Great Western Coffee Shop

this sounds like an interesting one to me not just the unit but where is is aparently going, if you go onto the tours section of the tauntontrains website on the 9th of june there is apparently a run from hastings to minehead...using a hastings unit!? i know these have done tours before and recently but this seems quite long distance! anyone know more? maybee its not a tour but a new addition for the wsr or for a gala however if thats the case isnt it unusual for such a unit to go by rail not road

It's 19th June and plans are not finalised yet.

http://www.hastingsdiesels.co.uk/railtours/

Accepting that it's still provisional, I've added it to the calendar.

C.  ;)

That's quite away to travel on a Thumper! Though they used to run between Brighton-Exeter during the summer months in the seventies.

Will they be able to get a path from Reading to Taunton? Aren't they 75mph units?

Also as Timmer says it's a long way in a thumper bearing mind this is probably the preserved Hastings unit with the narrow carriages so standard seats rather cramped.  Hope they've made provision to top up with diesel at Minehead.

Unit 1001 has made it all the way to Barnstaple in the past, travelling from Hastings via Reading and Taunton, so Minehead should be a breeze.

Last October it travelled to Worcester, out via the GWML to Swindon and back via Birmingham, High Wycombe, Greenford and West London line. It managed to thump up 'Lickey' with ease on the return.

Sounds like an interesting trip but really not sure I'd fancy a journey of that length on a Hastings unit! Incidentally, next time one of the tedious, flat earth "everything was better in the old days and it's been all downhill since Stephenson's Rocket" brigade is banging on about how much more comfortable mark I stock is than anything these days, just tap them formly on the nose and say "no" emphatically. Standard class seating in mark Is is cramped, they're frequently cold and draughty (or like greenhouses in the summer) and sitting in them for anything longer than an hour or two is an exercise in endurance!

Blakey, I hadn't realised I was a tedious flat-earther until now. I'm happy to concede that temperature regulation on Mk1 coaches was, er, imperfect, but having spent over 15 hours in a Mk1 compartment on a delayed train, I'm happy to say that this experience was still preferable (in comfort terms) to three hours in today's DMU fleet.

I have nothing against mark Is per se (in fact, I work the things in preservation) but with the possible exception of the Voyager/Pendolino fleets, where there really isn't enough legroom for someone of my (not unusually tall) height, I don't think mark I stock compares favourably to any intercity stock in use today. There isn't enough legroom in a mark I comaprtment for me either, especially not if there's someone sitting opposite. Today's DMUs are a very mixed bag, some of them very comfortable (think 175s and 180s), others much less so (142s and 143s) but remember that the first generation BR DMUs aren't very comfortable either (I've worked these units too!).

I've been on several railtours over the years where the stock has been too cold or too hot, which combined with oddly lumpy seats that have a nasty habit of swallowing your backside makes for a pretty uncomfortable day's travelling!

I suppose we've hit on comfort being a personal thing - humans come in a variety of shapes and there isn't a perfect seat that fits everyone.

There's actually quite a variation in what are supposed to be identical seats, for that matter.

Pics and video of the 'Thumper' on its jolly down to the West Somerset seaside:

http://craigrailpics.fotopic.net/c1862793.html
Part 1 @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2aA02XJv4I
Part 2 @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QF1Px56m2wg
Part 3 @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJrGxG46WTU

Cameo appearance in the video of Bignose's favourite loco, D1015 Western Champion!

Good lord they were a hardy bunch on that train... 0631 depart Hastings, arr Minehead at 1405 then leave again at 1505, back to Hastings 2226 (those were the booked times, anyway). Fourteen hours in one day sitting on what's essentially an outer-suburban DEMU. My coccyx has gone numb just thinking about it.

I really didn't have the time this morning ... but I selected one of the three clips and found myself transported back to the times I used to stand on Orpington or Sevenoaks stations (waiting for my local commuter train) and watched and heard the Hastings Diesels starting (Sevenoaks) or putting power on for the climb to Knockholt summit as they passed southbound (Orpington).

Ah - I would loved to have been there yesterday ... but for stamina, time and money. 

I know that the East Kent has some southern EMU units based on the line, and that there's a 4 COR and perhaps a 2BIL around too.  And there are 2 3 CIGS that I would like to find a good home.   Then there are other southern diesel units.   There are sidings on the down side at Brockenhurst, and a line that would be attractive to tourist traffic as well as having some commuter flow.   Ah - I'm getting nostalgic again, but such a scheme would release a 158 that could find gainful employment a bit further north  ;)

cant belive i missed this after i made the point of telling everyone about it

You chump!  ::)

Chris  ;) :D ;D

to be fair i have seen a similar unit quite alot so i will live  ;D