Intercity 125
A British High Speed Train (HST), also known as an Intercity 125 consists of two class 43 diesel power cars either end of a rake of between five and nine (but usually seven or eight) mk3 carriages. The train is capable of 125 mph (200 km/h) and is considered one of the best trains Britain has produced, although as of 2004, they are showing signs of ageing.
The HST was the first high speed train in Britain: that is, the first train to travel at over 125 mph (200 km/h). The locomotives (Power Cars) have the designation, Class 43, while a complete set (two power cars and a number of coaches, usually 8) is deignated class 253 or 254. Its trade name was "Inter-City 125", spelling later changed to Intercity 125 or the more colloquial name of "Screamer", referring to the loud screaming noise made by the turbocharger of the train's 2,250 bhp (1,678 kW) Paxman engines.
It was introduced in the late 1970s by British Rail, at a time when the generally accepted maximum speed of British trains was around 100 mph (160 km/h). This, plus its rapid acceleration and deceleration, made it ideal for passenger use and it slashed journey times around the country. The prototype HST still holds the world record for diesel traction at a little over 143 mph (230 km/h).
The train is widely used on long haul passenger services even today and has been hailed by many as Britain's best train ever.
Liveries
The original Inter-City 125 livery was blue and grey coaches, with yellow front (for visibility), with the yellow continuing down the side of the power cars. This led to the nickname "flying banana".
The next livery was in less widespread use. It was brownish-grey, dark grey (almost black) around the windows with a red and white stripe along the centre, and retaining the yellow bands on the power cars. A later variant of this livery saw the yellow side-bands replaced with light grey and did not feature the British Rail name or logo, and carried a new Intercity logo, with the name in serif type and an image of a swallow, (incidentally known as "Roderick"). This is colloquially known in rail circles as the "fag packet" livery, due to its similarity to the look of a cigarette packet.
After privatisation, the individual train operating companies attached their own looks to the HST, with (First) Great Western changing its livery many times, finally to a pink, white and blue theme to match FirstGroup's corporate colours.
Formation
The HST is usually made of 7 or 8 British Rail Mk3 coaches (including two first class carriages and a buffet car), with a Class 43 Power Car on each end. This arrangement (known as top-and-tail) removes the need for the locomotive to be decoupled, go to a turntable and then to the other end of the train (known as running-round). Virgin Cross-Country trains have used five-car formations giving better acceleration, shortening journey times.
Usage
The HST is used by many national railway companies, including Virgin Trains, GNER, First Great Western and Midland Mainline. It was also copied by the Australians for their XPT (however the XPT has a lower top speed, and different coaches are used).
Future
The HST is still in widespread use. First Great Western has supplemented their HSTs (but not replaced any) with 14 multiple unit Class 180 Adelante trains, which can travel at the same speed as the HSTs but accelerate approximately twice as quickly, reducing journey times. This has allowed for more frequent train sercives. However in-car noise levels are higher than in HST due to the underfloor engines, which combined with less comfortable seats and harsh interior lighting has made them unpopular with passengers. They have also proved to be massively unreliable, leading to a major overhaul programme in 2004 to fix the major problems.
Midland Mainline have recently updated their HST livery, and are supplementing their HST fleet with units similar to Virgin Cross-County's new Voyager trainsets, which are a direct replacement for the Class 170 "Turbostar" units.
