Great Western Railway

[laughs] I mean, for g- how long it takes to get a tap to turn on sometimes is unbelievable.

In GWR trains, where it says water, it is not above- Yeah ... where the water comes out.

No.

And you're sort of faffing around for absolute ages.

And how do you suggest I go about that little assignment?

The chairman of the Great Western Railway has placed the royal train at your disposal.

All other traffic will be cleared off the tracks.

Now, you should reach Land's End shortly after lunch.

... coming up later in the show where, you know, he says, look, I, I ...

We talk about is this simply to be, in being fair to the Treasury, they're so burnt by Great Western electrification that they're going, "No, not, never again." I mean, who knows? We, we, we don't know that.

I think the really, the really big takeaway from this whole thing was this lease or buy, you know, funding.

Yeah.

Uh, okay.

But let, let's kind of defend the Treasury a minute because you've, we've mentioned them a couple of times.

I mean, some will say they are so badly scarred by the cost overruns of Great Western electrification, and I mean, it was ridiculous, right? It just went crazily over budget.

So actually, you can have some sympathy with the Treasury.

I might go back to stand up at some point and... a podcast idea with Dan Skinner as well.

So all these sort of early, I do a podcast with Dan Skinner already for Great Western Railway, but we've got another idea.

So yeah, all kind of early days, but exciting things in the pipeline.

I think I just needed a bit, I was filming the kids show High Hoops all summer with Rob Webb in Halifax for CBBC.

It is certainly some consolation to those who are to be whirled at the rate of 18 or 20 miles per hour.

by means of a high-pressure engine to be told that they are no danger of being seasick while on shore that they are not to be scalded to death or drowned by the bursting of a boiler and that they need not mind being shot by the shattered fragments or dashed in pieces by the flying off or breaking of a wheel but with all these assurances we will as soon expect the people of woolwich to suffer themselves to be fired off upon one of congre's ricochet rockets as trust themselves to the mercy of such a machine going at such a rate these words strange and ludicrous as they seem to us but tersely express the general opinion of the day but fortunately the clear head and the undaunted will persevered until success was at last attained and the magnificent railway system of the present which has revolutionized the world is the issue and the results are almost overwhelming in their magnitude here in great britain alone six hundred fifty four million people travel annually there are fourteen thousand locomotives and the rolling stock would form a train nearly two thousand miles long while the number of miles travelled in a year by trains is more than ten thousand times round the world and the passengers would form a procession one hundred abreast a yard apart and three thousand seven hundred miles long these stupendous results have been attained gradually if we go back to eighteen forty eight we find that on the london and birmingham railway the number of trains in and out of euston was forty five per day the average weight of the engine was eighteen tons and the gross loads were for passenger trains seventy six tons and for goods one hundred sixty now the weight of an express engine and tender is about sixty five tons and gross loads of two hundred fifty to three hundred tons for an express and five hundred tons for a coal train are not uncommon well not only have the trains materially increased in weight owing to the carriage of third-class passengers by all except a few special trains and also to the lowering of fares and consequent more frequent travelling but the speed and therefore the duty of the engines is greatly enhanced a bradshaw's guide of thirty five years ago is now a rare book but it is very interesting to glance over its pages and in doing so it will be found that the fastest speed in all cases but one falls far short of that which obtains at present the following table will show what the alteration has been table great western london to didcot eighteen forty nine speed miles per hour fifty six great western london to swindon eighteen eighty four speed miles per hour fifty three north-western euston to wolverton eighteen forty nine speed miles per hour thirty seven north-western northampton to williston eighteen eighty four speed per miles fifty one and a half south-western waterloo to farnborough eighteen forty nine speed miles per hour thirty nine south-western waterloo to farnborough eighteen forty nine speed miles per hour thirty nine south-western yeovil to exeter eighteen eighty four speed miles per hour forty six brighton london bridge to reigate eighteen forty nine speed miles per hour thirty six brighton victoria to eastbourne eighteen eighty four speed miles per hour forty five midland derby to mansborough eighteen forty nine speed miles per hour forty three midland london to kettering eighteen eighty four speed miles per hour forty seven north-eastern york to darlington eighteen forty nine speed miles per hour thirty eight north-eastern york to darlington eighteen eighty four speed miles per hour fifty great eastern london to boxbourne eighteen forty nine speed miles per hour twenty nine great eastern lincoln to spalding eighteen eighty four speed miles per hour forty nine great northern king's cross to grantham eighteen eighty four speed miles per hour fifty one cheshire lines manchester to liverpool eighteen eighty four speed miles per hour fifty one with this problem then before them increased weight increased speed and increased duty the locomotive superintendents of our various railways have designed numerous types of engines of which the author proposes to give a brief account confining himself entirely to english practice as foreign practice in addition would open too wide a field for a single paper commencing then with passenger engines for fast traffic and taking first in order the great western railway we find that it holds a unique position as its fast broad gauge trains are worked by the same type of engine as that designed by sir daniel grouch in eighteen forty eight although of course the bulk of the stock has been rebuilt almost on the same lines and rendered substantially new engines They are single engines of seven foot gauge, with inside cylinders eighteen inches diameter and twenty-four inch stroke.

The driving wheels are eight feet in diameter, and there are two pairs of leading wheels, and one of trailing, all of four feet six inches diameter.

The total wheel base is eighteen feet six inches.

The maximum running speed was seventy-five miles an hour, and indicated horsepower one thousand.

A class of engines corresponding to this type in their general dimensions, but with seven-foot coupled wheels, was introduced on the line, but it was not found successful.

Through the courtesy of Mr. Deane, I am enabled to give a table showing the running speeds and loads of the principal express trains, broad and narrow gauge, to the west and north of England, run on the Great Western Railway.

Table Great Western Railway Average Speed and Weight of Express Trains Broad Gauge to West of England Train Nine point zero Paddington to Plymouth Eleven point four five D.O. Station Reading Distance in miles thirty-six Speed to first stopping station Average speed miles per hour forty-seven Weight of train Engine and tender tons sixty-seven Carriages and vans empty tons one hundred forty-nine Total two hundred sixteen Station Swindon Distance miles seventy-seven and a quarter Speed to first stopping station Average speed miles per hour fifty-three Weight of train Engine and tender tons sixty-seven Carriages and vans empty tons one hundred four Total one hundred seventy-one Narrow Gauge to the North Train Ten point zero Paddington to Birkenhead Four point four five D.O. Station Reading Distance in miles thirty-six Speed to first stopping station Average speed miles per hour thirty-nine point two Weight of train Engine and tender tons sixty Carriages and vans empty tons one hundred ninety Total two hundred fifty Station Oxford Distance miles sixty-three and a half Speed to first stopping station Average speed miles per hour forty-eight point eight Weight of train Engine and tender tons sixty Carriages and vans empty tons one hundred twenty-nine Total one hundred eighty-nine The narrow gauge trains are worked by two classes of engines.

And how do you suggest I go about that little assignment?

The chairman of the Great Western Railway has placed the Royal Train at your disposal.

All other traffic will be cleared off the tracks.

Now, you should reach Land's End shortly after lunch.

That will be people on cross-country, on West Midlands trains, on Avanti West Coast.

So start getting your planning in early you'll find that national express and flixbus will be running plenty of extra services to kind of soak up some of the demand there's plenty of work going on elsewhere on the west coast main line including at london euston doing work for hs2 and guess what across on the Great Western Line, there won't be any trains in or out of London Paddington for most of the festive season.

And that is because, again, of HS2 work.

So, they've got a workaround, and it's really interesting.