GWR Bristol - Oxford service

Snow1964 · 23 May 2026

WelshBluebird said:
And where is that turbo coming from given those also end up being in short supply?

The hot bank holiday weekend seems to have have had some trains to sandy beach (Weymouth) lengthened to 2x2car 165. Not an ideal choice on a route with some request stops and short platforms.

Just out of interest, do guards have to keep swapping units and walking through where request stops exist, otherwise how do you request a stop to get off

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dk1 · 23 May 2026

Snow1964 said:
The hot bank holiday weekend seems to have have had some trains to sandy beach (Weymouth) lengthened to 2x2car 165. Not an ideal choice on a route with some request stops and short platforms.

Just out of interest, do guards have to keep swapping units and walking through where request stops exist, otherwise how do you request a stop to get off

I suppose in such situations it’s better that the train stops at every request stop regardless of custom..

Parallel · 23 May 2026

Snow1964 said:
The hot bank holiday weekend seems to have have had some trains to sandy beach (Weymouth) lengthened to 2x2car 165. Not an ideal choice on a route with some request stops and short platforms.

Just out of interest, do guards have to keep swapping units and walking through where request stops exist, otherwise how do you request a stop to get off

Guards will stop at a request stop if they are not certain of alighting passengers.

4 cars Turbos offer seating appropriate for families and 4 coaches will prevent severe overcrowding. The number of passengers alighting at those request stops will be tiny compared to the numbers using these trains.

WelshBluebird · 23 May 2026

Worth saying GWR are able to not be running the Temple meads to Filton shuttle right now due to engineering work diverting the Portsmouth Harbour services to Bristol Parkway and those services providing the normal shuttle stops. I'd imagine that helps with turbo availability to allow strengthening elsewhere. And i suspect not having to run the milage to Cardiff is also helping too.

Laserbeam31 · Thursday at 11:11

Been using this service quite a bit over the last few weeks/months. Certainly a lot more convenient than changing at Didcot/Reading.

I’ve noticed, though, that whilst the destination displays seem to have been fixed to show the right destination (no longer showing as terminating at Reading, as they were in the service’s early days), the seat reservations are still not working. Are seat reservations for a given route(s) also baked into the train’s software and therefore in need of a more complex update?

Also a bit of a shame that these services don’t have on-board catering. The old Saturday-only trial service did have a static catering service at one end of the train.

officewalla · Thursday at 11:40

Laserbeam31 said:
Been using this service quite a bit over the last few weeks/months. Certainly a lot more convenient than changing at Didcot/Reading.

I’ve noticed, though, that whilst the destination displays seem to have been fixed to show the right destination (no longer showing as terminating at Reading, as they were in the service’s early days), the seat reservations are still not working. Are seat reservations for a given route(s) also baked into the train’s software and therefore in need of a more complex update?

Also a bit of a shame that these services don’t have on-board catering. The old Saturday-only trial service did have a static catering service at one end of the train.

Seat reservations are related to a central loading via the headcode.

Snow1964 · Thursday at 12:52

Laserbeam31 said:
Also a bit of a shame that these services don’t have on-board catering. The old Saturday-only trial service did have a static catering service at one end of the train.

The service is only about hour and a quarter.

GWR doesn't bother with catering on services that much longer duration, eg
Cardiff - Portsmouth (nearly 3.5 hours)
Weymouth - Gloucester (nearly 3.5 hours)
Cardiff - Exeter (nearly 2.5 hours)
Great Malvern - Paddington (about 2.5 hours)

Also Bristol-Oxford has food shops or catering outlets at all the stations served, unlike some of those longer duration services (in examples) which serve number of stations where cannot buy food/drink to take on the train.

The GWR catering policy seems to be, if it doesn't start/end in London, then don't bother

TastyMaltesers · Thursday at 12:57

Snow1964 said:
The service is only about hour and a quarter.

GWR doesn't bother with catering on services that much longer duration, eg
Cardiff - Portsmouth (nearly 3.5 hours)
Weymouth - Gloucester (nearly 3.5 hours)
Cardiff - Exeter (nearly 2.5 hours)
Great Malvern - Paddington (about 2.5 hours)

Also Bristol-Oxford has food shops or catering outlets at all the stations served, unlike some of those longer duration services (in examples) which serve number of stations where cannot buy food/drink to take on the train.

The GWR catering policy seems to be, if it doesn't start/end in London, then don't bother

Cardiff - Portsmouth and Weymouth - Gloucester use Class 158/165/166 traction with no ability to accommodate catering. Of course, the others you have mentioned all use IETs which is a different story...

Carlisle · Thursday at 13:03

TastyMaltesers said:
Cardiff - Portsmouth and Weymouth - Gloucester use Class 158/165/166 traction with no ability to accommodate catering. Of course, the others you have mentioned all use IETs which is a different story...

Cardiff -Portsmouth had catering trolleys for many years on the 158s etc, they were quietly abolished around 2019, presumably to save money.

HamworthyGoods · Thursday at 13:23

TastyMaltesers said:
Cardiff - Portsmouth and Weymouth - Gloucester use Class 158/165/166 traction with no ability to accommodate catering. Of course, the others you have mentioned all use IETs which is a different story...

Paddington - Oxford/Cotswolds was 166s for many years with catering trolleys.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: Thursday at 13:24 ==

Carlisle said:
Cardiff -Portsmouth had catering trolleys for many years on the 158s etc, they were quietly abolished around 2019, presumably to save money.

A lot of routes which had external catering providers used break points in the contracts during Covid to remove catering.

Irish Rail is only just starting to bring catering back as trails on some Intercity Routes which lost catering during Covid such as Dublin - Galway so it’s not even just a UK thing.

TastyMaltesers · Thursday at 13:26

I stand corrected on the business of Sprinter/Turbo catering

John R · Thursday at 13:43

I think we should concentrate on the positive that the service is up and running, and according to Mark Hopwood quoted in the latest Modern Railways is doing well. As opposed to grumbling that catering isn’t available on a journey of just 75 minutes end to end.

VT 390 · Thursday at 14:59

Snow1964 said:
The service is only about hour and a quarter.

GWR doesn't bother with catering on services that much longer duration, eg
Cardiff - Portsmouth (nearly 3.5 hours)
Weymouth - Gloucester (nearly 3.5 hours)
Cardiff - Exeter (nearly 2.5 hours)
Great Malvern - Paddington (about 2.5 hours)

Most services on the Cotswold do have catering for at least part of the route (some earlier/later services have the catering staff joining/leaving at Worcester Shrub Hill and Oxford). Its only some late afternoon/evening services that do not usually have catering, plus the daily all stations class 165 service.

II · Thursday at 23:51

Laserbeam31 said:
Been using this service quite a bit over the last few weeks/months. Certainly a lot more convenient than changing at Didcot/Reading.

I’ve noticed, though, that whilst the destination displays seem to have been fixed to show the right destination (no longer showing as terminating at Reading, as they were in the service’s early days), the seat reservations are still not working. Are seat reservations for a given route(s) also baked into the train’s software and therefore in need of a more complex update?

Also a bit of a shame that these services don’t have on-board catering. The old Saturday-only trial service did have a static catering service at one end of the train.

Seat reservations will be loading with the new update to the TMS software which is currently being rolled out across the fleet, starting with the 9-cars which don’t often work the OXF<>BRI services.

But you should see seat reservations showing progressively over the coming weeks.

I was on one of the Bristol’s last weekend which was showing the reservations correctly.

GWR Bristol - Oxford service

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