Brief Overview
1993 was the Silver Jubilee IMLEC, Tim Pearson of Leeds had the honour of the first run with his 5 in. gauge Metre Maid. With no defending champion in the field, the competition was an open contest. With 11 runs completed the leaderboard was headed by two 3 1/2 in. gauge locomotives. Ken Ellwood with his 9F was top, followed by Steve Eaton with his Bantam Cock. Run 12 was to top both of the diminutive little locos performances. Ron Painter had built a freelance 2-4-2 loco "Jess". It had a Atkinson type uniflo engine with chain drive to the wheels, Mike Barnett was nominated driver and completed a faultless run to applause and go into 1st place. However, it was not to last as John Heslop returned from a 4th place finish at Leeds 1992 hoping for a little more! Ted Joliffe gives us the details:
"I should have had a premonition about the next run, No. 19. Having obtained her passenger tickets, I noticed my wife on the platform. She seems to have developed a knack of picking a ride on the winner's train (on nine such occasions to date), and chose to accompany John Heslop with his 5in. version of Jubilee based on Martin Evans 3½in. design. On a run marred only by a little rain, John kept this big 2-6-4 tank well in hand, controlling slip before it had a chance to develop. After a moderately slow first lap, this big L.M.S. loco coped admirably with its load of 17, building up to speed and then circuiting the track in a seemingly effortless manner for a fine and ultimately the winning run."
Interesting Facts
For the second year in a row, their were no previous winners in the field.
Martin Evans, the instigator of IMLEC, awarded the trophy to winner John Heslop.
The three Simplexes (or Simplexi?) finished line astern in 7th, 8th and 9th. David Kerry the leading Simplex, followed by Richard Knapman and Bernard North.
Malcomb Clements returned to IMLEC from Zimbabwe, but had less luck this time when his fire collapsed and he retired.