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# Trains

These are my personal thoughts on some of the trains used in the UK on the National Rail network. These are from the perspective of an able-bodied person who happens to be 6'2" (so if I'm not complaining about the height or legroom or something, it's probably adequate).

### Class 68/Mk.3 Set (Chiltern Railways)

- Shockingly roomy passenger saloon - it really shows how much space certain multiple-unit classes lose to equiptment and machinery (or shrodinger's tilt - lookin' at you 220s)
- Very comfortable but very dated interior
- The class 68 is shocklingly loud but the ride (at least nearer the DVT end of the train) is exceptionally smooth and not at all noisy
- Some of the old Mk.3 coaches are weirdly squeaky though

### Class 139 Parry People Mover (West Midlands Railway/Pre-Metro)

- A bizzare little contraption
- The flywheel drive means sometimes you hear the engine spin up randomly while the thing is parked at a station
- Unexpectedly jerky ride and lots of beeping from the driving cab
- Was rather novel to see that there were no proper cab doors - though I don't suppose there'd be any reason to have them.
- The three minutes I spent on board generated no further comments

### Class 158 Express Sprinter (Transport for Wales)

- Comfortable! Good seats and a relatively spacious cabin
- Lots of engine noise and some vibration inside
- If you get unlucky, you get a unit that smells of engine inside the cabin and is inexplicably hot - though generally I don't think it's unfair to say these smell faintly of engine all the time
- Head-hittingly low vestibules

### Class 165 Networker (Great Western Railway)

- I think these are shite
- Negative legroom (I cannot sit normally in these seats) and the seats only come about 3/4 up my back
- These are not trains that go fast but they are trains that feel like they're going fast because they're working for it
- I really rate the massive section dedicated to bike and luggage storage
- The door beep is annoying and long and loud

### Class 170 Turbostar (CrossCountry)

- Good seats!
- Can get very, very overcrowded (who on earth thought it was a good idea to put a single 2-car on Cardiff to Nottingham)
- Amusingly large amounts of vibration on acceleration when they kick into top gear
- Relatively quiet inside the cabin

### Class 172 Turbostar (West Midlands Railway)

- Trim and proper trains
  - Note that this doesn't apply to the unrefurbished ex-Chiltern /1 sets - they suck.
- Decently well refurbished, brighter and less cramped feeling than similar CrossCountry trains
- Pretty quiet cabin
- Often run in pairs of two-car sets where one has end gangways and one doesn't, which is deeply deeply cursed

### Class 195 Civity (Northern)

- It's another CAF train.
- Pleasant, nice interior, boring livery.
- The only unit I've ever experienced an emergency stop on was a Northern 195 from Leeds to Nottingham, and it was due to computer fault. Outta nowhere we had a juddery, hard stop, and then the conductor came round and explained that actually nobody had any idea what was going on but we'd be on the way soon, hopefully.

### Class 196 Civity (West Midlands Railway)

- Striking and modern looks with a well-suited livery
- Is whisper quiet inside the cabin, and not exactly very noisy outside
- Squeaky brakes
- Has the typical rough CAF ride quality
- Seats are ergonomic but hard and have quite a small pitch
  - Also: armrests??
- Shockingly good PA system though

### Class 197 Civity (Transport for Wales)

- Decent livery (I like the red) but it's shown up as being a bit bland by WMR
- Being CAF-born, these trains plus some of the bumpier Welsh lines makes for quite a rough ride
- Okay interior - these have been outfitted with better seats at a better pitch than you can find on the 196s, but the lighting setup is harsher and less pleasant.
- The separate provision for bike spaces and wheelchairs is a welcome sight.

### Class 220 Voyager (CrossCountry)

- Both good and not so good
- Very comfortable seats, though legroom could be a squeak better
- That said, they are so tired and run-down inside
- Have a good ride and sound nice
- The profile designed to allow tilting operation makes them feel cramped and they have a tendency to overcrowd because of their route allocations
  - The crampiness tends to be worse when travelling on them at night because of the way the lighting is inside
- They make the platforms at New Street unpleasant to wait on with their fumes ._.
- I hit my head on the vestibule ceilings

### Class 221 Super Voyager (CrossCountry, Avanti West Coast)

- Functionally very similar (if not identical) to the 220s
- @avanti thank you for having proper bike storage areas
  - Editor's note: the Avanti 221s were retired in 2024 and found their way to CrossCountry and Grand Central

### Class 222 Meridian (East Midlands Railway)

- Thanks to the altered cabin shapes, these are nicer to be in than the 220/221 sets but they're still not incredible
- The light refurbishment (2024) of the seats does a lot to make the trains feel a bit better
  - The refreshed seats having a operator-neutral moquette is indicative of the fact the 222s are going to be kicking around for while after the 810s are introduced
  - The seats themselves are hard but not uncomfortable

### Class 323 (Northern)

- These sound phenomenal
- Old, and not exceptionally comfortable, but much better maintained than the WMR ones were
- The PA speakers are entertainingly crusty sounding and the conductor's announcements are garbled beyond recognition 80% of the time
- USB chargers and nice modern PIS LCD displays on the end of every car are well appreciated.

### Class 350 Desiro (London Northwestern Railway)

- I like these trains - because they're boring! Quiet, reliable, spacious.
- Generally pretty comfortable (provided you don't get a 350/2)
  - The notable exception to this is that the 350/2 has more comfortable first-class seats than the other subclasses. Which was unexpected.
- Refurbished units are typically in good nick and are plenty comfortable for the services they operate
  - Legroom 👍
- Some proper bike spaces are very much desperately needed
- Of all the trains that could run on the line I take home, I'm very happy to have these

### Class 360 Desiro (East Midlands Railway)

- Less decent trains - pretty much just a worse version of the class 350
- The 3+2 seating needs to go, and fast please
- The seats are also worn out and uncomfortable
- Despite often working in pairs, there are no end gangways fitted
- Looks very swish in EMR colours

### Class 373 Eurostar e300

- No complaints (but also not many thoughts).
- Good seats, ok cafe car, very very long.
- Inferior to the e320s but not by a lot.

### Class 374 Eurostar e320

- Also no complaints (but similarly few thoughts).
- Better seats than the e300, same ok cafe car, same large length.

### Class 390 Pendolino (Avanti West Coast)

- It's fast!
- Very smooth ride except for when it inexplicably judders forwards and back, which is somewhat frequently
- The tilt works and is very, very novel when you first experience it
- While the seats are very solid, they're also very comfortable - though you can see why they're gradually refurbishing these
  - Turns out the seats on the refurbed ones are HARD and far less comfortable. Well done Avanti.
- The doors and the funny little step take a comically long time to open and close

### Class 700 Desiro City (Thameslink)

- Inside these units are moden, bright and airy and generally quite pleasant to be inside of
- Exterior looks are pretty nice
- Self-driving in the Thameslink core section, which is very cool
- The ironing boards seats suck though

### Class 730 Aventra (West Midlands Railway)

I was able to ride the inaugural 730 service in the West Midlands on 2024-02-12 - the 2241 from Birmingham New Street to Wolverhampton aboard 730018! It had a very potent new-train smell to it - I'm decently confident it was the first passenger service that unit had seen. The photo you see for this train is my own, from that journey.

- Quiet, smooth, sleek, airy and modern - overally very, very nice trains
  - The cab-ends painted in the slightly peachier orange than the rest of the train are a notably pretty touch
- These are definitely trains that are better sutied to the Cross City line than the 323s, and they're generally nicer places to be.
- They have proper bike spaces (separate to the wheelchair bays!!), wider areas around the doors to help with crowding during peak times, walk-through carriages and crisp PIS displays
- Unlike some of their predecessors, they have a small number of table seats - I assume that if these trains were only for the Cross-City line they wouldn't be there, but nonetheless this is a fun addition.

### Class 745 FLiRT (Greater Anglia)

- I like these trains
- The interior ambiance is really well done - the colour scheme and lighting come together to create a really pleasant and comfortable atomsphere.
  - The whisper quiet and exceptionally smooth ride helps with this too
- There's plenty of luggage space (which is good, because these run the Stansted Express et al)
- I adore the level boarding system, plus the funky Jacobs bogies are fun
- Large, clear and crisp passenger information displays
- The same supportive seating as the WMR 196s, except with armrests, seatback tables and a better pitch
- Also has good looks outside

## Retired Classes

### Class 323 (West Midlands Railway)

- The passenger compartment of these units were very drab while they were with WMR
- Their replacement with 730s was well due but I'm sad that they're gone
  - I once got an excited high-five from someone after telling them that the 323s would soon be replaced

## Abroad

I have no detailed thoughts about these, but here's a list of trains I've travelled on abroad.

### Class 3100/3200/3300 ICNG Wesp (NS)

### Class 4023/4024/4124 Talent (ÖBB)

### Railjet (class 1016/1116/1216 Taurus + Viaggio Comfort) (ÖBB)

### Class 4746 Desiro Mainline (ÖBB)

### AM/MS08 Desiro Mainline (SNCB/NMBS)

### AM/MS80 Break (SNCB/NMBS)

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