| After the 1960's West
Coast Main Line Electrification was completed, the initial service
between London Euston and Birmingham was hourly, and took 95 minutes,
inclusive of one stop, at Coventry. My first runs, in March 1967,
resulted in a timings of just over 70 minutes from and to Coventry . Then during the period
1969 to 1973, my business commitments required me to travel to and from
London 2 or 3 times per week. Occasionally I travelled from Dorridge to
Paddington and return, but mostly between Coventry and London Euston.
For some reason, northbound runs were always quicker than southbound. Meanwhile, the services were improving in terms of both frequency and timings. Euston to Birmingham became half hourly, and the timings to Coventry became 63 minutes. This required fast running, and certainly from 1971 onwards we got it. It certainly seemed to me that on the mid and late afternoon services from Euston, there was definite effort by the drivers to reach Coventry inside the hour. Such a time meant a fast exit from Euston, maximum speeds approaching 110 mph, and a fast run into Coventry station. Times of under 61 minutes became commonplace, but the magic 60 minutes eluded me. I had several timings of 60m 30s or better, and one where I thought we were home and dry when we were through Rugby in a few seconds over 50 minutes. But the entry into Coventry was not brisk enough. These were exciting times, and in May 1973, I got my reward. Through Rugby in just under 51 minutes, then a very fast entry into Coventry. 59 minutes 51 seconds!. However, even that was not a record, for I have seen a log in the Railway press showing a time of 59 minutes 34 seconds. |
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In the early 1970's, before the days of Birmingham International, I believe that the fastest
Euston to Birmingham schedule was 87 minutes; strangely given to several
late Sunday afternoon services. And then there was the
"Clansman", a Euston to Inverness service that ran via Birmingham.
Initially it took the 9.40am path from Euston, thus doubling as a
Birmingham and Wolverhampton service. But that arrangement caused
overcrowding, so it was given an earlier path from Euston just ahead of
the 9.40am. Since
it did not set down at New Street, only the departure time from there was shown in
the public timetables. In the early 1970's, I frequently spent Saturday mornings, sometimes the whole day, at Birmingham New Street, and noted down details of the locomotive hauled trains. The northbound Clansman seemed to be an impeccable timekeeper, usually arriving right time at 11.02am. But on one Saturday, clearly with the benefit of a clear road in, the 87 came to a stand at 9.57am, 82 minutes after it's booked Euston departure time. |
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| Thirty seven years later, after yet another massive West Coast Main Line upgrade to 125mph, and with the benefit of Mr Branson's sleek looking Pendolino's, the fastest timing from Euston to Birmingham (2007 summer timetable) is..87 minutes! | ||||||
| Is that progress? | ||||||
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