The ‘Coronation Scot’ Luxury Train Service

The ‘Coronation Scot’ was a high speed luxury service run between London (Euston)and Glasgow (Central Station).  It went into operation in 1937 and was the London Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) reply to the high speed trains put on by the LNER in 1935 and an attempt to lure passengers away from their rival.

The train was a major part in LMS publicity, a source of great pride to its staff and an indication of future trends in passenger services.

Background

In 1936 the LMS decided to introduce a brand new service between London (Euston)and Glasgow (Central Station).  The train was to be made up of nine coaches (292 tons) and be able to make the journey in 6.5 hours, even though 6 hours had been achieved in a previous test.  The decision was made to call the train ‘Coronation Scot’ named to celebrate the coronation of King George VI in 1937. A decision was made to build a brand new Pacific locomotive for this service, which was derived from the earlier Princess Royals built between 1933 and 1935.

At that time streamlining was all the rage. so from an early stage of the project a decision was taken, probably by the publicity department, to streamline the engines to let the public know that the LMS was a ‘modern’ railway just like its rival the LNER.

The ‘Coronations’ differed from their predecessors, by having a bigger boiler with increased superheating.  The driving wheels were increased in size by 3 inches to 6ft 9in and the cylinder diameter was fractionally enlarged so as to supply the 40,000lb of tractive effort required for the task.  The inside valves were operated by rocking levers thus doing away with the need for inside valve gear.  This all led to the production of the most powerful express passenger locomotive built in Britain.

The Record Run

On the 29th June, the LMS took everyone by surprise by running a ‘Press Special’ from Euston to Crewe and back called the ‘Coronation Scot’.  It was hauled by a locomotive simply named ‘Coronation’.  The 158.1 miles was covered in 135 minutes at an average speed of 70.2mph.  The crew of the ‘Coronation’ was Driver Clarke and Fireman Lewis  Also on the footplate were Robert Riddles and Inspector S. Miller.  It was an open secret that the LMS were out to capture the British Railway speed record, which at the time was 113 mph held by the LNER, and the section of track between Norton Bridge and Crewe had been overhauled and the maximum speed of 90mph had been lifted.

The trip went unspectacularly until the 60mph restriction at Norton Bridge had been passed.  Even then, the train did not reach full speed and it topped Whitmore summit running at only 85mph (later records showed that these locomotives could achieve 95mph here).  The speed then increased but the train was worryingly close to Crewe before the LNER record was approached.

Platform Three at Crewe was approached over three successive crossovers and the train was braking hard when it reached them and still moving quickly.   The train lurched severely sending crockery everywhere.  That the train stayed on the tracks was testament to the design of the locomotive and coaches.

Official timekeepers recorded a maximum speed of 112.5mph, but the LMS claimed a maximum speed of 114mph recorded on the chart taken from the speed-recorder on the locomotive.  The total journey time was 129.75 minutes at an average speed of 73.1mph.  The last 1.1 miles to the stop at Crewe was achieved in 1 minute 19 seconds!

The return trip to Euston was probably more interesting as it showed the sustained high speed potential of the ‘Coronation’ class locomotives. The overall journey time being 119 minutes at an average of 79.7mph, this included obeying speed restrictions of 30mph at Stafford and 40mph at Rugby.  The highlight of the run was the 69.9 miles from Walton to Willesden Junction, which was covered in 47 minutes 1 second at an average of 89.3mph, with a maximum speed of 100mph at Castlethorpe water troughs.  All this meant the LMS could claim the fastest start-to-stop runs of over 100 and 150 miles.

In order to commemorate the ‘Coronation Scot’, Hornby Trains was commissioned to produce a superb train pack depicting the service.  Of particular interest to collectors, the Hornby Coronation Scot Train Pack was produced in a limited run of 2000, each with a Certificate of Authenticity.  The Hornby train pack comprises a streamlined Coronation Class locomotive and three coaches, all in the blue livery as opposed to the usual Crimson Lake livery of the LMS.