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By VictoryRoll
#1694088
Some of you may appreciate to know that tomorrow evening, the curtain falls for the last scheduled HST 125 train to leave London Paddington.

After 42 years sterling service, four of the last full HST sets will leave Paddington one after the other for points west, the end of an era on the Western Region.

Fine British engineering, millions of miles thrashed to death at 125mph and still plenty of life in them.

The last ones off Padd on Saturday evening should be (subject to change etc)

18:03 Plymouth
18:15 Cheltenham Sp
18:22 Hereford
1830 Exeter

Cheers
8)
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By rikur_
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1694178
But only leaving the Great Western at this time ...... nicely refurbished sets in Scotland for the long-term, and still several more years of them on CrossCountry routes and Midland Main Line ...... LNER retire their first one next week, remainder from October ..... also to add possibly some freight 125's on their way. On the plus side, we get one for the museum.
By Bill McCarthy
#1694182
I didn’t have any love of the steam train - dirty, cold and slow. My journey on joining the RN took 36 hours. 23 years later, when my time was up, it was probably a 125 that took me home, and still the journey was over 24 hours.
It’s been many years since I’ve been on a train - you may wonder why.
By chevvron
#1694227
Bill McCarthy wrote:I didn’t have any love of the steam train - dirty, cold and slow. My journey on joining the RN took 36 hours. 23 years later, when my time was up, it was probably a 125 that took me home, and still the journey was over 24 hours.
It’s been many years since I’ve been on a train - you may wonder why.

You haven't lived until you've actually driven a steam loco. :thumleft:
I've driven two, both on the 'Swindon and Cricklade Railway', an 0-4-0 industrial saddle tank and an ex GWR 0-6-0 pannier tank. :D
Many preserved railways run 'training days; you should try it. :wink:
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By skydriller
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1694255
rikur_ wrote: still several more years of them on CrossCountry routes and Midland Main Line ...... LNER retire their first one next week, remainder from October ..... also to add possibly some freight 125's on their way.


Freight 125s?? :shock:

Hows that work then...they were designed as top/tail engines with the coaches in the middle werent they?

Regards, SD...
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By rikur_
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1694260
skydriller wrote:[
Hows that work then...they were designed as top/tail engines with the coaches in the middle werent they?

The original ideas centred around converting the carriages too to take bulk parcels (the MK3 coaches are also now in surplus and do not meet disabled access requirements without modification) .... so you would still have largely the same train sets, just converted for parcels (A bit like some of the Royal Mail stock)

More recent ideas have suggested that just the powercars could be used to haul freight stock.

I think part of the issue is that it's difficult to get new diesel locomotives that meet modern emissions requirements, but old stuff has grandfather rights and you can give the broom six new handles and 5 new heads.

Facilities and skills exist to maintain them, the owners would rather lease them for next to nothing rather than scrap them, so potentially quite cost effective.
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By rikur_
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1694265
Bill McCarthy wrote:It’s been many years since I’ve been on a train - you may wonder why.

You should try the hotels on wheels that now connect London and Scotland. It might take all night to get there, but breakfast in bed watching the views on the final hour approaching Fort William is better than any hotel that stays still.
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By Pete L
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1694279
And I thought this was a reference to the last unwrapped cheese on white bread sandwich in the Swindon buffet, lovingly referred to as Ethelred the Inedible.
#1694291
46 years of ship and submarine propulsion in steam was a truly wonderful career, but the steam train experience (the unglamorous act of a REAL journey in them) wrecked any interest in that direction.
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By rikur_
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1694295
Pete L wrote:And I thought this was a reference to the last unwrapped cheese on white bread sandwich in the Swindon buffet, lovingly referred to as Ethelred the Inedible.

Not got the last cheese on white bread sandwich, but the packaging from the last BR cheeseburger has been preserved in the national collection. I'm told it wasn't very rare :roll:
Image
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By riverrock
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1694324
rikur_ wrote:You should try the hotels on wheels that now connect London and Scotland. It might take all night to get there, but breakfast in bed watching the views on the final hour approaching Fort William is better than any hotel that stays still.

The tech manager of the cale sleeper and the owner of one of the engineering groups that was part of the delivery are both in my aircraft syndicate - we got a private tour round his workshop where they were refitting the Spanish prototypes up to the final standard. Very interesting seeing under / behind the scenes! The design and build have lots of parallels with aviation and marine engineering ( few people in Europe have made sleeper trains in living memory...). They used to maintain the old sleeper train - unfortunately I can't repeat some of the horror stories!
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By rikur_
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1694331
riverrock wrote:They used to maintain the old sleeper train - unfortunately I can't repeat some of the horror stories!

Indeed, I could probably share a few more! (I had a stint with Scotrail before the sleeper was spun out as a separate franchise)
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By PeteSpencer
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1694363
chevvron wrote:
Bill McCarthy wrote:I didn’t have any love of the steam train - dirty, cold and slow. My journey on joining the RN took 36 hours. 23 years later, when my time was up, it was probably a 125 that took me home, and still the journey was over 24 hours.
It’s been many years since I’ve been on a train - you may wonder why.

You haven't lived until you've actually driven a steam loco. :thumleft:
I've driven two, both on the 'Swindon and Cricklade Railway', an 0-4-0 industrial saddle tank and an ex GWR 0-6-0 pannier tank. :D
Many preserved railways run 'training days; you should try it. :wink:


I drove a steam loco age 9 in the marshalling yards of Shirebrook Pit circa 1955.

Peter