Last HST Passenger Services from London Paddington, Saturday May 18th 2019

[Iron Horse]

Anyone got any more pictures from yesterday they can share.......would love to see them 

[Not Captain Kernow]

4 hours ago, Pandora said:

I guess the shot was taken "On or near the line" when standing in a safe and legally permitted position on a foot crossing,   In my 19 years "up front" I have never seen anyone using or waiting to cross the line  by  the  foot crossing, a question on a route assessment paper is how many whistle boards on the route?  Those boards are for the driver to  warn crossing users  of the approaching train

 

Interestingly there was someone at both crossings on this date!  Including someone with a dog out walking which is the first time I have seen someone actually using the footpath to walk along for purposes other than railway photography!

[Northmoor]

29 minutes ago, Iron Horse said:

Anyone got any more pictures from yesterday they can share.......would love to see them 

For about 30 minutes, the bufferstops at Paddington, were kind of like this:

 

At least twice I was asked my "normal people" what was going on, who was coming through etc.  Think there were a few bemused tourists who started taking pictures too.

[adb968008]

Here’s a couple more iPhone pics (i’m Still in Taunton this morning), I will upload my two cameras when I get home tonight / tomorrow am.

 

view from the power car 43093 at paddington (44 seconds earlier than the above crowd picture), the power car had just been started.

 

 

 

Last train, with crew at Weston Super Mare

 

 

Last stop at Taunton last night

 

 

Edited May 9, 2021 by adb968008

[Zomboid]

Awful things, how dare they replace deltics/ 50s/ Hydraulics/ whatever...

[Northmoor]

7 minutes ago, Zomboid said:

Awful things, how dare they replace deltics/ 50s/ Hydraulics/ whatever...

It did occur to me that when steam on the GW effectively ended, a class of locomotives this old would have been introduced before the Grouping.

[The Stationmaster]

3 hours ago, Northmoor said:

It did occur to me that when steam on the GW effectively ended, a class of locomotives this old would have been introduced before the Grouping.

Not far off but pretty close as it happens.  

 

HSTs were introduced to WR passenger service operation in August 1976 so have achieved 42 years and 9 months in operation on the Western in something approaching their original form (but will continue in a different form for some time).  In contrast, and with not dissimilar lifespan the first 'Castle' went into service in August 1923 and the WR's 'Farewell To Steam' special hauled by a 'Castle' (7029) ran on 27 November 1965 (and 7029 was withdrawn a few weeks later).  Thus, and although not working much in the way of passenger services at the end, the 'Castles' managed 42 years  and 3 months in operation overall although most of them had gone in the preceding 3 years or so.

 

Thus the HSTs (in their original-ish form) have beaten the lifespan of the 'Castles' (as a class) by 6 months.  For individual power cars to beat the longevity record for certain  'Castles' they will have to manage the 50 years achieved by one or two of the 'Star' rebuilds but equally the vast majority of the 'Castles' barely managed a 40 year lifespan.

[woodenhead]

Given the HSTs have a second lease of life in the Southwest and Scotland then 50 years in service still looks possible.

 

I'd never really thought about how long they'd been in service till I read this and now I feel really old, I remember them on driver training (not me, I was a child!!) and here they are 42 years later still going at 125, I don't quite have the same top speed any more.

[brushman47544]

I remember well a trip from Reading to Weston-Super-Mare and back on the prototype HST when I was still at school. whilst I always found the HSTs were great trains to travel on, I avoided them like the plague when they first appeared because, as Zomboid said, they replaced the Westerns, Deltics and 50s which were the ONLY way to travel. Time has mellowed my opinion somewhat!

[locoholic]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-48327739

 

[andyman7]

6 hours ago, Iron Horse said:

Anyone got any more pictures from yesterday they can share.......would love to see them 

 

[jim.snowdon]

7 hours ago, Not Captain Kernow said:

 

No evasiveness, I answered it in my reply to you!  If you go back and read my reply you will see that I clearly stated "it was not on the wrong side of the fence".  

So where was it then?

 

Jim

[Not Captain Kernow]

3 minutes ago, jim.snowdon said:

So where was it then?

 

Jim

 

OMG - it says on the original post and also on the caption on my own website - Treleigh!  Do you want a grid reference or something?

[Brinkly]

Real end of an era. I have many found memories of heading to London on the 125s. 

 

Thanks for sharing the photos everyone.

 

Kind regards,

 

Nick.

[jim.snowdon]

28 minutes ago, Not Captain Kernow said:

 

OMG - it says on the original post and also on the caption on my own website - Treleigh!  Do you want a grid reference or something?

No - just at an obscure foot crossing, posting two pictures which to all the world were clearly taken from inside the railway boundary. It's the very sort of thing that everyone was getting so worked up about over Flying Scotsman's travels around Burton, and the legality is, to put it bluntly, a matter of splitting hairs. Being inside the railway boundary is legitimate if the purpose is to cross the railway, not as an excuse to get lineside through a ligitimately provided gap in the fance.

 

Jim

[AY Mod]

23 hours ago, jim.snowdon said:

, I trust that you were the right side of the boundary fence.

 

Your name is cropping up for abrasiveness more and more in reported posts. Let's not push it any further please.

[Not Captain Kernow]

1 hour ago, jim.snowdon said:

No - just at an obscure foot crossing, posting two pictures which to all the world were clearly taken from inside the railway boundary. It's the very sort of thing that everyone was getting so worked up about over Flying Scotsman's travels around Burton, and the legality is, to put it bluntly, a matter of splitting hairs. Being inside the railway boundary is legitimate if the purpose is to cross the railway, not as an excuse to get lineside through a ligitimately provided gap in the fance.

 

Jim

 

OK I have told you more than once that I was not inside the railway boundary.  I explained I was a former railwayman and policeman so know the difference, and yet you continue to assert that I was on the wrong side of the fence.  Lumping me in with the halfwits who trespassed for Flying Scotsman is ridiculous.  I don't know what else I have to do to prove this to you, or why I should even have to?  The footpath is configured in a way that the style is indented which allows you to stand outside the fence but in a position that lets you take a clear picture.  I think this is quite common at many foot crossings.  

[rab]

1 hour ago, jim.snowdon said:

No - just at an obscure foot crossing, posting two pictures which to all the world were clearly taken from inside the railway boundary. It's the very sort of thing that everyone was getting so worked up about over Flying Scotsman's travels around Burton, and the legality is, to put it bluntly, a matter of splitting hairs. Being inside the railway boundary is legitimate if the purpose is to cross the railway, not as an excuse to get lineside through a ligitimately provided gap in the fance.

 

Jim

Please don't turn what is for many of us an interesting topic into a slanging match will only lead to the topic being locked 

[jim.snowdon]

Agreed. Enough has been said.

 

Jim

[Trainshed Terry]

Just reading through this has reminded me of a trip I made on a HST to Redruth to spend a weeks holiday with a freind. If I remember it was the 10:00 out of Paddington that day. And for the life of me it was a HST return via the Berk and Hants line.

 

The photos that I have posted are from the very wet day at St Philips Marsh depot 40th open day.

 

Terry

[Trainshed Terry]

A picture of the original prototype HST>

 

Terry.

 

Edited May 19, 2019 by Trainshed Terry

[BWsTrains]

On 19/04/2019 at 17:01, Mallard60022 said:

 

Who would have thought that, over 40 years later, the 125 would be my train of choice if possible on the ECML!  Now what have I got to look forward to...….Pah!

 

This speaks volumes as to the woeful state of rail in the UK as per my earlier topic.

 

The State of UK Rail - some personal experiences 13 Oct 2018.

 

Just back from a month of travel in Japan; a most enjoyable time, we covered more than 4700km at average 125kph including plenty of non Shinkansen routes. What it didn't have was a single late train, uncomfortable seat or less than perfectly clean, usable toilet whatever the class or route we were on.

 

It defies belief that  40+ yrs on from the 125's introduction things have advanced so little back home

 

Flak jacket and helmet donned,

 

Colin

[adb968008]

Just publishing my video of the day to YouTube now (but it's a long one).

Here's a few pictures of my day whilst it uploads..

 

Hanwell 

 

 

 

 

Southall

 

 

 

Slough

 

 

 

 

Reading

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Didcot

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 9, 2021 by adb968008

[adb968008]

And a few more..

 

 

 

 

Bath station

 

 

 

Edited May 9, 2021 by adb968008

[Jeff Smith]

It is interesting to compare service lives of steam and diesel locomotives in years but how about distance covered.  My gut feeling is that diesels would be quicker to get back into service after an engine, generator or traction motor change than a steam engine with a major boiler, chassis or valve problem.  However perhaps steam reliability would offset this?