Crewe - Cardiff class 25 speeds

[GRUNFOS]

Hi all,

Has anyone out there have any details of the speeds the 25s used to run at on the service? Used this service many times and they always seemed to be running hard and fast, especially on the run from Hereford northwards towards Church Stretton. Any pictures would also be a worthy addition.

Thanks Paul,

[The Johnster]

I believe they were drafted in to maintain the timings that dmus could not manage reliably, so the timings would not have required any more than the 70mph dmu maximum, and the mk1 stock was ‘B’ rated and restricted to 75mph (B1 bogies, vacuum braked).  But the 25s were capable of the route’s 90mph line speed, and had to be thrashed to keep time, and I am sure that the nominal 75mph stock limit was frequently exceeded.  Southbound Crewe-Cardiff trains, especially the last one of the day, were often delayed awaiting connections off the WCML at Crewe, and connected with the last down Padd-Swansea at Cardiff, so were often trying to make up time as best they could. 
 

One of my link jobs was the 00.35 Cardiff-Peterborough parcels as far as Gloucester, with 90mph timings.  This used 25s after we lost our lovely Hymeks.  The ride on a 25 at 90mph might best be described as ‘interesting’ for the purposes of a family friendly website; you knew if you were off the road because it got better...  The noise was impressive as well, banging as the springs bottomed out and everything shaking and rattling, including your spine, all in all quite an experience and never to be repeated.  With any luck...

 

They were very draughty as well!

 

[GRUNFOS]

Thanks for that Mr Johnster, the ride in the MK1's was pretty lively at times as well!

[The Johnster]

You were 'probably' (meaning stone cold certainly) over the 75mph stencilled on the ends of the coaches coming down the banks as the loco struggled to build momentum for the next uphill stretch.  The North to West is a switchback, and you'd have to pay for it at a funfair...  All the guard could do was to inform the driver of the top speed the train was allowed to run at, and while getting the dmus up to 70 was as much as you could expect, and while the 25s suffered audibly and slowed considerably up the banks, if he took the train a bit over coming down the other side, there was nothing you could do about it and in any case one had to think of the passengers, bounced around the compartments but making their connections!  We did not have speedometers in the brake vans, and nobody would ever take any notice of 'amatuer' milepost timing, but I could make a fair assessment of the speed from wheel beats on joints.  You would only have put the setter in if the matter was extremely desparate, though one could 'blip' it to draw the drivers' attention.  Even that would depend on his happening to be looking at the vacuum gauge at the time, and he'd have to guess what you wanted.

 

We had very few drivers who were out and out speed merchants, and they tended to weed themselves out by disciplinary or, sadly, sometimes more direct means (speed kills), but the culture was very much a passenger service one and the game was to get everyone home on the last train.  I once had a very late running 120+121 4-car set as a back working from Hereford on a Sunday night, and, thinking of the connection,  took it upon myself to take a census of passengers who were travelling down line from Cardiff, and phoned the Cardiff Station Manager from Abergavenny so that he could make an informed decision about letting the last Swansea go on time.  As a result, he did so and rustled up an ad hoc 120 and crew from Canton to take the 20 or so downliners to Swansea, where the Landore workbus took the few Llanelli/Carmarthen types home.  Nobody told me to do this and I got no 'mention in despatches'; it was just what you did in those days.  Nowadays they'd have all been dumped at Cardiff and left to fend for themselves, but nowadays they are customers buying a product not passengers paying for a service.