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.

--
Paul C
via Google

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.

U

"Paul Corfield" wrote:

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.

Is it 'has to' or 'instructed to' I wonder? Generally, conductors on
Southern 377s work within the carriage, but I believe it is operationally
possible to work from the rear (or intermediate) cab, and I'm pretty sure
I've been on a few services (generally late night departures from Brighton)
where this has happened.

Also, are the guards actually releasing the doors? Just interested, as I
thought on most modern build units the driver did the releasing, and the
guard/conductor the closing.

Chris

"Chris Read" wrote in message
news

"Paul Corfield" wrote:

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.

Is it 'has to' or 'instructed to' I wonder? Generally, conductors on
Southern 377s work within the carriage, but I believe it is operationally
possible to work from the rear (or intermediate) cab, and I'm pretty sure
I've been on a few services (generally late night departures from
Brighton) where this has happened.


Also possible that the service is DOO and there isn't a guard at all. Most
of the evening (post peak) Brighton Expresses run this way.

D A Stocks

On Jul 29, 7:27*pm, "Chris Read" wrote:
"Paul Corfield" wrote:
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.

Is it 'has to' or 'instructed to' I wonder? Generally, conductors on
Southern 377s work within the carriage, but I believe it is operationally
possible to work from the rear (or intermediate) cab, and I'm pretty sure
I've been on a few services (generally late night departures from Brighton)
where this has happened.

Also, are the guards actually releasing the doors? Just interested, as I
thought on most modern build units the driver did the releasing, and the
guard/conductor the closing.


Conductors certainly both open and close the doors on both London
Midland and on Southern services on the West Coast Mainline. On LM
services this is the reason for the delay between the train stopping
and the doors opening, as the conductor has to open the door where
they are and check the position and length of the train in relation to
the platform before opening the rest of the doors. For LM, where
selective door opening is used, only doors ahead of the conductor will
open. You can see this on the early morning services which call at
Wembley Central; e.g. the 8 car train on the 04.35 Milton Keynes -
Euston on Saturdays has an advertised stop here (in the on-line
journey planner, but not in the printed timetable) and only the front
4 coaches' doors open, with the conductor in the front cab of the rear
unit.

Andy wrote:
On Jul 29, 7:27 pm, "Chris Read" wrote:
"Paul Corfield" wrote:
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.
Is it 'has to' or 'instructed to' I wonder? Generally, conductors on
Southern 377s work within the carriage, but I believe it is operationally
possible to work from the rear (or intermediate) cab, and I'm pretty sure
I've been on a few services (generally late night departures from Brighton)
where this has happened.

Also, are the guards actually releasing the doors? Just interested, as I
thought on most modern build units the driver did the releasing, and the
guard/conductor the closing.


Conductors certainly both open and close the doors on both London
Midland and on Southern services on the West Coast Mainline. On LM
services this is the reason for the delay between the train stopping
and the doors opening, as the conductor has to open the door where
they are and check the position and length of the train in relation to
the platform before opening the rest of the doors. For LM, where
selective door opening is used, only doors ahead of the conductor will
open. You can see this on the early morning services which call at
Wembley Central; e.g. the 8 car train on the 04.35 Milton Keynes -
Euston on Saturdays has an advertised stop here (in the on-line
journey planner, but not in the printed timetable) and only the front
4 coaches' doors open, with the conductor in the front cab of the rear
unit.

There was one sitting at Platform 18 at Euston on Tuesday morning. I was
off to see what state the NXEA dogboxes had come to by visiting Bury St
Edmunds. (Filthy dogbox from Cambridge as usual - a 156 turned up for
the return journey). Was impressed by the quick door release on the 365
at Kings Cross - unlike the usual long wait on a London Midland 321 or
350.

G

In article ,
(Gavin Hamilton) wrote:

Was impressed by the quick door release on the 365 at Kings Cross -
unlike the usual long wait on a London Midland 321 or 350.

Or on a SWT Desiro.

One of the 365's best features. You can hold the Open button pressed as
the train rolls to a stand and it will open almost instantly after it
stops and in any case when the doors are released.

Why can't all modern trains do that? Even the 170s that don't have
automation in the way (I think) won't do that. If a button is pressed when
the door release is actioned, they won't open. You have to release the
button and press it again.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

On Thu, 30 Jul 2009 10:39:37 +0100, Gavin Hamilton wrote:

Was impressed by the quick door release on the 365
at Kings Cross - unlike the usual long wait on a London Midland 321 or
350.

Surely this left you cowering in fear at how unsafe 365s are, compared
to 321s/350s with their important and worthwhile safety features?

On Jul 29, 7:27*pm, "Chris Read" wrote:
"Paul Corfield" wrote:
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.

Is it 'has to' or 'instructed to' I wonder? Generally, conductors on
Southern 377s work within the carriage, but I believe it is operationally
possible to work from the rear (or intermediate) cab, and I'm pretty sure
I've been on a few services (generally late night departures from Brighton)
where this has happened.

At CLJ and ECR they will almost certainly be in an intermediate cab
during the peaks. It's generally advisable for late night west
coastway shifts.

Also, are the guards actually releasing the doors? Just interested, as I
thought on most modern build units the driver did the releasing, and the
guard/conductor the closing.

It's the driver on SN. Saves a lot of time over a long journey with
many stops. Over on SWT station stops seem to take an eternity in
comparison.

Paul Corfield wrote:

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.

I believe that this is merely an option... the LOROL guard I spoke to a
month ago told me that she would be hiding in the rear cab during both the
busiest and the most unsafe parts of her shift.