What is your Favourite HST 125 ever

[Techniquest]

43053 - the last valenta I travelled behind, Bristol Temple Meads - Cheltenham Spa, 30th August 2008

Might have seen you at Cheltenham then on that, since I was there up front for tons of 12RP200L and Marston music from Plymouth (had been Standard Newquay to Plymouth)

Favourite power car: 43002

Favourite livery: Three-way tie between Merlin, Fag Packet and Revised Barbie. Another three-way tie for GC, MML 'blue' and Virgin for second favourite.

IC Swallow and BR black/yellow tie for favourite BR livery.

 

[Sgt Napier]

Has to be Network Rail "Dr Yellow" or any Virgin XC livery.Long live the class of 98,otherwise known as "J.T's chosen few"

 

[43021HST]

Might have seen you at Cheltenham then on that, since I was there up front for tons of 12RP200L and Marston music from Plymouth (had been Standard Newquay to Plymouth)

Favourite power car: 43002

Favourite livery: Three-way tie between Merlin, Fag Packet and Revised Barbie. Another three-way tie for GC, MML 'blue' and Virgin for second favourite.

IC Swallow and BR black/yellow tie for favourite BR livery.

I saw at 43002 at Paddington last weekend 16/1/10, does anyone know what has happened to 43021 I havnt seen it anywhere lately.

 

[royaloak]

My favourite is the original MML teal and tangerine, lovely.

 

[WillPS]

I agree, Midland Mainline's teal 'Bambi' livery was lovely. Looked great, but it did get dirty quickly, especially on their Valenta engined powercars. Perfect on the Turbostars.

 

[royaloak]

Tomorrow my favourite one will be whichever takes me from Exeter SD to Plymouth for my 4 days off

 

[Drsatan]

Personal favourite's probably IC Swallow livery - gives the powercar a businesslike look. Second favourite's FGW's original "fag-packet" livery for the same reason.

For some reason, Midland Mainline's 2nd generation livery (teal) didn't suit the power cars at all. Whereas for some reason, Virgin's livery did, probably because it looked quite striking at first.

 

[Crossforth]

Mine has to be GNER followed by GC and EMT

I think NXEC livery looked smart when they first brought it out and it was smart but when it ended up dirty, it lost its appeal

 

[2030720310]

Tomorrow my favourite one will be whichever takes me from Exeter SD to Plymouth for my 4 days off

It'll be a Voyager now!!! haha

 

[starrymarkb]

Reason for transferring to cross country was that the power cars could easily be coupled to locos if requiered.Not sure when the buffers were removed from the trailer cars.

Also they had their ATP removed, so couldn't be used on the GWML

 

[royaloak]

It'll be a Voyager now!!! haha

Got in to Exeter a bit early so managed to catch the XC, so it was a vomiter (220016).

 

[Turbostar]

Mine's got to be 43170, when it had the experimental Paxman 12VP185 engine installed in summer 1994, prior to the engine being fitted in other locos a year later after a very successful testing period. Saw it on numerous occasions around Plymouth and around Dawlish & Exeter, & that was some beast, & the sound was just music to my ears.

 

[generalvegitable]

err the one with the yellow front

 

[37401]

err the one with the yellow front

Ahh top secret experimental 43905 then

 

[HSTfan!!!]

the one that gets me home :P

 

[Techniquest]

Mine's got to be 43170 <snip> & that was some beast, & the sound was just music to my ears.

With the right driver, yes, she was an animal. There were times when you had to really open your ears and check you were indeed on 170, since it had a reputation at one time of sounding much more like a Valenta than VP185!

Every time me and a good mate were out and saw 170 out, though, it was being driven poorly and sounded rubbish. He still doesn't believe that 170 was once a rather rateable machine, however he does now rate VP185s since his last EMT bash with 43075.

 

[royaloak]

Every time me and a good mate were out and saw 170 out, though, it was being driven poorly and sounded rubbish.

Well maybe it was being driven with the passengers comfort, the timetable and maintenance costs in mind and not a couple of train spotters! honestly :roll:.
When you say "driven poorly" do you mean that the driver was not complying with the companies driving policy, or do you not have a clue what you are talking about!

 

[Techniquest]

You can roll those eyes back to where they're supposed to be...

Hard to explain 'driven poorly' without knowing exactly which of the zillion different driving policies were in use at the time (shall investigate the date if it's wanted). However, leaving Swindon towards the West there's very little reason to not get the set moving as quickly as possible, especially when the service is already late.

So taking off in notch 1 is not going to get you moving all too quickly, but staying in low notches and crawling out of the station on clear signals is hardly professional driving.

OK, so I don't know the state of the engine. It might have had N5 taped out, heaven forbid it might have had N4 and N5 taped out. There might have been some other reason, I don't know. What I do know is this driver in particular showed no interest in recovering lost time at all (indeed we were even later getting into Bristol Parkway as a result) because of the way he didn't notch up much for quite some time.

Compared to the way she took off elsewhere the same day, it was fairly bleeding obvious it was down to the driver. Dunno if it was a Bristol driver or a South Wales driver, but if it was the former then I ought not to be surprised...

Who do you think you are anyway, trying to make it sound like I don't know owt? I've been travelling on HSTs for years and can generally tell the difference between a good set and a shagged one, as well as when there's a lousy driver up front.

 

[royaloak]

Were there any TSRs/ESRs, maybe one of the units had a fault that was rectified by a travelling fitter or at the end of the run. All these things you do not know and riding around all day doesn't make you an expert, no matter what you might think!
Oh I am not an expert either, but I don't come onto forums moaning about people that can't defend themselves.

 

[317666]

43125 - not only is it numbered after the Intercity 125s, it was the rear powercar on the trip down to St Ives...