FGW refurbished Mk3s,good or bad?

[Woody]

Hi all,with FGWs newly refurbed coaches slowly starting to appear I would like to know what forum members think of them.personally I think FGW have dropped a clanger replacing the marvelous open airy feel and panaramic views of an unrefurbed Mk3s with a claustraphobic coffin feel created by those rediculously high standard class seats in the refurbed Mk3s which have largely destroyed one of the great pleasures of rail travel,the view.
Talking to a FGW train manager about it recently his comment to me was,"the punters dont like them",surprise surprise.If they had put a few of these pre-production refurbed coaches into service first to guage customer reaction across on all routes that use them they would have realised their mistake or dont they care.
What is it that we in the west have done to get lumbered with a rail product that is getting more and more out of sync with other modes of transport.The Dft/rail and the Labour government have much to answer for rails woes inthe west of England.The Scottish "Mafia" in Westminster would not have allowed this to happen in Scotland.
Only yesterday I travelled on one of SWTs newly refurbished 159/1s(converted 158s) and it is saying something that this was a far superior experience to a FGW refurbed Mk3 even with an underfloor mounted engine.They are light,airy comfortable and surprisingly quiet and showed what could be achieved with a little effort.If only FGW had replicated them.

 

[devon_metro]

My opinions on them:
First Class:
> Looks smart and very pleasing
> Seats are comfortable, spacious and provide a good level of support
> The moving armrests mean accessing seats is far more easy
> The table and new fixtures are very good with useful powerpoints at table level
> The toilets are very clean and bright
> Seats are not too high still allowing a view down the carriage
> High quality carpets in the vestiables
> Lights are bright restricting the view out of the windows which have a yellow tint to them

> The buffet is well designed in order to reduce crowds and has a modern look to it

Standard class:
> High quality carpets in Vestiable
> Looks smart and new
> Moveable armrests
> Removal of central pillar
> Power points at each seat
> Increased legroom
> Seats are stupidly high meaning you are resticted to looking at the seat in front
> People cannot see who is sat in a seat when boarding hence causing delays
> The table size has been reduced and the pull out laptop hold is flimbsy
> Moving of the table causes movement of the seat in front
> Lack of large tables (only 1 in family carriage!!)
> Lack of bins as a result of the lack of back to back seats
> Seats are un-comfortable and too upright - only seem to be designed for a person of a particular height
> Lights are too bright
> Seat in front of you refelcts on window that has yellow tint
> Armrests seem too high
> Volatile passengers when the table seats are left empty - race to claim them
> Loud children are found in the quiet coach where there seems to be little advertisement of this
> Pink doors
> Lack of access for disabled people
> Dodgy announcement systems - not loud enough
>

 

[Jim]

My opinions on them:

Standard class:

1 Seats are stupidly high meaning you are resticted to looking at the seat in front
2 The table size has been reduced and the pull out laptop hold is flimbsy
3 Moving of the table causes movement of the seat in front
4 Lack of large tables (only 1 in family carriage!!)
5 Lack of bins as a result of the lack of back to back seats
6 Lights are too bright
7 Armrests seem too high
8 Volatile passengers when the table seats are left empty - race to claim them
9 Loud children are found in the quiet coach where there seems to be little advertisement of this
10 Dodgy announcement systems - not loud enough

1. I don't care who is infront, but you can't see who is infront on any of them!
2. The table itself is quite strong, but I don't see the point in the .5mm insert to hold a cup!
3. I haven't found that proplem, they must of been messing around with it or something
4. I thought the Family Carnage didn't have any
5. Indeed, not that many people get of there lazy arses to put rubbish in the bin!
6. You think the lights are bright, when you get on your next refurbed set, change the switch by the luggage stack to bright, then see what you think!
7. I find the armrests a little low, but there is a few inches height difference between me & you
8. O yes, the good old table race, I have played that several times & normally won!
9. I agree there strongly, the only trace is the stickers on the windows, that are far from adequate
10. I haven't encountered this problem, so it may just be the guard not shouting down it loud enough, but 1 thing I did notice on LA62 was the fact that there was a Thud down the PA every 2 minutes or so

My opinions:

CRAP!

 

[5872]

My views on them on the outside:

• 
  Paint work is horrible on the outside

--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

My views on them on the outside:
bad Things

• 
  Paint work is horrible on the outside
  They need to have more lowerd seats as woody said
  on the outside they felt abit like units in a way with every door put together and had an orange light!
  
  Nice things:
  
  They have a lovely feel to them of high speed travel
  nice whining noise is still there
  quiet acceleration and slowing down
  

Theres my views for the time being

 

[devon_metro]

The old HSTs have an orange light by the door...

 

[Jim]

Why do they feel like units, all LHCS in normal service has Orange lights!

Whining noise, never heard that!

Of course acceleration is quiet, it is a trailer not a engine!

Has anyone ever noticed on MTU's how when the driver "puts his foot down" on any MK3, the Air con boosts up!

 

[thefab444]

Paint work is horrible on the outside
They need to have more lowerd seats as woody said
on the outside they felt abit like units in a way with every door put together and had an orange light!

Nice things:

They have a lovely feel to them of high speed travel
nice whining noise is still there
quiet acceleration and slowing down

Well, the paintwork I agree with - why they didn't keep with the original version of neon I don't know? (More expensive I guess)

They all have a feel of high speed travel, IMO the unrefurbs feel faster!

Accelleration is really nothing to do with the refurb state of the coaches, unless you're on one without a buffet, but they haven't got any of them yet?

 

[devon_metro]

I prefer this paintjob. They feel quite cold inside tho.

 

[Nat the Ned]

The first sets to be done are showing signs of wear inside, especially the vestible walls all scuffed up with old paintwork showing through.

First class seats are horrible, hard and the leather just makes your butt slide forward.

They are also way behind schedule and looks like they wont all be done by the intended December deadline.

 

[Jim]

First class seats are horrible, hard and the leather just makes your butt slide forward.
.

Thats allright though, because when it is hot & sweaty it makes nice farty noises!

 

[Dennis]

My butt doesn't need to be hot and sweaty to make farty noises

So far I have managed to avoid refurbed sets so am not really able to criticise or complement them. What I'm looking forward to are the ones without buffets - real money savers they will be.