Best post-1998 built rolling stock for comfort

[junglejames]

To be fair though, by only experiencing a 221 and a 375 you were exposed to some of the worst modern classes in the country.

Although to be even fairer, the slammers were more comfortable than any post 1998 stock. Not just EMUs, but trains as a whole. Plus you knew you would get to your destination.

 

[ainsworth74]

Although to be even fairer, the slammers were more comfortable than any post 1998 stock. Not just EMUs, but trains as a whole. Plus you knew you would get to your destination.

Well 444s have an MP5MD of over 50,000 whilst 458s and 450s were I think third and fourth respectively at the last Golden Spanners so I'm not quite sure how you can doubt that they would get you to your destination. Unless you're referring to infrastructure problems in which case surely those would affect Slammers as well and can't really be blamed on the trains?

 

[Schnellzug]

Although to be even fairer, the slammers were more comfortable than any post 1998 stock. Not just EMUs, but trains as a whole. Plus you knew you would get to your destination.

Well, in terms of seats lining up with windows & so on, I'd agree, but they did have a curious tendency to bounce when they got up to any speed. I was never sure why, since they had the same bogies as Mk2 stock.

 

[ileikcaek]

I quite miss the 4Vep slammers, the seats were very comfortable for long and short journeys and springy, they certainly don't make seats like it these days, modern train and even bus seats are way too hard.

Diesel would have to be the thumper.

Edit excuse me for not reading the title properly I read it as pre not post

 

[185]

DMU - 175s and no EMUs tbh.

 

[BuhSnarf]

Although to be even fairer, the slammers were more comfortable than any post 1998 stock. Not just EMUs, but trains as a whole. Plus you knew you would get to your destination.

I think maybe that is a rose tinted view. They were draughty and bounced around and whilst yes you did get more legroom they were sweaty on boiling days as air from windows can't compete with AC.

Standards increase and what customers expect increase and whilst it's common that we all fall in love with the trains that we had when we first experienced train travel I think sometimes we romanticize certain things. Just my 2p though

 

[Pumbaa]

The Juniper family is often overlooked. 458s are really good riding, and the seats are the most comfortable 3+2 seats in existence. I've never tried a 334 or 460 but I'd wager they're just as good.

DMU - 180
EMU - 350/1

I tried a 444 for the first time the other day, I was looking forward to it but it didn't live up to the hype! Noticeably narrower, the glass dividers on each coach looked horrid and the addition of bike spaces/toilets/dividers all looked like afterthoughts. Much prefer the interior design of the 350/450s which still looks quite fresh. The 450 use of tip up seats and disabled spaces is much better than the 350/2 as well.

 

[thefab444]

There's nothing wrong with the glass dividers IMO. They keep some of the draft out when waiting at stations, which due to the padded timetable, will inevitably occur. Whilst there is something to be said for having a standard fleet of four coach twenty metre units, it's worth pointing out that a 12 350/1 seats nearly fifty fewer standard class passengers (549 vs 598) than a 10 444, although it does seat two extra first class passengers. As for bike spaces - at least they are provided, and in a fairly decent number. Most modern stock has little or no bike provision.

Although to be even fairer, the slammers were more comfortable than any post 1998 stock. Not just EMUs, but trains as a whole. Plus you knew you would get to your destination.

You might get to your destination, but you'll either be sweltering hot or freezing cold, your breakfast and any hot drinks will have evacuated themselves to the seat opposite, and if you're on a VEP you'll have people clambering over you at every station trying to get out. As Ainsworth points out, 444s are hardly unreliable - in fact they're the most reliable fleet of EMUs operating in the UK.

 

[87015]

As Ainsworth points out, 444s are hardly unreliable - in fact they're the most reliable fleet of EMUs operating in the UK.

Don't think they were for very long at all, 395s are miles ahead of them now.

 

[thefab444]

Well, they won the Golden Spanner in 2010 with 89,000 miles per casualty. No idea how 395s compare, but they're not exactly intensively used.

 

[Schnellzug]

Don't think they were for very long at all, 395s are miles ahead of them now.

According to Roger Ford in Modern Railways, they are by some length of chalk, i think.

 

[trains2064]

London Midlands 172/2 and 172/3 by a Mile.

 

[87015]

Been digging for MTIN figures (new EMU is all I can get)
Class 395 52,371 MAA
Class 444 40,775 MAA
Class 458 38,790 MAA

Does show the changes the new measurement scheme has made - 444s well down from the 89k posted above!

 

[thefab444]

Interesting. I recall reading somewhere that a lot of faults on 444s are things like individual door failures and problems with the toilets, which I guess wouldn't be counted on the MPC figures.