Railway Performance Society "Fastest Times" over the "main" main lines (Jul 2026 edition)

[Justin Smith]

Just been doing a bit of research for myself which I thought others might find interesting. Basically I was looking through the latest update of the Railway Performance Society's Fastest Times booklet and seeing what the fastest times are for each of the main lines. More lines are in the booklet but I have not included them for reasons of space.

Railway Performance Society Fastest Times

HS1 International - 124.8mph - Ashford Intl to Ebbsfleet - 2019 - C374
HS1 Domestic - 119.3mph - Stratford to Ashford Intl - 2019 - C395

ECML - 117.5mph - Peterborough to York - 1991 - C91
WCML - 115.7mph - Watford Junc to Coventry - 2011 - C390
GWML - 110.9mph - Paddington to Swindon - 2020 - C800*
MML - 104.0mph - St Pancras to Kettering - 2021 - C222
Bristol to Taunton - 99.5mph - Bristol to Taunton - 1997 - HST
Reading to Penzance - 95.7mph - Reading to Exeter - 1996 - HST
Derby to Birmingham - 92.0mph - Tamworth to Burton OT - 2006 - C220
GEML - 90.3mph - Norwich to Ipswich - 1994 - C86
Birmingham to Bristol - 87.2mph - Cheltenham to Bristol PW - 2020 - C221
Waterloo to Southampton - 89.4mph - Basingstoke to Winchester - 2017 - C220**
Glasgow to Edinburgh - 88.3mph - Falkirk High to Haymarket - 2019 - C385
Birmingham to Marylebone - 88.1mph - Banbury to High Wycombe - 2016 - C68
Brighton line - 78.6mph - Brighton to E Croydon - 2017 - C377
North Wales - 77.3mph - Colwyn Bay to Rhyl - 2010 - C175
Perth to Inverness - 75.9mph - Dalwhinnie to Kingussie - 2005 - C67
Salisbury to Exeter - 75.8mph - Basingstoke to Andover - 1991 - C50
Swindon to Gloucester - 75.3mph - Swindon to Gloucester - 2022 - C800
Welsh Marches - 74.2mph - Hereford to Ludlow - 2003 - C158
Oxford to Hereford - 73.4mph - Morton in Marsh to Charlbury - 2016 - HST
Inverness to Aberdeen - 66.9mph - Elgin to Keith - 1989 - C156

* next fastest was 110.5mph by an HST run from Paddington to Bristol Parkway in 1980 (diesel powered on 1980 infrastructure....)
** Class 220s are interlopers, next fastest was 89.1mph by C442 Basingstoke to Southampton Airport in 1988


It will be noticed many of these fastest times are quite old. There are a few reasons for that, there are fewer longer services (i.e. more stops), "defensive driving" and, how can we put this, less "latitude" for drivers to make up time by using their experience (since runs are now all logged).

Full details of most of the runs are available to RPS members on the website. The odd run appears in the RPS archive but not in printed the list of fastest times (which is what I am using) not sure why. If any members spot any errors please let me know either on this thread, or by PM, or by E mail.

 

[45Fox]

These are the fastest point-to-point averages recorded between the places denoted, presumably?

 

[Justin Smith]

These are the fastest point-to-point averages recorded between the places denoted, presumably?

Correct.

 

[kieron]

Is there something a bit off about some of the results that search page gives?

If I search for times from Flint to Chester, it says the fastest recorded time was 5.31 by a class 40 in 1970. If that means 5 minutes 31 seconds, that's 135mph over the 12.47 miles. It's 10.53 in the other direction, which seems more achievable.

 

[Justin Smith]

Is there something a bit off about some of the results that search page gives?

If I search for times from Flint to Chester, it says the fastest recorded time was 5.31 by a class 40 in 1970. If that means 5 minutes 31 seconds, that's 135mph over the 12.47 miles. It's 10.53 in the other direction, which seems more achievable.

I think that's just a typo or transcription or data input error. Being an RPS member I could access the original log which being from 1970 (8 Aug in fact) is hand written on paper. The class 40 service (number 287) with 7 coaches left Flint at 22.22.44 and arrived at Chester at 22.38.15. If my maths is correct that equates to 15min 31sec which would be an average of 48.1mph.
Of additional interest the RPS also keep "Historical Fastest Times" for various historic traction types, and the fastest time for Flint to Chester was by 37 408 +7 in 1996 at 11m43s = 63.7mph. The fastest modern traction time is 11m28s by a C221 in 2004 which equals 65.1mph.
The fastest time for historic traction on the N Wales line was from from Chester to Prestatyn by 47 750 +4 in 2004, av speed 79.0mph, it was doing 97.3mph through Flint and no less than 102.5mph through Bagillt, furthermore the time is faster than any modern traction run in N Wales !

 

[Harpo]

I suspect the track testing train I travelled on over the Marches in 1987 would have set the Hereford to Ludlow record. Worked by 50036 + load 4 it had special instructions for running at linespeed +10, hitting 100mph between Leominster and Ludlow.

 

[Bevan Price]

I think that's just a typo or transcription or data input error. Being an RPS member I could access the original log which being from 1970 (8 Aug in fact) is hand written on paper. The class 40 service (number 287) with 7 coaches left Flint at 22.22.44 and arrived at Chester at 22.38.15. If my maths is correct that equates to 15min 31sec which would be an average of 48.1mph.
Of additional interest the RPS also keep "Historical Fastest Times" for various historic traction types, and the fastest time for Flint to Chester was by 37 408 +7 in 1996 at 11m43s = 63.7mph. The fastest modern traction time is 11m28s by a C221 in 2004 which equals 65.1mph.
The fastest time for historic traction on the N Wales line was from from Chester to Prestatyn by 47 750 +4 in 2004, av speed 79.0mph, it was doing 97.3mph through Flint and no less than 102.5mph through Bagillt, furthermore the time is faster than any modern traction run in N Wales !

I was on that train with 47750, and like some other 47s at that time, I suspect it had a defective speedometer. There were several unexpected variations of speed on the journey.

I also comile the Historic Fastest Times - the printed edition is not big enough to contain atl the available data each year.

Also with approaching one million entries in the RPS archives, it is not surprising to find a few typos and mathematical miscalculations - but it is a valuable historical record.

So if anyone out there has logs of train performance that are not already in the archive, please send them to the archive - details appear on the RPS website. You don't need to copy everything by hand - a clear, sharply focussed digital image (scanner or digital camera) is adequate

 

[Justin Smith]

I was on that train with 47750, and like some other 47s at that time, I suspect it had a defective speedometer. There were several unexpected variations of speed on the journey.

I also comile the Historic Fastest Times - the printed edition is not big enough to contain atl the available data each year.

Also with approaching one million entries in the RPS archives, it is not surprising to find a few typos and mathematical miscalculations - but it is a valuable historical record.

So if anyone out there has logs of train performance that are not already in the archive, please send them to the archive - details appear on the RPS website. You don't need to copy everything by hand - a clear, sharply focussed digital image (scanner or digital camera) is adequate

I don't think any of us are expecting perfection Bevan, we're just grateful someone is compiling it at all!

I find the Historical Fastest Times the most interesting if I'm honest as we all know fewer and fewer records get broken these days and modern driving is dare I say it, a bit boring. Aren't most modern fastest times generally set by pure good luck (i.e. an unchecked run with no TSRs or adverse signals)?

No fireworks to regain time any more....

 

[Bevan Price]

I don't think any of us are expecting perfection Bevan, we're just grateful someone is compiling it at all !
I find the Historical Fastest Times the most interesting if I'm honest as we all know fewer and fewer records get broken these days and modern driving is dare I say it, a bit boring. Aren't most modern fastest times generally set by pure good luck (i.e. an unchecked run with no TSRs or adverse signals) ? No fireworks to regain time any more....

Yes, we should be thankful to Lee and his helpers for their time and effort in compiling the archive.

Not all modern runs are boring. There are still some records being broken -speed limits being raised, improved acceleration of some new trains, etc. And there were lots of mediocre runs with steam traction -- poor quality coal, disinterested driivers, etc.

 

[kieron]

I think that's just a typo or transcription or data input error. Being an RPS member I could access the original log which being from 1970 (8 Aug in fact) is hand written on paper. The class 40 service (number 287) with 7 coaches left Flint at 22.22.44 and arrived at Chester at 22.38.15. If my maths is correct that equates to 15min 31sec which would be an average of 48.1mph.

Thanks for checking. I thought it would be something simple. I was just a bit thrown by getting a "fastest time" which was much faster than the locomotive was supposed to be capable of.

The fastest time for historic traction on the N Wales line was from from Chester to Prestatyn by 47 750 +4 in 2004, av speed 79.0mph, it was doing 97.3mph through Flint and no less than 102.5mph through Bagillt, furthermore the time is faster than any modern traction run in N Wales !

I suppose the 90mph (at most) speed limit is one of the things which puts modern drivers off from making a time like that.

 

[Bevan Price]

Thanks for checking. I thought it would be something simple. I was just a bit thrown by getting a "fastest time" which was much faster than the locomotive was supposed to be capable of.


I suppose the 90mph (at most) speed limit is one of the things which puts modern drivers off from making a time like that.

At the time of that run, 75 mph was the maximum permitted speed on the North Wales Coast line --yet even Class 37s reached 90 mph occasionally.....

 

[cambsy]

I have had quite a few fast runs back in the days before data loggers and defensive driving, especially with the 91’s on the Scottish Pullmans. With their 3 hr 59 min King cross-Edinburgh timing, with a few standing out, including doing Peterborough-colton Jct In 54 mins, stop to pass, with speeds in the 135-140 mph range. I had a 47/8 cab ride Holyhead- Chester, on Non stop relief train in the 80’s, with speeds of 99mph on Anglesey and 90mph on to Chester, arriving Chester about 20 mins early to boot.

 

[3RDGEN]

I suspect it had a defective speedometer.

Holyhead driver on last job of their shift perhaps?

 

[Justin Smith]

I have had quite a few fast runs back in the days before data loggers and defensive driving, especially with the 91’s on the Scottish Pullmans. With their 3 hr 59 min King cross-Edinburgh timing, with a few standing out, including doing Peterborough-colton Jct In 54 mins, stop to pass, with speeds in the 135-140 mph range. I had a 47/8 cab ride Holyhead- Chester, on Non stop relief train in the 80’s, with speeds of 99mph on Anglesey and 90mph on to Chester, arriving Chester about 20 mins early to boot.

You lucky bleeder !
It saddens me that cab rides cannot happen these days.....

 

[BoroAndy]

Interesting.... On the ECML, I wonder what the record is from Kings Cross to York. Many moons ago I remember exactly 100 mins on an HST, 113.4 mph average. Slight fudge as we were early and stopped just outside the station waiting for a platform.

 

[Ian Umpleby]

Interesting.... On the ECML, I wonder what the record is from Kings Cross to York. Many moons ago I remember exactly 100 mins on an HST, 113.4 mph average. Slight fud 801223ge as we were early and stopped just outside the station waiting for a platform.

From the Railway Performance Society's wondrous Archive:
97m 10s by 91011 with plenty of 130 mph and over running.
101m 37s fastest Azuma
102m 30s HST
104m 32s class 90
105m 09s class 180
124m 05s Deltic
142m 36s cl 47
Wooden spoon
255m 44s 60027 (steam version)
-------------------------------

 

[Merle Haggard]

Was the RPS going in the 1960s?

I ask because I had a couple of memorable runs then.

One was on the annual BR Advertised Excursion to Crewe Works, on the first occasion when it was electric-hauled (from Stafford, I think). We did 110-115 down the bank from Madeley Chord. Possibly the driver had been reminded of the Coronation Scot speed record (114 over the same stretch) - and braking for Crewe was similarly hard, with that memorable foundry-casting smell from the brakes.

The other was on an RCTS special from Northampton. A Stanier 8F took over at Leicester and I noticed an animated conversation between the organisers and train crew. Back on the train, there was an announcement that, to match the '90 with a 9F' on the ER an attempt to do 80 with an 8F would be made. Details of the run appeared recently - and obviously very belatedly, perhaps to protect the guilty - in the Railway Magazine and the consensus of logs suggest it only managed 76-78 (around Loughborough).

No chance of wild speeds now, of course - and for the better, because there were some very serious accidents around that time that were excess-speed related.

 

[Justin Smith]

No chance of wild speeds now, of course - and for the better, because there were some very serious accidents around that time that were excess-speed related.

Accidental speeding (e.g. the 1969 Morpeth accident) is not the same thing at all as an experienced driver making up time where he knows it to be safe. Surely they are completely different ?

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: Tuesday at 21:24 ==

From the Railway Performance Society's wondrous Archive:
97m 10s by 91011 with plenty of 130 mph and over running.
101m 37s fastest Azuma
102m 30s HST
104m 32s class 90
105m 09s class 180
124m 05s Deltic
142m 36s cl 47
Wooden spoon
255m 44s 60027 (steam version)
-------------------------------

97m 10sec for 188.4 miles to York (from the RPS distance charts) equals 116.0mph

 

[D1537]

In my Class 47 bashing days I regularly recorded timed runs and in a period of five years or so I recorded 47s doing 105mph or more a total of five times. The highest recorded was 112mph between Stafford and Crewe.

You can also add 91mph with 47901, which had a speed restriction of 75mph.

Whilst that sounds like drivers were regularly flouting the rules, you have to remember that was in literally many, many hundreds of runs and I quite often only started timing when it was clear that the driver was really going for it.

 

[Harpo]

In my Class 47 bashing days I regularly recorded timed runs and in a period of five years or so I recorded 47s doing 105mph or more a total of five times. The highest recorded was 112mph between Stafford and Crewe.

A late driver friend reckoned that different series (electrically) of 47s split distinctly into 95mph and 100mph capable machines. I wonder if performance data bears that out?

 

[D1537]

A late driver friend reckoned that different series (electrically) of 47s split distinctly into 95mph and 100mph capable machines. I wonder if performance data bears that out?

Of those five 105mph+ runs, only one was with a electrically series-parallel loco, but that was 47452 which after its 18-months in Crewe Works after the Morpeth crash was regarded by crews as a very quick locomotive.

And of course a lot more 47/4s were all-parallel than series-parallel anyway, so that's perhaps not surprising.

 

[Merle Haggard]

Accidental speeding (e.g. the 1969 Morpeth accident) is not the same thing at all as an experienced driver making up time where he knows it to be safe. Surely they are completely different ?

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: Tuesday at 21:24 ==


97m 10sec for 188.4 miles to York (from the RPS distance charts) equals 116.0mph

You've made a fair point; but I was also trying - clumsily - to cover my back.

In those days we leant out of windows on the move - if you look at 1960s photos service trains had people doing the same. Now, on another thread, the idea of even thinking of doing so on a train limited to 25 mph on a heritage line is met with censure and opprobrium. We did lots of other things which are now totally unacceptable,

So I worried that I would be criticised for 'condoning over-speeding' - maybe even accused of celebrating it - and was trying to be pre-emptive. A sort of 'don't try this at home'.

However, here were possibly a few mishaps where excessive speed by a driver trying to make up time might have been a factor though - perhaps combined with poor or forgotten route knowledge. But that's just my opinion from accident reports so I won't list them.

 

[Justin Smith]

In those days we leant out of windows on the move - if you look at 1960s photos service trains had people doing the same. Now, on another thread, the idea of even thinking of doing so on a train limited to 25 mph on a heritage line is met with censure and opprobrium. We did lots of other things which are now totally unacceptable,

Without wanting to divert this thread, I cannot let that comment pass.... I fundamentally disagree that leaning out of the window is "totally unacceptable", particularly on a heritage line.
We'll drop it now !

 

[marshlinker]

Good to see that the South West and Central Mafias are still hiding the fact that the fastest third rail performances are still to be found in Kent and on standard services not specials. 89.4 mph average in both directions between Ashford & Tonbridge on the SEML, the souths premier mainline. Bring back the Ashford Fasts!

 

[sjm77]

I'd be interested in York to Scarborough. I did a run back in the 1980s, our evening class 47 hauled loco train was delayed at York by 15 minutes to preserve the final London to Scarborough connection due to a late running HST from Kings Cross. We arrived at Scarborough on time. I presume we were vastly exceeding the speed limit on the relatively straight and flat Malton to Seamer section. This was during the era of direct trains from Scarborough to North Wales if that helps!

Also, as a side note; would LNER and TPEx co-ordinate today to preserve the final London to Scarborough connection of the day?

 

[D1537]

Also, as a side note; would LNER and TPEx co-ordinate today to preserve the final London to Scarborough connection of the day?

I have seen it wait once for a disrupted 1N15 from King's Cross. However, it wasn't delayed long (5 or 6 minutes) and I suspect there may be issues given the signalbox-worked nature of the Scarborough route.