Really odd Q from me

[whole diary]

[Mookiemoo]

Just saw an add with someone in and old coach - started debate in house

I know HST^▸ (High Speed Train)'s which in my 33 year old mind are intercity 125s have the carriage I know and tolerate - I will never love them - they get me from A to B in comfort

He claims he used to do coventry to southampton in one of these carriages loco hauled in the days before 125s - he was at warwick uni in 1978 so possible

To me they are HST - what marks the difference

[JayMac]

I'm no expert on carriages - more knowledgeable about the noisy bits up the front, but this may help:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Mark_3

[inspector_blakey]

The mark 3 coach comes in two flavours: HST^▸ (High Speed Train) and loco-hauled. From a passenger's point of view I'm not sure if there's any significant difference to notice between the two (or at least, there wasn't when they were introduced). HST vehicles don't have buffers, and the electrical systems between HST and loco-hauled are surprisingly different; some of XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise))'s HST sets now running around use coaches that were converted from loco-hauled stock, which required a great deal of work.

Loco-hauled mark 3s were used by Virgin on the West Coast line until replaced by the Pendolinos, so entirely possible that they could have been running between Euston and Coventry in 1978 or thereabouts.

[eightf48544]

If he was travelling from Coventry to Southampton in the late 70s then he was probably in a Mark 2 which were the predessors of the Mark 3s. The D/E/Fs had a/c and in all marks there were tables in standard (8 bays of 8 ) and seats alinged with the Windows.

Cross Country used them extensively as did IC^▸ (Inter City)  and Network South East on loco hauled services.

They are now starting to appear in charter rakes.

In my opinion they are only slightly inferior to an unrebuilt Mark 3 and infinitely superior to a 737 Mark 3.

[willc]

Almost certainly Mk2f coaches, the last batch to be built, which had very similar interiors to the Mk3s as first built, with same style of seats and pressure pad-operated vestibule doors, features which I think were adopted from the prototype HST^▸ (High Speed Train) coaches built in 1972-3. Lots of Mk2fs were cascaded to other routes, including XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)), when HSTs arrived on the ECML^▸ (East Coast Main Line) in 1977-8, so would fit with your timescale.

[old original]

I do remember the first loco hauled mk3s that came to the south west (well Cornwall). Mid 80s, Summer Saturdays,  Milton Keynes - Penzance, those were the days!!!!