Trains at Swindon - 13 May 2021

A very limited train service at Swindon on 12th May due the IETs being withdrawn from service because of cracks found in the underframe resulting in much confusion and delay for passengers travelling to and from London.
CrossCountry has stepped in to provide a shuttle service on the Bristol to Swindon route, meanwhile GWR had managed to train their guards on the 387s so they could be used to provide a Swindon to London shuttle.

[@neilcrawford8303]

Good video.
Interesting to see GWR 387s as far as Swindon and in 12 car formations.
Be great if the local Swindon rail user group will petitioned GWR to keep using the 387s on the route over the sHitachi 800 series. The 387s have got to be a better ride than 800s and 802s.

[@fgwHST43009]

From what I've heard, the passengers have enjoyed having 387s to Swindon and a HST down to Bath and Bristol.

[@neilcrawford8303]

@@fgwHST43009
Hardly surprising. I travelled on a GWR 802 and wasn't impressed at all, and that was first class. I'd rather have taken 159 from Waterloo.
Pad to Swindon isn't a long journey. No different to some of the journeys on Southern, Southeastern or KX to Kings Lynn. I've had enjoyable journeys on LM 350s from London to Crewe. To be fair to Hitachi, the seating spec was down to the DfT who ordered the trains.
Good video. Interesting to see how the railway coped with the situation at short notice.

[@OnTheRailwayOfficial]

@@neilcrawford8303 the seats are a let down for me on the class 800/802s everything else is fine for me except the seats.

[@mst4309]

That 387 at 15:06 accelerated FAST as hell!

[@mst4309]

I really want to know the temporary service patterns. It’s very very rare and fascinating and I can’t find information anywhere. XC, 387s and 165/166s in Swindon... that’s very rare!

[@fgwHST43009]

Services on this particular day were:
*Reading to Newport (every hour)
*Swindon to London Paddington (every hour)
*Swindon to Bath & Bristol (approx every 1-2 hours)
*Swindon to Gloucester (every hour)
*Swindon to Westbury (approx every 2 hours)

[@mst4309]

@@fgwHST43009 thanks! You know which trains operated the routes?

[@ajsvlogs1032]

Bring gwr 43s back on the mainline and scrap the iets

[@BoomTrainspots]

Yes😁

[@TommyTrainspotter47]

True but don’t scrap the IETS