MUCH has changed at Glasgow Queen Street over the past few years through modernisation.
Electrification, platform extensions and the introduction of new train fleets means the station was not the ‘must visit’ for enthusiasts that it perhaps was in the past when locomotive-hauled trains dominated the scene.
However, that has changed again with the introduction of Inter7City High Speed Trains by ScotRail from Autumn 2018. Following the various introductions of new train fleets in England, the largest HST fleet can now be found in Scotland, with 25 sets in the SR fleet. There is a mixture of four and five-coach formations, with 15 IC7s in traffic each day.
The power cars are all former Great Western Railway (GWR) Class 43s transferred north, via overhaul and refurbishment at Wabtec Rail, Loughborough. The IC7s are based at Haymarket, where heavy maintenance is undertaken on the ‘43s’, while heavy repairs are carried out on the Mk.3 coaches at Inverness.
Typically, the IC7s operate on the Glasgow Queen Street-Aberdeen/Inverness, Edinburgh WaverleyAberdeen/Inverness and Aberdeen-Inverness routes. Infrastructure constraints prevent the longer IC7s
