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Controversial but here goes

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paul1609

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Hmm... Depends if it was pre-OTMR days!

Yeah quite, Ive been in the leading cab of a 12 cig/big unit from London Victoria to Bognor on the down fast approaching Horley with the speedo on the stop well on the wrong side of 100 mph on a 90 mph unit on a 90 mph line!

I had my doubts we would make the crossover to the slow lines at Three Bridges but we hit the points at exactly 40 mph after some very impressive braking from Tinsley Green.

Drivers were drivers in those days!
 

me123

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The Whifflet line would be perfect for electrification, since both ends of it have the wires - I was surprised it wasn't wired.

I believe that they plan to get the wires up soon. It would probably mean that services run from Motherwell having come off the Hamilton Circle. This would have huge benefits:

  • Direct services from Coatbridge-Hamilton; if you ever look at the A725, you'll see that there is definately demand for this journey!
  • Electrification means that services can run to Glasgow Central Low Level to free up platforms on Central High Level (probably for more Kilmarnock trains)
  • An electrified diversionary route for the WCML and ECML.
  • Allows 3 class 156s to be used elsewhere

There would be 2tph in each direction, probably not increasing during peak times; same as just now.

However, one of the problems is that there's not likely to be capacity through Partick for the Whifflet services, especially at the Peak times. You'd probably need to turn back at Exhibition Centre, and that means extra engineering work.

If Crossrail's Kelvinhaugh turnback were to be built, you could theoretically free up two paths an hour to Partick, but this would mean that some stations West of the City would have all services routed to Central, and this might be greeted with some hostility.
 

delt1c

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Guesing the speed of a unit is very difficult, you can travel inone unit which feels as though it is about to take of whilst another feels rather sedate, both actualy travelling at the same speed,, it all depends on unit condition and also track condition. Also if a unit (or loco) were allowed to exceed its speed limit dramatically there is a high chance of traction motor damage. Back in the 60's there were instances of traction motor failures when 24's & 26's were being used instead of higher speed rated classes and excesive speeds were being encountered.
 

jon0844

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The question is, can a 313 reach 100mph? It clearly doesn't have a speed limiter, and may have been built to do 75mph and run on lines with a max 75mph limit - but this train was way exceeding that.

Believe me, you can tell when a train is going for it. It may not have reached 100mph, but it was well over 75mph. Even if it managed 90-95 then it was impressive - and it made up time in a short distance.

Goodness knows what happened to the train after though!
 

O L Leigh

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I will admit to having got a Cl315 up to 80mph between Broxbourne and Cheshunt when I was out with my instructor. It struggled to get there, but it achieved it.

I know that the traction equipment on these units is a little different to that used on a Cl313, but they are broadly similar. Given the amount of run-up a Cl317 needs to crack 90mph, I seriously doubt that a Cl313/Cl315 would get much beyond the 80mph that I achieved. That's not to say it's impossible to hit 85mph, but you'd really be caning the unit to do so and would probably overload the motors resulting in an infuriating fault.

Delt1c is right in saying it's hard to accurately judge the speed of a unit. Cl313/Cl315 units have a less sophisticated suspension than the 100mph Cl317 and you do feel the bumps in the road more. Even as a driver familiar with both the route and traction, I cannot give much indication of the likely train speed when travelling PASS.

Incidentally, if conditions are favourable you can easily make up time without having to resort to speeding.

O L Leigh
 
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