THE REIGN of high speed train operations on CrossCountry came to a permanent end on September 26, with a specially-organised charter taking an eight-coach HST from Leeds to the Swanage Railway to mark the withdrawal of the popular fleet by the operator, raising more than £50,000 for The Brain Tumour Charity.
Since being reintroduced onto CrossCountry services in 2008 (having originally been phased out by previous CrossCountry operator Virgin Trains), the small fleet of HSTs operating on some long-distance diagrams for the Arriva-backed operator have gone about their duties with little fuss. However, the decision to withdraw the HSTs was announced earlier this year, as the Department for Transport looks to train operators for cost-saving measures across the rail network as part of the coronavirus pandemic recovery.
Although there was no initial promise of replacement stock being cascaded to CrossCountry to take the place of the HST fleet, it was announced by the DfT in September that the newly-withdrawn HSTs will be replaced with more modern rolling stock as part of CrossCountry being awarded a new National Rail Contract, effective from October 15.
The end of normal timetable operations for the CrossCountry HSTs took place on September 18 (Railways Illustrated issue 249), but the operator has worked hard during the rundown period to ensure that the legacy and history of the trains was properly celebrated, repainting of three of its 12 Class 43 HST power cars into historic British Rail-era liveries.
Time to say goodbye
Organised by CrossCountry in conjunction with Modern Railways magazine and the Swanage Railway, with the assistance of the Branch Line Society, which managed the ticket sales for the charters, the sell-out ‘Pines Express’ started from Leeds at 06.35 for a six-hour journey to Dorset, with recently retro re-liveried HST power cars 43007 and 43008 bookending the eight-coach rake of Mk.3 trailers.
A second short charter, ‘The Bournemouth Belle’, was operated by the HST b
