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60027 Gleneagles
A view from Gleneagle’s distinctive platform overbridge sees A4 pacific No 60027 Merlin speeding northwards through the station on 14th August 1963. The train is ‘The Grampian’ 3 hour express to Aberdeen, the 8.25am departure from Glasgow Buchanan St.; normally a 7-coach load, but on this occasion the formation has has been strengthened to 8 coaches.
At this date, Merlin had within the past week returned to St. Rollox from a brief visit to Doncaster Works and seems to be going well. Having reached Gleneagles, the climb from Stirling is at an end and the descending grades to Perth will enable the crew to take things more easy for a while as the uphill work remaining is not until the later approaches to Aberdeen.
To complete the journey of 153 miles in 180 minutes including stops at Stirling and Perth required fast running and the Perth-Forfar section especially, which was largely on level track, regularly saw speeds well into the eighties (despite the fact that the line speed limit was 75mph.)
At the time of this photograph, the branch to Crieff was still in operation with the bay platform to the right in regular use. Before steam finished on the 3-hour expresses in 1966 the branch had been closed and the line lifted. Merlin was to work the Glasgow-Aberdeen services for a further year before being transferred to Edinburgh St Margarets in September 1964 to join 60024 Kingfisher on workings to Carlisle, Newcastle, Dundee and (by the east coast route), Aberdeen. Withdrawal ended the career of this celebrated locomotive in September 1965.
60027 Gleneagles
A view from Gleneagle’s distinctive platform overbridge sees A4 pacific No 60027 Merlin speeding northwards through the station on 14th August 1963. The train is ‘The Grampian’ 3 hour express to Aberdeen, the 8.25am departure from Glasgow Buchanan St.; normally a 7-coach load, but on this occasion the formation has has been strengthened to 8 coaches.
At this date, Merlin had within the past week returned to St. Rollox from a brief visit to Doncaster Works and seems to be going well. Having reached Gleneagles, the climb from Stirling is at an end and the descending grades to Perth will enable the crew to take things more easy for a while as the uphill work remaining is not until the later approaches to Aberdeen.
To complete the journey of 153 miles in 180 minutes including stops at Stirling and Perth required fast running and the Perth-Forfar section especially, which was largely on level track, regularly saw speeds well into the eighties (despite the fact that the line speed limit was 75mph.)
At the time of this photograph, the branch to Crieff was still in operation with the bay platform to the right in regular use. Before steam finished on the 3-hour expresses in 1966 the branch had been closed and the line lifted. Merlin was to work the Glasgow-Aberdeen services for a further year before being transferred to Edinburgh St Margarets in September 1964 to join 60024 Kingfisher on workings to Carlisle, Newcastle, Dundee and (by the east coast route), Aberdeen. Withdrawal ended the career of this celebrated locomotive in September 1965.