Friday 4 July 2014

42561 & 42518 – 18:00 & 18:37 Friday 4th July



















42561 & 42518

Hello Houston, we have a problem……….

Well it has been a pretty abysmal week for commuting but this particular problem wasn’t caused by anything unpleasant and that includes all the smelly freaksters who think it’s acceptable to remove your shoes on public transport! Yeah, looking at you, high heel business women…..if you can’t hack ‘em, don’t wear ‘em!

As I clambered aboard the 18:00 Bristol service to make my way home tonight I got onto Carriage F for the only reason that I was desperate for a wee and this was the nearest standard class carriage to the barriers. After composing myself I took a seat in said Carriage F (or 42561) and noticed how clean and bright everything was looking. From the carpets to the seats to the paper antimacassars, everything looked brand new. This theme even continued to the carriage number which looked so new it almost smelt of fresh wet paint.

I wondered if this was one of the former 1st Class Carriages that have been refurbished for Standard Class use and these suspicions seem to have been confirmed as Jess’s list of carriage numbers that she forwarded to me what seems like a half a life time ago (remember those days, when she used to answer my tweets and mails……ah that golden summer of our shared youth) doesn’t include this number.

So this rather puts a hefty iron bar in the spokes unless I can find out which number was transformed into 42561. I reckon this is a case for none other than the unsung hero of FGW, the Oll-Finder General and this really will be a test to see if he does read the blog…….

The journey was finalised aboard 42518 which was Carriage E on the Frome service where things didn’t look so new and shiny, but better than the carriages did when I tweeted this a few days ago.



The strange thing about this tweet is that it was picked up by two new followers who look to be some of FGW’s purple great coat wearing lovelies, who I believe are known as Ambassadors. Both seem to work out of Cardiff which means our paths with probably never cross, but unless Jess pulls her finger out she might find herself replaced! So @fgw_cdfcentral and @fgwcardiff this entry is dedicated to you in all your purple coated splendor!

1 comment:

  1. Hello sir :)

    I don't have anything handy that shows which 1st class coaches are being converted, but I shall do some digging and let you know.

    Hope you have a good weekend.

    All the best,


    Ollie

    ReplyDelete