What's your "pet seat"?

[py_megapixel]

This post:

...so I can have seat 45, the best seat in Standard
(Extra legroom, subdued lighting, window aligned, luggage space opposite, nobody other than staff going past as there isn't a passenger door at that end)

made me think - surely others must have their preferred seats on trains?

I'll start: on a Northern Civity I'm quite partial to the table on the left immediately before the cab access door for the simple reason that the aisle seat is missing (presumably to allow the door to open properly) and it therefore guarantees me an entire side of a table to myself.

On most commuter stock I also quite like to sit in the seat leaning against the accessible toilet because there's loads of legroom and it tends to be the only seat in that area (due to the wheelchair spaces) which means more privacy. Of course, this is usually the designated companion seat for the wheelchair space so I obviously will not sit there if it is needed for a wheelchair user.

 

[RailWonderer]

On the XC Voyagers the airline seats at the end of the coach behind the bicycle racks have great long legroom, you can stretch your legs out in those. Some of the bay seats in the 350/2s, 450s and 360s are good too. And all declassified first.

 

[LowLevel]

Anything will do as long as someone isn't sat next to me, I'm far too broad shouldered for most standard class seats and find scrunching myself in to avoid encroaching on a stranger fairly irritating.

 

[uvarvu]

When it comes to BREL era EMUS any seat under the pantograph. It feels cosier under the lower ceiling and you get to enjoy the sounds of the motors.

 

[py_megapixel]

When it comes to BREL era EMUS any seat under the pantograph. It feels cosier under the lower ceiling and you get to enjoy the sounds of the motors.

Oh definitely. The low ceiling has a lovely old-timey feel.

 

[RailWonderer]

When it comes to BREL era EMUS any seat under the pantograph. It feels cosier under the lower ceiling and you get to enjoy the sounds of the motors.

Those are the worst seats! Very claustrophobic and a nuisance when you're making a phone call or having a conversation.

 

[Journeyman]

Any single airline seat in First Class. I'll even choose one with a rubbish view over anything that risks sitting next to or opposite anyone!

 

[Journeyman]

Those are the worst seats! Very claustrophobic and a nuisance when you're making a phone call or having a conversation.

Yeah - that's why they're so good! Love the racket at speed.

 

[Bletchleyite]

To add some of my others on top of A 45 in the Pendo which is *mine*

350: the "double legroom table" at the cab end which is First Class on 360s but Standard on LNR and ex-TPE units and is more spacious and has better seats than the pathetic excuse for 1st on those units. Or failing that the set of priority airline seats on the other side. It looks very much like the new GA Aventras will have a similar table by the cab.

444: the extra legroom airline row that has been added (with its own small window if I recall) in the former first class bit on the refurbs. Much more comfortable than actual First Class.

Pendolino 1st: back-most First Class airline seat, if the crew will let me anywhere near it!

Voyager: priority row near the door

Northern CAF units - agree with the above, that single table seat. I was quite annoyed once when I had waited by the door patiently to grab it that a member of staff travelling as a passenger boarded through the crew door and snaffled it But all window view seats are acceptable, the legroom is decent. I tend towards the end sections because they're properly aligned.

Old GWR/FGW HST: the single airline seat next to the staff door in the TGS

Pacer: the "infinite legroom" sideways facing seats by the doors

153, 156, 158: any table, legroom is too poor in airline seats. Honourable exception: most seats in the Northern refurb, as the fitting of thin backed ironing boards means acceptable legroom in all seats, so I just have to avoid a non-aligned one and there are very few.

150, 507/508: there are literally no good seats, someone deserves (smacking round the head with ) the wooden spoon for designing a unit with literally no seats with a good window view, or in the even worse 150/2 layout no seat suitable for anyone taller than about 4' 6", particularly where the otherwise good Chapman seating has been fitted on the same layout as the much thinner-backed Ashbourne seats.

319: the priority airline seat in the middle section nearest the door, which is not only extra legroom but also moved out into the aisle a bit so you have more shoulder room. For 319s with the all facing, all Standard layout, see 150 and 507/508 above. Priority facing bay also good because it's so widely spaced that even if you're seven foot you won't get a game of kneesie.

321 (ex-LM): the extra legroom airline row backing onto 1st

But what's really nice (other than the base cushion) are:
397: any seat, all of them are window aligned and mostly tables
80x: any seat with a window view which is slightly more than half of them
The trend away from packing seats in tightly is a winner with me.

(Being tall you can see I've paid a lot of attention to this )

 

[Ianno87]

Class 700, rear first class, single table seat adjacent to cab door.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Class 700, rear first class, single table seat adjacent to cab door.

You can have it, I prefer Standard in 700s, the First Class seats (in common with ScotRail AT200s) have a really uncomfortable shape for me. No surprise given that they're (a higher backed version of) the indomitable Fainsa Sophia!

(I recall pointing out to the staff at the Edinburgh mock-up of the AT200s that I felt Standard was better than 1st, like it is on 350s - I recall they were not impressed but nothing was done about it)

Any single airline seat in First Class. I'll even choose one with a rubbish view over anything that risks sitting next to or opposite anyone!

Personally if there isn't a single seat or a 2+table in 1st (don't mind someone opposite because of the wide legroom) I won't bother with it, the whole selling point to me is a seat that is both window and aisle (and without the "will someone sit next to me" stress in Standard). I like getting up and walking around/going to the loo (even more so now I've just been diagnosed with a second DVT) and that provides for that without any awkwardness while still being able to look out of the window.

 

[hexagon789]

In ScotRail 170 First Class, the single seat in the leading first class cabin.

 

[John Hunt]

(preCovid) - on a 170 from Petrborough to Leicester in the afternoon - the empty seat.

 

[hexagon789]

(preCovid) - on a 170 from Petrborough to Leicester in the afternoon - the empty seat.

I think we now have the best suggestion for this thread!

 

[Bletchleyite]

I think we now have the best suggestion for this thread!

Well, only sort-of. A seat with inadequate legroom is no use, nor is a 3+2 middle seat as I'm quite broad, and I will always stand in preference to taking either of those.

 

[Gaz55]

I've only been sat in it a couple of times, but I to try to bag seat 04 in first class on a XC Voyager. Near to a set of doors, plenty of legroom, you can use the space behind the seat for luggage, and feels a bit more private than other seats.

 

[I13]

To add some of my others on top of A 45 in the Pendo which is *mine*

Second that, I always try for A45 on my way home. On the outbound I'm normally towards the centre of the train, and typically go for either U70 or E74 - nothing special about them, more out of habit.

 

[Neptune]

An empty one don’t care where.

Never understood the obsession with having your own seat. If I’m lucky enough to have a shift where I can catch the train to work (normally one of two trains I catch) then I sit in a seat which I know someone always wants to sit in just to wind them up. There’s always another seat for them but I’m more than happy to spend the 20 minute journey receiving daggers from them.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Never understood the obsession with having your own seat. If I’m lucky enough to have a shift where I can catch the train to work (normally one of two trains I catch) then I sit in a seat which I know someone always wants to sit in just to wind them up. There’s always another seat for them but I’m more than happy to spend the 20 minute journey receiving daggers from them.

That's not, if you don't mind me saying, very nice. If you don't care which seat you want, and someone else clearly wants a specific one (and things like legroom are important if you're tall), why not simply let them have it and take whichever one is free afterwards?

I'd understand if you simply boarded and sat in the first one you got to because you genuinely don't care, or if you also had a good reason to prefer that seat and got there first, but deliberately doing it (or indeed any other act at all) specifically to wilfully annoy others is really very, very rude indeed.

 

[py_megapixel]

I sit in a seat which I know someone always wants to sit in just to wind them up. There’s always another seat for them but I’m more than happy to spend the 20 minute journey receiving daggers from them.

Honestly that sounds like a terrible idea.
There is really no reason why you should enforce the fact that you don't care which seat you sit in on everybody else.

 

[hexagon789]

Well, only sort-of. A seat with inadequate legroom is no use, nor is a 3+2 middle seat as I'm quite broad, and I will always stand in preference to taking either of those.

Personally I'd still take a seat over no seat if the journey is longer than about 30 minutes

 

[dazzler]

Old GWR/FGW HST: the single airline seat next to the staff door in the TGS

I also like this one! Back in the early days of (Virgin) Crosscountry I was commuting from York to Birmingham on a weekly basis: Out on the 06:00 from York on the Monday (Change at Donny!) and back on the 15:55 (later 15:58) from Brum on the Friday.

I managed to get a mate of mine who worked in the booking office at York to do me a block booking for that seat on those trains for about 2 months at a time! Luxury with no one disturbing my sleep and plenty of room for the week's luggage!
At that time it was seat 47 on XC, don't know what it is now.

 

[1D54]

(preCovid) - on a 170 from Petrborough to Leicester in the afternoon - the empty seat.

Did the 16:54 off Peterborough today on a two car 170 and social distancing is going to become a bit of a mess. Luckily I was standing on platform near a door so avoiding problems. I hate table seats and luckily got my favourite with nothing behind.

 

[Ianno87]

An empty one don’t care where.

Never understood the obsession with having your own seat. If I’m lucky enough to have a shift where I can catch the train to work (normally one of two trains I catch) then I sit in a seat which I know someone always wants to sit in just to wind them up. There’s always another seat for them but I’m more than happy to spend the 20 minute journey receiving daggers from them.

I'm not "obsessed" with my fave seat...it's just my preference if available. If not...pffft, who cares.


Though some people are, and will actively run when the platform is announced (e.g. at Euston) to claim it! Saw a guy doing it for his favourite first class Pendolino seat by the Galley...

 

[Bletchleyite]

Though some people are, and will actively run when the platform is announced (e.g. at Euston) to claim it! Saw a guy doing it for his favourite first class Pendolino seat by the Galley...

I don't run for it, but I do use a combination of RTT and the arrivals board to get a head start. Though if I'm travelling long distance at a known time, the advent of seat selectors (particularly the any-TOC one on Trainsplit) means I will either book the preferred seat or know it's not available, so no need for that at all.

 

[John Hunt]

Though some people are, and will actively run when the platform is announced (e.g. at Euston) to claim it! Saw a guy doing it for his favourite first class Pendolino seat by the Galley...

Saw a similar scenario at Leicester once - the guy snatched up his briefcase, started to run and the briefcase fell open; papers and lunchbox everywhere!
Sorry to say I laughed until the tears ran down my legs.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

On a busy service (pre-Covid) my favourite seat was usually the one that someone thought they could reserve for themselves by putting a shopping bag or coat on it.

Otherwise, it's seat A46 on a Pendolino, so maybe one day in the "new normal" I might end up stuck next to Bletchleyite on a journey to/from Lancaster !

 

[Fokx]

Northern 319:
The seats as you immediately enter the pantograph carriage (panto end) is one of the few that are airline style and have a greater chance of passengers not sitting next to you.

Cross County Voyager:
Seat F15/16 - has noticeably non-standard legroom greater than the other airline seats.

Avanti Pendolino:
Any forward airline seat in coach B/D to be close to the shop without having the noice of the ship and passengers queuing by being in coach C

But apart from that I’m not fussy!

 

[1D54]

Sorry to say I laughed until the tears ran down my legs.

As long as you're sure they were tears then no worries

 

[aleggatta]

When I worked for a TOC, I used to go for the seats near the unused catering cupboards, as 377's generally don't have sockets available to standard class I'd use the staff privilege to keep my laptop fully charged on long days out and watch movies for the duration of the journey!