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Author Topic: The last HSTs to leave Paddington in passenger service - 18 May 19  (Read 14444 times)
MarkHopwood
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« Reply #15 on: May 19, 2019, 21:03:07 »

I would add my thanks to everyone who joined us yesterday (Saturday) for the farewell to HSTs (High Speed Train) and joined in. But I want to also pay tribute to everyone in GWR (Great Western Railway), Network Rail and beyond who worked hard to prepare and deliver yesterday’s events.

I confess I dreamt up the idea of lining four HSTs at Paddington but after that my amazing team and NR» (Network Rail - home page) colleagues did the hard work to make it happen.

Our focus is now on working towards our new December 2019 timetable!
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Red Squirrel
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« Reply #16 on: May 19, 2019, 21:06:00 »

Geoff Marshall of 'All The Stations' fame travelled the last service as far as Swindon...

Geoff's had a good week, what with his LNER» (London North Eastern Railway - about) Azuma (Brand name for Class 80x trains on LNER) trip a few days ago..!

Looks like GWR (Great Western Railway) did a really good job, and gave the HST (High Speed Train)'s the send-off they deserved.
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grahame
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« Reply #17 on: May 19, 2019, 21:19:44 »

BBC» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page)'s video at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-bristol-48327745/intercity-125-hundreds-bid-farewell-to-high-speed-train ... and I was trying to work out if I saw a member's right ear on there.
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JayMac
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« Reply #18 on: May 19, 2019, 21:26:15 »

I would add my thanks to everyone who joined us yesterday (Saturday) for the farewell to HSTs (High Speed Train) and joined in. But I want to also pay tribute to everyone in GWR (Great Western Railway), Network Rail and beyond who worked hard to prepare and deliver yesterday’s events.

I confess I dreamt up the idea of lining four HSTs at Paddington but after that my amazing team and NR» (Network Rail - home page) colleagues did the hard work to make it happen.

Our focus is now on working towards our new December 2019 timetable!

You and your team Mark all deserve a pat on the back for yesterday's memorable events. The Paddington line-up and sequential departures, the poignant name plates added to 43198, the invitation extended to Sir Kenneth Grange, your drivers' liberal use of the two-tones(!), the on board announcements from you, Sir Kenneth, other managers and train managers, and to all the staff who crewed the final four trains. The ones I chatted too were all delighted to have either been rostered or to have volunteered to work. Not forgetting station staff across the network, who ensured the public stayed safe while getting their chance to see the final four GWR HST passenger services.

A perfect farewell to the HSTs.

Thanks also for the brief piece to camera you afforded me, despite your stop at Didcot fast approaching! That video will be posted here tomorrow.

Oh, and I got some gentle ribbing from Dan Panes about my earlier description of him as your 'human shield'.




See. I can do praise.  Tongue Wink Grin
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JayMac
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« Reply #19 on: May 19, 2019, 21:27:04 »


Not mine. There was one member (no longer a regular contributor) seen stood at the buffet.
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MarkHopwood
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« Reply #20 on: May 19, 2019, 22:01:57 »

I would add my thanks to everyone who joined us yesterday (Saturday) for the farewell to HSTs (High Speed Train) and joined in. But I want to also pay tribute to everyone in GWR (Great Western Railway), Network Rail and beyond who worked hard to prepare and deliver yesterday’s events.

I confess I dreamt up the idea of lining four HSTs at Paddington but after that my amazing team and NR» (Network Rail - home page) colleagues did the hard work to make it happen.

Our focus is now on working towards our new December 2019 timetable!

You and your team Mark all deserve a pat on the back for yesterday's memorable events. The Paddington line-up and sequential departures, the poignant name plates added to 43198, the invitation extended to Sir Kenneth Grange, your drivers' liberal use of the two-tones(!), the on board announcements from you, Sir Kenneth, other managers and train managers, and to all the staff who crewed the final four trains. The ones I chatted too were all delighted to have either been rostered or to have volunteered to work. Not forgetting station staff across the network, who ensured the public stayed safe while getting their chance to see the final four GWR HST passenger services.

A perfect farewell to the HSTs.

Thanks also for the brief piece to camera you afforded me, despite your stop at Didcot fast approaching! That video will be posted here tomorrow.

Oh, and I got some gentle ribbing from Dan Panes about my earlier description of him as your 'human shield'.




See. I can do praise.  Tongue Wink Grin


I absolutely accept you do praise. Poor old Dan’s life insurance premiums doubled when his insurance company googled his name and came up against your comment!

I have nothing against your posts apart from the fact that they are accompanied by a photograph of an overweight underpowered item of Sulzer traction. I shall have to arrange suitable re-education !!

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chuffed
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« Reply #21 on: May 19, 2019, 22:34:20 »

Perhaps they should now rename the station PaddFinnton. ....
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TonyK
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« Reply #22 on: May 19, 2019, 23:18:16 »

I would add my thanks to everyone who joined us yesterday (Saturday) for the farewell to HSTs (High Speed Train) and joined in. But I want to also pay tribute to everyone in GWR (Great Western Railway), Network Rail and beyond who worked hard to prepare and deliver yesterday’s events.

I confess I dreamt up the idea of lining four HSTs at Paddington but after that my amazing team and NR» (Network Rail - home page) colleagues did the hard work to make it happen.

Our focus is now on working towards our new December 2019 timetable!

I followed the events from time to time via BNM's and others' posts on here, and the GWR Facebook feed. Whilst I am sure there will have been many at Paddington wondering what on earth the fuss was about, it was a very good thing to have a proper farewell, and it all seemed to go very well. Having Sir Kenneth there was a masterstroke, even if he never thought he would have to wait so long for the retirement - at least partial - of the HSTs. He looked in better shape than I do, despite me having a considerable age advantage!

It may be a good idea to make a note in the office diary for the retirement of the IETs (Intercity Express Train), if you have one that goes up to 2061.  Cheesy
« Last Edit: May 19, 2019, 23:29:17 by TonyK » Logged

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JayMac
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« Reply #23 on: May 19, 2019, 23:23:17 »

I have nothing against your posts apart from the fact that they are accompanied by a photograph of an overweight underpowered item of Sulzer traction. I shall have to arrange suitable re-education !!

Well, I'm overweight and underpowered too!

But, praise be. Someone has finally mentioned my avatar. Changed on the occasion of my 46th birthday back in March. 46. Geddit?

Sorry to say Mark, it's Sulzer power for the next couple of years. Something creative for 49 and then when I reach the half century I will of course switch to English Electric. Wink
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Adelante_CCT
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« Reply #24 on: May 20, 2019, 08:11:22 »

My little amateur montage of the final four:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-rhbMG-T8w
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Robin Summerhill
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« Reply #25 on: May 20, 2019, 12:09:40 »

Well I too was at Paddington and add my thanks and praise for all those who made it possible. As already said, that final line up on platforms 1 to 4 was a particularly inspired event.

I suppose events like these mean different things to different people. I began to idly muse on how things had changed since I first went to Paddington by myself on 15th June 1963, 10 days short of my 11th birthday. Back then there were still 15xx tanks on empty stock workings to and from Old Oak Common, with the occasional NBL type 2 (D63xx range) when they could be spared from slightly less menial duties and were actually available for traffic…

There was still some main line steam to be found on the Cheltenham and Worcester services, and even a couple to Bristol until the end of the Summer timetable that year. Most express services were powered by Warships, the occasional Hymek and the few Westerns that weren’t still under construction at Swindon or Crewe.

And then we had the eras of the 47s and the 50s before the HSTs (High Speed Train) took over which, from a historical viewpoint, were collectively rattling up and down the GWR (Great Western Railway) main lines for longer than all the “Kings” and most of the “Castles.”

The last time I was at an event which came anywhere near the one at Paddington on Saturday was on 8th July 1967 when steam finally gave way to electric traction on the Waterloo to Bournemouth main line (August 3rd 1968 on the 2125 Preston to Liverpool Exchange doesn’t really compare well because the vast majority of steam passenger workings had ended by April that year, and that final train was something of a one-off).

One stark difference between July 1967 and May 2018, however, was the condition of the motive power. By the end in July, most of the SR(resolve) seam fleet could have been more accurately described as steam leaks on wheels, even if some of the drivers were getting unauthorised speeds out of them!

As others appear to have found far better places to stand than me with their cameras at Paddington O shall close with an image of one such steam leak on wheels, 73092 working the 1212 Weymouth to Bournemouth stopper all those years ago:



https://www.flickr.com/photos/93122458@N08/8467960045/

By the way, I saw two dogs at Paddington but neither of them were Finn. I might have seen that cloth cap, but I didn’t see the photograph until I got home  Grin
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bobm
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« Reply #26 on: May 20, 2019, 20:54:01 »

I have nothing against your posts apart from the fact that they are accompanied by a photograph of an overweight underpowered item of Sulzer traction. I shall have to arrange suitable re-education !!

Nice to see 50 007 - although I did prefer it when it was in its Edward Elgar livery.
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JayMac
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« Reply #27 on: May 20, 2019, 20:54:48 »

Videos are coming, I promise. Got my broadband go live date wrong. Its tomorrow. Roll Eyes
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WelshBluebird
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« Reply #28 on: May 21, 2019, 11:01:23 »

I accidentally managed to be involved at Temple Meads, only realising that I'd be at the station for the last one to pass through as I was on a train from Montpellier to Temple Meads ten minutes prior!
Was great to see a bit of history, and thank you to the station staff for making sure everyone was safe and not in the way of the more general public (thankfully at 8.30pm on a Saturday evening, Temple Meads was a lot quieter than Paddington looked like it was 2 hours earlier!). Also thank you to whoever was in charge of making letting it come in on P3 in the old part of the station, that made for some quite nice pictures and a much more appropriate sending off for the HST (High Speed Train) (although obviously not the last Bristol will see, long live the Castle Class!).
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rower40
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« Reply #29 on: May 21, 2019, 12:54:20 »

Slightly off-topic...
Going past my office window yesterday, not once but twice, was 0Z43.

"So what?", you may ask.  Well, 0Z43 was formed of three locos coupled together, and the middle one was 41001, the one remaining prototype HST (High Speed Train) Power Car, which had been present at the Severn Valley Diesel Gala last weekend.  0Z43 a special light-loco working from Kidderminster (Severn Valley) to Derby Etches Park.
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