Great Western Coffee Shop

Has anyone else noticed the seemingly high proportion of FGW HST Mk3s going around with severe wheel flats? I appreciate this probably isn't a pressing safety issue but the constant vibrations can't be good for the other components on the bogies. I've just seen, or rather heard, a set leaving Bristol  Parkway and there were at least four axles with a wheel flat.

The vibrations you get in the pasenger saloons are really  annoying. Particularly at speed where you get a constant low frequency hum.

Earlier this month, or the very end of last month, a South Wales bound service was terminated at Swindon due to severe wheel flats.

It is particularly annoying if you are in one of the end berths on the sleeper if the coach has flats.

.......maybe this is a symptom of the current disruption to the normal cycle of maintenance due to the lines blockages in the Southwest?  In my 30 odd years of travelling on HSTs Only on very rare occasions have I ever found a wheel flat to be really annoying.

Well,  I'm definitely noticing them more and more, recently. And that includes before the current disruptions when FGW had unfettered access to their depots.

I think there must be a backlog of work they are trying to catch up on.  There is always a set on the wheel lathe at the depot and I think there is even a set running around in a 6+2 formation whilst wheelsets are replaced or turned.
The recent weather resulting in trees on the line and signalling issues hasn't helped either, an increase of emergency brake applications especially on a wet rail from high speed is always going to increase the number of flat spots on wheelsets.

Wheel flats on coaching stock is not so much of an issue as the ones on power cars or locomotives.  The track engineer dose not like wheel flats as this causes a hammering effect on the track and ballast which can lead to increased tamping.

You are not alone.  I agree that there do seem to be a quite a few flats at the moment.  It might just me being a pattern-seeking mammal, or it could be a symptom of depot issues caused by the Dawlish blockade.  Plymouth Laira depot has a wheel lathe and it may not be being used as much as normal at the moment.