Brief Overview
IMLEC 2000 returned to Leyland for the first time since 1993 and the Silver Jubilee IMLEC. Also returning was Lionel Flippance with his unbeaten, 3-time IMLEC winning BR Proposed 2-8-2. Lionel was level with Percy Wood and John Heslop for IMLEC titles, if he could win here at Leyland, he'd the first 4 time champion.
Lionel clinched the title with a dominant display, almost doubling 2nd place Len Steel's efficiency figure. Mike Crisp describes the run:
"Following a ten year absence from competition Lionel Flippance returned this year with his very successful 2-8-2 locomotive George Eveniss inspired by the proposed BR Class 9 heavy freight locomotive design of the 1950s. In the late 1980s this freelance locomotive set new records for miniature locomotive efficiency with figures which in one case reached 4.392%, a performance which remains unchallenged to this day. With it Lionel won IMLEC at Leeds in 1988, at Leyland in 1989, at Guildford in 1990 and led the field at the special SuperLEC event held at Birmingham in 1998. A Britannia boiler fitted with a stainless steel brick arch delivers steam via an 8-element radiant superheater to 2in. diameter cylinders. Lionel is convinced that performance can be improved and is currently building three more locomotives to a similar design but with internal boiler differences in order to compare and hopefully achieve improved efficiency. Able to participate in the competition this year thanks to a change in the rules, and representing SM&EE, Lionel set off with a brief spell of well controlled slipping at the start to get his heavy train rolling, followed by a good fast run in dry conditions. The sun even managed to break through the clouds for a while during this impressive performance. I noticed a little steam escaping from the piston rod glands and as Lionel passed me on his approach to the last curve to finish his run at the station, he opened the firedoor and for an instant I could see that very little fire remained. Lionel later said that he had raked the fire just after this point and what embers there were disappeared leaving only hot firebars. But he managed to get to the station, arriving with no fire and not a lot of steam. Now that's what I call cutting it fine!"
Interesting Facts
With victory, Lionel Flippance became the first 4-time winner of IMLEC.
Jimmy Woods put the "I" in IMLEC, travelling all the way from Otago, New Zealand with his Isle of Man 2-4-0. It was only the fifth time the loco had ran, but Jimmy did a brilliant job bringing it home in 6th place.
The podiums place were all previous champions, the first time this had happened (Lionel - 1988, 1989, 1990, 2000. Len Steel - 1997, Jim Elliott - 1999). It would occur again in 2010 (Steve Eaton, Lionel and Neil Mortimer)