"R.C. Payne" wrote in message ...
S R wrote:
I can't see any reason why they'd diagram in such a way to be 376 only,
but it could be done in theory, which is why I assume the OP
asked the question.


My reason for asking was concern that routes limited by platform length to
8-car trains would see all their peak-period 6- and 8-car trains replaced by
5-car trains.

Which stations/routes are restricted to 8 cars? I might have been
sensible to have designed the 376s with selective door opening to permit
10 car working to these stations.

What actually is the history of the 12 car networker thing? I recall
lots of platform lengthening happening at about the time the networkers
were coming in, but I wasn't really paying attention at the time? What
work was left undone that would have allowed 12 car trains, and what
were the originally intended routes for them?

Robin

I can't give a list of what work was left undone, but I remember a lot
about the period. The Networkers were originally all going to be
units of four. The platforms were long enough for ten-car EPBs, but
the Networkers were going to have to be shorter (eight-car) if the
platforms weren't extended to allow for twelve.

But then three incompatible things happened.

1) The extension of all (most?) of the relevant platforms took place,
requiring Charing Cross to be closed for three solid weeks at one
point, and resulting in the disappearance of platform 7 at London
Bridge.

2) The order was changed to include two-car 466s, which meant that
there could be ten-car trains anyway.

3) The Networker trains, for a long time, were a maximum of eight
cars, and for many years the average length was shorter than the EPBs
had been.

The main result of the extended platforms has been to give the various
operators a good laugh watching people chasing short trains to the far
end of the platform.