First Class is in the middle of the train...

[whole diary]

[johoare]

...which was on the board at Paddington for the 7.18 (Which on the (odd) occasion it runs as planned is a Class 180).

Tonight it was 2 car turbo.. I decided that travelling in the "middle of the train" might be slightly uncomfortable if not down right dangerous so I didn't..

Journeycheck didn't manage to report on the missing 3 carriages although by the time we got to Maidenhead the boards there knew it was 2 carriages..

All adds to the fun of travelling FGW^▸ (First Great Western) 

[Brucey]

South West Trains often make this odd announcement: "First Class is located at the front, middle and rear of this 12 coach train"

[johoare]

oooh 12 coaches.. yes please.. that sounds like luxury to FGW^▸ (First Great Western) land 

[Brucey]

oooh 12 coaches.. yes please.. that sounds like luxury to FGW^▸ (First Great Western) land 

It really was a culture shock the first time I travelled on a 12-coach during the morning peak, having endured 2/3 coach Sprinters for many years.  We only about 10 standers per coach on my train, which is a great figure for 8:00 in the morning at Woking.

It is a great shame that services out of certain London termini appear to be favoured more than others when it comes to rolling stock procurement.

[rogerpatenall]

Some years ago I commuted from st Mary Cray to Victoria. My usual train was a 4, occasionally 8, coach VEP. One day a 12 car arrived bang on time. On board was someone handing out survey forms. "Please answer the questions relating to today's journey only. Please ignore experiences, good or bad, of other journies". That was in the days of Connex, I think.

That really is taking the ****. Still if it was Connex it didn't save them and they got what they deserved...the boot!

[BBM]

oooh 12 coaches.. yes please.. that sounds like luxury to FGW^▸ (First Great Western) land 

Back in the late 80s when I was first commuting from Twyford, the 18.13 from Paddington (to Oxford I think, first stops Maidenhead and Twyford) was formed of a Class 47 diesel loco hauling 12 Mark 1 coaches so a 12-coach formation on our line did once exist! However the coaches had low-density 2+2 seating and because the previous fast train was 40 minutes earlier the 18.13 was often full and standing. The Class 47s seemed to struggle to get up speed with load 12 but the journey time was still much faster than the stoppers.

OK, end of nostalgia for today! 

[inspector_blakey]

oooh 12 coaches.. yes please.. that sounds like luxury to FGW^▸ (First Great Western) land 

Part of the problem on the lines out of Paddington, unfortunately, is that in their wisdom the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) built most of the suburban stations with only seven-car platforms. That said, I'm sure that plenty of people would be delighted if FGW ended up with enough stock to run regular seven-car trains.

The comparison between SWT^▸ (South West Trains) and FGW is slightly spurious, in that the volume of commuters heading into Waterloo vastly exceeds the number travelling into Paddington, but it's probably fair to say that SWT is better set up to handle its volume of commuters than FGW is, despite there being fewer in the Thames Valley.

[johoare]

..on the board at Paddington for the 7.18pm first stop Maidenhead this evening.. It was a three car turbo 

[IndustryInsider]

Yes, I've noticed that before.  Obviously not updated from when it was a Class 180 operated service.  Even then first class was never technically at the centre.   

[johoare]

It's a shame it's a turbo again now to be honest.. I'm not sure why it changed?

[IndustryInsider]

To provide a 180 for the 15:51 PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains)-WOS^» (Worcester Shrub Hill - next trains) service due to the unavailability of a HST^▸ (High Speed Train) set due to maintenance.  That disappointing decision has been discussed elsewhere, though it was the most sensible 180 diagram to pinch from.

[johoare]

Aah good point.. I think I did read that somewhere.. That makes sense then.. Just need the indicator boards to catch up with the decision then 

[johoare]

This train was so full tonight I decided not to get on.. People were getting off shortly before it departed (on time) as it was so full.. I was soo glad about my decision as looking at realtime trains it was 10 minutes late arriving at Maidenhead.. So that's 30 minutes on a very packed  train with no escape 

[NickB]

This train was so full tonight I decided not to get on.. People were getting off shortly before it departed (on time) as it was so full.. I was soo glad about my decision as looking at realtime trains it was 10 minutes late arriving at Maidenhead.. So that's 30 minutes on a very packed  train with no escape 

The earlier trains were no better.
At the Meet The Manager session in September I made the point that direct Padd->Maidenhead services are completely inadequate in terms of carriages and gaps in service.  If you compare the services Maidenhead->Padd in the morning they are far better and there is a complete mismatch of seats-in vs seats-out.  This last point seemed to resonate and they said they would look into this and report back at the December session.

Looking at (what I call) paeak services:

7.03 - 6 carriage turbo
7.08 - 8 carriage HST^▸ (High Speed Train)
7.18 - 6 carriage turbo
7.31 - 3 carriage turbo

Thats 23 carriages within 30 minutes, and they are full and standing - both 1st and standard for the record.

On the way back we have:

18.18 - 6 carriage turbo
19.05 - 3 carriage turbo
19.18 - 3 carriage turbo

Thats 9 carriages in 1hr.

Total disconnent

[ChrisB]

The problem last night was caused by a lot of displaced Chiltern commuters heading for home via the Thames Valley stations & branches - Marylebone & Baker Street Met & Jubilee lines all being closed by a fatality around the Kilburn/Willesden Green area.

Marylebone was closed for nigh on the whole peak 1715ish to 1920.