Best sectional times:

In the 1980s, the Scarborough Spa Express was generally formed of 9 coaches with a weight of around 325 tons fully loaded. These trains were busiest between York and Scarborough, sometimes full and standing.

Starts from York and Leeds could be quite slow with various speed restrictions to contend with.
Changes in track infrastructure in the intervening years should make these starts much faster.

The most important limitation that we had in the 80s was the maximum permitted speed for steam locos which was then 60 mph (although we did go faster from time to time!).

Now, with 75 mph locos working the trains, many of these times should be very easy to beat!