GWR Class 800

[jimm]

A test trip from Stoke Gifford to Oxford, Worcester, Hereford and back is planned for Sunday.

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/V80287/2017/12/10/advanced

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/V80288/2017/12/10/advanced

 

[Railperf]

A test trip from Stoke Gifford to Oxford, Worcester, Hereford and back is planned for Sunday.

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/V80287/2017/12/10/advanced

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/V80288/2017/12/10/advanced

Is that for an 800 or an 802?

 

[Typhoon_93]

Can anyone confirm the coach numbers carried on set 800302. I was lead to believe that the 800/3 batch were going to take the coach numbers allocated to the units there were built in place of but this may not be the case..!

 

[jimm]

Is that for an 800 or an 802?

No idea but I'd expect it to be a 5-car 800.

 

[TractiveEffort]

Is that for an 800 or an 802?

800009

 

[TractiveEffort]

Can anyone confirm the coach numbers carried on set 800302. I was lead to believe that the 800/3 batch were going to take the coach numbers allocated to the units there were built in place of but this may not be the case..!

831302, 832302, 833302, 834302, 835302

 

[Envoy]

Are they not going to name any more lead cars? (Surely, if so, they should be leaving the factory already named)?

 

[Typhoon_93]

831302, 832302, 833302, 834302, 835302

Did you note these yourself or from the net/other source as 800302 is a 9car and numbers starting 83xxxx should be 802 series...?

 

[a_c_skinner]

Are they not going to name any more lead cars? (Surely, if so, they should be leaving the factory already named)?

No, naming is about publicity nowadays so the set named "Small Boggy Field near Swindon" will undoubtedly be named by the farmer, mayor of Swindon and a drainage contractor and in the local papers. Actually it would probably be called "Small Boggy Field near Swindon - Honest Ron's Drainage and Sewage Ltd 2017 Sewage Contractor of the Year"



Andrew

 

[TractiveEffort]

Did you note these yourself or from the net/other source as 800302 is a 9car and numbers starting 83xxxx should be 802 series...?

My mistake, misread it - too early on a Sunday for me.
821002, 822002, 823002 etc to 829002

 

[TwistedMentat]

By dumb luck managed to catch an 800 last night (Saturday)

Just a quick jaunt to Reading stuck behind traffic ahead so a bunch of stop starting. Though that was before Maidenhead so getting back up to speed was snappy.

In general I would agree with the points people have raised. Firm seats, bright, snappy under wires. A solid HST successor.

 

[Typhoon_93]

My mistake, misread it - too early on a Sunday for me.
821002, 822002, 823002 etc to 829002

Thanks but were these noted by you or from another source.. website/Railway book..?

 

[TractiveEffort]

Thanks but were these noted by you or from another source.. website/Railway book..?

Hitachi documentation

 

[Typhoon_93]

Hitachi documentation

800304 (part of) is outside at Aycliffe and the end cars are numbered in the 800/0 range 811304 and 819304..

 

[Parallel]

I saw a pair of 800s operating at Bath towards Weston-super-Mare yesterday evening. The front unit looked locked out of use and there were no passengers. The rear unit was absolutely rammed. I wonder what caused one unit to be locked out of use?

 

[JonathanH]

I saw a pair of 800s operating at Bath towards Weston-super-Mare yesterday evening. The front unit looked locked out of use and there were no passengers. The rear unit was absolutely rammed. I wonder what caused one unit to be locked out of use?

Insufficient staff to ensure that there is a train manager in both units. Apparently, at the moment, two train managers are required. If there is only one train manager, one unit is not available for use.

 

[TractiveEffort]

Insufficient staff to ensure that there is a train manager in both units. Apparently, at the moment, two train managers are required. If there is only one train manager, one unit is not available for use.

Or a T/M and a Ticket Examiner

 

[Envoy]

Insufficient staff to ensure that there is a train manager in both units. Apparently, at the moment, two train managers are required. If there is only one train manager, one unit is not available for use.

Well, if that is going to happen frequently, then it will really get peoples’ backs up.

 

[Envoy]

No, naming is about publicity nowadays so the set named "Small Boggy Field near Swindon" will undoubtedly be named by the farmer, mayor of Swindon and a drainage contractor and in the local papers. Actually it would probably be called "Small Boggy Field near Swindon - Honest Ron's Drainage and Sewage Ltd 2017 Sewage Contractor of the Year"
Andrew

You would never get this in the old days - when locomotives had proper names at ‘birth’ and none of these daft names for publicity purposes.

 

[jimm]

You would never get this in the old days - when locomotives had proper names at ‘birth’ and none of these daft names for publicity purposes.

Really? Does the Southern Railway's Merchant Navy class ring any bells? Never mind that it was the middle of the Second World War, the Southern publicity department was hard at work with naming ceremonies and busy spinning the fiction that they were mixed traffic locos...

From the National Railway Museum collection - Creative Commons Licence

Please note this post is for information purposes only, to illustrate that the use of locomotive and train naming for publicity (and cosying up to businesses the railway works with) purposes is as old as the hills. It is not intended to start a way-off-topic discussion in this thread of the 'daftness' or otherwise of names chosen then and now - or anything else. For that, perhaps start a fresh thread to save the moderators' having to split stuff off.

 

[TheSeeker]

Insufficient staff to ensure that there is a train manager in both units. Apparently, at the moment, two train managers are required. If there is only one train manager, one unit is not available for use.

Is there a problem with a single TM moving between units at a station? That seems to happens daily here in Belgium with multiple workings on my commute.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Is there a problem with a single TM moving between units at a station? That seems to happens daily here in Belgium with multiple workings on my commute.

It also happens in the UK as well. Some TOCs require a member of staff in each unit; one would have the driver and the other the guard (habitual fare dodgers on Northern are well aware of this. Not all do, though, and prior to the Class 700s near enough every (Class 319) Thameslink train operated with one unit completely unstaffed and inaccessible from the other one, as did all Silverlink/early LM 12-car Class 321s (guard in rear, driver in front, middle one unstaffed).

 

[Sprinter153]

At the moment the agreement is one Train Manager per 10-car set. A Ticket Examiner will be rostered to work in the front set. If they are not available an alternative member of staff must be sourced or the unit locked out.

The RMT does not want Customer Hosts being used as the competent person in the front set. To be honest I would rather have my CHs taking charge than a TE who I have no responsibility for. CHs are also briefed extensively on the layout and safety features of the train. TE knowledge is lacking at best.

This is the agreement:

We have committed to roster a TE to every train. It is however possible that a TE may for some reason be unable to join the train. In such circumstances, we have agreed that we will provide another person – a GWR colleague who can carry out the required role in the front section of the train. There is no specific competence required for this except the agreed familiarisation and the need for them to have a means by which they are able to contact the Train Manager in an emergency. This role can therefore be carried out by any suitable GWR employee.

 

[Sprinter153]

Deleted

 

[Wilts Wanderer]

Well having just travelled on my first 800 in traffic, it was somewhat ruined by the rear 5 being locked out of use. In the evening peak. Congratulations RMT, another win for the railways (of which you are part) and another trainload of happy GWML commuters on their first experience of the new trains. Presumably the union is happy with severe levels of overcrowding (including passengers standing within internal crumple zones) in the name of some unspecified safety cause?

My own vitriol aside - does anyone know what the justification for requiring two staff is? And is there any credence to the rumour that GWR wanted to follow the XC protocol of training customer hosts for safety critical duties such as evacuation etc but the union blocked it? That sounds suspiciously like playing both sides to manufacture a dispute, heaven forbid...

 

[jyte]

And is there any credence to the rumour that GWR wanted to follow the XC protocol of training customer hosts for safety critical duties such as evacuation etc but the union blocked it? That sounds suspiciously like playing both sides to manufacture a dispute, heaven forbid...

That is what post #6233 from Sprinter153 seems to suggest, yes.

 

[Sprinter153]

Well having just travelled on my first 800 in traffic, it was somewhat ruined by the rear 5 being locked out of use. In the evening peak. Congratulations RMT, another win for the railways...

In the interests of balance there have been a number of cases where a set has been locked out for other reasons.

My own vitriol aside - does anyone know what the justification for requiring two staff is? And is there any credence to the rumour that GWR wanted to follow the XC protocol of training customer hosts for safety critical duties such as evacuation etc but the union blocked it? That sounds suspiciously like playing both sides to manufacture a dispute, heaven forbid...

Yes. From my knowledge of the situation a 'Senior Customer Host' role was proposed but the RMT was not keen on the idea of a two-tier workforce and wanted to further renegotiate restructuring.

The SCH role was not to include PTS but additional safety instruction and retail training to enable First Class ticket selling and checking in the front set.

 

[Clansman]

Not sure if this has already been mentioned but an 800 is due on a test run up to Inverness this Friday coming, arriving around 1700.

 

[Wilts Wanderer]

In the interest of fairness, today I had the pleasure of a 10-car set which although a few minutes late, made up time en-route. Pretty impressive as well, particularly in the initial acceleration and final braking department. Seats are firm but comfortable, although a padded headrest would have been nice. I like the ambience of the interior, reminds me of a German ICE.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I like the ambience of the interior, reminds me of a German ICE.

Interesting you think that. I think 1st is a bit ICE-esque, but Standard isn't (the quality of materials e.g. real wood, glass and chrome are simply not there). I'm not quite sure what it reminds me of other than "treatment for severe back pain". A 1990s bus with the lime green accenting and boring seat fabric?

I really, really wanted to like it, but I wasn't that impressed. The real star of the GWR network is the new Electrostar, which is *far* nicer inside in just about every way.