Great Western Coffee Shop

1A81 Paignton-London three car 165108. Return as 1C85 Paddington-Paignton. Being overtaken by 1C86 at Taunton.

This morning 1A70 to Paignton failed, later service was reinstated starting from Taunton, using a 3 car unit, according to Journey Check.
Running as 3C70 ecs from Bristol according to Traksy
Clearly it fulfilled the remainder of the diagram.

The three car 1C85 (14:36 London Paddington to Paignton) arrived in Paignton just over half an hour late.   

It is now due to work 1A98 (19:04 Paignton to London Paddington) as far as Exeter St Davids where a five car IET will take over.

Not quite as bad but last Friday I went on a 2 car 165 standing in for a 5 car IET on a  fast London - Oxford. Needless to say it was 17 minutes late arriving at Oxford. That might have been okay in the 1990's but surely not in 2024.

I guess there must be a shortage of IET's and probably all other train types on GWR.

According to Modern Railways GWR have averaged 40 IET engine shutdowns a day since January and this is before we get to the summer and we also have to remember this train type has now been around for nearly 7 years. Shutdowns are typically caused by overheating.

There is no way that an IET, at least in diesel only mode,  is going to last as long in service as an HST.

I don't think there was ever any intent of the HST, introduced in 1976, still running (Cornwall, Scotland, Mexico, Nigeria, Australia) some 48 years later.    By 2050, all the diesel ones should be using sustainable alternatives anyway, right?

Or by 2050, indulgences will have to be purchased for the diesel ones.

Quite, the HSDT (High Speed Diesel Trains) were an interim measure by BR to fill in between the end of steam and full mainline electrification at 25kV.

The delay was due to a trespasser and not the choice of unit, it was only a couple of minutes down before the trespasser delayed it