That was a type of diesel multiple unit mainly used around the North-West and Tyneside, constructed in 1957, whereas this was a Class 302 a 25kv "overhead line" AC electric multiple unit, used mostly on the London-Tilbury-Southend line, built from 1958 onwards:
That design of fabric is, I seem to recall, known as "Trojan", and it was near-ubiquitous for a few years.
The next generation of multiple units was derived from a prototype known as PEP, and the Class 313s were constructed from 1976 onwards. Notice how the warm incandescent lighting has been replaced with fluorescent tubes:
The 508s were in the same family (although 3rd rail rather than overhead electrics), manufactured from 1979 onwards. They had the same low-backed seating, but the lighting power was doubled giving a harsh glare to the interiors:
Alas, that harsh lighting was here to stay (apparently there is a minuscule number of people who can barely see unless everything is floodlit, and the rest of us have to sit in starkly lit conditions just in case one of them happens to be somewhere on the train. The fact that a much higher proportion of us is light sensitive seems to be irrelevant to the Health & Safety Czars).
Anyway, the green check fabric from the previous train can also be seen in our last multiple unit, the spectacularly ugly Class 455, another 3rd rail job, under the floodlighting:
I was rather taken with those photos, too, actually: the way they are mostly out of focus but that just adds to a dreamy sense of hyper-reality (does that make any sense at all?).
Not much else to add, really.
7 comments:
Class 302s were 25Kv overhead units. Not third rail.
Interestingly I think that picture is of a refurbished interior as I'm pretty sure they were compartmented originally with wood paneling similar to the DMU interior above.
Still the high backed seats and face to face layout are retained.
It's interesting to compare those with the comparatively stark plastic look of some more recent trains.
You are, of course, quite right about the OLE v 3rd rail question: quite how my brain scrambled that up I have no idea. I have obviously been spending way too much time in the sun...
Are those Class 455 trains running, albeit refurbished (ha!) on the London Liverpool Street -> Wickford -> Southend Victoria stretch? Not the Fenchurch Street line you've mentioned; I know nothing about that line.
I used to commute, I would hesitate to use the word travel, on the Fenchurch Street line in the late 70's & early 80's. Those 302 carriages that you show were all we had and woe betide a newcomer who sat in someone else's place! The carriages had a very distinct smell, probably that fabric you describe & the lighting & racks were much better than the new plastic C2C trains on that line now. I stopped using the line when my parents died & I'm not sorry, it was never a travelling experience!
My idiocy in mis-assigning 3rd rail and OLE status was annoying me so much that I've now corrected the text.
PKUK: I remember that smell.
That attitude you refer to ("this is my place") wouldn't work anymore, not least because most of us who commute now have such variable work times. But in the Victorian era it was expanded into a concept known as "club trains", where groups of commuters effectively hired a private train every day and the accommodation was rather more luxurious than the norm.
That sounds so very civilised.
I once had the temerity to take a seat on the Llanduno to Manchester (Exchange) club train when I was challenged by an elderly gent who told me I had taken Mr Gwynfor Evans's seat. On enquiring as to the imminence of his wishing to resume it I was told that he was on holiday.
tyncanman:
No, you are probably thinking of class 317 or possibly class 321 overhead EMUs, both of which were built by BREL York in throughout various years of the 1980s and have a very similar appearance especially internally.
If it's the green upholstered low backed 3 + 2 seating that looks familiar then its probably class 321 you are thinking of as they look very similar today but with slightly updated fixtures and fitting.
The London Fenchurch - Tillbury - Shoebuyness (LTS) line on which the 302s used to run is now operated mostly by class 357 "electrostars" built from 1999 and have a much more modern (and cramped) interior.
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