As Jeremy Clarkson once said, speed doesn't kill, it's stopping suddenly......

When 1993 video exceeds quality of every single modern "ghost caught on tape" video

As the cameraman who filmed this footage may I just clarify one thing. The train was definitely travelling at the full 125 MILES an hour (as others have confirmed by calculation). What I want to say is that most CAB RIDES are simply filmed by the camera being placed in the cab and the cameraman zooming out to the widest angle of the lens. Video 125 has never filmed a true Driver's eye view with a wide angle lens. Just look around you now and think about your eyesight. You can focus in on things a long way away. You see the human eye is nothing like wide angle. It is around 30 degrees horizontal angle of view. In fact the human eye lens is telephoto. Admittedly you have peripheral vision but your focus is narrow. The trouble with filming wide angle is that you only see things close to the train and distorted. The driver is looking into the distance and without distortion. The other aspect of using a telephoto lens (as we always do) is that it makes the speed seem slower. A wide angle lens naturally makes things APPEAR faster. That is why so many people disbelieve the speed. They are used to seeing the usual inaccurate driver's view on virtually ALL other cab rides. I hope that clears up the argument once and for all.

1993 had better cameras than most youtubers today.

What I love about this is that you hear the alarm of the ATP failing, yet you hear the AWS bell ring to say the signal is green. Brilliant stuff!

I always heard a cargo train takes several miles to stop going half that speed, that seems impressive.

Let me explain once again. The human eye lens is NOT wide angle. It would be almost impossible to drive a train at high speeds if that was the case. He or she has to look into the distance just like when driving a car. The trouble is, most cab ride cameramen do not give any thought to this and automatically zoom out to the widest angle on their camera. This is why everyone thinks this viewpoint is wrong. Our Driver's eye views more closely reflect the narrow angle that the driver is seeing with his eyes (in fact it is a compromise between the two, gained with years of experience of such filming). So, to recap, it only LOOKS slow because you are all so used to seeing a wide angle view which gives the IMPRESSION of extra speed. I trust that will put an end to all this speculation and controversy. Peter Middleton.

I love the smell of burning steel and fused sand in the morning.

I guess we all got here by seeing this pop randomly in our recommended videos lol

DID I JUST SEE 1993 IN THE VIDEO

Just to clear things up, the discussion about how fast the HST was doing when the ATP showed a fault and the brakes were in full emergency, the train was 100% doing 125 mph. There have been HUNDREDS of discussions on this channel over the last 9 YEARS out of thousands of comments and 9.5 million views. I am pleased to say that among those, there have been INDEPENDENT viewers who have done speed/distance calculations to prove beyond doubt the speed that the train was doing at the time. One additional thought from me. With green signals, that far out from Paddington, why on earth would a service InterCity train on the fast line be doing just 80 mph and why would it take over a mile to stop, if the brakes had not been released? I rest my case.

Why am I watching trains on KZfaq?

alternatively you can call spiderman and he'll stop the train for you

For a while I thought the train coming from opposite direction is on the same track 😨

Please explain to my why 2.5 million people watched this

I must say its rather impressive how quick that HST slows from 200kmh

How cool is that and gained control just in time to escape from Slough!!! Cheers Dazza

ok, to those who say that this isn't 125mph, that's because a train is much bigger so it appears to be slower. I was driving in an ICE to berlin, the train reached 300kmh (187,5mph) and it never felt like it, more like driving a car at 140kmh.

Im actually so fascinated by trains and how they work and everything about them, would love to be a train driver one day!

This video is a proof of where YT algorithm lottery can take you.

Lucky you! When my passenger train goes into emergency brake mode for any reason, I have to be at a complete stop for a one minute before I can regain control of the train. And it certainly doesn't slow down that fast...

During the filming of HST GREAT WEST a number of cab ride shoots were undertaken, believe it or not about 8 in total (the most we have ever done for one production). The emergency stop was during one of these and of course didn't make it into the finished production - one reason why so many shoots. We DID include it in TRACKS which can be found as a bonus on Golden Valley Driver's eye view.

I recognise the voice of the Traction Inspector in this video but can't remember his name being such a long time ago. He was based at Bristol Bath Road and took me on a pre-arranged tour of the depot in July 1991. Must have been with Bristol based HST cab staff when this test was carried out. Also remember Area Movements Inspector from the Paddington end of the Great Western Main Line at this time and the voice is definitely not him. Never got to drive a HST on this stretch of the line as I went the Network SouthEast route (Class 121 / 117 to Class 47/4 and then Turbos) instead c/o the RTS at MacMillan House commencing January 1992. Transferred to Derby Etches Park Depot in 1995 and left InterCity Cross Country in 1997.

impressive video, just goes to show how much braking force these things can produce cheers for uploading it.

My favorite train, use to ride on it in the late 80’s as a kid. Thanks for the great memories.

The 125's were the best trains ever made. They looked good, they went fast and might have been modified to bimode trains. An electric unit at one end and a diesel at the other might have solved the problem of diesels travelling under the wires for four hundred miles, without using them. My first train ride on a 125 was a real thrill. There was such an enormous difference in the time it took to travel from Reading to Swindon. In those days in the 1970's there were fewer seats per carriage and consequently more leg room and elbow room. It was a really pleasant experience except perhaps for the hot smell of the brakes being applied, when one was in the vestibule waiting to stop. No

I was working on Network Southeast back in 1993 on the very new 319s. Seeing this took me right back. Thanks for posting it.

That looked impressive. Now, if only I knew what ATP was. Apart from mitochondria being the powerhouse of the cell.

Yes, this is the standard ATP signal loss mode where by the train implements full backup default braking. I teach this in my classes.

“Britain’s favourite railway video producer” *You’re goddamn right*

Great footage, and might I say; that 125m/ph driveby at the start... Oh my. 💓 The 'real' HST's really were a sight to behold.

The swedish system, ATC, can not be overridden until at a stand still if you get a failure. You also have to phone up the dispatcher to fill out a form and get confirmation that the signal was actually green, considering the ATC sits in front of you claiming you just passed a red signal. Worse yet, to be really really sure, the ATC then only permits you to do 40 km/h until you pass the next green signal. I had it happen to me a couple of times, once the signal was actually red but it was the dispatchers mistake, and once it was during a day with huge amounts of delay, I had after a wait of probably 20 minutes finally gotten going when just as I got up to that trains top speed of 160 km/h the ATC read a signal as read and it braked (?) me to a complete stop. It then took me another ten minutes to get the dispatcher on the phone to fill out that bloody form... Not a good day at work...

Why is this in my recommended?

And 8 million people find this watchable content... Good because it is

The HS125 I was on several years ago came to a complete stop. It seemed as though all the air operated equipment on the train failed as we passed through Swindon station towards London at speed. The train came to a complete stop before the end of the yard on the London side of the station.

It decelerated slower than i thought a train would

I dug the signal cable trench from Sough to Taplow one summer (1972 I think) 10 metres per day with 10 other guys!

what glorious form of media was this recorded on? because it makes england look stunning!

Fortunately, when the driver lost control, the train kept going straight ahead. It could have been a disaster if it had turned one way or the other. ;)

The whoosh sound you refer to is the air braking system. What you can hear is the valve opening and all the air being exhausted to the atmosphere meaning that all the brakes on the entire train are fully on.

used to watch these from above the tunnel ( borehamwood and elstree ) going to kings cross about 1980 :))

We were returning from Ffolkstone on the HST, going through a station when suddenly full-emergency stop. Burnt brake fumes invading the carriage. After a few minutes a very calm, pleasant female voice announced, "This journey has been interrupted due to a fatality on the line", in the same calm tone she would've announced any normal delay. A recording I suspect. We sat there as police and railway inspectors walked past our carriage pointing at something beneath it. Then, after about 15 minutes we were instructed to quiety move to the most forward carriage and walk across the platform to a local train whihc was waiting for us. We hear nothing on TV news or radio later. We assumed it was a suicide.

Langley is 2-3 miles west of Iver Station on The Western Region Main Line. I witnessed a HST perform a full emergency stop during summer 1986 in almost exactly the same location.

If I'm going to have to read the words "the driver has lost all control", I'm really glad that the context is that the brakes have been applied and the driver can't take them off!

Shocking the amount of uneducated Americans here who think that EVERYTHING has to oblige with American rules, it doesn't because for a start this was not filmed in the US or have anything to do with the US. This is filmed in the UK under British Rail rules.

what was the distance travelled by the train from the time of emergency brakes until down to a safe 20mph and driver control recovers?

It's that time of the year when it randomly pops up in recommendation.

Everytime I see this video, I enjoy watching it.

I’m not surprised that this was in my recommended I’m surprised that i clicked on the video

I have been asked when this was filmed. The date is on the opening caption.

Wow that must have been a bit scary at one point with the driver losing all control - not what you want at 125 mph!! Excellent video production short though it was. Thanks for sharing it and I shall certainly visit your website. Ken

It certainly woke me up! Cheers, Peter! You mention the APT a lot in your vids, now I've seen it work, I'm with Mr Finchfield.

Ah 1993 when trains went fast, unlike today where your lucky if a train ever gets going thanks to constant strikes and delays.

1993: nope 2000: nah 2005: abit more... 2015: nope 2019: *THIS IS IS PUT IT ON PPLS RECCOMENDED*

This is because the Paxman Valenta engines were swapped out for quieter MTU engines in all Class 43 sets. Grand Central had the very last Valenta-engine HSTs in service, though they too were changed in 2010/2011.

It's more fun when you're on the train running a stop distance test like that. I was lucky enough to run a test on the Long Island RR along side the Sunrise Highway at about 116 MPH back in the early 1980's. The folks on the roadway were in shock, they never saw the 'Silver Snail' run so fast...

Okay,but where is the stop part?

Why is this in my recommendations when it was made five years ago

On the speed looking at the film you have to realize that you are very high up in an HST. you are not in a car which is lower to the road. 125mph looks like 65mph when I am driving a train. well train buffs tell us how high you are from the running line in an HST? You have to also understand the drivers rules to understand what actions were taken after the intervention.

I'm pretty sure the same thing happened on the East Coast 125 train I was traveling on 2 days ago between Arlesey and Hitchin stations. We were going full speed and then suddenly it braked really heavily to about 20mph and I could smell burning brakes inside the train. Never happened to me before.

it's not how fast you get the brakes on but getting them off is just as important. when I was I driver we had the 2 pipe system (air brakes obviously) and the brakes came off really fast. but they were messing about with a 1 pipe system which was very slow getting the brakes off which messed about with your timing stopping at stations etc as you always wanted to stop with your brakes practically off.

Not as exciting as when we ploughed through a small herd of cows on a Sunday, having only got up to 100+ shortly before that. The HST front end looked very sick.

I can't believe this was recorded 30 years ago! The quality makes it look like only last year!

Our ATP system in the Netherlands can cause these malfunctions to: if the onboard equipment loses the ATP-code that is flowing through the tracks, it will immediately force a quick-brake, which, as far as I know, can not be interrupted (train has to come to a complete stop and can only gain speed again after adequate air-pressure in the brake-system)

125 MPH ?

The test began at Paddington. The train was doing 125 by the time it reached Iver.

Thanks for the explanation, very informative. Cheers. Ken

In this episode of ''why is this in my recommended?''...

why why is this in my recommended

I was a trainee driver, a fireman, a locomotive assistant. I got to drive many times. But I never completed my four years driver training because success meant returning to Melbourne to drive sparks. Do passengers ride on, or travel in trains?

So just out of curiosity, how long (in terms of distance) before the train reached 20 mph ?

the camera is probably zoomed in thats why it looks slower than it really is.

It's nerd cubed!

Hong Kong also have emergency train stop in all of the stations (only in East Rail Line)

Those are some impressive brakes.

Other HST Driver: "Noob Scrub..."

350m break distance, pretty good stuff..

Check the power of that engine... great video❤

Based ONLY on train sim, I was surprised to see them regain control at 20mph rather than a complete stop. Learned something today, thanks for posting the video

One sliiiiiight problem with the "emergency stop" on this one... it didn't do the "stop" part...

Fantastic System. it still kills me but at 20 MPH

It would be good to see this from the air Waldenhouse. How do you propose that we do it?

@ismaelkhan it is the ATP system dumping the brake pipe pressure. Once the quick thinking inspector isolates it the driver is able to recharge the brake pipe pressure again and release the brakes to continue the journey.

0:53 that felt like someone just got punched

I believe an emergency brake application cannot be reset without a full stop.

I see this train has low pressure requirements, given it was able to repressurise before it stopped. The ones I play on simulators take full 1 minute to pressurize from a full dispressurization.

Hard to see when exactly braking ends. But I once had GPS turned on when travelling by train (i always forgot to turn it of) when train started emergency braking from 160kmh (44.5m/s) to stop. It took approximately 20 or 25 seconds so braking distance was 400 to 500 meters. Technically there's no reason why train should brake slower than tram or metro - actually trams have large rubber block that is pressed against the rail and emergency braking is pretty rapid. And question is how exactly braking works, I assume that by depressurizing hoses with pressurized air, which may take time for a long train if it happens from a single point/valve.

They were testing normal operation. Hence the reason the TI dived into the engine room to disable the system and allow the driver to release the brakes. Over here an engineer is someone who practices an engineering discipline. A driver is someone who operates a ground based overland vehicle.

125 MPH maybe, but there was no "stop"

1. It's a DRIVER in the UK (correct terminology. We invented railways remember!) 2. There are no dynamic brakes on an HST. That is purely done with air operated disc brakes.

That intro is way too majestic for this video.

Emergency stop? Took about a mile?

Why was this in my recommend, and why does this video have almost 2 million views

That slowed down surprisingly quickly !!!

Know this line very intimately. Starts from the first play I lived in the UK on the first line I ever worked on the railway.

This video needs a lot more explaining.

Der Zug fährt auf der falschen Seite.... ^^

IM GOING ON A TRAIN NEXT WEEK, WHY AM I WATCHING THIS AS A EXTREMELY NERVOUS PASSENGER IN ALL MODES OF TRANSPORT

The InterCity 125 That was involved in the Ufton Nervet Rail Crash was travelling at nearly 100 mph! With only 2-3 seconds left to stop, it's no wonder that so much damage was caused!

If someone said to me "Hey kid? want to de rail a train and your allowed to do it?" id be like "FUCK YEAH!" "How would you like to derail the train?" Stick the throttle at max"