Locos and units you didnt like and still dont miss

[Mills444]

Any DMU's, class 31's, HST's and 306's. Don't miss any of them

What about EMU's ?

 

[peteb]

The FGW/GWR 150/1s. I hated when one of these turned up, yet don’t mind the 150/2s. I’m glad they’re gone and don’t miss them.

We don’t see many 150/2s anymore either, unless of course one turns up in place of a Turbo, 158 or mini HST.

Agree. Nothing worse than having to travel from Worcester to Bristol/Swindon or beyond in a class 150. I dislike stock where windows and seats dont align, plus the 150s were so noisy on the mainline. Glad they've gone from Kidderminster line workings too.

 

[hexagon789]

The Tonbridge to Redhill were 508s that came from Merseyrail to Connex.

They were scrapped - literally - after Connex lost the franchise.

Ah, hadn't realised some were effectively transferred back to the ex-Southern Region so I just assumed this was when the 508s were new and were operating on the SR before then being transferred to Merseyside minus a trailer.

 

[Purple Orange]

Pacers and HSTs. It was acceptable in the 80s, but they should have gone long before smoking was banned in public places.

 

[nlogax]

+1 for HSTs. While I can happily reminisce about being young and riding them on the WR, in my adult life using them out of necessity I found their ride quality to be severely lacking, and the fixed armrests on the IC70s were pretty annoying. Not to mention any remaining ounce of character had been half-inched from the experience once they were re-engined.

 

[Journeyman]

+1 for HSTs. While I can happily reminisce about being young and riding them on the WR, in my adult life using them out of necessity I found their ride quality to be severely lacking, and the fixed armrests on the IC70s were pretty annoying. Not to mention any remaining ounce of character had been half-inched from the experience once they were re-engined.

Absolutely. They were revolutionary in their day and helped InterCity become a great success, but I've never understood the view that the Mark 3 is THE GREATEST CARRIAGE IN THE WORLD EVER, and it's time they bowed out. In fact, it was time at least 15 or so years ago.

 

[Richard Scott]

Absolutely. They were revolutionary in their day and helped InterCity become a great success, but I've never understood the view that the Mark 3 is THE GREATEST CARRIAGE IN THE WORLD EVER, and it's time they bowed out. In fact, it was time at least 15 or so years ago.

Afraid I must disagree, I've travelled a lot around Europe and mark 3 is a great coach compared to continential offerings and, I feel, an excellent coach in its own right. A DB ICE train might be the one which does beat a mark 3, though!

 

[Dawg]

Wouldn’t cross the road for a 47 Duff back in the day, hate them when they are stuck on the back of steam specials for destination stock movements. HST’s. Never saw the fuss about class 50’s years ago. Very uninspiring looking Locos. Again, wouldn’t get excited seeing one now.
Never a fan of the electrics 86 & 87.

Steam - not a big LNER fan. Aside from the A4, their Locos always looked badly proportioned and a bit fugly compared to the Stanier LMS stuff. If there’s a special passing hauled by one, I generally won’t go to see it. GWR and SR all good, just LNER for some reason.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Plenty of threads on what we like and miss but how about the opposite. Loco's and units we didnt like when in service and still don't miss years after withdrawl.
For me diesel loco wise 25's, they were fine reliable work horses and did what they were asked to do but never got excited about them, maybe because In Scotland we had "our" 26's and 27's.

I have to agree - never liked the Class 25s - and please dont shoot me I was never a class 40 fan either.

 

[Taunton]

From the days of modernisation plan dmus, I despised any unit I was travelling in that had (usually empty) First Class in the front ...

It wasn't even as if paying the extra gave you the view seats, because such units always had standard class seats at the other end, it was a 50-50 chance which one was leading.

 

[43096]

Deltics. Chronically unreliable, massively overrated, an utterly fruit-looped engine design and sound like a set of badly-tuned bagpipes.

VEPs. Out of date before they were built; and an utterly disgusting, rancid form of transport.

 

[Journeyman]

From the days of modernisation plan dmus, I despised any unit I was travelling in that had (usually empty) First Class in the front ...

It wasn't even as if paying the extra gave you the view seats, because such units always had standard class seats at the other end, it was a 50-50 chance which one was leading.

Class 110s had first class at both ends.

 

[CW2]

4 VEPs.
Class 47.
Class 31.
Class 313.
Class 86/2 (only because they always turned up in place of something more desireable).

 

[Taunton]

Class 110s had first class at both ends.

Rarely employed on my school holiday "treat" from Taunton to Minehead

4 VEPs.

Sometimes the opposite happens, and what was initially a disappointment turns into something memorable.

Accordingly, I was waiting at Southampton Parkway one afternoon about 1990 to return to London, in the days when the fasts ran nonstop between these two points. Should have been a 12-REP, but what hove into view was sadly just a well-filled single 4-VEP. First surprise was I managed to get a forward-facing window seat, in the motor coach.

Off we set on what was a most spectacular run. We got to Waterloo in under an hour, making up time, having run it felt for much of the journey at 100mph; I know that's not possible, but we were flat out, and beat the REP timing.

 

[WL113]

Class 150s, never very comfortable and their indirect replacement by 170s which cascaded down other units was a vast improvement. Even if 158s to Bathgate was perhaps a bit of an overkill.

Being honest I still miss the 150s on the Chase Line for all the right reasons. They were reliable, kept to time and were just good commuter trains. When the 170s replaced them they were always losing time. The situation got worse when they were coupled to Class 153s. Having to uncouple and recouple mid journey to clear faults was quite common. Yes the 170s are nice units inside but were not really designed for start stop commuter services. To be fair though they did settle down after a while.

Then last year we got the 350s.... Nice trains, disastrous timetable!

 

[yorksrob]

Rarely employed on my school holiday "treat" from Taunton to Minehead


Sometimes the opposite happens, and what was initially a disappointment turns into something memorable.

Accordingly, I was waiting at Southampton Parkway one afternoon about 1990 to return to London, in the days when the fasts ran nonstop between these two points. Should have been a 12-REP, but what hove into view was sadly just a well-filled single 4-VEP. First surprise was I managed to get a forward-facing window seat, in the motor coach.

Off we set on what was a most spectacular run. We got to Waterloo in under an hour, making up time, having run it felt for much of the journey at 100mph; I know that's not possible, but we were flat out, and beat the REP timing.

I like the VEP's.

Very underrated all-rounders IMO. Enough trimmings for a fast run to the coast, whilst at the same time capacity and ease of loading for a peak suburban run.

 

[bramling]

Or A stock to be honest. Rough riding, slow, noisy and fitted with awful daylight lighting (at least that didn't make it into the S-stock, the warm white is much nicer, as is literally everything about the units).

I always preferred A stock pre-refurbishment. The daylight lighting was horrible (all LU surface stocks got it - no idea why as it really was awful IMO), but in later days they also got an awful seat moquette which looked like something one would find in a children's play group, and through lack of maintenance they fell into an increasingly careworn state.

I'm not sure I'd describe A stock as slow though. Whilst they were a little lumbering on the city section, there's plenty of stories where A stock has been taken off the speedo - albeit with a downhill gradient no doubt assisting a little!

 

[bramling]

I like the VEP's.

Very underrated all-rounders IMO. Enough trimmings for a fast run to the coast, whilst at the same time capacity and ease of loading for a peak suburban run.

Yes I always think the VEPs have been unfavourably remembered by history. A type of train which was at home on pretty much any part of the Southern electrified network, albeit a "jack of all trades and master of none". When fully loaded they were no worse than any other 2+3 train, and when lightly loaded I found them perfectly comfortable. In all honesty they're a type of train I rather miss.

 

[yorksrob]

Yes I always think the VEPs have been unfavourably remembered by history. A type of train which was at home on pretty much any part of the Southern electrified network, albeit a "jack of all trades and master of none". When fully loaded they were no worse than any other 2+3 train, and when lightly loaded I found them perfectly comfortable. In all honesty they're a type of train I rather miss.

Yes, I miss travelling in a compartment on a summers day with the droplight open.

 

[Springs Branch]

Plenty of threads on what we like and miss but how about the opposite. Loco's and units we didnt like when in service and still don't miss years after withdrawl.
For me diesel loco wise 25's, they were fine reliable work horses and did what they were asked to do but never got excited about them, maybe because In Scotland we had "our" 26's and 27's.
..............
DMU's I am sure there are many out there that will not be shocked when I say 105's
...............

I agree with a couple of the OP's non-preferences.

Class 25s - I wouldn't say I "hated" them, but tended to comprehensively ignore them, and their Sulzer-powered older sisters, Class 24s.

Back in the day Class 24s and 25s could regularly be seen pottering around South Lancashire with a string of loose-coupled 16T coal wagons, or on old-school goods trains to/from long-lost places like Haydock Oil Terminal, Abram North exchange sidings, Heysham Moss or on the St. Helens-Widnes line.

I overlooked the locos, the trains they pulled and many of the routes they traveled in favour of double-headed Class 50s thundering up & down the WCML - because those goods trains and the workaday Class 25s would always be around, wouldn't they?

Class 105 DMUs - waiting for a train at my local station, whenever that characteristic pair of square windscreens on a Cravens unit appeared in the distance, I would always let out a big internal groan of dismay.

 

[delt1c]

Deltics. Chronically unreliable, massively overrated, an utterly fruit-looped engine design and sound like a set of badly-tuned bagpipes.

VEPs. Out of date before they were built; and an utterly disgusting, rancid form of transport.

Deltics unreliable? Only ever had a failure once, ok the maintanence was expensive but they were well taken care of and worked harder than any other diesel class in their time.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

I never liked any DMU allocated to Newton Heath

 

[Sad Sprinter]

Surprised at the hate for 125s-their departure has taken an awful lot of soul out of long-distance train travel in Britain.

I don't think I'm old enough to have lived through many withdrawals of rolling stock-I don't think there's a train I don't miss. 313s on the North London Line perhaps? They were fine for the GN routes. Class 456s were always a pain when a two car set turned up, but always seemed bigger inside than 455s.

Maybe the 319s on Thameslink. I don't know what FCC did to them, but back in the Govia Thameslink days the seperation between City Metro and City Flyer sets was much better-the City Flyer sets always had more "long-distance" style seating. But when First took over, you could find yourself on a inner-suburban class 319 from Brighton to East Croydon. Cramped and unpleasent.

 

[Revaulx]

I never liked any DMU allocated to Newton Heath

I take it that includes the Calder Valley sets (110, I think). They were almost as bad as the Cravens mentioned earlier. Presumably the nice Trans Pennines were allocated to the ends of the line?

The south Manchester ones were all just deadly dull. The 4-car Derby 115s on the CLC were ok.

 

[Journeyman]

Deltics unreliable? Only ever had a failure once, ok the maintanence was expensive but they were well taken care of and worked harder than any other diesel class in their time.

For the demands placed on them, they performed pretty well, and for the speed and power output they produced, they were the only game in town at the time.

 

[43096]

Deltics unreliable? Only ever had a failure once, ok the maintanence was expensive but they were well taken care of and worked harder than any other diesel class in their time.

What was availability? How many running on one engine at a time?

I'm not that bothered as I don't like them. Never have. Never will. Which is the point of this thread!

 

[Journeyman]

I think there's an additional category we can add here for trains that we'll miss as enthusiasts, but recognise that they were generally awful for everyday travel purposes.

I loved a bit of thrash from the Thumpers on the Oxted line, but I'd feel seriously short-changed if I was forking out thousands a year to commute on one of those heaps of junk in the early 2000s. Likewise, I loved the 37s on the North Wales Coast in the nineties, but I don't think I ever rode in a train where all the heating and lighting worked properly.

 

[Sean Davidson]

Any PEP derived EMU stock, Hot and airless in the winter, draughty in the summer, noisy, rubbish seats that do not align with the windows.

 

[yorksrob]

I think there's an additional category we can add here for trains that we'll miss as enthusiasts, but recognise that they were generally awful for everyday travel purposes.

I loved a bit of thrash from the Thumpers on the Oxted line, but I'd feel seriously short-changed if I was forking out thousands a year to commute on one of those heaps of junk in the early 2000s. Likewise, I loved the 37s on the North Wales Coast in the nineties, but I don't think I ever rode in a train where all the heating and lighting worked properly.

I think I would feel more short changed by the state of them in terms of graffiti, toilets not working etc than the design. I seem to recall that they were getting a bit tatty at the end.

That said, I don't recall one ever not turning up on the Marshlink, so perhaps they were still reasonably reliable.

 

[Journeyman]

I think I would feel more short changed by the state of them in terms of graffiti, toilets not working etc than the design. I seem to recall that they were getting a bit tatty at the end.

That said, I don't recall one ever not turning up on the Marshlink, so perhaps they were still reasonably reliable.

But by the 21st century, the design was awful as well, and they were by far the worst trains on the network - slow, noisy and the last non-gangwayed stock anywhere. Even in pristine condition, I'd have hated travelling a long way every day on one. So...not missed for everyday use, although missed for the fun of travelling on them by choice - I think that's an important distinction.