Paul Corfield wrote:
On Wed, 29 Jul 2009 06:10:50 -0700 (PDT), Mr Thant
wrote:

On 29 July, 13:32, Paul Corfield wrote:
Yep there is one out and about - 378 005 - on the North London Line
although its first run started at Clapham Junction this morning. It
was on the 1157 from Richmond and should be the 1307 ex Stratford back
to Richmond. I saw it at Highbury & Islington but couldn't spare the
time for a ride on it. Looked very shiny and it certainly moves
quickly enough. Photos later although there are already shots by
others on Flickr.
I've managed to squeeze a one-stop ride into my lunch hour. The
gangway is much wider than I expected but the ceiling seems rather
low. The destination panels on the sides are too small and far apart
(and unreadble from an angle), and the motors seem a bit noisier than
on 377s. On the plus side, non-garbled next stop announcements.

I managed to catch it again between Gunnersbury and Kew Gardens. Instant
reaction from two ladies who got on in front of me was "new train, lots
of extra seats (not)!". Seemed very quiet to me although I agree the
ceiling feels low compared to a 313 and no luggage racks overhead. Odd
to see the return of strap hangers given the blitz to remove them from
LUL. The aisle is very wide and I can see that will be genuinely useful
in cramming people in and also allowing people to head for the exit more
effectively when the service is busy. The internal displays and
announcements were fine and obviously a big step up from the 313s.
Interesting that the guard has to travel in the train carriage, DLR
style, as the door release and door close buttons are by the doors
themselves.

Having travelled back on a 313 all the way back to Highbury and just
catching the really bad overcrowding I can see that the extra space will
be welcomed. However given the door apertures are about the same size as
a 313 in broadly the same pattern I would have to wonder about dwell
times. They can already be pretty bad with the 313s and I can see it
being worse with the 378s in the short term until people and the staff
get used to them. The fact one pair of doors is open while the guard
shuts the others just means people dash and plead with the guard to be
allowed on - this certainly happened with the lunchtime trip I saw at
Highbury where there is a constant stream of passengers.

Photos at

http://www.flickr.com/photos/2475974...7615618429889/


Very nice, indeed.

What happened to the side track at Highbury & Islington?