"The InterCity 125: The Age of the Train" BBC Four 9pm 13/09/2012

[whole diary]

[BerkshireBugsy]

Now where is my copy of "2 miles a minute"by O S Nick?!

[eightf48544]

An interesting fact? I was told aout the HST^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) was that HMRI^▸ (His Majesty's Railway Inspectorate) (or predessesor) wouldn't allow EP brakes on the trailer cars just straight airbrakes, which wouldn't have been enough to stop from from 125 from existing signals. So the powercars were EP braked and thus each power car only have to brake 3/4 coaches so the brakes were much quicker acting than waitng for straight airbrakes to act on the down the train and to the rear power car.

Despite all the problems and the brake smell they are still one of the best trains of the post steam era. Pity as peolpe have posted they've become 737s, and they now don't get to Cardiff in under 2 hours The TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) tha use them would be really stuck without them.
 

[BerkshireBugsy]

Despite all the problems and the brake smell they are still one of the best trains of the post steam era. Pity as peolpe have posted they've become 737s, and they now don't get to Cardiff in under 2 hours The TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) tha use them would be really stuck without them.

I used to travel down from Banbury to Weston S Mare on a Friday in the late 70's which involved a change at Reading. I do remember having the option of catching a diesel hauled loco which would have got me there 20 minutes earlier but I did enjy the HST^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) journey - the the loco service seemed so slow in comparison!

[JayMac]

MK3s never had perfect window alignment. Originally all seats where at tables but the number of windows was designed for perfect alignment in First Class, but Standard Class had one more table per carriage than First Class, so alignment was always out. Stock before MK3s used to have more, smaller windows in Standard Class carriages to solve that problem.

There are eight windows per side in a BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) Mk3 TSO^▸ (The Stationary Office (now OPSI), or, possibly Trailer Standard Open (carriage), depending on context). All seats in an original Mk3 Second Class TSO were not at tables. The original seating layout in Second Class had 72 seats. That was 8 airline seats either side of the centre partition and 16 bays of 4. Later BR layouts, carried over into privatisation, increased the (now) Standard Class seating to 76 seats. People were travelling less often as a group so the layout was changed to 10 bays of 4 and 36 airline seats.

Second Class TSO stock before Mk3 also didn't have more smaller windows. Like the Mk3 there were eight windows per side in a Mk2F Second Class TSO but the coach was 3 metres shorter. 16 bays of 4 with smaller vestibules. Earlier non air-conditioned Second Class Mk2s^▸ (Mark 2 coach) also had eight windows per side, some with a centre door.

[Electric train]

I do remember having the option of catching a diesel hauled loco which would have got me there 20 minutes earlier but I did enjy the HST^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) journey - the the loco service seemed so slow in comparison!

Deliberately so, and to compare a 90 / 100 mph loco with 10 or 12 Mk2^▸ (Mark 2 coach)'s with a 125 with 7 would not be fair

[Gordon the Blue Engine]

I was an "HSDT^▸ (Original name for High Speed Train)" apprentice when I started in 1975 and destined for OOC^▸ (Old Oak Common (depot))'s brand new shed, did a couple of training blocks in there but ended up on ODM at Padd (thats whole different story    )

One of the tasks they gave us apprentices to do was go along all the coaches in a rake and measure the commutators on all the vent fan motors and record the results, most where definitely not round     The other problems were the batteries over charging.

The cracking axle boxes if I recall was part of the casting which supported the springs, also there were cracks in the brake disks on the power cars

Oh and the much loved tables kept falling apart, the screws fell out partly due the passengers pulling on the tables as they climbed in the seats around the arm rests

Oh and lets not forget the turbo chargers that kept failing and the amount of coolant and oil leaks on the engines

Basically the train by the standard it is today was a disaster but it was made to work

At one time a sample of every engine's lubricating oil was taken every night at OOC, and sent for analysis to BR^▸ (British Rail(ways))'s Scientific Services laboratory at Muswell Hill (North London, think of The Kinks). They could tell if there was a probem with the turbo, cylinder liners, piston rings etc.  Quite often they'd phone Control as soon as they'd done an analysis and order a Power car to be shut down before the turbo fell to bits etc.

As an aside, the truly best carriages ever built were Mark 2F's, which were designed after the Mark 3's, and had better air-con.

[JayMac]

As an aside, the truly best carriages ever built were Mark 2F's, which were designed after the Mark 3's, and had better air-con.

But bleddy noisy when braking though.

[eightf48544]

As an aside, the truly best carriages ever built were Mark 2F's, which were designed after the Mark 3's, and had better air-con.

Tend to agree with you Gordon, although Mark 3 firsts were very good.

And they are still in use on the Wellington Commuter Services. I saw them in use in  February. Hillside workshops have done a superb job on them gauge conversion and power doors and a fantanstic inside refurb.



Edit note: Quote marks fixed. CfN.

[The SprinterMeister]

An interesting fact? I was told aout the HST^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) was that HMRI^▸ (His Majesty's Railway Inspectorate) (or predessesor) wouldn't allow EP brakes on the trailer cars just straight airbrakes, which wouldn't have been enough to stop from from 125 from existing signals. So the powercars were EP braked and thus each power car only have to brake 3/4 coaches so the brakes were much quicker acting than waitng for straight airbrakes to act on the down the train and to the rear power car.

The powercars are not EP braked. They use conventional air brakes the same as the trailer cars do.

The difference is that the brake handle in the cab does not directly control the air in the brake pipe as on say a class 57/6. The brake handle on a HST sends signals (by de-energising train wires) to the E70 / DWIA3 brake pipe pressure control unit at both ends of the train, thus lowering the brake pipe pressure and applying the brake in steps. Pressure can be reduced in the air train pipe from both ends but can only be increased by the brake pipe pressure control unit in the power car from which the train is being driven.

The Emergency position on the HST brake handle however vents the air brake pipe directly to atmosphere as does the emergency brake plunger next to the brake handle. This is provided to guard against electrical malfunctions or the failure of the brake handle itself.

[welshman]

They've lost something with the change from Paxman Valenta engines,  Yes we know they smoked and were noisy and not all that reliable but feel the noise...   

Fortunately for the saddos, searching "Valenta" on YouTube will find you plenty of deafening starts and full chats through Didcot.

A Saddo

[The SprinterMeister]

Many thanks for posting BNM. Now if only Aunty BEEB would release the new Android version of iPlayer that allows for off-line watching so that I could watch the program on the ....errrr...train!

I'm nights tonight but I have already set the HDD recorder up to record the program.

Thanks to the OP^▸ (Original Poster / topic starter) for the heads up.

[The SprinterMeister]

I was working in the CM&EE at Paddington when the HST^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units))'s were introduced in 1976. My particular job was to do with the trailer cars.  We had a whole host of initial problems including cracked axle boxes (at one time I think all axle boxes were being crack detected every night at OOC^▸ (Old Oak Common (depot)) and other depots), toilet door locks which jammed locked and toilet blow-backs when entering tunnels (so going to the toilet on an early HST could be quite an experience), brush wear on the ventilation motors which caused the air-conditioning to fail, WSP malfunctions, etc etc. 

The 'fix' for the toilet blow backs was to permanently lower the permissable speed through Alderton Tunnel from 125 mph to 110 mph in both directions. The speed through Chipping Sodbury tunnel being 120 mph instead of 125 mph. The problems were caused mainly when trains passed each other in the Tunnels, particularly the short Alderton tunnel.

Box & Middle Hill tunnels being built to Broad Gauge internal dimensions have greater internal volume and cause less of a problem.

[bobm]

Wasn't it the case that in the early days HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) were not allowed through Box at maximum speed in case two passed and blew the windows in?  I was told that by a railwayman at the time but not sure if it was myth.

[Electric train]

Wasn't it the case that in the early days HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) were not allowed through Box at maximum speed in case two passed and blew the windows in?  I was told that by a railwayman at the time but not sure if it was myth.

Myth, it may have been concerns with the doors not locking shut properly

There were problems with the toilets as The SprinterMeister has already mentioned also some problems with the ventilation system, these were fixed quite early on

[Timmer]

A good and interesting program but more about the era of British Rail that the 125 came into being rather than actually about the train itself but that would probably only really interest a small minority of us.