On arrival at King's Cross (just after the run), driver Joe Duddington and inspector Sid Jenkins were quoted as saying that they thought a speed of 130 mph would have been possible if the train had not had to slow for the junctions at Essendine. In addition, at the time of the run there was a permanent way restriction to 15 mph just north of Grantham which slowed the train as they sought to build up maximum speed before reaching the high-speed downhill section just beyond Stoke tunnel.