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Has anyone ever done Aberdeen to Penzance straight through?

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fishquinn

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DaveNewcastle said:
I strongly agree (though would skip the tube).

I had to do Newcastle - Plymouth and back earlier this week, and didn't hesitate in choosing East Coast and FGW HSTs in first class. That was just about 13 hours on board trains, but much preferrable to a Cross Country Voyager, and with decent kitchens and staffing levels on board too. (I also broke my own record for cycling between Paddington & Kings Cross - in under 15 minutes.)
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Or maybe train from Aberdeen to Dyce for a plane to Heathrow for a 332 to London Paddington for a HST to Penzance.

Definitely quicker.
 
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fishquinn

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AdamW said:
I don't know, 841 never was the bastion of reliability and still isn't from what I hear ;)
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She is ok but yes, the reliability does lack, probably why DRS don't use her as much. Before someone points out 47802 it is fine, just stored.
 
12CSVT

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AdamW said:
I don't know, 841 never was the bastion of reliability and still isn't from what I hear ;)
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fishquinn said:
She is ok but yes, the reliability does lack, probably why DRS don't use her as much. Before someone points out 47802 it is fine, just stored.
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Translation - 841 doesn't work very well, and 802, how shall I put it, doesn't work at all.
 
David Goddard

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We did Penzance to Glasgow yesterday, but instead of taking the 0828 (rammed full before Plymouth) voyager, we bailed out at Newton Abbot, dropped into Paignton for fish and chips, then took the 1235 straight through on an HST. First Class was barely a quarter full thoughout so we had loads of space to spread out.

Its great that XC do have those four HST diagrams- really makes the log journeys more pleasurable. The SO 0632 Dundee - Newquay trip is a great diagram and I think is the longest through run on an HST at 12 hours.
Its a pity they don't have even just a few more sets for the longest of runs - I would certainly not fancy the 0820 Aberdeen to Penzance as it stands but if it was an HST then would start saving for my next ALR today!
Currently on another long distance HST - 1347 Aberdeen to London Kings Cross.
 
Techniquest

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Minilad said:
Oh I do love a bit of revisionism.
XC 47s reliable. hahahahaha
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Quite. I was never a basher or whatever at the time (sadly), but ridiculously long delays were commonplace across XC on a daily basis because of unreliable 47/8s IIRC. Can't remember if it was then (2001/2002 if memory serves) or a few years before of the hiring of RES 47s a couple of days before Pathfinder were due to run a charter advertising first use of RES 47s on a passenger train. Sure someone else could clarify.

Only pre-Voyager thing I can remember of VXC was a Virgin HST at Swansea in 2002 I think, I was going to get it but got an FGW HST instead for the trek across South Wales.
 
fishquinn

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Techniquest said:
Quite. I was never a basher or whatever at the time (sadly), but ridiculously long delays were commonplace across XC on a daily basis because of unreliable 47/8s IIRC. Can't remember if it was then (2001/2002 if memory serves) or a few years before of the hiring of RES 47s a couple of days before Pathfinder were due to run a charter advertising first use of RES 47s on a passenger train. Sure someone else could clarify.

Only pre-Voyager thing I can remember of VXC was a Virgin HST at Swansea in 2002 I think, I was going to get it but got an FGW HST instead for the trek across South Wales.
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I doubt many 47s got later than this though...

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/C73015/2014/07/04/advanced
 
sprinterguy

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Techniquest said:
Can't remember if it was then (2001/2002 if memory serves) or a few years before of the hiring of RES 47s a couple of days before Pathfinder were due to run a charter advertising first use of RES 47s on a passenger train. Sure someone else could clarify.
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It would have to be considerably earlier. The RES 47/7s were put to work on charter trains from pretty much the moment they began to be released from works in 1993, following directly on from the lives that many of the locos had previously led as 47/8s. 47783 hadn't even been painted out of Intercity swallow livery from its' previous incarnation as a '47/8' before it found itself on railtour duties.

Virgin Crosscountry could reliably be expected to throw out RES and Fragonset 47s, and stranger things still on occasion, in place of the booked 47/8s (They could reliably be expected to be unreliable!). I remember being pleasantly surprised when BR green liveried 47488 rolled into Newcastle at the head of a heavily delayed Crosscountry service, some time in the late nineties. Great from an enthusiasts’ point of view, but fairly hopeless if you were actually hoping to get anywhere! Mind you, I do recall some good runs with 47/8s under Virgin, too.
 
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Techniquest

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sprinterguy:1845349 said:
Techniquest said:
Can't remember if it was then (2001/2002 if memory serves) or a few years before of the hiring of RES 47s a couple of days before Pathfinder were due to run a charter advertising first use of RES 47s on a passenger train. Sure someone else could clarify.
Click to expand...
It would have to be considerably earlier. The RES 47/7s were put to work on charter trains from pretty much the moment they began to be released from works in 1993, following directly on from the lives that many of the locos had previously led as 47/8s. 47783 hadn't even been painted out of Intercity swallow livery from its' previous incarnation as a '47/8' before it found itself on railtour duties.

Virgin Crosscountry could reliably be expected to throw out RES and Fragonset 47s, and stranger things still on occasion, in place of the booked 47/8s (They could reliably be expected to be unreliable!). I remember being pleasantly surprised when BR green liveried 47488 rolled into Newcastle at the head of a heavily delayed Crosscountry service, some time in the late nineties. Great from an enthusiasts’ point of view, but fairly hopeless if you were actually hoping to get anywhere! Mind you, I do recall some good runs with 47/8s under Virgin, too.
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Fair play, thanks for the correction :)

Fragonset, crikey that name's a blast from the past!
 
185143

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Bayum:1838429 said:
I like travelling, I really do.

I've recently just got a job at a school which is part one of travelling around the world.

Single handedly, I made a journey to Waverley to see a hospital consultant at the children's hospital nearby. I then made a journey to see my mum who had moved to Cornwall recently.

Never again. The extra few hours from Edinburgh to Leeds were just too much. My joints seized even though I had a lovely HST to walk up and down and by the end of the journey I was travel sick - something that doesn't happen easily to me.

I like to travel - but that was one journey too long.
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At least if you are sick on a HST there are dropdown windows:D
 
fishquinn

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185143 said:
At least if you are sick on a HST there are dropdown windows:D
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Useless if you are me! I am at the window already!

One time, I was on a tour with a pair of 47s from St Neots to Edinburgh and I was away from the window for an hour and a half at the most in the whole trip (out and back).
 
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