Memories of the Intercity 125

[WindfallFilms]

Hello there,

I’m a Producer at Windfall Films where we are currently making a new 2-part documentary celebrating the history of the Intercity 125, and the transformation of British Railways through the 1970s and 80s.

We are looking to hear from people who remember the Intercity in its early years, who might have personal stories to share about the Intercity 125 either as passengers, or as everyday on-board or off-board staff. We would love to hear any stories or memories or anecdotes, particularly in the following areas:

- Anyone who witnessed, or was involved in, the Intercity 125 breaking the speed record in 1973 or the subsequent record breaking 125 journeys in 1985 and 1987

- Passengers / staff who have memories about the transition to the Intercity 125 and their thoughts on how this changed train travel/the on-board experience/the working experience

- People who moved out of cities and into the suburbs because the Intercity made commuting to work much more feasible thanks to its higher speeds

- People whose regions have become part of the ‘commuter belt’ as a result of the High Speed Train and how their communities have changed as a result

- any anecdotes about unusual events on the 125

I’d love to hear your stories so please do get in touch via email to [email protected] or on this thread.

Thank you


Note: Thread posted with permission

 

[WindfallFilms]

Hi everyone,
I've received permission to post the above - thank you for giving me your authorisation.
We'd love to hear your stories, with a view to interviewing you for the documentary.
Please give me a shout if you'd like to chat further!
Thank you

 

[Gareth Marston]

A rail tour with an InterCity Swallow liveried 125 was stabled next to Aberystwyth Rugby Club's pitches sometime in the late 1980's. Penalty kicks to touch on the one side soon found their range on the MK3's with the balls bouncing off at crazy angles.

 

[randyrippley]

I don't know if you can attempt to represent it realistically by film, but one notable thing about the HSTs when new was the sheer ear-shattering noise at startup, especially if under a station canopy such as Templemeads. The turbochargers on the Valentas screamed at very high volume. They made children cry in terror and grown men flinch with pain in their ears. If you were standing on a platform waiting for an HST to leave and you didn't know how they sounded, you were in for a heck of a shock.
Later mods reduced the sound

 

[theageofthetra]

I'd be interested in how they can deal with the Jimmy Saville issue. Those ads were one of the most successful in British advertising history and transformed the perception of the railway. Just ignoring their part on that era of BR's history would be like making a programme about the 1940's and not mentioning Hitler.

 

[ArchieWoodbine]

I'd be interested in how they can deal with the Jimmy Saville issue. Those ads were one of the most successful in British advertising history and transformed the perception of the railway. Just ignoring their part on that era of BR's history would be like making a programme about the 1940's and not mentioning Hitler.

There was a rather good BBC documentary produced within the last decade (pre-Saville) about the inception of British Rail and its key brands like Intercity. I think it's been quietly shelved as I've never seen any repeats or mention of it anywhere - probably due to the amount of Saville material in it.

It's an issue TOTPs repeats have dealt with by cutting any of Saville's intros, occasionally at the expense of a few bars of the song! That's probably easier than sanitising entire marketing campaigns though...

Regarding interesting HST stories, there's the Luxulyan derailment, where a single HST locomotive was used to take a train-load of passangers away from the derailment. Probably the shortest ever HST 'formation' in passenger use!

 

[Bletchleyite]

I don't entirely understand why they avoid showing him - he is a criminal, but he still featured in the advertisements. What he did doesn't change history, and I don't see why we seem to try to erase someone from history just because they were a criminal.

The way you would sensibly portray it would be to give the credit to the people who produced the advertisement, and refer to him as "the discredited convicted paedophile Jimmy Saville" or somesuch.

 

[Taunton]

Just a word about the originator's questions, but the IC125 were, by definition, for Inter City long distance travel. They certainly had no impact for commuting from "the suburbs", where they did not stop and for outer regions becoming part of the "commuter belt", typically just to/from London, that only happened at a very limited number of places. It is not normally practical to do daily (or near-daily) commuting from further than about 80 miles, and the only such places are Peterborough, on the Kings Cross Line, Reading/Didcot/Swindon from Paddington, and to a very limited extent Bedford/Kettering/Wellingborough on the St Pancras line. In all cases the IC125 generated some demand here from it's final stops before London on longer distance journeys. The commuter loads were frankly an inconvenience to longer distance travellers, particularly in the evening outward direction where they would know the ropes and grab seats ahead of the much higher paying long distance travellers.

To an extent part of this, particularly after rail privatisation, which happened about halfway through the trains' life to date, was a turf war between the Inter City operator and the separately franchised operator of London commuter services. For places like Peterborough or Reading (in particular) stopping previously non-stop expresses at these points was a way to garner up additional revenue that would be expected by the commuter service operator, given the way that division of ticket office revenue works on the railway.

Some things have also fallen away. When first introduced the trains gave remarkably rapid travel to the likes of Bath and Bristol, just about an hour from London to the former. In time these trains have slowly had stops inserted along the way, and now stop at every main station along the way. In fact it generally takes longer to Bristol now than it used to on the regular fast expresses before the mid-1970s when they were pulled by slower locomotives. Commercial calculations have shown there is more additional money to be made by enhancing the service from say Swindon to every 15 minutes, which becomes a "turn up and go" type service, than is lost from Bristol passengers whose journey is now slower.

The substantial loads you see boarding in the morning at these outer places are not necessarily commuters at all, but just regular periodic travellers; you find the same high point of demand to London in the mornings from Birmingham or Manchester, especially those returning within the day, going to business meetings etc. What the IC125 did make much more practical was day return trips on longer distance journeys; passengers from Cardiff or York might have once felt the need to stay in London overnight, now there-and-back in a day became much more practical.

It wasn't just the 125mph cruising speed which improved substantially on previous 100mph locomotives; the acceleration was much better, and the higher power allowed better performance. The long gradual climb from Peterborough to Grantham was ostensibly full speed, but 100mph locomotives could not sustain this, and at full power would drop down to maybe 80mph by the top. The IC125 would go up at its full speed, a notable improvement.

I'll just add to a maybe non-railway original questioner that passenger journeys are by no means from station to station, they are for each traveller from origin to destination. Not many people live within walking distance of an Inter City station. So although I may take the train from Bristol Parkway to Paddington, I may live in Chepstow and be travelling to St. Albans. In which case the car may still be a more practical option.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Speaking of 125's coming into service in South Wales , they were an amazing transformation - smooth , silky and very fast. A great buffet and at seat trolley service , the Express Burger for 20p no less in 1976, draught beer for a short while and freshly cooked chips.

Dining in the orange seated first with squashy headrests for a decent price , - typically tomato soup. plaice and chips , apple pie and ice cream , cheese board with celery , coffee etc ...for about a £5. Affordable even for an afro - haired student as I was then.

Transformed travel big time - special fares for day trips to London , with a railcard discount - last train back from Padd at 2345. Superb ......

 

[Failed Unit]

Just a word about the originator's questions, but the IC125 were, by definition, for Inter City long distance travel. They certainly had no impact for commuting from "the suburbs", where they did not stop and for outer regions becoming part of the "commuter belt", typically just to/from London, that only happened at a very limited number of places. It is not normally practical to do daily (or near-daily) commuting from further than about 80 miles, and the only such places are Peterborough, on the Kings Cross Line, Reading/Didcot/Swindon from Paddington, and to a very limited extent Bedford/Kettering/Wellingborough on the St Pancras line. In all cases the IC125 generated some demand here from it's final stops before London on longer distance journeys. The commuter loads were frankly an inconvenience to longer distance travellers, particularly in the evening outward direction where they would know the ropes and grab seats ahead of the much higher paying long distance travellers.

To an extent part of this, particularly after rail privatisation, which happened about halfway through the trains' life to date, was a turf war between the Inter City operator and the separately franchised operator of London commuter services. For places like Peterborough or Reading (in particular) stopping previously non-stop expresses at these points was a way to garner up additional revenue that would be expected by the commuter service operator, given the way that division of ticket office revenue works on the railway.

Some things have also fallen away. When first introduced the trains gave remarkably rapid travel to the likes of Bath and Bristol, just about an hour from London to the former. In time these trains have slowly had stops inserted along the way, and now stop at every main station along the way. In fact it generally takes longer to Bristol now than it used to on the regular fast expresses before the mid-1970s when they were pulled by slower locomotives. Commercial calculations have shown there is more additional money to be made by enhancing the service from say Swindon to every 15 minutes, which becomes a "turn up and go" type service, than is lost from Bristol passengers whose journey is now slower.

The substantial loads you see boarding in the morning at these outer places are not necessarily commuters at all, but just regular periodic travellers; you find the same high point of demand to London in the mornings from Birmingham or Manchester, especially those returning within the day, going to business meetings etc. What the IC125 did make much more practical was day return trips on longer distance journeys; passengers from Cardiff or York might have once felt the need to stay in London overnight, now there-and-back in a day became much more practical.

It wasn't just the 125mph cruising speed which improved substantially on previous 100mph locomotives; the acceleration was much better, and the higher power allowed better performance. The long gradual climb from Peterborough to Grantham was ostensibly full speed, but 100mph locomotives could not sustain this, and at full power would drop down to maybe 80mph by the top. The IC125 would go up at its full speed, a notable improvement.

I'll just add to a maybe non-railway original questioner that passenger journeys are by no means from station to station, they are for each traveller from origin to destination. Not many people live within walking distance of an Inter City station. So although I may take the train from Bristol Parkway to Paddington, I may live in Chepstow and be travelling to St. Albans. In which case the car may still be a more practical option.

Not so sure. Commuting exists from ECML stations such as Doncaster, Newark and Grantham as well. It is a long time ago but i am sure HST increased this. I am sure it took 30 minutes of the journey time to London.

In the 1980s we did have people doing Market Rasen - London daily. (Not many)

One thing that was good about that train is it was always the sets of crew. (You soon got to know them all). Never know what happened to them when the Cleethorpes - London service was withdrawn. They never moved to the sprinter. Maybe some retired.

 

[30907]

Speaking of 125's coming into service in South Wales , they were an amazing transformation - smooth , silky and very fast. A great buffet and at seat trolley service , the Express Burger for 20p no less in 1976, draught beer for a short while and freshly cooked chips.

Dining in the orange seated first with squashy headrests for a decent price , - typically tomato soup. plaice and chips , apple pie and ice cream , cheese board with celery , coffee etc ...for about a £5. Affordable even for an afro - haired student as I was then.

Transformed travel big time - special fares for day trips to London , with a railcard discount - last train back from Padd at 2345. Superb ......

Which reminds me of sampling the prototype from Bath to Didcot one evening in summer 1975 and ordering a meat pie - which when I bit into it back at my seat had been baked solid in the microaire oven.

Incidentally @ Taunton Didcot had regular semi fast HSTs from the first, which undoubtedly contributed to the town's massive growth.

 

[Bald Rick]

Just a word about the originator's questions, but the IC125 were, by definition, for Inter City long distance travel. They certainly had no impact for commuting from "the suburbs", where they did not stop and for outer regions becoming part of the "commuter belt", typically just to/from London, that only happened at a very limited number of places. It is not normally practical to do daily (or near-daily) commuting from further than about 80 miles, and the only such places are Peterborough, on the Kings Cross Line, Reading/Didcot/Swindon from Paddington, and to a very limited extent Bedford/Kettering/Wellingborough on the St Pancras line. In all cases the IC125 generated some demand here from it's final stops before London on longer distance journeys. The commuter loads were frankly an inconvenience to longer distance travellers, particularly in the evening outward direction where they would know the ropes and grab seats ahead of the much higher paying long distance travellers.

To an extent part of this, particularly after rail privatisation, which happened about halfway through the trains' life to date, was a turf war between the Inter City operator and the separately franchised operator of London commuter services. For places like Peterborough or Reading (in particular) stopping previously non-stop expresses at these points was a way to garner up additional revenue that would be expected by the commuter service operator, given the way that division of ticket office revenue works on the railway.

Some things have also fallen away. When first introduced the trains gave remarkably rapid travel to the likes of Bath and Bristol, just about an hour from London to the former. In time these trains have slowly had stops inserted along the way, and now stop at every main station along the way. In fact it generally takes longer to Bristol now than it used to on the regular fast expresses before the mid-1970s when they were pulled by slower locomotives. Commercial calculations have shown there is more additional money to be made by enhancing the service from say Swindon to every 15 minutes, which becomes a "turn up and go" type service, than is lost from Bristol passengers whose journey is now slower.

The substantial loads you see boarding in the morning at these outer places are not necessarily commuters at all, but just regular periodic travellers; you find the same high point of demand to London in the mornings from Birmingham or Manchester, especially those returning within the day, going to business meetings etc. What the IC125 did make much more practical was day return trips on longer distance journeys; passengers from Cardiff or York might have once felt the need to stay in London overnight, now there-and-back in a day became much more practical.

It wasn't just the 125mph cruising speed which improved substantially on previous 100mph locomotives; the acceleration was much better, and the higher power allowed better performance. The long gradual climb from Peterborough to Grantham was ostensibly full speed, but 100mph locomotives could not sustain this, and at full power would drop down to maybe 80mph by the top. The IC125 would go up at its full speed, a notable improvement.

I'll just add to a maybe non-railway original questioner that passenger journeys are by no means from station to station, they are for each traveller from origin to destination. Not many people live within walking distance of an Inter City station. So although I may take the train from Bristol Parkway to Paddington, I may live in Chepstow and be travelling to St. Albans. In which case the car may still be a more practical option.

HSTs certainly transformed commuting from Peterboro’ and to a lesser extent Huntingdon. Sets were stabled (and maintained) at Bounds Green overnight to work the northbound morning services; the first southbound from Yorkshire didn’t arrive until 0830ish and was not ready to go back north until at least an hour later. These sets with otherwise nothing to do were sent down to Peterboro (and one possibly to Grantham?) to form up commuter services typically calling only Peterboro and Huntingdon. No need for tanking or supplies at KGX so they turned quickly to head back north. Great use of otherwise down time at marginal cost. Very lucrative!

There was an article by Uncle Roger in Modern Railways in the early 80s about it.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

There were genuinely fast , limited stop services , in the peak - non stop Newport to Paddington , and every hour non stop Parkway to Readng.

Superimposed was a half hourly Cardiff to Paddington semi -fast with a Slough call.

The service was later slowed down with calls on virtually everything at Swindon and Didcot.

The only thing BR got wrong was an overprovision of catering - with a TRUB and TRUK on most sets.

 

[WindfallFilms]

Thanks for all your replies so far, great to hear the stories about the food and travel in First Class!

How can I contact individual posters? (sorry for the rookie query).

Anyone out there who worked on the train as driver/guard/caterer?

Thanks again, keep them coming!

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Thanks for all your replies so far, great to hear the stories about the food and travel in First Class!

How can I contact individual posters? (sorry for the rookie query).

Anyone out there who worked on the train as driver/guard/caterer?

Thanks again, keep them coming!

Email Mark Hopwood MD of GWR , there are some superb old school Swansea catering crews still working who could assist you .....very friendly guys , some of whom have appeared in previous films about HST trains ! i

 

[WindfallFilms]

Hi Chief Planner - that's great! Thank you!
How can I contact you directly?
I'm on [email protected]

Thank you

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Hi Chief Planner - that's great! Thank you!
How can I contact you directly?
I'm on [email protected]

Thank you

Try [email protected]

He has a very strong personal interest in all this , and am sure if approached professionally should be able to assist with your research. Good luck.

 

[WindfallFilms]

Thanks @ChiefPlanner - and what about you? Your stories sound good too! We'd love to speak to you.

 

[WindfallFilms]

Are there any commuters looking at this thread? Or ex-commuters? Thank you!