Great Western Coffee Shop

This morning I caught one of the Ealing broadway services from reading which was served by a 166

I noticed that the rear first class cabin had been demoted using the following process

1) the head rest covers (which say first class) had been removed
2) the internal doors had been wedged option so that the "1st class only" stickers were not visible and (drum roll please)
3) some gaffa tape had been used outside above the windows to hide the gold stripe!

I didn't find a washing up liquid bottle otherwise I would have been convinced it was a blue Peter project :)

I travelled in one of these from Twyford to Didcot last night.  Despite all the first class markings being removed it seems people were still unsure about sitting in that area.

It reminded me of the old slam door stock on the Reading to Waterloo line.  For some reason they had an unclassified compartment next to the three or four first class compartments and you could often get a seat in there as people were not sure they were not first class.

Gosh, I remember those. There was one standard class compartment on a 4 VEP, when all the other compartments were first. Never understood why, though it was highly attractive when travelling from Southampton to Waterloo on a "93" (stopping service).

This is part of a minor refurb on class 166's.

It includes removing one of the first class areas,putting in wifi and power plugs.

Went on a train today to Reading, I didn't see many 166's

see here

http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=90935