East Coast services - Intercity 125 or 225

[90sWereBetter]

In the next few weeks I am travelling to Edinburgh. Going up, I am booked on the 1300 service from Kings Cross to Waverley on Tuesday 13th June, returning on the 1100 on Saturday 17th June.

How likely is it that I'll have a 43+MK3 formation, or a 91+MK4 formation on my journeys? Are they allocated in a common pool, or are certain workings guaranteed to have 43s?

 

[jopsuk]

For Edinburgh services, a good starting point is that any train starting or terminating at Stirling, Inverness or Aberdeen has to be an HST. There's no common pool, partly for this reason, and partly because the formations and seat layouts are quite different.

Realtime Trains shows what the service is booked for accurately for these services- either an HST or a 125mph Electric loco trailing* 410 tonnes. Check here for today, click on each service


*Yes, southbound services are pushing. Still listed as "trailing"

 

[NSEFAN]

You can use realtimetrains to see what your train is timed as, which gives a clue to the traction. On the ECML, HST and electric locomotive services are timed differently, so this indicates what may be booked. Your train is here, and is timed as electric loco so will probably be a class 91.

Note that this isn't a universal rule, as timing loads are not the same as booked traction. For example, all Chiltern's mainline services are timed as class 158 express sprinters! Diagrams can also be changed around during disruption and this doesn't get updated on the timings.

 

[sprinterguy]

The diesel 125s and electric 225s both have set services which they would be expected to work under normal circumstances.

The diagrams listed for the HSTs on the 125 Group website (unsure if they are up to date?) do not feature either of the trains that you have mentioned for the days of the week that you are travelling, so by process of elimination they should both be Class 91+Mk4 formations.

 

[Chrism20]

RTT is usually quite accurate.

Failing that try a dummy booking on the VTEC website and try changing your seat. The first class seating set up is a giveaway as to what's planned to operate it.

 

[Tetchytyke]

On VTEC, RTT tends to be accurate. If its timing load is 91+MkIV then it'll be booked a 91+MkIV.

This isn't a universal rule, and doesn't apply to most other TOCs, but on VTEC it tends to be accurate. The HST and MkIVs have very different seating and carriage layouts and so it tends to be planned which type of train will run each service. On-the-day disruptions and set swaps can still sometimes happen.

RTT shows both of those trains as a 91+MkIV.

 

[Wilts Wanderer]

You can use realtimetrains to see what your train is timed as, which gives a clue to the traction. On the ECML, HST and electric locomotive services are timed differently, so this indicates what may be booked. Your train is here, and is timed as electric loco so will probably be a class 91.

Note that this isn't a universal rule, as timing loads are not the same as booked traction. For example, all Chiltern's mainline services are timed as class 158 express sprinters! Diagrams can also be changed around during disruption and this doesn't get updated on the timings.

This is not correct, they are timed as a mix of 165-T (75mph), 168 (100mph) and I believe D210 (100mph loco-hauled).

 

[rmt4ever]

I thought one could simply look on east coast website to see the full timetable. Which states booked traction type for all services?

 

[causton]

This is not correct, they are timed as a mix of 165-T (75mph), 168 (100mph) and I believe D210 (100mph loco-hauled).

As the post was about RealTimeTrains, and it does show:
"Timed for 100mph max
Pathed as Class 158 (Express Sprinter) DMU"

I don't think it is completely wrong, as that is the information we are given when using the website, even if in another system it is input as something else.

 

[Kite159]

As the post was about RealTimeTrains, and it does show:
"Timed for 100mph max
Pathed as Class 158 (Express Sprinter) DMU"

I don't think it is completely wrong, as that is the information we are given when using the website, even if in another system it is input as something else.

Same as Scotland where Class 170 operated services are "Pathed as Class 158", and I think it is the same for Southern with their 171 operated services.