John B wrote:
wrote:
Riding on the Berlin u-bahn and s-bahn last month in temperatures
comparable to today revealed little passenger discomfort since the cars
all have proper opening hinged side windows. So far wide do they open
that pictorgrams forbid the throwing out of bottles and cans, which is
probably why nanny state Britain would forbid us from having them here.
The D Stock were saunas when first introduced in comparison with the R
and CO/CP stock they replaced and until opening windows were
retro-fitted. Doubtless the awful S-stock planned to replace them will
be likewise until air-con is fitted.

Aircon will be factory-fitted in S-stock. Not quite sure why it's
otherwise 'dreadful' - the stock it's replacing isn't steam-powered or
loco-hauled[*] and doesn't have slam doors, so the usual objections
don't apply. Articulated doorways add significantly to the ambience of
metro stock, and they seem to be planning a sensible door
configuration.

[*] hmm, tautologous? Anyone know of an SMU?

--
John Band
john at johnband dot org
www.johnband.org

Does "articulated doorways" mean that each carriage will be directly
connected to its neighbours, thus removing the ONLY source of decent
ventilation, i.e. the end-doors' opening windows?! So, the ONLY place
on the train where one can actually stand and feel reasonably
comfortable in hot weather is going to be removed. What's that
"ambience" to which you are referring: tropics under London? Now,
that's REAL progress!

Marc.