Some Questions

[222001]

Here are some questions which I have been wondering about for a while. Due to my interest in the railways starting in 2006 I don't have much 1st hand knowledge prior to that.

- Which class of train was the first to use electrical sockets for passengers?
- Where were class 158s first used when introduced?
- What was the first new train to be introducded after privatisation?
- What was the attidtude to privatisation at the time?
- What was the first and last route to be privatised?
- On the Midland Main Line before Turbostars were introduced did Nottingham, Derby and Sheffield only get one train per hour? And were they HSTs?

 

[Pumbaa]

- What was the first new train to be introducded after privitisation?

I believe the 168/0s on the Chiltern route - the Clubmans. An improvement on the the Networker Turbo that became the Turbostar later.

- On the Midland Main Line before Turbostars were introduced did Nottingham, Derby and Sheffield only get one train per hour? And were they HSTs?

The MML was scarcely served, although I'm not sure of service patterns. I think they used mainly HSTs prior to privatisation, but used 47s et al plus coaches until not so long before. There were obviously enough HSTs working the line to be cascaded on the arrival of 222s.

 

[me123]

- Where were class 158s first used when introduced?

Hi, I'll try and answer this question, but i have no clue about the rest!

The class 158s were built by BREL between 1989 and 1992 (they don't seem 20 years old, do they?!?). This was, of course, pre-privitisation and they were initially used by Regional Railways.

Scotrail received quite a few trains which have been used across the network. They started out on the Edinburgh-Glasgow corridor and services to Aberdeen and Inverness. Once the Class 170s came in, these trains were displaced and now work in two fleets:

• Inverness: The Far North Lines, services to Aberdeen and some services to Edinburgh and Glasgow coupled to 170s
• Haymarket: Fife, Dunblane and Bathgate suburban routes

There's also now a few of local trains from Queen Street.

They were also used on Alphaline branded services; cross country routes not operated by Intercity. So they saw long distance work that wasn't locomotive hauled. This includes services that later became Central Citylink and Bristol-Southampton services.

 

[Dennis]

- What was the first and last route to be privitised?

First one to actually run a 'privatised' train was SouthWest trains (although others also started the same day).

 

[MCR247]

The MML was scarcely served, although I'm not sure of service patterns. I think they used mainly HSTs prior to privatisation, but used 47s et al plus coaches until not so long before. There were obviously enough HSTs working the line to be cascaded on the arrival of 222s.

222s? hock:hock:
Wrong period? Do you mean 170s? Or are 222s older than they look??

 

[90019]

I think he means after privatisation, when the 222s were introduced, there was a big enough surplus of HSTs for some to be cascaded elsewhere

Unless, of course, he does mean 170s

 

[ukrob]

- Where were class 158s first used when introduced?

The class 158s were built by BREL between 1989 and 1992 (they don't seem 20 years old, do they?!?). This was, of course, pre-privitisation and they were initially used by Regional Railways.

Scotrail received quite a few trains which have been used across the network. They started out on the Edinburgh-Glasgow corridor and services to Aberdeen and Inverness. Once the Class 170s came in, these trains were displaced and now work in two fleets:

• Inverness: The Far North Lines, services to Aberdeen and some services to Edinburgh and Glasgow coupled to 170s
• Haymarket: Fife, Dunblane and Bathgate suburban routes

There's also now a few of local trains from Queen Street.

They were also used on Alphaline branded services; cross country routes not operated by Intercity. So they saw long distance work that wasn't locomotive hauled. This includes services that later became Central Citylink and Bristol-Southampton services.

A large number were used for Transpennine routes too

 

[heart-of-wessex]

I believe when reading up on 158s, the first area they were used on was Scotland. RR was in desperate need of a replacement for the 47 push-pull sets, but the 158 reliability at the start was pretty low!


Cheers,

James.

 

[Pumbaa]

I think he means after privatisation, when the 222s were introduced, there was a big enough surplus of HSTs for some to be cascaded elsewhere

What he said

 

[33056]

May be wrong....... but I think RfD was the last bit of BR to be privatised, the last passenger franchise to be let was possibly Silverlink (open to corrections as well )

 

[driver9000]

Here are some questions which I have been wondering about for a while. Due to my interest in the railways starting in 2006 I don't have much 1st hand knowledge prior to that.

- Which class of train was the first to use electrical sockets for passengers?
- Where were class 158s first used when introduced?
- What was the first new train to be introducded after privatisation?
- What was the attidtude to privatisation at the time?
- What was the first and last route to be privatised?
- On the Midland Main Line before Turbostars were introduced did Nottingham, Derby and Sheffield only get one train per hour? And were they HSTs?

1. No idea Probably Voyagers or Pendolinos at a guess
2. Scotland working out of Haymarket
3. 168s for Chiltern, forerunner to the Turbostar
4. Aprehensive as far as I remember.....
5. SWT was the first TOC to operate, RfD was the last BR oeprator
6. No idea.

 

[222001]

Thanks for all the replys! Very interesting. Where/What is RfD?

 

[driver9000]

RfD - Railfreight Distribution a former sector of British Rail bought by EWS

 

[222001]

RfD - Railfreight Distribution a former sector of British Rail bought by EWS

Ah right, thanks. When was did that happen?

 

[90019]

The intermodal part split off and became Freightliner in 95 and RfD was bought by EWS in 96

 

[WillPS]

Interesting stuff. I have a question regarding privatisation too:

What actually happened overnight between the last BR run service and the first privatised equivelent? From the pictures I've seen, most TOCs took a year-or-so to 'kick in'.

 

[O L Leigh]

1. No idea Probably Voyagers or Pendolinos at a guess

I think the StanEx Cl317/7's might have shaved that. These were converted in 2000 while Virgin's plastic didn't enter service until a year or two later.

Any advance on this...?

O L Leigh

 

[adc82140]

What actually happened overnight between the last BR run service and the first privatised equivelent? From the pictures I've seen, most TOCs took a year-or-so to 'kick in'.

From what I remember not all areas were privatised on the same day. In the period leading up, so-called "shadow franchises" were formed within BR, which covered areas to be broken up into TOCs. For example, I remember writing out a season ticket cheque to "British Rail South West Trains". Also I think out of Paddington there was "Thames Lines" and "Intercity Great Western" which evolved into Thames Trains and Great Western Trains.

I think that Gatwick Express, SWT and Thameslink were some of the first to be fully privatised (please correct me if I'm wrong!!)