First generation units had them as well. Small children would have had a terrible job trying to open the door with them - as did anyone else who tried. Think Mk 3s had interior handles originally but they were quickly removed.
They were fitted to the Mk2D as new, with the door droplights normally being locked shut by carriage key - due to the air con system.
Probably correct - though IIRC the Mk3s may have been designed with the potential to have them.
Yes, they required a lot of force to open the door from the inside. A child would have little chance. Passengers just dropped the window and opened the door from the outside. Perhaps they were designed this way as to negate the chance of accidently opening the door from the inside, such as leaning against or bumping the handle.
I do recall one incident on a 4-Cig where a young woman sat by the door and allowed her child to play with the door handle. Going across Farlington Junction at line speed , the door flew open, woman & child screamed and someone managed to grab the door and close it before anyone pulled the communication cord.As far as l know it was not reported but it could have ended up very differently.
I've seen adults on their knees grappling with it, before someone has said open the window.
Did they? You could be right, I remember the plate on the inside as if something was there.
Western Region DMUs (117s and 121s) had interior handles and doors adjacent to seats. In practice they needed a strong grip, so standard operating practice, by commuters at least, was to drop the window and put your arm outside. That was necessary as well on intercity trains as Mk2 and Mk3 coaches didn't have internal handles,
I remember these horribly stiff internal catches in the 4-SUBs (as well EPBs). Were they a BR innovation, or were they around pre-1948?
Pretty sure it was a Cig. Back in the day the Portsmouth Harbour - Waterloo service was generally 12 coaches - Cig/Big/Cig. The 2nd and 3rd coaches had a door in the centre of the coach which was in a seating bay of 4. Tended to avoid those seats as you were in the way when people wanted to get on or off.
Definitely not a Vep which had doors at each seat. Unit l refer to had bays of 4 seats.
TBH I can't remember, but I would think it quite likely that the doors in seating bays, of which there where several (including a 4-across "coupe" bench in the DTC), had interior handles. BEP/CEP MBSOs had similar, as did 4TC DTSOs. Anyone able to check?
On 114s? I've found a few pictures of sets with them. I assume they all had them. It ties in with my memories of them as a child.
We were, until the post (#20) before yours
They generally didn't.
It turns out (I've asked on another group) that said units were "outside handle only" like l/h Mk1 corridors.
..). Often very stiff as the whole mechanism would be trying to turn, and the latch was only large enough for a thumb or two fingers at most. As others have said was often easier to drop the window and use outside handle.One's grey cells may be tired, but didn't the exterior compartment door in the end compartment behind each driving cab on Cig's have the Vep style door latch on the inside?
Several comments on a FB group say no.
