Automatic sliding doors at the ends of the cars.
Yes I've noticed the doors in the 755s seem generally to be not locked open any more. I haven't yet been on a 745 where the doors haven't been locked open since COVID. @Rhydgaled the 755's have doors to partition the engine pod/thrash cabinet off from the saloons. The 745's have sliding doors at eve set of external doors, to partition the "vestibule" off from the rest of the saloon, makes for a cost travelling environment, quite nice and a pity they seem not to be in use.
Ahem, 180s, 175s, 458s initially - all junk.
Thanks both, although you don't appear to have given the exact same answer. Perhaps this can be explained by differences between the 745s and 755s? You both mentioned the diesel engine, I think I can safely say that the diesel power module has doors to close it off at both ends (red lines on the drawing of the 755). However, I'm less clear about the connection between the other vehicles (yellow/orange on the 755 drawing) and around the vestibules (blue on the 755 drawing).
Haven't the 458s, in both guises, also had spells as golden-spanner-winning super-reliable stock?
Having watched a couple of 'walkthrough' videos on YouTube to check, I believe the situation with interior sliding doors is:
)Correct. Though as noted the 745 internal doors seem to be permanently locked open.
Thanks both. Not a particularly high-quality InterCity ambiance then, with the outside air able to flood directly into the passenger saloon at every stop, but in the case of the 745s (which I assumed had no internal doors at all) the original design was not nearly as bad as I thought if only the internal doors hadn't been locked open.Correct. Though as noted the 745 internal doors seem to be permanently locked open.Having watched a couple of 'walkthrough' videos on YouTube to check, I believe the situation with interior sliding doors is:
745 - fitted on either side of the exterior door vestibules. No doors between cars. (So only the red doors in your diagram)
755 - fitted on either side of the power car. No vestibule or other inter-car doors. (So only the red doors in your diagram)
(My memory of the door arrangements from riding the trains was obviously not very good
That's a good point. If we're taking ownership into account as well as location, perhaps there's a case for Boston Lodge works on the Ffestiniog to be considered the "Best UK (owned) Manufacturer...
Importantly, the 333s had Siemens as the prime contractor with CAF as a sun-contractor.
You in part perhaps give the answer yourself - the 333s were a CAF joint venture with Siemens.... The 332s had serious corrosion issues and there have been rumblings about the 333s.
As others have said, the "Cheap" part is the important bit. To be honest, the alternative name for CAF is becoming less funny by the day, and is up there with "ironing board seats" as a phrase guaranteed to raise an eye-roll. Remember that CAF aren't the only manufacturer to have suffered issues in recent years, those fancy expensive Hitach units have also had problems so it isn't simply a case of "buy cheap, buy twice"... and then there's Alstardier and the 701s, need I say more?
There's quite a wide glass partition at the exterior doors, and there's only one set per saloon so it's not a huge issue with temperature changes when the doors open.
No, I've not been on either 745s or 755s, but I have been on some doors-at-thirds stock (170s and/or 185s I can't remember) which has internal doors around the gangways (which if applied to a 755 would be the yellow and red marks on the diagram of a 755 I posted above) which I assumed must be for noise reasons given that said stock clearly hasn't a care in the world about draughts given the lack of proper vestibules. Are the sealed gangways on a 745 different?
Good thinking. However, I wasn't so much talking about ownership as the actual content of the train: CAF and Hitachi only assemble units in the UK - I'm led to beleive that even Litchurch Lane builds stock using many overseas components.That's a good point. If we're taking ownership into account as well as location, perhaps there's a case for Boston Lodge works on the Ffestiniog to be considered the "Best UK (owned) Manufacturer...
Yes, the cheap part is the important bit - even the Hitachi 80x series have suffered from this (it was the contractual arrangements that were expensive; the specification of the trains was actually towards the budget end with cheap (and therefore hard and uncomfortable) seats, basic doors (not neater sliding plugs) and a load of short 5-car units).