FGW 'West' refurbishment

[Mojo]

Has anyone noticed that most of the refurbished 15x units at FGW seem to be looking extremely shabby? This afternoon, for example many of the seatbacks were falling off the Chapman seats in the 153 I was on. I've also seen seat coverings coming off, revealing the padding underneath; damaged or missing tables; missing, damaged & dented panels and a surprisingly large amount of vandalism, including graffiti and window etching. I've also noticed that the carpets seem to be producing fluff, though that could be due to the fact it's new.

Externally on the 153 this afternoon the vinyl was flaking, particularly around the rivets at the ends of the vehicle.

There also seems to be some differences between the vehicles, I've seen at least 3 different types of door buttons on the 153s; and there are different seat designs & different table designs, the seatback table I had today was totally different to the metal one next to me, for example. Some units have longitudinal seating in the wheelchair areas whereas some have nothing.

Overall the units are much brighter and pleasant to travel on; but I'd love to know why some of the units are looking so shabby already and why there seems to be a lack of uniformity in the fleet.

 

[devon_metro]

Because idiots choose to vandalise then :roll:

 

[mbonwick]

Obviously it's done on the cheap......

 

[Dennis]

I agree that the refurbed units seem to be deteriorating very rapidly - I'd be inclined to put it down to a general lack of TLC combined with poor choice of fixtures and finishes. Also, why haven't air con problems been ironed out yet on the 158s.

Oddly enough I also noticed carpet fluff on a 158 I endured early Saturday morning; I'd guess the vacuum cleaner wasn't working the night before judging by the amount of crumbs and other detritus on the floor.

re graffiti and vandalism - perhaps FGW need to look at best practice in London. Over the last few years most of the TOC's in the capital seem to have got the situation under reasonable control; I don't think it will ever be possible to completely eliminate the problem.

On a related subject, the SWT 15x refurbs also seem a bit sub-standard to me - there are some immense panel gaps to be seen and (subjectively) more rattles and draughts around the windows.

 

[Jim]

Has anyone noticed that most of the refurbished 15x units at FGW seem to be looking extremely shabby? This afternoon, for example many of the seatbacks were falling off the Chapman seats in the 153 I was on. I've also seen seat coverings coming off, revealing the padding underneath; damaged or missing tables; missing, damaged & dented panels and a surprisingly large amount of vandalism, including graffiti and window etching. I've also noticed that the carpets seem to be producing fluff, though that could be due to the fact it's new.

Externally on the 153 this afternoon the vinyl was flaking, particularly around the rivets at the ends of the vehicle.

There also seems to be some differences between the vehicles, I've seen at least 3 different types of door buttons on the 153s; and there are different seat designs & different table designs, the seatback table I had today was totally different to the metal one next to me, for example. Some units have longitudinal seating in the wheelchair areas whereas some have nothing.

Overall the units are much brighter and pleasant to travel on; but I'd love to know why some of the units are looking so shabby already and why there seems to be a lack of uniformity in the fleet.

3 different types of door button! Care to share? There should be two, the traditional 153 ones and the 'new' yellow round ones with yellow lights in the middle and the open/close button with direction arrows etched in (there the insidetypes anyway.

The 3 units that had Chapman seats 329/61/69 have all retained them, along with the seat back tables. I noticed 329 has had a fairly several vandal attack in the last 2 weeks.

I belive the tip-up'swere removed from all of the old Wales and West units, however retained on 329/69 as they were better quility.

If it helps, 329 has been on Avonmouth services quite a lot recently!

Carpet fluff is produced from the refrub, and produces for around 2 weeks after outshopping...

HTH

 

[vc-10]

What's a 'Chapman' seat?
I've noticed that the vinyls aren't holding up to much as well. Seen some 158s reading 'F rcat Gr at eslern' instead of First Great Western. One thing I noticed is that on one of the 158s I was on the table (fixed, in a 4-seat bay) was set really low, and I could barely get my legs under it. Wonderful engineering there First, Brunel would be proud...

 

[Mojo]

3 different types of door button! Care to share? There should be two, the traditional 153 ones and the 'new' yellow round ones with yellow lights in the middle and the open/close button with direction arrows etched in (there the insidetypes anyway.)

The other ones I've seen are the other type with the yellow disc around them (see attached)

What's a 'Chapman' seat?

For an example of a Chapman seat with armrests and seatback tables, see this view of a Wessex refurbished 150

 

[devon_metro]

What's a 'Chapman' seat?
I've noticed that the vinyls aren't holding up to much as well. Seen some 158s reading 'F rcat Gr at eslern' instead of First Great Western. One thing I noticed is that on one of the 158s I was on the table (fixed, in a 4-seat bay) was set really low, and I could barely get my legs under it. Wonderful engineering there First, Brunel would be proud...

Have to agree, 158 tables are low, but this is due to the high padding on the 158 seats. The tables are the same as HSTs which as we know, don't have much padding on the seat, whereas the 158s have loads and are therefore stupidly comfortable.

 

[heart-of-wessex]

I quite liked the ride on a refurbished Richmong 153 from Bath - Bristol, at least you can see out the window now, finally!

The 158 Richmond seatsare much better than the chapman seats, which really do your backside in when sitting on them for more than an hour i find!

 

[vc-10]

I had chapman seats on a Pacer from Westbury to Bristol once, involving a 45 minute delay at Westbury trying to get the interlock on the doors to play ball. I was looking forward to my connection on an HST...