Great Western Coffee Shop

Just got back from a day at the Eastleigh Railway Works Open Day, a good day out but this route was an utter shambles yesterday. I saw two Class 150s and a two-car 158 out on the route, all operating by themselves. Bank Holidays are some of the busiest days and capacity and comfort were greatly reduced. Something seems to have gone badly wrong with unit availability this weekend.

I think they still had 2 units out due to the fatality recently, but don't quote me on that =]

Better lend my "train tree" to fgw again!!

i will lease them some stock, have a 101, two class 91's two dvt's a 37 and a 156... only two mk4 coaches

and they would need to convert some lines to 00 scale

 ;) :D ;D

And fitting ohle?

the 91's have been adapted to run on an electrified rail  8)

;D

quite correct 2 3 cars stopped after fatality and also 1 or 2 on depot for repair work

I'm puzzled as to why it takes at least 2 days to release 2 x 3 car units back after a fatality, but then again, I probably don't want to know the answer either.

Hmm. A couple of rather more sombre points from me, if I may:

'Shambles: A place or scene of bloodshed or carnage'; that's perhaps an ironic term, on this particular topic.

The human body contains about 8 pints of blood, 206 bones, various organs, ... . If you'll pardon the image, having to remove that from a train, while maintaining decency for the deceased, detail for the pathologist and respect for the family, who want to be able to bury/cremate the mortal remains of the deceased, does take time.  It's not just a matter of turning a pressure hose on.

Sorry, rant over.  :-[

I can understand that units are out due to the fatality, they are going to have units out of action but it is the allocation of units that is the problem, I have heard that Weymouth was incredibly over allocated on Monday, while Portsmouth-Cardiff trains were left short formed.

I'm not sure it was incredibly over allocated on the Weymouth line on Monday as services on this line are always have extra stock allocated on a bank holiday to cover for extra passengers travelling to Weymouth for the day. For the morning (peak) services to Weymouth for daytrippers the 0841 ex Bristol was four carriages (150 and 158) and the 0949 ex Bristol was a two car 150 as normal.

The return 1730 was just two carriages down from the planned five carriages with road transport provided see:
http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=4721.0

Another illustration as to just how short FGW is of DMUs such that any unexpected events which take units out of service drastically affects the whole service.

first off btp have to give permission for it/them to be cleaned,then there is a lot of test that have to be done to prove the train was in a safe condition and no blame can be put on the train/company for the incident.all the paperwork is then a legal document and can be produced at the inquest.

there is nothing FGW or any other train company can do to speed things up it is just procedure,but as said it does highlight how FGW are operating with a fleet that is too small.