Warming Stuff from Northern

[snail]

In what seems a random promotional gesture, the barrier person at Salford Central was handing out Northern Rail branded hand warmers to passengers.

I've had the odd snack or souvenir at a station to promote commercial brands but never something from a TOC. Anyone beat hand warmers?

 

[455driver]

Nice to know Northern have enough spare cash to give passengers hand warmers! :roll:
Pity they dont fix the heating on their trains instead, that way the passengers wouldnt need hand warmers.

 

[Crossover]

Pity they dont fix the heating on their trains instead, that way the passengers wouldnt need hand warmers.

Doing this is probably cheaper than fixing all the trains to work properly :P

 

[snail]

Doing this is probably cheaper than fixing all the trains to work properly :P

Well I thought that but the easiest way of keeping their trains warm would be to screw shut the windows that some people open in the coldest weather.

 

[callum112233]

Well I thought that but the easiest way of keeping their trains warm would be to screw shut the windows that some people open in the coldest weather.

Try being on a packed 142 with hot air blazing out the floor vents. You would want to crack a window open then, even on a cold day

 

[Crossover]

Well I thought that but the easiest way of keeping their trains warm would be to screw shut the windows that some people open in the coldest weather.

Given that nothing else is held together with screws, why would they want to start now

 

[1D53]

Nice to know Northern have enough spare cash to give passengers hand warmers! :roll:
Pity they dont fix the heating on their trains instead, that way the passengers wouldnt need hand warmers.

Really? When was the last time you were in a Northern train with no heating?

 

[lord rathmore]

Nice to know Northern have enough spare cash to give passengers hand warmers! :roll:
Pity they dont fix the heating on their trains instead, that way the passengers wouldnt need hand warmers.

Seems like a nice gesture to me. If you want to be miserablist about everything a TOC tries, that's your business, but I think a bit of creative thinking in the commercial reality world is a good thing

 

[455driver]

Really? When was the last time you were in a Northern train with no heating?

Havent been on a Northern train since October (18th I think) and the heating wasnt brilliant on that (a 156).

 

[callum112233]

Seems like a nice gesture to me. If you want to be miserablist about everything a TOC tries, that's your business, but I think a bit of creative thinking in the commercial reality world is a good thing

Oh if it was FCC, East Coast, Southern, FGW or any other TOC for that matter, this lot on here would love it. Since it was Northern doing this, it's automatically a joke to them

 

[Darren R]

Really? When was the last time you were in a Northern train with no heating?

Last Monday - a 158 on a mercifully short journey from Blackburn to Burnley Manchester Road whilst it was snowing (outside!) Never mind hand-warmers; it was a body-warmer I needed, despite several layers of thermals and a thick coat.

But not to worry - the return journey saw the heating working so efficiently I had to remove several layers because it was so hot! Unfortunately that, in my experience, pretty much sums up the state of play with Northern's 158s. It's either one extreme or the other, but very rarely a happy medium.

 

[TheJRB]

I'd be surprised if this wasn't the same company who produced the hand warmers for the Thameslink "Discover" exhibition the other week. They were giving out those and 345 illustrated phone screen cleaners.

 

[Mojo]

A Toc I once worked for asked me (and my colleagues) to hand out inflatable guitars to customers passing through the station I worked at on the day of a major music festival.

 

[LowLevel]

Havent been on a Northern train since October (18th I think) and the heating wasnt brilliant on that (a 156).

156s are notorious for crap heating regardless of TOC unfortunately!

 

[455driver]

156s are notorious for crap heating regardless of TOC unfortunately!

Only ever been on a few 156s and they have all been Northern operated ones!

Edit-
And one EMT one at Nottingham last summer!

 

[Qwerty133]

EMT gave out goodie bags on their red dot day at leicester in august 2009 (IIRC they contained a pen, amongst a load of junk).

 

[1D53]

156s are notorious for crap heating regardless of TOC unfortunately!

Indeed.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Last Monday - a 158 on a mercifully short journey from Blackburn to Burnley Manchester Road whilst it was snowing (outside!) Never mind hand-warmers; it was a body-warmer I needed, despite several layers of thermals and a thick coat.

Did you inform the traincrew? Northern have invested heavily in ensuring all the heating is working on all units, traincrew need to report units that aren't working effectively.

 

[Moonshot]

Last Monday - a 158 on a mercifully short journey from Blackburn to Burnley Manchester Road whilst it was snowing (outside!) Never mind hand-warmers; it was a body-warmer I needed, despite several layers of thermals and a thick coat.

But not to worry - the return journey saw the heating working so efficiently I had to remove several layers because it was so hot! Unfortunately that, in my experience, pretty much sums up the state of play with Northern's 158s. It's either one extreme or the other, but very rarely a happy medium.

I was actually in Blackburn last Monday, I didnt see any snow.

I also worked a number of Blackpool-Burnley services on the 158 the previous week, absolutely nothing wrong with the air con.....and in fact I had a physical look at the electronics governing this as part of a training exercise. It does exactly what its supposed to.......and as 1D53 points out, if a passenger notifies train crew , we can log it for attention.

I rather think you are complaining for complainings sake .....

 

[1D53]

and as 1D53 points out, if a passenger notifies train crew , we can log it for attention.

Indeed. Darren ,if you notify me of the unit number I'll arrange for the unit heating system to be inspected.

 

[Carlisle]

Only ever been on a few 156s and they have all been Northern operated ones!

Edit-
And one EMT one at Nottingham last summer!

Yes and from what I have seen the main difference seems to be that EMT soon got on with doing fairly decent refurbishments on their units ,not spending years patching bits of them up and going on and on about all the problems being down to their "no growth franchise "

 

[yorksrob]

I remember in the good old days before the never-ending recession, there regularly used to be companies handing out freebies and new products at Leeds City station. Now it's only charities wanting money. Sign of the times I suppose

 

[1D53]

Yes and from what I have seen the main difference seems to be that EMT soon got on with doing fairly decent refurbishments on their units ,not spending years patching bits of them up and going on and on about all the problems being down to their "no growth franchise "

Yawn... :roll:

 

[Anvil1984]

Indeed.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---


Did you inform the traincrew? Northern have invested heavily in ensuring all the heating is working on all units, traincrew need to report units that aren't working effectively.

And when we do ""we get warm air blowing. Ok on depot". . The 142 refurb saw heaters removed (the ones in the wheelchair / cycle area and under one of the seats near the door

 

[Moonshot]

I remember in the good old days before the never-ending recession, there regularly used to be companies handing out freebies and new products at Leeds City station. Now it's only charities wanting money. Sign of the times I suppose

I ve had free coffee and kit kats at Piccadilly in the last few weeks

 

[yorksrob]

I ve had free coffee and kit kats at Piccadilly in the last few weeks

Hopefully we've got that to look forward to then

 

[Moonshot]

Hopefully we've got that to look forward to then

Not sure about that......i ate the entire supply of kit kats !!!!

 

[Nym]

I remember in the good old days before the never-ending recession, there regularly used to be companies handing out freebies and new products at Leeds City station. Now it's only charities wanting money. Sign of the times I suppose

Was someone on High Holborn handing out free galaxy bars by crispy creme the other day, but most of the time in the station it's people begging for money with buckets, I don't even know who the charities are half the time. Does leave me to question just how genuine these are and if TfL / LU / NR etc. audits who is collecting on their stations?

Yes, they where signed in and had visitor passes on display.

 

[snail]

156s are notorious for crap heating regardless of TOC unfortunately!

Yes, there tends to be warm air belting out of the heaters in the centre of the coach meaning the people sat there open the windows and everyone behind them freezes in the draught.

 

[yorksrob]

Was someone on High Holborn handing out free galaxy bars by crispy creme the other day, but most of the time in the station it's people begging for money with buckets, I don't even know who the charities are half the time. Does leave me to question just how genuine these are and if TfL / LU / NR etc. audits who is collecting on their stations?

Yes, they where signed in and had visitor passes on display.

I can remember Cadbury's giving out chocolate bars once back in the day. Please come back Cadbury's

 

[Darren R]

Did you inform the traincrew? Northern have invested heavily in ensuring all the heating is working on all units, traincrew need to report units that aren't working effectively.

For a twenty minute joruney? Of course not! In any case, by the time the guard came around to check tickets we were only ten minutes away from the terminus.

I was actually in Blackburn last Monday, I didnt see any snow.

I also worked a number of Blackpool-Burnley services on the 158 the previous week, absolutely nothing wrong with the air con.....and in fact I had a physical look at the electronics governing this as part of a training exercise. It does exactly what its supposed to.......and as 1D53 points out, if a passenger notifies train crew , we can log it for attention.

I rather think you are complaining for complainings sake .....

Well early morning it was snowing (wet snow, admittedly - but it were proper snow in Darwen when I set off!)

As for "complaining for complaining's sake" - well actually I was not complaining at all. I didn't complain to the guard on the train either - for such a short journey it really wasn't worth kicking up a fuss. I was responding (slightly tongue-in-cheek) to 1D53's question earlier:

Really? When was the last time you were in a Northern train with no heating?

I do not complain for complaining's sake, and I take great exception being dismissed in such a high-handed fashion, based on nothing more than a slightly sarcastic reply on a forum. Thankfully, in my experience your attitude does not seem to be the norm amongst Northern train crew.