Great Western Coffee Shop

Or is it just stopping further along the platform now?  Presume this is to do with the last set of doors being close to the end of the platform.  Or is it that the train has fewer carriages? >:(

Definitely seems shorter now - there's certainly more people having to stand in the aisle each morning.

Of late the set used has the buffet car missing so there is a) less first class seats and b) less open space for standard class to stand.

I have notice that the 07:03 has got busier since the clocks changed lighter mornings and evenings possibly mean people get up earlier to catch an earlier train so they can get home earlier, or may be there have been some slight timing changes elsewhere west of Maidenhead which means people are using that service.

The noticeboard said it had a trolley service this morning.  Didn't see it and I guess it'd be difficult to push a trolley past an aisle full of standing passengers!

Is it an HST?

I believe so.

Certainly is

The train is becoming more and more packed lately.  Not helped that lately three of the carriages are First Class configuration...even when one of them is redesignated second class to help overcome the overcrowding. 

I really do think that the metrics used to measure/monitor train operators should include something to improve the probability of having a seat.

London Midland recently launched a service which tells commuters the trains that have spare seats:

http://www.londonmidland.com/your-journey/capacity/

It uses technology they added to their Desiros and Class 323s.

You don't need technology to tell you if there's surplus capacity on the 07:03....The answer, certainly since they removed the 07:02, is NO!

Todays 07:03 with 3 First Class coaches what a joke, although one was declassified, still packed and standing

I find it astronomical that a 0726 arrival into the capital is so busy!

You London commuters work early  :D

I was on this train yesterday morning (wednesday 8th) in coach B or C I think and there was only me and one other person standing up. The guard came through and said there were seats at the back, and that was before they announced that the third 1st Class carriage was being declassified.. Was that a one off or maybe the back of the train is quieter?

How come there are 3 First Class carriages? Unless you mean the pitiful number of First Class seats next to the buffet!

There's an odd 2+7 set out there at the moment with A, B, C and D, then two Gs and H, which is on Oxford and Cotswolds diagrams, and this is what Jo and electric train encountered on the 6.12 from Didcot. It was on the 17.51 to Worcester on Wednesday evening

Presumably E is away being turned into a buffet and the extra first class coach was the only thing available to take its place, though then deciding to put this set on Thames Valley commuter turns which need every standard seat they can get seems daft.

Passengers are like water...we flow to the point of least resistance.  So what happens is that if we find it's busy at the back for a couple of days we decamp to the other end of the platform.  Then when it becomes overcorwded at the front we drift towards the back again.  I'm sure if it was videod that psychologists would find it a fascinating activity to study.

According to this web site:
http://www.modelrailwaysdirect.co.uk/acatalog/Hornby-R2701X.html
HSTs are supplied on a coach by coach basis ...


So I guess you'll see quite a number of 1/76 th shrunken short trains around  ;D

We commute hard, work hard and play hard, apart from that its the only real decent fast train in the morning that the Marlow branch connects with