FGW Refreshed set

[Daniel]

Hi guys. Just a quick one for anyone out today - the First Great Western refreshed HST set is onthe 0815 Paddington to Cheltanham Spa, currently sitting in platform 4, Paddington. Hello to anyone on the VXC HST today :]

 

[Mintona]

Wow if I wasn't working in a couple of hours I'd be off to Cheltenham to sample it back to Swindon or sommet...still not seen it even!

 

[CraigS]

If that was working two hours later on the 10.15 from Paddington I would have been on it. Instead I had an old rake with two MTUs.

 

[Daniel]

Ah well, the refreshed set was double ended with MTU's aswell, go don't worry! :P

 

[devon_metro]

My advice: Avoid the damn thing. They are awful.

 

[W14Fishbourne]

I believe there are three of them completed now.

 

[CraigS]

I passed a couple of refreshed sets yesterday. Both sets I passed had 1 MTU 43 and 1 valenta 43 on.

 

[Daniel]

I passed 3. One had 2 MTU's, 2 had a Valenta and an MTU.

 

[16CSVT2700]

Wow if I wasn't working in a couple of hours I'd be off to Cheltenham to sample it back to Swindon or sommet...still not seen it even!

Ain't missing anything..

 

[CraigS]

My advice: Avoid the damn thing. They are awful.

Thing is in a year or two if you want to travel with FGW from Paddington to say Penzance then you will have no choice but to have a refreshed set of HST trailers.

 

[devon_metro]

Sadly.

 

[thefab444]

You could try going via Salisbury with SWT...

The SO 14:20 WAT - PNZ takes 6:45 on a 159 with a decent seat - unless its very packed, bearing in mind from Exeter - Penzance it's only 3(?).

The SO 15:05 PAD - PNZ takes 5:32 on a HST which will soon be guaranteed poor seat.

 

[devon_metro]

I notice how you quote a train that stops most places

The Golden Hind takes 5 hours 5mins.

 

[Nat the Ned]

The train quoted is quoted as it is the alternative FGW service to the SWT service, ie apx same arrival time in Cornwall.... The SWT 159 is just three cars through Cornwall, though not a problem as normally carries three passengers...

N

 

[thefab444]

Well FGW negate to provide a 14:05 departure, so 15:05 is the closest to 14:20 in terms of departure from London.

 

[devon_metro]

Well FGW negate to provide a 14:05 departure, so 15:05 is the closest to 14:20 in terms of departure from London.

Fair enough. the 1605 goes to Penzance in the weekday IIRC.

 

[paul1609]

Id recommend 14.45 London Vic to Gatwick Airport, 16.25 gatwick to Newquay, 18.20 bus to newquay 18.50 first pint in central.
Ive been on a 37 charter to Penzance but wouldnt recommend it as a destination. Falmouth and St Ives are worth a trip though and then Id recommend the sleeper

 

[Woody]

My advice: Avoid the damn thing. They are awful.

I have had several outings on the refurbished sets and they are awful things.The seats themselves are comfortable enough with good leg room but thats it.The very high backed seats have completely destroyed the forward view,who wants to stare at the back of a seat on a long rail journey.Looking sideways out of a window the reflected image of the seat back in front of you very often superimposes itself on the window caused by the very bright interior lights.
One thing I have noticed is that loading/unloading times are longer at busy times because when you enter a refurbed FGW Mk3 from the vestibule area and look down the carriage for a seat,unlike the unrefurbed Mk3s,you cant immediadely see which seats are free because the very high seats backs make it impossible to tell at a glance.The resulting confusions means passengers with luggage quickly block the main gangway which then prevents more passengers boarding.All in all the FGW refurb has many more minuses than pluses.

 

[Woody]

Thing is in a year or two if you want to travel with FGW from Paddington to say Penzance then you will have no choice but to have a refreshed set of HST trailers.

By that time major road schemes in Cornwall will be complete(A30/A38) making it a much more attractive for the punters in general.Also improvements in air links to Plymouth/Newquay will continue to undermine the weakness of rail infrastructure in the far south west,now aided and abetted by FGWs dreadful "commuter" Mk3 refurbs.I really dont think the Dft is serious about rail this far west thats why their letting FGW do their dirty work in this part of the world as it were.

 

[Jim]

I hate the refurbs, the only problem is 2 of them have got decent traction on the SC end, so if you want good traction, chances are you will also have to put up with 1 of the refurbs