Sounds like I got lucky on my trip tonight then, over to Shirehampton and back. Got a turbo on the way out, noticed the old first class section is still there and much more comfortable than the rest of what looked like 3x2 seating. I assume they are planning on removing the first class section at some point? And got a bog  standard 150 in the way back. No delays thankfully either.

There are certainly possibilities in that regard.  One diagram does the 06:34 DID-PAD, 08:09 PAD-RDG and 09:12 RDG-PAD, which could easily be Turbos, though as you say Turbo availability is also stretched until the new year!

 

Aren't there some HST diagrams which are purely LTV services?  So part of the juggling that GWR will be doing could be replacement of such diagram(s) by 16x based services - which however would be detrimental on cascades westwards, those needed because on 150/1 units headed off to Northern.

Pity one or two experienced maintenance staff weren't seconded to depot to help with the transition but I can appreciate that this is easier said than done.

If he was "at work" then orange PPE is required and if working within 1.2 m of the platform edge then PTS and a COSS is required, however in this case the platforms would have been be under possession an ES and PICOP would also be needed. Network Rail would have supplied the track safe system of work for the break down (re-railing) team

I'm not sure how many sets Bristol has so far - it's either three or four - which doesn't give much wriggle room.

Familiarity does indeed help a lot when learning to fix the minor faults fast.

They're now based a depot that's learning kit way into the class, and that may explain the initial low availability.

Have these Turbos always been this unreliable or have they just not got the shelf life of the Sprinters (or even Pacers)?