Atomic Systems

These are just my observations after another farce of a trip on a First Great Western service.

I took the 18:04 service from Yeovil Pen Mill from to Westbury so I could go to the car auctions next door.
The train arrived at Yeovil from Weymouth at 18:22. Actually not too bad compared to the norm for this line. Anyway the guard announced that the West of England connection for those heading towards Exeter was also running 20 minutes late and they would still get their connection. When we arrived at Castle Cary, we waited just outside the station until the Western bound HST had come in and left, so all the people actually missed their connections. Anyway we finally arrived at Westbury 28 minutes late.
The train was a very tatty ex First TP 158 (which I still prefer to a 150/ 153) with graffiti all over it, but the train was so filthy you could hardly see it. The centre bogie on the rear car was rattling loudly on the whole trip, the interior doors didn't work and had all the buttons ripped of the walls, the toilet door randomly opened whenever you hit a bumpy bit of track etc etc.

On my return I was due to catch the 21:38 from Westbury back to Yeovil.
I arrived at the station at 21:00 and looked at the departure board.

-The train from Penzance to Paddington was running 75 minutes late.
-The train to Plymouth was running 40 minutes late
-The train to Cardiff Central was 37 minutes late
-The train to Fareham was 19 minutes late.
-The earlier Fareham train was cancelled
-The Adelante from Plymouth was 15 minutes late.
-The South West Trains service to Bristol was on time to the second. Why was I not surprised.

In fact the only FGW train listed as on time was my train. I was mildly shocked

Anyway time passed and all the trains finally came in.
21:38 arrived and at that moment a tannoy announcemount from the station manager said please ignore the displays saying it was on time, and that it was running 25 minutes late. They then changed the platform twice and in the end it arrived 50 minutes late attached to a Fareham train and the station manager didn't know which bit we should get on and ended up asking the drivers.

My real point here is that the station displays on most FGW stations are next to useless, the station staff are not given anywhere near enough information, and they seem to think that cleaning their local 150/ 153 and 158 sets is an annual thing.

As far as the delays go I have an example of how it should be done.

If an FGW train arrives at its final destination late, then that means its next service will be delayed too which obviously could continue through the whole day.

When South West Trains do it they allow a big enough margin in the timetable to take up the slack, or with stations like Exeter St Davids they have two trains. As one train terminates at Exeter, there is another train waiting to go on the return trip, which obviously then leaves on time. The first train then goes into the sidings until the next service is due to leave ensuring no delays and on time departures even if the arriving train is very late.

Why can't FGW see that they need to look at things like this. If a SWT 159 was vandalised or had faulty doors at the end of the day it would go back to Salisbury and be repaired. FGW seem to think it doesn't matter if you're sitting on the toilet and the door opens etc etc.

Anyway rant over. sorry if this was boring.

Could've been worse. I was on a Southern service not so long ago where someone had thrown up and it had been left there. Judging by its dried out state a good number of hours. You would've thought they would have taken the train out of service as soon as possible. Having said that this was a one off.

I can sympathise with you. I often use the First Bristol-Brighton servce and they obviously don't care for their fleet of 150s and 158s either on the inside or judging by their reliability on the outside. One time when all of their sprinters were out of service they sent a long a couple of class 47s (I think) and a rake of MK2 coaches and they didn't look like they'd been touched since the 80s.

I was quite suprised when I went on a 159 for the first time in a while a few months back. They are far better than some 158s, especially when compared FGW & ATW's silver ones.

SWT also rarely run a train with graffiti on it... well I've seen a few but most of their trains are usually without graffiti on the outside, and on the inside you get window etching but little else.

I think they also have a thing called a "Carriage Washer", tell a lie they have at least 3! FGW might want to invest in one of these?


Generally my experiences with FGW haven't been good, but I do like the Adelantes... nice interiors!

The reasons for FGW's mess have been well documented and the finger pointing will continue for months, if not years, to come. I'm a regular user of the old wessex trains services and have watched the quality of the services plummet in the past 12 months - the trains have shortened, more frequent cancellations and the condition of the rolling stock is disgusting.. luckily SWT run trains between Salisbury and Bristol and I try to use these wherever possible. I did give FGW the benefit of the doubt, but the new timetable on the London road is shocking for anyone who uses Westbury as a hub - no up services between 0755 and 1102? And then a fair number of the early evening return services are now stoppers with Adelantes... seriously not impressed

Just out of interes do any of you actually read anything true about the situation on the GW.. rather than internet hearsay....

they are undertaking the largest rebuild of their hst fleet since it was built... transfering all dmu mainenance in house, tryin gto bring more than half the dmu's maintenance up to a safe level cos wessex didnt do the job correctly.

and the fact the the DfT will not allow them to take on additional units durng this time...


give them a break..... thee are issues beyond that which the common eye can see..... yet no one will give a damn to ask the question "WHY" before sticking a knife into First.

There was a report in the Bristol Evening Post about FGW!

Ian J

Sorry, but 9 1/2 months after taking over the Wessex franchise there should have been at least some improvement in service and quality over the Wessex Trains franchise.

When Wessex lost the franchise I was more than happy, as I hoped that Wessex's poor service would be improved on, but instead it has got steadily worse.
And most of the points I had from last night were not down to the rolling stock, but the general customer service provided by FGW.

From the train dispatcher at Westbury who twice moved a platform full of people to the wrong platform to catch their train, the info boards which had absolutely no relation to the services actually due to arrive, the tannoy announcement that gave three different expected delay times ranging from 13 to 37 minutes late for the same train in the space of two minutes and then repeated the same again three minutes later.

Lastly, yes the HST fleet is in generally good condition, but if you could see the state of some of the local trains you wouldn't believe it. Just running it through the wash once a week would help, but as it is the whole service is unacceptable, and no matter what the circumstances First should be doing more to fix the problems.

n863dwt wrote:Just out of interes do any of you actually read anything true about the situation on the GW.. rather than internet hearsay....

they are undertaking the largest rebuild of their hst fleet since it was built... transfering all dmu mainenance in house, tryin gto bring more than half the dmu's maintenance up to a safe level cos wessex didnt do the job correctly.

and the fact the the DfT will not allow them to take on additional units durng this time...


give them a break..... thee are issues beyond that which the common eye can see..... yet no one will give a damn to ask the question "WHY" before sticking a knife into First.

Not sticking a knife into First, it's just that the service has plumetted so quickly, and almost beyond belief, that I write my comments. They blame the rolling stock blah, blah which makes them incredibly naive at best.

And what about the timetable changes?

dorlan wrote:There was a report in the Bristol Evening Post about FGW!

Ian J

Good ol' Crow. Make it publicly owned again. He'd love that. Trouble is for every First there's a SWT or GNER.

My 8.36 Adelante service from Reading to Paddington was delayed this week after the guard lost his T Key and couldn't unlock the door.

It took about a 5 minute delay for me to realise the T shaped key thing in my hand that the guard dropped as he rushed past my seat just outside Reading was in fact requried to open the doors! - By the time I picked it up the guard had gone, So I thought I'd give it back to him when he walked back down the train.

It was quite funny in retrospect, passengers stood by the doors on both the inside and out..... I hope they had a plan B though in case the key wasn't found.

ForburyLion wrote: It was quite funny in retrospect, passengers stood by the doors on both the inside and out..... I hope they had a plan B though in case the key wasn't found.

Everybody through the drivers cab.

Inside sources at the DfT say FGW are repeatedly getting slapped on the wrist about punctuality etc and rumour has it that any bids for new franchises are likely to come last place.

Yes FGW are investing in their HST fleet - but only because they don't want to invest in a replacement! They're making passenger conditions worse as opposed to improving them. There are enough spare HST MK3s and power-cars to carry out a full refurbishment program without affecting the level of service.

How can a company cut back so many of its services and still be using unreliable and dirty trains? I’m aware I certainly don’t know it all by a long way, but it seems strange.

I'm yet to hear a good thing about FGW or have a good experience, my parents have also had a lot of trouble with their restaurant cars and have had to go without eating due to various reasons.

On First Groups plus side at least this is taking the media attention away from the mess they're quietly making of FCC.

Steve - I feel sorry for anybody who has to use the Ex-Transpennine 158's, they really were run into the ground as the 185's came in. Which company was that again? - Oh yeah, First Group...

ON FGW's side - the weather has been pretty bad recently so some of the delays over the last week or so won't have been down to them.

Just a quote out of Private Eye 1173. Please bear in mind most things in Private Eye should be taken with a pinch of salt.

"So why did First Group chief Moir Lockhead choose Darling (Alistair) as his "favourite transport minister" when interviewed by the Sunday Telegraph? Could his choice be related to the 4 rail franchises First Group won when Darling was transport secretary, two of which are "expected to be highly profitable" (In First Group's words) and were awarded after Darling appointed First Group high-flier Mike Mitchell as his head of rail (Eyes passim)? Or could it be related to Darling's refusal to regulate buses, leaving First Group free to clobber the poor with massive fares rises (Eyes passim)? Or to Darling's blocking of tram schemes in Leeds, Portsmouth and north Manchester which would of competed with First Group's buses?"

the bristol post is correct, if they are on about the 153's in eastleigh. and why dont fgw request use of the carragie washers at fratton and salisbury? i have noticed that with the cut of the penzance - portsmouth - plymouth services that my fare from fratton to plymouth has gone down by an amazing £3.50 because i have to change?

anybody that has used this service knows how crowded this train was. and now there are no connecting services at westbury for the xx:22 services to cardiff, so i know that i have to change at either westbury or bristol but i don't know how long i'm there for, i've been on http://www.thetrainline.com and national rail website, but both are rubbish and of no hope. so i shall turn to you on here.

going to leave fratton on the 12:32 fratton - cardiff service, where should i alight for plymouth?

AlistairW wrote:Just a quote out of Private Eye 1173. Please bear in mind most things in Private Eye should be taken with a pinch of salt.

"So why did First Group chief Moir Lockhead choose Darling (Alistair) as his "favourite transport minister" when interviewed by the Sunday Telegraph? Could his choice be related to the 4 rail franchises First Group won when Darling was transport secretary, two of which are "expected to be highly profitable" (In First Group's words) and were awarded after Darling appointed First Group high-flier Mike Mitchell as his head of rail (Eyes passim)? Or could it be related to Darling's refusal to regulate buses, leaving First Group free to clobber the poor with massive fares rises (Eyes passim)? Or to Darling's blocking of tram schemes in Leeds, Portsmouth and north Manchester which would of competed with First Group's buses?"

very true, i never realised that it would be compeating with first H&D, whos prices are disgusting and the busses they use are not much better, apart from the new scania busses it . to be honist, rate over.... for now

Pompeyfan wrote:
going to leave fratton on the 12:32 fratton - cardiff service, where should i alight for plymouth?

When is it you are travelling?

Normally I would suggest getting the the 12:31 FGW service from Fratton to Salisbury, then the 13:48 SWT 159 service from Salisbury to Plymouth arriving at 16:57.

With the current engineering works I would be tempted to get the 12:32 Southern to Havant, change for the 12:54 SWT to Basingstoke,then the 14:07 to Reading, then the 15:31 FGW to Plymouth arriving at 18:33


National Rail Enquiries suggest you get the 12:06 bus to Fareham, then get the 12:47 FGW to Salisbury, then change to the 13:48 SWT 159 service to Plymouth.