GWR Class 800

[gallafent]

I was out on Tuesday ...both my outbound and inbound services were so dirty the windows were almost obscure!

I'm on one at the moment and when I glanced out of the window I thought it was foggy. Then I realised it's just the grime on the windows. Suboptimal.

As is the absence of reservations (1P22 Worcester to Paddington today). These trains have now been in service nearly a year and a half, and I could count the times I've seen the electronic reservation screens working on the fingers of one hand. Twice. What on earth can be the problem with this system, that it has taken so long still not to find a fix? I've seen them working, so the system clearly can work. When a fairly busy service like this is only five coaches long, the degree of confusion and irritation which ensues at each stop as people try to find their seats, find that there's someone there that didn't know because the signs weren't working, etc., is substantial. It really needs to be sorted out.

 

[samuelmorris]

I'm on one at the moment and when I glanced out of the window I thought it was foggy. Then I realised it's just the grime on the windows. Suboptimal.

As is the absence of reservations (1P22 Worcester to Paddington today). These trains have now been in service nearly a year and a half, and I could count the times I've seen the electronic reservation screens working on the fingers of one hand. Twice. What on earth can be the problem with this system, that it has taken so long still not to find a fix? I've seen them working, so the system clearly can work. When a fairly busy service like this is only five coaches long, the degree of confusion and irritation which ensues at each stop as people try to find their seats, find that there's someone there that didn't know because the signs weren't working, etc., is substantial. It really needs to be sorted out.

If it's only a 5-car, does that mean it's a shortform? As far as I'm aware, if a service is shortformed reservations are disabled for fairly obvious reasons. Not that that's any better of course!

 

[Railperf]

If it's only a 5-car, does that mean it's a shortform? As far as I'm aware, if a service is shortformed reservations are disabled for fairly obvious reasons. Not that that's any better of course!

my inbound trip on Tuesday was short formed a 5- car instead of whatever should have been booked. On the day I used 3 class 800s. Neither of the trains had the electronic seat reservation system working. And yes the short form service was announced as having no Reservations.

 

[158820]

Currently on the 13.00 Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington. 800/3, Windows are quiet dirty. Train manager announced no reservations because of late arrival on inbound service, although checking real time trains the inbound service wss only 3 mins late!

I think I saw some one say somewhere that reservations system will he turned off until HSTs are gone, maybe some one can corrrect me on that?

 

[FGW_DID]

If it's only a 5-car, does that mean it's a shortform?

No, 1P22 is booked for a single 800.

I think I saw some one say somewhere that reservations system will he turned off until HSTs are gone, maybe some one can corrrect me on that?

The last I recall seeing was that the reservation system was ‘working’ on the 5 car 800 but it had been disabled on the 9 cars as it still wasn’t working as it should.

The last 800 (2x5) I was on last week had the reservation lights working fine. Again it seems to be hit & miss.

 

[387star]

I like the 800s however the seat covers were clearly too light to stand the test of time so good they are being replaced

The screw covers on the seat grabs are mostly missing and many armrests have damage

There Must be a design for trolleys not to cause damage

 

[Bayum]

Currently on the 13.00 Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington. 800/3, Windows are quiet dirty. Train manager announced no reservations because of late arrival on inbound service, although checking real time trains the inbound service wss only 3 mins late!

I think I saw some one say somewhere that reservations system will he turned off until HSTs are gone, maybe some one can corrrect me on that?

Reckon you'd be able to do all your usual guard duties AND sort out the reservations up and down the train in 3 minutes?

 

[samuelmorris]

Reckon you'd be able to do all your usual guard duties AND sort out the reservations up and down the train in 3 minutes?

They only get 6 minutes normally then? That still doesn't sound like enough.

 

[158820]

The last I recall seeing was that the reservation system was ‘working’ on the 5 car 800 but it had been disabled on the 9 cars as it still wasn’t working as it should.

The last 800 (2x5) I was on last week had the reservation lights working fine. Again it seems to be hit & miss.

Thank you.

Reckon you'd be able to do all your usual guard duties AND sort out the reservations up and down the train in 3 minutes?

It doent bother me one bit about reservations I rarely get them. I am just giving an account of my experience on GWR 800s today.
The inbound service arrived 3 late minutes at 12.46 vice 12.43. I thought that was clear in my post.

 

[Bayum]

Thank you.

It doent bother me one bit about reservations I rarely get them. I am just giving an account of my experience on GWR 800s today.
The inbound service arrived 3 late minutes at 12.46 vice 12.43. I thought that was clear in my post.

Your comment said the train manager announced there were no reservations dut to a late-arriving inbound service - you follow this up after by saying 'it was only 3 minutes late', indicating you had some belief that the reservations should have been put up in that time.

They only get 6 minutes normally then? That still doesn't sound like enough.

So half of it is absolutely not enough - see my reply above this quote as to why I said this in the first place.

 

[samuelmorris]

Your comment said the train manager announced there were no reservations dut to a late-arriving inbound service - you follow this up after by saying 'it was only 3 minutes late', indicating you had some belief that the reservations should have been put up in that time.


So half of it is absolutely not enough - see my reply above this quote as to why I said this in the first place.

No that was a question, not a statement, since I don't know the turnaround for that service off-by heart. I've now checked and can see the service gets a much more realistic 17 minutes' turnaround, so they would have had 14 minutes instead of the usual 17. That seems like enough for a 5-car unit, so like 158820, I would concur in believing that reasoning for no reservations to be false.

 

[TractiveEffort]

No, 1P22 is booked for a single 800.



The last I recall seeing was that the reservation system was ‘working’ on the 5 car 800 but it had been disabled on the 9 cars as it still wasn’t working as it should.

The last 800 (2x5) I was on last week had the reservation lights working fine. Again it seems to be hit & miss.

The issue with the 9 cars is a conflict with file sent to the train, it does not recognise the HST seat reservations, they use coach z for bike reservations, the 800 system does not recognise coach z. Once the files are all 800 compatible, the 9 cars will be switched back on.

 

[FGW_DID]

The issue with the 9 cars is a conflict with file sent to the train, it does not recognise the HST seat reservations, they use coach z for bike reservations, the 800 system does not recognise coach z. Once the files are all 800 compatible, the 9 cars will be switched back on.

Thanks for the explanation TE

 

[Bikeman78]

Reckon you'd be able to do all your usual guard duties AND sort out the reservations up and down the train in 3 minutes?

It was booked to arrive at 12:14 and actually arrived at 12:17 so the train was at Temple Meads for 43 minutes.

 

[Bikeman78]

It was booked to arrive at 12:14 and actually arrived at 12:17 so the train was at Temple Meads for 43 minutes.

My mistake, I was looking at the wrong day. 17 minutes does seem rather heroic but no doubt paper reservation labels would have been put on an HST in that time. It ought to be a lot easier to upload the electronic reservations.

 

[-Colly405-]

I was on 1L14 as the 0702 BPW-PAD on Tuesday, it was short formed to a single 5-car unit. The carriage lettering (and seat reservations) had gone, and the displays just showed the carriages as numbered 1 to 5.

 

[JonathanH]

Travelling on 802002 this afternoon I note that someone has applied the internal numbering above the doors based on the 81x002 which should be seen on 800002 rather than the correct 83x002 numbers shown on the outside.

Seems strange.

 

[anamyd]

I was on 1L14 as the 0702 BPW-PAD on Tuesday, it was short formed to a single 5-car unit. The carriage lettering (and seat reservations) had gone, and the displays just showed the carriages as numbered 1 to 5.

Bristol Parkway-Paddington...?

 

[Richard Scott]

Had a 9 car 800 yesterday and was wondering which vehicles have the diesel engines? Expect the answer's buried somewhere in this thread but don't fancy going through 300+ pages to find it.

 

[404250]

Had a 9 car 800 yesterday and was wondering which vehicles have the diesel engines? Expect the answer's buried somewhere in this thread but don't fancy going through 300+ pages to find it.

2,3,5,7,8

 

[Richard Scott]

2,3,5,7,8

Thanks for that.

 

[reddragon]

What was the white 5-car unit on the headshunt at North Pole this morning? it has small blue patches near the roof line?

 

[Will Mitchell]

Currently travelling on 1A09 from Bristol to London. It’s a 10 coach train with first class at the extremities (1,2,9,10). Not sure if that is the right way around? The windows are filthy. The electronic reservation system is however working for the first time in a long time. When it works it is very clear and effective. There is a ‘static’ trolley service in the front five coaches with no hot water, therefore tea and coffee are not available (not sure if this applies to 1st class passengers too). The trolley service in the rear five coaches is supposedly operating but hasn’t appeared yet despite the aisles and vestibules being clear. Tickets have been checked twice which doesn’t normally happen on this service. All in all it’s a pretty civilised way to travel except for the hard seats and poor catering provisions. I can’t help thinking BR would have done a better job, especially in terms of onboard comfort and amenities.

 

[Thunderer]

Currently travelling on 1A09 from Bristol to London. It’s a 10 coach train with first class at the extremities (1,2,9,10). Not sure if that is the right way around? The windows are filthy. The electronic reservation system is however working for the first time in a long time. When it works it is very clear and effective. There is a ‘static’ trolley service in the front five coaches with no hot water, therefore tea and coffee are not available (not sure if this applies to 1st class passengers too). The trolley service in the rear five coaches is supposedly operating but hasn’t appeared yet despite the aisles and vestibules being clear. Tickets have been checked twice which doesn’t normally happen on this service. All in all it’s a pretty civilised way to travel except for the hard seats and poor catering provisions. I can’t help thinking BR would have done a better job, especially in terms of onboard comfort and amenities.

No doubt BR would have done a lot better with on board comfort and amenities. The privatised rsilway treats the passenger with contempt. High prices for poor comfort and services, "pack 'em in and stack them high' mentality. Never mind, as long as the profits keep going up, thats what comes first, not the passenger anymore.

 

[Clarence Yard]

Except the privatised railway didn't decide on the interior specification - the DfT did.

The DfT are obsessed about seat numbers and/or standing space to the detriment of everything else.

 

[Mag_seven]

The windows are filthy.

I've noticed this recently - don't Hitachi have carriage washers in their depots? If so why have they seemingly stopped washing them?

 

[Bletchleyite]

Except the privatised railway didn't decide on the interior specification - the DfT did.

The DfT are obsessed about seat numbers and/or standing space to the detriment of everything else.

That can't actually be true given the superb legroom on the 800s. The seat width is also decent.

 

[Wychwood93]

No doubt BR would have done a lot better with on board comfort and amenities. The privatised rsilway treats the passenger with contempt. High prices for poor comfort and services, "pack 'em in and stack them high' mentality. Never mind, as long as the profits keep going up, thats what comes first, not the passenger anymore.

A read of the current Modern Railways would indicate that profits are not exactly great for many TOCs, to say the least of it. Those that make a profit see a margin of around 2% which is, to say the least, a poor return - hence a lack, in general, of future franchises. Not quite on-thread!

 

[Wychwood93]

That can't actually be true given the superb legroom on the 800s. The seat width is also decent.

Agreed, I like them more as I use them more - no real option I know. The seat things that are sat on - as per some previous comment by myself - are fine. My back happier on an 800 comp. to a Voyager or indeed a current, few as there are, GWR HST. XC HST comfy and better.

 

[ainsworth74]

The DfT are obsessed about seat numbers and/or standing space to the detriment of everything else.

Exactly. Why else are trains having more and more seats shoved into them? When you look at it most times it'll tie into some franchise spec requirement to increase capacity whilst not actually allowing money to be spent on additional units.

That can't actually be true given the superb legroom on the 800s. The seat width is also decent.

Give it time. Gain in seats by going for 26m vehicles is quite impressive right now. But I'll wager that before ten years go past the DfT will be asking for more seats to installed.