GWR 7 car

[ThomasI]

Hi everyone,
I was using the website http://iris2.rail.co.uk/tiger/ and was looking at the Swindon station arrivals. I saw that there was a 7 coach train coming from Cheltenham Spa.
I was wondering what locomotive that would be as I've never seen a 7 car GWR train before.
Thanks,
Thomas

 

[HainultLoop]

Welcome to the forum! I think that would likely be a HST Class 43; GWR run them in 7-car and 8-car form.

 

[pdeaves]

Yes, 7 car is usually if too much stuff needs maintenance at any given time (better to send out a set with one vehicle short than not send out a set at all). Very occasionally, 7 cars is actually 8 cars but one is locked out of use for some reason (similarly, class 800s can be advertised as 5 cars and 10 turn up, but passengers cannot board 5 of them, though the reasons are likely to be very different in this case!).