Thought the 800s were not cleared on the WCML.
Whilst I know this isn't exactly what you're saying, I love the idea of people thinking Avanti would order millions of pounds worth of new trains and not check whether or not they could actually run on their routes
Because Voyagers run to Scotland a lot more than to say Manchester. And 807's if not 390's would run to Scotland.
And 805's can be used as you can operate them on the wires all the way.
Running Voyagers to Manchester is difficult (though not quite impossible) since Manchester TMs don't sign them. Hence why they have shown up on Liverpool - London services occasionally (Liverpool TMs sign them as they work the Wrexham services, amongst others) but rarely on Manchester - Liverpool.
Birmingham - Scotland used to be entirely Voyager operated as it was part of the Virgin Crosscountry franchise: So once that portion of the service transferred to West Coast it did indeed result in them having to run Voyagers entirely under the wires.
And then a few years ago when Virgin combined the Birmingham - Scotland and London - Wolverhampton services as well as freeing up some Voyagers for the extensions to Shrewsbury and Blackpool that came shortly after, it also led to Voyagers and Pendolinos being more mixed (ie London - West Midlands - Scotland services saw a lot more Pendolinos where previously it was almost exclusively Voyager operated)
Increasing non EPS speeds from Euston to Weaver, target date is May 22.
I'm very curious about this, especially as we keep hearing contrasting stories as to whether or not it's actually happening. Whilst I do believe you and know you only post reliable info here, are there any sources online showing what the actual plans are, and how much (if any) 125mph running is actually going to be achievable?
And what ever happened to the 125mph non Tilt running North of Preston that according to a Railway magazine was merely awaiting the fitting of new signs showing the higher speeds?