The Best of British Locomotive Power

[That Jekka Gal]

It splits from the GWR mainline after reading and rejoins at Taunton so it avoids Swindon, Bath, BTM etc and goes via Newbury, Pewsey etc instead. I have been from Penzance to London many times in the past and never went that way before.

Ah yes, I read it wrong. As a Castle Caryite I'm more than familiar with that route

As I said in an earlier post, when I go up to London I tend to drive down to Templecombe and go SWT up to Waterloo. It's longer but cheaper and the seats are comfortable so a no brainer for me. Plus the fact I'm normally visiting the Embankment so I land in town much closer to where I want to be compared to Paddington.

 

[Disco_P]

I like these ones

 

[pastymuncher]

Sadly the few that are remaining are to be withdrawn from service soon. GWR's "Castle Class" HST's (only four passenger coaches) are to be withdrawn this year, probably by the end of October and replaced by 2 car Class 175 DMU's (even more overcrowding) while Scotrail's HST's (4/5 coach Inter7City class) are supposed to start being replaced from 2027 although with the SNP's record on replacement ferries and dualling the A9 and A96 that is likely to slip. The thing with Scotrail is that a large part of it's fleet is old, clapped out and needs replacing. The HST's were built in the mid 70's although they have been re-engined and gone through a life extension program, the class 158's were built from 1989-92, the class 156's 1987-89, the class 170's 1998-2005. All are worn out and unreliable and failures are common, due to replacement services having less coaches overcrowding is the norm. There is no mention of any replacements so the tired fleet is going to get worse as time passes.

Hybrid power..

I raise you with the class 93's bigger brother the class99, 8270hp under electric power and 2400hp under diesel power. Although there is no battery power the diesel engine will run on HVO biofuel.

How sad is it that all of our new trains and rolling stock is imported from other countries? We used to be world leaders in locomotive and train design yet there isn't a single UK owned mainline locomotive/train manufacturer left.

 

[200sols]

The HSTs, or more the carriages are so much better than the rubbish they replaced them with. You want to keep those HSTs for as long as possible.

 

[VRDoctor]

jokes aside the APT-E, the train that should have been, precursor to the 125 which is iconic in its own way.

The technology eventually made it's way into the Pendilinos after being refined by Fiat. HST didn't really have any APT tech - Class 91 mk4 coaches and Class 221 Voyagers did though.

 

[That Jekka Gal]

How sad is it that all of our new trains and rolling stock is imported from other countries? We used to be world leaders in locomotive and train design yet there isn't a single UK owned mainline locomotive/train manufacturer left.

According to Gemini AI:

The most recent rail locomotive built in the UK is a steam locomotive named 6880 "Betton Grange," which was completed in 2023. It's a new build of a Great Western Railway (GWR) design from the 1930s.

Kind of ironic

But when diesel or electric is specified:


If you're referring to a conventional, stand-alone diesel or electric locomotive, the last one built in the UK was a Class 60 diesel-electric locomotive, manufactured by Brush Traction in Loughborough. The final locomotive of this class was built in 1993.
However, if you include electric multiple units (EMUs) and diesel multiple units (DMUs), which are self-propelled passenger trains, the timeline is much more recent. The UK still has a number of active rail vehicle factories. Companies like Alstom, which has a factory in Derby, continue to produce new trains for the UK rail network. These modern units are often designed as integrated trainsets rather than separate locomotives.
Therefore, while the Class 60 was the last of its kind in the traditional sense of a "locomotive," the last traction units built in the UK were far more recent and continue to be produced today.

 

[pastymuncher]

I said UK owned of which there aren't any. There are several new build reproduction steam trains and even diesels being built but these are one off's built by preserved railways or preservation groups. The owners of Tornado are building a beastly great LNER P1!!

 

[That Jekka Gal]

Used to love these class 205 DEMUs that ran on the Bristol - Portsmouth Harbour line.

Apparently they were known as Thumpers but we called them Hampshire Hogs.

If my memory serves me right, each carriage was made up of a number of self contained compartments with a door either side. Can't remember how the guard came round to check tickets as there was no corridor for access. They were, however, incedibly comfortable with really well upholstered seats.

 

[That Jekka Gal]

I said UK owned of which there aren't any. There are several new build reproduction steam trains and even diesels being built but these are one off's built by preserved railways or preservation groups. The owners of Tornado are building a beastly great LNER P1!!

Yes, it seems the French company Alstom took over Metro Cammell.

 

[That Jekka Gal]

45118 Royal Artilleryman at St Pancras in 2025. Used to love the Peaks and have travelled behind a few of these over the years.

The Peak action starts around 3:00 & I was not entirely surprised to see the Peak Army make an appearance at around 5:00 - still doing their Heil Hitler salutes I note. I can only assume they've mellowed out a bit or have had a purge of their more hard core elements. Back in the 1990s I remember my brother going on a tour with the PA and it was carnage, apparently. The low point was passing through Bristol TM where travellers waiting on platform 11 were urinated upon by PA yobbos from the passing train. Looking at some of the middle age spread in that vid, I doubt they'd even be able to reach the window these days

 

[darael]

This videos was recently uploaded by the National Railway Museum and it's a great look at both the exterior and interior of the power car.

 

[That Jekka Gal]

This videos was recently uploaded by the National Railway Museum and it's a great look at both the exterior and interior of the power car.

The railway line used to run past our schoolyard & this used to go past several times a day for a period back in the mid 70s.

It had the same effect as Concorde going overhead - it always turned heads.

 

[That Jekka Gal]

Talking of the Peak Army again, I was recently in conversation with a old acquaintance of mine who used to head up the Youth Rail Enthusiasts Association (latterly the Youth Rail Group).

He told me of a shocking encounter with the PA in which he was "bog washed" on a railtour to York back in the 90s. Bog washing, for the uninitiated, is where you are dangled head first into the bowl of a lavatory and the chain is pulled & your head subsequently gets a good drenching.

Terrified he was going to get sucked onto the track beneath like a piece of spaghetti, Chris suffered nightmares for many years after the event and he was at the forefront of trying to get this group of hooligans banned from the network.

Obviously, the previous post I made would suggest that he wasn't successful but one can only hope that the group has cleaned up its act and expelled the troublemakers from its midst. Looking at those Heil Hitler salutes in the video leaves my doubtful of this, however.