Class 92
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Has an Arriva CrossCountry HST ever visited Manchester? Are they allowed to go on services to Manchester instead of Voyagers?
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Has a AXC HST ever visited Manchester Picc?
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PHILIPE
Veteran Member
They worked there regularly when Virgin ran XC. Things changed on Operation Princess in 2002 and the introduction of Voyagers.
They worked Manchester Piccadilly-Paignton and Manchester Piccadilly-Newquay diagrams on Saturdays in the first Summer in which XC had the refurbished HST fleet, the Summer of 2009. The Paignton diagram still ran in 2010 too, but the Newquay diagram could have been a Voyager by then. For the High Summer period of Summer 2009 the Newquay diagram was an HST hired in from NXEC.
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Hardcastle
Member
I travelled on one about 2008/09 on a early afternoon service to Bournemouth i was rather surprised at the time.
Class 92
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It would be great if they started going there again even if its just one train down to Plymouth or Penzance a day or even on a Summer Saturday to Newquay.
PHILIPE
Veteran Member
Are you sure ? I didn't think they have ever worked to Bournemouth since XC acquired them. They are confined to Edinburgh to Penzance route and points between.
Simon Poole
Member
They did in 2010, there was a service on Saturdays which arrive into Stafford at 0903 to Paignton, if you click on the link you can see the photo
https://www.flickr.com/photos/47384914@N04/14322016282
https://www.flickr.com/photos/47384914@N04/14322016282
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Hardcastle
Member
Am totally sure of what i travelled on it must have been a one off which i thought at the time. It was a Saturday.
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leedstraindude
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HST's have never worked down to the south coast in this current franchise ever. They cant due to the bogie lengths apparently.
They have only ever gone to the south west in this current franchise.
They have only ever gone to the south west in this current franchise.
PHILIPE
Veteran Member
There would also be a Traction knowledge problem also.
They have gone from and back to Manchester as far as Reading on Festival specials, but thats it since 2003. They're not permitted beyond as per somebody else's point above RE the lack of SSL Bogies. Some FGW sets are still permitted, so who knows when the IEP comes along some sets may well just end up for a short time back on the Bournemouths.
Minilad
Established Member
Not really. Birmingham sign HSTs and Manchester. Might create rostering difficulties but could be done
PHILIPE
Veteran Member
What about Bournemouth ?
61653 HTAFC
Veteran Member
What proportion of the HST trailers in use have Short Swing-Link (?) bogies as opposed to long ones?
Historically, some of the Cross-Country sets would have needed them for the services to Soton/Bournemouth/Weymouth along with possibly West Coast sets for the Euston throat.
Currently some FGW sets have them as stated above for access to Waterloo (presumably they will help with the planned use to Weymouth too, if that's still going ahead), but I'm rather surprised that the XC sets weren't specified to have them in order to run to the South Coast.
Minilad
Established Member
Same. Birmingham men can do Bournemouth
I'm not surprised, because the whole point of XC acquiring the HSTs was principally to add capacity between Bristol, Birmingham and Yorkshire, with the spin-off of having big trains work to the South West and back on summer Saturdays. On much of that core section XC is the key operator, so is picking the bulk of the traffic on offer, whereas on the Manchester-Bournemouth run there are lots of other services sharing the tracks most of the way, so XC is not under under quite so much pressure - not that more capacity wouldn't be very welcome at the busiest times of the day as well, due to the inadequacies of the Voyagers.
61653 HTAFC
Veteran Member
My point really was that there are only a limited number of HST journeys where they need to be able to run without ripping up the juice rail- so it would seem counter-intuitive if a load of the SSL-bogied vehicles were stuck on the ECML or MML, when they'd give XC the flexibility to run HSTs to Southampton if there was a peak in demand (for example if either of the Manchester football clubs were visiting St. Mary's!).
I guess that's yet another problem with our fragmented rail system! :roll:
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Thunderer
Member
No doubt the electrification of the MML and GWML won't see the complete end of the HST on front-line express services in the UK. Most have recently been refurbished and have good ole reliable German MTU engines, so with a few more modernisations again in 2018 (retention tanks on Mk3's, electric external doors etc) they could surely still be running for a few more years beyond 2018?? XC could do with some more HST's instead of the dreaded Vomiters.....what about ATW Camarthen to Manchester routes and FGW Cardiff to Portsmouth routes....both vastly overcrowded with DMU stock....a chance to provide a proper inter-city service on these routes even if the HST was in a shorter formation? What about Scotrail? Edinburgh/Glasgow - Dundee - Aberdeen - Inverness - surely a HST has got to be a better option than a DMU? TPE - Liverpool/Manchester - Newcastle - another option?? All food for thought.....after all railways will be getting busier in the next couple of decades so a train with extra capacity would surely be needed for some of the above mentioned potential routes??
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