Great Western Coffee Shop

FGW first said that high density HST sets would be used on the shorter journeys and less high density carriages on services to Penzance/Plymouth and Swansea. I have been on a number of refreshed HST sets and they seem to be different internal layouts. Today i got on one with only disabled tables in E and another with 4 tables. Are there two fleets and if so how are they to be allocated?

iirc they're all the same?

at least everyone passing through cardiff from swansea i've been on has

Low Density and High Density. D has 2 tables per normal TSO, LD has 4. I belive the grab handles are also a different colour (Gets prepared for the "Listen to the spotter").

The high density sets were done first, and the low density sets are being done now, eventually the HD seta will be 2+7 with no buffet and the LD sets will retain buffets and be used on longer distance trains.

i was under the impression that fgw were reviewing this and possibly keeping all buffet cars?

In December 4 sets will loose their buffets and have trolleys, they will then monitor the situation and review staff/passenger feedback for a couple of months before finally making a decision, I believe this has been brought around by Andrew Haines who so far seems to be listening to staff, well, more so than his predecessor!

dont personally think that the trolly will be a hit anyway, it'll just end up getting in the way, and wont operate when fgw trains get full again...

buffet car is the way to go, even if it does add "3-4 mins" on each journey

With or without a buffet car makes no difference to the overall journey time as it was only ever proposed so FGW have more chance of getting their trains to reach their destination on time to boost their performance figures.
Yes it appears that a complete turnaround in terms of putting the customers first and listening to them since Andrew Haines took over along with his new management team. Shows how stale the old order had become. According to the article below, it was surprising that the previous management team was allowed to continue for so long:

http://www.landor.co.uk/transit/322/new1.shtml

I really think its a shame than the Family Carriage was destroyed. It would have made sence to have a whole carriage with tabled seating and then the rest of the train 2/4 tables per carriage.

Only problem FGW have is the fact that a lot of sets have a mixture of LD, HD and old.

I feel sorry for FGW on this one.

If you've had to stand on a train for 80 miles, any sympathy for anyone wanting to use a table to use a laptop and to do some work disappears. It might not sound much replacing the tables with chairs, but per carriage an extra 8 people can sit down. Over a train this is an extra 50 seats!

As regards families, FGW should have a carriage per train with extra tables that families with small children have priority!

All the sets aremixed up at the moment, I would imagine that they will soon start putting them into thier correct formations.

But then there are those that do 2-2.5 hours each way on a FGW train and can only do so by using the time to work (as i am doing now) and counting it as working day

And families (especially with small children who cant stop yelling or screaming) should be relegated to the guards van with the bicyles

Problem with that idea is that MTU engines are now so quiet that you'd still be able to hear them  ;)

very true!