Race To The North - Aftermath of The 1895 Races

Aftermath of The 1895 Races

North British considered restarting the competition with Conacher writing to Oakley "Although I share to the full your opinion regarding the childishness of the whole business ... I am quite prepared to run another train as much like theirs as possible, when I have no doubt we could again shew our superiority". To achieve the high speeds very few carriages could be pulled and so a second, longer, slower train had to follow on behind. There was no benefit to the public in arriving so very early and, apart from the publicity, it made no financial sense. For all these reasons the racing was not resumed. In a leading article The Engineer magazine concluded "One gratifying result of the race will be perhaps to silence the boasting of the American press. The far-famed Empire State Express has been thoroughly beaten...".

In July 1896 a West Coast overnight express took the curve at Preston excessively fast and derailed. One person was killed and the train was wrecked. Two "Jumbos" had been double-heading the train and the enquiry found that the only experience either driver had on the line had always involved stopping at Preston. To reassure the public, agreement was reached to slow the runs from London to Edinburgh and Glasgow to take a minimum time of eight hours. This agreement, which gave much the same journey time as in 1889, lasted into the early 1930s removing any impetus towards improving express train performance or scheduling.