wouldn't have bothered going if it was just an "ordinary" test run to Swindon.

The notes on the back of the original photo, which is the only hard information I've got to go on, says that it was the inaugural run between Bristol and Paddington (whatever that means in detail when I think back about it now).

Was it the first timetabled passenger-carrying HST on the Bristol to Paddington service? Was it the first empty test run to operate right through? Does anyone else know or remember anything about it?

IIRC the inaugural passenger carrying runs started before this date but ran in loco & coach timings and via Box. Maybe it was the inaugural run via Badminton. The fact that you knew about it beforehand suggests that it would not have been a test run for technical investigation as these were arranged on an ad hoc basis at very short notice when required, Intruiging!

1976 was also the low point in my career but having come under the wings of one Peter Sales at SPM things turned a corner. The next 36 years as they say is history with no looking back.

We should have goneto Google

The 125 Group says it was the start of the new accelerated timetable: https://www.125group.org.uk/happy-41st-birthday-hst/

Now why didn't I think of that? Own goal! I am one of their members and helped their archivist with memories of those early days.