Ah, I see.
I googled it and found this
Is this the rails too?
Random question but I’ve got no idea why... does anyone know why they made the windows on the doors smaller as part of the refurbishment? They have a thick plastic seal with screws in around them now. The normal windows haven’t changed so why would they do that on the door windows?
They didn't do anything of the sort?
4083 and 4040 have the same window surrounds as in the last photo. I think that changed in the mid 2000s, it isn't new.It’s hard to describe this shows it well...
4083 and 4040 have the same window surrounds as in the last photo. I think that changed in the mid 2000s, it isn't new.
It’s hard to describe this shows it well...
This is not a change in the size of the windows per-se, but a change in the fixings that bond the glass to the frame.
The original design used a simple rubber seal, which was sadly not very strong, and saw the windows kicked out frequently by those of lesser intelect.
The new frames are thicker, and hold the glass panels in much more securely. This was a mod that got applied a few years after the late '90s refit.
I heard this was more or less the reason also and I think they look a lot smarter when the doors were painted yellow. Interesting to get all 88 metrocars fitted with these frames took many years for some reason, 4041 had them fitted when down in Doncaster yet some I believe got fitted during 1/2 life refurbishment.
Also any reason why the prototypes never received them?
I started a new job in Newcastle 4 months ago and was wary of using the metro but I’ve only been caught up in disruption 3 times in 4 months and even then it wasn’t a big deal.
A whole system shut down this evening and tomorrow morning. No replacement buses tonight, so the last Metros are about 10pm.
Nexus, cretins that they are, reckon they couldn't get any buses to cover the last hour of service, or push the work back an hour and reopen an hour later on Sunday morning. Utter morons run this system. No wonder passenger numbers are down. I've bought a car to avoid the constant problems; best thing I've done.
Luck of the draw. I've been caught up pretty much at least once or twice every week this year. Probably also depends how you define problems; when my commute is 15 minutes, a missing train is actually a big deal. The worst I've had is a 45 minute wait for a Metro due to a train failure.
I'm glad of the car, that's for damn certain. I simply cannot rely on it anymore. Even with the traffic problems in North Tyneside, especially around Cobalt, with the car I can rely on getting to and from work on time. I can't with Metro, and when a weekly pass is almost double what I spend in petrol...
The work needed to be done and I don’t see the issue of coming home an hour early from town or having a big night out.
To be fair, they are putting extra money into increasing in service reliability and theee has been an improvement with minor faults.
Was wondering if anyone knew why for the past month or so most of the next station boards in the trains have been broken. I've tracked the last 40 journeys and out of them only 12 trains had them working.
Any idea why?
Was wondering if anyone knew why for the past month or so most of the next station boards in the trains have been broken. I've tracked the last 40 journeys and out of them only 12 trains had them working.
Any idea why?
The signalling upgrade (RTMS) messed everything up. They're starting to work again, but some clever clogs has decided that trains for 'The Coast' are now going towards 'Whitley Bay', trains to 'Airport' are now going to 'The Airport'. There's loads of other issues that have gone on with the work too, we have a few sets of infrastructure that aren't usable due to the upgrade and are being worked on. Thankfully, the depot has avoided the main load of hassle and is still using the old way of directing trains with buttons and knobs.
I think that's probably 4040, seeing as 4001, 4002 and 4083 have all been in service in the last few weeks. I've no idea why, possibly as a source of spare parts?There is also one of the non-refitted units being stripped down in the depot currently. Is this something specific for that set, or part of a plan to refurb the 4 remaining sets in-house?
I think that's probably 4040, seeing as 4001, 4002 and 4083 have all been in service in the last few weeks. I've no idea why, possibly as a source of spare parts?
Have you got a photo?The body was all stripped away, so looked like an attempt to fix corrosion of some kind, but seems odd to do that now.
Have you got a photo?
Sounds to me like one of three things - corrosion repair, it's being used for spare parts, or it's being scrapped. I suspect the first two are most likely...
Hopefully it is - they could do with as many units operational as they can get at the minute.No photos of my own sadly. It had pretty much the majority of the body paneling removed, and the interior had been stripped out, with only the ceiling panels and lighting left in place.
As I say, I'm pretty sure it's corrosion repair to the body, but I'm just curious as to why they are doing it. The entire refurbishment was highly motivated by fixing corrosion, and when the project went over budget there was a calculated decision made to exclude 4 units. From what I remember the selected units were based on 2 being the prototype sets (high chance of deviation from design and unforseen issues), and the other two being some of the better fairing examples from the production fleet.
It just seems very odd that one would be selected now, unless there is a plan to refurbish the remaining 4 in-house, or this unit has suffered some sort of recent issue. If it was spare parts, I'm sure we'd have seen 4022 being stripped first owing to it's severely damaged centre section.
But is there any reason to why the in train displays aren't working, is it driver laziness or are they generally mostly broken, my partner suffers from bad sight and the information displays are a godsend to her since they installed them.The PIS on trains has been working on very few units for a while now. It's not likely part of the issues following the RTMS upgrade.
The new destination situation is rather annoying. "W'tley Bay" being shown when the displays have enough characters to not abbreviate, and all the inconsistent destination names are really bad for passengers who don't have English as their first language, or suffer from literacy issues.
There are a few other odd things too - such as "This Train is for South Shields". Train shouldn't be capitalised. Trains that are being withdrawn from service also show as "This Train is for DEPP".
This sort of thing needs to be sorted out. Way-finding signange and PIS systems need to be consistent to make sure the system is accessible, not to keep things looking professional. The on-train PIS announcing "This is Central" and "Next station Central" is a good example of this too.
These systems all need a good deal of attention to get things tidied up once any remaining operational aspects of the RTMS are brought into service.
But is there any reason to why the in train displays aren't working, is it driver laziness or are they generally mostly broken, my partner suffers from bad sight and the information displays are a godsend to her since they installed them.
I contacted nexus about them but was just met with a generic response of "a few of them have issues but nexus are working tirelessly to fix them"
Have you got a photo?
Sounds to me like one of three things - corrosion repair, it's being used for spare parts, or it's being scrapped. I suspect the first two are most likely...