London & North Western Railway 2-4-0 No. 790 'Hardwicke'
Shildon, Durham, UK 		Location: Locomotion Museum
Status: Display
Posted: Jan 6, 2008 @ 17:01:19 by Steve Frost
Francis Webb was CME of the London & North Western, which operated what is now the 'West Coast Route' from London, Euston as far as Carlisle, where they handed over to the Caledonian to take the train forward to Glasgow. Webb has been lambasted over the years for his compounds which were, er, variable in performance. But with the 'Precedent' class built from 1874 he got it so right. This diminutive little 2-4-0 is so unassuming in appearance, its difficult at this distance in time to realise just what good performers they turned out to be, especially when rebuilt with new higher pressure boilers. In fact it was the problems of Webb's compounds that sealed the legend of 'Hardwicke' when the 'Precedents' were reintroduced on the London to Scotland expresses, especially in the 'Race to the North'. In 1895 the East Coast companies (Great Northern, North Eastern and the North British) accelerated their overnight services to Scotland and the L&NWR responded by similarly accelerating its Aberdeen sleeper train. Inevitably, speeds climbed and journey times fell, reducing the journey time between London and Carlisle by 1 hour 15 minutes! On 22 August 1895, 'Hardwicke' put up a storming performance between Crewe and Carlisle with an average speed of 67.2 mph, including the 1 in 75 climb to Shap Summit which it topped at no less than 63 mph. So, 'Hardwicke' is a worthy member of the National Collection, and as the photos show, enjoyed a period in the 1970's when it once more ran on the rails of the UK, but at more modest speeds!