Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
I can't see a thread in Trip Reports specifically about travelling on them so I thought I'd chuck one in, mods feel free to merge with the main 397 thread if you prefer it that way.
After trying to track one down for ages I got a quick (20 minute ish) ride from Penrith to Carlisle on a Nova 2 this evening.
So, overall quite impressed. You could see a family resemblance to the Class 195, but it was more like what a Class 158 perhaps should have been, or an updated Class 180-type EMU or somesuch. Or, for those who know the newish Polish EMUs, the 80x is the PESA DART and the 397 the Stadler FLIRT - the latter just feels like what the former should have been but wasn't (in passenger experience terms; I know there are no diesels underneath!).
Lighting about right, semi-direct with spots (though I'd prefer warm white myself, and I think I like the Mk5a arrangement better). Colour scheme classy, and I particularly like the leather effect headrests. The actual seats are Fainsa Sophias, so on those refer to any other discussion on them (they might as well give out free Marmite sandwiches from the trolley[1]), but legroom is excellent and Standard fully window-aligned. First Class isn't, but it's surprisingly well thought-out and so relatively few seats are misaligned.
The main impression I had was of a feeling of space - the vehicles are long and vestibules small (I'm still surprised a wheelchair fits) with 11 window bays per (non-bog) vehicle, same as most 26.4m UIC coaches. This provides a huge amount of capacity. That said, when sitting in the window seat the heating conduit intruded annoyingly (can't put your foot on it in a table seat) and my shoulders sort of caught the window frame - on the latter point the slightly squarer Mk5a coach wins out.
Ride was poor, though, quite "busy" and noisy. I can see major modifications to the bogies on all the CAF stock on the horizon. Not as badly puke inducing as Classes 175/180 which must have the UK IC benchmark for worst ride (with the Mk4 coach just behind) but not as good as would be expected.
But overall, I'd imagine these, once they settle down, will sway me towards going via Manchester (from MK) to use them when going to the north WCML.
[1] The trolley did not appear to do hot drinks, for those who were wondering about that. I hope that gets resolved given that that's the most important use-case for a trolley.
After trying to track one down for ages I got a quick (20 minute ish) ride from Penrith to Carlisle on a Nova 2 this evening.
So, overall quite impressed. You could see a family resemblance to the Class 195, but it was more like what a Class 158 perhaps should have been, or an updated Class 180-type EMU or somesuch. Or, for those who know the newish Polish EMUs, the 80x is the PESA DART and the 397 the Stadler FLIRT - the latter just feels like what the former should have been but wasn't (in passenger experience terms; I know there are no diesels underneath!).
Lighting about right, semi-direct with spots (though I'd prefer warm white myself, and I think I like the Mk5a arrangement better). Colour scheme classy, and I particularly like the leather effect headrests. The actual seats are Fainsa Sophias, so on those refer to any other discussion on them (they might as well give out free Marmite sandwiches from the trolley[1]), but legroom is excellent and Standard fully window-aligned. First Class isn't, but it's surprisingly well thought-out and so relatively few seats are misaligned.
The main impression I had was of a feeling of space - the vehicles are long and vestibules small (I'm still surprised a wheelchair fits) with 11 window bays per (non-bog) vehicle, same as most 26.4m UIC coaches. This provides a huge amount of capacity. That said, when sitting in the window seat the heating conduit intruded annoyingly (can't put your foot on it in a table seat) and my shoulders sort of caught the window frame - on the latter point the slightly squarer Mk5a coach wins out.
Ride was poor, though, quite "busy" and noisy. I can see major modifications to the bogies on all the CAF stock on the horizon. Not as badly puke inducing as Classes 175/180 which must have the UK IC benchmark for worst ride (with the Mk4 coach just behind) but not as good as would be expected.
But overall, I'd imagine these, once they settle down, will sway me towards going via Manchester (from MK) to use them when going to the north WCML.
[1] The trolley did not appear to do hot drinks, for those who were wondering about that. I hope that gets resolved given that that's the most important use-case for a trolley.