XC HSTs

[BY767]

I'm hoping to travel from Dundee to Bristol Temple Meads on Fri 19 Sep.

There's a direct Cross Country service which leaves at 0735 and arrives at 1611. Is this a HST service?

I know the 1230 departure from Bristol TM to Dundee is always a HST, so I'm presuming this must be too? I phoned up XC but they weren't able to help - the advisor didn't have that much information to hand as you may expect.

Thank You in advance for your help!

J

 

[class 313]

Fridays

XC91 9V65 1205 EDB-PLY
XC92 9S66 0830 PNZ-DEE

Ta 125 Group

 

[BlueGrey]

I believe the HST diagrams may be changing in connection with the Bradway Tunnel diversions.

 

[yorkie]

I posted a full reply on my mobile but it didn't get through.

Anyway the 0900 GLC-PLY is what you need to book on (1005 from EDB), this runs Mondays-Fridays from 8 Sept.

 

[First ScotRail]

Thats good to know, that service gets VERY busy further south!

 

[P156KWJ]

I believe the HST diagrams may be changing in connection with the Bradway Tunnel diversions.

they'll have to, as it adds a good 15-20 minutes on

 

[djw1981]

IIRC XC are allowing 30 minutes, and terminating many services at Newcastle.

 

[Techniquest]

What route are these diversions taking? I assume via Barrow Hill again, and will EMT also be doing this? Their timetable has trains being retimed by about 8 minutes which would suggest not Barrow Hill.

 

[P156KWJ]

no way other than barrow hill, and 8 minutes seemed bloody tight! EMT are doing these diversions for HSTs / 222s but 158s are terminating at chesterfield,then RRBs to sheffield (or use a different train) then starts sheffield-liverpool

 

[Techniquest]

Agreed 8 minutes is tight, will consult the timetable later and see what it says. Must be a later time off Chesterfield or something.

Will be good to get that in as it's extra mileage, unusual track (had 43184+007 on it in July though ) and I need the track in the Up direction on that route (having covered the Down direction) so job done.

 

[yorkie]

Not that unusual these days. It's been the case many Sundays recently. What is highly unusual is avoiding Sheffield completely and this happened one weekend a few weeks ago.

 

[P156KWJ]

Agreed 8 minutes is tight, will consult the timetable later and see what it says. Must be a later time off Chesterfield or something.

Will be good to get that in as it's extra mileage, unusual track (had 43184+007 on it in July though ) and I need the track in the Up direction on that route (having covered the Down direction) so job done.

had the same PCs on May 29th for the same route - was kind of odd when we started moving north from Sheffield on a Penzance train hock:

 

[devon_metro]

0640 PLY-ABD soon to be HST

 

[P156KWJ]

anyone know of ammendments to the 1353 from Sheffield, ex Glasgow-Penzance during the Barrow Hill diversions?

 

[yorkie]

9V59
                           dep    pl 
Glasgow Central            09:00  1      
Motherwell                 09:14  1     
Edinburgh Haymarket        09:55  3     
Edinburgh Waverley         10:05  11     
Alnmouth for Alnwick       11:04       
Morpeth                    11:18       
Newcastle Central          11:40  3     
Durham                     11:52  1     
Darlington                 12:10  1     
York                       12:45  10     
Leeds                      13:10  11     
Wakefield Westgate         13:23  1     
Sheffield                  14:00  5     
Chesterfield               14:33       
Derby                      14:57  1     
Birmingham New Street      15:40  10     
Cheltenham Spa             16:22       
Bristol Parkway            16:55  2     
Bristol Temple Meads       17:11  8     
Taunton                    17:44  3     
Tiverton Parkway           17:56  1     
Exeter St Davids           18:12  4     
Dawlish                    18:24       
Teignmouth                 18:29       
Newton Abbot               18:36  2     
Totnes                     18:49  1     
Plymouth                   19:20  6

 

[Waverley125]

I'm glad to see the HSTs going back onto XC services-beautiful trains, much better than the poxy voyagers with higher speeds and capaciy. Bit of a useless fact, but every HST that has not crashed is currently in full operation on the network.

Oh, and if you're ever travelling NXEC you can check their full timetable online, the traction type is listed at the top of the page.

 

[TEW]

I'm glad to see the HSTs going back onto XC services-beautiful trains, much better than the poxy voyagers with higher speeds and capaciy.

Ill agree they have higher capacity but they dont have a higher top speed and do have much worse acceleration.

 

[Waverley125]

The HSTs are rated for 140mph but are restricted due to line speeds (Class 43 is still the fastest Diesel in the world at 163mph).

 

[djw1981]

Also they cannot reach top speed on much of the route, and IIRC the HST manages to keep the Voyager timings, despite the HST having poorer acceleration, because of the padding and recovery which is in the timetable.

 

[TEW]

Also they cannot reach top speed on much of the route, and IIRC the HST manages to keep the Voyager timings, despite the HST having poorer acceleration, because of the padding and recovery which is in the timetable.

The HSTs struggle to keep to timings despite padding and are regularly late.

The ups from Cornwall often have none of the eight minutes booked at Plymouth due to the very tight timings, they take 15 minutes less than FGWs HSTs.

 

[Techniquest]

Agreed that the HSTs are still late on numerous occasions. I've only had 1E46 on Saturdays on time ONCE out of about 8 times. Same for V29, I've had that run 5 times this year and only been on time once (and lost 3 minutes by Bristol Parkway!)...M-F runs I usually do 9S66, I don't recall ever having that on time, if I did it was only once.

 

[87015]

The HSTs struggle to keep to timings despite padding and are regularly late.

The Voyagers struggle to keep to timings despite padding and are regularly late aswell though!!

 

[Waverley125]

and I'd raher be 10 mins late in a HST than on time in a Voyager. Every time i ride a voyager I'm counting the minutes till i get out. I pity anyone who has done the full Penzance-Aberdeen voyager journey.

 

[class 313]

Voyagers seem to make the journey last longer compared to the HSTs. Is this just me?

 

[djw1981]

No. For once I agree with you - Voyagers and Pendos both have very tiring interior environments - poor air quality and small windows are the problem I think. They have truly copied the airline techniques!

 

[class 313]

No. For once I agree with you - Voyagers and Pendos both have very tiring interior environments - poor air quality and small windows are the problem I think. They have truly copied the airline techniques!

Indeed I believe this to be the case. As I did a Voyager from Bristol - Sheffield then a HST a week later and the HST journey just flew by when on the Voyager it seemed to last forever.

 

[djw1981]

Well artificial light, no real idea of weather outside or natural time indicators, and recirculated warm air are good ways to disorientate you - ask anyone who ever worked in a call centre.

 

[class 313]

Well artificial light, no real idea of weather outside or natural time indicators, and recirculated warm air are good ways to disorientate you - ask anyone who ever worked in a call centre.

I work in an office but with windows next to me which I guess is a tad cheating but still the same principle stands.

 

[Waverley125]

the reason the voyager journey lasts longer for me is that i'm always counting the seconds till i can get off the bugger. Did about 1 hour on a diverted voyager (Birmingham-Stafford via Nuneaton) when the wires came down last year. 5 car replacement for 2 pendolinos, packed in every carriage. Awful environment.

Am going to Edinburgh on the 1117 HST later today, and am positivley looking forward to 3 hours on one of those wonderful trains.

 

[Techniquest]

I'm in two minds about whether Voyager journies take longer than the same one on a HST. When it comes to London to Inverness, nothing would make that journey go quickly! To be fair, it is about 580 miles on the direct HSTs though. Still, whether it would have felt worse on a Voyager or not I don't know.

I've done many long journeys on Voyagers in the past (longest to date being Birmingham NS to Glasgow Central and Edinburgh Waverley to Birmingham NS - roughly the same mileage), but most of them don't feel that bad. Sometimes it just depends on what you've got to occupy you. That and regular wanders about the train can help to keep the blood flowing through your legs and to have something to do apart from sitting there and trying to see anything through the windows.

At the end of the day, I will always prefer to go somewhere on a HST, irrespective of the engine in the power cars. Could hardly call myself a HST basher of any sort if I didn't! But I remain unconvinced from personal experience that a journey on a Voyager feels longer than that on a HST.