Great Western Coffee Shop

Well after travelling from Reading to Newbury and back for 6 months I thought I^d join and say hi.

So I^ve put up with the following :

Engines shutting down when the train is going along, along with the lights going off

One engine not working (the strain it must put on the working ones left, an example of this was Tuesday when you could feel the wheels slipping on wet rails)

 Class 166 Air con doesn^t work!

Sticking doors

Thread bear seats

So was wondering, and very interested in that FGW say they went through a refresh, other than CCTV what was done?

   It does seem that all the money has been spent on the HST fleet and any units used on local trains are run into the ground.

Final rant (for now) I use Newbury racecourse station, and I can clearly see the train waiting at Newbury (where it has terminated from a previous service). Its meant to leave at 5.15 but is always about 5 mins late for no reason at all. But reading what some of you have to put up with maybe its not that bad!

Si.

Well, thank you for such a thought-provoking first post here, hornbeam - and welcome to the Coffee Shop forum!

I'm a complete novice myself on Class 166's - but I'm sure some of our other members here will be able to offer explanations on the points you've raised.  ;) :D ;D

Much better than 165 - they have tables in first!  In fact I think standard have better table provision thant 165 first!

Other than that - not much else is different - I think 166 have air con and 165 dont - and 166 have carpets - I think. 

As first, I will grudgingly do a PAD to WOS if I a=cna guarantee a 166 - I wont on a 165 - I'd get home an hour later or stay over

I think the fleet won't be in the best of condition due to the imminant refurb program.

to be honest i dont think anyone will disagree.. the three best refurbs were the 143... ok compaired to the 142 these are 1st class infact if you couple a 143 to a 142 then yiu have a train with 1st and second class

next the 150's shame the seats ae not that comfortable and they havnt sorted the standard random zzzzzzz bang from the doors (sit near them at spead you know what i mean... must be an air pocket)

best refresh by far... the 153's shame there so slow! 1 car units are the way forward! highly adaptable the 153's can be ran in multiple easly due to the corridoor

im not just saying they are best because of this the refresh was 1st class they units are like new!

So are they planning to referb the fleet? With anyluck they will do something to them 'underneath'! Its been interesting to Read engine failures are not uncommon. It amazes me when Passing Reading depot in an evening how few units are spare. Hopefully FGW will be doing a meet the manager at Reading soon.

Also thanks for the great welcome. :)

Next meet the manager at Reading is on 5th August 16:00 - 19:00