Silly thing to wish for if you ask me. Why would you want noisy diesel locomotives pushing carriages with an almost identical interior to the current fleet, replacing 100% electric trains on a 100% electrified route?
If you swapped the 68 for an 88 though….
The 397s were procured especially for the WCML services and are of no other use to TPE until the wires meet up between Manchester and Leeds. Meanwhile the 88s are limited to 100 mph and are all being put to good use as it is. I can't tell you why you saw a Mk 5a set in Glasgow yesterday but I'm fairly confident in saying it wasn't a prelude to entering service.
Again - why? What benefit would that bring?
I did not realise it was limited to 100mph. I also did not realise there were no loco-hauled romantics on here…
Knocking off a perfectly good electric multiple unit from the route it was designed for to replace with a locomotive just to make locomotive enthusiasts happy would be a pointless move and ridiculous waste of money, it’s got nothing to do with whether or not I’m a “loco-hauled romantic!”
Yes. Similar test runs have also been done to Carlisle and Tyne Yard in the past.
