GWR Weekend First - advice and zone map

[WesternLancer]

Hi all
I was looking for the zone map for GWR weekend first but seem to no longer be on the GWR website - have they removed it or changed their system / pricing?

I wanted to see what the charge would be for Cheltenham - Swindon as a walk up weekend first upgrade and I used to use the zone map to work things like that out. If the zone map now no longer exists what's the simplest way to work it out?

Thoughts on whether it's worth it for travel on a Saturday also welcome. I've not used it since the final runs of the HST sets! So I suspect I'll be disappointed wih the carriage interiors but...

Thanks in advance

 

[Bletchleyite]

£15 - you can find it on brfares.com: https://www.brfares.com/!faredetail?orig=CNM&dest=SWI&rte=82&tkt=FWF

 

[WesternLancer]

£15 - you can find it on brfares.com: https://www.brfares.com/!faredetail?orig=CNM&dest=SWI&rte=82&tkt=FWF

aha - many thanks

I guess I'd also be looking for a non airline seat with a table and decent window alignment. I wonder how many of those such seats exist in a 5 car class 800 1st class area?

 

[AlterEgo]

aha - many thanks

I guess I'd also be looking for a non airline seat with a table and decent window alignment. I wonder how many of those such seats exist in a 5 car class 800 1st class area?

Twelve. Don’t go into the end vehicle though, the floor is lower by about 6 inches which affects your window view if you’re short. Those trains are natty.

 

[WesternLancer]

Twelve. Don’t go into the end vehicle though, the floor is lower by about 6 inches which affects your window view if you’re short. Those trains are natty.

Thanks. Good tip! I’m not especially short but not tall either so 6” might still make a difference.

 

[John R]

As someone who had a first class season from Nailsea to Swindon for many years (so not averse to paying extra for a bit of comfort) until the HSTs finished, I rapidly came to the conclusion that the weekend first option is no longer worth it for a journey of a couple of hours unless you know the service is going to be rammed. Combination of the rolling stock being much less of a premium, and the paltry catering benefit means it’s not worth the cost imo.

 

[WesternLancer]

As someone who had a first class season from Nailsea to Swindon for many years (so not averse to paying extra for a bit of comfort) until the HSTs finished, I rapidly came to the conclusion that the weekend first option is no longer worth it for a journey of a couple of hours unless you know the service is going to be rammed. Combination of the rolling stock being much less of a premium, and the paltry catering benefit means it’s not worth the cost imo.

Thanks for those thoughts. I suspect that’s the risk. The price is not cheap either, for the duration.

 

[sh24]

Thanks. Good tip! I’m not especially short but not tall either so 6” might still make a difference.

On the flipside, the end coach doesn't have an engine underneath so is much quieter. I've not really noticed the floor height difference at all but will experiment tomorrow. Normally the end car is unreserved on a 5 car working which gives you a better chance of scoring one of the table 4 seat bays.

 

[WesternLancer]

As someone who had a first class season from Nailsea to Swindon for many years (so not averse to paying extra for a bit of comfort) until the HSTs finished, I rapidly came to the conclusion that the weekend first option is no longer worth it for a journey of a couple of hours unless you know the service is going to be rammed. Combination of the rolling stock being much less of a premium, and the paltry catering benefit means it’s not worth the cost imo.

Thanks all - here's my assessment of it.

I opted to make use of Weekend First - mostly as it was my first experience of GWR class 800 services.

The train was not busy when I boarded as it was the start of the route, but did get full en route, including in 1st, so this was helpful

The wider seats are a benefit and I was able to enjoy good window alignment. Obviusly they are substantially less comfrotable than the HST 1st class seats in their final GWR guise

The catering provided is frankly poor and not good vakue for money given the cpst of the upgrade. I was very unimpressed with the 'snack box' in terms of its content compard wihthe trolley I recall on the HSTs towards their end of service - eg no slice of cake and much reduced prodcut range of complimentary items.

The 1st class host did offer me drinks etc twice in the journey of just over 1 hour, it's more that the product, well the edibles, are pretty poor.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 1 May 2025 ==


So taken overall I'm not sure it is great value - and I assume that with the reduced amount of 1st class seats they feel that there is sufficient market to bear the higher costs of the upgrade now despite it being less good value than it was in HST days (significantly less good value in my personal view)

Twelve. Don’t go into the end vehicle though, the floor is lower by about 6 inches which affects your window view if you’re short. Those trains are natty.

I took this advice and didn't sample the end coach - but on alighting I had a look and I don't think it would have caused me a great problem given my height, but would have been a slightly less good view I think, so it was helpful advice.