Nigeria and Mexico are both prone to weather hotter than in the UK, IETS would suffer from heat stroke and might well die of heat stress.

 

IIRC there was supposedly some kind of setting on the 802's that turned off the rheostatic braking and isolated the roof grids - I guess that either it doesn't work or someone in the DfT decided to save a few quid by just not running them if there was the chance someone at Hitachi might have to clean them up after a storm.

 

I guess the simple answer to that was posted earlier on another thread:


The more detailed answer would be that their performance has been disappointing - a reflection on their design. 

Yesterday was obvously a major storm which probably comes along once every couple of years, once a year at most.  However with an increasing reliance on them in the area it falls on those responsible for sorting out the train plan to work around their vunerablilities in such conditions.  It is a pretty poor show that lesson were not learnt the last time they sent units through and they limped to the next station or failed en-route.  To send in another IET to rescue risks the same thing happening to that unit - a risk far greater than should be taken.  Yesterday, the IET that sat down at Teignmouth should have been left there with a reduced service working around it formed of DMU's or Castle Class trains.  Ideally IETs should not operate between Newton Abbot and Exeter when conditions are that bad (which was well forecasted in advance), and a shuttle service should run instead formed of other traction based on a defined train plan.

Another question to ask, is that, without the enchancements to the sea wall that have recently been completed, would yesterday have resulted in a full line closure anyway?  Or even worse, permanent damage such as that we saw nearly ten years ago:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBqDoFVpLoI

 

As Nigeria and Mexico tend to be warmer, drier countries perhaps we could send them a few IETs instead of the HST sets.
Mind you if they had any sense they wouldn't touch them with a barge pole

 

At the begining of the IET saga, I expressed doubts about the ability to cope with the conditions at Dawlish. An IET  supporter assured me that it was an "essential requirement" that the new units be able to cope with conditions at Dawlish, so what happened ?

 
As yesterdays chaos in Devon showed yesterday, the HST sets are the only ones capable of going through Dawlish when its stormy. Once its all IETs nothing will run.

 
It seems the XC sets (including the repainted BR set) are off to Nigeria, rather than Mexico (re Richard Clinnick twitter)

 

I am ... happy ... to read reports such as this on Facebook.

Whilst I would rather have had sufficient trains and staff locally to run full timetables with good capacity locally, I celebrate their re-use and I commend the decision by whoever it is in Mexico to take a fleet (which makes support and maintenance so much more practical) than just the odd set.

 
Had to lookup where 5P26 lost so much time as empty stock. It waits for 21m at Newton Abbott for a passing train and sits in Plymouth for 46m before heading for depot and 9m at Mount Gould platform. Seems very inefficient.

 
Sharing from the Facebook group - I have managed to loose the link (darned Facebook feeds) ...
edit - it's at https://www.facebook.com/groups/ukhstgroup/posts/6436436609817693/

 

As I'm sure FGW would!

 

Yes they do. But I would rather see them still in use in the UK.

 

Blimey, I think that they look rather splendid.

 
Mexican looking HST

https://twitter.com/mr_w_snapper/status/1703687430673453203/photo/1

 
It's amusing seeing the photos of old sets being repainted and now being used in Mexico

 

Many IC225s were withdrawn, but several still operate on the ECML at 125mph.

 
......... and the Electric IC225 did not last as long in service as the Diesel powered IC125's

The 225's never ran in public service at their planned 140mph (225kmh)

 
For early 2024 - there will be three Castle Class diagrams per day remaining, on local journeys between Plymouth and Penzance, with one journey per day as far east as Exeter. This change is being made to allow crew competency to be retained amongst a reducing number of drivers, and to keep the elderly trains near the depot at Laira where they will be retained.  Some Cardiff to Penzance services will be spilt, with an IET at the Wales end and an HST in Cornwall.

Source - GWR briefing yesterday

Today (4th October) in 1976 was the first public passenger run of the HST - old BBC web site