Huge thanks to those at GWR who invited me, I mainly got photographs of the day, but this a collection of the videos that I took. Bittersweet, I hope the Hitachi trains prove to be as reliable as the HSTs have.
Happy days. I remember when I used to travel in the power cars on the four that had Mirllees engines fitted, being sucked against the cooling system as I walked past. I wish I had thought to do some video of it. I designed the engine governor control system.
when I was younger I wanted to become a train driver because of the class 43, SOLELY the class 43. now that its being phased out and retired I no longer want to drive trains. this train for me was not just a train, it was special and unique. hell when they changed the engine to the MTU a tiny sparkle of that magic died. I will really miss the class 43 when the time comes that its withdrawn entirely. I would still kill to hear the sound of the paxman valenta in person as I have not heard it in person since the MTUs and turn around and in shock see the intercity swallow livery on the whole thing, or even the old virgin trains paint with the lines
They were british build definitely but they were not build to last and had way too many problems with the engine and trucks. & Later it was upgraded to a different engine.
@@KuntalGhosh What problems did they have with the engine? The Valentas lasted for 30 years before being replaced so I disagree saying “it wasn’t built to last.”
They should never have retired this class, they should have built NEW ones like them. The Hitachi things they replaced them with are ugly and sterile plastic tubes with local service bus seating.
