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Unusual FGW unit at Brighton

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elementalpat

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On my usual jaunter to work to Haywards Heath, I was rather surprised to see a class 150 on the Brighton- Great Malvern service.

Assuming there was a fault on the normal unit and it doesn't look like a comfy DMU! (never rode it myself).

Wondering where the normal unit for this service is stabled to run down to Brighton?
 
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TEW

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It stables overnight at Fratton depot along with two other FGW units. They should all be three-car Class 158s with two working morning Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central services and one working from Portsmouth Harbour to Brighton then up to Great Malvern. If there is a 150 or two carriage 158 stabled at Fratton it will be put on the Brighton service as generally the Brighton service is not as busy as the Cardiff-Portsmouth route.
 

Drsatan

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It stables overnight at Fratton depot along with two other FGW units. They should all be three-car Class 158s with two working morning Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central services and one working from Portsmouth Harbour to Brighton then up to Great Malvern. If there is a 150 or two carriage 158 stabled at Fratton it will be put on the Brighton service as generally the Brighton service is not as busy as the Cardiff-Portsmouth route.

Having said that, I've heard that the Brighton - Great Malvern service is supposed to be only worked by 158s. Whenever a 150 appears on that service it's because a 158 wasn't available.
 

TEW

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Yes, it's booked for a three-coach 158. All the units booked to stable at Fratton overnight are booked to be three-coach 158s but it doesn't always happen due to set swaps or unit shortages. If there is a unit that isn't a three-coach 158 at Fratton it will work the Brighton service rather than a Portsmouth-Cardiff service.
 
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TEW

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It wouldn't be too bad on a 150/2. At the end of the day though FGW don't have the right balance between 158s and 150s in the fleet so 150s have to run longer distance service more suited to 158s. Brighton is lucky that it's services are booked for 158s, Weymouth only sees one 158 a day now and Penzance hasn't seen any in years.
 

thelem

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Brighton's not much better for 158s - two per day to Great Malvern, and one per day from Great Malvern (the balance being made up by the morning service from Portsmouth Harbour mentioned above)
 

ushawk

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Brighton's not much better for 158s - two per day to Great Malvern, and one per day from Great Malvern (the balance being made up by the morning service from Portsmouth Harbour mentioned above)

2nd journey from Brighton only goes as far as Bristol - comes in from Great Malvern though.
 

Failed Unit

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A lot of the 158s that used to be in the Wessex fleet are now doing long distance runs such as Glasgow - Anniesland!

People forget the runs the 150s appeared on as new, including Scarborough - Manchester, Hull - Holyhead etc. I guess when they were new people may have considered it was an improvement. As this was pre super sprinter.
 

TEW

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Brighton's not much better for 158s - two per day to Great Malvern, and one per day from Great Malvern (the balance being made up by the morning service from Portsmouth Harbour mentioned above)

But that is all the FGW services to Brighton, they are all booked for 158s. Penzance and Weymouth have lots more services, the majority of which are booked for 150s and 153s.
 

PHILIPE

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It wouldn't be too bad on a 150/2. At the end of the day though FGW don't have the right balance between 158s and 150s in the fleet so 150s have to run longer distance service more suited to 158s. Brighton is lucky that it's services are booked for 158s, Weymouth only sees one 158 a day now and Penzance hasn't seen any in years.
Weymouth should see 2 x 158s a day, 2 Coach on 06 47 ex Worcester and 3 coach on 14 51 Great Malvern
 

TEW

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2-carriage 158s turn up on anything nowadays, 0649 off Worcester is normally a 150 now.
 

PHILIPE

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2-carriage 158s turn up on anything nowadays, 0649 off Worcester is normally a 150 now.

I thought it was PM651 (158) and a 150 attached as far as Westbury for strengthening. The diagrammed class of unit does not always turn up and may actually only work a particular train infrequently. It was a 158 prior to December and now a third 3 coach set has not been formed gone back to a 158.
 

TEW

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Since the extra 3-carriage 158s have been formed the remaining 2 2-carriage 158s are effectively in a common pool with the 150s, they turn up on pretty much any 150 diagram except those which visit Cornwall.
 

PHILIPE

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Since the extra 3-carriage 158s have been formed the remaining 2 2-carriage 158s are effectively in a common pool with the 150s, they turn up on pretty much any 150 diagram except those which visit Cornwall.
They have got their own 2 Diagrams but perhaps work with 150s in practice
 

Oliver

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Marginally off topic, but of interest to FGW users, Thorncombe Railway Activities Club's next meeting on 20th June hosts Andrew Pennington, FGW's Head of Train Planning.

A Master Class in Train Planning

An introduction to the people and processes that deliver the timetable; hoping to answer the question "why did they do that to my train"?

The train plan has to meet many objectives including customer service, operational performance and cost effectiveness. What does "good" look like for a Passenger, an Operator, an Engineer or an Accountant? Is it possible to keep everybody happy all the time? What role do planners have in meeting current industry objectives and how might this emphasis change with the need to deliver industry efficiency targets arising from the McNulty report?

This is sure to be a fascinating evening, and a valuable insight for those of us who use FGW services. All are welcome; visitors £3.00 on the door. Starts 19:30. Thorncombe is in west Dorset, between Chard and Lyme Regis.

Details here: https://sites.google.com/site/traclubsite/
 

NSE

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But who would want to ? Its a strange route to take if you wanted to get from Great Malvern or Worcester to Brighton.

Well, it provides through journeys such as Brighton-Bristol, Southampton-Malvern etc and a few people will want the whole journey, especially if FGW stick some cheap advances out there for long journeys that the service covers.
 

stu

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The route also connects alot of theatre towns on the same circuit (i.e. they all get the same shows, within reason) so it's a handy way for the touring people to do Malvern - Brighton, Cheltenham - Southampton, Bath - Brighton etc. I have heard a few people do it end to end in this manner too!
 

Oliver

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Marginally off topic, but of interest to FGW users, Thorncombe Railway Activities Club's next meeting on 20th June hosts Andrew Pennington, FGW's Head of Train Planning.

A Master Class in Train Planning

An introduction to the people and processes that deliver the timetable; hoping to answer the question "why did they do that to my train"?

The train plan has to meet many objectives including customer service, operational performance and cost effectiveness. What does "good" look like for a Passenger, an Operator, an Engineer or an Accountant? Is it possible to keep everybody happy all the time? What role do planners have in meeting current industry objectives and how might this emphasis change with the need to deliver industry efficiency targets arising from the McNulty report?

This is sure to be a fascinating evening, and a valuable insight for those of us who use FGW services. All are welcome; visitors £3.00 on the door. Starts 19:30. Thorncombe is in west Dorset, between Chard and Lyme Regis.

Details here: https://sites.google.com/site/traclubsite/

Just a reminder that the visit to TRAC by Andrew Pennington (Head of Train Planning at FGW) is this Wednesday, 20th June.

https://sites.google.com/site/traclubsite/

Visitors are very welcome.
 
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