First Class "Gatecrashed"

[whole diary]

[thetrout]

Btline considering my experience of XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) from Bristol - Taunton Yesterday I agree 90% with that!

Considering my XC service from Bristol - Taunton was very much Full and Standing in First Class, I only just managed to get a seat, which I gave away to somebody who was less able to stand. In that situation Seat Reservations can be a god send...!

But when I sometimes commute to work, seat reservations are hardly needed. I just plonk myself down anywhere, if somebody does have my seat reserved I will move... But saying that, I might get slightly annoyed should somebody decide to move me when there are plenty of empty tables and seats...!

[moonrakerz]

Why risk standing?

In First ?, on the 0946 from Warminster to Waterloo ?

Would agree, depending upon the train !

[Btline]

Esp if you have shelled out for First Class! (Advance ticket or not)

What if the train before is cancelled? You could have double the normal number of First Class passengers, plus other Standard Class passengers the guard lets in due to overcrowding in Standard!

I would get a reservation! If you use a Mixing Deck website, you can specify having a view, being near the end of a carriage, forward, reverse etc. And as I said before, you can ignore it anyway.

[devon_metro]

I would get a reservation! If you use a Mixing Deck website, you can specify having a view, being near the end of a carriage, forward, reverse etc. And as I said before, you can ignore it anyway.

You can specify all of that on the trainline based systems too....

[moonrakerz]

What if the train before is cancelled? You could have double the normal number of First Class passengers, plus other Standard Class passengers the guard lets in due to overcrowding in Standard!

Your argument is getting more and more desperate ! 

The "train before" is at 1647 - the day before ! Any other train after that has no First Class accommodation, so it is pretty unlikely that people would have bought a First Class ticket to travel Standard class on those services. (Unless they are an MP^▸ (Member of Parliament), perhaps  )
Based on my previous experiences on this train, if the number of First Class passengers (at Warminster) is doubled, that would be 2 - me, twice !
You could quadruple the number of people in Standard Class and still barely overcrowd one coach of the 3 coach train.
This is a quiet service that only starts to fill after Salisbury, when it becomes 9 coaches anyway.

As for Btline's comment about specifying a seat going "forward, reverse, etc", has he been on the service to Gt Malvern ? - it changes direction so often I wonder if the driver knows which end he should be sitting in.

[Btline]

Ok perhaps it will be empty. But I personally would still reserve....

You can specify all of that on the trainline based systems too....

Even a seat with a view?

...has he been on the service to Gt Malvern ? - it changes direction so often I wonder if the driver knows which end he should be sitting in.

Yes I have. And I can assure you that there is nowhere at Malvern for a train to change direction! The nearest point where this could happen is the Worcester triangle. But no FGW^▸ (First Great Western) services turn here. Only LM^▸ (London Midland - recent franchise) services from Droitwich to Malvern, which call at Shrub Hill, turn.

Besides. Even if the train reverses, you can still work out which direction to book.

Or (as I've said before) you can just change seats!

[Zoe]

The mixing deck system however does not let you see your seat numbers before you pay.

[Btline]

The mixing deck system however does not let you see your seat numbers before you pay.

Yes it does! And I always check on a seating plan on all VTs^▸ (Virgin Trains - former franchises) and old XCs^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)). If I don't like the seat, I go back (change any settings if necessary) and refresh.

[moonrakerz]

Yes I have. And I can assure you that there is nowhere at Malvern for a train to change direction! The nearest point where this could happen is the Worcester triangle. But no FGW^▸ (First Great Western) services turn here. Only LM^▸ (London Midland - recent franchise) services from Droitwich to Malvern, which call at Shrub Hill, turn.

I do wish people would read what I actually said, not what they think I might have said. 

I did not say the train reversed direction AT Great Malvern, I said TO Great Malvern. The train certainly reverses at Temple Meads and at Gloucester en route.
However, as you raised the point about Great Malvern...............I am left wondering if, as you say there is nowhere for the train to change direction, how on earth it goes back along the same route from Great Malvern as it took to get there, without the driver having to change ends and the train changing direction.

I must confess to never actually having been there, but looking at Google earth there appear to be two options.
1. The train returns "wrong side" until it can cross to the "right side", some where on the way to Worcester.
2. The train runs about a mile South of Great Malvern station to Peachfield Rd, where the driver can change ends (again !) and take his train (via a set of points) to the "right side", then return to Great Malvern station. (Just as the 1519 arrival from Westbury does at Warminster to become the 1528 to, guess where ?, Great Malvern).

In either case the driver has to change ends and the train changes direction - and he has 11 minutes to do it in !

This started as a light-hearted post about not having to have a reserved seat with an advance ticket - for Zoe's benefit !   

[Btline]

I think the trains have to run up to Malvern Wells to turn-back.

They don't go back "wrong road" to Worcester.

I you are going from, say, Bath to Malvern, I would reserve a backward seat, and change seats at Gloucester (when the train will be less full).