HST Worldwide Success 2

 But One Remains

One full HST remains for enthusiasts to enjoy via its programme of rail tours. This visually recreates the much missed Midland and Western Pullman trains from the 1960s.

The Nanking blue livery is unique in British Railways history; and truly magnificent it is!

But, for today's blog we need to look at  a GWR Castle class HST.

And One Fondly Remembered

Interior signage is very familiar ...

... with WiFi on offer; also seat numbers ...

... and coach letters.

We remember the door opening buttons ...

... controlling the newly fitted sliding doors.

We may mourn the passing of seats emblazoned GWR in the fake leather (leatherette?) of the headrests.

Sadly, these Castles HST delights are no longer available on normal scheduled services in the UK.

But ...

You can still enjoy them if you hop on a flight to Lagos, Nigeria.

The City is developing two rejigged commuter lines coloured coded BLUE ...

... and RED.

Both routes will be electrified in due course but, for the time being, diesels will be used. And the Red Line stock looks strangely familiar ...

... and not very Nigerian. What sits at the front end explains it all.

They are former Castles and still carry their UK TOPS fleet numbers!

But, you may wonder, why are these "InterCity" trains being deployed on African commuter lines.

Good question!

Here is the interior of a retired Castles coach ...

... and here is the Lagos version ...

... but still recycling the GWR seats.

Look closely at the sliding doors and you will see an important modification.

Fixed steps have been added to bridge the gap between the UK's smaller loading gauge and the platform, so a leap becomes two extra steps.

How come, fbb wonders, that these splendid trains, now "too expensive" for First GWR to operate according to DaFT, are providing cost-effective interim trains for the commuters of Lagos.

And the seats are far more comfortable than in UK commuter trains.

Other trains for Lagos are also second hand but not previously used. They were bought for the Amtrak Hiawatha route ...

... but never used. Hiawatha got these ...

... and the Talgo stock went to Lagos.

Wadnibs Wotsits Whatnot?

Mrs fbb has never been a lover of this tasty snack, challenging the Wotsit's food content and decrying its texture. fbb was always an avid consumer of Tangy Cheese NikNaks.

Doubtless the Mrs would have a similar opinion on these crunchy delights.

The arrival of yet another tank wagon packed in 'Wadnibs' (late No 2 son's neologusm, as yet unrecognised by the OED) ... 

... prompted an fbb thought.

Apart from the colour, is there any visual difference between the two?

 

WOTSITS

WADNIBS

Fortunately for fbb's digestion, the colour is obvious, as he understands that taste and texture of the expanded polystyrene 'cocktail sausages' is less than appetising.

  Next Comfort-able blog : Fri 28th Nov 

HST Worldwide Success 1

 A Simple Brilliant Idea

In 1972 the prototype High Speed Train (HST) began operation on Britain's  railway. It was a stunning idea, simply a locomotive at both ends of the train - so no uncoupling, just a walk for the driver from one end to the other.

fbb remembers that some time earlier the design was revealed, complete with non working model, on the BBC's top technology TV programmes Tomorrow's World.

The presenter, Raymond Bedstead ...

... told us, with subdued stiff upper lipped awe, that the train would run at 125mph. A youthful fbb was amazed; the fastest he had ever clocked by timing the mileposts was an optimistic 90 mph!

The production version, with a new front end ...

... started operation out of Paddington. Then came the East Coast main line with trains eventually cascaded to the Midland Main line and Cross Country. fbb took a party of teenagers from his Bible Class in Sheffield for a ride to Peterborough (change at Doncaster) and even the young gells were excited and or impressed.

The Midland Main Line sets, pre and post privatisation were enjoyed between Sheffield and St Pancras.

fbb's last ride was c/o Cross Country from Birmingham to Exeter.

The ride and the ambiance was so utterly much better than a Voyager!

He also enjoyed several rides with Grand Central as guest of a certain Mr Fearnley, then boss thereof.

Occasional Great Western sets were enjoyed, also from Exeter.

As the inferior 800 Hitachi series came on stream, the HSTs were put into store.

First Great Western adapted some to form shorter 4 car "Castle" class units for secondary routes - and a great delight they were,

Scotrail did much the same with their acquired City sets.

They were, fbb tries to remember, five cars. Both shoty Scotrail and the shorter GWR units still had a loco at each end - super power indeed.

But these sets quickly fell out if favour and withdrawal came far too quickly. They were, said the DepArtment For Transpory (DaFT) far to expensive to maintain and run. So they had to go.

Some went to Mexico ...

... where they have suddenly become economic to run and where they offer good value for the rail operator!

Australia have their XPT trains which look somewhat familiar ...

... but are Antipodean through and through.

For modellers, Hornby have produced HST units in various liveries. Their latest offering is a retro box set; in the original British Rail paint scheme ...

... c/w picture of long haired sprog on the box.

Also available are HSTs in the growing TT120 range.

But for the keenest HST operator, a must have is Bachmann's set of prototype power cars (only one motorised) to allow the proud owner to add their own Mark III coaches.

Nice but pricey!

Mention should be made of Sir Kenneth Grange who designed the iconic 'nose' for the production run. 

The change was born of necessity as the Unions were not happy with the restricted front only view. Sir Ken provided a wider front screen and side glazing to overcome objections.

But rather that a necessitious bodge of the prototype, Sir Ken's front end design lifted the original lumpy slab into the realm of industrial beauty.

Sir Ken died last year but his legacy had outlasted him, even if it is in Mexico.

Particularly enjoyable was this remake of an iconic Southern Railway poster.

And here's  the original.

HSTs never ran in normal service on the "Southern".

But the story yet has a couple of twists.

More tomorrow.

   Next HST blog : Thursday 27th Nov 

Yugoslavia and/or Slovenia

And That Factory

It was a huge Yugislavian toy factory; and yes, Mehanotehnika made the equivalent of Meccano. Can you tell the difference?

Easy as the name is different.

UK Meccano was never the same when it went blue and yellow - disgaceful.

Mehanotehnika made oodles of toys, a bit like Triang in its heyday. How about a typewriter?

At the other end of the scale were cheap and nasty plastic trains ...

... for the little kiddies.

As is de rigueur these days, Mehano model railway production has moved to China but fbb has no knowledge if what became of the Izola factory. 

Maybe you could catch a bus and go to find out.

fbb has made a feeble effort at researching buses in Izola but the language problem plus an internet inadequacy challenge means that only general information has been gleaned.

There are timetables showing all stops ...

... with occasional panels like this.

This leads to this sort of thing.

See what fbb means concerning the language!

Thankfully an awful lot of the on-line stuff is in English! Also very much in pseudo English is the operator name.

fbb could not find a route map, but Izola does feature on various pages.

The buses look very smart ...

.. with a recent delivery of new motors.

Generally the buses are in better condition than in the UK.

And so to the tank wagon.

It was made in pre Slovenia days, so sometimes before 1991 and probably before the company's renaming as Mehano in 1990.

The model is "basic" made entirely in plastic ...

... with no printing on the main information panel. The chassis ...

... had a nominal but inadequate underside. The brake shoes, if applied to slow the train, would be totally ineffective as they are nowhere near the wheels!

fbb cannot identify an equivalent full size tank wagon. This VTG tanker has a passing likeness but ...

... isn't alike.

There is no sign of fbb's wagon on any present Mehano sales list, but illustrations exist if an old boxed train set ...

... with fbb's model in the upper window.

What the company is noted for today is its swish high speed train sets.

 

Here we have Eurostar ...

... TGV (France) ...

... Ouigo (France) ...

... ICE (Germany) ...

... and Thalys ...

... now merged commercially with Eurostar.

All models are to HO scale, so technically too small for UK layouts but, shhh, as the real things are much bigger (height and width) compared with the UK loading gauge, nobody will notice!

  Next HST blog : Weds 26th November