• Our booking engine at tickets.railforums.co.uk (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!

Toilets on 377s

Status
Not open for further replies.

Surreytraveller

On Moderation
Joined
21 Oct 2009
Messages
2,810
Why do the toilets on 377s lock themselves out of use when they go out of service, thereby trapping people inside? And if they are designed to do this, why is there not an emergency release on the inside so those trapped can free themselves?
 
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R

RailUK Forums

Drsatan

Established Member
Joined
24 Aug 2009
Messages
1,884
Location
Land of the Sprinters
The toilets lock themselves out of use when the retention tank fills up. Otherwise, it would overflow and effluent would spill onto the toilet floor.

I haven't heard of anyone being locked in a toilet when this happens - I assume someone trapped could press the alarm button which would call the guard to unlock the toilet.

I've been on a few 377s where up to 3 out of 4 toilets have been locked out of use, suggesting that either Southern don't empty the retention tanks that frequently or there aren't enough waste disposal aprons at Southern's carriage sidings.
 
Joined
29 Aug 2010
Messages
696
One of the favourite tricks with 377 toilets is to do the necessary then, after squirting the liquid soap over your hands discover that the water dispenser isn't working.
 

the sniper

Established Member
Joined
4 Sep 2007
Messages
3,500
Why do the toilets on 377s lock themselves out of use when they go out of service, thereby trapping people inside? And if they are designed to do this, why is there not an emergency release on the inside so those trapped can free themselves?

If they work the same as the 170 toilets, which I imagine they do, the door can still be opened from the inside when it locks itself out of service.
 

pendolino

Member
Joined
22 Nov 2010
Messages
737
Why do the toilets on 377s lock themselves out of use when they go out of service, thereby trapping people inside? And if they are designed to do this, why is there not an emergency release on the inside so those trapped can free themselves?

Funnily enough, at about the time you posted that this morning, there was a Southern driver stuck in the loo on a 377 in Streatham Hill shed until the shunter wondered why the train was still in the shed when it should have left and went to investigate and let him out. Half an hour he was in there, poor bloke. Toilet doors aren't supposed to lock from the inside when it goes out of service, but I guess this was a malfunction or something. I will probably stick to using the MOSL toilet and not the PTOSL one with the slidey door from now on.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
One of the favourite tricks with 377 toilets is to do the necessary then, after squirting the liquid soap over your hands discover that the water dispenser isn't working.

Experience has taught me: Water THEN soap THEN water.
 

Surreytraveller

On Moderation
Joined
21 Oct 2009
Messages
2,810
Experience has taught me: Water THEN soap THEN water.

Experience has taught me that, too! If the toilets are clever enough to lock themselves out of use when they run out of water, you'd think they could stop dispensing soap as well!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
If they work the same as the 170 toilets, which I imagine they do, the door can still be opened from the inside when it locks itself out of service.

May be that's what they're supposed to do, but it is not uncommon for passengers to be trapped inside!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
I haven't heard of anyone being locked in a toilet when this happens - I assume someone trapped could press the alarm button which would call the guard to unlock the toilet.

Assuming that the train is not in a terminal station with no crew on board, of course!
 
Last edited:

Peter Mugridge

Veteran Member
Joined
8 Apr 2010
Messages
14,753
Location
Epsom
I always walk through the train to find the cupboard type toilet with a manual lock rather than use the Dalek type toilet...
 

Southern313

Member
Joined
29 Mar 2011
Messages
91
Not many people seem to like using (or can't find) the smaller toilet in the MOSL so it tends to fill up less rapidly than its counterpart. I've only ever had to release two passengers in five years as a guard and if the passcom alarm goes off its almost always the small toilet as people can't find the flush button...until they look behind themselves!

Don't know about other locations but Littlehampton has two CET roads and Bognor one which isn't exactly high capacity, especially as thanks to an "upgrade" only one extractor at a time can be used at Littlehampton. Takes about 45 minutes to detank a 12 car train with 6 lavs. Smells a bit too!
 

paul1609

Established Member
Joined
28 Jan 2006
Messages
7,188
Location
Wittersham Kent
The toilets lock themselves out of use when the retention tank fills up. Otherwise, it would overflow and effluent would spill onto the toilet floor.

I haven't heard of anyone being locked in a toilet when this happens - I assume someone trapped could press the alarm button which would call the guard to unlock the toilet.

I've been on a few 377s where up to 3 out of 4 toilets have been locked out of use, suggesting that either Southern don't empty the retention tanks that frequently or there aren't enough waste disposal aprons at Southern's carriage sidings.

Id imagine its more to do with the fact that these trains were designed to be used on the Sussex coast services but have subsequently been high jacked to bail out the thameslink and london metro services. The expensive 12 car toilet apron at littlehampton is now often used just for storing broken down 313s



 

Class377/5

Established Member
Joined
19 Jun 2010
Messages
5,594
Id imagine its more to do with the fact that these trains were designed to be used on the Sussex coast services but have subsequently been high jacked to bail out the thameslink and london metro services. The expensive 12 car toilet apron at littlehampton is now often used just for storing broken down 313


How has new build units going to Thameslink affect the toilets on the 377?
 

thelem

Member
Joined
17 Mar 2008
Messages
549
How has new build units going to Thameslink affected the toilets on the 377?

I think he was saying that when the 377s were ordered there was suitable infrastructure to support them, including at littlehampton, but where they have been moved to different routes there may not be the same facilities (or if they do exist, they might not have enough capacity).

It's certainly a plausible problem - the 313s didn't have any toilets at all and on Thameslink you're going from max 2 tanks per train (both toilets are in the same carriage) to upto 6 tanks per train (on a 12 coach).
 

Class377/5

Established Member
Joined
19 Jun 2010
Messages
5,594
I think he was saying that when the 377s were ordered there was suitable infrastructure to support them, including at littlehampton, but where they have been moved to different routes there may not be the same facilities (or if they do exist, they might not have enough capacity).

It's certainly a plausible problem - the 313s didn't have any toilets at all and on Thameslink you're going from max 2 tanks per train (both toilets are in the same carriage) to upto 6 tanks per train (on a 12 coach).

But Thameslink got its only facilities to empty so that won't affect the ability to empty tanks. Sounded much more like a post complaining that Thameslink got Southern's new units (hence the word high jacked and bail out we're used, much more negative wording).
 

pendolino

Member
Joined
22 Nov 2010
Messages
737
I think he was saying that when the 377s were ordered there was suitable infrastructure to support them, including at littlehampton, but where they have been moved to different routes there may not be the same facilities (or if they do exist, they might not have enough capacity).

It's certainly a plausible problem - the 313s didn't have any toilets at all and on Thameslink you're going from max 2 tanks per train (both toilets are in the same carriage) to upto 6 tanks per train (on a 12 coach).

There are plenty of de-tanking facilities at Selhurst and Streatham Hill but trains still sometimes go out apparently without the tanks being emptied - I don't know why. I've rung fleet on occasions to report toilets out of order and have sometimes been told that the cause is not a full tank but a technical fault of some sort that had already been logged and would be attended to next time the unit was on the depot for long enough. And there was a problem a while back with some of the 377 toilets that required a modification (can't remember the details) - I think that's sorted now.

It's much better than it used to be though. Southern have put stickers on toilet doors with contact details so passengers can report a toilet being out of order too.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Top