City of Truro Life – Legend – Legacy

City of Truro Life – Legend – Legacy

During the GWR’s turn of the century locomotive development programme, the ‘City’ Class emerged in 1902. Their evolution is outlined in the text, a design which became one of the final steps for the lineage of outside double-framed 4-4-0s. Early successes by No. 3433 City of Bath and No. 3440 City of Truro are discussed. The latter made a ‘record’ run, purportedly touching 100mph, the first such documented high speed on a railway, achieving a very fast journey time between Plymouth (Millbay) and Bristol hauling an ‘Ocean Mails’ special’ on 9th May 1904. This ‘record’ has been subject to questioning and as described remains controversial. Ocean liner traffic to and from Plymouth was deemed extremely important by the GWR and the L&SWR, albeit both companies also sought traffic from other ports such as Fishguard and Southampton. Pursuing the Plymouth business for both passenger and mail traffic generated a period of intense rivalry between the GWR and LSWR in spring 1904, which captivated the public but ultimately ended in tragedy, with the Salisbury accident of 1906. As also discussed, that event too remains controversial as the reason for its excess speed is still in question. ‘City’ Class engines hauling premiére services were short-lived, as they were soon superseded by later designs of 4-4-0s and 4-6-0s. The class had all been withdrawn by 1931 but City of Truro’s ‘record’ performance was a principal factor in its long term preservation, during which periods of active main line and heritage railway service have taken place, which are also considered in these pages. The final chapter describes the celebrations of City of Truro’s run of 1904, in the form of railtours and special runs, including the ‘Ocean Mail 100’ of 2004, commemorating the centenary of that event almost to the day. Similar tours employed ‘Castle’ Class locomotives, for example 1Z48 of 9th May 1964, which also bid a farewell to high speed steam-hauled services on British Railways Western Region as diesel traction was introduced. That 1964 tour was itself celebrated fifty years later, by ‘Castle’ Class engines in preservation, with ‘record’ performances continuing to be returned. Detailed speed comparison tables with City of Truro’s 1904 performance of all these tours, along with tables covering numerous earlier runs by ‘City’s and other contemporary classes, are also presented. Irrespective of what might have been achieved on that day in 1904, along with Duke of Connaught, which took the train on from Temple Meads, City of Truro’s endeavours remain as a leading highlight of journeys between Plymouth, Bristol and London.