Great Western Coffee Shop

http://www.firsthstshowcase.co.uk/gallery.php (http://www.firsthstshowcase.co.uk/gallery.php) - Its still there. Just wanted to provoke a little recent discussion on the difference between what we were shown and what we got in light of recent service.
Just musing as I experience severe back ache from 14 hours in two days on their HSTs.

So are they ever actually getting wiwi?  ::)

Not sure why it's still up, but I do think it is a shame the electronic indicators near the doors were not included. Much better than window labels which waste time having to put in.
WiFi is the other thing that should have been included as planned.

Hopefully the above two could be phased in at a later stage.

Information boards are useless with such high seats though  :D

The lack of bins on the HD sets its also fairly shody if you ask me.

Wifi been canned then?

Shame, fgw would have raked it in on commuters

Ah - i see the info points you mean. They would have been excellent, I agree.

Wifi is still going ahaid AFAIK

I don't mean the screens inside, there was a plan to have a similar system as Virgin where there is a panel by the entry door, which would have been a good feature.

Don't know whether WiFi has been canned, nothing has been mentioned about it.

More photos here

http://cjm.fotopic.net/c436570.html

It's a shame they got rid of that tbh.

As they seem to stop putting up destination stickers on hst's now...

Those 2nd class carriage plans seem to have a lot more tables than the real thing.....

Do these refurbished toilets have retainment tanks?

No, retention toilet tanks were not included in the refurb.

What we have is a claustrophobic cramped carriage that is no longer any use for long trips. It will be interesting to see if long distance loadings from Cornwall and Swansea decrease with these refurbished units. Previously the Mark 3's were marvelous very safe vehicles and a pleasure to travel in.

I thought that originally the long distance sets were going to be different from the short distance versions but we just seem to have finished up with a load of commuter shuttle stock.

'Scenic railways of Devon and Cornwall' was a previous advertising campaign. Not with First group transforming travel, now You are lucky if you can see anything.

The seats are actually better though!

The seats are what made me not use hst's on long distance pre-refurb.

As i'd have my legs half way into someones chair for the enrite journey.

And whatever happened to the VOLO VIEW Carriage?!  ;D

Was it a failed experiment?

Shame as I was looking forward to the train cam on the front of the train......

Good job they didnt fit retention tanks otherwise they would smell like a Voyager...probably the worst train in the world

I'd say the HST refurb got it wrong.

Previously the seats were suited to somebody around 5ft4" whereas now if you are 5"4 they are stupendoudly large that they are uncomfortable and in general the lack of springs in the seats means they are rock solid which isn't great...

Is it the Voyager that tends to empty it's tanks going around corners, I'm sure I've seen something mentioned previously but can't immeadiately mind it.

Voyager's tend to empty Engine Lub oil out of the engines when going round bends.
It's VERY rare to see a 5 car voyager with all engines running.