A tail of two HSTs

[whole diary]

[Chris from Nailsea]

 

[dog box]

There are 2 types of seats fitted to FGW^▸ (First Great Western) 158..the Richmond seats which have the round grab ears and arent that comfortable and the other type with the square ears which are exactly the same as the SWT^▸ (South West Trains) 158s.
i personally find the fixed centre arm rest on the loco hauled stock an absolute pain. as for HST^▸ (High Speed Train) seating i find the Grammer seats perfectly comfortable.

[smithy]

correct there are 6 trainsets that have the richmond navigator seat,745,746.747,748,749&751 basically because these had different seats pre refresh to the ex tpe stuff.they originally had the same as 150's fitted,at time of refresh FGW^▸ (First Great Western) could not source enough of the MTB seats to do all the same (MTB fitted to rest of 158 exactly same as SWT^▸ (South West Trains))

[Mookiemoo]

the one that did the 1329 from nailsea yesterday was rather comfortable and nice inside

[smokey]

Do HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) have tails? Ain't they got a head at both ends?

 

Reckon HST's are related to Earth Worms, cut them in the middle and each half can still move on it's own.

[thetrout]

I recently travelled on a service from London Liverpool Street to Southend in First Class... Didn't get the class of train as I was near platform 4 when they annouced 4 minutes before the train was due to leave that it would be leaving off of platform 14... The seat was fairly comfortable but I was impressed with the shear amount of leg room...!! I could have quite easily sat there daydreaming and looking out the window had it not been for my girlfriend trying to steal my iPhone to update my facebook statuses that make me sound stranger than I already am............!

Brucey, try the seats on SN Southampton - Victoria in First Class, Shall we say, if it weren't for the power plugs and free coffee in 1st, I would go Standard as the seats in standard are far more comfortable...!

Also I tried C2C last weekend, 1 toilet for a 4 coach train............. Unacceptable!!!

[6 OF 2 redundant adjunct of unimatrix 01]

143

bliss! and im not joking

It was stationary, right...?!

sorry for the late reply, nope was moving i was very tired tho

[Rhydgaled]

Personally the most comfortable seats I have sat in (transportation wise) reletively recently were in the compartment of the 3-CIG EMU^▸ (Electric Multiple Unit) 'Freshwater' when I popped down to Brockenhurst to see a slam-door in service for the last time. Now, legroom, that's a sore point. Being 6ft and an inch or two I have trobble with airline seats on trains (and bus seats (normally)). There are however two buses around here (Ceredigion/Pembrokeshire) which do actually have a good amount of legroom, even for me (provided you know which seats to use). Now, if only the airline seats had that amount space between rows, and they were aligned so you never just get a view of a window pillar. Fit some 158s up like that and they might become somthing special again, then the operators could bring back the 'Alphaline' brand, done away with by Arriva and First, to market them.

[inspector_blakey]

Also I tried C2C last weekend, 1 toilet for a 4 coach train............. Unacceptable!!!

Really...? It's a fairly short distance suburban service. Try travelling out to Amersham or Chesham on LUL^▸ (London Underground Ltd) with no bogs at all (same with some of the US commuter rail networks, and they don't have lavs at the station either).

Fit some 158s up like that and they might become somthing special again, then the operators could bring back the 'Alphaline' brand, done away with by Arriva and First, to market them.

I don't think the refurbishments of the 158 fleet that have happened over the years have actually changed the seating arrangements for the most part, so they're essentially still as introduced by BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)). If they were indeed "something special" once then the reason they aren't now, at least in Arriva's case, is that they're long overdue for a refurbishment (finally happening) and looking very tired, but fundamentally they're the same trains they were from the start.

[broadgage]

I only have one complaint about the First Class on FGW^▸ (First Great Western) hst's, why are most of the seats grey yet one seat in each bay of 4 is blue/purple? 

That is because the new seats are leather covered, and the suppliers could not find enough grey cows, but did find a few of the rare blue/purple cows.

As regards the seat design, I find them too low, and at 6 foot tall I am only slightly above average height.
The seats appear to have been designed for lying back and relaxing or sleeping, not for sitting up and working, or eating a meal.

[super tm]

I only have one complaint about the First Class on FGW^▸ (First Great Western) hst's, why are most of the seats grey yet one seat in each bay of 4 is blue/purple? 

That is because the new seats are leather covered, and the suppliers could not find enough grey cows, but did find a few of the rare blue/purple cows.

As regards the seat design, I find them too low, and at 6 foot tall I am only slightly above average height.
The seats appear to have been designed for lying back and relaxing or sleeping, not for sitting up and working, or eating a meal.

The blue ones were put there by a designer to break up what would otherwise be a uniform block of colour if all seats were the same.  Well thats what he said in the DVD they showed us of the refurb process.

And do you know what the colour is called ?  Petrol Blue.  Not very appropriate for a train 

[Rhydgaled]

If they were indeed "something special" once then the reason they aren't now, at least in Arriva's case, is that they're long overdue for a refurbishment (finally happening) and looking very tired, but fundamentally they're the same trains they were from the start.

The reason they were once somthing special is they had air conditioning, that was rare at the time (and still is where other sprinters are still used frequently) and was one key feature of an Alphaline service.