High Speed Train at 40

[Nawdic]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-36188805?S ... =og.shares

BBC have been celebrating the life of the HST. 40 years young...

I think a special repaint has appeared too

[orudge]

And of course the HST will continue to plough our rails for some years to come, with them coming back to intercity lines in Scotland in a few years.

[supermop]

I hope they run the wheels off them like some of the 50 year old subways that refuse to die here - It's an Icon of British industrial design and still fit for purpose so I don't see any reason when they couldn't serve in some capacity for decades longer until some safety-critical issue emerges

[Translink]

And long may they run! This, and all the other old engine still found on our railways really go to shows that British engineering is the world's finest!

[Illegal_Alien]

And long may they run! This, and all the other old engine still found on our railways really go to shows that British engineering is the world's finest!

Say that to the APT

[Geo Ghost]

APT was an engineering masterpiece. I still believe it had a great potential
Just unfairly slated by the press and government, who apparently did not understand what the term 'prototype' meant


Both the 313s and HSTs are coming into their 40th year now and still both going strong.
Marvellous machines without a doubt, and I will never forget the distant screaming and roaring sound from my house, of an Intercity 125 at speed! Sadly, the once little trees around my areas have now grown up and it's difficult to see or hear the railway line these days. But I have my childhood memories of standing by the fence watching the trains thundering up and down the mainline! No doubt they are one of the trains that really aided my fascination with the railways.

[Translink]

Say that to the APT

What are you high on? The APT was a marvelous design, it is essentially the framework of most high-speed trains in Europe. Maybe the project failed, but the design certainly didn't!

[Translink]

"Each H.S.T. would have an estimated life of some ten years in main-line service, after which, with the conversion of the seating accommodation in their Mark II coaches, they could give further useful service on outer suburban routes."
---Railway Magazine - June 1972

All I can say is LOL

[Geo Ghost]

Say that to the APT

What are you high on? The APT was a marvelous design, it is essentially the framework of most high-speed trains in Europe. Maybe the project failed, but the design certainly didn't!

I wouldn't go as far as to say marvellous to be honest. It had quite a lot of quirks that really needed addressing.
They probably would have been with the APT-S.. but sadly it never got that far.

Just very glad that so much work has gone into preserving the remaining coaches at Crewe

[Translink]

Well I know, but it was essentially the framework of all high speed trains in Europe, after all the Pendolino is essentially an updated APT.

[supermop]

Other than the fact that they both tilt, there is very little connection between the two, one being a locomotive based set, and one being an EMU (just because the locomotives are in the middle of the train without cabs doesn't mean they are not locomotives). The train that inherited the most from the APT's engineering would be the 91, most contemporary and later European high speed sets drew inspiration from either the TGV or EMUs like the first Shinkansens

[Translink]

Other than the fact that they both tilt, there is very little connection between the two, one being a locomotive based set

It was the people at BREL who came up with the concept of tilting trains and pioneered it in the APT. The tilting mechanism was in fact so good it was too good, meaning that passengers could not feel the curve whatsoever, but they could see it, making them sick.

[Geo Ghost]

Sorry, I do believe that's incorrect.

The tilt was in fact too much as the angle was more than what was required. But again, it was a prototype. Wasn't 'too good'.
Whilst we did indeed pioneer the tilting tech for your standard high speed train of today, they weren't the framework for European high speed trains.
The APT power-cars did influence the 91 indeed. All be it the 91 was a much more improved version and updated by then. The APT coaches also heavily influenced the MK4 stock. In fact, MK4 coaches were designed with tilt in mind, but never fitted. Hence why the bottom of the coaches are smooth and curve under

When it came to people getting sick on the APT, it wasn't as high number as people made out. The biggest number was when the press and reporters were on board for a trip. However the critics deny that their open bar at the hotel the night before may have been a far bigger factor in them feeling sick...
The CAPT system on-board was quite clever, and was what permitted the train to go over 140mph. This was in-fact a very early type of in-cab signalling.

So there's a few odds and ends that came out of the project, but it did help with later projects and some rail travel. It was just a great shame it got so shunned and never got the chance to fully develop past its prototype stage.
But hey, at least one is preserved

[supermop]

It was the people at BREL who came up with the concept of tilting trains

The people at BREL must have also pioneered time travel to share this concept with engineers working decades before them then... Even if you discount various experimental trains and prototypes (an the APT was of course also a prototype) which appeared in the 1930s and 1950s, North America and Japan saw regular tilting services starting in the 1960s and 1970s respectively. The APT team did a lot of ground breaking work developing active tilt mechanisms, but the "concept" of tilting trains was already well established and in functional use.

[JamieLei]

The tilt was in fact too much as the angle was more than what was required. But again, it was a prototype. Wasn't 'too good'.
Whilst we did indeed pioneer the tilting tech for your standard high speed train of today, they weren't the framework for European high speed trains.
The APT power-cars did influence the 91 indeed. All be it the 91 was a much more improved version and updated by then. The APT coaches also heavily influenced the MK4 stock. In fact, MK4 coaches were designed with tilt in mind, but never fitted. Hence why the bottom of the coaches are smooth and curve under

One of the very senior people in my company was on that press run, and recalls feeling rather sick on it. He now regularly travels by Pendolino and doesn't experience the same problem.

Its easy to dismiss it as 'a few reporters drunk', but it was a serious issue.

[Geo Ghost]

Without a doubt, there may be some who did feel sickly from the tilt. Much the same as some (like myself) who feel like death out on the sea, bobbing up and down.
I even get a bit sickly my first time on the Pendolino. However, was only once I had it.

But from what I've heard from those who worked on the project, test drivers, and those who restored it.. a great deal of the negativity was exaggerated.