GWR Class 800

Cornish Blue · 25 Jan 2019

I travel at least monthly between St Erth and Paddington and have grown to like the 802's better than the HST's. I like the seats, the legroom is much better, with two units together there are loads of unreserved seats which means I can always get one with a good window view, and whilst the HST's buffet was preferred, at least with a trolley service I do not need to leave my bags unattended. That said, not being able to fit the whole train on the platform at St Erth did catch me out last week so a quick walk through the carriage was needed, but I assume this issue will be sorted when all 800's and 802's have been delivered, and either 9 car units will be used or the 802's will be split at Plymouth. I do feel sorry for anyone making the mistake of staying in the rear unit which cannot be platformed at all at Par (if memory serves me correctly).

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TractiveEffort · 25 Jan 2019

Tom m said:
I traveled on an 800 today and I was surprised to see how many people mistook the locked trolley storage cupboard for a toilet, perhaps a sign is required.

Blimey, that’s not very hygienic, not all that private either, there is no lock on the inside of those doors........

JN114 · 25 Jan 2019

TractiveEffort said:
Blimey, that’s not very hygienic, not all that private either, there is no lock on the inside of those doors........

Wychwood93 · 25 Jan 2019

Cornish Blue said:
I travel at least monthly between St Erth and Paddington and have grown to like the 802's better than the HST's. I like the seats, the legroom is much better, with two units together there are loads of unreserved seats which means I can always get one with a good window view, and whilst the HST's buffet was preferred, at least with a trolley service I do not need to leave my bags unattended. That said, not being able to fit the whole train on the platform at St Erth did catch me out last week so a quick walk through the carriage was needed, but I assume this issue will be sorted when all 800's and 802's have been delivered, and either 9 car units will be used or the 802's will be split at Plymouth. I do feel sorry for anyone making the mistake of staying in the rear unit which cannot be platformed at all at Par (if memory serves me correctly).

Down main platform at St.Erth 177m, up main 176m - up and down platforms at Par shown as 190m. To me this appears to be 6 cars at St.Erth and 7 at Par.

anamyd · 26 Jan 2019

superalbs said:
Having a quick look around when it emptied, 800030 was in an absolutely diabolical state. Take a look at all the stains and damage shown below:
View attachment 58274
View attachment 58276
View attachment 58277
View attachment 58278
View attachment 58279
View attachment 58280

And finally, this strange problem:
View attachment 58275
It seems most armrests were missing a chunk on this end, some worse than others. And this is the most expensive train in the world...? :/

Disgusting for a "new" train. Surely it won't be left like that?! (obviously the window glass gets replaced)

387star · 26 Jan 2019

Carpets are too light

Southern has very dark carpets which work well although the quality isn't great

83G/84D · 26 Jan 2019

Unbranded green 802106 and 802108 seen at North Pole depot a short time ago.

Except for Penzance I don’t think that any Cornish stations can fully platform a 10 car IET. Liskeard and St Austell come close.

Adsy125 · 26 Jan 2019

Cornish Blue said:
I travel at least monthly between St Erth and Paddington and have grown to like the 802's better than the HST's. I like the seats, the legroom is much better, with two units together there are loads of unreserved seats which means I can always get one with a good window view, and whilst the HST's buffet was preferred, at least with a trolley service I do not need to leave my bags unattended. That said, not being able to fit the whole train on the platform at St Erth did catch me out last week so a quick walk through the carriage was needed, but I assume this issue will be sorted when all 800's and 802's have been delivered, and either 9 car units will be used or the 802's will be split at Plymouth. I do feel sorry for anyone making the mistake of staying in the rear unit which cannot be platformed at all at Par (if memory serves me correctly).

The SDO can be rather annoying. Getting off a 10 car at Westbury recently was interesting as the announcements said doors would open in the from 8(?) cars I think, but they only opened in the front 6 despite plenty of space on the platform. When I told the guard what had happened she was just angry and said she had announced that, which she hadn't! :rolleyes:

jyte · 26 Jan 2019

83G/84D said:
Unbranded green 802106 and 802108 seen at North Pole depot a short time ago.

Except for Penzance I don’t think that any Cornish stations can fully platform a 10 car IET. Liskeard and St Austell come close.

St Austell can fit 7 cars...just...

anamyd · 26 Jan 2019

387star said:
Carpets are too light

Southern has very dark carpets which work well although the quality isn't great

I hope the cleaners, erm, clean them!

Bletchleyite · 26 Jan 2019

anamyd said:
I hope the cleaners, erm, clean them!

Coffee stains don't really come out.

anamyd · 26 Jan 2019

Bletchleyite said:
Coffee stains don't really come out.

Not even with some kind of special coffee stain remover...?

Thunderer · 26 Jan 2019

anamyd said:
Not even with some kind of special coffee stain remover...?

I doubt they get a routine/regular "deep clean" - the cleaning contracts are probably restricted by time and money - I expect they have the basics done every evening (Rubbish collected and emptied bins, a quick hoover around, tables wiped over, toilets checked and retention tanks emptied) - stains seem to be left on seat covers and carpets as I guess the train would have to be out of service quite a bit longer to rectify deep stains on seats and the carpet.

anamyd · 27 Jan 2019

Thunderer said:
I doubt they get a routine/regular "deep clean" - the cleaning contracts are probably restricted by time and money - I expect they have the basics done every evening (Rubbish collected and emptied bins, a quick hoover around, tables wiped over, toilets checked and retention tanks emptied) - stains seem to be left on seat covers and carpets as I guess the train would have to be out of service quite a bit longer to rectify deep stains on seats and the carpet.

Understandable, but my worry is if that's the state they're in already, what are they going to be like in even another year...? :-/

Grumbler · 27 Jan 2019

anamyd said:
Understandable, but my worry is if that's the state they're in already, what are they going to be like in even another year...? :-/

According to "Full Steam Ahead" repeated on the box a few nights ago, railway seat coverings in Victorian times included horsehair, chosen for its resistance to dirt and staining.

HowardGWR · 27 Jan 2019

I understood that 800 seat covers had been replaced recently. If there are seat covers, it must be possible to exchange stained ones with clean ones, or have I misunderstood?

Parallel · 27 Jan 2019

anamyd said:
Understandable, but my worry is if that's the state they're in already, what are they going to be like in even another year...? :-/

The state of the GWR refurbished seats at the end of the Turbos is not any better.

jimm · 27 Jan 2019

HowardGWR said:
I understood that 800 seat covers had been replaced recently. If there are seat covers, it must be possible to exchange stained ones with clean ones, or have I misunderstood?

The original cloth covers in the 800s are being replaced, but they've not all been dealt with yet.

The Ham · 27 Jan 2019

Master29 said:
Some people have this belief that Devon and Cornwall go to sleep between September and the next July. For anyone who lives here this is not the case. Cornwall trains remain busy until around mid November and pick up again from February onwards. OK maybe not as packed as August but the Cornish Riviera and Royal Duchy are always packed by the time they reach Plymouth from Penzance during this 10 month period. Surely these would need to be 9/10 car at these stages.
I`m not saying all from Penzance need to be 9 car but I still think they may have misjudged this and I say this as a regular user on these services. There should have been more 9 car and possibly less 5 car I reckon. The fact they`ll be having to use 5 x 2 regularly will show this but what do we know. We were ignored about buffets so not expecting too much.

Isn't the plan to have an increase in frequency over the previous (when everything was HST's) timetable.

As such running 2 services made of 5 coaches (or the HST GTI's) each hour with the occasional 9/10 on some services as well will increase the number of seats a day quite significantly.

swt_passenger · 27 Jan 2019

The Ham said:
Isn't the plan to have an increase in frequency over the previous (when everything was HST's) timetable.

As such running 2 services made of 5 coaches (or the HST GTI's) each hour with the occasional 9/10 on some services as well will increase the number of seats a day quite significantly.

AIUI the intended overall 2 tph through Cornwall is a combination of all GWR and XC services, so some hours it could be a Voyager and 158. I think there’s always at least 2 tph GWR through Devon though.

Reliablebeam · 27 Jan 2019

One thing I've noticed this month is a considerable (and welcome) decrease in diesel only operation, I'm assuming due to the developments at Stoke Gifford depot (?) Had a number of really good departures ex-Didcot recently, taking off with some force under electric mode. I have noticed some units seem much louder *or are getting louder under diesel mode but that might just be me.
I've not been impressed with the seat cover condition, this is a bit off for a new flagship train but ho hum I suppose - I think the modern thinking is we should be grateful to have a seat, and on that note I've been able to sit down even on rush hour peak time departures with the new 9/10 car trains - interestingly both of these observations have been bought up in canteen and 'watercooler' chats in work by non-railfans so have crossed that boundary..

The Ham · 27 Jan 2019

swt_passenger said:
AIUI the intended overall 2 tph through Cornwall is a combination of all GWR and XC services, so some hours it could be a Voyager and 158. I think there’s always at least 2 tph GWR through Devon though.

Given that XC have only a few services a day which extend beyond Plymouth I would guess that a 22x and a 158 would only be a daily or a couple of times a day thing.

swt_passenger · 27 Jan 2019

The Ham said:
Given that XC have only a few services a day which extend beyond Plymouth I would guess that a 22x and a 158 would only be a daily or a couple of times a day thing.

Probably. I just remember it being highlighted in the franchise brief, presumably to pre-empt questions about why GWR didn’t run every hour.

northernbelle · 27 Jan 2019

Parallel said:
The state of the GWR refurbished seats at the end of the Turbos is not any better.

Is than an up to date photo? Only 166205 had that type of cover installed and its had them replaced - unless the former First Class ones were never changed?

387star · 27 Jan 2019

Which unit numbers have new seat coverings? Is work being carried out swiftly to fit the new style covers?

Parallel · 28 Jan 2019

northernbelle said:
Is than an up to date photo? Only 166205 had that type of cover installed and its had them replaced - unless the former First Class ones were never changed?

It was taken on Saturday. Not sure of the unit. Was the 0606 Salisbury to Gloucester if that helps.

father_jack · 28 Jan 2019

TractiveEffort said:
No idea where you get your info from, but there were no sets on depot awaiting horn socks.....
If it’s not on the diagram to get fuelled, it won’t be. It’s all to do with Layovers/Handbacks.

Only catching up now after a few days offline. "Apologistism" isn't smart especially when my internal excuse device told me what happened.

TractiveEffort · 29 Jan 2019

father_jack said:
Only catching up now after a few days offline. "Apologistism" isn't smart especially when my internal excuse device told me what happened.

Is that even a word? If it is, I have no idea what it means.

father_jack · 29 Jan 2019

TractiveEffort said:
Is that even a word? If it is, I have no idea what it means.

Well i'll leave that with you the the statement 1A08 terminated BRI this morning due to being low on fuel.............

TractiveEffort · 29 Jan 2019

father_jack said:
Well i'll leave that with you the the statement 1A08 terminated BRI this morning due to being low on fuel.............

So now the 80x are at fault for the diagramming?

GWR Class 800

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