![]() The Voyagers offer indeed many train facilities that have never been seen before in the UK, including digital seat reservations, audio entertainment instead an on-board shop. This is the first time in the history of the railway that CrossCountry passengers benefited from a new fleet of trains. The fact that these trainsets arrived for the new millennium allowed the customers to see that England made a quantumleap of a century, compared to the Mk2 cars. Some of the Class 220 and 221 trains were built at the Bombardier plant in Bruges, Belgium, and others at Wakefield. 44 trainsets Class 221 reams with four or five tilting cars.Ī Class 222 was also built but did not concern Virgin. 34 trainsets Class 220 four cars trains There were finally two types of Voyager trains ordered by Virgin: The challenge dates back to 1998 when Bombardier received a contract from Virgin Trains for the purchase and maintenance of a fleet of 78 Bombardier "Voyager" diesel trains originally operated for the Cross Country franchise. It was time ! Should not privatization change the design of trains? It took five years, according to fleet director who said that unlike Virgin Atlantic's planes, « with trains, it takes at least five years to design and build new vehicles ». To help Virgin Trains in this operation, HST trains were also hired from GNER and Midland Mainline, which added more colors of the Virgin services. Some saturday summer services were added with trains to destinations such as Newquay and Paignton. They will spread, avoiding London, to Penzance, Plymouth, Exeter, Bristol, Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, York, Newcastle and Edinburgh, and further north to Aberdeen. ![]() On January 6, 1997, the 43063 'Maiden Voyager' and 43068, painted in the bright red livery of the company, started the first Edinburgh - Penzance train, paving the way for ten years of Virgin-colored trains on CrossCountry. Virgin had retained the HSTs for Cross Country and partially for West Coast services to achieve a massive increase in mileage from May 1998 as part of a franchise commitment. Virgin receives a park which makes it possible to compose 25 trainsets of 7 cars, the remainder being for the reserve. Mk3 cars for HSTs are virtually identical to those for pulled trains, except for a difference in auxiliaries for powering air conditioning, heating and lighting. Each train consisted of two Class 43 engines, and a set of six to nine Mk3 cars. The InterCity 125, which was the icon of British Rail, are diesel-powered passenger trains built between 19. That's why the first years of Virgin were difficult: the reuse of existing rolling stock at the time of privatization looked like a bad joke for the customers. Since 1994, Eurostar arrived in Waterloo-Station with a radical modern different design. The 193 vehicles which inherited by Virgin Trains in 1997 for its franchise contrast greatly with the rolling stock still "old" driving on the Continent, for example SNCF 'Corails' or the European VSEs cars that were born also during the 70's. All Mk2 are equipped with B4 bogies suitable for 160 km / h and seats facing 2 by 2. The final development was the Mk2f type introduced in 1973-75 whose interior design features improved seating and air conditioning through the side heaters. The major change was especially the more compact toilet. The Mk2e type was introduced in 1972-73 with the coming of fluorescent tubes for lighting. These cars were built in 1970 under the Mk2c type, followed by the Mk2d in 1971 which has air conditioning, the power supply becoming standard with an alternator to provide lighting, heating and air conditioning. Since 2003, all this material will be gradually recased elsewhere, in other operators with others colors and logos. ![]() HST 125 fans are delighted to see that this rolling stock, one of the icons of the British Rail intercity, still carried on his great career beyond privatization and orders for new rolling stock. Virgin began the franchise with 57 trainsets for its CrossCountry service. 5 Dmu Class 158 with 2 cars (built in 1990). 199 Mk III cars for HST trains (built over the period 1978-82) which allow 24 trainsets of 7 cars and 3 trainsets of 8 cars, suitable for 200 km / h & 57 HST Class 43 powercars (built in 1978-82) 193 Mk II cars built in 1968-72 which allow 25 trainsets of seven cars for operations at 145 and 160 km / h ![]() 16 Class 86 electric locomotives (built in 1965-66) 28 Class 47 diesel locomotives (built in 1963-66) For this franchise, which includes non-electrified routes, the former British Rail fleet included:
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