XC HSTs

[whole diary]

[John R]

Need the others to provide the new London - Corby service from Dec 08.

[Btline]

Earlier in this post, a list of XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) services "hoped" to be run by HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) was listed.

> Thursdays 0641 Dunbar-Glasgow,
> 0900 Glasgow-Penzance;
> Fridays 0830 Penzance-Dundee,
> 1205 Edinburgh-Plymouth.

I take it this is still on.

What will happen to seat reservations? Will they assume the worst?

Does anyone know whether double Voyagers will start working?

Thanks,

Btline

[John R]

I think the introduction of the HST^▸ (High Speed Train)'s enables Voyagers to be released for the various changes to be made (I will resist on calling them improvements.)
 
As an aside, as built the 4 car Voyagers had 26 first and 160 standard seats. Compare that to the Cl 159 which in 3 coaches manages to have 24 first and 172 standard, and with very little different in terms of passenger amenity and space. This inefficiency was due to
a) the crash resistant front ends required for running above 100mph (and which are required on half the coaches due to the short length of the train)
b) the "shop" which took up far too much space
c) 3 accessible toilets, when only 1 is required.
A triumph of Virgin marketing, over good old practical railway operation.
Add to that the smell and no wonder they are so unpopular.

 

[Graz]

I went on one Saturday from Bristol TM^‡(resolve) to Cheltenham Spa. I must say, it was one of the best train rides I've had this year. Extremely comfortable, spacious, lovely seats and lighting, nice big clean windows, quiet, stable, no awful smells (!!) ...the list goes on. I thoroughly enjoyed that journey and it kickstarted a brilliant weekend.

[r james]

What services are the HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) running on at present?  Hope to use one of these sometime soon!!

I presume some wil run to taunton?

[signalandtelegraph]

What services are the HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) running on at present?  Hope to use one of these sometime soon!!

I presume some wil run to taunton?

Try www.tauntontrains.co.uk  they have a list of timings for Taunton on the news page. 

[Super Guard]

Today there was a Double Voyager travelling North through Devon late-afternoon.

Those XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise))/NE HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) make some noise!!

[John R]

Presumably it still had at least one of the lovely Paxman Valenta's which we no longer have. Environmentally unfriendly but love the whine.

[Super Guard]

Screw the environment:  Was a beautiful sight to see all those fumes flying into the air... 

I think all day hearing the loud whine may deafen me a little!

My SDA colleague was under the impression that the National Express HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) had been re-engined, but obviously this is not the case.

[smithy]

the ones xc have aquired all have valenta's still they will be fully refurbed and have mtu's in by december.

i also think all class 43's in country will be mtu at some point,it is just a matter of being in a q and waiting for brush traction to fit them in.

spares for paxman engines are like rocking horse sh1t now,so if one fails they can be out of traffic for ages.

[willc]

i also think all class 43's in country will be mtu at some point,it is just a matter of being in a q and waiting for brush traction to fit them in.

No, East Midlands Trains are fitting all their fleet (25 power cars) with Paxman VP185s - an updated Valenta - now supplied by MAN of Germany, which provides full support for the engines from a factory at Colchester. Brush are fitting new cooler groups and electronics to the EMT^» (East Midlands Trains - about) fleet.

EMT is using several rebuilt VP185s which were removed from FGW^▸ (First Great Western) power cars when they got MTUs^▸ (Motor Traction Unit) fitted.

[Btline]

Are, but will these Paxman clones sound the same?

[swlines]

No... they're not Valentas! :p

[smithy]

Are, but will these Paxman clones sound the same?

yest they do sound very similar and chuck out as  much smoke as valenta's.

when the tender went out for power car re-engineering project fgw turned down the vp185 even though it was cheaper than mtu because they were crap,regularly suffered low power and vibrations.

so dont expect the x/c hst's to be more reliable,in my opinion mtu is the best option for class 43's

[devonian]

Well, the 1745 from St Davids to Penzance was an ex MML^» (Midland Main Line. - about) HST^▸ (High Speed Train) - XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) service.

There was no buffet carriage - just two trolleys - and listening to the staff, it had been a bit of a trial.

Warm beer, cold tea, trolley hitting passengers - trolley slowing boarding and alighting as it was in the way.

I wasn't impressed. Oh, and it was un-refurbished obviously - FGW^▸ (First Great Western) refresh is 1000 times better than the old stuff that was there. Fixed arm rest, yellow lights, seats with no support, no leg room at tables....

The trolley did seem well used - but it also seemed there had been rather a lot of complaints. WOuld hate to see it try and run in a morning or on a really busy service!