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Great Western Coffee Shop > Journey by Journey > Cross Country services > Morning Cross Country changes
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Author Topic: Morning Cross Country changes  (Read 12495 times)
John R
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« Reply #15 on: September 29, 2008, 20:52:56 »
Hopefully. I was a bit disappointed last week, as one of the sets was out of action, so we had a Voyager on M/W/F.  I felt quite cheated.

Travelled down to St Austell on Saturday on an unrefurbed Mk 3 buffet with the rather nice brown seats. What a treat! 6 hours of 1st Class travel for ^20. The Devon and Cornwall countryside, and a Travelling Chef on board too. Travel as it should be!   
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dog box
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« Reply #16 on: September 29, 2008, 21:47:19 »
joined a voyager at Taunton lunchtime today...full and standing couldnt wait to get off it at BTM▸ (Bristol Temple Meads (strictly, it should be BRI))
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All postings reflect my own personal views and opinions and are not intended to be, nor should be taken as official statements of first great western or first group policy
Chris from Nailsea
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« Reply #17 on: September 29, 2008, 21:50:02 »
Hmmm.  The moral of the story: Don't join a Voyager!  Roll Eyes Grin
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William Huskisson MP▸ (Member of Parliament) was the first person to be killed by a train while crossing the tracks, in 1830.  Many more have died in the same way since then.  Don't take a chance: stop, look, listen.

"Level crossings are safe, unless they are used in an unsafe manner."  Discuss.
John R
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« Reply #18 on: September 30, 2008, 09:44:17 »
Quote from: chris from nailsea on September 29, 2008, 20:07:47
Thanks for that information, Liam!

John - are you still catching the 08:46?  Care to compare notes on this refurbished version tomorrow?  Cheesy

Sat with a colleague so not really able to form anything other than a very superficial view. But my initial reaction was much nicer than the FGW▸ (First Great Western) refurb - much less claustrophobic - seat backs aren't so high, and you can see down the carriage (so why does FGW think it's a H&S▸ (Health and Safety) thing whereas XC▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) can install lower seats?) Sat by the little window so must have been where the toilet has been removed. Fortunately they had remembered to take away the partition.  Grin

Seat seemed hard, but I guess that's true with all of them these days. Still I would much rather travel on a refurbed XC HST▸ (High Speed Train) than a Voyager, and generally the ambience seemed much more inviting than FGW.
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dog box
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« Reply #19 on: September 30, 2008, 16:24:38 »
Quote from: chris from nailsea on September 29, 2008, 21:50:02
Hmmm.  The moral of the story: Don't join a Voyager!  Roll Eyes Grin

not much choice really....could have waited for the unit and took twice as long
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Btline
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« Reply #20 on: September 30, 2008, 19:55:36 »
Clearly the XC▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) got a much better designer, that actually KNOWS the health and safety regulations, and LOOKS where the windows are when they are deciding where to put the table seats.

I think the FGW▸ (First Great Western) designer must have been the Voyager designer - put in seats without looking for windows, made train claustrophobic.
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Ollie
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« Reply #21 on: October 01, 2008, 01:44:23 »
Quote from: Btline on September 30, 2008, 19:55:36
Clearly the XC▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) got a much better designer, that actually KNOWS the health and safety regulations, and LOOKS where the windows are when they are deciding where to put the table seats.

I think the FGW▸ (First Great Western) designer must have been the Voyager designer - put in seats without looking for windows, made train claustrophobic.

For FGW the designers were: Michael Rodber and Mike Muldoon
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FarWestJohn
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« Reply #22 on: October 01, 2008, 13:40:25 »
Well I certainly hope I do not ever meet 'Michael Rodber and Mike Muldoon' after the appalling uncomfortable claustrophobic mess they have made of our previous wonderful HST▸ (High Speed Train) mk 3 carriages. I hope they never ever have anything to do with a train I travel on again.
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Tim
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« Reply #23 on: October 01, 2008, 14:06:06 »
FGW▸ (First Great Western) won a "special commendation" (ie, second prize) for their "refresh" at the national rail awards.   http://www.natrailawards.co.uk/cat_project.html

 I don't know why! The prize was in the "project of the year" category so it might have been for good project management rather than the poor design.
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dog box
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« Reply #24 on: October 01, 2008, 17:37:38 »
on the XC▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) HST▸ (High Speed Train) today...actually forgot how uncomfortable the old standard seats are with that useless fixed arm rest on the ex MML» (Midland Main Line. - about) Set
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John R
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« Reply #25 on: October 01, 2008, 18:25:36 »
The refurbed (I'm presuming) set seems to be around 40 down at present on it's way south "due to an earlier train fault".
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Ollie
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« Reply #26 on: October 02, 2008, 00:16:50 »
Quote from: FarWest on October 01, 2008, 13:40:25
Well I certainly hope I do not ever meet 'Michael Rodber and Mike Muldoon' after the appalling uncomfortable claustrophobic mess they have made of our previous wonderful HST▸ (High Speed Train) mk 3 carriages. I hope they never ever have anything to do with a train I travel on again.

Have you ever travelled on the Eurostar? Because Michael Rodber was involved with that..
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John R
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« Reply #27 on: October 02, 2008, 07:30:57 »
Quote from: Ollie on October 02, 2008, 00:16:50
Quote from: FarWest on October 01, 2008, 13:40:25
Well I certainly hope I do not ever meet 'Michael Rodber and Mike Muldoon' after the appalling uncomfortable claustrophobic mess they have made of our previous wonderful HST▸ (High Speed Train) mk 3 carriages. I hope they never ever have anything to do with a train I travel on again.

Have you ever travelled on the Eurostar? Because Michael Rodber was involved with that..

I guess it's all down to the brief he's got from his customer as to what's required.
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