Inter City 125 / HST
Discussion
Just thought I would start a thread, as the new railway timetable on Sunday will mark the end of HST services into London.
After 40+ years of being the top express train from Paddington, Kings Cross and St Pancras to destinations all over the country, it will only be left on cross country, some GWR services and Scotrail.
Services from Paddington & Kings Cross stopped a while ago, very soon to be followed by St Pancras
.
It is testament to their brilliant design that they continue to provide fast and reliable service and are expected to do so until they are at least 50 years old.
I have travelled to London twice in the last fortnight by HST, with today likely marking the last time I will do so.
Here is a picture from Yesterday with 43102 waiting to depart Alfreton to St Pancras.
After 40+ years of being the top express train from Paddington, Kings Cross and St Pancras to destinations all over the country, it will only be left on cross country, some GWR services and Scotrail.
Services from Paddington & Kings Cross stopped a while ago, very soon to be followed by St Pancras
.
It is testament to their brilliant design that they continue to provide fast and reliable service and are expected to do so until they are at least 50 years old.
I have travelled to London twice in the last fortnight by HST, with today likely marking the last time I will do so.
Here is a picture from Yesterday with 43102 waiting to depart Alfreton to St Pancras.
Strange but true - one of the oddities of these high speed marvels was that until very recently the toilets still discharged straight onto the track bed...
Anyone who got near one back in the day will recognise this snippet from Wikipedia, "The engine as originally fitted to the HSTs was a V12 four-stroke turbo-charged & intercooled Paxman Valenta diesel which developed 2,250 bhp at 1,500 rpm. The engine is famous for the "Valenta Scream" on starting from rest, a distinctive high-pitched whine caused by the engine's turbocharger."
Anyone who got near one back in the day will recognise this snippet from Wikipedia, "The engine as originally fitted to the HSTs was a V12 four-stroke turbo-charged & intercooled Paxman Valenta diesel which developed 2,250 bhp at 1,500 rpm. The engine is famous for the "Valenta Scream" on starting from rest, a distinctive high-pitched whine caused by the engine's turbocharger."
tters were they?sherman said:
itcaptainslow said:
sherman said:
If they dont fix the Hitachis pretty quickly will they not just keep the 125s on?
HST's haven't got route clearance to Paddington anymore apparently! 
sherman said:
Scotrail has quite a few of the hst still.
ScotRail and GWR both have recently refurbished 4 coach HST sets which will hopefully continue for a long time yet. The GWR ones are running shuttle services in the West Country. CrossCountry are still running HSTs between Edinburgh and Plymouth too. Using ScotRail, CrossCountry and GWR you could conceivably go all the way from Inverness to Penzance on HSTs!
itcaptainslow said:
I think pretty much all the 91 sets are decommissioned now, too.
One of them was definitely operating yesterday and, as I understand it, there were plans to bring more of them back in July after some upgrades have been completed, though I suppose this will depend how much demand there is for the capacity they bring if rail travel continues to be suppressed by covid. Apparently LNER have ten sets available until 2023 with an option to extend until 2024.I was stood in Leicester station this afternoon as an hst pulled in and, just like the OP's image at the top on this thread, I was stunned at how pristine the undercarriage on the traction unit was. There wasn't a speck of dust or dirt on it and everything was either freshly painted or new or both.
Are these being reconditioned? I thought they were at end of life...
Are these being reconditioned? I thought they were at end of life...
MitchT said:
Some of them have been spruced up prior to withdrawal so they can bow out in style. The "Inter City" one is heading to the York NMR for preservation. This is often seen on one end of a set with the one at the other end bearing the new EMR livery.
GWR did a couple back in 2018-ish
Southerner said:
BrotherMouzone said:
Are the GWR ones to London Paddington going out of service too? :-(
'Fraid they went back in May 2019
Superb things, they absolutely put their half-arsed replacements in the shade.
I still see the odd ones on the Reading to Swansea route, as recently as a couple of weeks ago.
Where do they terminate then? Do they not go further east than Reading?
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