ryan125hst
Established Member
I've got a couple of questions regarding the use of the North of London Class 373's by GNER.
They were introduced in 2000 and originally ran to York. What was the reason that they were introduced? Was it to cover for the Class 91's being overhauled- this was the major rebuild which I believe happened before the Mallard refurb which commenced in 2003. Or was it separate to this and simply to add capacity?
I have found that they went off lease in December 2005 (presumably at the timetable change?) which was after the Mallard refurbishment program was competed, so they do appear to be linked.
Regarding their formation, the ticket wallet from 2002 (attached) shows the formation as:
Powercar-A-B-C-D-F-G-H-K-M-P-R-S-T-V-Powercar
Where:
A-D and R-V is Standard Class
G-H is First Class
F and P are the buffet cars
I have seen some videos online from late 2004 and 2005 and they appeared to alter the lettering of them. Presumably this occurred at the same time the HST and 225 letters were changed during the Mallard refurbishment work, likely to make reservations easier between differing formations.
The new lettering seemed to be as follows:
Powercar-B-C-D-E-?-K-L-M-P-?-S-T-V-X-Powercar
Where:
B-E and S-X is Standard Class
K-P is First Class
The buffet cars (marked ?) don't appear to carry a letter.
Judging by the gaps in the lettering, was a letter assigned to the buffet cars? I don't think the letters in the original lettering system were shown externally but were shown on the ticket wallet. Were they shown inside the carriage?
Was the penultimate carriage from the powercar V or W? I have only been able to work this out from videos and the resolution wasn't the best in 2005!
Was anything ever published to show the changes made to the lettering by GNER, whether be on a ticket wallet or leaflet? A newsgroup shows the lettering scheme introduced in 2004, although the ones posted about the White Rose sets is the old scheme. I don't know if they were changed later than the HST's and 225's? The lettering is shown at the bottom of the page: https://uk.railway.narkive.com/G2DJRNvk/gner-ic225-coach-letters
They were introduced in 2000 and originally ran to York. What was the reason that they were introduced? Was it to cover for the Class 91's being overhauled- this was the major rebuild which I believe happened before the Mallard refurb which commenced in 2003. Or was it separate to this and simply to add capacity?
I have found that they went off lease in December 2005 (presumably at the timetable change?) which was after the Mallard refurbishment program was competed, so they do appear to be linked.
Regarding their formation, the ticket wallet from 2002 (attached) shows the formation as:
Powercar-A-B-C-D-F-G-H-K-M-P-R-S-T-V-Powercar
Where:
A-D and R-V is Standard Class
G-H is First Class
F and P are the buffet cars
I have seen some videos online from late 2004 and 2005 and they appeared to alter the lettering of them. Presumably this occurred at the same time the HST and 225 letters were changed during the Mallard refurbishment work, likely to make reservations easier between differing formations.
The new lettering seemed to be as follows:
Powercar-B-C-D-E-?-K-L-M-P-?-S-T-V-X-Powercar
Where:
B-E and S-X is Standard Class
K-P is First Class
The buffet cars (marked ?) don't appear to carry a letter.
Judging by the gaps in the lettering, was a letter assigned to the buffet cars? I don't think the letters in the original lettering system were shown externally but were shown on the ticket wallet. Were they shown inside the carriage?
Was the penultimate carriage from the powercar V or W? I have only been able to work this out from videos and the resolution wasn't the best in 2005!
Was anything ever published to show the changes made to the lettering by GNER, whether be on a ticket wallet or leaflet? A newsgroup shows the lettering scheme introduced in 2004, although the ones posted about the White Rose sets is the old scheme. I don't know if they were changed later than the HST's and 225's? The lettering is shown at the bottom of the page: https://uk.railway.narkive.com/G2DJRNvk/gner-ic225-coach-letters