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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 made the decision to launch a brand new train between London (Euston)and Glasgow (Central Station). The train was to be made up of nine coaches (292 tons) and complete the journey in 6.5 hours, even though a test train had done this in under 6 hours. It was decided to call the train ‘Coronation Scot’ named to celebrate the coronation of King George VI in 1937. It was decided to build a brand new Pacific locomotive for this service, which was based on the earlier Princess Royals built between 1933 and 1935.

At that time streamlining was all the rage. so right from the beginning a decision was taken, probably by LMS publicity machine, to make the locomotives ‘streamlined’ 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 in order to supply the 40,000lb of tractive effort needed for the task. The inside valves were operated by rocking levers thus doing away with the need for inside valve gear. The result of all this led to the production of the most powerful express passenger locomotive built in Britain.

The Record Run

On the 29th June, the LMS surprised everyone 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 driver was T.J. Clarke and the fireman was C. Lewis Also on the footplate were Robert Riddles and Inspector S. Miller. It was an open secret that the LMS were after the British Railway speed record, which was held by the LNER at 113mph, and the section of line between Norton Bridge and Crewe had been overhauled and the 90 mph maximum speed limit removed.

The trip was pretty unspectacular until the 60mph restriction at Norton Bridge had been passed. Even then, the train was not accelerated as fast as it could have been and it topped Whitmore summit running at only 85mph subsequent records showed that these locomotives could achieve 95mph here). The speed then increased but it got perilously close to Crewe before the LNER record was approached.

The entry to platform number three at Crewe was over three successive crossovers and the train was braking hard when it reached them and still travelling at speed. The train lurched violently sending crockery everywhere. That the train stayed on the tracks was testament to the design of the locomotive and coaches.

The maximum speed recorded by official timekeepers was 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 observing 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 Railways 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 its own 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.