Top Gear and Tornado

[spartacus]

Considering that on the post war services, with run infrastructure 75mph wouldn't have been a bad speed at all and until recently steam was limited to 60mph anyway, you can't blame H&S.

The biggest issue has to be the lack of troughs, although I wonder if Tornado could have done the run quicker with a standard Grasley non-corridor tender, which would have meant that coal wouldn't have had to be taken on. There's also alignment and speed limits of route to consider, although overall I think they'd probably have evened themselves out.

[depman2004]

Beat em to this. Here is the link to watch it on BBC iPlayer:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... w_series)/

ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC !

Just watched it, and thoroughly enjoyed it.

[danielw2599]

Just take it for what it is, a light hearted entertainment show that actually depicts the railway in a some what positive light.

It not scientific, probably not broadly accurate, its entertainment geared towards the general viewing public...nothing more and nothing less.

[arabiandisco]

The bad reputation that rail enthuiasts get is easily explained by reading this thread...

[thenudehamster]

So many factors have changed since 1949 that it would be impossible to run the race exactly today. For instance:
No motorways in 1949 - but no speed limit on the open road either.
A1 went through all the towns it now by-passes - but there was not the level of traffic there now is.
Commercial vehicles were limited to 20 mph; get behind one on a single carriageway with a car - which most of the A1 was, and you might struggle to pass it, though the level of traffic would probably not cause that many problems.
Train would not have been limited to 75mph, and would not have had to stop for coal and water - or crew changes; corridor tenders and water troughs, plus experienced driving, would have helped it no end.

Add to these some 'staged' factors:
The Vincent was capable of sustained speeds of over 100mph, and its top speed was in fact 150, not the 125 the program claimed.
An experienced rider would not have gunked up the carburettors and cost himself a two or three hour delay getting it fixed.
The XK 120 was certainly capable of sustained speeds of over 90mph, not the 60 or so which always seemed to show on the speedo in the program.

That they were able to get the result they did was pretty good going and good entertainment, but my gut feeling says that under true 1949 conditions, it would be a close-run thing between train and bike with the car third - but the train still 'cheats' in a way by having two crews...

[bgstrowger]

It was a nice piece of entertainment and nothing more. The sight of Clarkson covered in soot and praising a steam engine was worth the licence fee alone