The news that one of Transrail's Class 60 locomotives recently hauled the biggest train ever to operate in South Wales, has given us the opportunity to reflect upon our own loco's claim to fame in the "heavy freight" record books.
'Assembled at Swindon, the whole train totaled 2012 tons ...' |
On 25th February 1906, when she was, just 4 months old, No. 2807 distinguished herself by hauling a record breaking freight train from Swindon to Acton.
The trainload of coal was made up of 20 twenty ton, 6 twelve ton, 78 ten ton, 2 nine ton and 1 eight ton capacity coal wagons. Assembled at Swindon, the whole train totaled 2012 tons, including the dynamometer car and brake van.
With Driver C Buckland, Fireman G Griffiths and an inspector on the footplate, the train departed Swindon at 12.08pm and reached Acton Yard at 4.48pm. Taking account of lengthy stops totaling 1 hour 2 minutes at Reading West, Reading and Southall, this gave an average speed of just under 20 mph, whilst the maximum speed attained was 32 mph.
Although the route was slightly downhill and almost straight, this was still a very respectable speed, as great care had to be taken during stopping and starting, especially with some of the rickety privately owned wagons in use during those times.
'... the engine was completely master of the load ...' |
In his report, the inspector commented "in the working of this train I found the engine was completely master of the load and, in my opinion, a load 25% more could have been taken."
"Big trains" pulled in later years have included 2375 tons by "Great Bear" in 1909 and 2028 tons by "Kestrel" in 1968. Bearing in mind that these latter two locomotives were prototypes, No. 2807's 1906 record remains to this day an impressive achievement for a humble production engine. More intriguing is the fact that in 1906 No. 2807 had yet to be fitted with superheaters. Who knows what she might have pulled in her later, more powerful form.
Moving to the present day freight scene, Transrail's record breaker ran on 11 November 1995 from Swindon to Tidal Yard, Cardiff, via Gloucester. Made up of 40 wagons containing over 3000 tonnes of scrap metal and steel billet, the load was hauled by Class 60 No. 60033 "Anthony Ashley Cooper". Run to help assess the capability of Class 60s to haul large quantities of bulk freight over long distances, the train was 2100 ft long. A "dead" Class 56, No. 56037 "Richard Trevithick" was also included in the load as a possible back up loco, although it was not used as such.
Ninety years ago, 2000 ton trains hauled by "Twenty Eights" never caught on. With a railfreight revival now in the offing perhaps we can hope that 3000 tonners pulled by Class 60s can become a more regular sight!
Sources: "Heavy Freight; 28XX and 38XX Consolidations of the Great Western" by John Veal and Rev. John Goodman.