• Our new ticketing site is now live! Using either this or the original site (both powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!

Poor Design Examples....

Status
Not open for further replies.

BecontreeD

Member
Joined
8 Jan 2022
Messages
8
Location
London
Does anyone have any examples of poor design on train control panels etc or other railway infrastructure? I'll start with the DLR B92 stock, the AUX OFF button (basically Train OFF), is directly above the HEAT ON button, separated by 5mm!
 
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R

RailUK Forums

43096

On Moderation
Joined
23 Nov 2015
Messages
16,867
The hand dryers on 158's. Never worked since they were built.
Hand dryers on almost all trains. They either have no heat or no airflow, or both. Given that off train dryers usually work well, there’s no excuse for it.
 

61653 HTAFC

Veteran Member
Joined
18 Dec 2012
Messages
18,625
Location
Yorkshire
The poor foundations underneath platforms 1 & 2 at Mirfield, which have to be shored up every few years.

The doors on class 185s which couldn't cope with adverse cant at several locations. That said, I haven't encountered this issue for a while so it's possible they've been adjusted in some way.
 

yorksrob

Veteran Member
Joined
6 Aug 2009
Messages
41,721
Location
Yorks
I was surprised on both Liverpool-Norwich 158s I used last week that they actually did. Not overly powerful but they worked.

By "not working" I mean not actually being able to dry your hands - as opposed to feebly breathing on them for a few seconds - which they do seem to manage :)
 

dk1

Veteran Member
Joined
2 Oct 2009
Messages
18,010
Location
East Anglia
By "not working" I mean not actually being able to dry your hands - as opposed to feebly breathing on them for a few seconds - which they do seem to manage :)
Both toilets on 158s seem so outdated now.
 

yorksrob

Veteran Member
Joined
6 Aug 2009
Messages
41,721
Location
Yorks
Hand dryers on almost all trains. They either have no heat or no airflow, or both. Given that off train dryers usually work well, there’s no excuse for it.

They'd be better off shoving in a Dyson air blade TBH.

That said, the dryers on the Leeds - Donny bins were pretty effective, but they're gone now.
 

dk1

Veteran Member
Joined
2 Oct 2009
Messages
18,010
Location
East Anglia
They'd be better off shoving in a Dyson air blade TBH.

That said, the dryers on the Leeds - Donny bins were pretty effective, but they're gone now.
Dryers on the 745/755 fleet are very good indeed I find.
 

61653 HTAFC

Veteran Member
Joined
18 Dec 2012
Messages
18,625
Location
Yorkshire
Mounting reservation screens on the luggage racks, meaning the seating layout is fixed. Fitting them to the sides of the seats themselves like on DB's ICE3s would have given much more flexibility.
 

yorksrob

Veteran Member
Joined
6 Aug 2009
Messages
41,721
Location
Yorks
Overhead luggage racks on the Electrostar family. They're far too small to fit a travelling bag in.
 

Envoy

Established Member
Joined
29 Aug 2014
Messages
2,835
The outer (window side) seat mount bracket on Hitachi 800’s is in such a position that tall people cannot put one of their shoes under the seat in front.
 
Last edited:

fgwrich

Established Member
Joined
15 Apr 2009
Messages
9,867
Location
Hampshire
Hand dryers on almost all trains. They either have no heat or no airflow, or both. Given that off train dryers usually work well, there’s no excuse for it.

The original BR hand dryers were utterly asthmatic and useless, particularly those installed in the Turbo fleet (and sadly still remaining in the 166s.

Both toilets on 158s seem so outdated now.

The toilets in the Turbo fleet I have to say were worse. Anything from the ridiculously rubbish cupboard door which often swelled at the bottom, to the sink with its smooth edges which allowed water to dribble over the edge and end up on the floor.

Overhead luggage racks on the Electrostar family. They're far too small to fit a travelling bag in.

Seems to be a Bombardier thing, as the luggage racks on the Voyagers are worse (then again so is a lot of the design on those), thanks to the ridiculous curved ceiling panels. Speaking of the *Stars, the silly use of a one size fits all Reading light set up in the overhead luggage racks annoy me - they may be fine for some seating layouts, but look silly for others.

Speaking of the toilet / hand dryer areas, here is my two;

ScotRails Haymarket / Corkerhill 158s. The recent refurbishment, while welcome in bringing them a little more up to standard, has also made them worse. The seat spacing has been reduced, particularly at the table seats, so you end up playing footsie with your opposite passenger. The plug sockets seem inconsistent between USB and Plugs. And in the toilet, they’ve put a hand dryer above the push button for the tap, so every time you go for the tap you turn the dryer on instead.

And… the IET / 80X / 385 toilet design. The heavy sliding doors, the silly locks placed near to the sink, the sink / tap design which lets the water end up on the floor, which seems to have lead to a lot of floors bubbling up already. All a very poor design.
 

Attachments

  • 918961B6-A942-4694-BFBA-007020E11F0F.jpeg
    918961B6-A942-4694-BFBA-007020E11F0F.jpeg
    3 MB · Views: 283

Clansman

Established Member
Joined
4 Jan 2016
Messages
2,601
Location
Scotland and Hong Kong
Literally any fixed table where the supporting leg is infront of the aisle seat, rather than centred such that it doesn't inhibit on legroom.
 

philjo

Established Member
Joined
9 Jun 2009
Messages
2,922
The Bottom shelf of the luggage racks on the Azumas is not quite high enough for a normal wheeled suitcase to go underneath without having to stop and turn it 90 degrees so it goes in sideways. The slight extra time taken to do this holds everyone else up when boarding/alighting. The case fits perfectly under the racks on the Mk 4s and Pendolinos.
 

stuu

Established Member
Joined
2 Sep 2011
Messages
3,482
The Voyager washer/dryers have a feature where if you move your hands too much while washing them the dryer will come on... and if you don't dry them quickly enough the dryer stops and won't start again
 

Bletchleyite

Veteran Member
Joined
20 Oct 2014
Messages
104,836
Location
"Marston Vale mafia"
They'd be better off shoving in a Dyson air blade TBH.

That said, the dryers on the Leeds - Donny bins were pretty effective, but they're gone now.

Original Airblades are terrible. You have to put your hands in a slot full of accumulated grime and hold them very steady else you touch it and negate the point of having washed them to start with. The only good dryers were the old heated "World" type ones with the big button you were meant to hit with your elbow.
 

43096

On Moderation
Joined
23 Nov 2015
Messages
16,867
Original Airblades are terrible. You have to put your hands in a slot full of accumulated grime and hold them very steady else you touch it and negate the point of having washed them to start with. The only good dryers were the old heated "World" type ones with the big button you were meant to hit with your elbow.
Some of the double deck stock in Germany (metronom for one) has similar, but branded “Airwolf” which do seem to work well. For anyone of a certain age, that might remind you of a TV programme!

The other part of this is maintenance: do these ever get tested to check they are functioning correctly (ie they actually produce heat and airflow)? The answer is clearly not.
 

computerSaysNo

Established Member
Joined
14 Dec 2018
Messages
1,458
I tend to find the passenger DOOR OPEN and DOOR CLOSE buttons are sometimes a bit confusing. I find they're usually stacked vertically but sometimes the OPEN is at the top and other times the CLOSE is at the top.
I also don't like it when the doors are released by the train crew and then both buttons light up. To me that's the system suggesting pressing the CLOSE button to close a door that's already closed? Similarly when you open the door but the OPEN button remains illuminated.
While I'm on the subject I don't like it when the door close alarm sounds on a door which is already closed. I think the 170s do it correctly, which is if the door is open then it goes through the whole shebang, if the door is already closed (wasn't used at that station or was closed manually by a passenger) then the door interior light turns off and the door locks immediately, without the alarm etc process.
 

L401CJF

Established Member
Joined
16 Oct 2019
Messages
1,486
Location
Wirral
Going back to 158s, I don't like how the Compressor speed up switch is located very close to the cab light switches, had a few close calls fumbling around in the dark on the move.

Also the bowden cable to gain access to the unit when no air is available, they're very hit and miss.
 

fandroid

Established Member
Joined
9 Nov 2014
Messages
1,953
Location
Hampshire
The original BR hand dryers were utterly asthmatic and useless, particularly those installed in the Turbo fleet (and sadly still remaining in the 166s.

Both toilets on 158s seem so outdated now.

The toilets in the Turbo fleet I have to say were worse. Anything from the ridiculously rubbish cupboard door which often swelled at the bottom, to the sink with its smooth edges which allowed water to dribble over the edge and end up on the floor.



Seems to be a Bombardier thing, as the luggage racks on the Voyagers are worse (then again so is a lot of the design on those), thanks to the ridiculous curved ceiling panels. Speaking of the *Stars, the silly use of a one size fits all Reading light set up in the overhead luggage racks annoy me - they may be fine for some seating layouts, but look silly for others.

Speaking of the toilet / hand dryer areas, here is my two;

ScotRails Haymarket / Corkerhill 158s. The recent refurbishment, while welcome in bringing them a little more up to standard, has also made them worse. The seat spacing has been reduced, particularly at the table seats, so you end up playing footsie with your opposite passenger. The plug sockets seem inconsistent between USB and Plugs. And in the toilet, they’ve put a hand dryer above the push button for the tap, so every time you go for the tap you turn the dryer on instead.

And… the IET / 80X / 385 toilet design. The heavy sliding doors, the silly locks placed near to the sink, the sink / tap design which lets the water end up on the floor, which seems to have lead to a lot of floors bubbling up already. All a very poor design.
That sink design on the 800 series units has always struck me as ludicrous. I would have thought that angling the water jet towards the back rather than straight down would cure most wet floor problems while still providing a sensible hand washing opportunity in a restricted space.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==

Just about any toilet paper holder in any train. Most seem to require the user to scrabble away at the paper, so resulting in both paper shreds all over the floor and an inadequate sized remnant for the purpose for which they are supposed to be used!
 

plymothian

Member
Joined
26 Sep 2010
Messages
747
Location
Plymouth
The standard placement on all in one soap/sink/dryer/toilet roll dispender on GWR UATs that puts the dryer right up tight to and slightly behind the toilet roll.

Going back to 158s, I don't like how the Compressor speed up switch is located very close to the cab light switches, had a few close calls fumbling around in the dark on the move.
Likewise the 143s.
 

AM9

Veteran Member
Joined
13 May 2014
Messages
15,289
Location
St Albans
The Bottom shelf of the luggage racks on the Azumas is not quite high enough for a normal wheeled suitcase to go underneath without having to stop and turn it 90 degrees so it goes in sideways. The slight extra time taken to do this holds everyone else up when boarding/alighting. The case fits perfectly under the racks on the Mk 4s and Pendolinos.
Isn't that because the 80Xs have a higher floor to accomodate the engines et al? That 75-100mm needs to be accommodated somewhere.
 

dk1

Veteran Member
Joined
2 Oct 2009
Messages
18,010
Location
East Anglia
Going back to 158s, I don't like how the Compressor speed up switch is located very close to the cab light switches, had a few close calls fumbling around in the dark on the move.
Same problem when we had 150s. Always the same dopey guards that would give me an emergency brake application.
 

gimmea50anyday

Established Member
Joined
8 Jan 2013
Messages
3,456
Location
Back Cab
80x despatch panels on the wrong side, so you are facing the rear of the train when using the panel.
downlights which reflect off the window so you cant see out while despatching
 

trebor79

Established Member
Joined
8 Mar 2018
Messages
4,756
Original Airblades are terrible. You have to put your hands in a slot full of accumulated grime and hold them very steady else you touch it and negate the point of having washed them to start with. The only good dryers were the old heated "World" type ones with the big button you were meant to hit with your elbow.
Completely agree. Even if you manage not to touch the sides (nigh on impossible for me and my big shaky hands), the thing blasts droplets of god knows what in your face. I refuse to use then and just dry my hands on my clothes instead.
 

Wynd

Member
Joined
20 Oct 2020
Messages
741
Location
Aberdeenshire
The Voyager. All of it. Noise. Stench. The flush button being behind the seat. The doors. The windows. The lighting. The seats. The glare surfaces everywhere. The HVAC. The stench. The lack of fresh air. The cycle racks. The stench.

Easily the worst machine running on the network today.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Top