Northern 323 refresh

[broadbander]

Over this weekend I've travelled twice on Northern's 323234 and I've noticed that it has had a bit of a refresh. Inside, new moquette on the seats replacing the faded old First North Western? moquette. All of the interior lighting has been changed to a whiter shade of white, and the floors look to have had a new lino or similar applied. The windows surrounds look to have been repaired and re-painted as well - previously they had big bubbles of flaking paint with corrosion underneath. There are still a few rough edges - some chipped paintwork has not been touched up during the refresh. I snapped a rough and ready pic earlier:

On the outside, the unit looked very clean - the yellow front end is now actually yellow (most of Northern's 323s seem to have a very faded, almost cream coloured front end!), and the bogies looked brand new or at least very clean and painted in fresh black paint.

 

[Lampshade]

Good to see; the flooring was in a very bad way with enormous bubbles under the lino.

 

[WestCoast]

Very smart, by Northern Rail standards.

No, joking aside, it's a decent job.

 

[northernrailer]

has anybody got any pics of the cab front, aparently it now has manual destination blinds fitted instead of the LED digital displays? is this true??

 

[northwichcat]

has anybody got any pics of the cab front, aparently it now has manual destination blinds fitted instead of the LED digital displays? is this true??

I've heard that as well even though the blinds won't comply with new DDA requirements coming in.

 

[Lampshade]

has anybody got any pics of the cab front, aparently it now has manual destination blinds fitted instead of the LED digital displays? is this true??

Probably a temporary measure before they're all replaced. I've never seen a 323 display work properly.

 

[broadbander]

has anybody got any pics of the cab front, aparently it now has manual destination blinds fitted instead of the LED digital displays? is this true??

Yep, it is true about the manual destination blinds. I was surprised to see them in place of the scrolling electronic displays. I've noticed that several of the Northern 323s suffer with faulty electronic displays at the cab ends, and only part of the fleet has working electronic displays on the sides of the units - most seem to be plated over.

When do the dates of DDA compliance and the talked about handover of the 323s to London Midland line up? Could this refresh be a "bare bones" refresh just to tide them over until handover?

Also noticed in the centre carriage there is an oval plaque on the transition of ceiling height under the pantograph saying that the unit is owned by Porterbrook. I've not noticed this on any of Northern's 323s before. Is this new?

 

[northwichcat]

When do the dates of DDA compliance and the talked about handover of the 323s to London Midland line up? Could this refresh be a "bare bones" refresh just to tide them over until handover?

The plans to cascade Northern 323s to LM were cancelled before the last general election. There will not be enough 319s arriving at Northern to replace 323s as well as running all the newly electrified routes plus Northern need an extra 2-3 EMUs currently to replace DMUs running under the wires in the Manchester area at peak times. (The 322s arriving will be for enhanced services and replacing DMUs under the wires in the Leeds area.)

The only way I can see LM getting the Northern 323s is for them to swap their 321s with Northern's 323s as well as taking on the Manchester-Stoke service.

 

[323235]

Only one Northern 323 has working side screens and that's 323235 which has the orange led screens. All the others vary from Disco screens to all,little or nothing displayed. 323234 does indeed have manual blinds which apparently don't have all the required destinations

 

[WatcherZero]

Those seat grab handles are non DDA compliant arent they? their meant to be painted a bright colour distinct from the colour of the seats. Not sure if grey on cream counts.