On Sun, 2 May 2021 15:36:40 -0000 (UTC)
Recliner wrote:
Anna Noyd-Dryver wrote:
I have now; Wikipedia unfortunately appears to be pretty light on detail
about what was wrong with them.


Some other sources:

There were a number of plans for their reuse, one of which was to adapt
them for the Piccadilly Line, but a number of technical problems were
encountered, not least the matter of alignment of the doors with platforms

That doesn't make any sense - the picc doesn't have platform doors so what
are they supposed to align with?

and that the doors were of single leaf design, rather then the 73TS double
doors and that the doors were significantly slower in operation than the
73TS.

They changed the door motors in the 73 stock (not an improvement IMO but I'm
sure they had their reasons) so they could have done the same with the 83.

As well as various electrical/mechanical/structural problems, one of the
reasons for the downfall of the class was the mid-carriage single-leaf
doors, clearly seen here, which extended station dwell times due to the
time it took passengers to join and alight from the carriages through the
relatively narrow door openings.

Not an issue out in the sticks as a shuttle service. And if they were to
enhance the service in the centre rather than replace old 73 stock then
they'd still speed things up regardless of the doors because there'd be less
crush to get on each train. Failing that they could always have just used
them outside rush hour.