The brand-new Intercity trains that Britain abandoned…

The UK railways have been really busy recently, with lots of overcrowding and cancellations. But this is the story of the five year old carriages that one of the operators will shortly be abandoning! What's the reason for this madness? 🙄
---
Journey Details:
Origin: York
Destination: Scarborough
Company: TransPennine Express (TPE)
Train: UK Class 68 + Mk5 Coaches
Accommodation: Standard Class Seat (2nd)
Distance: 42 miles / 68 kilometres
Price: £6.05 (€6.80 / $8.00)
Time: 51 minutes, arrived 3 minutes early
---
Find me elsewhere:
superalbs.weeb...
/ superalbs
/ superalbstravels
/ superalbstravels

[@SuperalbsTravels]

Where would you like to see the Class 68 and Mk5 coaches in service next? Leave a reply! 😁

[@Richard47484]

Scotland 👍

[@Joshthetrainspotter85]

Scotrail should take some to run alongside the HSTs 158s and 170s on the Highland mainline between Glasgow Queen St/Edinburgh and Aberdeen/Inverness

[@Abhi-fx3gb]

Should be used by avanti west coast to get more services, theya re very nice trains.

[@michaelwells6797]

Cross Country, Nottingham Cardiff Service.

[@CM_Railways]

@@Turlough-fd6yoexploreThat’s part of the North East Transport Authority’s plan - to bring heavy rail to Newcastle airport.. where will the funding come from??

[@Seegurkee]

That these trains will be abandoned after only 4 years of use because the government doesn't want to fund maintenance is the most British Government thing I've ever heard. Such a shame.

[@SuperalbsTravels]

Very typical of this country, yep... 🙄

[@aleksaradojicic8114]

At least they could offer them to someone to by them. There is many countries were any functional cars (which have at least few years in them) are needed.

[@alanberrisford2957]

Honestly its not the government people have complained about the noise of the locomotives and will go back to the original owner DRS where they will be used on freight

[@thomasdillon6001]

Part of the problem is how small the fleet is, with only a dozen or so sets. This makes continued training and maintenance requirements much less efficient than with larger fleets. Basically the operator is abandoning these because they have become more trouble than they're worth.

[@mudchute4dlr]

Well they are looking for the cheapest options, so it was expected.

[@unofficialleeds9084]

The negligence of infrastructure in northern cities, especially compared to London, is absolutely criminal.

[@EM-yk1dw]

Really? The north had the Sprinters while the South East still had old DMUs. Manchester has trams, Central London doesn’t.

[@EM-yk1dw]

Really? The north had the Sprinters while the South East still had old DMUs. Manchester has trams, Central London doesn’t.

[@Sam-xs9kr]

Not just the north - anywhere other than London is shocking.

[@unofficialleeds9084]

​@@EM-yk1dwwhat's a tram?

[@EM-yk1dw]

@@unofficialleeds9084 Lol indeed but I hear Leeds tram is back…but seeing is believing 😁

[@ricequackers]

The more fundamental problem with the British railways is that it's just too damn expensive! £6 is a great price for that journey, but £22 is silly. For comparison, my car would cost about £7 in fuel to do that distance, so as someone who's too old to get a railcard the train is already quite uncompetitive before we delve into things like seat comfort. If you're taking a family along, you'd have to *really* like trains to choose that over the car. A lot of the country's traffic congestion could be solved if train tickets were reasonably priced.

[@aitorbleda8267]

A trip from Edinburgh to Nottingham is about as long by train as by car, and £200 per person vs £70/80 for the whole car including wearm and the government makes money out of the trip, instead of putting money for the train trip. This is plain terrible management.

[@benrgrogan]

It's a good point and I agree, but you do also have to remember the cost of the car trip doesn't include a large percentage of the total cost of that trip because you've already paid a big percentage of that cost as a lump sum (e.g.the cost of buying the car, buying insurance, cost of yearly VED, cost of wear and tear, MOT costs, additional council tax to maintain local roads, cost of depreciation etc. plus other cost such as parking at the destination). When you buy a train ticket, all costs have to be covered within that ticket price in a way that doesn't happen for a car trip. Last minute UK train tickets should definitely be cheaper but you could argue they're probably not quite as far off as we think.

[@vicsams4431]

@ricequackers. Before rail privatisation, Intercity was the only mainline railway in the world to operate at a profit with zero subsidy from the taxpayer. Network South East had balanced the books by 1993, and had it continued, would have also covered its operating costs by ticket sales alone. Only Regional Railways had a subsidy under the Public Service Obligation Grant (the need for taxpayer intervention to prevent Beeching style closures on social economic and environmental grounds). In Britain, the mainly Tory governments have treated the railways as a profit making concern, totally overlooking the far higher funding given totally freely to roads, without the need for a profit. Very few roads have tolls, apart from a few large bridges. As a result, we have the highest fares in Europe. Bus and HGV operators have a bias unlevel playing field. So our roads are congested and potholled. The only way to break that cycle is to find railways better. But people keep voting for tax cuts instead.

[@TonboIV]

@@benrgrogan That's only true if you're making the choice between having a car or not having one. If you already have one, then the cost choice is between the cost of a train ticket vs the marginal cost of driving the car. In that case, purchase price and insurance aren't part of the calculation. Even depreciation probably isn't a big factor, since the car will depreciate even if you aren't putting mileage on it. It really just comes down to the cost of fuel and the extra wear and tear. I don't live in the UK, but I think that most people there aren't making an all or nothing choice between going everywhere by car or everywhere by transit. For most people, I think it will be the choice of how much they want to use their car, not whether or not they have one.

[@darthwiizius]

I live 30 miles from London, £32 is the cheapest return and it's the same price for a one way. Trains round me used to be packed in the rush hour but now I can get on a mostly empty rush hour express in the morning. I studied economics and accounting and the numbers don't add up, the tax payer is subsidising profits while train companies price the market into their cars, I can only assume that with their profits guaranteed from our taxes the train companies can make more by saving on maintenance than filling trains.

[@DavidBromage]

A loco-hauled train that would be worth doing is the TfW Premier service all the way from Cardiff to Holyhead. I know it's expensive but going first class with the full dining car service is quite an experience.

[@Malcm59]

NIMBYs moaning about the noise of the Class 68 locos ticking over in Scarborough didn’t help…How would their precious ears have coped in the days of steam or the early dmus and Peaks ?

[@gftyhify]

It’s a real shame when a train can look and feel so nice but with uncomfy seats. Personally I’ve travelled on these trains and I find the seats fine for journeys of up to 1 1/2 hours but no more

[@heidirabenau511]

The issue I have with them is the ride quality, when I traveled on the Nova 3s last in October, I traveled between York and Leeds and got completely battered about.

[@gftyhify]

@@heidirabenau511 sorry to hear that. I’ve not travelled on the nova 3 set only the 1 and 2 sets. The seats are basically the same. I find the ride quality on those sets to be fine. Ironically I personally find the infamous ironing board style seats on a lot of regional train to be more comfy than the seats found on the azuma or nova trains. Something about the way they are shaped I think. I ride the class 385s between Glasgow and Edinburgh a lot and they have the ironing board seats. I was even on a scotrail class 156 for 5 hours once up the west highland line and the ironing board seats didn’t ruin the breathtaking scenery for me

[@SuperalbsTravels]

I also prefer the ironing boards to the terrible seats on long-distance trains, which does not make sense.

[@gftyhify]

@@SuperalbsTravels the ScotRail class 158 and 170s have much better seats than most modern high speed trains and they are mainly used on regional routes although they are sometimes used on longer routes between Glasgow and Aberdeen/Inverness or between Edinburgh and Aberdeen/Inverness when the ScotRail Intercity 125s are not available

[@crabby7668]

Same with voyagers when they first came out

[@alvarobenllochsoler2849]

Meanwhile, here in Spain casually doing 140km/h in a 48 year old train (Renfe class 470). We are having a serious train shortage problem here and there are also serious overcrowding problems, but hopefully with the arrival of new EMU sets in (please) about 2 years, these problems will be reduced.🙃 Cheers from Valencia! PD: If you want to experience a rather painful trip (depending on the train you get) I suggest the Xàtiva - Alcoi route. It has a very enjoyable scenario however and finally it will be refurbished next year.

[@osasunaitor]

True. It's unbelieveable that the nearly 50 year-old Series 470 trainsets are still the backbone of regional services in electrified lines. It truly speaks about how this country has nearly abandoned conventional rail, as the development of the High Speed network has taken all the investment since the 1990s. The newer Series 449 were meant to replace them 15 years ago but they decided to keep both by refurbishing the 470 and prolonging their lifespan instead.

[@pojkkaadaboi-tp7dv]

Neighbouring country, here in Portugal, our high speed trains can reach 220 km/h even tough they are extremely old! And 220 is a very petite number in comparison to other European trains!

[@osasunaitor]

@@pojkkaadaboi-tp7dv the Alfa Pendular are less than 25 years old, that's not extremely old for a train. For comparison the Series 100 high speed trains in Spain currently reach 300km/h and are over 30 years old

[@mozomenku]

Bro, in Poland we've got over 60 years old EN57 from PRL, which I think is the oldest commercially running passenger train in the world. Of course many of them were modernised and repainted multiple times, but mostly the construction remained the same... We call it kibel, which is a toilet, because of the common smell inside :)

[@mobyhuge4346]

I mean tbf even if their old, if they're well maintained and running flawlessly, I would refrain from retiring those trains in a hurry

[@mikedyble3648]

Unfortunately i in common with others from the Scarborough area have been stuck with the atrocious service offered by TPE. These problems go back to May 2018. The timetable changes introduced at that time contained obvious errors like east and west bound services meeting at the single Malton platform with in 3 minutes of one another. The result was massive delays and cancellations with 3 hour gaps in service at times. TPE also had 3 different types of trains on the north route, and this proved difficult in terms of training. Post covid things continued as before with up to half the services cancelled some days, and huge gaps in the service at the outer ends of the routes. The planned timetable for December is certainly sparse but if its reliable then that will at least allow people to plan journeys. Local people have been saying for years that we need relibility over frequency. The mk5s are a good example of poor thinking by TPE in not foreseeing the problems posed by using 3 different types of train on their north route. TPE have also introduced multiple crew changes on their routes with crews shuttling back and forth during their shift, rather than allowing and training the crew of say Liverpool Newcastle services to work the full length. If a crew member is unavaible at short notice this then impacts multiple services, rather than just taking one service out it affects every service that crew was due to work. There have also been noise issues with the class 68 locos. In short a total mismanaged shambles. Scarborough residents have been suffering these problems for 5 nearly years when TPE were stripped of their franchise. As a unit the Mk5s gave a welcome increase in capacity and comfort, but operationally have proved to be a problem. I for one have reached the point with TPE where the fact that something turns up is more important that the type of unit. To put this in perspective i use TPE maybe 1 per week or so for business trips to the Manchester area, and have been for 15+ years.

[@iiBus]

Sorry to hear. I guess I was fortunate to have a great service on both cases I used Transpennine to/from Scarborough, on time, comfortable quick journey on a 185 both times.

[@darthwiizius]

Wouldn't the cheapest solution be to build a second platform and bridge to get to it at Malton? That would cost less than a train set to build and resolve the issue instantly. Still, Tories, logic and honesty are all things that never coexist I suppose.

[@hamerjohn]

Malton is the centre of horse racing industry.

[@chriswalker8440]

This is Great Britain's railway system. What the hell had people been expecting?? I always thought Bransons 'Voyagers' were the pits but I reckon we ain't seen nuffink yet. At least those motorised goods vans with summat to park our backsides on gave us a ride to remember, especially whilst banging round Grimsby's Fish Dock curves at take off velocity. Glorious fun and never forget, we are only passengers and it's the crews who I feel sorry for and nothing is likely to change any time soon!

[@heyrodtrainspotter9700]

7:15 The nova trains where retired becuase of the difference in train between the 68/MK5a's and the rest of the EMU/DMU's not becuase they found the cracks. Those where repaired

[@QALibrary]

That is an interesting theory: The hight differences between the class 68/MK5 were a big issue (could they have made the wheel a different size to fix this - this was never looked at and class 68 have even worse issues). This also led to the MK5 cracking because of poor design as well - they did try and repair it twice but the issue with the cracking of the MK5 was it was happening at any time and any location ie it was not predictable or controllable. Also due to this and other metrics which the class 68 and mk5 all failed on - in the end they were all rejected from service before officially being handed over This information is coming from the person who was in charge of commissioning the class 68 and Mk5 into service

[@Trainman10715]

It's the cracks and the wider issue that the cracks are part of; the general poor quality of the rolling stock. the DTSO cab is identical to the 397s

[@geoffreyford7288]

Another issue which caused a lot of complaints was if the 68 was at the Scarborough station end then the noise from the loco when standing was amplified in the train shed at Scarborough and was defining. It took them two years to sort out the servicing facilities with a 66 derailing in the process! The coaches were very rough riding and the tables vibrated and made computer work difficult so more complaints. Bad design and construction.

[@richard-riku]

You should review the carriages that didn't even make five minutes in service - the cancelled Nightstar carriages that would have run through the channel tunnel and ended up in Canada and operated by Via Rail who call them Renaissance cars. They're not even the same width as regular Canadian carriages because UK loading gauge is smaller!

[@Weegiegreek]

That was because of cheap airlines and its quicker to fly some of the routes these trains were intended for

[@joginns778]

At least the Nightstar coaches got a second chance most of them went to Canada, transport for Wales should grab these train's up,

[@vicsams4431]

@richardbevan3168. Why inflict anyone to that. I have ridden Renaissance coaches from Montreal to Halifax. Probably the worst design I have ever encountered ! Not a patch on Manor and Chateau sleeping cars. Who but is Brits puts a wardrobe in the middle of the floor, so you have to climb on the bed to see out the wondow. The showers are rancid ! You shower WITH the toilet bowl. How hygenic. Space so small, you wash under one arm and hit one elbow, you wash under the other arm, and hit the other elbow. I know of telephone boxes that are larger. The ladder to the top bunk is so narrow, you have to reach the 5th step. Top bunk so narrow, your arm hangs over the side. One member of our group forgot to move nearer the wall before attempting to turn over, and fell out the top bunk, and gashed his legs as he plummeted to earth. Top bunk located under an air vent that blows icy air on you all night. It can only be described as medieval torture ! I have travelled over every railway in Canada (except Churchill) but including Carcross Yukon Territory, Schefferville, Moosonee, Prince Rupert, Calgary, Senneterre, Jonquiere, Sarnia, Windsor, Niagara, Vaudreuil, Candiac, St Jerome, Wakefield, Le Malbaie, Orangeville, etc. The line to Halifax is nice and the food on the train very good, but solely due to the coaches, I would say "never again". Best regards from London England.

[@johnhammond5379]

@@vicsams4431Oh, we English love life to be hard.

[@simonfrost7094]

Some other interesting things to point out on the journey - the line passes the old railway station for Castle Howard (a private railway station which skirts the bottom of the estate, I believe - now a private residence, but the station signage is still there), which comes just after passing the ruins of Kirkham Abbey. Also, just behind the signal box at Scarborough is a bricked-up archway, which is the branching off point for the Victorian-era Scarborough-Whitby branch line. The terrain proved to be too much for Victorian engineering however and it suffered constant problems from slippy track, expensive tunnelling and steep gradients. It was never a success for various reasons and it was closed in the Beeching cuts. It's now a bridleway called The Cinder Track.

[@AkaWilf]

As a former railway employee of 44 years service on the S&T dept of British Rail/Network Rail, painting the front of a train in black and blue is one of the most backward steps in safety I have seen...especially in this current health and safety era!

[@vicsams4431]

@AkaWilf. As a fellow railwayman. I agree. But the HMRI sanctioned this because a) they thought high intensity headlights were better, b) no one paints the fronts of steam locos yellow (ignoring the clouds of smoke visible for miles) and c) under Project RIMINI track work was to be done largely under a T2 Protection or T3 Possession (Green Zone - although maintenance staff largely never adopted this !). I worked for BR, Railtrack and Network Rail, retiring as the National Operations Standards Manager. Formerly Regional Workforce Safety Manager (Anglia).

[@AkaWilf]

@@vicsams4431 yes, green zone was becoming more and more the preferred way of working, and probably by now pretty much the only way. Generally the high intensity lights are very good, but in times of very warm weather the heat haze could actually obscure the lights with them being a lowish level point source of light, whereas the yellow fronts became even more visible. Mind you, it’s all over for me now... Miss the place, but not the work!

[@kristiankumanov5732]

Your Trip reports are great. The only advice which I can give is to use more authentic sound from your journeys and lower the music. For example - Train, Nature, Urban noises, announcements. Those sounds give better experience for audience.

[@peterskegness3204]

Great video. I did the reverse trip to yours a couple of months ago in First Class. Like you say, they are great trains and replacing them with 185's is a backward move. One of the issues, and a regular cause of complaint, has been the noise of 68's from those living near to the Scarborough depot. Not sure what the future holds for the carriages, but the loco's are likely to be taken on by DRS (they already have a few ex TP surplus when the Nova 3 operation ceased on the South Transpennine route earlier this year). Chiltern trains also use 68's but with Mk.3's. The Nova 3 operation is due to end when the new timetable takes effect in just under two weeks. Will be sorry to see them go as they look great both externally and internally. There's a bizarre logic that seems to exist in UK railways, that to improve reliability means running fewer and shorter capacity trains. Makes no sense at all. At least we both had the opportunity to travel in a Nova 3 whilst we could.

[@Pulsarnix]

Great video. Your style has certainly improved in the last 2-3 years and you've grown the channel really well (even if I don't watch every video). I can confirm first class is brilliant, even if there is no catering, which let's it down. A fun coincidence that we uploaded a video on the same class of train and route 2 days apart 😅

[@mittfh]

"Cracks were discovered" - something that's also affected CAF's Urbos 3 trams on the West Midlands Metro (plus three other locations around the world), but they were repaired - I think the relevant authorities persuaded CAF to stump up the cost.

[@vicsams4431]

@mittfh Cracks are nowt unique. Hitachi 800s are no better. Most new trains have teething problems. Cracks can be fixed. Maintenance schedules strengthened, etc.

[@LucasTrains1]

As a weekly traveller from Scarborough to York it is a great shame seeing these get rid off. Especially with no replacement, although testing of the Class 802 has happened twice this year for this route it still wont cover low capacity of the 185 knowing that 802s will rarely come here due to their already existing routes.

[@ianburnley6873]

Rubbish They are covered partially by retaining all 185's and there should be spare capacity on the 802's given the hourly service to Edinburgh is abandoned, as is the Newcastle-Manchester Airport service for the time being. They need to get their finger out with crew training of 802's onto other routes.

[@timbervalleyproductions]

The editing on this video must have talen ages - the quality is fantastic, really comprehensive! Really enjoyed this one mate! 😁

[@barrielui]

They abandoned the NOVA 3 mainly because of noise and reliability, which the latter contributed to the poor performance of First-owned TPE. Class 185 is arguably even more comfortable than NOVA 1 and 2 for medium distance services, except the lack of them makes it impossible to couple up all services to provide enough capacity.

[@EM-yk1dw]

The DFT would pay for the lease

[@barrielui]

@@EM-yk1dw That's the key reason they are ending the lease. DfT hates to fund the railway, especially those not related to London.

[@ClearTrackSpeed]

I love it when they replace things with nothing; great video

[@SuperalbsTravels]

Thanks! 😂

[@EifelBlaulichtTV]

Guess I won't be complaining about DB anymore after seeing this video. Trains being abandoned after just 4 years is not even awful, it's atrocious.

[@vicsams4431]

I generally like DB. Preferred when they had 232s and 234s in the east, and 103s in west ! Best regards from London England.

[@yves2932]

DB topped that with ICE-TD only in service from 2001-2003 due to reoccurring tech issues.

[@lesleycouch6557]

I agree, really atrocious! Totally wasteful.

[@timothycook5880]

Nice video. It does seem a terrible waste to abandon these trains and surely they can be improved and provide much needed capacity.

[@JohnHughesChampigny]

They can't be improved. They are fundamentally badly designed and built.

[@timothycook5880]

If so what a great waste of money. Shocking. @@JohnHughesChampigny

[@vicsams4431]

@JohnHughesChampigny Other commentators, apparently with insider information, on this video claim the cracks were fixed. One of you does not know what he is talking about.

[@timothycook5880]

Choose your words more carefully. I have made to claim to know what is wrong@@vicsams4431

[@TransportNut89]

It seems that the DfT doesn't care about overcrowding. Especially where wheelchair access is concerned

[@FlyingPhysicist]

There's a fleet of 175s in storage that would make good substitutes for the Nova 3s, I'd have thought.

[@SuperalbsTravels]

I'm a fan of the 175s! :)

[@networkerfan]

there's also a fleet of class 379s that can run on battery in storage and they have pleasant interiors they would also make a good nova 3 substitute if the can run on batteries

[@SuperalbsTravels]

@@networkerfan Only 379013 ever ran on battery, and it doesn't anymore.

[@HexAyed]

TfW stopped maintaining them, hence why they started catching fire. there's no-way Northern will take those on, let alone TpE

[@stervi2]

Wouldn’t it be great if we could build our own trains again, considering this is the birthplace of the train.

[@howarddavies8937]

If you go to Europe or Japan you will see how far behind we are, I can't see any way to catch up thanks to this Government.

[@hartmutehuber]

Both Alstom and Siemens are building trains in the UK. Yes, they are not brittish train manufacturers but you need to spread development costs over many units produced and sold, but they are local.

[@artfuldodger4850]

Don’t be silly, we find employment for every other country except the UK citizens. We only invented trains not to make meaningful use. Find me a privatised industry which serves its customers

[@vicsams4431]

@stervi2. I agree. I think it was Sir John Major's government that did railway privatisation and sold off BREL.

[@johnhammond5379]

@@vicsams4431Tough, as I recall, the process was set off some time before John Major. Thatcher was certainly very much the guilty one. And she caused the termination of the APT-E.

[@robclipsham33]

Only an accountant could replace the Nova 3 with 185 units.

[@vicsams4431]

@robclipsham33. Too true !

[@johnhammond5379]

To employ an aphorism used about another class, an accountant is someone knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.

[@dontown-lb5ke]

They should not have gotten rid of British Rail. I got a 2 week 1st Class BritRail Pass in June 1990 & traveled about 5,000 km. I only had to pay 30 £/night on sleeper trains. I've been to all 3 Perths & Peterboroughs in the world. They are still running trains built in 1955 here in Canada on 'The Canadian" which I have taken 51x since 1964. Cheers from Vancouver.

[@Weegiegreek]

British rail was bloody awful take it from a regular commuter

[@davidthomas2761]

Britrail passes are still available and as before are a great value. We always get one for First Class on our visits to Britain. We have bought the passes for variable lengths of time, from four days to two weeks.

[@Sozbear]

Absolutely . Pure revisionism and rose tinted glasses in relation to the truly awful BR@@Weegiegreek

[@johnhammond5379]

@@WeegiegreekPerhaps because the Govt was running the service down to prepare the public for privatisation: hoodwink the public into believing that anything else (= privaye companies) could not be half as bad. Oh, how we have all learnt! I don't recall having any beefs with BR.

[@scottishtrainspotter7209]

Was a shock to find out them nova 3 are coming to and end of an era after 4 years, Did like the look of them.

[@SuperalbsTravels]

It's such a shame.

[@vicsams4431]

@Scottishtrainspotter7209. Maybe the Class 68 won't win a beauty award, but they were great on the Fife Circle.

[@scottishtrainspotter7209]

@@vicsams4431 definably liked them as a class 68 back in the days.

[@chriswade7470]

Malton Station building may Grade 2 listed but that didn’t stop the overall NE designed overall roof being removed 15 or so years ago ( look at Beverley or Filey Station.) it did at one point have a 2nd Platform outside the overall roof.accessed I believe by a rolling gangway.

[@donato286]

Love your reports and your humor. Skimmed through the top comments to see if someone mentioned the quick "or more..." that appeared at the bottom of the screen at around 1:16 🤭 but didn't find any...

[@QTEE-GAMING]

or more

[@rosskiddle9113]

Would love to see Nova 3s on the GWR Portsmouth - Cardiff service which has been very much downgraded recently with grotty suburban Turbos currently trundling along the route

[@SuperalbsTravels]

I'm sick of the Turbos too! 😂

[@KatMarBax]

I’ve never been to York before, I didn’t realise the station was so pretty!

[@vicsams4431]

@KatMarBax. The line is full of superb historical stations of architectural merit. Britain is blessed with hundreds of grand Victorian stations.

[@Esperpritzie]

You should really visit finland and try one of the double decker sleeper trains.

[@vicsams4431]

I have travelled extensively in Finland by train. But avoided the sleeping car trains as you miss the scenery in the dark ! Best regards from London England.

[@David-g1p-v8k]

I used to enjoy traditional deeply upholstered seats in both open but also corridor and even enclosed compartments, no wifi of course and often very little light or heating, especially when that later was supposed to be steam generated, stll, fares were cheap and you could travel on Christmas Day! I have found modern seats not only uncomfortable themselves, but on such as Networkers impossibly optimistic, a 4Sub might have been comfortable with six abreast but five and a gangway with today's more ubiquitously dimensionally challenged would have tested Brunel..

[@DIEMLtdTV]

I’ve read the Class 68s have had complaints about noise when they are stabled at Scarborough. The comment about they being a great train apart from the seats, I once went to a technical lecture by a chap who designed seats for BR. He said the main passenger interface between people and trains were their bums. He went onto say they did sit tests in new seat designs to see if they were comfy.

[@DigitalDiabloUK]

Those specifying the interior should be made to sit in sample seats for upto 8hrs before picking.

[@nickp1548]

I was wondering why he was testing them with his hand rather than just sitting on them.

[@iankemp1131]

The point is that different people experience seats in different ways, so you need a very wide range of people to do "bum tests". The hard ironing board seats are tolerable for some people, particularly those who are relatively light. For people with joint or back problems, or of larger build, the extra pressure can make things uncomfortable very quickly. This wasn't picked up on the GWR trains in particular.

[@DIEMLtdTV]

@@DigitalDiabloUK That's what BR did.

[@vicsams4431]

@DIEMLtdTV His bottom must have been made of concrete ! I have no sympathy for the nutters in Scarborough. You buy a house near a railway. What do you expect ? The railway is under no obligation to obtain consent from every resident every time it wants to change rolling stock. That would be totally unreasonable and unworkable. Furthermore only anklebiters could say that. Scarborough had hourly Class 45 and Class 47 locomotives until 1988 and the early 1990s. All were shunt released at Scarborough. Furthermore, Scarborough council funded the return to mainline steam of 4468 Mallard. That had sulphurous smoke and coal dust as well as noise.

[@stevespence2918]

I use this line fairly often over many years and was very disappointed when these trains were replaced with the smaller, older version. The seats were fairly hard but the journey is fairly short and it never bothered me. This is a classic example of levelling up - it always fails The North 😞

[@johnhammond5379]

"Levelling up" is a fiction.

[@killertoby1234]

Them class 68s are also ridiculously loud, they can be easily heard from over a mile away even just at idle. I live in Scarborough and many many residents have complained.

[@vicsams4431]

I have no sympathy whatsoever. You buy a house near a railway, you get trains going passed. The railway is under no obligation to obtain consent from every resident every time it wants to change rolling stock. That would be unreasonable and unworkable. These residents in Scarborough are either too young to remember hourly loco hauled trains or too old they have forgotten ! Class 45s operated hourly to Scarborough until 1988. Then replaced by Class 47s until the early 1990s. Furthermore Scarborough council funded the mainline restoration of 4468 Mallard to work to Scarborough regularly. Are you trying to kid me they never noticed the sulphurous smoke, copious amounts of coal dust and noise ? And this is not ancient history either.

[@killertoby1234]

Not looking for sympathy, I don't live in Scarborough myself, I am 1 1/2 miles away and I can hear the Class 68s easily, for comparison, the heritage steam and even the rail grinders are quieter! The point is, the people complaining are the ones who live nowhere near the tracks @@vicsams4431

[@michaelpoole587]

CAF have a terrible reputation for Welding. The Midland Metro trams , have had to be sent to Wolverton and had new sides in them . I should imagine that's what would have to be done to those coaches too. They have a world wide problem with the Urbo trams , which all have weld problems. The west midlands have spent 690 million on new CAF trains, they have weld problems too, along with poor suspension, braking, and trip Axle counters on a daily basis.

[@RadioJonophone]

I'm old enough to remember the old pre-war corridor coaches with their four abreast bench seats facing each other in each compartment. You became acquainted with your fellow traveller as you bounced along on trampoline style spring and horsehair upholstery that smelled of dust and tobacco smoke. I travel on TPE trains here from Newcastle, not the Nova 3 at illustrated, but the seating is similar. Maybe my ageing gluteus maximima and bony structure accentuate the discomfort, or maybe the train manufacturers are told to cut expense to the max, but I find most modern train seats to be disgusting. However, those First Class ones in your video look good. The Nova 3 sets are doomed because of the badly thought out aesthetics and cut-price engineering at bogie/chassis level. The push-pull locos are a disaster in looks, performance, and noise. If you have the time visit my latest take on the looming railway crisis at: https: // kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y2qqapKdd8prrck

[@standclear502]

Great video thanks

[@vicsams4431]

@RadioJonophone. I love the noise of the Class 68s ! Bring back steam heating and semaphore signals with single line tokens. I am sure BR Mark 1s can be fitted with USB Ports for anklebiting youngsters.

[@standclear502]

@@vicsams4431 I was standing aside🦺 Brutus listening 🔊🔊🔊 to the beast at idle. It's the closest thing to a dragon. 😁

[@alivinghuman1]

Hi Superalbs, I was wondering if you could do a review on a Class 755 one day (I recommend the Gainsborough Line, since the views off the bridge are nice, you pass through a Railway Museum, and Sudbury is a nice market town with quite a bit of history). The seats are comfy and ergonomic (for ‘new’ train seats), the ride quality is great, the train has some cool and important features, and I think it would make for a great video! 😊

[@nathandunnn]

The reason behind this is that CAF, as a manufacturer, are hopeless at making trains. Where I'm from in Australia, Sydney purchased a bunch of Urbos 3 trams from them back in around 2013. Sometime around 2020, all had cracks found in their frames, and had to be temporarily withdrawn for a few years while being worked on. They were replaced by Alstom Citadis trams (at least someone can do it properly). Only just returned to service slowly in the past year or so. The problem is, no one learn over here and 3 more batches of trams have been ordered for various networks in New South Wales from the same builder, and Canberra has also made the same mistake. On top of that the NSW government has some long distance DMUs on order to replace the HST-like XPT passenger train sets built in 1981 by Comeng and Xplorer sets built by ABB from 1993, which seems pretty stupid. I also know that in the UK the class 334 EMUs were withdrawn due to cracks after less than 20 years service as well. Lesson? Don't buy from CAF.

[@espaciobarra]

Back when I lived in Chile we had the same kind of shenanigans with CAF: they won a tender for rubber-tyre trains which had appalling quality issues (faulty PA systems, bad flooring, door issues, etc). Metro SA had to break up their maintenance exclusivity contract so that their old rolling stock supplier could get their hands on the trains to fix them. The manufacturer? Alstom. Of course. They're also having problems with a new batch of automated trains which are speculated to be heavier than CAF promised, causing vibrations above the ground and having slow acceleration/braking. Metro in the end pretty much banned them from tenders, with the most recent one won by none other than... Alstom.

[@Mullac]

Birmingham in the UK bought the exact same trams and they also found cracks. Unfortunately, nothing was drafted in to fill the service so we went almost half the year with no tram service whatsoever.

[@DeBert]

It's the same in the Netherlands. Our Sprinter New Generation is a CAF Civity. And despite only entering service in 2018, some of them already got the same hairline cracks. They promised to deliver trains for the lowest price and that is the garbage we got. 216 units of them.

[@weeardguy]

@@DeBert And considering the story of user-ww8sh9fr2y about Urbos trams, I think one can expect the worst for the trams in Amsterdam and Utrecht/IJsselstein...

[@mdhazeldine]

The UK's Hitachi AT300 (IET) class 800 trains also had cracks, and we've had issues with Alsthom trains too (class 701s taking 4 years to begin in service after delivery). All manufacturers seem to have issues. The only one I've not really heard anything bad about is Siemens, but I'm sure they've had a few problems that I just don't know about.

[@matthewharty6531]

i believe your american counterpart is also doing a feature on this topic, he teased some video the other week. (Trains are Awesome). As someone who lives on this route nothing suprises me, except perhaps good management and everything running on time lol

[@Matthias_AT]

These waggons look like the old ÖBB wendewagen what are still in service with a ER20 loco on local lines Would be cool if you could do a video about them Also good video (sorry for bad english)

[@SuperalbsTravels]

Thanks, I'll have to take a look! :)

[@johnhammond5379]

"Bad English"? Hardly. You should hear some of what I hear from people born here. As if grammar didn't exist.

[@I_Am_Just_A_Technician]

York station is a reminder of just how great Britain was. The trains that ran beneath its canopy equally great. Today you'll be lucky to see even a train beneath it that isn't cancelled or delayed.

[@gb9727]

Where will they go next?

[@SuperalbsTravels]

Nobody knows!

[@bridgethuggett1052]

Some locos are being used for the rail treatment trains ( eg ‘Felix’) ‘the dirtiest trains on the network’

[@EricbryanStone-oh1uu]

He forgot to mention the noise complaints of neighbours near the station and stabling point. They complained about the noise of the class 68s

[@DeBert]

Tragically, in the Netherlands, with the Sprinter New Generation (SNG/Civity) EMUs, some of them also already got hairline cracks despite entering service in 2018. You have already guessed it: these were built by CAF as well. Fail after fail after fail, unfortunately.

[@weeardguy]

And not only that, when I look at the video, I see the exact same SHITE seats as in our SNG's. The same effin upright position, just different upholstery, but the padding (or lack of) seems totally equivalent. And I remember that they held some seat testing (most likely at Utrecht CS) before making a choice on the new seats for the SNG units and can remember that when they were chosen, many Dutch people could not understand why they went for the absolute worst possible option. Sure, seats in SLT units aren't great either with absolutely zero room for your legs/feet, but at least those are a bit reclined, compared to the horrible upright position on SNG units, just like the ones in this video. And on SNG units I usually try to get a seat right behind the glass-pane divider at the balconies, to prevent being pushed around by the person behind you if he or she uses the backboard of the seat in front of him/her as a rest by pulling up their legs. I hope these are more sturdy, but considering it's CAF-shite, I doubt it. Plan Z (Koploper) stock in their original state were just absolute bliss compared to the seating options you now get on Dutch trains.

[@randa200771]

Bring back mk1 and mk2 coaches. Comfortable with plenty of space and lasted for years. Sneeze at some of these modern concrete seated coaches and they fall apart.

[@WhiffTheRubbishEngine1869]

The transpennine nova 3 is my all time favourite train. I can’t believe they’re cutting it

[@SuperalbsTravels]

It's a big shame! 😥

[@JulianSortland]

I hope Labour sue Cracked And Faulty into paying for someone competent to rebuild them.

[@JulianSortland]

The Aussie worker hating "Liberals" who are actually RWFWs bought Cracked And Faulty for rural NSW, after buying defect filled and mis-specified Hyundai Rotems (not yet in service after 5 years) for outer-urban use, and Indian built Siemens which wobble terrible when pushed over 60 km/h on long sectors between stations. The Labor states have locally made VLocity DMUs, and 25 kV AC EMUs based on the same design.

[@Pegaroo_]

Do they not get any kind of warranty with these carriages? Surely the manufacturer is liable here. I thought rolling stock was designed to last 40 years not be scrapped after just 4 years

[@Leo_125.]

There should be more Stadler trains in the UK as they are high quality trains compared to CAF

[@Rail_Focus]

It's a shocking waste just to get rid of them. It can only mean less capacity on other services 😡

[@QALibrary]

Two class 68 are going to be redesigned and re-engineered before going out for testing (so we could see them and others around again). This is to see if they can overcome all the failers and issues that are baked into the original design. Both will have totally new engines installed, this hopefully will overcome the main problem of the 68 using way too much fuel and then affect the emissions systems and then the software that runs the locomotive. For some reason, only one of them will have a much bigger fuel tank fitted replacing the current too small one. Currently, class 68 has to be filled up twice as often as other trains and this is causing issues.

[@danielaltmann8493]

But are they doing (or even planning to do) anything about the noise the engines produce? Compared to the Nova 1 - 802s (and even the 185s) it's atrocious how loud these engines are ...

[@vicsams4431]

They were unable to fit a silencer and an environmental scrubber to the exhaust and stay within the UK Loading Gauge. As green fines outcost noise fines, they fitted the scrubber and left off the silencer.

[@QALibrary]

@@danielaltmann8493 This could be fixed with the new engine and other changes but seeing my contact has been thrown off the 68 project and thus not part of this new redesign project, I can not fully answer your question.

[@QALibrary]

@@vicsams4431 This could be fixed with the new engine and other changes but seeing my contact has been thrown off the 68 project and thus not part of this new redesign project, I can not fully answer your question.

[@vicsams4431]

@SALibrary Whilst a smaller engine might help with some issues, it won't be easy as the DfT set some hard performance targets. A smaller engine would be less powerful and have a different speed profile. However the Class 185 drinks fuel like no tomorrow, and every coach has its own fuel tank and it's own engine.

[@Popo111603]

Doncaster to Sheffield on Transpennine is well one way to put it overcrowded and shit. Recently went to Sheffield from Goole but had to get a connecting train at Doncaster due to the original train which was direct from Goole to Sheffield the train had not got enough crew anyways. Doncaster to Sheffield is usually 20mins it took us 40mins stood up in an over crowded train I always hate going on Transpennine. Had no issues with Northern though just that one unfornate recent thing with lack of crew but personally I think it was a train driver not being well but I'll never know.

[@RickyNowis]

Such a big shame, these Nova 3 trains do boost compacity massively. Scarborough trains will also have a few class 802's (Nova 1's) working alongside the 185's. Surely the government can keep these trains going.

[@Abnerbandanovotempoinscrito1mi]

Boa tarde boa viagem ai lindo trem gostei

[@SuperalbsTravels]

haha yes

[@Nerd28_]

sim, é um bom trem

[@tjsoundfx905]

You should ride the Pacific surf liner from LA Union Station to Santa Barbara round-trip

[@SuperalbsTravels]

Well I tried to do Pacific Surfliner, but it was cancelled.

[@SimonsVids222]

These trains were really nice to ride, but the noise… omg the noise 😂

[@dnsmcbr104]

Unpopular opinion: I think ditching the Nova 3 is the right move. This train's reliability issues were one of the main reasons why TPE found itself with such a negative reputation. In addition to complicating the driver training situation TPE are facing even further.

[@jhfdhgvnbjm75]

The most comfortable train I ever rode (was in 2009) was an old 70's slam door carriage with sagging seats that had to be used as a replacement service: it was supper quiet, the seats were still comfortable and spacious, and the train actually arrived early at its destination as it wasn't limited in its speed... Can we just have those back, please?

[@Dwagginz]

This video has me a bit confused, if I'm honest. It looks like it was filmed a couple of years ago, so I think it'd be more appropriate to see how the Mk5s have aged in the years since filming - perhaps the seats have improved either through use or were quietly repadded or something. Replacing these with 185s makes sense if they somehow put more 802s on the express runs (e.g. to and from Manchester Airport) rather than 2x185s as it would free those units up for this route. I don't think getting rid of them without a solid plan is reasonable though.

[@jollyjohnston1984]

To me £6.80 for 42 miles is a bargain. I was paying more than that Southport to Salford crescent 20 years ago on a 142. Also some of the services will be covered by class 802s when the fleet disappears.

[@harrison4650]

Omg you started at York! That is where I live

[@Saltybuher]

The idea we can’t maintain these things is more like the bus graveyard in Sierra Leone than I want to think about.

[@fenpikey]

I much prefer the rolling stock of olde when seat were more comfortable and certainly more room for those who are stocky. Had reason to travel to Liverpool Street from Suffolk, I used to enjoy travelling bt train though not anymore but not after my last trip. Livestock get a better class of comfort! I used Malton Station once many years ago, why has it only got one platform when it could have two? The York Tap.....did enjoy a pint in that rather fine pub. The Sheffield Tap is also worthy of a visit too.

[@spiritofcantaolisboa-p8871]

Voyager family units once withdrawn from Avanti and East Midlands, will be T.O.C. fleet trouble savers. Among candidates are Grand Central, Scotrail and Trans Pennine Express for instance.

[@bongman123]

I think the Meridians should go to ScotRail

[@Weegiegreek]

The voyagers have gone to GC

[@Trainman10715]

Scotrail and transpennine don't need them, gc are taking the avanti voyagers, the future of the 222s looks very bleak however

[@bongman123]

@Trainman10715 not really, Scotrail could potentially get rid of the HSTs earlier than expected. Let's not forget the outrage after the incident where a driver list his life, which ASLEF were going to ban drivers HSTs, although cool, are old and require a lot if maintainence, the EMR ones have been refurbished with plans to go elsewhere. Could be Scotrail, or Chiltern.

[@Trainman10715]

@@bongman123 scotrail already said they plan to operate the HSTs until 2030. that 'outrage' was usual out of touch union boss drivel where they yelp on about something that most of the drivers dont care about. hence why that big boycott that they threatened never happened, as anyone with a brain knew that the driver would have been killed whatever train he was in. being old has nothing to do with it and they require no more maintainence than anything else, at least when being looked after properly. the 222s have not had full refurbishments and there are currently no plans for them to go anywhere. scotrail are unlikely to withdraw their relatively recently introduced HSTs which are extrememly popular anong their passengers and theyre not appropriate for the chiltern mainline

[@SchnitzelDaemon]

Is your footage old? I thought when this video was published there was already a new toilet block near York Tap and a Sainsbury's open in the station (boarded up area)?

[@InverhavonRailways]

They'll only get re used when the interiors have been "refurbished" with 5 a side "ironing boards", and strap hangers. They'll then be allocated for long distance Inter City services of at least 6 hours duration. Standing room only!!!!

[@spiritofcantaolisboa-p8871]

It is a shame that most of Mark 4 sets have been already scraped, deserving a fully refurbishment like Transport for Wales is benefiting from Grand Central never used for purpose black sets and transfered to Anglo-Welsh services from Manchester to South Wales services.

[@Weegiegreek]

Grand Central didn't get the access to WCML they needed to run their intended route

[@Trainman10715]

​@@Weegiegreekyeah they did, they themselves cancelled the project

[@butikimbo9595]

Thank you for sharing the video. We can not have it all! To have more seating capacity, not all can have a great outside view! Further more nowadays with smartphones and laptops, who cares about enjoying pleasant lineside views?

[@Sammichyyt]

Ive been to the museum loads of times it's amazing

[@Ethan.YT.]

Will be travelling by tras pennine today, hoping for the best as itll probably be the only time I use them due to northern doing almost all locations I wanna go to

[@geoffhoward2171]

Speaking as someone who has not travelled on a train for something in excess of thirty years I would like to say I was very surprised at the cost of your ticket, certainly good value, unfortunately that price is far from typical, as regards the train my thoughts are very good and as you suggest very much like flying but the railways have to be self sufficient and effective. As regards a service I could use it is a nonentity, to visit my family by public transport would mean this, step 1 a bus, 2 a train, 3 a bus, 4 a train, 5 a train, 6 a train and lastly a bus then a good walk, my car wins hands down on convenience, time and cost, no contest. Journey from South Wales valleys to Mid Suffolk.

[@00hl4l4]

There were other issues too like how ridiculously loud they were. The line up to Scarborough would be better suited to a DMU because it's relatively steep for a railway, but there was some dodgy dealings related to contracts why they had to use those locomotives. Also the CAF crack issues is a BIG issue, it's not a quick or easy fix and I imagine CAF are shelling out some money to the government as a result. The biggest shame is why the UK (and other countries) keep on buying things from CAF when there are recurrent issues with cracks across the whole range of CAF products from trams to trains that have been an issue for years, you'd think people would learn that CAF is cheap but the quality and reliability is awful.

[@Trainman10715]

No dodgy dealings, those are the only locomotives suited to that role

[@00hl4l4]

@@Trainman10715 there was some dodgy stuff because a dmu would have been a better option but there was an insistence that these specific locos had to be used.

[@Trainman10715]

@@00hl4l4 no there wasn't, the class 68s are the only locomotives in the country capable of fulfilling that role, can't have dodgy dealings if there physically wasn't any choice

[@vicsams4431]

@00hl4l4. I am a tad concerned where you get your information from. Clearly not anyone in the know ! The Nova 3 was part of the franchise commitment. Originally it was envisaged that Manchester to Leeds would be electrified. The Class 68s were chosen because they are almost identical to the Class 88s. So when the line was electrified, you simply swapped the Class 68 for the Class 88 with minimal fuss. A number of operators chose the Class 68 because they were the most modern diesel locomotive fitted with electric train heating.

[@chrisrayson8546]

Pollution monster the only choice?

[@bardslee]

Went from Leicester to Scarborough for business. The York to Scarborough train was by far my favourite.

[@stewartellinson8846]

The motive power units have serious reliability issues and have contributed significantly to TP's punctuality problems. Then there's the noise, fuel consumption and many other faults. They're not being "withdrawn" so much as taken out of service for rectification. The sets will reappear in a year or two although the power units may not because the faults may be inherent. Meanwhile, TP does need some actually reliable stock. This is another example of when things are built down to a price not up to a standard.

[@vicsams4431]

@stewartellinson8846. TPE punctuality problems started with my beloved Class 45s and 47s back in BR days, as they were getting long in the tooth. However, the timetable fell apart with the Class 185s. They were over-specified by the DfT / SRA and I personally warned them that a RA5 DMU would incur massive journey time penalties as the Scarborough route was classified as fragile track and had Sprinter SP Differential Speed restrictions. The RA1 Class 158 with its 9 - 10 ton axle load, was permitted to do 90 mph, but each coach of a Class 185 weighs the same on four axles as a 109 ton Class 37 weighs on six axles. They are both RA5. As a consequence, 185s were limited to 45 mph, but the stupid train planning manager had timed them at 90 mph, because he wrongly assumed a SP Differential Speed was for trains that could accelerate quickly. I kid you not. It matters not how fast you accelerate. A 90 mph will always beat a 45 mph train. They replied that they did not care. I asked the chairman to minute that reply, as someone would care when the timetable was in meltdown and all their traincrew rosters were out of sync. and all connections did not hold at York and elsewhere. I was only the National Operations Standards Manager, WTF, would I know !

[@jammiedodger7040]

Locomotives and Coaches are way better in my opinion than MultiUnits. I think the only places MultiUnits really makes sense is branch lines which just makes sense to use Class 158/159.

[@vicsams4431]

I agree from a passenger comfort perspective. Alas they are unpopular because locomotives burn fuel tens of times quicker. They also pay a higher track access charge. So accountants don't like them !

[@emmaaustin5219]

I went on this train from Scarborough to york and after that a long class 47 came in on platform five a

[@andydaly6586]

I heard recently that the London to Shrewsbury and Wrexham were interested any news on that?

[@updistant705]

Keep them with TPE, it's madness to withdraw them and increase overcrowding.

[@henrybn14ar]

Airline style seating belongs in aircraft where there is proper space for luggage. It messes up the entire seating layout and also means that the seats must be heavier as they need to have hefty frames.

[@garyseymour6319]

They weren't 'troubled' they just couldn't make a profit! York also isn't anywhere near Stockton where passenger transport via trains started. Also, Pacer trains are no longer allowed on the UK train network due to the fact they drop toilet waste straigt on the track.

[@vicsams4431]

So why are the 150, 153, 155, 156, 158, 159 etc fleets in operation ? None have retention toilets. You are mistaken.

[@Thomas-zs5wt]

i live where you took the photos in the beginning scarbrough

[@Belfreyite]

We used to travel in the 185's around the Cumbrian line before its operation went from TPE to Northern. I liked them and was sorry to see them go. The 195's are Okay, but not quite as roomy.

[@vicsams4431]

@Belfreyite. Class 37s were best on the Cumbrian Coast.

[@Your_Footy_Content]

An amazing video I mainly focus on Adelaide’s trains since your So close to 100,000 subscribers I will subscribe

[@iankeenan7522]

Send the sets down here, to the South Western mainline to Salisbury and Exeter replacing aging class 159s. Convert them to electro-diesel units with third rail pick ups for the electrified lines switching to diesel on the un-electrified lines west of Basingstoke.

[@vicsams4431]

@iankeenan7522. The long term future of the SWML via Salisbury is to wire Basingstoke to Exeter St David's with 25kV AC and operate with dual voltage EMUs. But this won't happen to after the Berks and Hants is electrified, so don't hold your breath !

[@stogieguy7]

What an idiotic waste of money and resources. I cannot believe how ignorant and short-sighted the government officials are on this one.

[@askme5805]

Just 91.9K subscribers? Well underrated channel.

[@womblechops]

My Line! I think the wifi service was bad because on the map you'll see that the line weaves along the banks of the Derwent before Malton (a choice to avoid tunnelling the Howardian Hills) well away from roads and offering some great scenery - but no connectivity at all. Malton did actually have two platforms years ago - but it needed a retractable bridge to be operated to get to Platform 2, which was an island, so you could also get stranded there. Malton station is also on the left bank of the Derwent, so should really be called "Norton" And, for what it is worth, I danced a merry dance of glee the day that TPE lost their franchise. This branch is treated completely shoddily by TPE as it is the poor cousin of the electrified lines the other side of York.

[@tardismole]

People can hate all they like on the old Pacers, but at least they fitted the platform height. We had just got step-free stations due to line and station upgrades. New trains a few months later and step-free went out the window. The stations with their brand-new lifts are again off-limits.

[@SuperalbsTravels]

Pacers were not step-free, come on. I loved the 143s as much as anyone, but there were two sizable steps.

[@paultidd9332]

I think the first class TPE Mk5 carriages are the best first class carriages going: the seat alignment with the windows, design, decor and colour scheme are all perfect and comfortable. Living near the railway in Leeds city centre the 68 loco’s are noisy and I can hear them even with my windows closed and nine floors up. When you think TPE ran a reasonably reliable service with what were new 185’s back then for it all to go disastrously wrong when the new Nova fleets were introduced is very disappointing and a missed opportunity (and don’t blame the pandemic)!

[@gregoryclark8217]

At least they're being stored, and not just scrapped. Hopefully a change of government will fix this mess, though I doubt it...

[@redriverwave]

Will the British Government at least get a bang-for-their-buck in selling the rolling stock to the highest bidder???

[@dougaldouglas8842]

We lead the way in this field, as so many fields, and as soon as we did so government of the day stepped in with a recking ball, and the ball has been swinging ever since. Government has no idea of industry and commerce.

[@EuroDC1990]

Fantastic trains and i really hope they find a use elsewhere. The 185s are nice though trains but they're just not fit for InterCity service. TPE has always been a bit of a strange one though. Capacity has been limited by train length and train length has been limited by Manchester Oxford Road station. At the same time a limited number of trains able to run on the Castlefield Corridor and 'limited capacity' there means only a limited number of movements can occur - it's a controversial opinion but i reckon they should drop Oxford Road from TPE service to let them operate full length InterCity trains and make full use of the length of platforms 13/14 at Piccadilly. It seems silly to me to limit trains to a maximum of six carriages on one of the most crowded and congested corridors in the country to allow intercity trains to stop at two stations which are two minutes apart.

[@vicsams4431]

@EuroDC1990. Selective Door Operation could solve Oxford Road, but only if 185s were gangwayed between sets.

[@samb5327]

So are the cracking issues down to a manufacturing defect? Who is ultimately responsible for repairing them? Would have thought CAF would have been on the hook to fix the problem

[@nstheboss]

Word is that they are being transferred to Cross Country to work the Stanstead Airport to Birmingham New Street route.