Light levels on trains?
 

I've found that trains with lower levels of light are far more relaxing journeys (i'll attatch pictures i've taken below) - my experience of trains is limited to south wales (in the last few months i've gone from the car to buses/trains) so I can't speak for anything other than ATW/FGW.

I have to go to Maesteg twice a week which takes about 1hr 45 from where I live (changing at cardiff) on which atw use most of their fleet, the most common being a 150/158. The 150 has an almost 'overbright' level of light which is rather offputting, and really do not envy the people having to endure that for 3 1/2 hours to west wales (Though the ex FGW 150s aren't too bad) - whereas the 158 has much more subdued lighting which is actually quite relaxing.

Just wondered what other people on these forums thought about commuter trains in their area (as this forum is pretty dead ;p).

attatched is some photos to show what I mean (the camera on my phone causes some bloom so apologies for that)


One off-topic question, today ATW employees (or at least they were wearing the uniform) were driving a FGW train from portsmouth harbour, is it normal for employees of one TOC to drive the trains of another?

Class 143 lighting.

http://img372.imageshack.us/img372/8064/143lh7.jpg

150.

http://img372.imageshack.us/img372/1829/150px5.jpg

153.
http://img378.imageshack.us/img378/5615/153ru1.jpg

158.

http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/5217/158hw1.jpg

Lighting on trains is a tricky subject. Most people associate "bright" with "cheerful" but I can see that in some cases bright lighting might be a nuisance. I suppose it all depends on what you want to do during your journey e.g. read, sleep, look out of window, use laptop etc. Ideally separate lighting and controls should be provided at each seat but this is never likely to happen on the type of trains that ATW have. There is also the question of safety and security. I think most people nowadays prefer to be in a brightly lit area especially when there are fewer people around.

It does sometimes happen when it is more cost-effective especially on routes where the services are provided by more than one TOC. e.g. When the Virgin Trains services from London - Holyhead were Class 47 hauled between Crewe and Holyhead they were driven by ATW drivers. Now that the number of services have been increased Virgin provide their own drivers. Another reason might be that FGW do not have enough drivers "signed" for a particular type of train or route so they hire in experienced drivers from ATW until theirs are trained.