First Great Western Class 43 HST Foreward Powercar
~~BACKROUND~~
After British Rail was privatised in the mid-1990s, the InterCity125 trains on Western Region routes from London Paddington to the West Country and South Wales passed to the newly privatised Great Western Trains. In 1998 FirstGroup bought the franchise and renamed it First Great Western, and continued to operate a large fleet of HST (InterCity 125) sets in its own liveries.
Under FGW, around 43 HST sets worked most long-distance services out of Paddington, and from 2005 they were modernised with new MTU engines and refurbished coaches for comfort and higher capacity.
These HSTs remained a mainstay of FGW’s intercity services into the 2010s, but have since been phased out as newer trains replaced them, marking the end of an era for the classic high-speed diesel sets on the western network.
~~INSTRUCTIONS~~
Try to always operate with two powercars, as that is what it is designed for.
Go into both cabs, and press "Diesel Engine" and "Train Supply" to turn the engine on and provide power to the coaches.
After, set the reverser to forward and ensure the brakes are off. You can then pull back the throttle and accelerate!
~~REALISTIC FORMATIONS~~
There are two main formations for this train, they are:
2x Class 43s + 1x Mk3 TFO + 1x Mk3 TFRB + 4x Mk3 TSO's + 1x Mk3 TGS
2x Class 43s + 1x Mk3 TFO + 1x Mk3 TFRB + 5x Mk3 TSO's + 1x Mk3 TGS
The top speed of these powercars without coaches is 225mph.