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XC MK3 preview

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djw1981

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So grey with pink doors and XC logo under the windows... I bet it has plum/brown power car ends then to match the voyager s....looks ok actually, Kinda like the NX ones, but without the stripe - and pink doors instead of blue.
 

37402

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So grey with pink doors and XC logo under the windows... I bet it has plum/brown power car ends then to match the voyager s....looks ok actually, Kinda like the NX ones, but without the stripe - and pink doors instead of blue.
...it'll look more 170 than 220.
 
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The PC's livery is half silver and half warm black with the slope type design. The X at one end and XC logo on the middle.
 

HSTfan!!!

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i do quite like the xc livery... its different but it works. and by the looks of it suits the mk3 rather well giving it a more modern look
 

me123

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i do quite like the xc livery... its different but it works.

I fully agree. The livery is quite nice, although I prefer it on the 170s than on the Voyagers. I'm looking forward to seeing a complete set, and hopefully one'll be flying through Motherwell on a few Thursday mornings in the near future :)
 

P156KWJ

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The PC's livery is half silver and half warm black with the slope type design. The X at one end and XC logo on the middle.

hehe, 'warm' black :lol: how can you have any shade of black, black is just the absence of light! silly companies...

not having a go at you btw, just think XC is a bit silly...
 

Woody

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I hope the internal refurb is going to be more National Express East coast than FGW whose only interest is the commuters these days and sod their longer distance pessengers.
 

devon_metro

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I hope the internal refurb is going to be more National Express East coast than FGW whose only interest is the commuters these days and sod their longer distance pessengers.

That is why you can travel from Penzance - Paddington for £15 then????

Although, yes, they will be Mallard spec.
 

devon_metro

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Driving through Cornwall isn't overly fun, especially after 5 or so hours of driving on a dual carriageway at 70mph. When the train will already be there. I quite like the FGW hsts to be honest - just so long as lights are set to dim.
 

Max

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That is why you can travel from Penzance - Paddington for £15 then????

This isn't that fantastic, you can do Cornwall-York/Newcastle for around the same price I believe, and get an unrefurbed or NXEC HST if you're lucky!
 

P156KWJ

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This isn't that fantastic, you can do Cornwall-York/Newcastle for around the same price I believe, and get an unrefurbed or NXEC HST if you're lucky!

kind of ironic that I much prefer un-refurbed NXEC mk3s to the refurbs, but much prefer refurbed mk4s to the unrefurbed ones (well, when they were around)
 

thefab444

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At least you get a view from the car, not just a stupid Flying F in the seat in front and a meagre bit of brown window!
 

Max

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At least you get a view from the car, not just a stupid Flying F in the seat in front...

To be honest, I'm suprised FGW were allowed to stick their logo all over the seats when it will probably end up cascaded to another TOC in a few years.
 

devon_metro

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At the end of the day - its an improvement. Providing more seats where they are needed and it is NOT FGWs fault that the railway has evolved in such a way that it has at Reading. Unless the Government decides to do something about it - expect long distance trains to have lots of seats. Services to Cornwall need the extra services in Summer anyhow so at least you get to sit down.

Tell me you can drive from Penzance - London Paddington return in just over 10 hours for £30 whilst using a laptop or whatever???
 

Max

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I'm not saying £15 is bad at all, it's great value. But compared to XC it's not as good.
 

P156KWJ

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At the end of the day - its an improvement. Providing more seats where they are needed and it is NOT FGWs fault that the railway has evolved in such a way that it has at Reading. Unless the Government decides to do something about it - expect long distance trains to have lots of seats. Services to Cornwall need the extra services in Summer anyhow so at least you get to sit down.

Tell me you can drive from Penzance - London Paddington return in just over 10 hours for £30 whilst using a laptop or whatever???

I can understand for a business traveller in first class it can be better than a car. But are we really going to attract families to the railways when there are 2 tables in a carriage with hardly any view due to the stupid seat positioning, on silly hard seats with not much leg-room, as oppose to when I went to penzance in our 04 reg Vauxhall Meriva, it at least had stuff like decent legroom, luggage space, a radio, the ability totalk in private to the rest of the family, and so on...
 

devon_metro

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FGW refurb has more leg room than pre refurb. How many times do I have to say it :roll:

LD sets have 4 tables per coach anyway and are booked for long distance journies.
 

P156KWJ

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FGW refurb has more leg room than pre refurb. How many times do I have to say it :roll:

LD sets have 4 tables per coach anyway and are booked for long distance journies.

well 4 tables isn't a damn sight better to be honest, considering a refurbed EMT mk3 has about 10 tables, and only about 2 airline seats in 1st class...
 

devon_metro

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well 4 tables isn't a damn sight better to be honest, considering a refurbed EMT mk3 has about 10 tables, and only about 2 airline seats in 1st class...

First Class has all tables apart from 1 airline in the buffet ;)
 

Woody

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LD sets have 4 tables per coach anyway and are booked for long distance journeys.[/QUOTE]
4 tables per coach would not equate to low density in most peoples books.
Still FGW are are between a rock and a hard place on this one.On other long distance routes(ECML/WCML etc which are electrified),commuter services at the London end particularly have their own high performance rolling with internal layouts optimised for the commuters, leaving the inter-city trains to cater for the longer haul with internal layouts to match.(Bristol/Padd is now a commuter not inter city route)
On FGW they have had to adopt a one size fits all with the HST refurb, with its inevitable compromises for longer distance passengers where rail is now competing with vastly improved road and air links.ie Ryanair fly Stanstead/Newquay twice daily,British Airways fly Gatwick/Newquay once daily and local airline Air south West fly Gatwick/Plymouth/Newquay 4 times a day.You can also drive motorway/dual carraigeway to almost Truro now while much the rail route west of Exeter still remains slow and sinuous.
While rail commuters often have little choice but to put up with things, longer distance passengers these days do not necessarily have to accept compromises.I would imagine that most of the explosive growth in passenger numbers in the last decade has occured in the short/medium distance excepting perhaps the ECML and WCML.
 

vc-10

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First Great Western's First Class is cheap... try it, it's very nice. Some have said that it's not as nice as others, but at those low prices, I'm not that fussed!

Edit: I'd never fly ryanair unless you paid me several thousand £s to do so. Serious safety issues there... (I'm bit of a plane nerd too :D )
 

djw1981

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But in doing so please remember the law of libel and that any allegations of criminal activity must be substantiated!
 

vc-10

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OK, my opinion here, but they overwork their cabin staff (the ones who would get you out in an emergency), by pushing them right to the limit. There is no legal limit for cabin crew hours (or none that I know of), and tired cabin crew would not react properly in an accident. On one emergency involving a Ryanair 737 one flight attendant couldn't open the door. Not impressive. However, I have no problems with their pilots (they are at the legal limit, but that limit is quite low, for safety, and most airlines also push their pilots to the legal limit), or their maintenance, which is very easy to regulate, or the design of their aircraft I (I'd happily get on an XL.com 737-800).
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7759283901290988541
Makes for interesting viewing. Those short turnarounds haven't changed. If, god forbid, anything did happen to a Ryanair 737, I'm not sure that the passengers would fare as well as if it were flown by Monarch or BA. But that's my opinion, they are very popular and I wouldn't want them to go under, as lots of people would loose their jobs.
 
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