Inter City 125 / HST

[C2Red]

TommoAE86 said:

C2Red said:

Flying Phil said:

Yertis said:

Sounds like the Triumph Stag of locomotives - sounds great, wonderful when it works, but underdeveloped and tricky to maintain.

....Yet still in frontline service after 40+ years......not too underdeveloped and tricky to maintain I would have thought!

They weren't underdeveloped, trust me. I apprenticed there, spent many a year on build and test.

If you want flakey, then NM 55B & 59K deltics would be your weapon of choice.

I'm sure people on this thread are already aware but I've read this and I really liked it gives good insight into maintaining the the ECML sets;

ISBN-10 : 1473838037
ISBN-13 : 978-1473838031

About the Author said:

Born in Leeds in the mid-1940s, Roger Seniour spent the first eleven years growing up around the vast array of railway lines and depots in the Leeds area. At fifteen, he began a seven-year apprenticeship as an Electrical Engineer, learning how to repair electric motors, transformers, and industrial wiring. In 1968 he found employment within the railway, and was eventually promoted to Technical Riding Inspector, which lasted for sixteen years, before finishing up as the Resident Engineer for the MK1V fleet of vehicles.

Thanks for the book reference, mild coincidence time, family name, and family origin , and age group. That’s a bit of research for me this weekend .

[williamp]

I saw one tonight! Heading North out of Derby. Deffo a HS125, but in a maroon/purpley colour scheme. Does this mean they are not all retired and we can still ride them??

[itcaptainslow]

williamp said:

I saw one tonight! Heading North out of Derby. Deffo a HS125, but in a maroon/purpley colour scheme. Does this mean they are not all retired and we can still ride them??

Sounds like an EMR stock movement.

[Rich1973]

EMR are no longer using them in passenger service but cross country, scotrail and GWR are. It might have been a cross country service you saw. EMR had one purple power car. 43274.

Edited by Rich1973 on Monday 14th June 22:13

[itcaptainslow]

There’s still quite a few power cars and Mk3 coaches in storage at the sidings adjacent to Ely North Junction. It’s quite a sad sight-the things that were used to cracking out hundreds of miles every single day, have now been left to watch slowly decaying from the sidelines.

[miniman]

itcaptainslow said:

There’s still quite a few power cars and Mk3 coaches in storage at the sidings adjacent to Ely North Junction. It’s quite a sad sight-the things that were used to cracking out hundreds of miles every single day, have now been left to watch slowly decaying from the sidelines.

Particularly when they are still superior to the *second* generation of “replacements”.

[williamp]

I think it was cross country..


..although googling cross country 125 brigs up lots of motorbike imabes. And pictures of girls in running gear...

[Yertis]

williamp said:

I think it was cross country..


..although googling cross country 125 brigs up lots of motorbike imabes. And pictures of girls in running gear...

If you want to ride one just get yourself down here, they're still in very frequent scheduled use west of Bristol.

[MattyD803]

Yertis said:

williamp said:

I think it was cross country..


..although googling cross country 125 brigs up lots of motorbike imabes. And pictures of girls in running gear...

If you want to ride one just get yourself down here, they're still in very frequent scheduled use west of Bristol.

Class 43's or girls in running gear? I'll await your response with baited breath.....

[Gareth1974]

williamp said:

I saw one tonight! Heading North out of Derby. Deffo a HS125, but in a maroon/purpley colour scheme. Does this mean they are not all retired and we can still ride them??

The 1227 Plymouth to Edinburgh is a HST (CrossCountry) - it departs Derby at 1645, would that align with the time your saw it?

[Yertis]

MattyD803 said:

Class 43's or girls in running gear? I'll await your response with baited breath.....

Class 43s, I'm too old to take interest in that other thing.

[Rich1973]

I still have delusions of youth so can I have a girl in running gear leaning out the cab of a hst...

[williamp]

Gareth1974 said:

williamp said:

I saw one tonight! Heading North out of Derby. Deffo a HS125, but in a maroon/purpley colour scheme. Does this mean they are not all retired and we can still ride them??

The 1227 Plymouth to Edinburgh is a HST (CrossCountry) - it departs Derby at 1645, would that align with the time your saw it?

Yes that'll be it. Is that the longest train ride in the UK?

[Gareth1974]

williamp said:

Gareth1974 said:

williamp said:

I saw one tonight! Heading North out of Derby. Deffo a HS125, but in a maroon/purpley colour scheme. Does this mean they are not all retired and we can still ride them??

The 1227 Plymouth to Edinburgh is a HST (CrossCountry) - it departs Derby at 1645, would that align with the time your saw it?

Yes that'll be it. Is that the longest train ride in the UK?

The Plymouth to Edinburgh is 566 miles, there's a 0820 Aberdeen to Plymouth which is 695 miles, which I imagine is the longest.

[speedtwelve]

Did they ever get the brake smell sorted? I had my first trip in an HST in 1979 and the horrendous brake guff used to permeate the coaches on deceleration. Numerous trips on the ECML in the 80s weren't any better.

I commuted from Edinburgh Waverley daily in the early 90s. What a racket the Valenta turbo made from the platform as they pulled away. It'd make your eyes point in different directions. Always liked the off-beat noise of the 37s and 47s around Scotland at the time. More recently I lived around Berkshire/Wiltshire way and the MTU Class 43s didn't sound a patch on the original.

[2xChevrons]

speedtwelve said:

Did they ever get the brake smell sorted? I had my first trip in an HST in 1979 and the horrendous brake guff used to permeate the coaches on deceleration. Numerous trips on the ECML in the 80s weren't any better.

I believe the brake friction materials were changed and (some of?) the sets had a flap installed in the air-con intake which shuts under heavy braking to stop the smell being sucked in.