Fastest time record between London and Newcastle?

[joeneat]

Traveling between London and Newcastle last night in two and a half hours on the Lumo with out stopping on what felt like full speed at many points made me wonder if it had been done faster before, as it was due to the strikes that we were able to do this we were informed. I took a look on real time trains but it doesn't seem to have actual arrival, only actual dep and planned arrival is there any way of finding this information officially?

 

[mangyiscute]

I'm assuming that you travelled on this one: https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:C18063/2023-05-31/detailed which was exactly 2h30 according to RTT (I think you may have had it on simple view, if you go to detailed you can see much more precise timings)
I have no idea how that compares to any possible record

 

[joeneat]

I'm assuming that you travelled on this one: https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:C18063/2023-05-31/detailed which was exactly 2h30 according to RTT (I think you may have had it on simple view, if you go to detailed you can see much more precise timings)
I have no idea how that compares to any possible record

Thanks, don't know why I couldn't find that, wouldn't be surprised if it was at least close record. Always been very impressed with the late Lumo out of London, quick, not crowded often, and cheap at £15 for an adult advance I got back in Feb.

 

[JonathanH]

Always been very impressed with the late Lumo out of London, quick, not crowded often, and cheap at £15 for an adult advance I got back in Feb.

Tends to be cheapest on those nights that engineering work prevents it going north of Newcastle.

 

[jfollows]

RPS (http://www.railperf.org.uk/index/fastest-times-listing) gives 155m 48s as a historical fastest time by HST on 3 May 1985 so you've bettered that

 

[43096]

RPS (http://www.railperf.org.uk/index/fastest-times-listing) gives 155m 48s as a historical fastest time by HST on 3 May 1985 so you've bettered that
View attachment 136374

Not as fast as the southbound run of the Tees Tyne Pullman on 27 September 1985 that did it in 139m 37s and reached 144mph.

 

[hexagon789]

Not as fast as the southbound run of the Tees Tyne Pullman on 27 September 1985 that did it in 139m 37s and reached 144mph.

I think the ECML one is purely service trains, the record run might be in the 'Special runs' spreadsheet.

 

[mm333]

Looking at the last 3 months data on Raildar for the non-stop LNER 0704 from Newcastle (ex-Edinburgh), the earliest arrival is 0938, giving a time of 2hr 34mins.

 

[800001]

Looking at the last 3 months data on Raildar for the non-stop LNER 0704 from Newcastle (ex-Edinburgh), the earliest arrival is 0938, giving a time of 2hr 34mins.

And that’s very good, due to the tight pathing of that service.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Would yesterday's 2027 Northbound Lumo from Kings Cross to Edinburgh (first calling point = Newcastle) have had a fairly clear run compared with a more 'normal' day, with not much else operating on the ECML?

 

[800001]

Would yesterday's 2027 Northbound Lumo from Kings Cross to Edinburgh (first calling point = Newcastle) have had a fairly clear run compared with a more 'normal' day, with not much else operating on the ECML?

Yes!! Eg LNER ran 36 (I think) services all day compared to 162 on a normal day.
I also think no LNER trains were operating at the time Lumo left Kings Cross? I think they’d all finished by that point.

 

[brad465]

Looking at that particular service, if I've counted correctly, there was 11.5 mins of allowance in the timings between London and Newcastle, and it was 7 minutes early at the latter, so the fastest it could possibly have done it in as a passenger service was in 2h25-26m with no problems in pathing/engineering/performance setups, assuming the raw timings are based on fastest possible running when considering the rolling stock's capabilities and route speed limits.

 

[rg177]

I think the fastest I've had is 2h34 on the Scotsman. That was years ago though, all of the times I've used it recently it's been at least five minutes late.

On an HST I've managed 2h44 stopping at Darlington and York on the way (1000 from Newcastle). IIRC after York we went basically flat out and ended up seven minutes early against the public timetable.

 

[Jamesrob637]

It's 268 miles from King's Cross to Newcastle so that'll have averaged over the ton.

 

[MontyP]

I caught the (delayed) 1100 from KX to York last Sunday, it did the trip in 1hr 42 which seemed remarkable. What's the record for that segment of the ECML?

 

[Railperf]

I caught the (delayed) 1100 from KX to York last Sunday, it did the trip in 1hr 42 which seemed remarkable. What's the record for that segment of the ECML?

1h37min - Class 91 - 9th September 1991

 

[hexagon789]

1h37min - Class 91 - 9th September 1991

I know it wasn't always achieved, but wasn't the old 3h59 Scottish Pullman scheduled at 1h41 to York in the GBTT?

The fastest run I'm aware of is 1h33 with significant 125+ 'speeding'.

 

[Railperf]

I know it wasn't always achieved, but wasn't the old 3h59 Scottish Pullman scheduled at 1h41 to York in the GBTT?

The fastest run I'm aware of is 1h33 with significant 125+ 'speeding'.

The 1h37 time included spells of 130 /131 mph running - but was a pretty clear run with only a single reported TSR. The London to Edinburgh record run of September 1991 passed thru York (without stopping) in 1h32min 52sec

 

[The Middle]

Always a fun one to check on strike days now. 2h 26mins last night average speed of 110mph

Realtime Trains | 1S99 2027 London Kings Cross to Edinburgh | 01/09/2023

Real-time train running information for 1S99 2027 departure from London Kings Cross to Edinburgh on 01/09/2023. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

 

[MontyP]

Always a fun one to check on strike days now. 2h 26mins last night average speed of 110mph

Realtime Trains | 1S99 2027 London Kings Cross to Edinburgh | 01/09/2023

Real-time train running information for 1S99 2027 departure from London Kings Cross to Edinburgh on 01/09/2023. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

Amazing - 4hr 3min London to Edinburgh including a 13 min stop at Newcastle!

 

[mangyiscute]

Imagine what could be achieved if we built a dedicated high speed train line so that the fast trains didn't have so many pathing issues...

On another note, does anyone know exactly when you should start/stop timing a train for these records? I tend to do start when the train starts moving, then stop is either when the train comes to a stop, or when the doors are released. I ask because I had a Paddington to Reading run of 21m40s, which is just 15 seconds off the record, so I was wondering if I timed it right.

 

[The Planner]

Imagine what could be achieved if we built a dedicated high speed train line so that the fast trains didn't have so many pathing issues...

On another note, does anyone know exactly when you should start/stop timing a train for these records? I tend to do start when the train starts moving, then stop is either when the train comes to a stop, or when the doors are released. I ask because I had a Paddington to Reading run of 21m40s, which is just 15 seconds off the record, so I was wondering if I timed it right.

Wheels move to wheels stop is how we time runs. Dwell is the bit when your stopped.

 

[mangyiscute]

Wheels move to wheels stop is how we time runs. Dwell is the bit when your stopped.

Ok nice, on that occasion the doors were released pretty much instantly as the train stopped which was quite cool too