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GWR Class 800

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Goldfish62

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I've noticed this as well and I think that part of the problem is that the window glass is recessed more deeply into the bodyside than is the case with the Mark 3s and most recently built European designed stock. A vortex can generate on the vertical edges and deposit muck on the glass. It seems to me to be that Agility Trains'/Hitachi's washing plants can't get into the corners of the glass.
Don't forget that these trains don't use the washers which used to be at OOC and other places, so it's Hitachi's plant or nothing.
Yes, I've noticed how the muck accumulates around the edges of the recessed windows. However, the 395s don't seem to have the same problem so maybe their washing plant (Ashford?) works better.
 

iantherev

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An 800/3 noted at Camborne on its way to Penzance this afternoon. I think unit is 304.
Seemed to struggle through Devon...but thanks to almost 7 mins dwell time at Plymouth was able to depart on time and noted arriving early at Camborne.

It was 304. I was on the return journey and we were waiting time at most stations. Arrived 1E at Newton Abbot where I got off.
 

Master29

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No. Fixes can take some time to be developed and implemented.


Not certain, but perhaps different trains have different versions of software at this stage?

Sounds like a perfect get out to me as anyone can say that. They`ve had years longer than 18 months and god only knows how much money spent on computer analysts and engineers and yup, It`s still good old paper reservations (when GWR can be bothered to put them out). AFAIK LNER don`t have this problem.
 

samuelmorris

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Sounds like a perfect get out to me as anyone can say that. They`ve had years longer than 18 months and god only knows how much money spent on computer analysts and engineers and yup, It`s still good old paper reservations (when GWR can be bothered to put them out). AFAIK LNER don`t have this problem.
I agree. I can forgive this not being sorted for their introduction on GWR and it taking a few weeks to fix, these things happen, but not 18+ months, that's just inexcusable.
 

Dren Ahmeti

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1A82 0900 PNZ-PAD running 5 vice 10, set down only from Plymouth with ticket acceptance on SWR via The Mule to Waterloo and XC up to BPW to connect with other HSS services...

Ouch!
 

Dren Ahmeti

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Shame they didn't have a spare HST set available...
No more HST’s into Paddington.
Mind you, a 2+4 got as far as BRI the other day on an up Paddington service due to the trespasser at Hanwell, sadly it was set-swapped there - would have been interesting to see back up here!
 

Bletchleyite

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Managed to make the news. Hardly surprising, 5 cars to Penzance / Plymouth splitters were always at the risk of this happening.

https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/plymouth-news/live-police-overcrowded-train-plymouth-2927994

Looks like a slow news day at the Plymouth Herald! Short forms aren't great, but it's not like they are something new across the network.

As to luggage being on the floor, the overheads on 80x are massive, so this is just laziness on the part of people who can't be bothered to (help others to) put it up. If it was a Voyager I'd believe a lack of capacity :)
 
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I agree. I can forgive this not being sorted for their introduction on GWR and it taking a few weeks to fix, these things happen, but not 18+ months, that's just inexcusable.

I give up... the SRS system was performing as designed, the files being sent to it caused the majority of the issues.
 

Dai Corner

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I give up... the SRS system was performing as designed, the files being sent to it caused the majority of the issues.

The design was wrong then? Maybe the spec didn't take into account the need to be compatible with files containing legacy HST data?

Maybe it was decided to live with the problem until the HSTs were gone?

We'll probably never know so I won't speculate further.
 

irish_rail

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If it was a 9-car and the same fault occurred, the train would have been cancelled, of course...
In the bad old days of HSTs if they were a set short they would of chosen a quiet service to cancel from plymouth (say the 0451 departure , usually restarting from Exeter or bristol etc) and far less damage would be done.
 

northernbelle

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If it was a 9-car and the same fault occurred, the train would have been cancelled, of course...

Exactly. As a regular on the 0553 PLY-PAD I'd far sooner a 5 car IET turned up than nothing at all. Many's the time an HST failed and the service was cancelled altogether, with me wishing I'd taken the extra hour in bed an opted to go for the 'Hind' an hour later. Both the 0553 PLY-PNZ and following 'Golden Hind' service are actually quiet enough to only warrant a single 5-car unit as far as Reading.

In the bad old days of HSTs if they were a set short they would of chosen a quiet service to cancel from plymouth (say the 0451 departure , usually restarting from Exeter or bristol etc) and far less damage would be done.

Surely better to run both services rather than cancel one or the other? The 0451 PLY-PAD is a busy service east of Westbury, with heavy commuter loadings from there into London where it offers a pre-0900 arrival. The 0553 PLY-PAD is busier with West of England commuters, although a 5-car IET is generally more than sufficient, at least until Reading where it can be removed as a pick up in any case.

Today's 5-car on the 0553 was set-swapped at Paddington for a 9-car to form the 1003 PAD-PNZ, where a 5-car would be completely inadequate to cover the loadings.

The actual solution is to prevent these failures from happening in the first place, but being able to split a defective half and use the other does offer some advantages over fixed-formation HSTs and 9 car IETs.
 

fgwrich

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Speaking about faults with these units of late, I've noticed some are making more noise / sounding rougher than normal. I was out and about today when passed 800301 - making some pretty terrible screeching noise from one of the underfloor GUs. I wonder how they'll cope come the summer (given the underfloor radiator issues of previous summers / similar issues effecting the 180s).
 

Railperf

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Have the 800s had a few more horsepower liberated in electric mode?
I travelled on 800 310 this morning and it was reaching 100mph from rest in a shade over 2 mins ..whereas most 800s i recorded have been around 2:25 to reach the 'ton'.
FyI seat reservations were not working on this one.
 

Mag_seven

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How are Hitachi getting on with resolving the issue of sets being on diesel only? Last night I was on yet another 10 car set that was diesel all the way.
 

irish_rail

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For the above to happen Hitachi are going to need orders in the mean time to keep the production lines open. If dft opt for some stadler rubbish for east Midlands and xc , then I expect Newton aycliffe will be closed and that will be the end of 802 production.
 

The Ham

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For the above to happen Hitachi are going to need orders in the mean time to keep the production lines open. If dft opt for some stadler rubbish for east Midlands and xc , then I expect Newton aycliffe will be closed and that will be the end of 802 production.

I didn't realise that the 802's were built in the UK.

Anyway, with 80x's still being delivered to the ECML and the start of the GWR franchise being less than 12 months away and the award rapidly approaching 6 months away, I think that risk is a little overstated.
 

Mikey C

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For the above to happen Hitachi are going to need orders in the mean time to keep the production lines open. If dft opt for some stadler rubbish for east Midlands and xc , then I expect Newton aycliffe will be closed and that will be the end of 802 production.

They could still make them in Japan or Italy
 

The Ham

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Are you suggesting the 4 car HSTs on the Cardiff-Taunton stoppers should be replaced with 80x units?

They'd be even more expensive and inappropriate then the HSTs.

I'm suggesting that they could be.

The cost of running two locos to pull four coaches would be fairly high, as is having to have a micro fleet of trains with the extra training and spares that entails.
 

Envoy

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Saturday afternoon 1st June - end of the school holiday week and 1L90 = the afternoon service from Pembroke Dock to London is only 5 coaches and full & standing at Newport. THIS IS JUST NOT GOOD ENOUGH that now the whole fleet is available that we still have 5 coach trains running on busy services. (I also note that fewer trains operate between Cardiff & London on Saturdays v weekdays). So, what is the excuse this time GWR? Could they not join with the other 5 coaches when the section that came from Pembrokeshire arrived in Swansea?
 

samuelmorris

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For the above to happen Hitachi are going to need orders in the mean time to keep the production lines open. If dft opt for some stadler rubbish for east Midlands and xc , then I expect Newton aycliffe will be closed and that will be the end of 802 production.
Looking at the 745 vs. the 802, are you sure 'Stadler rubbish' is the right term? I'm fairly underwhelmed with the AT300 as a product at the moment. Jury's still out on the 745 but honestly, it looks like it may still be a good fit for EMR. With the franchise having been awarded to the same parent company as GA I might even suggest it's quite likely.
 

Clarence Yard

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Saturday afternoon 1st June - end of the school holiday week and 1L90 = the afternoon service from Pembroke Dock to London is only 5 coaches and full & standing at Newport. THIS IS JUST NOT GOOD ENOUGH that now the whole fleet is available that we still have 5 coach trains running on busy services. (I also note that fewer trains operate between Cardiff & London on Saturdays v weekdays). So, what is the excuse this time GWR? Could they not join with the other 5 coaches when the section that came from Pembrokeshire arrived in Swansea?

From RTT it looks as if the second half of 1L90 never came off Maliphant, as booked. Hitachi don’t usually have any spares there so it would gone forward load 5 as a result. Not ideal.
 

Max

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Saturday afternoon 1st June - end of the school holiday week and 1L90 = the afternoon service from Pembroke Dock to London is only 5 coaches and full & standing at Newport. THIS IS JUST NOT GOOD ENOUGH that now the whole fleet is available that we still have 5 coach trains running on busy services. (I also note that fewer trains operate between Cardiff & London on Saturdays v weekdays). So, what is the excuse this time GWR? Could they not join with the other 5 coaches when the section that came from Pembrokeshire arrived in Swansea?

I'm on this service now, just from Reading to Paddington. There are seats available now but it's still very busy. Also appears to be on diesel and reservation system has failed! In fact, I haven't seen a single 800 today with a working reservation system.
 

JN114

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I’ve been on 3 today - a 10-800, a 9-802 and currently on a 10-802; all working in all 3 cases (the latter two for 2+ hour journeys).

On the 5 vice 10 it may be a conscious decision to disable the reservations given only half a train is present. Fairer in the grand scheme than to arbitrarily cancel half the reservations.

It’s possibly a slightly more susceptible service for short-forming as all trains West of Swansea have to be 5 car (9s won’t fit in Carmarthen station). But you’re right that availability really should be better at this point.
 

samuelmorris

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I’ve been on 3 today - a 10-800, a 9-802 and currently on a 10-802; all working in all 3 cases (the latter two for 2+ hour journeys).

On the 5 vice 10 it may be a conscious decision to disable the reservations given only half a train is present. Fairer in the grand scheme than to arbitrarily cancel half the reservations.

It’s possibly a slightly more susceptible service for short-forming as all trains West of Swansea have to be 5 car (9s won’t fit in Carmarthen station). But you’re right that availability really should be better at this point.
On my first 802 outing we were informed this was the case - reservations were explicitly disabled due to it being a short-form.
 

Envoy

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From RTT it looks as if the second half of 1L90 never came off Maliphant, as booked. Hitachi don’t usually have any spares there so it would gone forward load 5 as a result. Not ideal.

Was there not a spare 5 car at Stoke Gifford that they could have had waiting at Bristol Parkway to attach to 1L90? I also note that World Cup Cricket was taking place in Cardiff with Sri Lanka v New Zealand. Not sure when the crowds would have been at Cardiff Central waiting to return home.
 
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