The new GWR Hitachi trains - my verdict

[Slo-mo]

Good idea and EU are two things that rarely go together.

 

[editor]

Good idea and EU are two things that rarely go together.

Apart from making travelling infinitely easier across Europe.

 

[Slo-mo]

Apart from making travelling infinitely easier across Europe.

I really really don't want to debate the EU anymore, but if that is the only benefit I'm happy to concede that one.

 

[editor]

I really really don't want to debate the EU anymore, but if that is the only benefit I'm happy to concede that one.

Come on: for all its sins, there's tons of good things that that the EU has done.

 

[davesgcr]

The tidy fried breakfast dished up for the first time on a new intercity

 

[mx wcfc]

Wrong thread.

 

[davesgcr]

A pre birthday treat on the 1045 down - served impeccably by a sterling Swansea crew £18. Yes we can do it still. Best meal I have ever had on a train.

 

[editor]

A pre birthday treat on the 1045 down - served impeccably by a sterling Swansea crew £18. Yes we can do it still. Best meal I have ever had on a train.

It does look rather tasty. Not sure if it would beat the Wrexham and Shropshire fare, but I'd love to give it a go. There's something particularly luxurious and enjoyable about eating a hot meal on a train!

Wrexham and Shropshire: finest railway company in the UK?

 

[davesgcr]

Despite the hailstones and lashing cold rain in Cardiff I came back with 3 Clarke's pies and 9 Corned Beef and Potato rissoles from the market. To say I am content is an understatement. Plus got a pint of Brains in the Goat Major.

Best on board breakfast I have ever had - and that includes Dresden - Berlin !

 

[editor]

Despite the hailstones and lashing cold rain in Cardiff I came back with 3 Clarke's pies and 9 Corned Beef and Potato rissoles from the market. To say I am content is an understatement. Plus got a pint of Brains in the Goat Major.

Best on board breakfast I have ever had - and that includes Dresden - Berlin !

Do you have to be in first class to order? I could have used a treat like that when I was going back and forth for my mum's funeral arrangements.

 

[davesgcr]

You are entitled to sit there with a standard class ticket - but always ask. To say the staff are accommodating is an understatement.

Pullman dining is for all .....1045 off PaDD ....

 

[davesgcr]

Just checked - priority to 1st class passengers - but no standard class passenger will be refused if there is space- on the 1045 off Paddington you are pretty safe - just ask the top class Swansea based crews and you are safe. Please do it ...ACE !

(reminds me of the 1930's when the Metropolitan line ran a couple of Pullman cars - off peak - instructions were given that respectably dressed 3d class passenger could avail themselves of a seat , if their attire was suitable. Presumably not bricklayers with tools ...? - fair play - they were after off peak traffic and sales)

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Only 1st class can pre-book Pullman dining space, always worth checking out if there is space though, often one seat spare...

Paddington to Totnes, well fed and thoroughly refreshed...

 

[editor]

Only 1st class can pre-book Pullman dining space, always worth checking out if there is space though, often one seat spare...

Paddington to Totnes, well fed and thoroughly refreshed...

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Luuuuuuxury!

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Luuuuuuxury!

And a spare seat opposite me, filled by a bloke who got on a Reading who hadn’t booked, this was a Friday 6pm from Paddington job, so there’s certainly always a decent enough chance if you can’t pre-book.

 

[davesgcr]

Like really deserves treats like this ....and it is a treat , with good staff , good service , brilliant food .....(on a dinner train - some decent red wine - 1045 am a bit early)

Now if we had Cardiff based 5020 Trematon Castle on the front , or 5004 Llanstephan Castle from Landore ......not much more really needed.....

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Sad to discover today that my next journey, the 1803 from Plymouth to London on Easter Monday has no dining car as it’s a bank holiday

 

[davesgcr]

Sad to discover today that my next journey, the 1803 from Plymouth to London on Easter Monday has no dining car as it’s a bank holiday

Stock up in Marks then with some quality red and good sandwiches (that is what I would do ...) - Merlot / chicken and stuffing / salt beef....

And wait for the next diner experience.... it will come

 

[skyscraper101]

Travelling on one of these things now as I type. It’s most underwhelming, the WiFi is shit and the hard seats suck too.

The best thing is it’s leaving Swindon.

 

[editor]

Another dissatisfied customer

Train manufacturer said to be preventing GWR from putting cycle logos on carriages where bikes can be stored

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Another dissatisfied customer

Train manufacturer said to be preventing GWR from putting cycle logos on carriages where bikes can be stored

Sounds a bit chinny-reckon to me. Clearly no bike signs on the trains, but more an oversight than the manufacturer stating that they can't have a sign.

 

[T & P]

What an utterly bizarre claim to make. Manufacturers of trainsets (and aircraft etc) don’t have any say in what the purchaser might do with the equipment. Why would they? GWR could plaster their trains with stickers that read ‘Hitachi sucks cocks in Hell’ and there’d be sweet FA they could do about it.

 

[Dogsauce]

What an utterly bizarre claim to make. Manufacturers of trainsets (and aircraft etc) don’t have any say in what the purchaser might do with the equipment. Why would they? GWR could plaster their trains with stickers that read ‘Hitachi sucks cocks in Hell’ and there’d be sweet FA they could do about it.

Most stock is leased rather than owned by the operator, so they may not be able to do everything they want.

 

[T & P]

Most stock is leased rather than owned by the operator, so they may not be able to do everything they want.

That would certainly be true of structural changes or non- reversible customisations, but not of branding, signage or livery. Stickers can be easily removed.

 

[Hollis]

It's ludicrous. Yesterday I asked the guard if there was a buffet on board the train. He explained that the other half of the train had a trolley service to the seats but this half had nothing. Who designs this madness??

 

[skyscraper101]

Hitachi

 

[Crispy]

It's ludicrous. Yesterday I asked the guard if their was a buffet on board the train. He explained that the other half of the train had a trolley service to the seats but this half had nothing. Who designs this madness??

Full length trains are coming. In the meantime they're running short ones back-to-back. These pairs will eventually be split up and run individually.

But the seats are fucking awful.

 

[Hollis]

As I understand it, the split formation is temporary. There are 9-car sets coming for the main London-Wales line, which will release the 5-car sets for individual running on non-mainline routes, or continued 10-car running on some routes (eg. Penzance)

So potentially you could end up on a 6 hour journey to Penzance with no coffee

 

[Crispy]

So potentially you could end up on a 6 hour journey to Penzance with no coffee

Yeah I did wonder that. I'd like to hope not!

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Stock up in Marks then with some quality red and good sandwiches (that is what I would do ...) - Merlot / chicken and stuffing / salt beef....

And wait for the next diner experience.... it will come

Just booked a ticket to Totnes in April from Reading and reserved a space in the dining car. Really looking forward to it now.