SWR First Class - what is the point?

[Kite159]

Not helped by the fact most of the stations on the Ascot-Guildford have limited ticket office hours, so most of the time it's a free-for-all for fare dodgers.

Even if the ticket office was staffed full time you will still get passengers paying strictly only when challenged. Especially when the only stations on that route with barriers are Aldershot & Guildford.

 

[Phil R]

On Weekdays, Guildford to Farnham services can get quite busy leaving Guildford in the evening peak.

But to be honest, the only time I ever see First Class being used is when the "anti-social type" (as I mentioned in a previous post) take over the compartment to fiddle with the internal doors / perform their anti-social behaviours behind a frosted door / deliberately irk you - but then that's usually outside of the peaks anyhow.

Very rarely have I actually seen a (likely) fare-paying passenger in there.

This is a feature where the 450 refurb unfortunately didn't help. Previously the FC was adjacent to where the guard would more likely be. Splitting it and putting it over the outer vehicle ends doesn't do much for comfort or for even moderate claustrophobics either.

 

[Goldfish62]

Until like 2015, everything other than Reading was 455 or 450/5, none of which had first class.

And Reading had no 1st Class on evenings and weekends from 1997 to 2002 due to 455's being allocated (something that's currently being repeated albeit all day!).

 

[infobleep]

I’m not sure what Southampton has to do with anything. The fastest Portsmouth service takes half an hour longer than the train to Southampton. They need it because it goes onto Weymouth, sure, but Southampton is irrelevant.

The 444s run perhaps just slightly under 50% of the Portsmouth Direct Line, so it’d mean some Portsmouth services had first and not others, same for Portsmouth via Basingstoke and the Alton line. Sure you could declassify on everything except Weymouths, but does that not further demerit first class when it IS in use on those Weymouths?

Well what about Thameslink? First class only at the front, although on the Sutton services its declassified throughout.

At one stage a few had first class on the trains in the timetable but not sure that's the case now.

In all cases, the trains have two first class labeled compartments.

 

[HamworthyGoods]

This is a feature where the 450 refurb unfortunately didn't help. Previously the FC was adjacent to where the guard would more likely be. Splitting it and putting it over the outer vehicle ends doesn't do much for comfort or for even moderate claustrophobics either.

Earlier up people were lamenting the loss off the first class compartments which where just as claustrophobic!

 

[Doomotron]

At least with SWR you get larger seats (sometimes more comfortable too) and amenities like wireless charging and curtains. On Southern you only get a nice napkin to rest your head on!

It's ironic then that the seats used in 450 first class are the same as in 377s in both standard class and first class. I've only spent a short time in 450 first class (a slightly naughty test of the seats when coming into Waterloo) so I don't know which variant of the Compin 'Electrostar seat' it is, as they can vary in comfort significantly. The lovely soft variant on the earlier batches of 375s are the best ones by far, but the updated first class variant used in most later batches of 377s is also very nice.

Though the worst has to be the First Class of the 458s - which used the same Grammer seat's as FGW's Standard Class - making Standard Class more worth more than First.

I haven't been on a 458 for a while but I remember my experiences on FGW HSTs very well, and I struggle to believe the IC3000s in first class are nicer than the seats in standard class.

It's also worth noting that various German trains use IC3000s in first class, sometimes with Grammer C3000s in standard, those being the seats used in the Class 395 and despite being one of the lowest tiers of seat in their range I ironically see more complaints aimed at the IC3000 than the C3000 by a significant margin. While both are comfortable, it's the high backs of the IC3000s which caused problems for a lot of people.

Southern first class is a joke. Some of the seats are positioned with their back AGAINST the window for goodness sake.

A design flaw caused by the expanded legroom it seems. I would complain, but in truth I love the inwards-facing seats for their improved privacy.

 

[Goldfish62]

Earlier up people were lamenting the loss off the first class compartments which where just as claustrophobic!

And when 1st Class was in the middle of the 450s people complained that it should be at the ends.

 

[infobleep]

And when 1st Class was in the middle of the 450s people complained that it should be at the ends.

But was it the same people complaining?

 

[Goldfish62]

But was it the same people complaining?

Undoubtedly not, which just goes to show that wherever you put the 1st Class someone won't like it.