Did I hear the first set would be without power doors for now?
In searching through last night (for a picture of a red
HST▸ - don't ask!) I came across the "Virgin Challenger" - a five car HST that was in use around the time of Voyager introduction - pictures at
http://www.tauntontrains.co.uk/oldsite/HST.htm on Taunton Trains - 14th and 15th pictures down.
Logic suggests to me that if the conversion is far, far slower than was expected, could not HSTs being retired from regular HST runs be "challenged" and run in service that way, then converted as the shops in Doncaster (?) have capacity. Downers I can see are the station dwell times would need to allow an extra minute or so for door closing, and conversion of loos would need to be completed in any case for 2020.
