Great Western Railway: on-board catering, buffets, Travelling Chef, Pullman - ongoing discussion

[whole diary]

[JayMac]

Only a single Pullman now.

Err, there are six per day.

[TaplowGreen]

Only a single Pullman now.

Err, there are six per day.

Broadgage is on every one! 

[Witham Bobby]

Trains to Brighton used to have buffets, then a trolley, and now nothing.

Some trains to Brighton used to be the full Pullman thing.  The Brighton Belle was a joyous thing to behold and travel aboard.  Although, you did sometimes wonder how the rattly old darling used to hold together and stay on the road

[bobm]

There has been talk among the staff that the 18:04 may return in May - but that was before the latest increase in virus cases.

I suspect what we won't see, certainly for a long time, is the Breakfast ones coming back.

[broadgage]

Trains to Brighton used to have buffets, then a trolley, and now nothing.

Some trains to Brighton used to be the full Pullman thing.  The Brighton Belle was a joyous thing to behold and travel aboard.  Although, you did sometimes wonder how the rattly old darling used to hold together and stay on the road

The good old days indeed. Buffets on most Brighton services, a full restaurant on some, modernised over the years to the present position of nothing.

[broadgage]

Only a single Pullman now.

Err, there are six per day.

Broadgage is on every one! 

I now travel much less by train than back in the good old days. Mainly due to the nasty new trains.

[IndustryInsider]

I now travel much less by train than back in the good old days.

Then I guess we can excuse you for getting muddled up in your post of late last night.

[broadgage]

I now travel much less by train than back in the good old days.

Then I guess we can excuse you for getting muddled up in your post of late last night.

So how many Pullmans are running under the new timetable ?

[IndustryInsider]

Looks like the same six daily ones that have been running post-Covid restrictions as detailed earlier in the thread?  At least, that’s what the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) website says.  BobM is our man in the know…?

[bobm]

My waistline is probably more in the know! 

It is the six - for the record from the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) website



I must admit, with everything else going on, getting a silver service meal on a train is not top of my list at the moment.  In any event the Pullmans will finish after the 22nd December and resume on the 5th January 2022.

[broadgage]

Thanks for that update, not as bad as I thought.

[TaplowGreen]

I now travel much less by train than back in the good old days.

Then I guess we can excuse you for getting muddled up in your post of late last night.

........that may also be due to a nostalgic festive over indulgence in Port? 

[Mark A]

Does anyone recall: what was the catering provision on the Paddington to Bristol route around 1990? Not thinking pullman - just the everyday trains.

I can remember travelling in the morning peak but on the return half of a standard class ticket around then (if I remember correctly, peak restrictions on off-peak trains then only applied to the outward journey) - and I think the restaurant carriage served breakfast to standard class ticket holders if there was room - which there was - so, breakfast it was.

After I sat down in the bay of four, a couple joined me who were travelling from Essex to Bristol last minute, were unfamiliar with train travel, and had paid something that in those days sounded spectacular for a pair of  Essex - Bristol first class single tickets. They were pleased to get a meal out of it too though.

Then... speaking of first world problems, while the breakfast was lovely, the sausages were a bit basic, so I later wrote to BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)), who agreed, and responded that they'd already changed their supplier to up their quality.

Mark

[bobm]

There was certainly Pullman breakfast on the 07:30 from Paddington to Penzance via Bristol in the late 1980s/early 1990s. 

[broadgage]

And standard class ticket holders could use the restaurant for breakfast, or other meals subject to availability of space. This is still the case.