Great Western Coffee Shop

It's a long time since I've travelled on ATW's 158 fleet, as services in west Wales are now predominantly 175 and 153 units (west of Carmarthen, at least). Then by chance over the last few days I've been on two, one on the up Fishguard to Cheltenham service and the second on a Manchester Picc - Milford Haven train, I assume covering for an unavailable 175 in the latter case.

I knew they were a little, erm, tired, but I hadn't realized quite the extent of the squalor they've been allowed to degenerate into. The first unit was a right old camel, still in the old Wales and West (or possibly Wales and Borders) base livery of silver with navy blue doors. Inside it was looking deeply threadbare and unloved, with balding W&W upholstery, wall coverings peeling off and ingrained filth in all the carpets. And that's without mentioning a toilet that would be considered inhospitable even at at a music festival (no hot water, no soap, a feeble little puff of stone-cold air from the hand dryer). The second unit was a little better but still looking very ropey internally.

Clearly this situation hasn't arisen overnight, these units have obviously been getting very little in the way of deep cleaning or internal maintenance for some time which is a bit of a disgrace. It's also a mystery to me why ATW has decided not to prioritize the 158 fleet during its current refurbishment programme, instead working on the much better 153 and 175 fleets first.

I know there are times when the presentation of some of FGW's fleet isn't as good as some of might like (esp in the Thames Valley) but the state of these examples of Arriva's fleet really put that in perspective!