page_title: InterCity 125
section_title: Eastern England / Scotland
hierarchical_section_title: InterCity 125 / Regions and operators / Eastern England / Scotland
caption_attribution_description: 43468 Departs London King's Cross
context_page_description: The InterCity 125 is a diesel-powered passenger train built by British Rail Engineering Limited between 1975 and 1982. Each set is made up of two Class 43 power cars, one at each end and a rake of Mark 3 carriages. The name is derived from its top operational speed of 125 mph. Initially the sets were classified as Classes 253 and 254.
  As of December 2019, InterCity 125s remained in service with Abellio ScotRail, CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway, Great Western Railway and Network Rail.
context_section_description: On the East Coast Main Line, the InterCity 125 designated Class 254 was the staple stock after the retirement of the Class 55 Deltic locomotives in 1980–1982, until the introduction of InterCity 225 following electrification in 1990. They were concentrated on services from London King's Cross to Newcastle and Edinburgh Waverley, and to Glasgow Queen Street, Inverness and Aberdeen. In the months following the Penmanshiel Tunnel collapse in 1979, London to Scotland services ran via the Tyne Valley line from Newcastle to Carlisle then to Scotland via the West Coast Main Line. HSTs were also used on some services from London to Leeds, Bradford Forster Square, Cleethorpes, Hull and Scarborough.
  The East Coast (ECML) formation was originally 2 + 8, increased to 2 + 9 in 2002 when extra stock became available. The ECML formation was two first-class coaches, one buffet (with 1st Class seating) and five (later six) standard-class coaches between the buffet and power cars. For a few years, formations included a TRUK (trailer restaurant kitchen) and buffet car, a TS (trailer second class) and TF (trailer first class) coaches, many formations were 4 × TS, TRUK, Buffet, 2 × TF. Nine trailer car units followed this formation, with the addition of a TS. 'Pullman' services replace a TS with an additional first-class coach.
   
  After privatisation, InterCity 125s were operated by Great North Eastern Railway (GNER), alongside electric InterCity 225 units from London to Newcastle and Edinburgh, and beyond the electrified sections (or where British Rail Class 91s cannot operate due to route availability restrictions) services to Hull, Skipton, Harrogate, Inverness and Aberdeen.
  In January 2007 the first of GNER's 13 refurbished HSTs was unveiled with coaches rebuilt to the same 'Mallard' standard as its InterCity 225 electric sets with similar seating, lighting, carpets and buffet cars. The power cars were upgraded with MTU engines. The first of the HST Mallards was in service by spring 2007.
  In 2007 the franchise was taken over by National Express East Coast (NXEC), which continued the re-engining programme begun by GNER, and completed the refurbishment of the fleet in March 2009. Two power cars were transferred to First Great Western early in 2009. The final Mallard-upgraded Mark 3 coaches entered service with NXEC in October 2009.
  Following an announcement by National Express that it would not provide further financial support to NXEC, the franchise ceased on 13 November 2009, and the operation of the route returned to public ownership. As a result, the 13 sets were operated by East Coast from late 2009. East Coast introduced an InterCity 125 service to Lincoln in 2011. The InterCity 125 was replaced by the electric InterCity 225 on the line to Skipton when the electrical infrastructure was upgraded. Eight East Coast services per day in each direction used the InterCity 125. In 2012, 43072 (now 43272), 43074 (now 43274) were transferred to East Midlands Trains and received MTU engines. In April 2015, Virgin Trains East Coast took over operation of the InterCity East Coast franchise. All trains passed with the InterCity East Coast franchise to London North Eastern Railway in June 2018.
  In 2006, Grand Central obtained six Class 43 power cars to operate its London-Sunderland passenger service via the East Coast Main Line. The service was due to begin in December 2006 although upgrade work to enable the coaching stock (which was formerly used for locomotive-hauled services and had a different electric heating/power supply system) to operate with Class 43 power cars was heavily delayed and therefore pushed the starting date back to 18 December 2007. HSTs 43084 and 43123 were the final operational Paxman Valenta power cars, being re-engined in 2010 with the same MTU engines as other units. While at the works being re-engined, Grand Central added the orange stripe that appears on their Class 180 units, re-painted the front ends (this making them look more like the non-buffered HSTs), and re-numbered the power cars into the four-hundreds. Grand Ce
caption: Grand Central InterCity 125 set departing London King's Cross with a service to Sunderland in 2011. All Grand Central Class 43 power cars had exposed front buffers due to previous use as surrogate Driving Van Trailers (DVTs).
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