Future of IC225 Sets

[superalbs]

Indeed. And such subjective titles like ”Britain’s best train” really compromises the level of trust a viewer might have in getting a decent, balanced (unbiased) review too.

Well what do you expect the title to be? "Britain's train"?

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 19 Feb 2026 ==

It's all subjective though, so yes it is - for me. I think the 745 is little more than a commuter train, and I love a 397, but I suppose that's neither here nor there.

Of course it's subjective, the creator is providing their own assessment of the experience. That's how it works.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Hard to argue with his reviews of the Chiltern Mk 5s ("terrible"), 800s ("horrible") and 397s ("terrible") and 745s ("first good intercity trains for decades") not for the soundbites but his critical eye for detail and high standards in the content itself. He's a high quality vlogger, beyond the mandatory thumbnail sensational soundbites which are fine, just to be expected, and par for the course even from our resident YouTubers here!

Those views are very subjective. I'd agree on the Mk5s (bar 1st), I like 800s (metal bar excepted) and 397s and I think UK Stadlers are frankly a bit rubbish and certainly not to InterCity standards.

That's fine of course, they're opinions, he's entitled to his and I am to mine.

There are more objective problems with Mk4s, though, such as their age and thus unreliability, regardless of how nice the interior might happen to be.

 

[Royston Vasey]

Those views are very subjective. I'd agree on the Mk5s (bar 1st), I like 800s (metal bar excepted) and 397s and I think UK Stadlers are frankly a bit rubbish and certainly not to InterCity standards.

That's fine of course, they're opinions, he's entitled to his and I am to mine.

There are more objective problems with Mk4s, though, such as their age and thus unreliability, regardless of how nice the interior might happen to be.

That's it, the review is about the comfort and provision of the stock as he found it, rather then the reliability of the locomotives or the crackles of rust around the ends which didn't affect his own experience.

He got lucky... I've been bowled both by unavailable Mk 4 sets and by unavailable catering on attempts at TfW's First Class Dining. You're entirely right that they're life expired and have had a hard life at high speed, in Scottish weather and salty north sea air.

I feel like any hoped for new orders are most likely to be more Welsh built 197s than anything else, mind you. I can't imagine they'll buy any new build "premier trains", maybe at best CAF Mk 5s if the jigs still exist.

 

[AlterEgo]

Simon (who made the video) is a good lad and knows his stuff. People who make trip report videos can only focus on their own experiences on the day; they aren't a hivemind or aggregator like Trustpilot and I don't think anyone in this space sets out to be some kind of massive authority on what is good and what is not.

They're also making video content, so the content will naturally focus on things which can be seen or heard rather than abstracts like reliability (of other people's journeys!) which do not make compelling video content.

As far as Britain's best train goes, it is the only train which has a dedicated thread on here, nearly 150 pages long, of people just looking to plan trips to involve the train in some roundabout way.

The MkIVs are knackered, for sure, but you can bet whatever replaces them will be inferior in terms of comfort. I will be sorry to see them go, both on TFW and LNER.

 

[35B]

Simon (who made the video) is a good lad and knows his stuff. People who make trip report videos can only focus on their own experiences on the day; they aren't a hivemind or aggregator like Trustpilot and I don't think anyone in this space sets out to be some kind of massive authority on what is good and what is not.

They're also making video content, so the content will naturally focus on things which can be seen or heard rather than abstracts like reliability (of other people's journeys!) which do not make compelling video content.

As far as Britain's best train goes, it is the only train which has a dedicated thread on here, nearly 150 pages long, of people just looking to plan trips to involve the train in some roundabout way.

The MkIVs are knackered, for sure, but you can bet whatever replaces them will be inferior in terms of comfort. I will be sorry to see them go, both on TFW and LNER.

From LNER, I'm less sure - but that's about minor things like quality of WiFi rather than their innate qualities. Sadly, I do also accept that their day is done.

 

[Iskra]

Simon (who made the video) is a good lad and knows his stuff. People who make trip report videos can only focus on their own experiences on the day; they aren't a hivemind or aggregator like Trustpilot and I don't think anyone in this space sets out to be some kind of massive authority on what is good and what is not.

They're also making video content, so the content will naturally focus on things which can be seen or heard rather than abstracts like reliability (of other people's journeys!) which do not make compelling video content.

As far as Britain's best train goes, it is the only train which has a dedicated thread on here, nearly 150 pages long, of people just looking to plan trips to involve the train in some roundabout way.

The MkIVs are knackered, for sure, but you can bet whatever replaces them will be inferior in terms of comfort. I will be sorry to see them go, both on TFW and LNER.

The Caledonian Sleeper thread also sees a lot of similar discussion, it’s just all rolled into one big thread in the main forum. Although, I don’t think anyone would argue that the CS is Britain’s best train anymore.

On their day, the TfW Mk4 dining car experience beats anything, so I can understand why people would call them the best trains in Britain. I can also see an argument that the ex-GC Mk4’s may be the best standard class experience in Britain too.

- - -

On reliability, it is worth pointing out that these trains were unreliable in their previous pre-Mk4 guises, so it probably isn’t Mk4’s themselves that are the issue.

 

[Highview]

Seems 2 Mk 4s have now been purchased by 225 Preservation!

https://225.org.uk/