On October 4 1976, exactly 40 years ago, a train that revolutionised rail travel in the UK first entered public service. Since then the High Speed Train has gone on to be one of the most iconic and well-known ever to run on our rails, as Evan Green-Hughes relates.
THERE ARE few people alive today, whether enthusiasts or general travellers, who have not heard of the High Speed Train (HST). For four decades these sleek streamliners have criss-crossed the country at speeds of up to 125mph and in the process have amassed millions of miles of passenger service. They have monopolised services to the West of England and for many years did the same for the East Coast Main Line (ECML), a route on which some of them still undertake the most arduous long-distance duties.
Today it is hard for us to appreciate just what an effect the HST had on the railway of 40 years ago. In those days most express trains averaged no more than 70-80mph with only the ‘Deltics’ and the West Coast Main Line’s electrics being capable of sustained running at 100mph. The British Railways Board realised that if the system was to compete with the rapidly improving road network over shorter distances and with a…
