The Race to the North was the name given by the press to occasions in two summers of the late 19th century when British passenger trains belonging to different companies would literally race each other from London to Edinburgh over the two principal rail trunk routes connecting the English capital city to Scotland – the West Coast Main Line which runs from London Euston via Crewe and Carlisle and the East Coast Main Line route from London King's Cross via York and Newcastle. The "races" were never official and publicly the companies denied that what happened was racing at all. Results were not announced officially and the outcomes have since been hotly debated. In the 20th century there were also occasions of competition for speed on the two routes.
Background
The late nineteenth century was a boom time for the railways in Britain with many independent companies operating but with poor coordination between the companies' lines. Gradually merger and other formal agreements were made so that travel across the country became feasible. For the first time long-distance rail travel could be afforded by the general public. By the 1880s two consortia in particular provided services between London and Edinburgh using separate routes on the east and west coasts of Britain terminating in London at King's Cross and stations, and in Edinburgh at Waverley and Princes Street stations. Great Northern Railway (GNR) and North Eastern Railway (NER) ran the East Coast service with London and North Western Railway (LNWR) and Caledonian Railway (CR) on the West Coast. The companies each had territories where they owned the track or had legally enforcible running rights on some other tracks. At the "borders" between these companies' territories – York and Carlisle – locomotives were always changed (and they were generally changed at intermediate points also) but passengers did not necessarily have to change carriage.
In 1888, driven by commercial rivalry, the East Coast and West Coast consortia started competing fiercely over the speed of their express services over these two routes.
By the 1890s, an east coast route had been established further north through Scotland over the Forth and Tay bridges allowing the North British Railway (NBR) to provide a reasonably direct Edinburgh to Aberdeen service so as to extend the East Coast consortium's King's Cross to Scotland route. Although NBR owned the track from further south at Berwick-on-Tweed, NER had running rights to Edinburgh. Caledonian already had a route connecting Carlisle and Aberdeen via Stirling and Perth. In 1895 a second "race" broke out but this time with the added excitement of arriving at the same station in Aberdeen. Indeed, after some 500 miles from London, the two routes converged to being in sight of each other just before Kinnaber Junction from where a common route was shared to Aberdeen.
In 1901, the Midland Railway and North British Railway ran an accelerated London St Pancras to Edinburgh Waverley express. East Coast responded by speeding up and West Coast briefly joined in. Although the press hoped for a new "Race", nothing came of it.
London to Edinburgh, 1888
From 1885 the main London to Edinburgh services were as follows. Route East Coast East Coast M & N.B.Midland Railway and North British Railway. West Coast 1885 timetable Passenger class 1st & 2nd 1st, 2nd & 3rd 1st & 3rd 1st, 2nd & 3rd London depart 10:00 10:10 10:35 10:00 Edinburgh arrive 19:00 43.7 mph 20:10 20:42 20:00 40.0 mph August 1888 record time1st, 2nd & 3rd Edinburgh arrive 17:27 52.8 mph17:38 52.4 mph Subsequent scheduled time Edinburgh arrive 18:15 47.7 mph18:30 47.0 mph
In 1885, the east coast express service comprised GNR from King's Cross stopping at and and then NER stopping at , Berwick and Edinburgh Waverley – a distance of . On the west coast, LNWR from Euston stopped at , , , and followed by Caledonian stopping at two stations in Scotland before Edinburgh Princes Street – . Even the fastest run (Grantham to York) was slower than .
The East Coast had a very strong hold on the traffic and this was consolidated further in November 1887, when the railways announced that the Special Scotch ExpressThe Special Scotch Express was called the Flying Scotsman even at the time although the train was not officially given this name until 1924. would also take 3rd class passengers. West Coast, faced with dwindling traffic, took a decisive step. Delaying their announcement to the last minute, they stated in June 1888 that the Day Scotch Express would now arrive in Edinburgh an hour earlier, at 19:00. On 1 July the East Coast arrival time became 18:30, with the lunch stop at York being reduced from 30 to 20 minutes – on 1 August West Coast matched this time, cutting out stops between Carlisle and Edinburgh, but East Coast, seemingly in anticipation, started arriving at 18:00 on the same day. West Coast were determined to match this time and decided to run two separate trains with fewer carriages – the racing train travelled non-stop from Euston to Crewe.At the time the longest run in Britain ever attempted. Made possible by water troughs which were only on the West Coast line.
This schedule started on 6 August, Bank Holiday, with the press now taking full notice, crowds turning out at Euston and bookmakers taking bets on the results. To the surprise of the experts on that first day the LNWR locomotive to Crewe was the 25-year-old Problem class Waverley 2-2-2 single. Another surprise was that Caledonian ran its brand new and unique No. 123 4-2-2 single and this locomotive was used every day of the series. In fact, both trains used to arrive in Edinburgh earlier than scheduled and reporters would guess which train would arrive first and then would race the mile length of Princes Street in hansom cabs in the hope of seeing the other train arrive. The results were cabled to the New York Herald for reporting the next day. By 13 August East Coast booked an arrival time of 17:45, omitting the stop at Berwick and averaging between Newcastle and Edinburgh. On the same day West Coast abandoned any timetable at intermediate stations and the train left as soon as it was able. In this way they beat the East Coast "record" even before it had been made. Worse, East Coast arrived later than scheduled although they made amends on 31 August, arriving at 17:27. On both lines the overall speed had been over . However, on 14 August the companies held a conference in London and it was agreed that minimum journey times of 7¾ hours (East Coast) and 8 hours (West Coast) would be adhered to during the rest of that month and then times would be increased by 30 minutes.
Throughout the period, the Midland Railway, who had recently completed the Settle and Carlisle Line, and the North British Railway (NBR) on the Waverley Line were faced with a longer route – from London St Pancras via Manchester and Carlisle to Edinburgh Waverley – with many curves and gradients and so they were unable to be competitive on speed.
Thus the racing came to an end after August and the end of the holidays, although there were now 29 express trains a day between London and Scotland (in both directions) compared to 16 in 1885. A new prospect was appearing however, and the Pall Mall Gazette wrote: "The main cause confronts us when we see those three stupendous towers of steel which loom above the horizon of Edinburgh. When the Forth Bridge is finished the North Western and Caledonian will have to struggle hard if they wish to retain much of the traffic to Dundee or Aberdeen".
The companies' locomotives and trains in the 1880s
Innovations in steam locomotive design included the introduction of compound locomotives and bogies rather than axle leading wheels. The railway companies had their own individual locomotive works and locomotive designers.
On the East Coast route, GNR locomotives ran on what was then the fastest line in the world, but the "Flying Scotsman" service was not their fastest train – it was compared to on routes with more competition. A wide variety of locomotives were in use – the Patrick Stirling 4-2-2 "8-foot" singles, complemented with his 2-2-2 "7-foot 6" singles, were outstanding for speed and reliability, being capable of on flat terrain. The latest express NER engines were Tennant 2-4-0sHenry Tennant was the NER general manager and the T. W. Worsdell–von Borries compound Worsdell 'F' 4-4-0s which were powerful, although not so fast. Having compound engines required the development of stronger steel coupling rods for fast running, and the 4-4-0s developed from 2-4-0s when it was found that a front bogie gave greater high speed stability. The East Coast route had no severe gradients and was slightly shorter than the west.
Up to the 1880s, the LNWR's rail services were relatively slow and local, and their express locomotives had been designed for economy rather than speed. As somewhat of an exception, John Ramsbottom's "Lady of the Lake" 2-2-2 singleDesigned in 1859. hauled the Irish Mail for which the contract stipulated a minimum average speed of and even this could be a problem – the load on the train was important and third class passengers were excluded to keep the load down and the speed up. The Precedent Class 2-4-0s were exceptional for the time, and would eventually turn out to have a good turn of speed. Francis Webb compound steam engines were starting to be introduced but were not yet notably powerful or economic. Regarding the principal express Caledonian locomotives, Dugald Drummond 4-4-0s were good for ascending hills but were untested for speed. Their earlier locomotives needed to be run double-headed on larger trains. A new locomotive, the Single No. 123 4-2-2, was introduced but still untested.The newly introduced No. 123 was the only locomotive used throughout. For the West Coast line, the climbs to top of Shap and Beattock were the steepest gradients.
For the 1888 accelerations, the West Coast companies willingly double-headed their express trains and so had power in hand. On the GNR, the Stirling Single engines did not allow double-heading and the new third class passengers were creating a greater load. The Caledonian Railway now ran two separate trains north from Carlisle, to Glasgow and Edinburgh, though these were single-headed. However, the journey time improvements came from cutting waiting times and delays as much as by raising running speed. The NER was an exception by being able to raise their average speed from about , and it was later by double-heading their trains that East Coast gained a decisive advantage. Trains ran lightly loaded, typically with only four or five carriages.
London to Aberdeen, 1895
The railways arrived in Aberdeen in 1850 and an east coast through service was instituted in 1855, taking 17½ hours from London, reduced by 1889 to nearly 13 hours. With the opening of the Forth Bridge in 1890, the distances from London to Aberdeen were and on east and west coast routes. The timetables for the main expresses were as follows. East Coast Daytime Overnight West CoastDaytimeOvernight 1890 timetable King's Cross depart10:0020:00Euston depart10:0020:00 Edinburgh depart18:5505:30 Dundee depart20:3007:00 Aberdeen arrive22:20 42.4 mph08:55 40.5 mphAberdeen arrive22:55 41.8 mph08:50 42.0 mph August 1895 record time Aberdeen arrive04:40 60.4 mphAberdeen arrive04:32 63.2 mph Subsequent scheduledtime Aberdeen arrive06:20 50.6 mphAberdeen arrive07:00 49.1 mph