Cotswold line speed restrictions

[peteb]

Just travelled up to Worcester from Paddington and noticed speed limit is 75mph between Morton and Honeybourne whereas years ago it was 90 mph on single track downhill towards Honeybourne. Any ideas why the recently doubled section has a lower line speed than before? Interestingly after Evesham it reverts back to 90/95mph on that single track stretch.

 

[The Planner]

Just travelled up to Worcester from Paddington and noticed speed limit is 75mph between Morton and Honeybourne whereas years ago it was 90 mph on single track downhill towards Honeybourne. Any ideas why the recently doubled section has a lower line speed than before? Interestingly after Evesham it reverts back to 90/95mph on that single track stretch.

Was the line slewed when singled to a better alignment?

 

[Peter C]

Was the line slewed when singled to a better alignment?

The section between Ascott and Wolvercote Junction was in 1971 so I'd expect the same happened to the bit north of Moreton too.

-Peter

 

[peteb]

Was the line slewed when singled to a better alignment?

That might be it though as the OWW was set out for broad gauge (but never actually laid in broad gauge) the trackbed is pretty generous and seems miles (well a couple of yards) wider than say the Gloucester and Birmingham trackbed. But maybe when re-doubled they decided on lower line speeds as that might be cheaper to maintain and with relatively frequent station stops the benefit of 90 for miles on end is not so necessary?

 

[The Planner]

That might be it though as the OWW was set out for broad gauge (but never actually laid in broad gauge) the trackbed is pretty generous and seems miles (well a couple of yards) wider than say the Gloucester and Birmingham trackbed. But maybe when re-doubled they decided on lower line speeds as that might be cheaper to maintain and with relatively frequent station stops the benefit of 90 for miles on end is not so necessary?

Possibly knocks it from Cat 3 to 2 which ups the inspection regime.

 

[jimm]

Just travelled up to Worcester from Paddington and noticed speed limit is 75mph between Morton and Honeybourne whereas years ago it was 90 mph on single track downhill towards Honeybourne. Any ideas why the recently doubled section has a lower line speed than before? Interestingly after Evesham it reverts back to 90/95mph on that single track stretch.

Sorry, but the speed limit was 75mph both ways on the single line for years before the redoubling - possibly since the singling took place, but my memory does not go back that far. West of Evesham was always 90-95. I believe that the four level crossings between Moreton and Evesham may have been a factor in the differential. Can anyone confirm this, or provide another explanation?

Any time savings by raising the speed limit from 75mph would be marginal. There is a 70mph limit in both directions through the sharp curve at Aston Magna that cannot be changed (and BR pushed it up from the 40mph maximum that had prevailed for more than a century since the line opened) and an Oxford-bound IET that calls at Honeybourne won't get above 70mph by the top of Chipping Campden bank. While it could then reach 90mph on the downhill run to Blockley level crossing, the brakes would have to come on for Aston Magna anyway and once you are through there, Moreton-in-Marsh is not very far away.

Edit: And in the opposite direction the overwhelming majority of trains call at Honeybourne nowadays, so screaming down the bank at 90 would be pretty pointless, unless you wanted to wear out a lot of brake pads.

 

[peteb]

Sorry, but the speed limit was 75mph both ways on the single line for years before the redoubling - possibly since the singling took place, but my memory does not go back that far. West of Evesham was always 90-95. I believe that the four level crossings between Moreton and Evesham may have been a factor in the differential. Can anyone confirm this, or provide another explanation?

Any time savings by raising the speed limit from 75mph would be marginal. There is a 70mph limit in both directions through the sharp curve at Aston Magna that cannot be changed (and BR pushed it up from the 40mph maximum that had prevailed for more than a century since the line opened) and an Oxford-bound IET that calls at Honeybourne won't get above 70mph by the top of Chipping Campden bank. While it could then reach 90mph on the downhill run to Blockley level crossing, the brakes would have to come on for Aston Magna anyway and once you are through there, Moreton-in-Marsh is not very far away.

Thanks for your detailed information. I wish I could find my logs of dozens of runs made behind 50s and HSTs headed towards Worcester between 1981 and 2011. I frequently timed 1/4 mileposts near Honeybourne westbound at 10 seconds or 90mph via stopwatch. However quite happy to be told line speed was 75 then as faster running was not uncommon round Worcester then, eg: some 11s 1/4 miles near Hartlebury too.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Any time saved from higher speeds on the line after singling west of Moreton would have been dissipated by the imposed manual tablet exchanges, now thankfully eliminated.

 

[Taunton]

Any time savings by raising the speed limit from 75mph would be marginal. There is a 70mph limit in both directions through the sharp curve at Aston Magna that cannot be changed (and BR pushed it up from the 40mph maximum that had prevailed for more than a century since the line opened)

Notably when in 1964 for the 60th anniversary run of City of Truro's exploits, preparations included running the selected Castles at 100mph down Chipping Campden bank to check they were OK at this speed. They had all of the WR to choose from for such a speed trial, but selected here.

 

[30907]

Notably when in 1964 for the 60th anniversary run of City of Truro's exploits, preparations included running the selected Castles at 100mph down Chipping Campden bank to check they were OK at this speed. They had all of the WR to choose from for such a speed trial, but selected here.

Very sensibly, as it was back then a pretty quiet route.

 

[JJmoogle]

It's my local bit of the line, I have known trains in the past to often speed through it and managed to confirm it a couple of times via a gps check, however I suspect that's a thing of the past with the train data-logging(and the fact everything stops at Honeybourne these days)

I'm glad to see that trials(and that's such a fantastic bit of history) have been run at speed over this section previously, it never seemed dangerous, just a tad pointless as other posters have evidenced, there's just nowhere to really build or use that speed, that curve through Aston really does seem on the absolute limit of speed at 70mph, lost my balance countless times, lost a drink twice.

 

[II]

If we ever reach the 2tph service, and half the train omit a call at Honeybourne, then a raise in the linespeed to 90/100mph would provide a decent enough saving between Aston Magna to Evesham that would at least be worth looking at in detail IMHO. As jimm says, coming the other way provides less of a benefit as trains tackle the bank from Honeybourne - a good set will just about reach 75mph by the tunnel after the station call - but a non-stopping IET from Evesham would probably reach around 90mph by Honeybourne if allowed and I doubt it would lose much of that on the climb.

 

[Ken H]

If we ever reach the 2tph service, and half the train omit a call at Honeybourne, then a raise in the linespeed to 90/100mph would provide a decent enough saving between Aston Magna to Evesham that would at least be worth looking at in detail IMHO. As jimm says, coming the other way provides less of a benefit as trains tackle the bank from Honeybourne - a good set will just about reach 75mph by the tunnel after the station call - but a non-stopping IET from Evesham would probably reach around 90mph by Honeybourne if allowed and I doubt it would lose much of that on the climb.

Honeybourne is a railhead for loads of nearby settlements. If IEP performance is so poor on the incline, then it's the wrong train for the route as it's underpowered on diesel.

 

[II]

Honeybourne is a railhead for loads of nearby settlements. If IEP performance is so poor on the incline, then it's the wrong train for the route as it's underpowered on diesel.

IEP or IET’s whichever you want to call them have good performance on diesel up the incline.

By comparison, a turbo only reaches 55-60mph and whilst a HST gets to 75 a little quicker, the initial poor acceleration means total time to climb the bank is very similar.

Class 180s we’re the best, but that was only if you were lucky enough to have one with a 5 engines running!