first great western class 158

[387star]

Hi

Are the seat back tables really being reinstalled on the units with the original seating? I have yet to see a difference ie most seats remain without tables?

Secondly, why is the air conditioning so poor? I realise the original air-con was disabled due to CFCs? Do they actually have any air con because I can't recall them ever being cool

Finally any chance the livery will be amended now FGW have lost favour with the local lines livery? I have heard the heavy vinyl use causes widespread damage to the bodyshell

PS there is something about the local lines livery that makes the trains look incredibly dirty and repulsive. The class 150/1 livery is a vast improvement

 

[Failed Unit]

Can't comment about FGW air-conn specifically, but Scotrails isn't working today. They have all windows open with a notice about improved air-conn. I think the only thing that can be relied upon for is not working. I used to pray for a 156 on hot summer days in CT land.

 

[387star]

FGW also say they are working on improving the air-con. It is a lie.

I presume the far North fleet which were refurbished have had new air-con.

PS the ex Wessex 158s with ScotRail... do they still have the Wales and West carpets? Likewise do the ex SWT units still have the full SWT interior. I think new upholstery was applied to most of the Wessex Units although I'm not sure about those with original 158 seating which came from Central Trains...

 

[Failed Unit]

FGW also say they are working on improving the air-con. It is a lie.

I presume the far North fleet which were refurbished have had new air-con.

PS the ex Wessex 158s with ScotRail... do they still have the Wales and West carpets? Likewise do the ex SWT units still have the full SWT interior. I think new upholstery was applied to most of the Wessex Units although I'm not sure about those with original 158 seating which came from Central Trains...

The far north fleets airconn is improved? But still useless!

The 8 cascaded 158s are all now repainted, the Wessex ones repadded but very little internal work on any of them.

 

[387star]

Ah that is a shame I usually think of ScotRail as having high standards perhaps I am wrong!

The ex-SWT units are probably fine but those Wales and West carpets must be very tatty by now like Northerns examples. No refurbishment is planned within the next two years for the Northern units

 

[SC318250]

Ah that is a shame I usually think of ScotRail as having high standards perhaps I am wrong!

The ex-SWT units are probably fine but those Wales and West carpets must be very tatty by now like Northerns examples. No refurbishment is planned within the next two years for the Northern units

Internal refurbishment due to start very soon on them (8 units)

 

[TEW]

Some of the units with original seating do have seat back tables but not all. FGW did recently go through a phase of reinstalling them on a few units but that has stopped.
The air conditioning on the units with Richmond seats is the much better Liebher system as fitted to SWT 158s and 159s and that works. The units with original seats have a much more hit and miss system.

 

[387star]

So that's the second phase FGW have gone through of retrofitting the tables and then not finishing the job! Very interesting! Obviously not too bothered about it then.

Perhaps a logical reason is the shortage of units given the continued SWT and ATW hire-ins.

 

[Drsatan]

I'm assuming that the majority of FGW's 158s with original seats now have seat-back tables since whenever I've travelled on one the seat-back tables have been reinstated.

FGW use their 158s far more intensively than SWT do anyway. However, one of SWT's 158s is still on loan to FGW, while I'm fairly certain two or three 150s are on loan from ATW (reduced from five I think)

 

[TEW]

One SWT 158 and two ATW 150s both on hire and on set diagrams. Also two LM 153s and soon two LM 150s. FGW may have finished fitting the seat back tables now but I know in April there were still a few units yet to be fitted. Strangely FGW managed to fit Intermediate Door Controls to 150/1s almost overnight.

 

[BestWestern]

The upkeep of FGW's 'West' DMU fleet is sadly lacking in general; having spent a substantial sum on the initial refurb work the company has neglected to follow it up with the required maintenance schedule. The 158s are in a particularly poor state owing to their very intensive use.

There have been various different whisperings about improvements to the air-con systems on the 158 fleet, indeed last year it was alleged that lots of pipework and other componentry had been renewed and this would solve the problems; of course it didn't happen :-/ Most sets will have at least one coach which is reasonable, though some will have none working all the way through the unit. As the summer gets hotter, the air-con kit works harder and fails more frequently, and the required repairs don't get carried out, and so on.

I very much doubt any of it will change any time soon

 

[142]

There are 1 or 2 of the 2 car 158s with tables in now, and as regards aircon some units now have Liebherr units fitted which work, though the majority of the 158/9s dont have working air con, and some guards refuse to open windows

 

[BestWestern]

Not all of the Liebherr units seem to be working, I had a set recently with all three cars U/S and I'm pretty certain it was a L'herr! :roll:

Anybody who refuses to open the hoppers is clearly a berk, there's no justification for that. Although it's unhelpful when even some of those don't work; there are a good few knocking around where the brackets are bent so either it won't open at all or it opens too far and the whole thing practically falls into the coach!