Quote Originally Posted by Toadstool View Post
This is actually a bit of a con. The train in the picture is just a slightly re-vamped one that has been running for years - there has been a Diesel Loco and Coaches train from Holyhead ( early am ) to Cardiff and Return ( normally 6pm ) for ages. The same locos are being used, the coaches are a bit newer - but not any newer I think that the ones GWR run with 45 year old HSTs between Cardiff and Taunton everyday. The service was only stopped because of covid that allowed TfW to spruce up the stock.

The new services from Swansea to Manchester will be an improvment - but they are not coming until December 2022 which is 18 months away - and thats a long time ( remember electrification was going to go all the way to Swansea but then got stopped ).
I think the tfw carriages are mk4's, which are a good few years younger than the hst's. As for the hst's, they may be old but they are still comfortable and with 4 carriages they go like shit off a shovel