Tandem Bicycles on SWR

[JDuckworth]

A group of 5 of us are planning a cycle ride from Salisbury. One of the group is blind and is therefore on the back of a tandem bike. We plan to travel from Waterloo / Clapham Junction to Salisbury on an early morning train (which will be very quiet based on past experience). Officially, SWR appear to ban transport of tandem cycles and limit the number of cycles on the class 158/159 units operating this route.
Question - should we just try our luck (we have successfully got the same tandem on a train from Brighton to London on several occasions), just book the tandem as a standard cycle, or actively engage with SWR to try and get formal approval for a tandem.
Open to any suggestions to allow a group of elderly cyclists to make this trip with reasonable certainty.

 

[JohnRegular]

Unfortunately I think getting a tandem through the fairly narrow doors of a 158/159, and turned around the corner to even vaguely go in the bike space will be either very awkward or impossible, and once it's there (if it fits) it will probably block the door.

You might be able fit the frame in if you remove the wheels and any racks and mudguards.

I have successfully taken a tandem on an SWR class 450, which operate to Basingstoke/Southampton, without too much difficulty, but you will struggle to get it to Salisbury by rail, sorry to say.

 

[Alfonso]

Sounds like time to rent a van for the day

 

[Towers]

You are far, far better off getting in touch with SWR beforehand, and either getting some sort of permission/booking (which may be a great help if you need to persuade a reluctant member of staff on the day), or at least a definitive “No”. That would at least be better than finding yourselves stranded at Waterloo having been refused.

 

[Alfonso]

You are far, far better off getting in touch with SWR beforehand, and either getting some sort of permission/booking (which may be a great help if you need to persuade a reluctant member of staff on the day), or at least a definitive “No”. That would at least be better than finding yourselves stranded at Waterloo having been refused.

Or worse still being stranded in Salisbury on the way back?

 

[Towers]

Sounds like time to rent a van for the day

Or consider whether cycle hire options might be available locally?

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 30 Jul 2024 ==

Or worse still being stranded in Salisbury on the way back?

Indeed!

 

[Peter Mugridge]

I wonder about Waterloo - Southampton and then Salisbury via a GWR Turbo - although the problem is about half of the Southampton to Salisbury services are still in the hands of 158s aren't they?

 

[Towers]

Having just checked SWR’s website, it instructs the following:

“If you are travelling on our London Waterloo to Salisbury/Exeter trains you will need to reserve a space for your bike:

• When you book your ticket online
• At any staffed station
• By contacting our Customer Service Centre

Please book at least 24 hours before you travel.”

Link to the relevant page here:

Bikes on Trains | Bike Travel Info | South Western Railway

Find out more about how and when you can take bikes on trains. We love to welcome cyclists and their bicycles and to accommodate them as much as possible.

www.southwesternrailway.com

Again, I really would get in touch in advance!

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 30 Jul 2024 ==

I wonder about Waterloo - Southampton and then Salisbury via a GWR Turbo - although the problem is about half of the Southampton to Salisbury services are still in the hands of 158s aren't they?

More Turbos than 158s these days (sadly!), but still a fair few diagrammed 158 runs, yes. GWR can also, of course, suffer short formations and get very busy, so that could also be a gamble!

 

[dk1]

I seem to recall in my brief 1990s booking office days that tandems were never welcome on the rail network.

 

[LowLevel]

You are far, far better off getting in touch with SWR beforehand, and either getting some sort of permission/booking (which may be a great help if you need to persuade a reluctant member of staff on the day), or at least a definitive “No”. That would at least be better than finding yourselves stranded at Waterloo having been refused.

The problem with that is no "permission" from customer relations can overrule the decision of the guard in charge of a train not to carry an item that is prohibited like a tandem. They are responsible for operating the train.

In practice, they'd probably just say no with the usual apologies when you get in touch.

Class 158/9s are not suited to carrying large bicycles, despite the removal of the partition on the space.

 

[JohnRegular]

I wonder about Waterloo - Southampton and then Salisbury via a GWR Turbo - although the problem is about half of the Southampton to Salisbury services are still in the hands of 158s aren't they?

It might be a bit awkward to get it there but a tandem will probably fit in the bike space of a 2-carriage 165; but you'll have to hope one turns up rather than a 158, 166 or 3-car 165!

 

[43096]

The problem with that is no "permission" from customer relations can overrule the decision of the guard in charge of a train not to carry an item that is prohibited like a tandem. They are responsible for operating the train.

In practice, they'd probably just say no with the usual apologies when you get in touch.

Class 158/9s are not suited to carrying large bicycles, despite the removal of the partition on the space.

In addition I assume the party as described by the OP would be three standard bikes and a tandem. At the very least they need to check if their intended train is at least 5/6 car 158/159 as there’s not enough bike spaces if it is a single set.

In reality, I’d say hiring a van is a better bet. Or get a Time Machine back to 1989 when the van area of the BFK would do the job.

 

[swt_passenger]

Presumably another part of the problem is there are 4 bikes in total. So the plan possibly requires the entire bike capacity of a whole unit even if one of them wasn‘t a tandem?

 

[Parallel]

I should imagine a tandem wouldn’t fit in a Class 158/159 cycle space without blocking the doors. If you travelled to Southampton and changed, they would probably fit in the GWR Class 165 cycle racks, but this stock isn’t overly common on the route (just a handful of services a day), and that relies on the cycle spaces not already being taken. Probably best to make alternative arrangements.

 

[Doctor Fegg]

Separable tandems are a thing (I have one) and are worth considering if your friends are planning to use trains regularly. But the National Rail bikes page is pretty clear that standard tandems are only allowed on Avanti West Coast, Greater Anglia, LNER, and Scotrail's Glasgow–Oban service.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Separable tandems are a thing (I have one) and are worth considering if your friends are planning to use trains regularly. But the National Rail bikes page is pretty clear that standard tandems are only allowed on Avanti West Coast, Greater Anglia, LNER, and Scotrail's Glasgow–Oban service.

Wouldn't surprise me if most of those were in fact out of date - aside from the ScotRail 153s that is a list of the TOCs that used to have proper full size van areas for bikes, and now aside from the few LNER Mk4s only the Avanti Pendolinos do.

 

[dazzler]

Separable tandems are a thing (I have one) and are worth considering if your friends are planning to use trains regularly. But the National Rail bikes page is pretty clear that standard tandems are only allowed on Avanti West Coast, Greater Anglia, LNER, and Scotrail's Glasgow–Oban service.

Wouldn't surprise me if most of those were in fact out of date - aside from the ScotRail 153s that is a list of the TOCs that used to have proper full size van areas for bikes, and now aside from the few LNER Mk4s only the Avanti Pendolinos do.

The LNER one is definitely out of date. The mk4 DVT would fit a tandem** and you could just about get away with getting one in a High Speed Train TGS, but you've no chance with a class 80x - you can barely fit a normal length bike in one of those!

** In the early 2000s I owned a mark 1 Trice recumbent trike (quite a bit longer and wider than a bike) I transported it in XC mk2 BSOs and ECML mk4 DVTs on a regular basis, but always avoided the HSTs. Wouldn't get away with that nowadays!

 

[thelongestroad]

Wouldn't surprise me if most of those were in fact out of date - aside from the ScotRail 153s that is a list of the TOCs that used to have proper full size van areas for bikes, and now aside from the few LNER Mk4s only the Avanti Pendolinos do.

Was going to say.. You can barely fit a normal bike in a 800 rack, let alone a tandem!

 

[JohnRegular]

Some of the Scotrail electric units also allow tandems - I believe either or both of the 380s and 385s? So you can take your tandem all the way from London to Ardrossan, pop over to Arran for a ride, and return with no problem.

Salisbury though is a step too far!

 

[Falcon1200]

Some of the Scotrail electric units also allow tandems - I believe either or both of the 380s and 385s?

The cycle space in both types is certainly long enough for a tandem!

 

[mailbyrail]

try to make contact with the tandem club to get their advice. I used to be a member and used their services when I rode one
tandem-club.org.uk

 

[JDuckworth]

I thought you might be interested in an update....after much interaction with SWR station staff and guards during which it became apparent that most of them didn't know the official rules, we decided to just go for it - yesterday - and hope for the best.

I have to say that the railways staff were excellent and 1 x tandem and 4 x bikes plus 6 x 60+ year old cyclists were all accommodated without any issues at all. We didn't have to play the blind man card as justification for the tandem!

The guard on the train reckoned that 8 out of 10 times we would be OK and that his record was 22 bikes on a 2 x 3 car 159 service.