I'd be mortified if a 150 rolled into Cardiff Central and I was going to north Wales! This is the route that could easily be LHCS, even if they borrow some Mk IIs from Pete Waterman again like the Rhymney services several years ago!
On Tuesday I had a 150/1 from Nottingham to Wakefield. Nottingham to Leeds might well be shorter in distance than Cardiff to Holyhead, but both should be considered "regional express" type services. In fact the Welsh one less-so, as other than Cardiff none of the places served are that big- regionally significant yes, but hardly bustling metropoli like Nottingham, Sheffield or Leeds. Ideally both services would have something at least akin to a 158 or 175 (as they do, usually) but if a 150 is all there is and it can keep to time, it isn't a disaster. For the record, my 150 journey was not nearly as unpleasant as expected- whilst legroom wasn't great the noise wasn't too bad, and we were actually two minutes early to Dore junction, and held at a signal as a result. Another two signal checks between there and Sheffield meant following a stopper to Wakefield and a missed connection at Kirkgate (delay replay claim now in process!), but that wasn't a fault of the unit.
It's a regular occurrence. Usual question - Would you rather it be cancelled ?
Quite. People sometimes forget that when the 150s were new, they were regulars on services much longer than those they're generally diagrammed for today. Transpennine expresses and Birmingham to Aberystwyth/Pwllheli were 150 strongholds, and despite being new they weren't any better than today. In the case of the majority of the Welsh fleet, they were worse!
