Yes, they do
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GWR Class 800
- Thread starter SpacePhoenix
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Yes, they do
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RailUK Forums
D1009
Established Member
They already do on the 1045 Padd to Swansea. I'm surprised you can get a reservation that far ahead.
irish_rail
On Moderation
Hope for your sake the pull man restaraunt is in the portion of the train you are in and not the other 5 cars .....
BestWestern
Established Member
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Would suggest an email to GWR's customer services people might be a decent idea.
irish_rail
On Moderation
This is one example where the pairs of 5s is really gonna cause problems unless they introduce a tick box option when reserving your seat to say yes I may want to dine......had hoped that the restaurants would of been 9 car sets but this would suggest not now.........
Or it might suggest that apart from 802101, the nine-car sets are at the end of the 802 production run, not the start, same as with the 800s. And oddly enough, that is just what is going to happen.
So until GWR gets its hands on some nine-car 802s passed for passenger service, there may well be a period where there are some 2x5s on West Country Pullmans - same as on the South Wales breakfast/brunch Pullmans at the moment until they get some nine-car 800s into service. I must have missed the thread full of howls of anguish about all the problems this is causing for passengers from/to Swansea and Cardiff.
It's not as if the dining car on the lunchtime services out of Paddington to the West Country is festooned with seat reservations all the time anyway, so I would imagine customer services and the Pullman crew will be accommodating when it comes to sorting things out for passengers while 2x5s are used on dining services.
So until GWR gets its hands on some nine-car 802s passed for passenger service, there may well be a period where there are some 2x5s on West Country Pullmans - same as on the South Wales breakfast/brunch Pullmans at the moment until they get some nine-car 800s into service. I must have missed the thread full of howls of anguish about all the problems this is causing for passengers from/to Swansea and Cardiff.
It's not as if the dining car on the lunchtime services out of Paddington to the West Country is festooned with seat reservations all the time anyway, so I would imagine customer services and the Pullman crew will be accommodating when it comes to sorting things out for passengers while 2x5s are used on dining services.
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Wilts Wanderer
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What it does mean though, is that the availability of dining for Standard Class passengers is now also dependent on being seated in the correct part of the train, as well as availability. Not ideal at all, having Pullman dining in one portion only (not suggesting it should be in both either!)
Chris125
Established Member
Next pair of 802s on their way, caught here passing Stuttgart:
Was unable to take Power on AC mode after changeover during station duties; then when reverting back to GU (Diesel) mode it was also unable to take power. GU mode was available from Bristol End however so sets returned ECS to Stoke Gifford.
While there’s not yet any suggestions as to the specifics; last time this fault occurred it eventually turned out to be driver error.
DenmarkRail
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- 13 Jun 2016
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When will I see an 80x train in Cornwall next? 
A limited number of people posting on this forum and other forums may be obsessed about GWR Pullman dining. But most passengers are not that fussed.
The last time I had lunch on the 12.03, I think a total of 12 people turned up to eat, whether travelling in first or standard. There is a market, but it is a limited market.
I would expect GWR can manage come up with a way to direct people to the correct portion of a 2x5 formation if their heart is set on a Pullman lunch.
irish_rail
On Moderation
I think the point is GWR use the pullman as a means of tempting people to use the train over the car or plane. It is all about creating an overall attractive product to persuade people onto trains.
Down here we are proud of the service we offer , hence why there is concern at certain decisions being made and Jimms constant everything is fine and you should just accept it doesn't really wash. I don't know if Jimm works for the company but those of us who do really genuinely care and want to provide the best possible customer experience on what is a proper intercity route.
Down here we are proud of the service we offer , hence why there is concern at certain decisions being made and Jimms constant everything is fine and you should just accept it doesn't really wash. I don't know if Jimm works for the company but those of us who do really genuinely care and want to provide the best possible customer experience on what is a proper intercity route.
No I don't work for GWR, but the constant knocking of IETs on here gets utterly tedious at times.
This thread and several others are replete with years of people coming up with reasons why these trains would be the end of civilisation, or smash themselves to pieces on platforms, tunnels and bridges, etc, etc.
Now that they are in service, what have we been left with - that some people think the seats are a bit on the firm side, or that for a brief period they may have to operate Pullman dining services with 2x5 formations. Talk about First World problems.
So there may be a period where GWR have to provide Pullman meals on 2x5 formations to the West Country - that that has been the case on the South Wales breakfast services for some time now and we haven't heard much wailing and gnashing of teeth on this forum from people in South Wales about how terrible that is and how dozens of people a week have been deprived of a Welsh breakfast, so maybe the sky hasn't fallen in there after all.
What other decision should GWR make? To keep elderly HSTs with worn-out kitchen equipment going for several more months while they wait for nine-car 802s to enter service, rather than replacing the HSTs with new trains that are equipped with modern, more spacious kitchens that will provide better working conditions for the Pullman crews, so that they can provide the best possible food and service to their customers?
Even if, for a few months, there will need to be a bit of an effort to make clear to people who want the dining car which portion of the train they need to be in. How hard can that be?
This thread and several others are replete with years of people coming up with reasons why these trains would be the end of civilisation, or smash themselves to pieces on platforms, tunnels and bridges, etc, etc.
Now that they are in service, what have we been left with - that some people think the seats are a bit on the firm side, or that for a brief period they may have to operate Pullman dining services with 2x5 formations. Talk about First World problems.
So there may be a period where GWR have to provide Pullman meals on 2x5 formations to the West Country - that that has been the case on the South Wales breakfast services for some time now and we haven't heard much wailing and gnashing of teeth on this forum from people in South Wales about how terrible that is and how dozens of people a week have been deprived of a Welsh breakfast, so maybe the sky hasn't fallen in there after all.
What other decision should GWR make? To keep elderly HSTs with worn-out kitchen equipment going for several more months while they wait for nine-car 802s to enter service, rather than replacing the HSTs with new trains that are equipped with modern, more spacious kitchens that will provide better working conditions for the Pullman crews, so that they can provide the best possible food and service to their customers?
Even if, for a few months, there will need to be a bit of an effort to make clear to people who want the dining car which portion of the train they need to be in. How hard can that be?
I mean I've tried to have Pullman dining three times on GWR. Twice they ran the service with the wrong sort of buffet car and once the kitchen was the right sort but was unable to produce potable water.
So on the basis of that I'd rather have a 2x5 IET which is at least guaranteed to have a kitchen up to the job (not only that but two of them so even if one has a fault there's a chance the other might work) as my attempts with HSTs have all failed!
timatheronwood
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Well, a guaranteed Pullman dining place is a reason for me to book first class. Just did it for June having been told in early April or late March that I could not book. I will be joining at Reading (12:30) so would like to ensure they keep the seats for me. Had a great chance experience on an HST Pullman diner two years ago, but last year the dining car was full. I will be interested to see how the class 800 experience matches the HST one. Any tips for ensuring the best experience possible?
Scatter cushions?
timatheronwood
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- 21 Aug 2017
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Great idea, if only they weren't so bulky to carry around!
Looking on Real Time Trains for 12:33 from Reading for 14/06 it seems to be allocated to an HST. So my worries may prove unjustified.
Looking on Real Time Trains for 12:33 from Reading for 14/06 it seems to be allocated to an HST. So my worries may prove unjustified.
TwistedMentat
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- 2 Oct 2016
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From memory the 800s are pathed as HSTs for timetable reasons. An HST in the timetable doesn't mean it will always be an HST. In fact I ran into that the other day as RTT had a train from Paddington pathed as an HST but it was an 800.
Now come the new timetable at the end of the year this will probably change. But until then the 800 fits into the HST pathing.
All GWR High Speed Services are timed as an HST at the moment whether or not they are a Class 800.
The first Class 802s are not due into service until mid-July, so a journey to the West Country in June should be on an HST.
On the subject of nine-car IETs, 800302 ran up and down the Cotswold Line today on a test run, also did a circular test trip running Stoke Gifford-Worcester-Hereford-Newport-Stoke Gifford on Friday.
I agree, GWR have their faults, but Pullman dining is a definite advantage, with no other TOC offering anything comparable.
Pullman dining is certainly one of the reasons why I choose the train rather than road transport. The prices compare favourably with land based restaurants of a similar quality.
I have not yet tried the restaurant on one of the new trains, but other reports seem favourable regarding Pullman dining.
In many respects I consider the new units to be a downgrade, mainly half length, not gangwayed throughout, hard seats, not many table seats, and no buffet, but at least Pullman dining has survived.
One might even hope that a few more Pullmans will appear, I can remember when SEVEN trains every weekday from London to the West had a full restaurant, and a similar number of return workings.
Am I not right in thinking that the nine car class 800 were originally almost exclusively planned to run the fast Bristol services so there would not have been much time for meals anyway? Now they are bi-modes, I suppose they may see more general use?
And right on cue, here's some repetitive knocking of IETs...
GWR had 53 HST rakes at peak fleet size. It is getting 35 nine-car Class 800s and 802s, ie long IETs are direct one-for-one replacements for two-thirds of the HST fleet.
The IETs are not just replacing HSTs, they are replacing five 180s (and would likely have been replacing more than five if GWR had been able to get its hands on more 180s when it took them back in 2012) and three-car Turbos on a number of Cotswold, Oxford and Bedwyn diagrams, where a nine-coach 650-seat train would be an utterly inappropriate, over-the-top replacement.
The five-car sets are also allowing developments such as an hourly through service in both directions between London, Gloucester and Cheltenham and new services like the off-peak limited-stop Bristol runs - again situations where nine-car trains would be capacity overkill most of the day.
Not forgetting the likely reintroduction of portion working on a number of express services west of Plymouth - something that was an established fact of life until fixed-formation HSTs appeared in the West Country - even in ye olden glory days of multiple restaurant car services, most of which, I'll warrant, dropped their kitchen-buffet cars at Plymouth, or picked them up there.
But why bother with all those new services, or commonsense use of resources in peak and off-peak periods or on quiet sections of journeys, when you can just run long rakes of half-empty coaches up and down all day to the existing timetable instead...?
Seat comfort is s matter of individual opinion - as this forum continues to prove on an almost daily basis.
59CosG95
Established Member
That's the theory I have about the forum (and the internet generally) with regards train seats: just as "no news is good news", so "no posts about seats means no gripes about seats". This is of course a gross generalisation. Everyone's different, and preferred train seats are no exception. However, the British do love to complain...
Wychwood93
Member
From my point of view the seats are fine - I have had an awkward back (nothing serious) since miskicking a rugby ball at the age of 10. They give the firm support that works well for me - Voyager seats are too hard for a long trip for me, unless I stay still.
Wilts Wanderer
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Regarding seats, there are definitely two different types of cushioning on the Standard seats in the 800 fleet currently. The last few sets I have had, the seats were quite ‘overstuffed’ and firm yet reasonably comfortable. The one I had tonight was rock hard, thin cushioning. Must have been a low-numbered unit that hasn’t been retrofitted with the improved fittings.
cactustwirly
Established Member
You're making mountains out of molehills.
It really isn't that difficult to move to one particular set.
I'd imagine it'll be announced what portion has the Pullman restaurant
Essan
Member
Well I caught my first 800s on Sunday on the Cotswold Line and my main thought was "why is a smart new intercity train being used on a backwater local/commuter route" 
I like the hard seats.
I like the hard seats.- Status