HST's in Weymouth

[martyn29]

In the 80s or 90s did HST's go to Weymouth, because when I was younger, I am sure we went there and back on a HST when we went on holiday..

thanks

 

[43034 The Black Horse]

In the 80s or 90s did HST's go to Weymouth, because when I was younger, I am sure we went there and back on a HST when we went on holiday..

thanks

Railtour has gone there AFAIAA, Course a HST went there a few weeks ago. Will do some enquiries and get back to you later tonight

 

[MCR247]

Didnt they in the summer of VT XC days when they still had 47s

 

[martyn29]

I think we went on holiday when I was 9 or 10 so it would have been mid to late 80s

 

[43034 The Black Horse]

As far as can be said, No HSTs have Visited Weymouth on a service train prior to FGW. VXC was all LHCS to Weymouth and only Tours have gone there before. Can you be in depth anymore when you say we went there and back on a HST. Where did you travel from?

 

[Oracle]

Those with close-coupled cars went to Poole on Virgin XC via Southampton.

 

[43034 The Black Horse]

Those with close-coupled cars went to Poole on Virgin XC via Southampton.

Yep they did - Photographic evidence on the net too, just not in a position to post said pic

 

[theblackwatch]

I think John Farrow/HRT might have run a '125 Special' to Weymouth at some time - might be worth a trawl of Six Bells Junction if you really want to know!

 

[martyn29]

we went from Leicester and changed at Birmingham new street

 

[43034 The Black Horse]

we went from Leicester and changed at Birmingham new street

Still haven't found anything out and am convinced that none were TT'd down as was all LHCS.

Re Tours; http://www.sixbellsjunction.co.uk/90s/961207br.htm

And from a mate;

29/03/97 132+139 went Bournemouth (IIRC, could have been Poole or beyond) to Chester, out via Westbury, Maindee, Hereford and Wrexham, home via Crewe, Shrewsbury, Birmingham and Oxford. There were at least two others, the first one from Dorset to Penzance before anyone knew about them, then the Hereford effort, then the one above, then there was a Norwich and Wroxham that nobody did because Sparkle Express had advertised one to Great Yarmouth (which also included the highlight section Ely-Norwich) a few weeks later but without the hassle of a South Coast start/end point obviously after the Bourenmouth one ran the Sparkle one got pulled. Basically, you need to check back through contemporary publications at the time, "Reader 125" might be a good starting point! The whole show was over by 1998, mostly due to GW deciding that a nationwide safety case came with some considerable baggage, f**king Diana caused one cape as GW needed the sets for sad mourners and a monumental c*ck up involving one of the stations on a Sparkle job which opened up a large can of worms regarding piloting drivers.

 

[Turbostar]

IIRC, in the period when Virgin XC ran HST's to Bournemouth & Poole, some did venture to Weymouth, I think it was mostly only weekends they ran to Weymouth. I don't recall HST's running to Weymouth prior to privatisation.

 

[paul1609]

HSTs did go to Weymouth on Summer Saturdays in the 1980s.
There are some pictures of HSTs in InterCity Livery at Weymouth on this link about three pictures from the bottom: http://www.hentis-rail.co.uk/BRYrs-Poole.html

 

[martyn29]

thanks for looking into this for me!

 

[43034 The Black Horse]

Re; HST's at Poole,

Copyright A Wood


BTW, Cheers for the link to those pics of the HST at Wey

 

[Turbostar]

Well, after consulting my HST book, 'HST Jubilee', there's no mention of HST's working regular services beyond Poole to Weymouth, even summer saturdays. There's a mention about the InterCity CrossCountry sector briefly using HST's between 1987 & 1988, but the sets allocated were returned to the WR & MML to strengthen services, & the InterCity CrossCountry services to Poole & Bournemouth reverted back to loco-hauled stock (Class 47's). There's no mention when the HST's briefly ran these services that they worked beyond Poole. Looking at the photo's mentioned on the website, the set looks ex-works, which would more than likely mean this was a promotional run to promote HST's possibly being used on services, but this looks as though it didn't materialize as I said, & hence the regular services ended at Poole & Bournemouth. The same happened when Virgin took over the franchise, there's no mention of Virgin XC running services beyond Poole.

 

[thefab444]

The same happened when Virgin took over the franchise, there's no mention of Virgin XC running services beyond Poole.

Virgin XC definately ran services beyond Poole to Weymouth, but I don't believe these ever produced HSTs?

 

[EltonRoad]

InterCity Cross Country, then Virgin Trains, used to extend a Poole service to Weymouth on Summer Saturdays. In ICXC days it used to originate from Liverpool. It wasn't an HST though.

 

[thefab444]

From my 2001 summer timetable, the northbound trains were: 0920 Weymouth - Liverpool Lime Street and 1715 Weymouth - Manchester Piccadilly. The single southbound train was 0910 Liverpool Lime Street - Weymouth (the stock for the 0920 ran ECS from Bournemouth).