Oh yes, 801228 named Century - 100 years of progress. Only the south facing driving car has the livery and name. I actually unintentionally saw the ceremony and livery live on York railway station webcam overlooking the south side of the station (provided by Railcam UK in partnership Network Rail).
Deltics were slower in speed, slower in accelleration, more frequently broke down, more frequently required overhaul and those overhauls took longer The only thing I can think of which may have been better is that 4 hours in a sofa like seat may seem less time objectively than on the ironing boards the Azuma's have By just about every other metric bar noise (for those who like thrash), the azumas win I'm also fairly certain the azumas are faster than the HSTs
You would have thought so but try working both a HST and IEP: I think you might change your mind then. Seat wise, fair dos, there is not much that can beat the mk 2s. Yes but at the same time no. They are much faster accelerating than the HSTs and when I mean much the difference is night and day. No, because of the whole km/h to mph conversion for the speed limiter means that technically (providing the limiter is working) their top speed in service is 124 point something mph (can't remember the exact figure!), whereas the HSTs where just 125mph. Overall though the Azumas are much faster that a HST.
Accelerating and decelerating I imagine, and that can shave a lot off a trip when you're slowing down over a mile rather than two I'm sure 1mph at the top end is more than cancelled out by getting there faster and staying there longer at each end
Yes, decelerating on them is much faster, and smoother as well. The speed difference is not even 1mph its 0.something mph so it is completely irrelevant in the grand scheme of things and is more than cancelled out. I can't think of any figures from the top of my head but it has shaved a fair bit of time off journeys. They are most definitely progress!
An 800's superior acceleration FAR outweighs the extra 1mph HSTs could maybe reach if the driver was keen enough. In general acceleration is more important than top speed, except in cases of long non stop runs. An example is found on the WCML, which will soon be getting IETs. The important thing to remember with that line is that for the most part, 125mph is only achievable with tilt enabled trains. The IETs can't tilt, so for most, if not all of the journey, IETs can only reach 110mph, which is no faster than 350s on semi fast services. As a result, when the new trains are in service, they'll only be used on Avanti's shorter services with more stops. That's where their superior acceleration will cut down journey times. Pendolinos will however be kept on longer distance expresses with fewer stops. The fast Glasgow expresses are non stop all the way to Warrington, and some Manchester services go non stop to Stafford, so for those services a higher top speed results in a faster journey. On electric power, yes. On diesel however it depends on the route. Yes the 800s are quicker off the line, but I believe the HSTs have a better power to weight ratio, and are better at hill climbing. I don't think 800s have been able to match the best HST performances over the Devon banks, for example. I also think HSTs have more in reserve than diesel 800s. When they were new in the late 70s on the GWML, and originally running with 7 coaches instead of 8, they regularly ran into the 130s, knocking on 140. However, health and safety laws were far more laid back back then, and Great Western expresses had fewer stops too. Despite that, I'm not sure if 800s are capable of such speeds under diesel power.
