Minor things on trains which irritate you

[fgwrich]

Auxiliary engines on the Irish Rail 29000s and NIR 3000s. Such an irritating noise that causes a constant drone in the passenger area (also occurs on middle car on Renfe 592s).

Oddly, the same MAN Engines used as the primary power for those NIR 3CKs are now providing the Diesel power for the 769s - making a similar endless droning to the Cummins Aux engine.

 

[GrimsbyPacer]

The fold up chairs where I am required to sit on long journeys due to being a carer, are deliberately uncomfortable on 185s, soon to be replaced though on TPE South.

 

[DannyMich2018]

The sometimes lack of a view through the windows of an EMR 222. If there's no pillar obscuring the view it's either steamed up or filthy dirty you can't see out. Awful trains. The 180s are so much nicer inside with very good window alignment and no steamy or dirty windows.

 

[py_megapixel]

The sometimes lack of a view through the windows of an EMR 222. If there's no pillar obscuring the view it's either steamed up or filthy dirty you can't see out. Awful trains. The 180s are so much nicer inside with very good window alignment and no steamy or dirty windows.

Unfortunately the 180s are rubbish mechanically, with frequent breakdowns and notorious for engine fires.

I don't see how the 222s would be more likely to have dirty windows than the 180s if they are subject to the same cleaning regime - maybe because they slant inwards slightly so it's harder for a carriage washing plant to scrub the dirt off, though that seems like a stretch.

 

[6Gman]

Passengers who don’t close non-automatic interior doors.

Especially when they are toilet doors.

And we are sitting in the immediate vicinity.

 

[py_megapixel]

Especially when they are toilet doors.

Luckily new stock now seems to always have either push button operated automatic toilet doors or self-closing ones

 

[DannyMich2018]

Unfortunately the 180s are rubbish mechanically, with frequent breakdowns and notorious for engine fires.

I don't see how the 222s would be more likely to have dirty windows than the 180s if they are subject to the same cleaning regime - maybe because they slant inwards slightly so it's harder for a carriage washing plant to scrub the dirt off, though that seems like a stretch.

Yes the 180s aren't the best train at all but at least when they work they are comfortable and pleasant trains compared to many trains around. Also does anyone know what annoying bleeping sound often heard on 222s and 390s is?

 

[bramling]

Passengers who don’t close non-automatic interior doors.

Never really got that one. It always used to amuse me on 317s when people left them open and you’d get someone make a big thing of slamming the door. For such people, I never got why chose to sit in those seats, nor why if a slight bit of extra noise was a problem they chose to sit in the motor car!

 

[ComUtoR]

MCBs that constantly trip
'Cheap' wiper blades
Tech on a unit that isn't used
New units not having modern safety systems that are available elsewhere
Cab doors with the most complicated door locks
No remote reset passcoms/egresses
Switch labels that fade almost instantly
Carriage Key locks

 

[Kite159]

Fixed armrests on seats on the window side, most cases only usable by kids.

 

[thejuggler]

No grab handles, central pole in the door lobby on 195s. Dangerous when it is very busy.

 

[Horizon22]

Interior doors that randomly (and sometimes continuously) open and shut by themselves.

Very frustrating, often seems to happen on an Electrostar of some sort too. And then they rattle along when it is a carriage end door too.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 27 Jan 2022 ==

Passengers who don’t close non-automatic interior doors.

Including toilet doors!

 

[Class800]

With the interior doors opening spontaneously, we may wish to distinguish between electric doors and manual doors - on the class 150s it is a manual door that seems to have a penchant for opening, rattling and banging despite people's efforts to keep closing it

 

[voyagerdude220]

Also does anyone know what annoying bleeping sound often heard on 222s and 390s is?

I'm not sure about 222s, but on 220/221/390s it's usually either the train crew trying to get hold of each other or the pass com.

 

[warwickshire]

1. Crewe call noises on Voyagers especially after the retail host has tannoyed an announcement for other host to contact them.
2. Class 158 conductor call for help in disabled toilet area audio alarm. iff it cannot be reset on constantly for around up to two hours. And constantly being announced in train.
3. 720 seating space.
4. See it say it sort it being announced also all the time.

 

[Toby268]

It’s definitely not as bad as it was - but interior lights on voyagers flickering when power is applied. On some units it was appalling.

 

[Pigeon]

Luckily new stock now seems to always have either push button operated automatic toilet doors or self-closing ones

Push button operated self-opening toilet doors are the worst. With buttons that do not operate as they lead you to expect them to.

So you go in, and manage to make the door shut itself; everything seems to be OK, so you proceed to business.

So you're happily discussing an important contract, when all of a sudden, for no reason, the door begins to slide open. There isn't anyone outside who's just opened it, it just decided to come open of its own accord in response to some random electronic whim that took its fancy.

And you can't bloody stop it. You mash frantically at the close button, but nothing happens. It ignores all input and just grinds slowly and inexorably all the way to the fully open position. The wide, gaping, disabled-access-compliant fully open position that lays bare all concealment.

Only when the door has completed its full travel, at a pace that would handily win it a slow race for snails, does it finally condescend to take notice of the panicked hammering on its button, and slowly, oh so slowly grinds its way closed again with the same molluscine absence of urgency. And all the while a carriage full of passengers are trying to peek at your commercial secrets.

 

[PupCuff]

Northern's 195s, and how still after however many years they've been in service they still have safety information posters with spelling errors.

"Inadvertedly"

"Neccesary"



Absolute basics which should have been picked up and fixed before they were accepted and now just make the industry look like we're too thick to even spell correctly.

 

[Towers]

Push button operated self-opening toilet doors are the worst. With buttons that do not operate as they lead you to expect them to.

So you go in, and manage to make the door shut itself; everything seems to be OK, so you proceed to business.

So you're happily discussing an important contract, when all of a sudden, for no reason, the door begins to slide open. There isn't anyone outside who's just opened it, it just decided to come open of its own accord in response to some random electronic whim that took its fancy.

And you can't bloody stop it. You mash frantically at the close button, but nothing happens. It ignores all input and just grinds slowly and inexorably all the way to the fully open position. The wide, gaping, disabled-access-compliant fully open position that lays bare all concealment.

Only when the door has completed its full travel, at a pace that would handily win it a slow race for snails, does it finally condescend to take notice of the panicked hammering on its button, and slowly, oh so slowly grinds its way closed again with the same molluscine absence of urgency. And all the while a carriage full of passengers are trying to peek at your commercial secrets.

Brilliant!

 

[Kneedown]

The sudden loud crash sound that goes off every five minutes or so under the pantograph of 2nd generation Electrostars.

Under the pantograph? I think that would be the VCB (Vacuum Circuit Breaker) opening and closing going through a neutral section. Not confined to Electrostars, and it's doing exactly what it's supposed to do.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

Under the pantograph? I think that would be the VCB (Vacuum Circuit Breaker) opening and closing going through a neutral section. Not confined to Electrostars, and it's doing exactly what it's supposed to do.

I'm not criticising it I'm just saying the sound is annoying as it shocks me each time.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I don't know if you would class it as minor; the air conditioning at the bottom of the windows on the mark 5 coaches. All it does is cause an unpleasant cold draught.

It is odd how UK people hate that, as it is pretty standard in European LHCS.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 28 Jan 2022 ==

The horrid transmission whine on 158s. Hurts my ears.

 

[liamf656]

I work 40 hours a week on Meridians and have my fair share of pet hates

The overhead luggage racks are too small so are rarely used, while the luggage racks at the end of each coach are overused

Sometimes the exterior door seal doesn’t seal, giving a horrible whistling sound at speed. Although, on a hot train with no openable windows, the draught can sometimes be refreshing!

The fact that the lights don’t always come on in all coaches when the engine/electrics come on

The buffet bar doors tend to swing closed and when they slam it’s comparable to a gunshot

The door to the bike spaces will close itself from the movement of the train, and can only be opened with a T key, as they were designed to only be opened at a station, so to prevent them from closing a bin bag is tied from the handle to the luggage rack to hold it open, and it looks tacky

 

[sk688]

Been done to death on here , but the window alignment on 390s

 

[Bletchleyite]

Been done to death on here , but the window alignment on 390s

Lazy, thoughtless window alignment on any units. 195, Mk5 etc.

 

[D6130]

Passengers who don’t close non-automatic interior doors.

Passengers who strain to close automatic interior doors!

 

[AidanCKY]

Other passengers.



More seriously: rattly bits, even on newer trains.

I recently went on a Hull Trains Class 802 and was at the end of a carriage, could hear the overhead rack was vibrating on the wall and making a really annoying sound. Fixed by shoving a receipt in the gap.

 

[ABB125]

Train toilet sink modules that:

• Are so shallow as to be useless
• Have puny taps which don't deposit water anywhere useful
• Don't have a large enough "lip" on the edge, resulting in the person using the sink being sploshed with water when a rough bit of track is encountered
• Have run out of soap
• Have a drier which is about as effective as a tropical raincloud

 

[dm1]

When on 222s and waiting to alight at my destination: passengers who keep pressing the open door button before the doors have been unlocked - as if one try isn’t enough, the passenger presses it repeatedly despite the door unlocked light not being on.

That's because for some reason, "door ordering" is still a foreign concept around these parts. One press of the button any time on approach should be enough for it to light up and for the correct door to be opened at the next station, even if the button originally pressed was on the wrong side.

 

[LiftFan]

The horrible high pitched whine that all the 166s have (air conditioning noise?)