Great Western Coffee Shop

I seem to remember there was a thread a little while ago were some people were calling for 1st class to be abolished.  Maybe it has already started the 2015 to Swansea was formed 2+6 tonight 5 standards and 1 first class.  Interestingly it does not appear on the service incidents as a short formation.

Have been reliably informed the acceleration is pretty good  :D

Doesnt  surprise me

With the down grading of the first class service i.e. trolleys not showing up when expected, buffets closing early, removal of the first class perks (been done to death lets not go there but coke, wine club etc)

There really is not much incentive for the occasional or even 1-2 weekly traveller to pay for it.

And I thought it was working until the last few weeks.

I was commuting until November 2008 - at that point, by oxford I pretty much had to share a table on the up service - sometimes even with three people! (SHOCK!).  I was rarely woken up and ask to demake my bed (hoodie as a pillow and cushioning the fixed arm rest with legs across the two seats - I'm 5'3'' so I fit nicely and I take my shoes off!) however I did get glared at by the prof business types sitting opposite (so I look like a chav hoodie in transit, big deal).  On the down service it was a scrabble to only have to share with one person until oxford.

When I resumed in April - I did notice first was deserted - I mean deserted.  I had a table pretty much all the way to reading to myself and getting on at reading coming home I never had to share with anyone.

Last 4-6 weeks, it is noticably busier.  And I dont think its just seasonal variation. 

First is fighting back - I dont think the recession lasted long enough for them to ring the death bells

Certainly when a train I was on was running parralel to the 0640 Bristol Paddington each FC table had 1 or more person on it, certainly well used considering there is a train 10 mins in front and 20 behind.

Was there only a trolley service? Maybe a Coach F out for conversion to TSMB and a coach D out to install Volo?

No five standards.  One of the new micro buffets

A lot of the extra FC usage lately has been club 55 though, may go quiter now

Not at 0530 and 0630 in the morning I dont think!

Or the evening peaks

XC need to do something about First Class capacity on the 18:44 Service from Bristol T M... The amount of times i've had to stand all the way to Taunton is quite frankly, rather annoying...! And you can never get any complimentaries as the trolley can't get down the train because of the amount of people in the vestibules, and for the same reason, you can't get up them...!

Another train that really gets on my goat is the 22:38 from Bath Spa on a Friday night... The amount of times i've bought a FC ticket for that train and been invaded by several drunks is really quite scary... on the one occasion I got ticket checked the Guard threw about 6 drunks out... Not so fun to have to walk past them to get off the train at Westbury... I recall several explitives been hurled at me from across the carriage... :o ::)

Now why SWT cannot allow you to get off from the FC section i'll never know... you can on most of their other stock... just not 158/159's >:(

Depends which way round the unit is surely. No one worries about you walking through First Class on the Hants local 158s.

If though, you mean why can't you get out of the front doors, it is because of an agreement with the union that the front vestibule is out of bounds. It was supposedly agreed (from what I've been told in the past) so that there are no issues on the West of England single track sections if the driver needs to get out of the train at a signal.  A ssimilar restriction applied to the 442s when SWT used them.

Paul

i've seen a driver leave a 158 to use the signal telephone on a very crowded class 158 from between Bath and Cardiff.  Me and lots of others were standing next to the door he used and I can tell you he struggled to get past us all and when the door opened there was quite an alarming drop to thwenballast that a stupid passenger could have fallen out of, so I can see that this is a real issue at least on crowded trains.  but why is it a particular problem with single track section?   

Well the 1722 is running about without a coach G - lets just say its a little cozy in first class tonight

there are a number of oddly formed sets about at present, inclubing 1 with a 1st class coach in the b position , think its due to maintainence, and conversions to mini buffet etc

I don't really know. One possibility explained years ago was that the specific 'tokenless block' signalling arrangements used on the line make it more likely that the drivers have to use the signal post telephones. However another story I've heard is that it was considered more dangerous for pax because if they did fall out they'd also have the third rail, and another track to contend with in the four track areas between Basingstoke and London.

The decision was possibly made so long ago, that many of the current drivers don't really know why themselves anymore. Suffice to say that the door lock mods were fitted to all the additional 158s and 159s in fairly quick time.

Paul

Have you ever tried it.  Recently I was on one and at the station some tourists (who could not read English) managed it OK.  As that would be an emergency exit I should imagine that you actually can get off that way it's just we are so well behaved we obey the signs !

I use the SWT service from Warminster to Waterloo often travelling 1st.  The 1st Class section is leading on the way up and it appears to be "policy" not to open the door at any stops, but it is opened at Waterloo. On the way back, I can't  honestly say whether to door is opened for passenger use (other than at Waterloo), but I've often used it myself to get off at Warminster, because it is now the rear door on the 3 coach train and the guard is usually there.

When the driver is keyed in the Vestibule door is disabled, I believe the internal door open buttons are live too - ie can over ride the door locking.

When the driver keys out at Waterloo, the door is opened.

The door open button in the passenger compartment is disabled when that end's cab is in use, the emergency exit display above the door comes on, and outside the train there is a 'door out of use' message displayed.

You'll then see that if the guard or trolley dolly needs to get into the vestibule, they have to use a carriage key above the door. But from within the vestibule, the door control works normally.

For emergency egress passengers can use an emergency button in a break glass box, like a fire alarm call button, mounted adjacent to the normal button. 

As said elsewhere, it all happens automatically when the driver is keyed on at that cab, which is why the door becomes available at Waterloo. I expect the idea that it is a restriction for First is that the trains, especially 159s are nearly always that they round.

Paul

What units are these?

The white things that mainly run from reading dont have any doors out of first and the occasional bluer thiings also dont have doors out of first

Note - I really am not a train spotter I just have travelled on FGW stock for too many years not to have absorbed some of it

Class 159 (similar to a 158) operate in SWT land between London-Salisbury-Exeter/Bristol.
http://www.freefoto.com/images/23/31/23_31_6---South-West-Trains-Class-159--Axminster-Railway-Station_web.jpg?&amp%3Bk=South+West+Trains+Class+159%2C+Axminster+Railway+Station

First class interior:
http://www.jddiamond.net/USERIMAGES/159_Interior_159104_031207_JPG(1).jpg

I think Paul7755 has summed it up nicely there...

The door is locked when the driver is driving the DMCL part of the train... But when the roles are reversed, that door does work... :)

My only slight issue with this is that when your on that 22:38 on a Friday Night, entering and exiting First Class does attract alot of unwanted attention... The Eyebrow Raising I could put up with... ;D The comments aren't so fun...! :-X