Class 175 Audio Points

[Leyland155]

This is a bit of a random question, but I was just curious Today on a Class 175 I noticed audio points (if that's what they're called) fitted to the armrests. How many 175's are fitted with these? I haven't seen them on any other 175 I have travelled on. They are obviously deactivated now, but were they used as part of a trial at some point? This particular unit was 175115. I've also attached a photo of an armrest aboard a unit without audio points (175102) to allow for comparison (the third image isn't the best quality unfortunately; it was a very busy train ) Many thanks.

 

[Ash Bridge]

I believe they were fitted to the centre cars only of all the 175/1 (3 car) units as built, l can't say if they were ever used though, not absolutely sure but I think that they were also fitted to certain seats on the 180 units as both types were originally ordered for operation with First Group TOC's.

 

[387star]

That wall carpet and pink plastic strip look like they have survived the refurb that was carried out around five years ago

staying with ATW are the 150/2s going for DDA mods? I see they are being refurbished and repainted but not sure about any additional work. Any ex wessex units had much done?

Is there a plan for the 153s with this franchise and indeed any other?

 

[xc170]

I believe they were fitted to the centre cars only of all the 175/1 (3 car) units as built, l can't say if they were ever used though, not absolutely sure but I think that they were also fitted to certain seats on the 180 units as both types were originally ordered for operation with First Group TOC's.

Only fitted to certain seats on the 175's too.

 

[satisnek]

I can vaguely remember them myself on 175s/180s but it was Virgin who were really big on this kind of thing and suffice to say that they didn't have a long lifespan. Which begs the question as to the justification of the cost of installing these systems, bearing in mind that the cassette Walkman had already been around for 20 years and had moved on by the turn of the century (CD, Minidisc) when these units were introduced. Today, of course, with thousands of tracks on your smartphone they are completely superfluous.

I mention this because I used to be a hospital radio volunteer. Whilst the 'pocket transistor' which could be used with a mono earphone had been around for decades, I feel that it was the advent of the FM stereo 'fag packet' personal radio during the 1980s, not to mention the various other personal music players, contributed to the downfall of hospital radio, at least the smaller stations like ours.

 

[Michael.Y]

A vid about the 180s is here.
https://youtu.be/zVfaImA5BDM?t=11m25s

 

[jamesontheroad]

IMHO in years to come we will regard on-train wifi systems with the same disbelief.

More and more customers have their own (private, secure) connection to high speed mobile networks. Seems like a rush to provide hardware that will soon be obsolete.

 

[najaB]

IMHO in years to come we will regard on-train wifi systems with the same disbelief.

Don't know about that - the improvements in network coverage will help improve on train WiFi as well.

 

[AnonymousUser1]

I mention this because I used to be a hospital radio volunteer. Whilst the 'pocket transistor' which could be used with a mono earphone had been around for decades, I feel that it was the advent of the FM stereo 'fag packet' personal radio during the 1980s, not to mention the various other personal music players, contributed to the downfall of hospital radio, at least the smaller stations like ours.

I thought it was the inability of lay management to keep the bed-head units working that was the downfall , not helped by hospital radio often being based in older parts of sites or on sites which were closed during consolidatations and service redesign ...

 

[Lrd]

IMHO in years to come we will regard on-train wifi systems with the same disbelief.

More and more customers have their own (private, secure) connection to high speed mobile networks. Seems like a rush to provide hardware that will soon be obsolete.

What about the tablets/laptops/handheld games consoles that use WiFi? A lot of networks don't allow tethering from mobiles and if they do then it is a rather small amount of data with high charges for going over the limit.

 

[satisnek]

I thought it was the inability of lay management to keep the bed-head units working that was the downfall , not helped by hospital radio often being based in older parts of sites or on sites which were closed during consolidatations and service redesign ...

Yes, and that as well

 

[Leyland155]

Thanks for all of your replies

I believe they were fitted to the centre cars only of all the 175/1 (3 car) units as built

That probably explains why I haven't seen them before as I often end up travelling on 2 car units, or if travelling on a 3 car unit, I would almost always take a seat in the front coach.

 

[Helvellyn]

I think we sometimes forget how fast technology moves on. When the Voyagers, Pendolinos and 175s/180s were being specified the TOCs at that time wanted to bring some of the best elements of airline service to the railways. And having earphone jacks with a range of music channels was one thing people were used to an airline. Yes, even on shorthaul you could get it!

I remember when the Voyagers first came out and being impressed that I could listen to radio on the move just by plugging my earphones into the jack by my seat. The on board shops were also selling them for those that didn't have them. But this was around the millenium, when everyone had to have a Nokia 3310 (and so much fun to be had switching to all those novelty covers!).

Put it in a bit of perspective - Tony Blair resigned as Prime Minister on 27 June 2007; the first iPhone went on sale in the US on 29 June 2007.

These sort of conversations always remind me of a Peter Kay joke, where he's imagining being a Grandad and is explaining what life was like for him, starting off explaining that we used to have dishwashers that you would put plates in to wash!

 

[craigybagel]

They're only in one end of one coach, and IIRC they're only on the 3 car sets. I have an old traction guide for 175s lying around somewhere and from that I know in which cupboard the CD player for the audio points was but I've never gone looking for it. I'm due to work a 3 car tomorrow, I'll try have another look!

One thing that did me smile was Virgins extra Pendolinos -390154-390157 - were fitted with the audio points from new even though at that stage they'd already been removed on the older Pendolinos to use the space for WiFi!

 

[Muzer]

IMHO in years to come we will regard on-train wifi systems with the same disbelief.

More and more customers have their own (private, secure) connection to high speed mobile networks. Seems like a rush to provide hardware that will soon be obsolete.

Not entirely convinced. There's only so much suitable EM spectrum available, and only so much data that can theoretically be transferred on a given amount of spectrum (given a fixed background noise level), and only so much money that can go into providing infrastructure to use less suitable (shorter range, etc.) frequencies. Barring a massive breakthrough in some non-EM-related technology, and given current rates of increase in use of bandwidth, I can imagine mobile broadband having significant problems keeping up with demand.

 

[Michael.Y]

Also Wifi and private data are meant to work in harmony with each other. We have phones with lots of bells and whistles but a lot of us can only use them to their full potential over a Wifi connection. Some apps (like Virgin Media TV Anywhere) won't work over a 4G connection.

There's also the modern belief that trains, pubs, restaurants, supermarkets, local councils, cafes, anywhere where the public need to avoid human contact should provide free wifi as a matter of course.

 

[transmanche]

Some apps (like Virgin Media TV Anywhere) won't work over a 4G connection.

That really annoys me, as they claim it to ensure the best quality. Especially when, typically, at home I can get a 4G connection that is double the speed of my fixed-line broadband

 

[krus_aragon]

There's also the modern belief that trains, pubs, restaurants, supermarkets, local councils, cafes, anywhere where the public need to avoid human contact should provide free wifi as a matter of course.

Our free weekly paper is bragging about free wi-fi being provided at our local beach!

 

[Muzer]

That really annoys me, as they claim it to ensure the best quality. Especially when, typically, at home I can get a 4G connection that is double the speed of my fixed-line broadband

Yes, you can. This is because phone operators place so many restrictions on 4G connections, and data is so expensive compared to at home, discouraging most people from using video streaming.

If they didn't, you certainly wouldn't get twice your broadband speed, I can tell you that for nothing! There's simply not enough capacity.