GWR Class 800

[spark001uk]

I like 387s more than 165s, I think theyre much more comfortable apart from declassified first.

I like them too, but I wish the seating in the 379s was made the standard issue instead. Much comfier IMO.
Yet instead it's only Stanstead (see what I did there?)

 

[DelW]

This should be a major benefit. A busy HST stopping at most places in Cornwall can lose a LOT of time.

Rob

It is true. I’m regularly stopped at stations for 3 to 4 minutes, when a power door train would be more like 60-90 seconds. A good example is Yatton on the down, 7 carriages and self dispatch, so the train manager has to walk the entire platform to ensure all doors are correctly closed. See also Weston Milton in both directions.

I think the big problem with HSTs is that they are about the last stock left with manual doors. Many passengers are used to other routes which have had power doors only for years, and it never occurs to them that they need to slam doors behind them when boarding or leaving trains. When I'm disembarking at Reading, I often close several doors which have been left open as I walk along the train, which usually gets a thank-you from guard or dispatcher.

 

[spark001uk]

Class 800 affected:

Steel Firm Faked Data for Metal Used in Planes and Cars
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...ed-amid-deluge-of-sell-orders-on-data-scandal

They're not going to recall all the 80x in the Country are they? The impact doesn't bear thinking about if so.

 

[squizzler]

They're not going to recall all the 80x in the Country are they? The impact doesn't bear thinking about if so.

I would hope pragmatism will be order of the day. Aluminium - I know from bike frames - tends to fatigue eventually and I imagine if dodgy alloy got into the 80x's the fatigue life will be a reduced number of years from what they were expecting (and I doubt it is so precisely worked out anyhow). In other words I don't think the trains would be likely to fall apart or to be unsafe in a crash, not in the near future at least. As such, I think if anything did need changing it could be done over time.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

And us lovely people in the South West are so looking forward to receiving our 'new' 165s and 166s, which apparently aren't even any longer getting a half decent interior upgrade!

So 166205 will be the only one?

 

[50031]

So 166205 will be the only one?

I think the others are getting green seats eventually. Conflicting info on whether or not dft are allowing the 166s to have 2+2 seating. They are eventually supposed to replace 158s on Cardiff-Portsmouth

 

[Pete_uk]

Talking of dwell times, having see one pull away its definitely faster than a HST

 

[jimm]

It is true. I’m regularly stopped at stations for 3 to 4 minutes, when a power door train would be more like 60-90 seconds. A good example is Yatton on the down, 7 carriages and self dispatch, so the train manager has to walk the entire platform to ensure all doors are correctly closed. See also Weston Milton in both directions.

Same issue applies with HSTs at any intermediate station between Oxford, Worcester and Hereford, especially on a dark winter night. By comparison, calls at these stations by 180s and Turbos are always shorter.

 

[jimm]

New video by Vicki and Geoff from All the Stations of a visit to Stoke Gifford depot and looking around a Class 800

 

[MonsooN]

Talking of dwell times, having see one pull away its definitely faster than a HST

I thought that would be a big factor too. Virgin themselves (so lord knows it's got to be true!) stated that it can reach its maximum speed up to a minute faster than the current fleet. If you factor that in and think about all the times the train has to speed up and slow down over the course of a long journey (not just at stations but for other restrictions) and that will soon add up.

I've not travelled beyond Bristol on the GWR but using the ECML as an example, if a train is leaving London and stopping at Stevenage, Peterborough, Newark, Doncaster, Darlington, Durham, Newcastle, Alnmouth, Berwick, Dunbar and Edinburgh, it should save a significant chunk of time just on stopping and starting. Factor in the electric doors and the number of times it has to slow down for other things (Curvy track between Darlington and Durham) and it's easy to see how a journey could be made much shorter, even though the train isn't travelling any faster.

Does anyone have any info on the estimated new journey times with the new trains? Kings Cross to Newcastle stopping at York and Darlington, for example?

 

[TwistedMentat]

New video by Vicki and Geoff from All the Stations of a visit to Stoke Gifford depot and looking around a Class 800

I like the bit about the loos.

As a software dev I find that level of attention paid to usability and making it clear what a control means really good. A big clunking lever is great for ease of understanding even if it's only connected to a switch.

Props to the loo design team on that.

 

[Hadders]

I thought that would be a big factor too. Virgin themselves (so lord knows it's got to be true!) stated that it can reach its maximum speed up to a minute faster than the current fleet. If you factor that in and think about all the times the train has to speed up and slow down over the course of a long journey (not just at stations but for other restrictions) and that will soon add up.

I've not travelled beyond Bristol on the GWR but using the ECML as an example, if a train is leaving London and stopping at Stevenage, Peterborough, Newark, Doncaster, Darlington, Durham, Newcastle, Alnmouth, Berwick, Dunbar and Edinburgh, it should save a significant chunk of time just on stopping and starting. Factor in the electric doors and the number of times it has to slow down for other things (Curvy track between Darlington and Durham) and it's easy to see how a journey could be made much shorter, even though the train isn't travelling any faster.

Does anyone have any info on the estimated new journey times with the new trains? Kings Cross to Newcastle stopping at York and Darlington, for example?

On GWR you’ll then need to factor in loss of performance when running on diesel.

 

[class387]

New video by Vicki and Geoff from All the Stations of a visit to Stoke Gifford depot and looking around a Class 800

Do you know whether that was an 800 or an 802? Because I seem to remember that it was the 802s that have green inside, the 800s being just grey.

 

[jimm]

Do you know whether that was an 800 or an 802? Because I seem to remember that it was the 802s that have green inside, the 800s being just grey.

You'd need to ask the people who made the video - Vicki was shown stepping into the cab of an 800 in white-grey livery but not clear from editing whether it was all shot inside the same set.

 

[superalbs]

Do you know whether that was an 800 or an 802? Because I seem to remember that it was the 802s that have green inside, the 800s being just grey.

GWR 800013 and I think some other sets have that pretty nasty lime-green interior.

 

[395 Olympic Javelin]

Any photos of the lime green interior?

 

[sprinterguy]

Does anyone have any info on the estimated new journey times with the new trains? Kings Cross to Newcastle stopping at York and Darlington, for example?

The Train Service Requirement for the East Coast franchise shows average journey time reductions of 10 minutes between London and Leeds and 9 minutes between London and Edinburgh from May 2020. It is unclear to me whether this is also reliant on the introduction of ERTMS south of Doncaster, rather than just the performance characteristics of the trains. There are no stipulated changes in journey times prior to this, although I suppose no major changes to running times should be expected while the new trains are still operating alongside the 225s.

The DfT also stated, at the time of the VTEC franchise award, headline journey time reductions of 14 minutes from London to Leeds and 13 minutes between London and Edinburgh from 2020.

 

[class387]

Any photos of the lime green interior?

Plenty of shots in the video.

 

[395 Olympic Javelin]

Plenty of shots in the video.

Which video?

 

[sprinterguy]

Which video?

In post number 5199 on the previous page (and quoted twice above).

 

[800001]

GWR 800013 and I think some other sets have that pretty nasty lime-green interior.

Units been assembled at Newton Aycliffe are now also coming off production line with the green stripe above the seats, unsure about the seat handles though.

 

[xotGD]

The Train Service Requirement for the East Coast franchise shows average journey time reductions of 10 minutes between London and Leeds and 9 minutes between London and Edinburgh from May 2020. It is unclear to me whether this is also reliant on the introduction of ERTMS south of Doncaster, rather than just the performance characteristics of the trains. There are no stipulated changes in journey times prior to this, although I suppose no major changes to running times should be expected while the new trains are still operating alongside the 225s.

The DfT also stated, at the time of the VTEC franchise award, headline journey time reductions of 14 minutes from London to Leeds and 13 minutes between London and Edinburgh from 2020.

Are the Leeds journey time reductions against the current best (one-off) of 2 hours flat with only a Wakefield stop, or the more usual 2h20m? If Leeds services didn't operate as two semi-fasts each hour we could be knocking 20 minutes off already.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Units been assembled at Newton Aycliffe are now also coming off production line with the green stripe above the seats, unsure about the seat handles though.

Incredibly nasty, having looked at it. Looks the same manky colour as the handrails tended to be on buses in the 1990s.

 

[sprinterguy]

Are the Leeds journey time reductions against the current best (one-off) of 2 hours flat with only a Wakefield stop, or the more usual 2h20m? If Leeds services didn't operate as two semi-fasts each hour we could be knocking 20 minutes off already.

Reduction from an average of 2hr 17min to 2hr 7min in the Down direction, and 2hr 18 min to 2hr 10min in the Up (So actually an average of 9 minutes, I was working from memory in the first instance).

 

[47802]

GWR 800013 and I think some other sets have that pretty nasty lime-green interior.

Yikes thats is a bit horrendous, the dark green on the 387's would have been better.

 

[class387]

Yikes thats is a bit horrendous, the dark green on the 387's would have been better.

Still better than the plain grey though.

 

[Pete_uk]

The green is a big bright.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Still better than the plain grey though.

I'm not convinced it is. Dark green would have worked.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Looking at the video the only bright green I can see is a narrow stripe above the windows on the inside; the rest is darker and the overall effect looks OK to me?

Or have I missed part of the video?

 

[47802]

Looking at the video the only bright green I can see is a narrow stripe above the windows on the inside; the rest is darker and the overall effect looks OK to me?

Or have I missed part of the video?

That plus the seat handles, although it looks as though this is only inflicted on Standard class, as First looks to have a Brown Strip with White handles, as for what the Standard Class seats are like remains to be seen they don't look comfortable and the seat fabric looks cheap.