HST to replaced by IEP

That's such a shame to hear, but I guess it had to happen one day, and knowing government plans and funding, you know it will get delayed and have short funding, which will add a few more years of service. ;)
They are getting on a bit though to be honest and I would always prefer a Voyager or Pendo. The journey from Brum to Plymouth was great when virgin had their Voyagers on the line, then Xcountry took over and put the old HST on the line and its like sitting in rally car in comparison. :hehe:
 
Hi Everybody
Deano5 said:
That's such a shame to hear, but I guess it had to happen one day, and knowing government plans and funding, you know it will get delayed and have short funding, which will add a few more years of service. ;)
They are getting on a bit though to be honest and I would always prefer a Voyager or Pendo. The journey from Brum to Plymouth was great when virgin had their Voyagers on the line, then Xcountry took over and put the old HST on the line and its like sitting in rally car in comparison. :hehe:
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I have to disagree with you there Deano, I much prefer the HSTs to the Voyagers. I traveled on a Voyager up to Liverpool (well change Stratford) last week, and I find them very noisy and seem to have a lot of vibration in them as well now as some of them are getting a bit older. The HST is much quieter and smoother providing they do not have any cracked wheels which is often the case.

As far as the electrification is concerned I think we do agree regarding the the bureaucracy that will now surround the upgrade (if you can call it that). In fact I would be willing to bet my pension on what I believe will happen.

First of all, project managers will be appointed on fantastic salaries. They will then bring in the consultants who will then bring in the solicitors and lawyers for the planning. The lawyers will bring in all their staff such as " letterwriters, legal advisers to the letterwriters and clerks who will be housed in a London city office block costing millions of pounds per year.

Then when all the parasites have had their fill of our money the project will be canceled due to " overrunning costs". Of course I will not be too upset as I will keep my beloved HSTs. But as it will have taken at least 20 years to get to the cancellation stage without an electric cable being rigged I will undoubtedly be too old to travel on them any longer if I am still around at all.

Bill:D
 
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I like the class395 javelins though I would much rather have a British manufacturer build a locomotive train or even improve the HSTs further. The good news is their going to build the class395s here which will create a lot of jobs and I think that is most important.;) Also if I ever do get er erm... Some what do you call it some money? I think I will buy the hornby version of class395 I like the look of them. I think they can go on both diesel and electric too. But the HSTs where the best.;)
 
Agree over here!

hi guys,
I prefer the HST's to anything riding the rails. They were worthy repacements to the Deltics of the 1950's and 60's. Without these heroes, they would still be hauling are trainsets from BTM to Paddington. Now it is comparison time! (Based on my experience) Voyager: Very noisy, Vibrates alot and lurches when it tilts. Pendolino: Nice ride and quite quiet, but actually very dirty inside, but the is tilting alright. HST: Quiet, Comfortable, Fast and the are no exhaust like the Voyager. 1st=HST. 2nd=Pendolino. 3rd=Voyager.
 
IsambardKingdomBrunel said:
No probs Bill. ;)

I just think that they find money very easily for new routes, updates and expansions in the S.E. of England and to the Midlands.

But when it comes to any other parts of the UK, suddenly the coffers are empty and disinterest sets in rapidly.

For your information Blackwatch, this falls outside the remit of the Welsh Assembly Government's powers, so engage your brain before opening your mouth.

IKB.
Click to expand...

Sorry to re-quote you I.K.B. but when you say Midlands, I think you mean just the west side and maybe Nottingham. We have been waiting for the line to be electrified from Bedford to Sheffield for 50 years now and still no sign of it! We have four Major cities that would benefit from this (including Sheffield) but every Government seems to think that no-one lives in the East Midlands.

Best Regards (and at least some people can have a laugh).
Capt******* :p
 
PerRock said:
so.... do we know what an IEP is planned to look like yet?

peter
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The IEP looks like the train on my signature as below. Might actually look better than 125 but that is unlikely. Someone should definetly start a 125 conservation project to save these English-Built beauties. Why does the Goverment try to kill off everything that is English built. And then they start whinging that ****** (Sorry just had to do that) economy is failing fast.
Regards
Uracco
 
To repeat Post 2, this should be in Proto Talk but anyway...

Picking up on one point, what eventually became ATW moved their Control to Cardiff in 1997 as part of the privatisation process. I was on the night it happened and had the pleasure on being Duty Manager on the first "go live" shift at Cardiff. Since then most of the NR operational control for Wales has moved down to Cardiff and they have a nice new integrated office with ATW in the South Wales Signalling Centre.

I think you will find most professional railwaymen like myself are firmly of the view that cutting off electrification at Cardiff is a bit daft, but some is better than none and at least the new hybrid trains will have some built in recovery capacity with the onboard diesels. We shouldn't see the riots they get on the WCML or ECML when the wires come down in a strong breeze. It also retains the ability to divert via Kemble, Gloucester and Lydney on diesel power if the Severn Tunnel is up the creek.

Hopefully by the time it is getting up to speed we will have had another election and a change of Government at Westminster, as I can't see this lot lasting much longer with some of the dafter things we are seeing come out. However that's verging on the political and probably a debate to resume on another forum (Overclockers UK usually good for that sort of thing).
 
uracco said:
The IEP looks like the train on my signature as below. Might actually look better than 125 but that is unlikely. Someone should definetly start a 125 conservation project to save these English-Built beauties. Why does the Goverment try to kill off everything that is English built. And then they start whinging that ****** (Sorry just had to do that) economy is failing fast.
Regards
Uracco
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Agreed!;) I also think the UK has the resources to build a new modern high speed electric unit. I think people like Richard Branson and Alan Sugar could do some funding and the railway companies can chip in too. I think BREL and another manufacturer could be helped by the above.

I'm not an expert on global economics (who is these days) but I think maybe because UK brought Japanese trains maybe the Japanese might buy UK trains in Japan but I doubt it. I wonder why the UK didn't buy any European trains?
Anyway at least the Japanese are very up on their trains.;)
 
Not wanting to start a major debate, but, an entire fleet of new trains that size built in this country would probably cost way over the budget available to buy them. ;)
 
Deano5 said:
Not wanting to start a major debate, but, an entire fleet of new trains that size built in this country would probably cost way over the budget available to buy them. ;)
Click to expand...

That kind of thinking is part of the reason this country is in the mess it's in.

Yes, it might 'cost more', but it would create jobs, and you have to offset the extra cost against the reduction in unemployment benefits, NHS costs, etc, etc. You also get a lot of that 'cost' back in taxes, which you don't get with import purchases - you're essentially giving 40-60% of the price of the locomotives to the local country of manufacture. It might also revitalise interest in foreign buyers - EE's lcoomotive division was relatively small when you viewed only the domestic orders (well, once they got the 37s out of the way), but when you factored in all the export, they were huge. Some revitalisation in UK industry would result in those jobs being more than just short-term (even if they were relatively short-term, it would most likely be cheaper than paying them benefits, since they'd need to be employed for maintenance purposes too.

But no, most ministers just look at the simple figure of the price for a domestic built item, and say 'more expensive... next'. Short sighted management at it's best.
 
Deano5 said:
Not wanting to start a major debate, but, an entire fleet of new trains that size built in this country would probably cost way over the budget available to buy them. ;)
Click to expand...

They gave that excuse for closing the Coal pits in this country.
Please show me the mathmatics that prove that digging coal in Australia, loading it onto ships, burning diesel fuel to ship it halfway round the planet & paying dock fees at £15,000 a day, make it cheaper ?
Whilst at the same time, paying out thousands of pounds in benefits to EX miners & their families, who are now out of work .........................
When we used to dig it out, put it on a BRITISH BUILT (so providing jobs) train, running it 30 miles down the track, then unloading it at a power station, that provided the energy for your "Green Electric Trains".
If you can do that, then by god, YOU are the Prime Minister we need to run this country.
 
Must say that to a degree IKB has a point in selective rail spending as far as places outside the big routes are concerned but this part of the Kingdom (Scotland) has actually seen 3 lines closed since the Beeching days over half a century ago, reopened. There is a fourth overdue for reopen building but no word as of yet. As we get a goodly money chunk (Barnett Formula)out of proportion to our size from the UK Exchequer, Wales would I suspect be in the same situation?
 
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