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GWR Class 387’s

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HOOVER29

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Yesterday I popped to Didcot for photography reasons. I used the class 387 services between Didcot & Tilehurst. All were formed of 8 carriages except one yet there were barely enough passengers on the services to fill one carriage. Could these units be split after the rush hour period & one set parked at the depot then say around 3pm join a set at Reading. It just seems a waste to see a service running almost empty not to mention costly.
If I went to my local station at Tamworth & caught a London bound unit it would be formed of 4 coaches & would be rammed.
 
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swt_passenger

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Splitting trains at Reading potentially requires more drivers, more platform occupation time, and staff to empty the train. It will have been assessed as easier to leave the trains in 8 car formation all day, as happens routinely on many south of London services.
 

Mag_seven

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Yesterday I popped to Didcot for photography reasons. I used the class 387 services between Didcot & Tilehurst. All were formed of 8 carriages except one yet there were barely enough passengers on the services to fill one carriage. Could these units be split after the rush hour period & one set parked at the depot then say around 3pm join a set at Reading. It just seems a waste to see a service running almost empty not to mention costly.
If I went to my local station at Tamworth & caught a London bound unit it would be formed of 4 coaches & would be rammed.

They get busy on the Reading-Pad section even in the middle of the day so should be kept as 8 car all day.
 

FGW_DID

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Yesterday I popped to Didcot for photography reasons. I used the class 387 services between Didcot & Tilehurst. All were formed of 8 carriages except one yet there were barely enough passengers on the services to fill one carriage. Could these units be split after the rush hour period & one set parked at the depot then say around 3pm join a set at Reading. It just seems a waste to see a service running almost empty not to mention costly.
If I went to my local station at Tamworth & caught a London bound unit it would be formed of 4 coaches & would be rammed.

A number of units (EMU & DMU ) do come out of service and sit on the depot ‘between the peaks’. It’s a good time to get units back for minor maintenance.
 

pdeaves

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As well as the reasons others have said, splitting and joining units imports risk of something breaking/not connecting all systems correctly/etc. The first time that happens the public at large is likely to demand that trains stay together to run a reliable/punctual service. It's better to leave things as is.
 

TEW

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Over recent years there has been an increasing number of full formation trains ran all day, with fixed formation trains such as the 700s and also as a result of operators deciding to reduce or eliminate splitting and joining because of the performance risk, the new Southern timetable is an example of that.
 

cactustwirly

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Yesterday I popped to Didcot for photography reasons. I used the class 387 services between Didcot & Tilehurst. All were formed of 8 carriages except one yet there were barely enough passengers on the services to fill one carriage. Could these units be split after the rush hour period & one set parked at the depot then say around 3pm join a set at Reading. It just seems a waste to see a service running almost empty not to mention costly.
If I went to my local station at Tamworth & caught a London bound unit it would be formed of 4 coaches & would be rammed.

Because a 4 car 387 doesn't have enough capacity for the Reading - London.
There are a number of 4 car 387 diagrams, they are annoying because they can be really busy compared to the 8s
 

Mitchell Hurd

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Hello there. It's nice there's a GWR Class 387 thread. I'll be honest, apart from unreliable working toilets I can't think of a single thing wrong with the Class 165 and 166 Turbos!

However the 387's are a huge step up !

I'll be very honest, until the reservation issue has been sorted, the 387's are the more relaxing way to get to and from Didcot and London - because of the following...

1. Mainly 8 coaches all day (not bad 4 if a train fault which the chances of this are quite low)!

2. No seat reservations required like on Chiltern Railways services to and from Oxford and London Marylebone.

3. At present, all 387's start at Didcot and Reading when outside of London.

4. Plenty of table seats.

I love them in the summer as twice when I've stepped onboard, it feels like a cool fridge !

When the bus rally in June a few months back took place in Reading instead of Didcot on Sunday 3rd, I deliberately caught 2 Class 387's - the 10:50 from Didcot to Reading and 15:14 back as the times suited me. Both ran pretty much on time.

Plus given the problems on the Bristol corridor, I had more trust in the stopping services than potentially packed IET's!

On any day between the 1st and 5th next month, I'll be heading down to London - a 387 leaving Didcot around 09:10 and 09:40 to Ealing Broadway and returning on the sole fast 387 service from Paddington, 16:36 (calls at Reading and Didcot) which I'm told by GWR in a tweet is an Off-Peak service and is scheduled to be an 8-coach Class 387. I'll have an Off-Peak Day Travlecard.

The '387' services may take longer but handy I'd you need to work or want to have a more relaxing journey. Avoid the Bristol / South Wales services just before / after the 16:36 - not worth the aggro over seat reservations!
 

JN114

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While the Southern Region (in particular) has gotten very slick at attaching and detaching units with Gangways between units - they’re a very novel thing here in the Thames Valley. As a result splitting and attaching units is generally avoided where possible. There are some shoulder peak strengthenings
 
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A four car 387 would get quite packed though even if it was during the off-peak period, considering they have less capacity than a three car 165/166.
 
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