The Age of The Train – The HST, another seventies (80s, 90s, 00s etc.) success story
After watching Doctor Who this evening (22/09/12), I watched an interesting documentary about the Intercity 125 (AKA the HST or High Speed Train). The BBC iPlayer was pressed into service once more as this programme was shown on BBC4 a week or so ago.
The story of the development of this iconic train was fascinating – a genuine triumph of British engineering that is now forty years old and still going strong. The programme also covered the management of British Rail in the seventies and into the eighties and the marketing initiatives pursued to re-engage the hearts and minds of the British public regarding train travel.
The documentary title was derived from the BR advertising of the time that featured Jimmy Saville and the spoken or sung tag line “This is the age; of
the train”. During the programme the adverts were played and the musical tag line transported me back in time as effectively as the Tardis transports the
Doctor and the Ponds.
The other story, told in parallel was that of the Advanced Passenger Train (APT). The projects for the two trains ran head to head for a while and the HST, the cheaper, quicker, simpler, more effective project triumphed where the APT, genuinely ahead of its time, failed.
As a kid, I loved the APT, in fact in Milton Keynes on one of its test runs (when I was about eight years old), I got to climb into the cab and have a
look around. I can still remember the feelings of absolute excitement at getting the chance. This wasn’t a PR event, the train was in the station and I
just went up to the driver and rather cheekily asked if I could have a look around. The bemused driver just said ‘yes’ and let me in (these days of course, health and safety compliance would stop it happening at all).
The 125 bettered the APT and it also killed off another of my locomotive favourites – the Deltic. I used to love watching these great engines thunder through Hitchin station and Tulyar was my favourite of the fleet. The 125s were faster and because they were double-headed, the turnaround time for up
and down journeys was much reduced – eventually the Deltics were scrapped as the 125 fleet grew. Tulyar still exists though – fortunately this engine was preserved!
The last couple of paragraphs were a bit of a digression, at least from the TV programme, but the fact is that these are the reasons that triggered some nostalgia and therefore this post.
Back to the documentary; it addressed BR sandwiches, showed a great sketch from Ronnie Barker where he moves around the components of the BR symbol to make a Swastika, and most interestingly made the point that BR’s fortunes were greater during the Thatcher years than they had been for decades before her reign. Privatisation came after Maggie!
The 125 was, and still, is an attractive looking machine and the original BR blue and yellow paint job is still the best livery it has carried in its forty years of service. From a personal perspective, more evidence that the seventies was not the decade that style forgot!
Eighty 125 units are still operating mainline passenger services now and that is pretty impressive when you pause to think about it.
The documentary lasted one hour, was well put together and told a good story. If you like trains, are an engineer, a project manager, a designer, a historian or even a marketer, there is something there for you; and I’d recommend that you try and make some time to watch it.
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The story of the development of this iconic train was fascinating – a genuine triumph of British engineering that is now forty years old and still going strong. The programme also covered the management of British Rail in the seventies and into the eighties and the marketing initiatives pursued to re-engage the hearts and minds of the British public regarding train travel.
The documentary title was derived from the BR advertising of the time that featured Jimmy Saville and the spoken or sung tag line “This is the age; of
the train”. During the programme the adverts were played and the musical tag line transported me back in time as effectively as the Tardis transports the
Doctor and the Ponds.
The other story, told in parallel was that of the Advanced Passenger Train (APT). The projects for the two trains ran head to head for a while and the HST, the cheaper, quicker, simpler, more effective project triumphed where the APT, genuinely ahead of its time, failed.
As a kid, I loved the APT, in fact in Milton Keynes on one of its test runs (when I was about eight years old), I got to climb into the cab and have a
look around. I can still remember the feelings of absolute excitement at getting the chance. This wasn’t a PR event, the train was in the station and I
just went up to the driver and rather cheekily asked if I could have a look around. The bemused driver just said ‘yes’ and let me in (these days of course, health and safety compliance would stop it happening at all).
The 125 bettered the APT and it also killed off another of my locomotive favourites – the Deltic. I used to love watching these great engines thunder through Hitchin station and Tulyar was my favourite of the fleet. The 125s were faster and because they were double-headed, the turnaround time for up
and down journeys was much reduced – eventually the Deltics were scrapped as the 125 fleet grew. Tulyar still exists though – fortunately this engine was preserved!
The last couple of paragraphs were a bit of a digression, at least from the TV programme, but the fact is that these are the reasons that triggered some nostalgia and therefore this post.
Back to the documentary; it addressed BR sandwiches, showed a great sketch from Ronnie Barker where he moves around the components of the BR symbol to make a Swastika, and most interestingly made the point that BR’s fortunes were greater during the Thatcher years than they had been for decades before her reign. Privatisation came after Maggie!
The 125 was, and still, is an attractive looking machine and the original BR blue and yellow paint job is still the best livery it has carried in its forty years of service. From a personal perspective, more evidence that the seventies was not the decade that style forgot!
Eighty 125 units are still operating mainline passenger services now and that is pretty impressive when you pause to think about it.
The documentary lasted one hour, was well put together and told a good story. If you like trains, are an engineer, a project manager, a designer, a historian or even a marketer, there is something there for you; and I’d recommend that you try and make some time to watch it.
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