Jdsk wrote: ↑12 May 2022, 1:04pm
Ease of lifting depends enormously on access.
Last week on the new Caledonian Sleeper I needed to lift each bike to hang it from one wheel on a hook. But at least I could stand in the corridor and lift them short-armed because the storage position was transverse to the train and there wasn't a wall in the way.
But some GW and I think those LNER restrict the access so that you have to work at arm's length. That's much tougher and carries a much greater risk of back injury.
Jonathan
Indeed. You're also working at an angle - the doors are often only partially open so you have to lift at arms length and 45 degrees off-centre.
It's almost as if they were designed specifically with the brief to make it as awkward as possible.
Jdsk wrote: ↑12 May 2022, 1:04pm
Ease of lifting depends enormously on access.
Last week on the new Caledonian Sleeper I needed to lift each bike to hang it from one wheel on a hook. But at least I could stand in the corridor and lift them short-armed because the storage position was transverse to the train and there wasn't a wall in the way.
But some GW and I think those LNER restrict the access so that you have to work at arm's length. That's much tougher and carries a much greater risk of back injury.
Jonathan
Indeed. You're also working at an angle - the doors are often only partially open so you have to lift at arms length and 45 degrees off-centre.
It's almost as if they were designed specifically with the brief to make it as awkward as possible.
There is no way the Virgin Cross-Country cupboards would be approved by anyone trained in manual handling!
(I seem to recall GWR and LNER are v similar. There is usually some other distraction on every train trip to blur the memory ... )
beeb wrote: ↑12 May 2022, 2:03pm
i would rather they only allowed two bikes per train but made it a usable system.
No, let's ask for half a carriage, but settle for six and a usable system like on the trains that these stupid cupboard Hitachis replaced.
MJR, mostly pedalling 3-speed roadsters. KL+West Norfolk BUG incl social easy rides http://www.klwnbug.co.uk All the above is CC-By-SA and no other implied copyright license to Cycle magazine.
beeb wrote: ↑12 May 2022, 2:03pm
i would rather they only allowed two bikes per train but made it a usable system.
No, let's ask for half a carriage, but settle for six and a usable system like on the trains that these stupid cupboard Hitachis replaced.
Do you imagine that the purpose of a railway is to provide a service for travellers or something? The purpose of a railway is to make money for the shareholders. Less bike space = more room for passengers = more profit. That's how it works in the UK at least.
beeb wrote: ↑12 May 2022, 2:03pm
i would rather they only allowed two bikes per train but made it a usable system.
No, let's ask for half a carriage, but settle for six and a usable system like on the trains that these stupid cupboard Hitachis replaced.
Do you imagine that the purpose of a railway is to provide a service for travellers or something? The purpose of a railway is to make money for the shareholders. Less bike space = more room for passengers = more profit. That's how it works in the UK at least.
Not off peak, it isn't. Then it's more bike space = more passengers = more profit.
I wish we were like Belgium with no peak time bike bans, but let's get the spaces first.
MJR, mostly pedalling 3-speed roadsters. KL+West Norfolk BUG incl social easy rides http://www.klwnbug.co.uk All the above is CC-By-SA and no other implied copyright license to Cycle magazine.
A tourer already scrapes the ground when hung by its front wheel from the GWR Class 800 hooks, so lowering the hooks would make them even more useless. These spaces were apparently designed for two Hoxton fixies with short wheelbase and those tiny straight bars.
mjr wrote: ↑12 May 2022, 4:01pmNo, let's ask for half a carriage
I'd settle for a third of a carriage.
In particular, the third of a carriage that currently contains a kitchen which is unused on 95% of daily GWR services. Even assuming that GWR wants to continue with the vanity Pullman dining service (the only reason the kitchen is needed), the Pullmans could be served by 9-coach trains only, enabling the kitchens to be taken out of the 5-coach fleet.
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mjr wrote: ↑12 May 2022, 4:01pmNo, let's ask for half a carriage
I'd settle for a third of a carriage.
In particular, the third of a carriage that currently contains a kitchen which is unused on 95% of daily GWR services. Even assuming that GWR wants to continue with the vanity Pullman dining service (the only reason the kitchen is needed), the Pullmans could be served by 9-coach trains only, enabling the kitchens to be taken out of the 5-coach fleet.
Can the 9-coach trains stable near Plymouth yet? An obvious problem for 9-coach Pullman dining is that 1C82 1304 London Paddington to Plymouth is a Pullman dining service operated by a 2x5-coach train which got there as 1A78 0710 Penzance to London Paddington which is a 1x5-coach from Penzance to Plymouth that came in as 5A78 0640 from Penzance depot and joins to another 5 which have arrived from Exeter. Dining could be moved back or forwards to another train by an hour, but I suspect GWR would say that 1204 is too early and 1404 is too late. Putting a 9-coach on the existing time would have lots of consequences.
The 1B27 1748 London Paddington to Carmarthen would also be a problem because it leaves 5 at Swansea (where dining finishes, at least officially), but moving Pullman to 1B29 1818 London Paddington to Swansea seems like an easy workaround.
But, as I've written before, I suspect more people would like to see the kitchens turned into an update of the popular old GWR buffets than turned into bike-friendly multifunction spaces and get shot of the "Yeti" trolley that is so often absent or trapped in its cubbyhole.
MJR, mostly pedalling 3-speed roadsters. KL+West Norfolk BUG incl social easy rides http://www.klwnbug.co.uk All the above is CC-By-SA and no other implied copyright license to Cycle magazine.
I believe (though I might very well be wrong) that it was Penzance, not Plymouth (Laira), that had the stabling issue. The 9-coach sidings are now being built at Penzance - https://www.networkrail.co.uk/news/6-5m ... -penzance/ - so that's being sorted.
There is that one signal at Carmarthen that's apparently a problem, but as you say the Pullman service could go (back) on the Swansea service instead.
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I’ve been in 9 coach sets going into Plymouth recently. Not sure if they were going onto Cornwall. I tend to switch off a bit as I leave the train at totnes but overall I’ve noticed a slight reduction in the number of services but I haven’t seen any short trains so my guess is they are going into Penzance.
MrsHJ wrote: ↑19 May 2022, 2:59pm
I’ve been in 9 coach sets going into Plymouth recently. Not sure if they were going onto Cornwall. I tend to switch off a bit as I leave the train at totnes but overall I’ve noticed a slight reduction in the number of services but I haven’t seen any short trains so my guess is they are going into Penzance.
The problem isn't where they travel so much as where they stop overnight or off peak.
MJR, mostly pedalling 3-speed roadsters. KL+West Norfolk BUG incl social easy rides http://www.klwnbug.co.uk All the above is CC-By-SA and no other implied copyright license to Cycle magazine.