And BTW, even many high speed trains, including tgv duplex and the acela u nention are effectively locomotive hauled trains.
One notable exception is the Bombardier/Talgo 350 (known in Spain as "the Duck" for obvious reasons).
I believe the Acela replacement (avelia liberty) uses powercars as well.
They are not multiple units or likely to be if they were refurbished tomorrow. The reason being that the stock is not in 24/7 use. It does the one long night journey then gets parked all day.
The train out of London gets split to serve different bits of Scotland, so you do get some shunting around going on when they do things to the train.
It doesn't go that quickly as a train because there is no need. Being in Euston at 5 a.m. is no fun, might as well be there at 6 a.m. with some sleep had.
So the loco that pulls the train can be any old freight thing. Although now it is likely to be a Class 73 diesel electric that can use electrified track as well as diesel. Note that there i no electric track all the way out to Scotland.
Most of the rest of the world has gone down the "multiple unit" route, where there are smaller motors in each car, under your feet, and there are no dedicated locomotives.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_unit