Northern Announcements

[Tracked]

An interesting thing I noticed yesterday with them - not so much the sheer pointlessness of them, and the ever expanding things which apparently need to be announced.

I was out on a Derbyshire Wayfarer yesterday, did Sheffield to New Mills on a 175 and New Mills to Buxton on a 156. Could be sheer luck - I was on the bus after this until I got into Chesterfield - but the announcements on both of these were a lot clearer than the new ones we get in Yorkshire.

The Yorkshire ones sound like they've been recorded in a wind tunnel, the guy reading them sounds slightly muffled and there's a lot of background noise, which has been the case on the following units I've been on locally:

150/2
158
170
331
333

(I was on a 195 the other week on the Adwick-Sheffield service, I think that was the same but I had my headphones on so not 100% sure over that)

The ones on the 156 and 195 yesterday were perfectly clear, no background noise or wind tunnel ffects, but like the local ones they went on too long through the list of stuff that we seem to need to know. Just found it odd that they appear to have two versions of the same messages on different sides of the Pennines, I thought other than stations it would've been a consistent recording on all their trains.

 

[TrainzBK]

It’s technically all the same recordings, the 195/331 fleet use Televic, while the legacy fleet uses TrainFX which is set up very differently depending on which TOC the unit has been inherited from, hence why you get a different sound quality from nearly every train.

 

[skyhigh]

while the legacy fleet uses TrainFX which is set up very differently depending on which TOC the unit has been inherited from

Though I'm not sure I buy that excuse, as almost all cascaded units were fitted with TrainFX by Northern, not the previous operator. The fitting also replaced the amplifiers and speakers. I think the big problem is the equipment used is poor quality.

 

[308165]

The recent "upgrade" on 333s has definitely been a step back, announcements are now muffled, whereas the previous (much shorter) announcements were crystal clear. The only thing the new system has retained is the deafening volume that certain 333 vehicles had, so certain vehicles are both muffled and deafening - such is progress....

 

[skyhigh]

The only thing the new system has retained is the deafening volume that certain 333 vehicles had, so certain vehicles are both muffled and deafening - such is progress....

Which again points to poor quality components as both speakers and amplifiers are replaced. I don't think there's any link between loud volume on the old and new systems.

 

[TrainzBK]

Though I'm not sure I buy that excuse, as almost all cascaded units were fitted with TrainFX by Northern, not the previous operator. The fitting also replaced the amplifiers and speakers. I think the big problem is the equipment used is poor quality.

Don’t shoot the messenger I’m just going off of the information I’ve been given!

 

[778]

I was out on a Derbyshire Wayfarer yesterday, did Sheffield to New Mills on a 175 and New Mills to Buxton on a 156.

Sorry, but are you sure it was a 175 you were on? I didn't think Northern had any 175s. Was it a 155?

 

[skyhigh]

Sorry, but are you sure it was a 175 you were on? I didn't think Northern had any 175s. Was it a 155?

Clearly meant 195. Northern have no 175s and 155s go nowhere near New Mills.

 

[Harvey B]

Which again points to poor quality components as both speakers and amplifiers are replaced. I don't think there's any link between loud volume on the old and new systems.

I thought the 333s kept the same speakers & amplifiers as the old system. Were they not compatible with Tfx?

 

[skyhigh]

I thought the 333s kept the same speakers & amplifiers as the old system. Were they not compatible with Tfx?

No, everything is new.

 

[Tracked]

Sorry, but are you sure it was a 175 you were on? I didn't think Northern had any 175s. Was it a 155?

It was a 195 from Sheffield, I'd gotten a 170 - with muffled noise announcements - in from Doncaster to Sheffield, it was still a bit early Sunday morning so I've managed to allocate stock to the service even more randomly than Northern ...