I don't understand why everyone is in love with slam doors. I prefer automatic sliding doors that they have on the voyager and other modern trains. They just look better, unlike the dirty, broken slam doors.
@@apeami8953 Don't think I've 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 seen a "broken" slam door and how is a slam door dirtier than a plug door? The reason for their popularity among enthusiasts is simple: you can lean out these windows. This gives you a breath of air and lets you see, hear and smell the loco. Not important to a "normal" passenger but how many "normals" watch Geoff's videos?
hi geoff i wanna say i really appreciate your videos, right now im in year 11 and i really love learning about trains and they've become my passion so thank you for your videos they really educate me
Same I'm in year 11 now actually in my Christmas holiday I really lived trains now and they have become my passion all because of Geoff and I am so grateful for him to make these great videos!
I never thought I'd miss the HST (Class 43) sets, but seeing nothing but the new Hitachi units on the GWR these days, watching this video made me realise that I really do miss them! Thanks Geoff for another great video! ;-)
Regarding the pricing between contacless and paper tickets, Travelling from St Albans and Harpenden, it can work out significantly cheaper to use contactless for one way and open return journeys, but significantly more to do so for day return journeys. For example, an anytime single (the only one available) from StA to StP is 12.90, but contactless is around 10.00peak/8.00off-peak. The same applies between these two stations where an open return isn't an option with a paper ticket, so you just have to do two single tickets. But then say you used contactless on the return it'd be 16.00, when you could have paid 13.50 for a super off peak. So even if you have a railcard, it can end up cheaper using contactless rather than a paper ticket. Same for West Hamstead, and many other stations within boundaries zones 1&2, Gatwick Airport etc as well. Kinda stupid and confusing but then that's the ticketing system for you...
Formally 43123 before the buffer refit, I got a picture of me in it’a original BR Blue Intercity colours in Dundee when I was 7, my first up close with one after getting the Hornby set!
When I've been on the Scotrail 125's the conductors make a long announcment explaining how to open the window, open the door, shut the window again, for the benefit of younger passengers who just stand there waiting for the doors to open automatically! Having to do something for themselves is a new experience for some of them!
@@TheMysticDave There have been very few if any Scotrail trains that weren't electric or pneumatic sliding doors since the 60s. I was in my mid 20s before being on a slam door train in London in the 90s
@@TheMysticDave Yes, like people walking around town with their eyes glued to the arrow on their phone telling them where to go - yet when presented with a map of Great Britain are unable to correctly place the ten major cities (Leeds, Liverpool etc.). I could go on......
Lots of times in the past arriving at Bath on HST seen foreign tourists looking for the button to press or the handle to turn in order to get off. And then pannicing. Welcome to olde world England where you have to push the window down and lean out to open the door!
@@williammoore9609 try searching RU-vid for Deltic Roar, or even just Deltics. Try this one on for size ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-KW8DwsrsbFQ.html It was the sound that really set them apart
Slidey Windows, Slammy Doors. 7:52 glad to see that it’s not only me that ends up with more sharpie on my hand than the paper! Be as niche as you want - love it.
When Virgin Voyager trains were first introduced on their (then) CrossCountry service I travelled on them from East Croydon to Kensington Olympia using a zones 2 - 6 paper one day Travelcard ticket! The route travelled was entirely outside Zone 1. Before travelling I did first confirm that Travelcards were accepted on Virgin Trains.
"Sometimes you just have to catch a proper train" Well said. And it's sad to see these 125s go. Also, seeing Luton Airport reminded me of the Airline series from 1998, I loved that show
Arthur TV on RU-vid has several clips from _Airline_ - search ‘Arthur TV airline freak outs’. He also occasionally looks back at the show with Leo, who was one of the airline check-in crew featured in the show. As you say it’s a great series 👍😀
Geoff: There is a rumour that EMR have the old LNER set trains Me: You are riding on one with red LNER seats and LNER displays and engines Also I live near the midland mainline and I've seen a lot of LNER trains locally recently, branded as EMR's. So I don't think this is just a rumour
25 years ago, my mission was to try and catch an Intercity train using just a basic one day travelcard. I managed it, with a ride from Kensington Olympia to Clapham Junction. Imagine if that train was still about now, Jeff would be doing a video "Today, the only way you can catch an Intercity using a basic one day travelcard."
@@FenneXanthous Not all Intercity trains were HST, some were loco-hauled, including most intercity trains from Euston and Liverpool Street at the time. Kensington Olympia had six such trains, one each way from Folkestone Central to Manchester Piccadilly, one each way from Brighton to Manchester Piccadilly and one each way from Brighton to Glasgow Central and Edinburgh.
Ah real trains I agree. One time heading to Buckingham I took an odd route just to be able to take an old diesel commuter running between Bedford and Bletchley. It reminded me of the trains we road between Largs and Glasgow- diesel and multiple slammy doors for carriages.
I enjoy these niche videos! Having never been to the UK, there's a chance they could be hard to understand, but having watched many of your other videos I feel there's a good context. I also appreciate your usage of the printed maps and the hand drawn maps to further illustrate your points.
That sounds like a good combination: "Two power cars at either end" (4:30). Double-headed HST here we come :-D (forgive me for the interpretation but couldn't resist it!!)
Yes, Geoff, this is a properly niche video BUT your obvious enthusiasm for what you are doing is just lovely to see and offsets any and all disinclination towards a chosen topic. Oh, and of course: SLIDEY WINDOWS, SLAMMY DOORS!
"It's got slam doors, It's got slidy windows, non of this electric nonsense", Thats what i like to summaries trains as and what most should be like, but without the diesel smell though
One of your best Geoff... when you are happy we all are happy too! Can it be that long ago when I first saw a 125 sweeping round the curve into Berkhamsted - just magnificent! They were brand new then and now they are going - but they are still brilliant plus the sheer terror of people not being able to find a door handle as the train comes to rest at their station was always a joy :D
125s didn't run through Berkhampsted very often, a handful on the Holyhead services, and certainly not when they were brand new. (they first appeared on the Great Western and East Coast main lines, and didn't appear on West Coast Main line services until some of the ECML units were displaced by IC225s)
I remember* when "real" trains were drawn by horses with a signalman walking in front, and Stephenson's Rocket was considered modern rubbish. *not really
Funny comment but I'm not sure the IC125 was ever considered modern rubbish, it was just so stunning when introduced, especially for me the way you wouldn't notice that the train was already on the move when departing (although now they're older you get the carriages bumping into each other a bit when departing). My parents' Dutch friend was very impressed and thought that safety belts should be considered, they were so fast.
Thanks a lot Geoff. I absolutely love those Class 43's. I had a friend who was an engineer for British Rail and I was allowed to take a hst set from Kings Cross to Bounds Green depot. Great fun!
GWR own the 2+3 sets and the 2+4 sets and some of them haven’t been adapted yet. Unfortunately I don’t have the TOPS number of the coaches. Great video as always Geoff!
The oyster readers by the EMR platforms were there in August 2019 which was before we the new oyster/rail map came out. On Sundays they don't run Thameslink services through the Tunnel so the ones going up to St Albans leave from those platforms
9:39 those pads are for National rail smart cards only, such as the southeastern key. You can’t touch oyster or contactless on them. Notice how they have a different symbol than the oyster ones. I travel regularly within Kent and these are all over the place down here and everywhere in Britain in general
Conversely, there’s an equivalent of the oyster/contactless pad independent of the gateline, for NR smartcards. At Hitchin there’s one of these for the Thameslink Key smartcard for when the gateline is closed outside staffed hours, and you have to go out of the side exit. You need to touch that with the Key to complete a pay as you go or season ticket journey.
I still want to go on an HST, being too young to have ever been on them and living on the WCML, might have to try this out soon, just want to hear that satisfying door slam
These are the kind of videos that have me coming back to the channel every week month after month, year after year. Going to ride this train as a Christmas treat I think :)
Good morning Geoff. Just watching this video for the umpteenth time whilst sitting in a class 43 (low back seats) about to leave St Pancras. Totally awesome 👌
6:26 I live near here jeff and I can confirm the electric cables have been installed through Kettering then up the Corby branch line at Glendon Junction BUT do not go further then Glendon up to Market Harborough and Leicester.
Round here, GWR are using shortened 4-car sets as local stopping services. The intercity services are now operated by 800/802s. Sadly, the Mk3 carriages have had their slam doors replaced with electric ones.
@@alexanderstevenson6484 Some of them are 8 car sets which come through Bristol down to Plymouth. It's also probably the fastest you'll be able to go on one post GWML retirement, they hit around 110MPH on some parts of the line now.
Will miss the LNER HSTs up here in Aberdeen as I went to uni with the valentas. Still waiting to travel on an LNER azuma. They've started the clear-up operation down at Claremont. Will be eery passing there I have to admit.
@@benjamintery7847 no I use Parkway, lots of people do, there's a load of new builds next to it now and flats in progress so it will get busier. It is a bit out of the way between Vauxhall and a retail park though. I actively avoid Luton station because it's horrible! The DART is coming on well so Geoff may need to revisit when that opens!
@@dcmansfield doesnt the DART only connect the station to the Airport (maybe with a stop at the hotels)? And I didn't know some people lived close to Parkway.
So (a) you paid TWICE to travel from Luton Airport Parkway to STP and (b) you stayed a night in Luton beforehand. I salute your dedication to the cause of niche but fascinating transport videos 😁
On older NYC subway cars the announcements are occasionally good, but usually too quiet, sometimes so loud the speakers distort, and very often at a good volume and clear - but totally indecipherable. Apparently learning to speak clearly or without so much of a foreign accent not a word is understandable is not a skill they teach. Then there's the woman on a train I ride a lot who makes the announcements like she's screaming at a bunch of third graders on the playground. Again, no speech training.
Back in the mid 80s I used to regularly travel on the CLC route from Lime St to Hough Green, through Allerton (now Liverpool South Parkway). On Sundays the train was often a claggy Class 31 hauling ancient Mk I and II stock, sometimes even corridor. At that time Hough Green was in its own unique zone, C7. This meant you could spend a good forty minutes behind a loco on an Area C Saveaway! No such luck nowadays, and they changed the zones in the 90s so you need an All Zone for that journey today.
I would not refer to your videos as weird but eclectic but call them what you will. Either way you make interesting and enjoyable videos. Thanks! Of course I live in a city with NO underground, overground, tram or other but instead we have buses and one passenger train that leaves a nearby city around 6 am and goes up the east coast stopping in places like Washington DC, NY and Boston. I was blessed once several years ago to come to London and enjoy what trains I could get to in an afternoon.
Super video Geoff - thank you. Brought back many memories of many journies to and from York to King Cross in the late 1970s and early 80s, after the Deltics had finished
So great to have a small number of these iconic trains still running for the time being at least. I believe EMR are the only operator to have the VP185 engined power cars. Smashing video as always Geoff!
About five years ago I was on a ThamesLink train from West Hampstead to St Pancras which was diverted into the upper platforms. I had to ask someone on the gate as I needed to swipe out my Oystercard and was directed to a pad which I had not seen with the crowds of people. There were no barriers than but they were checking tickets.
The readers on the gates at St Pancras were updated on 21 October to do contactless pay as you go (and no, it wasn't because of this video - it had been planned for some time but was more complicated to sort out than it might seem!).
Dear Geoff! Great video! I also enjoyed your other videos, especially the one about Greenwich tunnel vs ferry! You have a great voice and personality! The only thing I would ask is to add a bit more historical background... Otherwise brilliant! Keep up the great work! Marius.
Even if you can't ride on it, don't forget about the Network Rail New Measurement Train (NMT) HST which runs all across the UK recording the track! Still another way to see an HST, and it goes places other HSTs never go which is great :)
I am also praying to the God of Beeching, that when can we travel again to the UK that there will be a few left to ride. 1st trip back to the UK in 1979 brought nothing but high speed joy. Last time in 2012 was on GWR and the leather bound 1st class cars were brilliant. Oh the agony!
I was /properly/ confused when I saw the title, thinking "surely you can buy a ticket with contactless at any staffed station, so long as the fare's under £30 (or £45 if it's changed like supermarket contactless limits have)?" I've been out of London too long... (as an aside, if you give the ear-loops of your mask a half twist so the loop on each side forms a figure-eight you may find you get a better fit at the top and sides )
Niche? I like niche. It tastes good.....Oh wait, that’s quiche. I like that too. Especially when served through a slammy door! Great video once again Geoff!😉
im from australia and the last time i went on the tube let alone england was when i was 12. yet i love these niche videos of yours, i just find them so fascinating even if im not always quite sure whats going on. slidey windows, slammy doors!!
Slidey Windows, slammy doors. I remember those from a ride from Weston-super-mare to Bristol a few years ago. Comfortable stock, but loud engines. Much nicer than the class 158 we had on the return journey.
Geoff! Excellent video. I can only assume the readers at St Pancras are only calibrated for Thameslink and EMR smart cards? Which brings me on my question Geoff. Have you any experience with Train Operator own Smartcards? I.E the key from Southern and South Eastern or Touch by GWR and SWR?
Last time I checked XC 's 5 HST sets, There is one that is still has the "classic" doors. Reason being is that unit is kept as a spare unit so it rarely goes out. If you see the unit it means another HST failed. Now I'm not sure if that set has been updated or not, but that was the case a year ago. EMR had about 15 sets (3 EX-GC sets + 12 ex-EMT sets) at start of franchise with some surplus powercars and mk3 carriages. LNER had sent roughly 11 sets over with surplus powercars and carriages. I know someone on a facebook group for EMR mentioned they have currently 15 HSTs sets which are mix and match of LNER carriages and EMR carriages. At London St Pancras, the yellow touchpads, are for the EMR smartcards rather than oyster cards. I'm surprised that Network Rail (who manages St Pancras) didn't change the gateline to allow both oyster and smartcard to be used on the gateline.
