Brief Overview
For 1974 the competition was hosted by Bristol SMEE, with Bernard North in charge and acting as Chief Judge. At this point in time Bristol's track was quite new, so experience would count for nothing!
The winning run was No.8, Fred Winsall of Rugby MES with his two year old Nigel Gresley. D.E. Lawrence provides the details of the run:
"I just quietly hoped that Fred would take a really decent load, he did; that he knew what he was doing, he did; that he drove the thing into first place, he did! Load for the run was Driver, observer and 16 passengers, some of whom were quite substantial. Nigel Gresley got away to a reasonable start with only a little well controlled slip and began to lap the track steadily at about 7.5 to 8mph. Most competitors took the long down grade straight without cracking on speed and Fred did the same. After the third lap I noticed that he tackled the long up grade with more vigour and pushed his engine somewhat harder. As is usual with winning runs, the performance was rock steady and uneventful. I must say I had a few doubts as to Nigel Gresley lasting out the full 30 minutes as Fred drove with the shovel in his hand all the time and appeared to use it to attack every fitting on the backhead! Fortunately he also used it to put the right amount of coal on the fire at the right time, a little and often procedure, and when the result of the run was announced, the Halton Tank was moved down into second place."
Interesting Facts
In attendance was R. A. Riddles, who enjoyed a ride behind Bill Pearce's Britannia before the prize giving.
R. A. Riddles also presented the prizes alongside Martin Evans. Mr Riddles commented that "he had looked down on models in the past, but now he had pride in the fact that steam still lived on: it was like being born again".
Fred's winning Thermal Efficiency of 2.54% was the highest recorded at the time, and wasn't to be bettered until 10 years later by Les Pritchard in 1984 with 3.662%, coincidently also at Bristol.