ECML Cascade

Prior to electrification there were 34 HST sets allocated to East Coast spread between Bounds Green, Neville Hill, Heaton and Craigentinny and 25 of these were to eventually be transferred away as a direct result of electrification. InterCity identified 3 distinct areas to benefit from the cascade, these being:

• Enhancement of Cross Country services with replacement of older stock.

• Replacement of Loco-hauled trains on the Euston - Holyhead services.

• Increase in capacity on Great Western as a result of rising demand.

Edinburgh Craigentinny was chosen to operate the bulk of the new Cross Country services. Eleven sets with power cars 43013/014/062/063/065/067-071/078-080/084/090-094/097-100/123 were eventually to be transferred with all sets being fitted with short swing link bogies to allow operation over former Southern metals. The service introduction took place in 2 stages. Stage 1 was effective from July 8th 1991, with power cars 43013/014/062/063/065/067-071/078-080/084/091/092/093/094 moving to ICCP EC and principal services 'The Dorset, Devon and Cornish Scot' services going over to HST operation, bringing Poole into the HST network and slashing a massive 65 minutes off the journey time between Poole and Edinburgh. Stage 2 took place on September 30th 1991, the remainder of the new fleet being transferred to EC and another six services going over to HST including 'The Wessex Scot'. The ICCP pool was also split before stage 2 commenced with the EC fleet forming a new ICCS pool, the ICCP pool code being retained for Laira and Bristol St. Philip's Marsh allocated vehicles. The cascade to Cross Country allowed the withdrawal of almost 100 Mk 2 coaches and the remaining Mk 1 RBR catering cars and created a fully air-conditioned fleet on Cross Country.

West Coast required 3 sets to convert the Holyhead - Euston services over from loco-hauled operation to HST. The West Coast operation was a logistical problem for InterCity with the operation being out on a limb from a traditional HST depot. The solution was ingenious in that the West Coast fleet would be provided by Great Western with sets running empty between Euston and Old Oak Common. On paper a new pool was created, InterCity West Coast Power Cars (IWCP) based at Laira, although in practice any Great Western HST worked the services. The Western Region were to eventually receive 28 power cars from East Coast with 43040-042/086-089/101-103/122/152-162/193-198 making the move - 43160/161 were the first to arrive during May 1989. The cascade of HSTs also allowed Western Region sets to be strengthened to 2+8 and this, together with the running of additional services following the arrival of complete sets, allowing a large increase in passenger capacity.

Following a summer of crew training, HSTs took over the North Wales duties on 30th September 1991, the IWCP pool being created on the 29th September and initially receiving 43088/089/101-103/143. On the 12th April 1992 these were swapped for 43141/142/144-148 along with 43042, which lasted in the pool for less than 24 hours being swapped ICCP PM - IWCP LA - IWRP LA on the same day! 43141/142/144-148 were Old Oak Common based whilst allocated to West Coast duties. The Old Oak Common allocation was moved back to Laira on 5th April 1993 and the only non IWCP power car based at Old Oak (43140) was also transferred out, leaving Old Oak without an allocation for the first time. The six power cars in IWCP were transferred back to the IWRP pool on 19th April 1993 leaving West Coast with no allocated power cars, a situation which reflected the common user policy in force.

Following the completion of ECML electrification the East Coast was left with 11 HST sets and Power Cars 43038/039/095/096/104-122/153/155 all based at Neville Hill depot.  Neville Hill also had 31 power cars (43043-061/064/066/072-077/081-083/085) allocated to IMLP for Midland Mainline services. Bounds Green had lost its allocation, as the entire fleet of Class 91s and Mark 4s were based there and Heaton was downgraded to minor fuelling and servicing for InterCity, as it became a Regional Railways depot. Improved Class 91 availability saw one set and power cars 43122/153/155 released to the Western region in May 1992, and following the demise of the through services from London to Lincoln and Cleethorpes in 1993 43121 moved across to Cross Country duties which left the IECP fleet with 9 sets and 21 power cars. 43104 was later swapped with 43167 which had come out of storage with a trial fitting of a newer engine type and after a brief spell with Cross Country 43104 was placed into protracted storage. A further reorganisation of Cross Country diagrams during May 1992 saw a number of power cars transferred to Neville Hill for these duties, power cars 43086-089/101-103/121/122/155/156/180/198 all being reallocated from the Western Region, whilst remaining in the ICCP fleet.

At this point it is probably worth pointing out a little of the history of the pool (or Sector) codes. Whilst initially allocation was on a regional basis, the switch to business sector ownership of assets saw all power cars allocated to pools for use on specific sub-sector duties. Initially this was an accounting exercise, designed to ensure that each InterCity sub-sector had the correct allocation of costs, but later power cars were dedicated to specific sub-sectors and could not be used on other services unless a hire was agreed between the relevant sub-sectors. A good example of this is the small IWCP West Coast fleet that is discussed above. This pool was created to ensure that West Coast took a share of the costs of the Great Western HST fleet: although the IWCP power cars rarely worked out of Euston as the policy of sending any Great Western sets over continued as before. It was only really during 1993 that true dedication of power cars to duties, and the split that was made then can still be seen in HST allocations now. The reallocations during May 1993 were numerous, but basically a swap between Cross Country and Great Western fleets was made, probably to ensure that those power cars fitted with ATP equipment were allocated to the Great Western sub-sector.