Great Western Coffee Shop

if you dont like These deplorable excuses for Trains..and use Facebook..join the group i hate voyagers!!!!

They're better than Pacers...

Hmmm ... I don't actually hate Voyagers: is there a group for, "I'd prefer not to travel on a Voyager if there is any possible alternative"?   ;D

Does Walking count?  ;D

Except when a Pacer is substituting for a Voyager..... ;D ;D ;D

Voyagers are worse than Pacers!!!!!!!!!!

No, they're not.

i ride on both sorts of traction regularly and actually find the 142s quite pleasant especially if you are in a group of say 5 or 6 you can slouch on the bus seats and have a social with your mates.. something impossible on a voyager with the tombstone seats

So do: I travel from Barnstaple to Leeds regularly, and find that I can sit comfortably in a Voyager seat, as there is enough room between me and the seat in front (which is not true of Pacers), don't get backache as the seat has been properly designed (which is not true of Pacers), can work at a table (of which there aren't any in Pacers) or - where necessary - using the fold-down tables (of which there aren't any in Pacers), and can charge my laptop in the power point (of which there aren't any in Pacers).

In addition, if on the poorly-maintained jointed track we have to put up with between Barnstaple and Exeter I wouldn't have to brace myself to avoid being thrown to the floor (which I do in a Pacer), I don't go deaf from the incessant noise coming from the wheels every time they hit a joint (which I do in a Pacer), and if I'm with someone I don't have to shout to make myself heard (like I do on a Pacer).

Plus if I'm hungry I can walk to the buffet (which I can't in a Pacer), and I can get in and out of the toilet without any circus training (which is tricky in a Pacer, and is downright dangerous if it hits a bad joint while I'm in there).

Finally, heaven forbid that I'm ever involved in any sort of rail accident, but if I do I want to be in a Voyager when it happens, as I will have an immeasurably greater chance of walking away from it unscathed.

Pacers are cheap, nasty, uncomfortable and unpleasant. Voyagers are much, much better.



They're not bus seats - buses have far nicer ones...

voyagers were good when they came out...good not great but they are badly built and now a few years on they rattle as there built out of plastic there noisy engines underneath and to be honest since xc took over from virgin they arn't even cleaned that well... you shouldnt see the same handprints on the window with toni was ere 08 etched onto the window in chav greese two saturdays in a row....

the voyagers are not bad trains but i dont belive they are suitable for long distance

Stagecoach Devon don't!!!!

The vintage buses operating on my route are far less comfortable than a Pacer seat which actually has some padding!!!

Pacer seats are bus seats considering the design is based on the Leyland National.

i really dont think pacers are that bad

You sum them up nicely relex109. I don't mind them for say doing Bristol-Birmingham but much longer then that I'd look at going another route.

For anyone who may be morbidly curious I believe there may be a dead one at Barton Hill at the moment, maybe Sprog could enlighten us further as to it's stationary nature.

Hi

I have to agree with TerminalJunkie on this one..... As a traveller on the Barnie branch commuting to HQ in Iceland, whether I fly into Heathrow then Paddington > over-crowded HST to EXD, or Manchester > Voyager to EXD.... believe me there is nothing worse (apart from a very very good horror movie), than the sight of a darned Pacer on Platforms 1 or 3 waiting to shudder your vertebrae for the last hour, of an already 11 hour journey back to Barnstaple.

The voyagers do have one plus over the HSTS, if one engine is playing up/not working on a voyager, the train can still be used, but if a power car on an HST isn't working, the train can't go anywhere as far as i know

Also, the voyagers have the slidey blind thingys (yes thingy is a technical term thank you!) so you dont get blinded by the sun late afternoon (which i know from experience)...ok, so my train knowledge is only limited to anything between Bath Spa and Cheltenham Spa, but are there any other trains that have blinds (due to a tempory mind blank, i can't remember if the FGW hst's have any type of blind)

and the overall size of the toilets on a voyager are much better than on an HST.

An HST can run with one engine there is a video on You Tube of this.

The blinds are one of the eorst things about Vomiters, because a selfish person can shut the blind and ruin your (potentially long) journey.

The toilets are a waste of space, esp on trains which regualry suffer critical overcrowding.

Agree. As was the shop as designed. The overall capacity of the 4 coach sets is pathetic, with just 186 seats in total, and only 160 standard. And it was a surprise that they were overcrowded? 

So that equates to 40 seats per coach in standard!!!

A FGW HST with 2 standard class carriages and a first class coach would provide more seating capacity!

Maths is not one of your strongpoints, then?

dont know where you got your info from  Shadow ...but an HST can run perfectly well on one power car

Easy mistake to make,

we're not all perfect  ::)

Just as a matter of interest, would the one working power car on the HST have to be the front one, or could it be either?

AFAIK either - got stuck in Truro last year when the front car failed - driver tried to go with the rear car but the wheels spun up trying to get up the 20ft gradient to the southern portal.

just out of interest and im probably wrong...again

but anyway if a hst fails in the southwest up til 1900 couldnt the loco used on the sleeper train do a drag rather than cutting the service? or replacing with a pacer>/?

Could be either P/C Chris, interestingly though when both are working each P/C performs different roles according to the direction of travel, and if one fails the remaining one can do everything.
The HST set was technically advanced for it day in the fact the trailer car suspension does incorporate an automatic rudimentary tilt system.
It would be possible to rescue an HST with the Sleeper loco or any loco with a standard coupling hook, but due to the diagramming of stock i expect the thinking would be get the set back to the depot as quick as possible to fix it

It can be done although is not a desirable option. The rear powercar usually provides ETH (train electrics) so runs constantly when "idling" in the equivalent of notch 2 (out of 5)

If one powercar fails, the other functioning powercar thus has to provide ETH whilst powering the train, quite a load!

AFAIK HSTs with one faulty powercar are not permitted to proceed west from Newton Abbot over the devon banks without a class 57 to help out.

On a trip from Southampton on a Voyager the other evening (quite late, so for once a 4-car was more than adequate), I boarded the quiet coach and was greeted to all the seat reservation displays saying 'This seat maybe reserved for all or part of the journey". It struck me as to how singularly useless that message would be to anyone!

I've been over the Devon Banks with one powercar admittedly in 1992 or 3. Don't forget one HST powercar puts out more drawbar horsepower than a King. Provided the rails are dry it's slow but sure and as it was a Valetta, noisy, I had my head out over Ratterly. We were very late.

I thought they could go through to Plymouth, but had to go non-stop from Newton Abbot to get over the Devon banks?  I have a few times filled out NTS orders for Totnes for a HST on 1 powercar.

::)

What did the display say next to the door? "This train might be going to Newcastle"

Yes thats correct as far as I know.

Could usefully say 'These trains used to go to Newcastle'...   :(

However even used normally, the outside displays are a bit naff. I think they could improve on the order they list places, eg at Southampton: Manchester Piccadilly next stop Southampton Parkway via Brirmingham International just doesn't seem right...

Paul

i miss the sheets they used to put in the windows with the destinations and stops on them... as a child i collected quite a few of them...at the final destination of course! :-[

You'd be suprised how many of those crop up on eBay ::)

ahhh memorys....kinda

(http://www.flickr.com/photos/relex109/3338883689/)

(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3544/3338883689_ebea40a876.jpg?v=0)

My favourite experience on a HST was going to Taunton when I was 15. The train stopped between totnes and newton abbot. We waited for 10 minutes, eventually I decided to look out the door window. I was rather amused to see a heard of cows on the line and the signal displaying a danger aspect :D

lol classic

Section Appendix says HSTs may be given authority to proceed between Newton Abbot and Plymouth if weather conditions are suitable and clear runs can be provided between Newton Abbot and Dainton and Totnes and Marley Tunnel.  If the HST is 8 cars then it must not stop at Totnes or be routed via the down platform line.