The Bristol Railway Archive

I was waiting at Taunton for the 17:16 Virgin trains service to Bristol Temple Meads, and looking towards the 40 Steps Bridge to the west of the station expecting a Voyager to come into sight. Instead, a Virgin liveried HST appeared.

"Hang on," I thought, "something's not quite right here", and this thought was further compounded by the fact that 1: It ran straight through the station via the island (local) platform rather than the main line. and 2: The white Virgin lettering had been removed from the side of both power cars.

Ah yes, and there was only one carriage!

It was a very odd sight, strangely reminiscent of childhood "modelling" (playing) trains, when a one-coach HST was all you could fit on your single oval of track

The rear power car also had a set of buffers instead of the streamlined fairing.

What was that all about then?

It could have been the ECS from Laria to Longseight (sp?), and the buffers, are a modification made by BR back in the late 1980's/early 1990's when the class 91s where running with as a HST power car. So that they could enter service on time, whilst the MarkIV where late in production

This would indeed have been the ECS move from Laira to Longsight, Laira retaining the contract to maintain a VWC HST . Sometimes a full set visits Laira, sometimes just the power cars. On the odd occasion when the Voyager fleet is below par the HST is used in passenger service.
Rgds.,
Andy

Thanks for the info!

I saw a full set doing exactly the same thing the other day, and this time both power cars had buffers hehe