HST Power Car into retro livery

[yorksrob]

Leasing arrangement and accompanying maintenance agreement with Bombardier for the Voyager fleet, which is a flat fee deal of some sort. XC get more and bigger bills the more they use their HST fleet.

Ah, I see. Given their propensity to direct stock cascades etc, I'm surprised the DfT hasn't directed both parties to come up with a more beneficial leasing arrangement akin to the one they have for the Voyagers.

 

[2030720310]

Quite a patronising know-it-all, aren't we?

He says, with the most patronising comment!

 

[Minilad]

This forum does love to bash XC at every opportunity though so it's no great surprise

 

[43096]

You're the one suggesting XC is a badly run TOC simply because they didn't send an HST power car for a depot open day.

You know perfectly well that that is not what I'm saying. XC are a poor operator because they provide a poor service with uncomfortable, overcrowded trains that have been even more dumbed down since the days of Virgin.

That's seriously insulting to the staff who work bloody miracles day in and day out to keep the service running, and to maintain stock which is late at getting back onto depot and needs to be off depot earlier thanks to incidents happening almost anywhere across the network.

Tough. The service is that bad that I no longer use XC - I drive instead.

And as for leases - flat fee, wet leasing ROSCO maintenance wasn't an option for XC at the time the HSTs were taken on lease. There was a lot of money spent getting the stored examples back into a serviceable state, when I saw 43101 at Brush, it looked more like a plant pot than a HST power car, with weeds growing out of it, the Mark 3 LHCS which was converted was just as bad, having spent time at Long Marston.

Wrong. Wet lease was available had XC wanted it. The state of the stock has got nothing to do with it, the overhauls were done up front and funded by Angel and Porterbrook and costs included in the leases. The bit Arriva are responsible for is the ongoing level 5 work (C4/C6 on the coaches, E,F and G exams) - which has nothing to do with the initial overhaul costs.

 

[CosherB]

Christ, you would think the railway exists just to keep bloody trainspotters happy. You've no idea how much whining we've had about bridge parapets being raised too.

There's plenty of operational reasons why XC didn't send powercars to the jamboree, mainly the franchise being totally broke and not being able to afford the maintenance costs on the HST sets as it is, which is why they're parked up when they're really needed in service. XC know they can fill the HST sets on most routes, but they can't run them without making a considerable loss, it's cheaper for them to run Voyagers and have overcrowding and passengers left on the platform.

A refreshing dose of reality, sadly lacking by so many on here. Well said.

 

[Darandio]

You know perfectly well that that is not what I'm saying. XC are a poor operator because they provide a poor service with uncomfortable, overcrowded trains that have been even more dumbed down since the days of Virgin.

You did. At the end of a long rant, you said....

So I stand by my comment that it's a poor show by XC. It just reinforces the view that XC is a badly run TOC.

Which easily suggests that you believe they are a badly run outfit because they didn't send anything to the open day.

People can only read what you type.

 

[cjmillsnun]

Wrong. Wet lease was available had XC wanted it. The state of the stock has got nothing to do with it, the overhauls were done up front and funded by Angel and Porterbrook and costs included in the leases. The bit Arriva are responsible for is the ongoing level 5 work (C4/C6 on the coaches, E,F and G exams) - which has nothing to do with the initial overhaul costs.

Sorry do you know that for a fact? Were you one of those negotiating for XC or the RosCos involved? Didn't think so. Oh and costs of the refurbs included in the leases. It is likely that XC have paid for those overhauls more than once and are still paying for them.

Now I agree with you about XC. I think there is much they can do to improve (although I also agree it is a miracle they get out anything like a service some days.), however I can understand why they haven't sent a power car.

 

[Philip Phlopp]

Wrong. Wet lease was available had XC wanted it. The state of the stock has got nothing to do with it, the overhauls were done up front and funded by Angel and Porterbrook and costs included in the leases. The bit Arriva are responsible for is the ongoing level 5 work (C4/C6 on the coaches, E,F and G exams) - which has nothing to do with the initial overhaul costs.

I didn't say wet lease wasn't available, I said it wasn't option. The franchise couldn't afford a wet lease, it needed the flexibility to stand the HST sets up and down, to manage the maintenance element of the running costs. That's a DfT issue, not an Arriva issue.

 

[hst43009]

XC were most apologetic and explained clearly and eloquently to the event organisers why they cannot resource having a powercar away from their home patch over the whole Bank Holiday weekend. Had they had the spare capacity then they would have supported the event.

How about we drop the XC bashing and enjoy the exhibits that TOCs have been able to release. It's taken months of work and loads of people's unpaid free time to put the event on and complaints about 43xxx not being there might make people more reluctant to make the effort to organise these types of event in future.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

 

[zn1]

whats the difference between a an class 43 operated by GWR, VTEC, EMT, NR, GC & AXC.....ahh yes NO DIFFERENCE apart from PAINT work mainly

they are identical locomotives with a few modifications to front ends on a few of em..simple as that .

The major star is the SURVIVING PROTOTYPE...

i now remember why i dont go to open days now.....its the Gricers who moan about trivial matters such a TOC not sending a loco down...well its so important to you SPOTTERS all...YOU PAY FOR THE FUEL. TRAIN CREW, PATHING etc...£10k should cover it ..

 

[HMS Ark Royal]

whats the difference between a an class 43 operated by GWR, VTEC, EMT, NR, GC & AXC.....ahh yes NO DIFFERENCE apart from PAINT work mainly

they are identical locomotives with a few modifications to front ends on a few of em..simple as that .

The major star is the SURVIVING PROTOTYPE...

i now remember why i dont go to open days now.....its the Gricers who moan about trivial matters such a TOC not sending a loco down...well its so important to you SPOTTERS all...YOU PAY FOR THE FUEL. TRAIN CREW, PATHING etc...£10k should cover it ..

Is there any reason to be uncouth like that?

 

[cjmillsnun]

whats the difference between a an class 43 operated by GWR, VTEC, EMT, NR, GC & AXC.....ahh yes NO DIFFERENCE apart from PAINT work mainly

they are identical locomotives with a few modifications to front ends on a few of em..simple as that .

The major star is the SURVIVING PROTOTYPE...

i now remember why i dont go to open days now.....its the Gricers who moan about trivial matters such a TOC not sending a loco down...well its so important to you SPOTTERS all...YOU PAY FOR THE FUEL. TRAIN CREW, PATHING etc...£10k should cover it ..

The EMT 43 is different. It has a Paxman engine.

 

[Domh245]

Is there any reason to be uncouth like that?

Eh, he didn't seem uncouth, just a bit loud. Perfectly valid points though...

 

[Saint66]

Completely agree with most of the comments previously, I think it's ridiculous to bash XC just because it wasn't possible or reasonable to send a HST down. It seems they explained why to the organisers, and if it had possible I'm sure XC would have sent a Power Car down.

 

[D1009]

i think they have 8 out of 10 power cars being used on a sunday

On a point of information there were no XC HSTs planned to be in service yesterday due to the route effectively being cut in two at Sheffield. Also bank holiday Sundays are quieter than normal ones.

 

[HMS Ark Royal]

On a point of information there were no XC HSTs planned to be in service yesterday due to the route effectively being cut in two at Sheffield. Also bank holiday Sundays are quieter than normal ones.

Hence why they could have sent one down

 

[D1009]

Hence why they could have sent one down

What about today's service, then?

 

[HMS Ark Royal]

What about today's service, then?

Whoops... I thought that said today's service

 

[CosherB]

Hence why they could have sent one down

Just get over it and move on. :roll:

 

[HMS Ark Royal]

Just get over it and move on. :roll:

*shrugs* Can't help it if I lost me glasses

 

[cjmillsnun]

I've seen some pics on Facebook. 43002 looks superb. I won't post them as they aren't mine, and are on a private group.

 

[HMS Ark Royal]

I've seen some pics on Facebook. 43002 looks superb. I won't post them as they aren't mine, and are on a private group.

Just post the ones from the BTP Paddington twitter page

 

[2030720310]

The Railway Magazine facebook page has one, looks very good, shouldn't be too incongruous with FGW blue either

 

[Fishface220]

From today

 

[Fishface220]

Old / new

 

[Tobbes]

Thanks Fishface - that's a really lovely job, down to 253001!

Nice work, FGW.

 

[keithboddey]

HST in Retro Livery at Bristol

 

[Kite159]

Looks amazing

 

[Ianno87]

Hence why they could have sent one down

Except they normally stable their HSTs at Craigentinny and Neville Hill. Wrong side of Sheffield.

 

[superalbs]

Shame it's tacky vinyl, looks lovely otherwise!