Great Western Coffee Shop

The first CrossCountry set of modified Mk3s - powered doors and retention toilets - is scheduled to enter passenger service on Monday 17th September 2018. The following diagrams are due to be worked by the set.

MONDAY. WEDNESDAY. FRIDAY.
07.00 Edinburgh to Exeter St David’s
16.24 Exeter St David’s to York

TUESDAY. THURSDAY. SATURDAY.
05.44 Leeds to Exeter St David’s
12.24 Exeter St David’s to Edinburgh

Those diagrams will change when Bristol Parkway reopens. The services would usually run to and from Plymouth. Stopping short at Exeter to retain their return path north.

Will be on the 0544 this Saturday to view electrification progress between Newport and Patchway and also to see the train. Will get some pictures and for those interested I will try and see how the door operation is managed.

thanks BNM...most useful

CrossCountry's first modified set, XC03, apparently didn't come out to play today.

It's now around 21 months since the XC Mk3s went off to Wabtec. You can see why GWR only have one 'Castle' set in service.

What with ScotRail being at the front of the queue it's going to be some time before CrossCountry and GWR get their entire modified fleets.

The folly of relying on modifying life expired rolling stock.  ::)

GW02 (the second castle set) is ready for service nearly.
GW03 scheduled for December.

Saw GW01 in the 'flesh' for the first time last Friday (14/09/2018).  Takes some getting used to seeing two power cars on four coaches ;D

Am on 1V46 0645 York to Plymouth this morning.  Not sure I like the HST refurb - underfloor engine noise in all 4 coaches, baking vestibules smelling of wee, minimal mobile signal and no GPS behind the shielded windows.
Oh wait, it's a class 221.  Boo hiss.
On the bright side - it's only as far as Derby (for me).  Here's praying that on Friday, when Mrs rower40, the two littl'uns (aged 5 & 3) and I travel Derby to Plymouth, that there'll be an HST forming the 1V44.

We could have got used to them PDQ on Cardiff/Portsmouth !

Excepting of course that HST power cars can't run on the line between St Denys and Fareham. And that the Long Swing Link type of Mark 3 carriage cannot run over 3rd rail.

Which are the reasons I heard for the option being ruled out.

Portsmouth - Cardiff needs higher capacity than the 3 car 158s in use at present.  There was a fleet of 12 x 172 (?) on order or just about, but that was cancelled because of the forthcoming elecrification from Paddington to places like Oxford, Swansea and Bristol Temple Meads.

Suggestions of using HSTs / cut down ones are ruled out as you say by the Hamble Bridge, and also by an uncertainly as to whether or not enough short swing link carriages would have been available.

Ironically, class 165 and 166 can't yet run into Portsmouth;  there is some doubt as to whether they're really suited for the whole regional journey, but at least they're longer.  At present, it's 158s or 150s - the latter being such prize specimens as 150126 the other day (2 carriages for the 17:23 off Portsmouth) ...

It seems that the Portsmouth to Cardiff line gets third class treatment sometimes ...

The only remaining gauge clearance issue for 165/166 on the route is some ground signals outside Portsmouth Harbour station and it is planned for rectification by the end of this year.

Paul

The HST was on the 0911 Leeds - Plymouth today with a couple of Wabtec engineers on board sorting out some teething problems with the doors.

I find this a regular experience on Cross country trains, I'm probably paranoid but I am convinced they have some way of blocking the usual wifi signals so to make people purchase their onboard wifi.

When I travel between Weston and Temple Meads on Cross country I really struggle to get any signal in between stations, but on a GWR service I can get a signal all the way (except in the Flax Bourton area)

Probably nothing quite that devious..........some tinted glass has a very thin metallic film on it to reflect the heat - will also reflect 'phone signals to some extent.

Yes, this is a well-known issue with glass that's metallised (or has a film applied) to improved its thermal performance. Trains and cars can be like greenhouses, cooking those inside, and so can buildings since the current architectural fashion for glazing, glazing, and more glazing started.

It affects higher radio frequencies more than lower ones (as do other losses in building materials), so in general it's worse for higher G-numbers. Other ways of treating glass to reduce solar gain and sunburn on exposed skin are available, and while in general they don't work as well, that mainly affects buildings. When the effect was first noticed, it was seen by some businesses as an advantage because it prevented EM leakage from computers that might be intercepted outside.

When Voyagers were built, no-one was specifying that mobile phone signals ought to be allowed in. Now you might do so, though I note that the IEP spec. says nothing about the windows' electromagnetic performance other than the need for sunshades (which really address the different issue on sun getting peoples' eyes).

And most welcome they are too.