Days are numbered for last UK HSTs in regular revenue service.

[masontaylor]

ScotRail have announced a programme to replace the Inter7City HSTs presently serving the routes between Glasgow/Edinburgh and Aberdeen/Inverness with 22 refurbished cascaded-down Class 222 s from the EMR over the next two years, citing the issues of maintaining the 50 year old stock as the main reason for the move.

This will mark the end of their use in everyday service in the UK after more than a half a century, though Class 43s will still be seen as preserved power car examples as well as the 'Flying Banana' measurement train and the complete Blue Pullman stand-in, while whole exported sets now run in Mexico and Nigeria.

The most successful stopgap in history of BR design, they revolutionised intercity travel on lines not yet electrified, and continued to play an important role on several major routes until quite recently.

125s have been a huge part of my travelling life ever since their introduction, with thousands of trips as a WR commuter in the 70s, 80s and 90s, as well as many runs on GNER and Virgin branded sets between England and Scotland over the years, and now even quite local journeys in Tayside.

 

[pfx]

The Mk3 frothers can shed a few more tears, or is that only over here?

 

[marmalade32]

ScotRail have announced a programme to replace the Inter7City HSTs presently serving the routes between Glasgow/Edinburgh and Aberdeen/Inverness with 22 refurbished cascaded-down Class 222 s from the EMR over the next two years, citing the issues of maintaining the 50 year old stock as the main reason for the move.

This will mark the end of their use in everyday service in the UK after more than a half a century, though Class 43s will still be seen as preserved power car examples as well as the 'Flying Banana' measurement train and the complete Blue Pullman stand-in, while whole exported sets now run in Mexico and Nigeria.

The most successful stopgap in history of BR design, they revolutionised intercity travel on lines not yet electrified, and continued to play an important role on several major routes until quite recently.

125s have been a huge part of my travelling life ever since their introduction, with thousands of trips as a WR commuter in the 70s, 80s and 90s, as well as many runs on GNER and Virgin branded sets between England and Scotland over the years, and now even quite local journeys in Tayside.

Gone will an iconic loco be. One of the firsts I ever drove in trainz.

 

[masontaylor]

The Mk3 frothers can shed a few more tears, or is that only over here?

It's many years since I travelled in an IE Mk3....

The original UK second class seating layout was later reconfigured with many more aircraft style seat pairs at the expense of the four around a table pattern, which I understand from an economic point of view, though it affected comfort for those of above average height. If the IE Mk3s retained the older seating pattern, then newer stock is going to seem a decidedly retrograde step!

 

[JCitron]

It's many years since I travelled in an IE Mk3....

The original UK second class seating layout was later reconfigured with many more aircraft style seat pairs at the expense of the four around a table pattern, which I understand from an economic point of view, though it affected comfort for those of above average height. If the IE Mk3s retained the older seating pattern, then newer stock is going to seem a decidedly retrograde step!

In July 1985 my nanna and I took a trip to the UK from the US. This was when the pound and dollar were nearly the same and the trip cost us $199 round trip for the flight plus the hotel! While in the UK, my nanna wanted to look up some information on her grandmother who came over in the early 1900s from Liverpool. Rather than drive, we took the train from Euston to Liverpool and rode first-class up and second-class down. I don't remember why we did that since that was 40-years ago now.

The only difference to me was first-class passengers had a continental breakfast included and the tables had white linen tableclothes on the dropdown tables. Second-class passengers, on the other hand, had to get something themselves from the canteen or bring their own brown bag. Everything else was the same including the seats. Overall, the experience in second-class reminded me of our train service and comfort on Amtrak from what I remembered about my trips between Boston to New York and Philadelphia.

 

[pfx]

If it was first class on an HST, the seating would have been 2 + 1, whereas standard was 2 + 2. I always went first if I could get a cheap advance fare. Normally £50 return from Edinburgh to London in the mid/late 90s. It would either be on a HST or its successor, the 225.

 

[pdkoester]

Seems like it is too soon, when I look at how modern those HSTs are compared to older equipment. Reminds me of what happens with F40PHs recently phased out locally in my area. Just reminds me that I am getting older and this is what generations before have experienced when things were phased out. Especially like my father's generation when steam engines were eliminated for diesel electrics. Are the HSTs being replaced by fully electric units? That's what happened here when the F40PHs got retired.

 

[masontaylor]

At one point in the late nineties/early noughties you could upgrade to first for £15 at weekends: I had a few very luxurious trips between Scotland England that way....

HSTs have been replaced by bi-mode sets (i.e. electric trains capable of running under diesel power where there's no overhead supply) on the East Coast Main Line between London and Scotland and the Great Western Lines between London, the West Country and Wales, since electrification hasn't yet reached much beyond Scotland's Central Belt or the Welsh Valleys, nor a substantial section of the West Country Direct Route, leaving important cities such as Swansea and Plymouth, not to mention all Scottish cities apart from Edinburgh and Glasgow unprovided. Midland Main Line electrification is underway, but with the top part of the route paused: its HSTs were phased out in favour of the Class 222s now destined for Scotland, as new bi-mode trains are taking their place, running under electric power where available.

It's why the HSTs ended up in Scotland in the first place, since apart from cross border services, the trunk routes beyond the Central Belt were in dire need of trains with more capacity than the three car/two car DMUs that have been the standard fare since the end of loco-hauled trains (those were the days!), even when they sometimes ran in 2+2, 2+3 or even 3+3 unit combinations: for the foreseeable future, electrification northwards isn't a viable option economically.

The Central Belt, (basically an expanded version of the corridor between Edinburgh and Glasgow) with its far greater concentrations of population within a relatively compact area, is already largely electrified and provisioned with new stock: further-flung regions will have to make do with hand-me-downs for some while yet.