ABSTRACT
A Mystery and a Feud At 8.45 pm on 19 September 1906, a train left London’s Kings Cross station for Scotland. This was not one of the prestigious overnight sleeping car services which had developed reputations for comfort and speed; the 8.45 stopped at several intermediate stations and took over nine hours on its journey to Edinburgh. Operations on the first stages of the journey were the responsibility of the Great Northern Railway. The schedule was modest - 91 minutes for the first 76 miles to Peterborough, four minutes to change locomotives and then 40 minutes for the next 29 miles to Grantham. On this night, the train left Peterborough punctually with a new engine and crew. Northbound trains faced rising gradients until Stoke Summit over 23 miles from the Peterborough start. The climb was not particularly steep, but it could be a slog on a steam locomotive. When the train entered Stoke Tunnel at the top of the bank, 37 of the 40 minutes allocated for the Peterborough-Grantham stage had already elapsed.
