• Our booking engine at tickets.railforums.co.uk (powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!

ScotRail HST Introduction - Updates & Discussion

Status
Not open for further replies.
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R

RailUK Forums

S

St. Paddy

Member
Joined
11 Sep 2019
Messages
482
Location
Hitchin
I

InvHst

Member
Joined
9 Dec 2018
Messages
268
43130 has returned to service today after a long time out of service sat in the shed next to the platforms in Inverness currently on the 0845 Inverness to Glasgow

Spaceship323 said:
Power car 43185 moved north on low loader today, observed on M74 this afternoon. This is I think going to Haymarket to be used for spares.
Click to expand...

Yes it will be
 
G

gsnedders

Established Member
Joined
6 Sep 2015
Messages
1,472
fgwrich said:
It is indeed. I wonder if Angel will be as kind to donate it's shell once Haymarket are finished with it (as per 018). Somewhere like Swindon would be a good place for one!
Click to expand...
Huh, it must've been that PC that I drove past on my way north (London to Glasgow) on Monday night parked up somewhere on the A1 if my memory's right. I remember driving past some IC liveried vehicle parked up by the dual carriageway which I thought was a Class 43 but wasn't sure! Rather surprised me, and I wonder what route it took to end up on the M74, and why it didn't just head up the A1 all the way?
 
matchmaker

matchmaker

Established Member
Joined
8 Mar 2009
Messages
1,511
Location
Central Scotland
gsnedders said:
Huh, it must've been that PC that I drove past on my way north (London to Glasgow) on Monday night parked up somewhere on the A1 if my memory's right. I remember driving past some IC liveried vehicle parked up by the dual carriageway which I thought was a Class 43 but wasn't sure! Rather surprised me, and I wonder what route it took to end up on the M74, and why it didn't just head up the A1 all the way?
Click to expand...

A low loader on parts of the A1 wouldn't be popular - there are quite a few single carriageway stretches, if I remember correctly.
 
43096

43096

On Moderation
Joined
23 Nov 2015
Messages
15,302
matchmaker said:
A low loader on parts of the A1 wouldn't be popular - there are quite a few single carriageway stretches, if I remember correctly.
Click to expand...
It may also depend who the haulier was. For example, Allely’s might do it as a two stage move Ely - Studley - Scotland as it’s better for crewing etc. Studley being West Midlands would go north via M6 and M74.
 
A

ajrm

Member
Joined
1 Feb 2019
Messages
148
matchmaker said:
A low loader on parts of the A1 wouldn't be popular - there are quite a few single carriageway stretches, if I remember correctly.
Click to expand...

Yes, north of Morpeth the A1 is pretty hopeless. Travelling to and from anywhere in eastern Scotland from down south it's usually a better option to head west and use the M73/ M74/ M6 which is a far better road. The additional mileage is offset by the higher possible speed, and for an outsize load it's far safer.
 
A

alangla

Member
Joined
11 Apr 2018
Messages
1,178
Location
Glasgow
ajrm said:
Yes, north of Morpeth the A1 is pretty hopeless. Travelling to and from anywhere in eastern Scotland from down south it's usually a better option to head west and use the M73/ M74/ M6 which is a far better road. The additional mileage is offset by the higher possible speed, and for an outsize load it's far safer.
Click to expand...
Yep, plus using the M74 then either the A725 or M73 to the M8 & A71 means you’re on dual carriageway until well into Edinburgh, though climbing from J5 of the M74 up the A725 with a locomotive or power car on the back would be a bit of a test for the low loader. I remember nearly rear-ending a class 37 once, it was climbing a hill on the M60 at about 10mph...
 
G

gsnedders

Established Member
Joined
6 Sep 2015
Messages
1,472
ajrm said:
Yes, north of Morpeth the A1 is pretty hopeless. Travelling to and from anywhere in eastern Scotland from down south it's usually a better option to head west and use the M73/ M74/ M6 which is a far better road. The additional mileage is offset by the higher possible speed, and for an outsize load it's far safer.
Click to expand...
Ah, that's true. By the time I got a driving license I wasn't living on the east coast any more, so I've rarely had any reason to drive down the A1. Was also struggling a bit to think about where it would be sensible for an outsize load to cross west, but I guess I saw it far enough south it could easily cross in the Midlands despite the extra distance.
 
S

Steven_G

Member
Joined
5 Mar 2018
Messages
140
Paths in for Monday AND Friday

Marked as “runs if required” which seems to always end up not required.
 
I

InOban

Established Member
Joined
12 Mar 2017
Messages
4,221
I'd given up bothering to post these paths until one is activated shortly before departure. No sign of a southbound path for power cars, or are they all already at Doncaster?
 
W

Wynd

Member
Joined
20 Oct 2020
Messages
741
Location
Aberdeenshire
Apologies for what I'm sure are going to be somewhat daft questions to many of you, but please may you enlighten me as to why;

1. Haymarket appears to be have a lot of unused HST sets?
2. Why the HST's are still not providing the backbone of the intercity service?
3. There are no 5th coaches as yet?
4. Why it appears the introduction of these sets has been so problematic?
5. Why WABTEC have struggled to make rate on the deliveries?

It feels like its been an age since this program was kicked off and yet I cant help but get the feeling there are only a handful of sets running on any given day.
Whats going on?
 
C

computerSaysNo

Member
Joined
14 Dec 2018
Messages
1,166
Skite Train said:
Apologies for what I'm sure are going to be somewhat daft questions to many of you, but please may you enlighten me as to why;

1. Haymarket appears to be have a lot of unused HST sets?
2. Why the HST's are still not providing the backbone of the intercity service?
3. There are no 5th coaches as yet?
4. Why it appears the introduction of these sets has been so problematic?
5. Why WABTEC have struggled to make rate on the deliveries?

It feels like its been an age since this program was kicked off and yet I cant help but get the feeling there are only a handful of sets running on any given day.
Whats going on?
Click to expand...
Most/all of these questions will have been answered in much more detail further up if you do a search for them, but to summarize:
  1. Services are still reduced at the moment I believe, so not every set is needed.
  2. They pretty much are, are they not? Certainly before the pandemic the majority of southbound departures from Aberdeen were HSTs (not including the locals to Stonehaven), I haven't traveled by train since then though so I'm not sure what it's like now.
  3. I believe the work at Wabtec will probably have been disrupted by the pandemic so they won't have been able to work on them much over the summer.
  4. & 5. Wabtec will have given a timescale based on a set number of workers being available, and on the amount of work needed per carriage. I have heard that after that timescale was given, they lost several workers to the Hitachi factory, and when they received the carriages they discovered they were in worse condition than they had planned for, and so required much more work to bring them back up to standard.

ADDITIONAL: Post #1 contains more information on the delivery of sets if you're interested (click on the "spoiler" button).
 
G

Goldromans

Member
Joined
11 Feb 2017
Messages
222
Have just seen a picture of 43135, which seems to be lacking the ‘Inter7City’ logo. Any one know why this might be? Just seems odd as I thought it was just printed on the vinyl.
 
47271

47271

Established Member
Joined
28 Apr 2015
Messages
2,983
GregA said:
Most/all of these questions will have been answered in much more detail further up if you do a search for them, but to summarize:
  1. Services are still reduced at the moment I believe, so not every set is needed.
  2. They pretty much are, are they not? Certainly before the pandemic the majority of southbound departures from Aberdeen were HSTs (not including the locals to Stonehaven), I haven't traveled by train since then though so I'm not sure what it's like now.
  3. I believe the work at Wabtec will probably have been disrupted by the pandemic so they won't have been able to work on them much over the summer.
  4. & 5. Wabtec will have given a timescale based on a set number of workers being available, and on the amount of work needed per carriage. I have heard that after that timescale was given, they lost several workers to the Hitachi factory, and when they received the carriages they discovered they were in worse condition than they had planned for, and so required much more work to bring them back up to standard.

ADDITIONAL: Post #1 contains more information on the delivery of sets if you're interested (click on the "spoiler" button).
Click to expand...
A point of information on answer 2 - only roughly half of Highland Main Line services are operated by HSTs.
 
4

43055

Established Member
Joined
8 Mar 2018
Messages
2,903
Skite Train said:
Apologies for what I'm sure are going to be somewhat daft questions to many of you, but please may you enlighten me as to why;

1. Haymarket appears to be have a lot of unused HST sets?
2. Why the HST's are still not providing the backbone of the intercity service?
3. There are no 5th coaches as yet?
4. Why it appears the introduction of these sets has been so problematic?
5. Why WABTEC have struggled to make rate on the deliveries?

It feels like its been an age since this program was kicked off and yet I cant help but get the feeling there are only a handful of sets running on any given day.
Whats going on?
Click to expand...

GregA said:
Most/all of these questions will have been answered in much more detail further up if you do a search for them, but to summarize:
  1. Services are still reduced at the moment I believe, so not every set is needed.
  2. They pretty much are, are they not? Certainly before the pandemic the majority of southbound departures from Aberdeen were HSTs (not including the locals to Stonehaven), I haven't traveled by train since then though so I'm not sure what it's like now.
  3. I believe the work at Wabtec will probably have been disrupted by the pandemic so they won't have been able to work on them much over the summer.
  4. & 5. Wabtec will have given a timescale based on a set number of workers being available, and on the amount of work needed per carriage. I have heard that after that timescale was given, they lost several workers to the Hitachi factory, and when they received the carriages they discovered they were in worse condition than they had planned for, and so required much more work to bring them back up to standard.

ADDITIONAL: Post #1 contains more information on the delivery of sets if you're interested (click on the "spoiler" button).
Click to expand...
On point 3 I believe the 5th coach are being done after all the sets have been delivered as 4 car.
 
C

CJSwan

Member
Joined
23 Aug 2017
Messages
153
43055 said:
On point 3 I believe the 5th coach are being done after all the sets have been delivered as 4 car.
Click to expand...
Yep. This has been the plan for a wee while now. Get all of them in service as 4 cars, then start inserting the 5th. I think the 2+5 sets will look a bit better, the 2+4 ones are just too short looking.
 
G

Goldromans

Member
Joined
11 Feb 2017
Messages
222
Remind me, how many sets left after today’s delivery? (Not including any potential replacement for the set damaged at Carmont)
 
D

DannyMich2018

Member
Joined
19 Dec 2018
Messages
736
Goldromans said:
Remind me, how many sets left after today’s delivery? (Not including any potential replacement for the set damaged at Carmont)
Click to expand...
There is just 2 more sets as today's was 24th set to be done, although of course wev'e lost one due to Carmont Sadly. Personally I think there won't be a replacement set done although a couple more Power Cars could be done for extra resilience as we could still have 22 or 23 diagrams eventually if we have more Power Cars in total.
 
G

Goldromans

Member
Joined
11 Feb 2017
Messages
222
DannyMich2018 said:
There is just 2 more sets as today's was 24th set to be done, although of course wev'e lost one due to Carmont Sadly. Personally I think there won't be a replacement set done although a couple more Power Cars could be done for extra resilience as we could still have 22 or 23 diagrams eventually if we have more Power Cars in total.
Click to expand...

Would 25 sets be enough to cover all INV/ABD-GLQ/EDI and INV-ABD services, do you know? Personally, I’d say no 170s/158s should be operating these services after the full HST introduction. The whole point of the Inter7City project was to avoid exactly that.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Top