Trains - How to get on a Class 43 HST?

[Atmospheric]

I think the Class 43 will be around for a while yet. I read some are going to Scotrail for Edinburgh-Glasgow (?).

[Aidancky]

blueg33 said:

Which route? I didn't think any Class 43's did the route from London to Manchester? Euston to Man Picadilly is mainly Pendalino.

Can't see that any line from Paddington makes sense top get to Manchester?

We got off our Manchester-bound train at Leeds and took a HST from there. Cant remember which TOC now

[Europa1]

Atmospheric said:

I think the Class 43 will be around for a while yet. I read some are going to Scotrail for Edinburgh-Glasgow (?).

They are, but I have a feeling the carriages are being altered to have powered doors fitted.

[alangla]

Aidancky said:

blueg33 said:

Which route? I didn't think any Class 43's did the route from London to Manchester? Euston to Man Picadilly is mainly Pendalino.

Can't see that any line from Paddington makes sense top get to Manchester?

We got off our Manchester-bound train at Leeds and took a HST from there. Cant remember which TOC now

It would have been Midland Mainline probably - they ran St. Pancras - Manchester for a short time when the West Coast upgrade was ongoing.

Either that or it might have been one of the round-the-houses Virgin CrossCountry trains that ran from Paddington, but I've no idea if any of them went to Manchester or if they were HSTs

[speedtwelve]

I'm not a spotter, but used to commute in and out of Edinburgh Waverley in the 80s and 90s. That epic Paxman Valenta turbocharger scream as a 43 powered off the platform was great. I first went on an HST on the ECML to York in 78 or 79 when they were quite new. The brakes used to stink after decelerating from high-speed.

That off-beat diesel racket from 37s and 47s was great too. I know there were Deltics around Edinburgh when I was younger but I don't remember them.

[P5BNij]

speedtwelve said:

I'm not a spotter, but used to commute in and out of Edinburgh Waverley in the 80s and 90s. That epic Paxman Valenta turbocharger scream as a 43 powered off the platform was great. I first went on an HST on the ECML to York in 78 or 79 when they were quite new. The brakes used to stink after decelerating from high-speed.

That off-beat diesel racket from 37s and 47s was great too. I know there were Deltics around Edinburgh when I was younger but I don't remember them.

The last regular Deltic workings into Waverley were in 1981, with the very last railtour running on 2nd January 1982 (it even made the news At Ten!).

[gazapc]

Atmospheric said:

I think the Class 43 will be around for a while yet. I read some are going to Scotrail for Edinburgh-Glasgow (?).

The HST gti sets will also be running the Plymouth-Penzance route soon. Shortened down to 4 coaches (but losing the slam doors) they should go like the clappers and will be around for many years.

[MitchT]

speedtwelve said:

The brakes used to stink after decelerating from high-speed.

I remember that smell - like burning plasticine!

[Robertj21a]

gazapc said:

The HST gti sets will also be running the Plymouth-Penzance route soon. Shortened down to 4 coaches (but losing the slam doors) they should go like the clappers and will be around for many years.

Presumably, they'll still be heavily affected by all the curves !

[Europa1]

gazapc said:

The HST gti sets will also be running the Plymouth-Penzance route soon. Shortened down to 4 coaches (but losing the slam doors) they should go like the clappers and will be around for many years.

Out of interest, how many other trains still have slam doors?

I know the Norwich - Liverpool Street and Norwich - Great Yarmouth lines do, plus the 2 sleeper routes - which others?

[matchmaker]

Atmospheric said:

I think the Class 43 will be around for a while yet. I read some are going to Scotrail for Edinburgh-Glasgow (?).

Nope. Edinburgh - Glasgow is going electric. The HSTs will be used on the services connecting Glasgow & Edinburgh to Aberdeen & Inverness, and Aberdeen to Inverness.

[K50 DEL]

Europa1 said:

Atmospheric said:

I think the Class 43 will be around for a while yet. I read some are going to Scotrail for Edinburgh-Glasgow (?).

They are, but I have a feeling the carriages are being altered to have powered doors fitted.

I hope not... one of the main pleasures of riding the rails is standing in the foyer with the window down and my head as far out as the wind will let me, I'll eschew a seat to stand and do that, sometimes all the way from CPM to PAD and return.

Can't stand these modern trains with their so-called air conditioning where the temperature's set at 100 degrees

[blueg33]

K50 DEL said:

Europa1 said:

Atmospheric said:

I think the Class 43 will be around for a while yet. I read some are going to Scotrail for Edinburgh-Glasgow (?).

They are, but I have a feeling the carriages are being altered to have powered doors fitted.

I hope not... one of the main pleasures of riding the rails is standing in the foyer with the window down and my head as far out as the wind will let me, I'll eschew a seat to stand and do that, sometimes all the way from CPM to PAD and return.

Can't stand these modern trains with their so-called air conditioning where the temperature's set at 100 degrees

I am not a fan of the slam doors, delays the trains at the station, people leave the windows open and it gets really cold in the coaches as a result.

[speedtwelve]

K50 DEL said:

one of the main pleasures of riding the rails is standing in the foyer with the window down and my head as far out as the wind will let me

[Robertj21a]

K50 DEL said:

I hope not... one of the main pleasures of riding the rails is standing in the foyer with the window down and my head as far out as the wind will let me, I'll eschew a seat to stand and do that, sometimes all the way from CPM to PAD and return.

Can't stand these modern trains with their so-called air conditioning where the temperature's set at 100 degrees

Unfortunately, you may recall that such heads can also be removed by lineside obstacles. I would be surprised if the new doors fitted retain drop down windows.

[rs1952]

blueg33 said:

I am not a fan of the slam doors, delays the trains at the station, people leave the windows open and it gets really cold in the coaches as a result.

It is certainly true that station dwell times with slam door stock are a little longer because of the need for all doors to be at least visually checked. Even if it was only 30 seconds per stop, those stops mount up, and 30 seconds would add 2.5 minutes to the journey time between say, Bristol and Paddington. A Penzance to Paddington train could lose a lot more - for example, the 0541 Penzance Paddington has 21 intermediate stops...

As for sticking one's bonce out of the window, breathing can be a bit difficult at 125mph

That wasn't so much of an issue in the days of steam when you had more chance of seeing decapitating obstacles coming - as long as you put a comb in front of your eyes to keep the smuts out

[Shakermaker]

blueg33 said:

I am not a fan of the slam doors, delays the trains at the station, people leave the windows open and it gets really cold in the coaches as a result.

I was on the Dartmouth Steam Railway a couple of years ago, a favourite of mine, and when we arrived down in Dartmouth I was waiting to get off behind a group of British tourists who despite their age, had seemingly never encountered a slam-door train before, and had no idea how to open the door from the inside by doing the "drop the window and reach outside" thing. An amusing encounter of a younger person showing an older person how to use the technology from their days...

[mudster]

P5BNij said:

speedtwelve said:

I'm not a spotter, but used to commute in and out of Edinburgh Waverley in the 80s and 90s. That epic Paxman Valenta turbocharger scream as a 43 powered off the platform was great. I first went on an HST on the ECML to York in 78 or 79 when they were quite new. The brakes used to stink after decelerating from high-speed.

That off-beat diesel racket from 37s and 47s was great too. I know there were Deltics around Edinburgh when I was younger but I don't remember them.

The last regular Deltic workings into Waverley were in 1981, with the very last railtour running on 2nd January 1982 (it even made the news At Ten!).

Remember it like it was yesterday. Went to York to see it pass and saw it on the news later.

Not heard a Deltic run since, but I go past NYMR every 2 to 3 weeks and I live only a short hop from Barrow Hill so I should really rectify that.

[Gareth1974]

mudster said:

P5BNij said:

speedtwelve said:

I'm not a spotter, but used to commute in and out of Edinburgh Waverley in the 80s and 90s. That epic Paxman Valenta turbocharger scream as a 43 powered off the platform was great. I first went on an HST on the ECML to York in 78 or 79 when they were quite new. The brakes used to stink after decelerating from high-speed.

That off-beat diesel racket from 37s and 47s was great too. I know there were Deltics around Edinburgh when I was younger but I don't remember them.

The last regular Deltic workings into Waverley were in 1981, with the very last railtour running on 2nd January 1982 (it even made the news At Ten!).

Remember it like it was yesterday. Went to York to see it pass and saw it on the news later.

Not heard a Deltic run since, but I go past NYMR every 2 to 3 weeks and I live only a short hop from Barrow Hill so I should really rectify that.

The News at Ten feature was a classic https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6xSbmBhFnQk

[2fast748]

Gareth1974 said:

The News at Ten feature was a classic https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6xSbmBhFnQk

A classic? That was some scary cult!