hexagon789

I hope you enjoy it then :)

If you are interested in some photos of the stations, as well as a detailed background and service history of the system pre- and post-modernisation, 'Circles Under the Clyde' is an excellent book.

There was no rope to preserve ;) Two steel cables, hence 'cable hauled subway'. I don't think a rope would've stood up well to the harsh 'gripper' treatment, no matter how it was coated. It is just a myth that the smell stems from any form of preservative used on the Subway, the nearby Low Level tunnels if the Argyle and North Clyde lines smell exactly the same in the below surface stations. A sort of damp, fusty, slightly sulphury smell and yes - you still get the smell on the Subway a little bit, but I think the Low Level (particularly Glasgow Central and Argyle Street stations) has it more strongly.

Yes definitely; the 2+4s for example will reach 100mph within about 150 secs from a stand and can even climb Slochd at a steady 60mph on one power car... ;)

Quite comfortable. They have Grammer seats (same as Inverness 158s) in Std and the ex-GWR leather ones in First. Spacing is better than GWR Std was though, reduced from 84 seats to 74. The main gripe I would say is fewer toilets, lack of space in the underframe means a tank can only be accommodated at one end - so vehicles have only one toilet max now. (4-car sets have three, 5-cars have four.) Also, note that by no means all services have catering. ScotRail is still struggling to recruit hospitality staff, so there is a published list on their website each week of services with catering. Final note: substitutions by 170s (and occasionally 158s) do still occur. On average about 13 of the booked 15 weekday diagrams are HST, the balance 170s. Substitutions are more common at weekends, bank holidays and when there is significant service disruption.

Nice selection, I particularly like the 47 in J4288. According to the Carriage Workings (and the formation in the photo matches the booked one perfectly), 1L29 was the 1610 King's Cross - York.

Around the 1900s.

Virgin Trains ran the last Manchester Pullmans. By then, while branded with window labels, there wasn't much to set them apart from normal Mk3 West Coast services, other than slightly more limited calling patterns and slightly quicker schedules. IIRC Virgin dropped the name at the May 1998 timetable change. GNER continued its 'Scottish Pullmans' until the mid-2000s.

They are RKBs though - no seats in them! They have a kitchen almost the entire interior of the vehicle, a serving hatch one end and a buffet counter the other. The serving hatch end would usually be coupled against a dining car (often a normal air-con First Open, particularly by this stage), the buffet counter end towards 2nd/Std Class for their catering needs First Class Pullman travellers would've been seated in mostly the newest coaches on BR, the 1985 build Mk3B FOs - often regarded as the best First Class vehicles built. Asides from the fact that an RKB has no seats anyway! ;) Again though, the mid-80s Manchester Pullman sets had an RKB (though substitutions were of course not unknown) which has no seats. Any First Class passengers would've been sat primarily in the 'Pullman'-branded Mk3B FOs.

I don't think XC does double trolleys, not sure about GWR. Avanti does normally staff both shops on double Super Voyagers and LNER both Café-Bars on 10-car Azuma formations.

The Manchester Pullman in Mk3 days had two catering vehicles even into push-pull days. In earlier years it was a Mk1 RKB and a Mk3 RFB, later two RFM. The IC125s had some two catering vehicle sets into the 1990s with the Tyne-Tees and Yorkshire Pullman sets having a TRFB and TRFK. The IC225s had some Pullman sets with two SV until around the mid-90s.

'Legacy traction', they are defining it as anything constructed pre-1995. In Scotland that therefore includes: 156 158 HST 318 320 Class 73 on the sleepers

I agree, I frequently make use of CRS codes and while not aware of all of them - BNS being Barnes not Birmingham New Street is effectively drummed in. So when I saw BNS, I immediately thought of Barnes not Birmingham New Street. Even if BNS may seem a logical acronym/abbreviation to some, it won't to everyone and as you rightly say - some abbreviations can be ambiguous. For Birmingham New Street, unless in a context where I knew it would be understood CRS codes were being used, I would abbreviate to no less than 'Birmingham N.S.'; I consider that reasonably unambiguous.

In theory: 170401-424 'Express pool' 1st batch (First Class both ends) 170425-434 'Express Pool' 2nd batch (First Class both ends), any ScotRail Express route 170470-478 'SPT units' Std only - mostly SPT sponsored local services Glasgow Queen Street to Stirling/Dunblane/Cumbernauld/Falkirk 170450-461 'Suburban pool' (all Std only until 450-457 were converted to converted to Express pool, ~2012). Mainly to replace 150s on Fife local services, plus Edinburgh to Newcraighall, Bathgate and Dunblane. 170393-396 'ex-Hull Trains', buffet & 1st Class one end. The 1st Class took up a whole driving car, but only the section behind the driver's cab was used as First class by ScotRail, the remainder declassified and later removed. Obtained 2005 after HT switched to Class 222s. Diagrammed initially on Edinburgh/Glasgow-Inverness services but could appear elsewhere. The units were converted to Std only in 2012 and transferred to the 'Suburban pool'; 450-457 were converted to 'Express pool at the same time'. The buffet counters saw little use despite initial intentions and were finally removed in 2017. These units can be distinguished internally by the presence of an extra toilet compartment in the centre car. Note that as ever, in practice any 170 might turn up. Suburban units did appear in Inverness and Aberdeen standing in for unavailable Express units. That was more common after ScotRail gave up its 150s and some 158s, when more diagrams became 170. So yes, any unit could turn up on any service. That still happens. I've seen 170401 waiting to leave Queen Street on an Anniesland local, while in the adjacent platform 170470 waited to run to Aberdeen. ScotRail do usually post online when First Class is unavailable on a service advertised to convey it. I do have the 170 diagrams for 2009 somewhere if interested?

I mentioned the Elgin extension upthread, and while I knew it was 1980s, I missed that it applied in 1984! RAF and Navy personnel was the other main category I had in mind, after Rig Workers.

There was a through Aberdeen to Penzance (joining with a Glasgow portion at Carstairs) in the 1984 timetable. The previous year there was a Dundee to Penzance HST, which was withdrawn in the major shake-up of HST services in 1984. Going further back, an Aberdeen-Penzance through coach had existed since the 1920s.

Rig workers was certainly one 'type' of commuter I was thinking of.

Yes, definitely have been 'normals' who have done the full service

It was truncated to Plymouth during COVID. It has literally just resumed full running to Penzance with the timetable change on Sunday there. It can be either, but is more frequently a 5-car 221 it seems. Possibly it is booked 5-car, with 4-car 220s substituting if necessary. Certainly there is no timing difference between the types.

It still has two a day I believe. In th 80s, there was a Summer Friday overnight from Newcastle, returning on Saturday. More recently, CrossCountry had a Dundee-Newquay service on Summer Saturdays, usually an HST as well.

It has various markets, though if various media reports on the service through the years are believed - the odd regulars did the whole journey, albeit infrequently (maybe monthly). The full service has: 9 drivers 7 train managers

Looks like all the Fife calls are back in, but slightly strangely Dunbar is removed after Edinburgh? Something amusing struck me about your photo though. You must've taken it at about 0930 when 1V60 makes its Dundee call, some 11hours ago. 1V60 is however still going even now, it has another 60 mins to Penzance.

Actually, as surprising as it sounds, the masive rubber seals on the front do have an aerodynamic property to them. I forget exactly how it works, but the ring shape does displace the air the train moves through in a fashion. I agree absolutely on visual aesthetics though! Not bad units though as such, they can certainly shift some... like an Express Sprinter on a double dose of steroids...

C44376 - a weathering job to aspire to? ;)

The Ramsgate service was Summer Sats only IIRC, and by the end was out from Birmingham and returning to Glasgow Central. But it is a possibility of course in the earlier years before the end points changed. I think Brighton just springs more readily to mind.