Thoughts on Compartments

[edwin_m]

I think I’d rather share with three strangers in a couchette that meant sleeping dressed than in a traditional 2 berth sleeper with one stranger.

If the one stranger turned out to be a nutter who meant you harm, there would be no-one to help.

In a couchette, if one of the strangers turned out to be a nutter, the law of averages suggests that the other two would not be nutters and would be able to provide assistance or even deter said nutter by their presence.

I think I agree with that, although there may be the issue of 3 nutters deciding they'll book a compartment together and see if a suitable victim turns up in the fourth berth. If a modern couchette replacement is needed, then perhaps something resembling a capsule hotel with each person in their own stacked mini-compartment but with no privacy outside?

 

[Bletchleyite]

I think I agree with that, although there may be the issue of 3 nutters deciding they'll book a compartment together and see if a suitable victim turns up in the fourth berth. If a modern couchette replacement is needed, then perhaps something resembling a capsule hotel with each person in their own stacked mini-compartment but with no privacy outside?

I'd favour that myself.

 

[Mikey C]

If you want basic sleeping accommodation without the worry of being trapped with a psycho, then you have to do away with compartments and just have it in open saloons, e.g. these lengthways Thai sleepers which covert from seats and have a curtain for privacy

 

[RLBH]

I think I’d rather share with three strangers in a couchette that meant sleeping dressed than in a traditional 2 berth sleeper with one stranger.

I think you'd get some people who'd view it that way, and others who'd view it as having even less privacy since you'd be sharing with more people. The latter might well be the dominant view.

If you want basic sleeping accommodation without the worry of being trapped with a psycho, then you have to do away with compartments and just have it in open saloons, e.g. these lengthways Thai sleepers which covert from seats and have a curtain for privacy

Which comes out to give you about the same capacity as transverse couchettes, so reasThe question of where luggage goes remains, though admittedly there's space under the lower berth. Longitudinal berths were deemed unacceptable for Caledonian Sleeper when 'pods' were being proposed for the Mark 5 stock.

 

[Nick_C]

If a modern couchette replacement is needed, then perhaps something resembling a capsule hotel with each person in their own stacked mini-compartment but with no privacy outside?

I believe the new OBB NightJet couchette cars are going to be like that - https://www.nightjet.com/en/komfortkategorien/nightjetzukunft

 

[AY1975]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Deborah_Linsley

There is another thread on whether compartment coaches could work again at www.railforums.co.uk/threads/could-compartment-coaches-work-again.165069 and a separate thread on the 1988 Deborah Linsley murder at www.railforums.co.uk/threads/30-years-ago-the-murder-that-ended-the-compartment-carriages-on-sr.162277

According to the Wikipedia entry on this incident, it is thought that she may have chosen to travel in that carriage because it was one of the few in which smoking was permitted. I thought that at least by the 1980s the remaining non-corridor compartments were generally non-smoking, and instead smoking was usually allowed in the saloon trailer on 4-EPBs with compartments. Presumably this was because it was thought that smoke would have more space to circulate in saloons, and that even smokers themselves could choke on smoke in the confined space of a compartment. I think Network SouthEast abolished smoking accommodation altogether on suburban services in about 1989/90, so only about a year or two after this incident, though.

 

[Mikey C]

There is another thread on whether compartment coaches could work again at www.railforums.co.uk/threads/could-compartment-coaches-work-again.165069 and a separate thread on the 1988 Deborah Linsley murder at www.railforums.co.uk/threads/30-years-ago-the-murder-that-ended-the-compartment-carriages-on-sr.162277

According to the Wikipedia entry on this incident, it is thought that she may have chosen to travel in that carriage because it was one of the few in which smoking was permitted. I thought that at least by the 1980s the remaining non-corridor compartments were generally non-smoking, and instead smoking was usually allowed in the saloon trailer on 4-EPBs with compartments. Presumably this was because it was thought that smoke would have more space to circulate in saloons, and that even smokers themselves could choke on smoke in the confined space of a compartment. I think Network SouthEast abolished smoking accommodation altogether on suburban services in about 1989/90, so only about a year or two after this incident, though.

To be fair there's a massive difference in the safety aspects of a conventional compartment with a corridor running alongside it and a closed compartment where there is no way to escape when the train is running (unless you jump out)

 

[GlitterUnicorn]

To be fair there's a massive difference in the safety aspects of a conventional compartment with a corridor running alongside it and a closed compartment where there is no way to escape when the train is running (unless you jump out)

Of course. While the perceived risks of a closed compartment are pretty much off the scale though, people are still likely to be very uncomfortable with a corridor compartment.

It's bad enough sharing a table with the drunks on a late night Edinburgh-Glasgow. Sharing a compartment with them would be quite scary.

 

[edwin_m]

I believe the new OBB NightJet couchette cars are going to be like that - https://www.nightjet.com/en/komfortkategorien/nightjetzukunft

Yes, that's the sort of thing I was thinking of. Possibly some luggage storage in the area between the beds behind the ladder.

 

[Nick_C]

Yes, that's the sort of thing I was thinking of. Possibly some luggage storage in the area between the beds behind the ladder.

They've got that too - there's one big locker and one small one per bed between the steps of the ladder (you can see the numbers and handles if you enlarge the photo)