Edinburgh to Plymouth by Cross Country | The Final Journey on board Class 43 HST (InterCity 125)

As rumours were rife that Cross Country trains were going to remove the Class 43 HSTs from service before winter'23, I did the journey from Edinburgh to Plymouth on Easter Monday. The trains were taken off service in September 2023.

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Train : Edinburgh - Plymouth Cross Country Service
Rake : Class 43 HST (InterCity 125) 43378 leading, 43321 trailing

The journey from Edinburgh to Plymouth is a distance of just over 800 km covered in 8 hrs 45 minutes, at an average speed of about 90 kmph. The maximum speed of the train is 125 mph or 200 kmph. For a short while, which was also when this video was recorded, the Edinburgh - Plymouth service was also the longest running Class 43 HST in Britain. During its last few days, some of the diagrams sent the rake till Glasgow.

Section Speed Limits

Edinburgh - York on East Coast Mainline - 200 kmph
York - Leeds on Cross Country Route - 200 kmph
Leeds - Wakefield on Cross Country Route - 160 kmph
Wakefield - Birmingham on Cross Country Route - 200 kmph
Birmingham - Bristol Temple Meads on Cross Country Route - 160 kmph
Bristol TM - Exeter St. Davids on Great Western Mainline - 160 kmph
Exeter - Plymouth on Great Western Mainline - 125 kmph

The Cross Country Route is a long-distance rail route in England operated by CrossCountry. It runs from Bristol Temple Meads to York via Birmingham New Street, Derby, Sheffield and Leeds or Doncaster. It facilitates some of the longest passenger journeys in the UK such as Aberdeen to Penzance.

The line is classed as a high-speed line because its sections from Birmingham to Wakefield Westgate and from Leeds to York have a speed limit of 125 mph (200 km/h), though the section from Birmingham to Bristol is limited to 100 mph (160 km/h) because of numerous level crossings, especially half-barrier level crossings, and the section from Wakefield to Leeds has the same limit because of a number of curves.

The British Rail Class 43 (HST) is the TOPS classification used for the InterCity 125 High Speed Train (formerly Classes 253 and 254) diesel-electric power cars, built by British Rail Engineering Limited from 1975 to 1982, and in service in the UK since 1976.

The class is officially the fastest diesel locomotive in the world, with an absolute maximum speed of 148.5 mph (239.0 km/h), and a regular service speed of 125 mph (201 km/h). The record run was led by 43102 (43302) and trailed by 43159.

After privatisation, the Cross Country Route was operated by Virgin CrossCountry, who replaced their InterCity 125 trains in the period 2002–2004 with Bombardier Voyager high-speed DMUs.

CrossCountry operated its last InterCity 125 service in September 2023.

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