Class 707 - SWT: Introduction into service

[Juniper Driver]

Indeed, I was on one last night that left Waterloo 3L. With a 450 it wouldn't gain any time and possibly lose more. On this service it was on time by the time we arrived at Ascot. It was helped by good coordination between the guard and driver reducing dwell time to a minimum.

Not bad but shame they are going soon as well.I think they are suited to the Reading Road.

 

[spark001uk]

Anyone noticed the brakes seem to be having the tendency to briefly drag on these on departure a lot of the time? Bit squealy.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

Anyone noticed the brakes seem to be having the tendency to briefly drag on these on departure a lot of the time? Bit squealy.

Same with the 700s on DC.

 

[spark001uk]

Just to clarify, it's a continuous high pitched brake squeal, not to be confused with the pulsing sound which is the chopping of the motor drives when on DC.

 

[WWTownEnth]

707017
707018
707019
707020
707021
707022
707024
707030

Does anyone have any info as to when these remaining units will be delivered to Clapham Yard?

 

[GW43125]

Latest I heard from a Yahoo group is that we're expecting one pair every Friday night after the new year, five pairs to go with the final pair expected to be 7024+7030.

 

[Lockwood]

How come the units didn't leave the factory as 001+002, 003+004, ..... 029+030?

 

[Peter Mugridge]

How come the units didn't leave the factory as 001+002, 003+004, ..... 029+030?

When they're sorting them at the factory prior to delivery, there comes a point at which the later builds will trap the earlier builds in the sidings... Same thing happened with the S7s; they didn't come down from Derby in numerical order once there had been a short suspension of deliveries.

 

[hwl]

When they're sorting them at the factory prior to delivery, there comes a point at which the later builds will trap the earlier builds in the sidings... Same thing happened with the S7s; they didn't come down from Derby in numerical order once there had been a short suspension of deliveries.

Quality issues, the naughty units get delivered late as there is limited capacity to get things sorted at the test facility. Later built units with fewer issues will get shipped ahead instead as they can often be sorted quicker.

Space at the factory is very limited so coaches get taken almost immediately (see 700 thread with e320 and 700s cars being taken in 5 car consists) to the test facility where the cars are actually assembled into their units.

 

[Goldfish62]

Not bad but shame they are going soon as well.I think they are suited to the Reading Road.

Just a shame about the broken toilets and poor aircon/heating. I miss the 450s from those respects.

 

[Via Bank]

Had a go on a 707 today. The internal ambience is nice, the gangways are wide, the public address is clear (even if the TTS voice sounds weird), and the power sockets are nice. It would've been nice if the multi-use wheelchair/cycle/pram areas were more clearly marked from the outside of the cars. I'm disappointed that, as on the 700s, the door controls don't work if you hold them down while the doors are released (this is a regression compared to the original Desiro UK line.)

The PIS is simply defective. It kept alternating between the correct calling pattern and saying "this train is for London Waterloo only" (it wasn't) and also demonstrated the same effect as on the 700s with the two screens going out of sync.

I am baffled as to why Siemens thought it was a good idea to overcomplicate the design with two separate screens. They barely work. Compare with the 345/Aventra PIS which seems significantly more reliable and also appears to use much larger, clearer text.

 

[GW43125]

Just a shame about the broken toilets and poor aircon/heating. I miss the 450s from those respects.

At least 458s have opening windows (something id have been unbelievably grateful for on my sweltering 707 home today)

Some gen though:
707026&009 seen working 15:22 Waterloo Weybridge, 7026 later worked 22:28 Waterloo Windsor alone.

 

[MikeWM]

First go on one of these this evening - fortunately only a 10 minute journey, as was very glad to get off...

- Far, far too hot inside.
- Not enough seats. [1]
- When I got a seat, it was very uncomfortable, and fully 30% of the footspace was taken up by ducting. [2]
- The lack of carriage doors meant I heard every ‘note’ from the drunk fools ‘singing’ three carriages away. [3]
- The screens continually showed the wrong station. The automated announcements continually announced wrong stations, but different wrong stations to the screens (!).

Very unimpressed

[1] Yes, I know this has been debated endlessly, but its the first time I’ve encountered it in practice...
[2] ditto
[3] one of the many irritating problems with trains without proper divides between carriages, but I’ll leave the rest of that rant for another day...

 

[GW43125]

[3] one of the many irritating problems with trains without proper divides between carriages, but I’ll leave the rest of that rant for another day...

The other downside being you can't just have one carriage with failed aircon (just move to the next carriage), no, the entire unit has no aircon. It gets awfully stuffy awfully quickly.

 

[Dr_Intoxicated]

The other downside being you can't just have one carriage with failed aircon (just move to the next carriage), no, the entire unit has no aircon. It gets awfully stuffy awfully quickly.

When I have been on 450s and 458s with failed aircon I have found that I usually have to move to the other 4 car unit as the aircon seems to either work or fail in all 4 cars at the same time so not much different really.

 

[GW43125]

When I have been on 450s and 458s with failed aircon I have found that I usually have to move to the other 4 car unit as the aircon seems to either work or fail in all 4 cars at the same time so not much different really.

I have been on a few units with aircon failed in only one carriage.
However I was on a 450 once where the aircon was stuck on full blast in the front unit, it was bloody cold!

 

[AverageTD]

Does anybody know 707 departures from Waterloo on the Windsor Line today?

 

[Goldfish62]

At least 458s have opening windows (something id have been unbelievably grateful for on my sweltering 707 home today)

That's assuming the guard unlocks them of course. Not always the case in my experience.

 

[GW43125]

That's assuming the guard unlocks them of course. Not always the case in my experience.

Whenever I've asked them to open the windows they've been happy to.

 

[Goldfish62]

T

Whenever I've asked them to open the windows they've been happy to.

That's assuming the guard walks through the train, which given the lack of local door controls isn't very often.

 

[GW43125]

T

That's assuming the guard walks through the train, which given the lack of local door controls isn't very often.

I just go and knock on the rear* cab door.
*or wherever they're sitting

 

[Kite159]

T

That's assuming the guard walks through the train, which given the lack of local door controls isn't very often.

Some doors have local door control as I've seen a couple guards walking through the train and releasing the doors from various panels.

Although the majority of the 707 services I've been on the guard has remained in one of the inner cabs coming out at the stations.

 

[Goldfish62]

Some doors have local door control as I've seen a couple guards walking through the train and releasing the doors from various panels.

Although the majority of the 707 services I've been on the guard has remained in one of the inner cabs coming out at the stations.

We're talking at crossed purposes. I was briefly referring to 458s, which only have local door controls by the universal toilets. The 707s have them in every carriage.

 

[GW43125]

We're talking at crossed purposes. I was briefly referring to 458s, which only have local door controls by the universal toilets. The 707s have them in every carriage.

Before Chertsey was extended, you were guaranteed to see the guard if you were in carriages 3,4 or 5 as the only door controls on the platform were in carriage 3!

 

[WWTownEnth]

Does anyone know if the delivery referred to above by GW43125 is to go ahead tomorrow night? Thanks.

 

[Class455]

Only 1 of the 3 mainline 707 diagrams seem to be running today. The rest are being worked by 455 868/872 and 455 851/733
How many units are still to enter traffic?

 

[700007]

Guys, yesterday I caught a 707 doing the 1227 London Waterloo - Kingston - Strawberry Hill - London Waterloo circular service. Not allocated or timetabled to? I forgot the unit no. but I will check in my photo.

Any reason for this working and is it the first?

 

[urpert]

I’ve been on a few in the past couple of days. The PIS has been working OK but each time the screen states “This train is for X only” even when there are plenty of intermediate stops.

 

[D235 Apapa]

Guys, yesterday I caught a 707 doing the 1227 London Waterloo - Kingston - Strawberry Hill - London Waterloo circular service. Not allocated or timetabled to? I forgot the unit no. but I will check in my photo.

Any reason for this working and is it the first?

2K29, 1227 Waterloo rounder is planned for 10-707 in the December 2017 perm plan.

 

[GW43125]

I’ve been on a few in the past couple of days. The PIS has been working OK but each time the screen states “This train is for X only” even when there are plenty of intermediate stops.

I think the only may be to indicate it isn't splitting. Rather irritating as the number of Windsor/Weybridge/rounder services that are portion worked is precisely 0.