Best rolling stock toilets

[Bayum]

Haven’t seen a similar thread here but I have seen a similar thread for station toilets.

After using a toilet on a 185, it sparked my curiosity as to which rolling stock has the best toilets. Rather than focussing specifically on space and/or availability of a hand basin, I think it’d be useful to rate rather than put a binary ‘this is the best’ type thing.

I had in mind something like:
- Cleanliness of general space, toilet and basin (0-3)
- Space (0-3)
- Availability of soap and water (0-3)
- Hand drying facilities (0-3)
- Availability across train (0-3)

For example, I would say the 185 I have travelled on:
2 for cleanliness
2 for space
3 for availability of soap and water
1 for the paltry hand dryer
2 for availability of toilets across the train.

 

[D1511]

Well, (and good topic BTW!), I'll start with a retrospective grading of a MK1 loco-hauled inter City service of the late 1970's.....

Cleanliness......generally 0-1, and frequently horrific.
Space, a fantastically spacious 3. Room for all sorts of hanky-panky (so I am told!)
Soap and water......probably 2-3 most of the time.......with those little beige bars of soap....
Hand drying......a 3 if the excellent thick paper towels were present (they were a sort of pale green weren't they?). 0 if they'd all been used or chucked out the window by neds
Availability 3......loads more toilets than today

Hopefully there should be some interesting replies.......

 

[WTT Gremlin]

Well, (and good topic BTW!), I'll start with a retrospective grading of a MK1 loco-hauled inter City service of the late 1970's.....

Cleanliness......generally 0-1, and frequently horrific.
Space, a fantastically spacious 3. Room for all sorts of hanky-panky (so I am told!)
Soap and water......probably 2-3 most of the time.......with those little beige bars of soap....
Hand drying......a 3 if the excellent thick paper towels were present (they were a sort of pale green weren't they?). 0 if they'd all been used or chucked out the window by neds
Availability 3......loads more toilets than today

Hopefully there should be some interesting replies.......

How many points do Mark 1 (and any non-CET stock) lose on the basis of turning the network into an open sewer?

 

[D1511]

How many points do Mark 1 (and any non-CET stock) lose on the basis of turning the network into an open sewer?

That wasn't part of the OP's scoring system.
Fair point, however.

 

[Bayum]

How many points do Mark 1 (and any non-CET stock) lose on the basis of turning the network into an open sewer?

That wasn't part of the OP's scoring system.
Fair point, however.

I only just remember MK3 stock aha.

 

[FrontSideBus]

I don't know about the best, but the worst are the new ones as fitted in IET's. I was in one the other day, the floor was sopping wet and I soon found out why. It is designed in such a way that when you put your hand under the tap, the water runs off your hands, completely misses the sink, which is too narrow and straight onto the floor!

 

[DarloRich]

2 of the proposed criteria are a rating of the TOC cleaning contract and 1 or one and a half are reliant on how recently the train was seen in a depot!

Are we rating the cleanest or the best?

 

[fgwrich]

I don't know about the best, but the worst are the new ones as fitted in IET's. I was in one the other day, the floor was sopping wet and I soon found out why. It is designed in such a way that when you put your hand under the tap, the water runs off your hands, completely misses the sink, which is too narrow and straight onto the floor!

The IET design is one of the worst as far as I’m concerned for a variety of reasons including the one that you’ve mentioned above. Apart from that, I find that the taps can be increasingly temperamental, and not only either send the water as you mention dribbling over the side of the basin and in the direction of the floor but also into the pockets of the door handles. I also find that door design to be somewhat stiff and a nuisance.

Another poorly designed toilet cubicle goes back to the heady last days of BR - the Networker / Networker Turbo. Again featuring another sink set up with a poor tap design which more often than not will dribble the water onto the countertop and directly onto the floor. The hand driers in those are perpetually useless and the toilet door might as well have come from the offcuts bin in B&Q. They are rarely clean and quite possibly the worst on the network.

 

[Bayum]

2 of the proposed criteria are a rating of the TOC cleaning contract and 1 or one and a half are reliant on how recently the train was seen in a depot!

Are we rating the cleanest or the best?

Shouldn’t matter. Whether the toilet is cleaned by an external agency or not, they should generally be at least somewhat clean at all times of day.

 

[DarloRich]

Shouldn’t matter. Whether the toilet is cleaned by an external agency or not, they should generally be at least somewhat clean at all times of day.

It is two different things though. So looking for nicest rather than best?

The IET cupboard toilets are very small and always seem damp! Same as the toilets on the mkiv.

Best will be one of the bigger pod type disabled toilets

 

[Skie]

When virgin still had them, they added mic better dryers in the 390s and thankfully First haven’t removed them yet.

Usually train hand dryers are like an asthmatic breathing on your hands, but those ones are like jet engines and actually do a good job.

They also added a nicer smelly/aerosol which first seem to have gotten rid off, which is a shame.

 

[mmh]

The best toilet is one that isn't engaged, or out of order because we buy rubbish trains with rubbish doors. (I'm biased here because the trains I use most often are 197s)

 

[lxfe_mxtterz]

As far as the trains I sign go, I'd say the 444s and 450s have decent toilets - usually clean and pleasant enough, functionally on the better side and plenty enough of them (especially on a 444). The only issues are the hand dryers can be temperamental and the CET tanks can make the carriages absolutely reek of sewage even if the toilets themselves smell fine.

The 458 toilets are poor and often in a questionable condition, though the lighting is decent. The hand dryers are asthmatic and the accessible toilet has one of those awful timer-based "three step" sinks where you're rationed how much soap and water you're allowed to use. The few that have been refurbished are marginally better but are only cosmetic upgrades which don't improve the functionality of the toilet.

But the worst would have to be the 701s - usually very clean (that's to be expected for still relatively new trains) but with awful unflattering lighting, a full-length mirror positioned such that you can watch yourself on the toilet and a sink too small to wash your hands in which invariably ends up with the floor getting flooded after each use. The toilet also constantly beeps at you for reasons unknown.

The CET tanks on the 701s also produce some of the nastiest smells I've ever encountered, albeit not from inside the train (unlike Desiros) but if you're standing on the platform by the gangway connection adjacent to the toilet. I've gagged before whilst dispatching from that area.

 

[FrontSideBus]

Anybody remember the toilets on 142's?

 

[XFeed]

The best toilet is one that isn't engaged, or out of order because we buy rubbish trains with rubbish doors. (I'm biased here because the trains I use most often are 197s)

197 toilets and doors have been an issue from day 1 and still are.

 

[Viper]

I think that proposed scoring system misses out a crucial consideration of ease of use. For example, a large mirror with a tiny sink, water, and dryer underneath it so far back you can't see what you're doing or where anything is when you're stood at it. This is inspired by a recent trip on a 185.

It reminds me of the single units McDonalds used to have in their bathrooms.

 

[D1537]

There's often a big difference between the standard toilets and the accessible ones, especially on more modern stock. Obviously by their nature the space will be better, but anecdotally I've found they tend to be cleaner, possibly because people aren't trying to wash etc. in a very confined area.

 

[gazthomas]

Well, (and good topic BTW!), I'll start with a retrospective grading of a MK1 loco-hauled inter City service of the late 1970's.....

Cleanliness......generally 0-1, and frequently horrific.
Space, a fantastically spacious 3. Room for all sorts of hanky-panky (so I am told!)
Soap and water......probably 2-3 most of the time.......with those little beige bars of soap....
Hand drying......a 3 if the excellent thick paper towels were present (they were a sort of pale green weren't they?). 0 if they'd all been used or chucked out the window by neds
Availability 3......loads more toilets than today

Hopefully there should be some interesting replies.......

And that toilet paper that was like tracing paper

 

[Bletchleyite]

Anybody remember the toilets on 142's?

They were fairly spacious for a "small toilet" on a train, but the door was very narrow.

 

[Mikey C]

I don't know about the best, but the worst are the new ones as fitted in IET's. I was in one the other day, the floor was sopping wet and I soon found out why. It is designed in such a way that when you put your hand under the tap, the water runs off your hands, completely misses the sink, which is too narrow and straight onto the floor!

The size of the sink, and its positioning in relationship to the taps is pretty fundamental, and something so many train toilets get wrong.

Also with the IETs, the sliding door on the normal toilets is incredibly stiff and hard to open.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Also with the IETs, the sliding door on the normal toilets is incredibly stiff and hard to open.

Though a sliding door is preferable to a normal one which can make getting in even more awkward particularly with luggage.

 

[Welly]

Anybody remember the toilets on 142's?

Never had the courage to use those ever!

I confess that I have seen so many disgusting train bogs in my lifetime that I always skip the train bog section of every train review video by the likes of InterCity Simon, SuperAlbs etc.

 

[Russel]

Shout out to the LNWR 730/2s and the sinks that soak you and the floor as soon as you put your hand under the sensor...

Awful design.

 

[fgwrich]

Though a sliding door is preferable to a normal one which can make getting in even more awkward particularly with luggage.

But it doesn’t have to be so heavy or come with an utterly stupid lock design - the sliding door in the Desiro’s has worked well for the last 15 or so years and apart from some very rapid bearings (which you hear as the unlocked door slides back open and bangs against the stopper during acceleration), I’ve never found them to have any issues.

 

[Mikey C]

But it doesn’t have to be so heavy or come with an utterly stupid lock design - the sliding door in the Desiro’s has worked well for the last 15 or so years and apart from some very rapid bearings (which you hear as the unlocked door slides back open and bangs against the stopper during acceleration), I’ve never found them to have any issues.

Exactly. The IET doors are incredibly heavy to move, and must be a real struggle for some people to use.

 

[Peter0124]

Some train toilets have pathetically weak hand dryers (usually newer units like 397s and IETS). However a Pendolino has the best one hands down
Infact I'd go as far to say Pendolino toilets are likely some of the best on the network.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Some train toilets have pathetically weak hand dryers (usually newer units like 397s and 350s). However a Pendolino has the best one hands down.

The 158 must have been the worst for that. You'd dry your hands better by lightly breathing on them than that ever managed.

 

[RailWonderer]

The 158 must have been the worst for that. You'd dry your hands better by lightly breathing on them than that ever managed.

Some Polish PESA trains have Dyson airblades in their toilets, which is interesting they have used the best unlike every other rolling stock manufacturer.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 23 Mar 2026 ==

owever a Pendolino has the best one hands down
Infact I'd go as far to say Pendolino toilets are likely some of the best on the network.

Fiat Ferroviaria built many Pendolino components before they were bought by Alstom I'd guess that's why.

 

[yorksrob]

How many points do Mark 1 (and any non-CET stock) lose on the basis of turning the network into an open sewer?

Or indeed a tomato patch !

 

[Sun Chariot]

Well, (and good topic BTW!), I'll start with a retrospective grading of a MK1 loco-hauled inter City service of the late 1970's.....

Cleanliness......generally 0-1, and frequently horrific.
Space, a fantastically spacious 3. Room for all sorts of hanky-panky (so I am told!)
Soap and water......probably 2-3 most of the time.......with those little beige bars of soap....
Hand drying......a 3 if the excellent thick paper towels were present (they were a sort of pale green weren't they?). 0 if they'd all been used or chucked out the window by neds
Availability 3......loads more toilets than today

Hopefully there should be some interesting replies.......

Thank goodness there isn't a criterion for toilet-paper. Those of us old enough to recall the "smearing-evil" of Bronco...