Very interesting discussion and thank you to everyone for information and advise....am travelling up to Edinburgh, then on to Aberdeen and planning one final journey behind the HST's and looking at doing the 1008 ex Aberdeen the following day to Inverness and return on the 1248 to Edinburgh....what are loadings like on the departures to Aberdeen from Edinburgh at 1530 and 1629?
I just spent the weekened sampling the services on both routes choosing trains with different service patterns. I found that if you can be on the platform well before the service leaves, you can identify the coaches with least seat reservations and try to be the first on to find a choice seat. That's easier if you are starting at one of the end stations.
As mentioned above, Glasgow/ Edinburgh to Aberdeen is a route with close to two trains per hour north of Dundee.
The Inverbness route is trickier, because there are fewer HST services and a two hour gap between any train back to Perth at some times of the day
The 8:37 from Edinburgh to Inverness on Saturday morning was not too busy. The 12:48 back from Inverness was busier, but there were still available window seats. Similalry the 18:41 Glasgow to Aberdeen on Friday night had plenty of seats - despite being close to the rush hour.
It feels like there tends to be more reservations on the Inverness route - probably because there are fewer trains. The only HST substitution was formed by a 3-car 170 - which looked very busy indeed - very few seats appeared to be available. My experience at Inverness is if you join the train in the last minute it can be harder to find a seat.
Overall i was impressed with the services I used. The trains all reasonably clean inside and out. I didn't suffer any train failures or major delays. All sets had both power cars working.
On my final day, i got talking to a couple from the Netherlands on their way to Glasgow airport. They were shocked to learn that they were on a vintage train celebrating 50 years of being in service, commenting they thought it was a very modern and comfortable train! They were even impressed that there was an onboard trolley serving hot drinks!
Note the very early 05:57 Abderdeen departure to Edinburgh apparently was too early for catering staff and did not have any food/drink offering on board.
Right now I would encourage anyone that can afford a 4-day spirit of Scotland pass to go and enjoy the amazing views and enjoy this HST swansong.
Yes, theHST's are old, and despite not really being designed for lots of short stops, seem to cope really well. But I can understand why drivers used to a units responsiveness would prefer to drive one of those. The HST's aceleration is maybe a novelty compared to a wheezy Class 170, but the units stop/ start better.
I recall seeing the HST's back at KIngs Cross in the Valenta days, where oil leaks were common. The power cars now look and go better than any time in their career. Internally the mark 3's are ok, i prefer the 'mallard' interiors that eneded up in LNER hands rather than the GWR interiors.
But yes, externally, the corrosion patches on the coach roof is appaling. And even sections that look like they have been repaired and patched up have rust stain runs running down from them
I'm not sure how much the proximity to sea air is exacurbating the corrosion issue .
My overriding feeeling is that the Inter7City idea is a good one, but let down in part by the infrastructure not really being up to supporting a true Intercity service.
The 8.37 from Edinburgh to Inverness highlights the issues: It gets pathed just three minutes behind the 8:34 Dunblane stopper - which stops at all stations along the Edinburgh / Glasgow line. At CArmuirs, the HST then has to wait for a stopping Alloa service to get the road ahead of it. So the journey time to Stirling is close to 16 minutes longer than it needs to be coasting around at low speeds and stopping at junctions.
Highland main line services are constrained by the timetabling. Despite the work being down to create better crossing stations at Pitlochry and Aviemore - which would allow a smoother and quicker passing movements along the single track, there are still lots of services that cross at places like Dunkeld , Carrbridge, Moy and Tomatin, where the signalling procedure adds lots of time to the schedule.
On all of the semaphore signalled lines, there seems to lots more delay where the signallers have been slow to accept the train into their block for whatever reason - where a modern signalling system would allow the train a clearer path.
On the Aberdeen route, it makes sense to add in the additional stops at smaller stations, but the HST's are really not designed for short station platform work. I'm not sure the schedule takes into account the slower boarding process. But it is interesting to observe operationally.
Who would have thought when the HST's were introduced on long distance Intercity work, that they would end up stopping at small rural stations in some cases never exceeding 75mph!
