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The true record that Tornado broke

When the 1995 Shap trials were first mooted, the 60mph steam limit was in force. It was therefore decided to treat Grayrigg and Shap as separate trial sections, and under the rules both climbs would be started at the 60mph maximum allowed, or something very close to it. The overall time over Grayrigg and Shap was of no practical interest, since the speed limit precluded any exploitation of the easy grades between the two inclines.

To this day, the recording fraternity still times trains over the original trial sections for Grayrigg and Shap, and since the advent of the 75mph limit, it is no longer a requirement to start these climbs at 60mph. It is therefore no surprise that the record times set up in 1995 have been cut on a number of occasions.

Given the 75mph limit, it became possible to exploit the slight fall between Grayrigg and Shap, so a third trial time was introduced encompassing these climbs.  It is this record that Tornado cracked on 24 June; the individual Grayrigg and Shap records, with similar or heavier loads, are still held by rival locomotives.

I should emphasise here that the above tables are for loads of 13 coaches or the equivalent; faster times exist with lighter loads. The number of coaches is a rather rough and ready basis for comparison, for as the details reveal, and to paraphrase  George Orwell, “Some 13s are more equal than others”.

Tornado’s effort over Grayrigg and Shap delivered an average of around 1850 estimated drawbar horsepower and 2300 indicated horsepower.

Had the formation been of the heavier side, say 510 tons full, the effort would have to be raised some three to four per cent to equal the time, or if worked the same way,  the time would have slipped by about 50 seconds outside the existing record.

Videos of the climb, with strongly feathering safety valves in evidence, are testimony to Tornado’s free steaming boiler, and doubtless a bigger effort could have been made if called upon, but whether a slightly heavier load would actually have prompted a harder effort is hypothetical.

The fine details of load aside, it was a magnificent performance; for those fortunate to be on the train, the sleek green Pacific seemed to take Grayrigg and Shap comfortably within its stride.

The 90.1 miles from Preston to Carlisle were run in 87 minutes 30 seconds at an average of 61.8mph.  This was closely matched by No 46229 Duchess of Hamilton in November 1996, which ran its 560-ton load (details as above) over the 85.5 miles from Barton Loop to Carlisle in 83 minutes 10 seconds for an average of 61.7mph.

I can find nothing to match Tornado’s Grayrigg-Shap time in the historic records for such a load.

The best I can find is a run timed in 1956 with No 46242 City of Glasgow on the down Royal Scot, which with the same load, 13/446/480 tons, ran the 31.3 miles from Carnforth to Shap Summit at an average of 58.8mph, compared to Tornado’s 63.5 over this section.

Doug Landau
St Albans