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GWR Class 800
- Thread starter SpacePhoenix
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43096
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Given they were people I work with, then yes, I am sure. They were most un-complimentary about the 800s.Sure they were season ticket holders?
Not bashers on TVDRs?
D1009
Established Member
Perhaps they were HST bashers on season tickets
.
43096
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No, they are not enthusiasts.Perhaps they were HST bashers on season tickets
For the same reason that people get on the same train and sit in the same seat and get upset when they find someone had got there first.
People don't generally like change, the older that they are the less inclined they are to accept change.
Regarding comments about them being too short - even if it is a 2x5 working people may feel there are not enough carriages because you cannot move between the two halves of the train easily. As with double Voyagers or 185s it is common to find one set a lot busier than the other.
Given that one 5 coach set can hold 60% of the passengers of a HST there's some tolerance between the two for one being busier than the other. The regulars are likely to learn which at gets busier and will seat themselves accordingly.
D1009
Established Member
No, we're talking Reading commuters here, who pile in the rear door
D1009
Established Member
Have any more 9 car sets entered service yet? I thought I saw 800313 in service yesterday.
Mintona
Established Member
It was definitely in service yesterday, looking incredibly shiny. I saw it leaving Bristol Parkway about 2100 heading to London.
TractiveEffort
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Entered service over the weekend.
ATW158Xpress
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They getting on with those 9 car 800 unit deliveries now. When is the last unit to be delivered?
Yes, so all the regulars going further will all aim to get in the front unit and have lots of space. The Reading commuters are all crammed together whilst leaving most of the rest of the passengers a much more pleasant journey.
You just have to feel sorry for those with advanced tickets with a booked seat in the rear unit, but there's probably not many of them in the peaks.
reddragon
Established Member
Hail those wonderful Reading Commuters to stand at the back for 20 mins so others can sit down!!
D1009
Established Member
A 10 car out today, see IEP thread in Allocations and Diagrams forum.
BowesRanger
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Saw an unbranded 800 trundle through Bowes Park the other day, apparently heading up the Hertford loop, not just turning around in the reversing siding.
Any idea why they're using that line? Possibly for diversion routes?
Any idea why they're using that line? Possibly for diversion routes?
Rail Blues
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As an aside (and I am not referring to this above poster specifically) but it never fails to amaze me the number of people on this board, when it is suggested that their particular bugbear is a bit crank-like or confined to a subsection of enthusiasts and isn't shared by the travelling public at large, will cite overhearing or having a conversation with a regular passenger ( often an American or German tourist for reasons I can't fathom) who happened to mention unprompted their particular pet peeve, such as the slope on the corridor connection between the class 800 as 'proof' of the validity of whatever non issue they've been chaffing over.
Funnily enough, as someone actively interested in the railways, I've never felt the need when visiting another country to buttonhole a fellow passenger and give them a critical and detailed commentary on the rolling stock or opine about the topic so loudly that a stranger sitting a few seats away can hear.
I would say the chances of a 'normal' passenger doing so are up there with sitting in a table seat with Lord Lucan, Elvis and Shergar, almost like the conversation never actually happened at all.
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Hi does anyone know if the 9 car sets have a composite coach?
I say this because when I left Bristol yesterday on the 1300 to Manchester and the 1300 to London looked like it had the driving car and the coach next to it as first class and no composite after (first class was at the rear). It may be a branding issue as the white first class line was not present on the full first class vehicle.
I say this because when I left Bristol yesterday on the 1300 to Manchester and the 1300 to London looked like it had the driving car and the coach next to it as first class and no composite after (first class was at the rear). It may be a branding issue as the white first class line was not present on the full first class vehicle.
Charlie M.
Member
No composite coaches on the 9 car
Pete_uk
Established Member
I just realised, I have never noticed the height difference between the powered and eunpowered coaches.
ok thank you. I thought they did at one point.
Lner will have a composite on a 9 car set.
tbtc
Veteran Member
Great point - this has been bothering me for a while too - the incredibly detailed quotes from random members of the public that just see to echo the views of the particular poster in question (not a dig at any one poster, a general point about these kind of baloney quotes). One poster on a local bus forum always seemed to overhear passengers who said particularly knowledgable things about how they preferred the W-reg ALX400s to the X-reg ALX400s or they noticed minor details about side-destination blinds... I must have been unlucky since the passengers who shared my bus rides never seemed bothered about such geeky details - if anything they were more likely to get flustered because they didn't read the number of the bus they'd hailed and ended up going in the wrong direction
I agree that the lack of corridor connection is disappointing (though thoroughly understandable in sloped 125-mph stock), but we all know that Reading passengers won't move one further coach along to get a seat so I'm not convinced that many passengers are going to walk over a hundred metres to get through to the "other" unit (of a 5+5). There'll be *some* people who'd walk that far along a moving train (though personally I don't don't do much more than about one mile per hour as I wobble my way through the carriages of a train at speed) but we all know that the carriages at the "London" end of a long train will always be busier than those at the "country" end yet people are reluctant to walk far for the sake of a seat. I take the lack of corridor connection as a bigger issue in shorter trains (like the doubled up Pacers we have around these parts), where the desire to walk from one unit to the other is more pressing.
The GWML managed with doubled up 165/166s didn't it?
Remember the days of "the powered coaches will be so steeply sloped (due to the engined underneath) that the trolley will struggle to get through and passengers will be put off the big hill"?
Like a lot of the complaints about 80x a couple of years ago, it's all gone fairly quiet since people actually got to use them.
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
The only thing that is insanely rubbish about them is the seats. With Grammer IC3000s (or even E3000s per the Desiro) they’d be fine.
Though I do think low floor should have been a requirement.
Though I do think low floor should have been a requirement.
cactustwirly
Established Member
No the seats themselves are fine, but they just need a load of extra padding!
Rail Blues
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Shush Jimm don't confuse the poor fellow with actual information or facts, these types don't like reality interfering with their attempts to wallow in a warm bath of bogus nostalgia.
I avoid the unpowered coaches because the seat is away down low relative to the window.
Ok thank you for the info.
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
They’re not if you have a long back.
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