The History of HSTs on the Midland Region

Рет қаралды 35,635

Жыл бұрын

Greetings everyone! :D
Turning to our final look at the history of HSTs by region, we cast our eyes over the last of BR's regions to introduce these sets during late 1982 and early 1983, the Midland Region or Midland Mainline, a route that, throughout the 1970s, had been threatened with partial closure on numerous occasions, but following the arrival of the High Speed Train saw a massive improvement in journey times and efficiency that turned what was once Britain's backwater mainline into a vital commuter corridor rivaling both its East and West coast neighbours.
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References:
- 125Group (and their respective sources)
- Rail Revisited (and their respective sources)
- Wikipedia (and its respective references)

Пікірлер: 117

@stevecooksley Жыл бұрын

I've travelled on a class 180 three times and three times I arrived at my destination on a rescue train. RIP HSTs, you are sadly missed.

@thetoppercent9638 Жыл бұрын

Grand centrals are usually reliable

@andrewwilson6240 Жыл бұрын

I only travelled on one 180. Luckily only between Loughborough and Beeston. 10 minutes was enough

@1a2b Жыл бұрын

you'll be going nowhere

@freddieellis8449 Жыл бұрын

I found the class 180 a real bone shaker of a ride!

@Jonsku124Transit 5 ай бұрын

"Or you'll be going nowhere"

@amessman Жыл бұрын

Good morning, currently 3:00am local time as this goes up, no other time I'd rather watch one of your videos.

@joshuaW5621 Жыл бұрын

I can’t believe the HSTs are no longer in commercial use. It feels like yesterday I was seeing them at York during my visit to the National Railway Museum.

@andrewwilson6240 Жыл бұрын

You can still travel on an HST, GWR, ScotRail and Crosscountry still have them in service, but yes they are scarce

@joshuaW5621 Жыл бұрын

@@andrewwilson6240 really?

@andrewwilson6240 Жыл бұрын

@@joshuaW5621 yes. I caught a Crosscountry one only a couple of weeks ago between Birmingham and Derby. The castle class ones are doing service between the south west and Wales and the inter7city services are a main spine in Scotland. They all have really immanent replacement plans though.

@maimadha Жыл бұрын

@@andrewwilson6240 wish we could see HSTs operating out of London again!

@skarloeyable Жыл бұрын

Grew up watching these! Standing on the platform at Harborough waiting fo the impossibly loud engine screaming at each end as it pulled off.

@paulashley2707 Жыл бұрын

Thank you so much Ruairidh for yet another superb video. I have many fond memories of travelling on HSTs as a student at Loughborough in the 1980s. I also remember how revolutionary they were upon their introduction. My grandad took my elder brother and I on a return journey from Taunton to Swindon on them when they were new. Will never forget that. These days, I no longer live in the UK - it’s hard to imagine that they have almost disappeared from the network. Many thanks once again!

@RANDOMZBOSSMAN1 Жыл бұрын

Like you I remember travelling on these when I went Loughborough University like 30ish years later Loved the HST and the sense of speed you get and how comfortable the seats were

@MikeyJG Жыл бұрын

Every Saturday i eagerly check to see if you’ve done a class 47 video and today we get a video on the only machine I love more! Winner, winner. 😁

@neiloflongbeck5705 Жыл бұрын

You'll need at least 3 videos for that history, if you want detail.

@gilbertporter4992 Жыл бұрын

Whats so significant about the class 47? Not too familer with British locomotives and their railway history. Bring from Canada the UK region of trains is something else.

@neiloflongbeck5705 Жыл бұрын

@@gilbertporter4992 over 500 of these locomotives were built, making them the most common locomotive of the UK's network handling every type of train.

@12crepello Ай бұрын

@@neiloflongbeck5705 Class 08 were more numerous.

@neiloflongbeck5705 Ай бұрын

@@12crepello excluding shunters.

@jonathanbutson1385 9 ай бұрын

thanks for the trip down memory lane. I was the box boy at Trent jn. when the inaugural Robin Hood pullman ran.

@garfythecat Жыл бұрын

I remember getting one of those Project Rio services from Leicester to Manchester in August 2004. It was a bit surreal being on an HST whilst slowly winding through the dales on the Hope Valley line and the overhanging trees brushing past the train window at Dore West Junction.

@MattBrownbill Жыл бұрын

The HST is my favourite, closely followed by Deltic, so this video ticked a lot of boxes, once again, thank you for your great content.

@zanelindsay1267 Жыл бұрын

Thanks for another great documentary. Those trains have had a rather long life: I rode Intercity 125 trains during a visit to England in 1979 when they were still quite new. In 2007 I had a good look at the train services through Bedford so I find all of this content quite interesting.

@davidsheriff8989 Жыл бұрын

Great video and narration with the history of the regions and nationalization eras...

@AVFCAM Жыл бұрын

Haven’t even started watching yet but I’ll say this now as I know it will be relevant by the end “quality video as always mate” 0:02

@lapiswake6583 Жыл бұрын

I miss these HSTs. I went to uni in Leicester from 2016 to 2020, so I saw and rode them frequently. I love the MML teal livery, much better than the later darker livery. I also managed to visit the area a week before the ex-LNER ones ended, both riding on a set and taking many photos of the remaining power cars in use. I need to see the buffered power cars now they've been repainted grey and had their light mods...

@boalbads Жыл бұрын

I know these will be good, i don't even need to fully watch it to like it (even though i do still watch all of it)

@darrensmith6999 Жыл бұрын

Sadly missed HST travelled many a happy mile on them (:

@TheHylianBatman Жыл бұрын

I love the HSTs. So nice to learn their history.

@TheGalacticEmperorOfLabels Жыл бұрын

A new video from Ruairidh, *and* it's about the 125. KZfaq doesn't get much better.

@benGBRf Жыл бұрын

Great video. Always loved the midland mainline HSTs. They are sadly missed 😔

@tomburke5311 Жыл бұрын

Interesting video - many thanks. I’ve lived in Sheffield for just about 40 years, and have therefore used the Midland main line trains to St Pancras many times. My perception, especially since privatisation, is that most trains terminated at Sheffield; very few went on to Leeds. Indeed, the slow speeds on the routes between Sheffield and Leeds made a journey from London to Leeds via this line unattractive compared with the East Coast main line. That said, I have a feeling that things have improved in recent years - certainly Cross Country are timetabling the journey more quickly than before. But it’s still slow - 40 minutes or so for 35 miles? My recollection of HST usage on the route to Sheffield is that class 222 trains have been the mainstay of Sheffield - London service for many years, and that HSTs were more likely to be found on the London to Nottingham route. Finally, surely The Master Cutler named train runs between London and Sheffield, not Leeds? The Master Cutler of the Honourable Company of Hallamshire Cutlers is (still) based in Sheffield, not Leeds, and the named train was introduced to commemorate that position.

@TheStevewhelan Жыл бұрын

I live next to the line out of Long Eaton and see a few Class 43 HST power cars running back and forth with engineering trains to this day.

@AlexWard94 7 ай бұрын

Ruairidh, why don't you join all four episodes together to form a roughly 1 hour documentary covering HSTs across all four regions / across the Great Britain? These videos are without doubt the best retrospectives of BR's signature chapter.

@emjackson2289 Жыл бұрын

I did Mcr Piccadilly to Leicester on an HST & it might as well have been a Pacer, albeit more comfy - we were doing about 40mph at best.

@auntbarbara5576 Жыл бұрын

Thank you Rory :) Aunt Barbara adores you!

@timblewee Жыл бұрын

Thank you for these amazing videos. This has become my favourite channel on KZfaq.

@AaronDuncalf Жыл бұрын

Another amazing production 👏

@DIEMLtdTV Жыл бұрын

I remember "Rio" HSTs rumbling past Edgeley depot in Stockport when I was based there during West Coast Route Modernisation. Looked odd when they turned off WCML at Adswood Road to head towards Sheffield. Meanwhile back on the WCRM it was utter chaos....and they think HS2 is being run badly!

@markward-willis4508 Жыл бұрын

Just amazing . Thank you.

@richardmccarthy9580 Жыл бұрын

Very enjoyable. Did note then irony of first and last shots being “under the wires” (although whether it’s Voyagers Birmingham to Scotland or East Coast HSTs it’s hardly uncommon !!)

@JP_TaVeryMuch Жыл бұрын

Damned things ruin the view.

@dxutube Жыл бұрын

Nicely timed video upload to coincide with a 40-year anniversary of the service

@DKS225 Жыл бұрын

Incidentally 43089 was used as a test bed for Hitachi's Prototype Diesel Hybrid System where when either at rest of at speeds of 20mph or less the batteries for the experimental system would operate. But at above 20mph the Valenta Engine would kick in.

@crabby7668 Жыл бұрын

That spent a lot of time in Derby. Used to see it a lot at the time.

@lukegreen5341 10 ай бұрын

1:36 This Famous Train Station London St Pancreas Was Opened In 1868 From The Midland Railway And When The London Midland And Scottish Railway Took It Over On January 1st 1923 100 Years Ago. Thanks Mate. X

@chrisderby986 Жыл бұрын

Good video! Couple of inaccuracies though. The FGW HST set wasn’t hired in to cover for the refurbishment programme, it was hired in as part of Project Rio. Also, 170’s were only ever used on Rio services to cover for HST failures. The class 222’s were built as 4 and 9 car sets, the 5 cars were formed from surplus carriages when the 9 cars were reduced to 7 car sets. MML was never broken up, it was combined with Central’s East Midlands operations to create EMT. EMT and EMR also ran HST’s to Skegness on summer Saturdays. Many happy memories of working HST’s.

@Lee_303 10 ай бұрын

On reflection the 222 should have remained as they were, full length & some splitting services (perhaps a Skegness & Cleethorpes splitter?). The 170's are two or three car units so it would've been a stretch to use them anywhere else! It was quite surreal going into the cavernous St Pancras on a dark evening to see a diddy 170 unit sat there.

@chrisderby986 10 ай бұрын

@@Lee_303 there was no work for the 9 car 222’s as they were, which is why they were reformed. There was no need to a London-Skegness/Cleethorpes service as there was no demand for it. The 170’s were only intended as a stop gap until the 222’s entered service.

@peterfinucane8122 Жыл бұрын

Another great contribution to the UK Transport history story.

@Filip7370 Жыл бұрын

Another splendid video. Always adore your work and the way you narrative. I still encourage you to do video about UK DC traction, or Woodhead line or third rail system. For me most interesting are third rail locomotives. This apart from NYC lines are non-existing outside UK.

@johnny242001 Жыл бұрын

The film of LMS steam engines made me wonder if any of them were of my grandfather who was a steam train driver. He retired in 1965 after fifty years of service.

@craigsibley8161 Жыл бұрын

Another quality video 👍👍👍

@johnny242001 Жыл бұрын

I liked Midland Mainline as they provided free Tea and Coffee, even in second class.

@lukegreen5341 2 ай бұрын

2:38 This LMS Diesel Locomotive No.10000 Is A Bit Like BoCo The Diesel Engine And LMS Princess Coronation Class Main Line Express Steam Locomotive No.6256 Sir William A Stanier F.R.S Is A Bit Like Gordon The Big Engine From Thomas The Tank Engine And Friends The Original Series In 1984. Old School Times Man. Thanks A Lot Mate. X

@duncancurtis5108 Жыл бұрын

We saw a lot of livery changes over the years on hsts whistling thru Meadowhall in the mid Noughties, lastly the red and white. Ain't the same without them.

@user-ky6vw5up9m Жыл бұрын

A remarkable steam locomotive which hauled coal trains in the 1920s was the monster Midland Garrett which had a Tender at the front end as well as behind the cab.

@N330AA Жыл бұрын

I enjoy the really long sentences.

@macjim Жыл бұрын

Why?

@minimaxi802 Жыл бұрын

The western region got the 125s first, initially London to Bristol in late 1976, later running to Wales and Cornwall.Then the ECML and Midland Mainline got 125s. The mileages of the Midland Mainline HSTs must be lower than the ECML HSTs going as far as Aberdeen and Inverness.

@devon896 Жыл бұрын

Great video! Do you plan on doing one covering the introduction of the IET and the complete shambolic start from Bristol, cracking issues etc.

@duragamer132 Жыл бұрын

I'd love to see something on the MG RV8

@CornishGardenTeam 4 ай бұрын

Interesting video. Thanks Ruairidh. Just a slight issue, the title references 'midland region' so i was genuinely expecting the reasoning of using HSTs to Holyhead and Blackpool from Euston, HSTs running cross-country from Birmingham to the north-west and north-east and so forth. So perhaps change the title to 'Midland Main Line' to avoid confusion?

@ErraticPT Жыл бұрын

While I live near the WCML, I never saw a HST125 until I visited relatives in the midlands near Derby. It wasn't until years later I realised just how long they had been underused on the WCML due to a mixture of underfunding and incompetence.

@Lee_303 10 ай бұрын

WCML is all electric so they wouldn't use them. Only the Super Voyagers that Avanti have. Though VT did run HST's to Holyhead for a short while. Years before that, there was weekend summer special "Intercity Holidaymaker Express" which started at Milton Keynes & went via Brum down to Penzance (I got on at Northampton).

@freddieellis8449 Жыл бұрын

My dad and I always referred to the Midland Mainline livery as “toothpaste”.

@TB76Returns Жыл бұрын

A great story about the Midland Main Line. Was the electrification of the West Coast Main Line the reason why Manchester Central and the Matlock to Buxton section (now the Monsal Trail) was closed down, as that is what I think it was.

@Lee_303 10 ай бұрын

Perhaps you're thinking of the Woodhead line (which also closed, later on)? certainly the Woodhead line closed & Manchester expresses wen to Euston instead of St Pancras.

@johnsowerby7182 Жыл бұрын

45 years of HST.. that's some longevity record.

@Lee_303 10 ай бұрын

I think that's mostly down to a loco at each end keeping things running in sync? On the WCML before pendolinos came in you could feel the loco taking up the slack & the carriages clunking together when slowing down. This was cool on a train with comfortable seating 😃

@stevecutts5450 Жыл бұрын

I personally preferred peaks on the Midland mainline. Hst's to an enthusiast were as dull as dishwater and glorified multiple units.

@borderlands6606 Жыл бұрын

As a regular MML user in the Peak years, I still think of HSTs as the "new" trains. Peaks were getting long in the tooth in their final years, and delays due to failure were frequent, with 47s more common as time went on. I've only visited St Pancras once since it became a European terminus, when the Midland platforms were still under construction. A far cry from the rather dingy, slightly sleepy station I remember - at least outside rush hours. For example, the ticket office was a portacabin for years and any period Midland detailing had been hidden behind corporate BR fittings long ago.

@Lee_303 10 ай бұрын

@@borderlands6606 It's supposed to be a mainline but they do, what, 5 trains per hour, that includes the 2tph to Corby? I remember being totally flabbergasted when the long standing service at Wellingborough up to Sheffield ceased to exist. Or hardly anything stopping at Bedford (bar the Corby's). I don't call that progress

@thebrummierailenthusiasts5329 Жыл бұрын

Sadly all of the hsts are making way for the 180 dmus being brought from working on the east coast mainline

@macjim Жыл бұрын

How about a history of the great central line, or the Glasgow & south western line?

@Neil-Aspinall Жыл бұрын

A cross between history and Monty Python.

@mcgherkinstudios Жыл бұрын

How wild is this? I was sat looking after my daughter when I thought, you know what, I could happily sit and watch a Motion History video. Picked up my phone, opened youtube, new video uploaded less than an hour ago. Spooky.

@joshuaW5621 Жыл бұрын

Did your daughter watch this with you?

@mcgherkinstudios Жыл бұрын

@@joshuaW5621 She went to bed 😂

@paulie-Gualtieri. Жыл бұрын

Would it be possible to do a video on the former Derby Midland train station? It had a magnificent Victorian frontage and was sadly demolitished in the 1980s.

@andrew564 Жыл бұрын

Hi could do a video on the chatham main line from London to South East

@crabby7668 Жыл бұрын

Just a post script. Network rail took on several power cars to pull their fleet of test trains. They were running them with most of the trains including the mk2 and mk1 stock for a while. However they seem to have reverted to 37s recently from observation. They did have an interesting mix at Derby rtc for a while.

@neiloflongbeck5705 Жыл бұрын

They have various types of trains. The HST power cards are used on the high speed track surveys and hign speed OHLE/pantograph interaction and the 37s haul the lower speed track surveys and telecoms checks.

@BritishTrainspotting Жыл бұрын

@@neiloflongbeck5705 And their modified 150s run on sections unsuitable for heavy trains

@neiloflongbeck5705 Жыл бұрын

@@BritishTrainspotting I haven't seen one of them since the one Class 150/1 bodied set. I have seen a few of their 153s occasionally.

@crabby7668 Жыл бұрын

@@neiloflongbeck5705 I can assure you that they were also using the power cars in place of the 37s and others for a while, not just on the nmt. It looked odd, but I assume that the rental rates were good. They even used one on Caroline track inspection coach for a while.

@gazzyp Жыл бұрын

St Pancras is a station in London. St PancrEas is not! It’s more of a high status internal organ. 😊

@_theamchannel_ Жыл бұрын

The more we hear about class 47, the more we miss them.

@AndrewG1989 Жыл бұрын

But sadly from next year (2024). East Midlands Railway will be introducing the Class 810 Aurora IETs. That is to replace the Class 43 Mk3, Class 222 Meridian and Class 180 Adelente units and to operate these new Bi-mode trains from London St. Pancras to Kettering, Loughborough, Leicester, Nottingham, Sheffield, Derby and Leeds. And with EMR already inheriting the Class 170s from West Midlands Railway, TfW & Southern with few extra Class 170s also to be transferred to EMR. The Class 43 “Intercity 125” rolling stocks will always be remembered as the best British built HSTs to of ever been built. Long live the Intercity 125 HSTs.

@thomasfrancis5747 9 ай бұрын

Just been watching a KZfaq video on the GWR Hitachi IET, revealing that fundamentally it was originally designed and sold in other countries as a shorter distance commuter train and is nowhere near as comfortable as a HST - might be worth a video investigating this and how it came to be procured/put into service?

@Mariazellerbahn Жыл бұрын

I had two years driving the HST's on the MML during the late 80's. A cracking piece of kit but they deserved better than the Mk3 coaches sandwiched in between. I thought that the MK3 coach gave a very poor ride.

@Lee_303 10 ай бұрын

Woul d've been much worse with one loco & DVT!

@roymackenzie-jy4lr Жыл бұрын

I've seen these trains in videos of St. Pancras in the 90s and 2000s, the station used to look so ugly

@BrendanC123 Жыл бұрын

Can you do videos about Freightliner and Motorail please?

@swerve-ul3ss Жыл бұрын

The Master Cutler runs between St Pancras and Sheffield, not Leeds

@neiloflongbeck5705 Жыл бұрын

It's always run from Sheffield to London. When introduced in 1947, it was from Sheffield Victoria to Marylebone. In 1958 the London end was switched to King's Cross. And from 1966 it was shifted to Sheffield (Midland) to St Pancras. Unfortunately our presenter makes many errors like this.

@grumpyoldman47 Жыл бұрын

@@neiloflongbeck5705 I think you mean from Sheffield to London

@neiloflongbeck5705 Жыл бұрын

@@grumpyoldman47 thanks, now amended.

@monkeymagic4555 Жыл бұрын

Ha ha that was quite a chunk of info right there!...Anyone elses brain fried? :)

@browhatthatinsane34 Жыл бұрын

HELLO

@Danse_Macabre_125 Жыл бұрын

Hello

@JaredBallou Жыл бұрын

7:35 what the heck is going on here, did the IRA organize the opening ceremony?

@pdsnpsnldlqnop3330 Жыл бұрын

"Aitch" ST but I prefer 'haitch' because it is more West Country.

@JP_TaVeryMuch Жыл бұрын

🎶 When I grew up in the Wess Cntree, Mr. Poacher please take heed" and indeed still to this day, the Krek waiter's Peek most certainly did not involve the Brummy Hay chuh. Too much like hard work, dear boy. Pronounce another sound? No fanx fellerr.

@pdsnpsnldlqnop3330 Жыл бұрын

@@JP_TaVeryMuch It was always Haitch Tee Vee, right? I like accents, particularly when I cannot understand them.

@JP_TaVeryMuch Жыл бұрын

@@pdsnpsnldlqnop3330 There's the answer. This is about the best of the quick display the idents websites: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/kNOfa9l3qqivpKM.html There's a difference between the S.W. pronunciation of HTV and even between the valleys, the coast and the north of Wales. The latter is ever more yrban to the East and ever closer to Brum, the home of that orrid atonal h . Ouch. The idents are a whole series of fascinating fings in themselves. I will just state that despite the hidden fluvial fun in the LWT one, the waterfall theme music and the apparently unwitting aerial shape of the letters of Lord Harlech's HTV sets it apart from all but a couple of them uvvers.

@pdsnpsnldlqnop3330 Жыл бұрын

@@JP_TaVeryMuch I never knew 'haitch' stood for 'arlech. I even worked for HTV back in the day and grew up watching it, albeit on a black and white screen with poor reception.

@jcabral6231 Жыл бұрын

join the movement, return the much beloved pacers #blovedpacers

@drstevenrey Жыл бұрын

Blue Pullman, no, never the pinnacle of anything. A stinky, smokey diesel is never the pinnacle of anything anywhere anytime, ever.

@JP_TaVeryMuch Жыл бұрын

Not on the fast West and Wales and fast West Coast HST125 routes they weren't. Or at least they weren't for long Maybe the extended season touring round the country ones did.

@dalar2 Жыл бұрын

Midland Mainline had the best liveries .... the East Midlands Trains livery is soo unoriginal and boring.

@crabby7668 Жыл бұрын

I liked the East midland trains livery, the previous one, but I agree East midland railways (I think I got that the right way round😊) the latest one is very dull and uninspiring. I don't know what they were thinking with this one.