Product Description

It was in the summer of 1976 that a revolution in Britain's passenger railway operations occurred - the launch of the first High Speed Train services over the ex-GWR main line west from Paddington. From this start, the High Speed Train - or Intercity 125 as it was to become known - was to radically transform passenger travel over the East Coast main line between London and Edinburgh and Aberdeen, the North-East/South-West cross-country corridor and evenutally much of the InterCity network. With its high power-to-weight ratio and twin power cars, the rakes of InterCity 125s operated quickly and efficiently between the major towns and cities of the country. Without the development of the InterCity 125 it is doubtful whether the railway passenger industry would have been able to successfully compete against the massively expanded motorway network and the increasing scale of domestic airline business; in many ways, it was the 125 that was the salvation of the railway industry. It is a frightening thought that the 125 is now a quarter of a century old - in many respects it still seems as stylish as when it was first introduced - but the first year of the new Millennium marks the 25th anniversary of the type's introduction. In this lavishly illustrated book, Colin Marsden, who has been following the career of the 125 from the earliest days, pays tribute to Britain's most successful railway innovations of the late 20th century. With a foreword by Chris Green, Managing Director of Virgin Trains and one of the leading influences behind the development of the 125's role over the past quarter century, this book is a detailed account of the development and operational record of this most remarkable class of rolling stock.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1306492 in Books
• Published on: 2001-11-15
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 160 pages

About the Author
Colin Marsden lives in Devon. One of Britain's foremost commentators on subjects of contemporary railway interest, he is Railway Magazine's Modern Traction Editor. In addition to his journalism, he is also a prolific author of railway titles. He is also co-author of the new edition of British Rail Main Line Electric Locomotives which is due for publication in Autumn 2001.

Customer Reviews

from a professional viewpoint
I received the HST Silver Jubilee book recently and as a professional working closely with the HST I was frankly disappointed.
Although there are numerous photographs there is very little else, other than reams and reams about the coaching stock and far too little about the power cars themselves.
The amount of coverage given to the power units is woefully little, the Mirrlees gets a tiny mention, there is a totally inaccurate statement about "many" people wanting to see the mass introduction of the VP185 engine and the Valenta, the very heart of every HST gets hardly a mention. I too noticed the lack of info on the cooler groups, traction motors etc. Surely it isn't just the hardened fanatic who is interested in the very items that make the HST such a sucess.
My concern upon reading this book thoroughly is that the author has only scant information on the HST but speaks with authority in the book, which may fool people with only a casual interest in the HST into beleiving that the author is well informed....I wouldn't recommend the book, it certainly isn't worth the... cover price!

Some nice photos, but.........
As a HST driver for First Great Western, I bought this book and looked forward to reading the history of the greatest diesel train ever to grace britains permenant way.

it does contain some nice photos, and some of the information may be of interest to readers, however I agree with the other reviewers in that far too much time is spent discussing the coaching stock, and not enough time on the power cars themselves.

All in all, it is a reasonable attempt at a book about the HST, but it's 'must try harder' next time I'm afraid.

Is this it??
After waiting more than ten years for a book about the HST this is what we have got. HST Silver Jubilee is nothing better than a lazy collection of photo's, (the captions of which are wrong in many cases) punctuated by ill-informed text which misses most points of the HST story. How can anyone possibly write a book on HST and hardly touch on the power units, not even mention the cooler groups (of which there have been four types) or even mention many of the other things which make up the full HST story. The auther doesn't even bother to check basic facts, the quote on 43008 being the highest on 8,000,000 miles for example only takes a ten second calculation to realise that this figure is way too high.
In summary [...] I wouldn't expect that many will enjoy this book, the hardened HST crank is put off by the many errors and the passive enthusiast will be left without a full picture. "THE" HST story this is not!