On Friday 1st January 2016 I made a rare venture out in to Great Western territory. A "body on the line" delayed my departure somewhat, but I can't fault the announcements from the guard and then his patience explaining to every customer alternative travel options. However the purpose of this post is the surprise I had when I went to catch a train from Reading to Newbury. The train was formed of 3-car Class 166 "Thames Turbo" (as was) 166205 painted in the new Great Western Railway (GWR) branding, replacing the lurid First Great Western (FGW) livery. I think the dark green and grey is quite understated and very smart.
I expected to find the interior unchanged, with the blue/purple/pink FGW seats, scruffy carpets, dingey doorways. What I found was a real surprise, which was a fully refurbished interior. Whilst the seats themselves are the same base, the first class has been reupholstered in a grey leather, which whilst sounding bland looked quite appealing to sit in. Only had a standard class ticket however, where the seats remain 2+3 but reupholstered in a green and two-tone grey moquette, again far from the worst seat pattern out there.
Further down the train the toilet area has been completely rebuilt, presumably taking advantage of the refurbishment to meet forthcoming accessibility regulations. This area includes dedicated space for wheelchair passengers, and in a nice touch has a half-height partition between the toilet and the wheelchair area: I always feel the wheelchair area stuffed next to a toilet (as on the Electrostars that GWR will be getting) is unwelcoming at best.
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| Bodyside detail, unusual way of showing the operator name in a matt green band, but it works. No 'flying F' logo either! |
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| Overview of the GWR 166. Quite an appealing livery I think, nothing can be done about the big yellow end which looks out of place! |
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| GWR 166 First Class. I believe these are the original seats but rather more welcoming, |
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| Overview of reupholstered Standard Class seating and new carpets. |
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| Disabled toilet and wheelchair area. The wheelchair area is partitioned from the toilet (good) but doesn't have any further comfort factors such as a small table or drop down seat for travelling companions. |
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| The new paler moquette is sadly easily stained, and in my short time on this train I overheard a couple of negative comments from passengers about these. If only passengers would treat trains like their own house eh. Nonetheless this shows these refubished units will be a challenge to keep presentable and suspect a darker moquette will be required. |
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| The rebrand from First Great Western is not an overnight hit: most trains still carry the purple FGW livery, a lot of signage is still FGW branded, staff still wear FGW uniforms and some leaflets are still FGW stock (timetables being an exception as these are reprinted regularly). The delayed train and compensation leaflet is in new GWR green, but explains compensation for delays in terms of whether you are on a former First Great Western, First Great Western Link or Wessex Trains service! These three came together to form the current franchise on 1 April 2006. Reference to former TOCs is as good as meaningless, it's been nearly ten years since two of them existed. This should be simple one for the DfT to sort as part of the franchise extensions on GWR....you'd have thought..... |