Class 180s return to the Cotswolds

[whole diary]

[Southern Stag]

Looks like some 180 diagram changes from May. The 0700 Oxford-London Paddington ceases to be a 180. Instead the 05:55 Bedwyn-London Paddington will start at Newbury at 0609 and be formed of a 180, as will the 0721 London Paddington-Oxford and 0901 return.

[IndustryInsider]

...and 0901 return.

That'll be a ridiculously overcrowded Class 180 rather than a ridiculously overcrowded Turbo then. 

[lordgoata]

The 0700 Oxford-London Paddington ceases to be a 180.

Wahoo! At last a sane decision. The 180's just do not work with all the school kids on them in the mornings, they are a ruddy nightmare.

[bobm]

Looks like some 180 diagram changes from May. The 0700 Oxford-London Paddington ceases to be a 180. Instead the 05:55 Bedwyn-London Paddington will start at Newbury at 0609 and be formed of a 180, as will the 0721 London Paddington-Oxford and 0901 return.

I assume it can't start from Bedwyn as it won't fit in the turnback siding.

[IndustryInsider]

The 0700 Oxford-London Paddington ceases to be a 180.

Wahoo! At last a sane decision. The 180's just do not work with all the school kids on them in the mornings, they are a ruddy nightmare.

Depending on what they allocate in its place of course... 

[lordgoata]

Depending on what they allocate in its place of course... 

Eeek, don't say that! Mind you, at least freight trains tend to have plenty of carriages

[IndustryInsider]

Another fairly good couple of weeks for 180 coverage.  Set 106 was again locked away and not used once putting quite a lot of pressure on the remaining four units, and again on too many occasions a 2-car Turbo deputises when there in a problem.

[Worcester_Passenger]

I think that set 106 last ventured out on Feb 8.

Does this mean that it is getting a mammoth rebuild job - or have FGW^▸ (First Great Western) just given up on getting it working?

[charles_uk]

There were 3 180s at Oxford yesterday evening - no idea which sets though. The 1648 service to Didcot and two sets in the sidings. Never seen so many together before.

[IndustryInsider]

One of those sets was 108 which spent the night at Oxford having been failed due to a faulty windscreen wiper whilst working the 14:26 GMV-PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains).

[ROGace]

i cannot fathom why on earth FGW^▸ (First Great Western) chose to re-introduce these units when 5 years ago it was obvious they were such fiddly and temperamental bu**ers lol

You are not alone in having those thoughts. I can only suppose that FGW were desperate for the rolling stock and the Class 180s were the only show in town.

Oh, and a warm welcome to the forum ROGace. 

thanks very much for the warm welcome...
i was a regular FGW 1st class pax when i lived in paddington from 2007-2012 but i live in Dorset now,

[IndustryInsider]

Here's the final two weeks of my Class 180 watch 12-week survey, including an average coverage level over the period surveyed.  A not disastrous, but hardly inspiring 82% of diagrams were covered by 180s as planned over the period.  I'll return later in the year (or perhaps the same time next year) to see if things have improved.

[ray951]

I see 180103 'failed' while working the 1522 Great Malvern to Didcot about 100 meters before arriving at Oxford station today.
It eventually arrived at Oxford station about 30 minutes late and then left towards the down carriage sidings on the Platform 1 side rather than working to Didcot.
This caused several cancellations and delays.
The 1648 to Didcot was cancelled.
The 1701 to Paddington left empty.
The 180 that was booked for the 17:06 OXF^» (Oxford - next trains) to Paddington worked the 17:15 Didcot to Great Malvern starting from Oxford instead.
The 17:06 was then cancelled and an empty 166 left Oxford I assume as a replacement.
The 17:13 to Bournemouth, 17:31 and 17:37 to Paddington all also left late.

i do find it slighty annoying that they prefer to run empty trains rather than pickup waiting passengers, it seems to be quite a common occurrence whenever their is a delay. The cynic in me wonders whether its because they don't want to pay any fines to Network Rail rather than a desire to have less inconvenience to passengers on the later workings on those diagrams.

[lordgoata]

Looks like some 180 diagram changes from May. The 0700 Oxford-London Paddington ceases to be a 180.

I can confirm this to be the case, after a week of using it. Its been a very mixed bag though - couple of mornings it was standing only after Twyford (felt sorry for the guys at Maidenhead), and a couple of mornings its been quite quiet. Very odd. Ideally it could do with being 5 car though, it is always quite busy by Maidenhead, even when it was the 180.

Also of note, my evening service appears to have been bumped from a 3 car turbo to a 5 car. Obviously that bloke with the clicker that was on the train many evenings for several weeks did some good

Random question, but I take it that the 165/166's can only run as 2, 3 or 5 cars ? Many of these services would be ideal as 4 cars (3 really crammed, yet 5 end up with loads of empty seats).

[Southern Stag]

They can run as 4 cars or 6 cars, it just depends on how many of each type are available to form up multiple formations.