lj9090
Member
[.n];2538296 said:I think I was on a different train to the one you're referring to. Mine was a 10 coach 444(?) . The train was rammed full of people using the £15 special. Guard handled it well without a major fuss and I think from looking at the platform that some of the bike passengers detrained.
Was wondering if this morning would get posted here...
The £15 specials have made this train quite noticeably busier, though all those kicked off were regulars and I presume they ended up on the "slow" train. Which from experience is often really properly busy till Brockenhurst and probably more so now it's running as a 9.
I gave up bringing a bike on this train a couple of years ago. For one I moved closer so it became pointless, but the other factor was the inconsistency in loadings so I gladly gave up having to try.
FYi this morning was 7 in coach 3 and quite definetly blocking the aisle... and just 2 in coach 4.
The record I've seen is 9 and one of the regulars remembers 10 once. Lucky for us the guard didn't spot this or turned a blind eye.
I wouldn't be so quick to blame the modern trains, it's just got far busier. On a good (or bad...) day it's quite usual to have 5 bikes per spot so that's 20 throughout a 10 car. From what I remember of taking bikes in the old "guards van" the thinking that they used to carry more than now is a little bit of overambitious nostalgia. The 442s certainly would only take about 5 or 6 which is the same as a 444 set is supposed to take and there was no chancing a few more on like you can today.
You'd need something like the half a carriage efforts you see in Denmark and Germany to really cope with the demand and I don't think that we'll see that sort of thing here.
I'd be disappointed to see a ban because I do still take a bike on the train for non work journeys to save driving all the way or have someone come pick me up but I wouldn't be surprised to see a crackdown at some point.