cycle storage on trains

pompy

About to book my ticket with First Great Western from Reading down to LE plus a space for the bike. Is it possible/worth trying to get a seat near the cycle storage area to keep an eye on things as I understand you aren't allowed to secure it to the train. Don't really fancy someone walking off with it before I've even started!

barney69

I booked mien on XC trains to Penzance and booked the bike on too. You get 2 tickets for the bike - one to attach to it and the other you keep with you. you are allowed to lock them up and encouraged to do so even though there's nobody goes in there as they are stored in the guards van.
Regards
Nigel

andymiller

barney69 wrote:

I booked mien on XC trains to Penzance and booked the bike on too. You get 2 tickets for the bike - one to attach to it and the other you keep with you. you are allowed to lock them up and encouraged to do so even though there's nobody goes in there as they are stored in the guards van.

The Virgin Cross Country services use a different type of train with the bikes in a guards van. I haven't travelled on FGW in a while but there always used to be notices telling you specifically not to lock your bike to anything. In any case, you don't get a whole lot of time to get your bike on and off (and you can't normally get to the guards van until the train stops at the station) so the last thing you want to be worrying about is unlocking the bike. I used to travel regularly on these trains and I always used to put the lock onto the bike but not lock it to anything - on the basis that someone carrying a locked bike would attract attention.

IIRC the coach next to the guards van is Coach A - a quiet coach so if you express a preference for a quiet coach you should get a seat in coach A. If this doesn't work you could simply go and sit in Coach A - this should be OK unless the train is fully-booked.

barney69

I've travelled a few times using Virgin (ex East Coast) and the bikes are always in the guards van but coach A is 1st class. I just made sure I walked through the 1st class coach and was waiting at the closest door to the guards van once it approached the station. The guard has to physically open and close the guards van so there's no chance of them leaving whilst you are getting your bike off. I probably beat most foot passengers off ;-)

jc4lab

last resort .. make it unattractive to nick..Lock or even a cheap Poundshop cable lock through the wheels.to stop it being wheeled off...Maybe keep the seatpost or even a wheel with you..

apreading

Got FGW HST from Pewsey to Newbury a couple of months back.

Bikes are in a separate part of the train and you have literally seconds to load/unload them while stopped at a station before the guard starts hassling you. There were velcro straps to secure them but he didnt give me enough time to do that properly - said he would sort it.

When we got to Newbury I raced to the bike van to get them out before they moved off, opened the door and unloaded them without supervision - didnt need the guard to open the door.

I didnt really know what I was doing - in hindsight perhaps the best option would be to lock the frame and back wheel to each other and lift it on/off - would be at least some deterrent. Trouble is that I dont know if the bike carrier is always at the rear of the train or not - if you have locked the bike in advance then you want to be already standing at the right end of the platform as carrying it through crowds if you are at the wrong end would be difficult.

When we pulled into stations mid route I just stuck my head out of the door and made sure nobody made off with the bike!

Much easier from Newbury to Reading as the bike went in the carriage with us - but that was a local train, not a high speed one.

andymiller

barney69 wrote:

I've travelled a few times using Virgin (ex East Coast) and the bikes are always in the guards van but coach A is 1st class. I just made sure I walked through the 1st class coach and was waiting at the closest door to the guards van once it approached the station. The guard has to physically open and close the guards van so there's no chance of them leaving whilst you are getting your bike off. I probably beat most foot passengers off ;-)

I'm not sure which company and which trains you are talking about but they aren't the FGW trains to the west country.

andymiller

apreading wrote:

I didnt really know what I was doing - in hindsight perhaps the best option would be to lock the frame and back wheel to each other and lift it on/off - would be at least some deterrent. Trouble is that I dont know if the bike carrier is always at the rear of the train or not - if you have locked the bike in advance then you want to be already standing at the right end of the platform as carrying it through crowds if you are at the wrong end would be difficult.

Unless things have changed and I'm going from memory, the guards van is normally at the head of the train going out of London and at the tail going into London.

What you describe as the 'best option' is what I do.