do northern 323s have SDO?

[plugwash]

Recently I caught a Manchester to Stoke train and was suprised to see a pair of 323s turn up. It was announced that for one of the intermediate stations that passengers should travel in the front 4 coaches and for another intermediate station that they should travel in the front 5 coaches.

I didn't think 323s had SDO? was I mistaken or has it been added recently? is it automatic or manual?

 

[skyhigh]

I didn't think 323s had SDO?

They don't.

 

[plugwash]

So what was going on? some kind of manual lockout procedure in lieu of SDO? or did the stations not actually need shorter trains after all?

 

[LowLevel]

The conductor manually locks and reinstates the doors during the course of the journey.

 

[warwickshire]

Recently I caught a Manchester to Stoke train and was suprised to see a pair of 323s turn up. It was announced that for one of the intermediate stations that passengers should travel in the front 4 coaches and for another intermediate station that they should travel in the front 5 coaches.

I didn't think 323s had SDO? was I mistaken or has it been added recently? is it automatic or manual?

No. However during 2001 First North Western introduced door controls into the middle coaches of 323s. So the guard could do revenue and have door control from middle coach as well as cabs. Also at the Time a lot of fare chancers got caught out front coach on the notorious hadfield line. Especially on a bit of a run. Guide bridge to gorton.
However another question is do the Central 323s have door control in the middle ie the future to be Northern ones.?

 

[LowLevel]

No. However during 2001 First North Western introduced door controls into the middle coaches of 323s. So the guard could do revenue and have door control from middle coach as well as cabs. Also at the Time a lot of fare chancers got caught out front coach on the notorious hadfield line. Especially on a bit of a run. Guide bridge to gorton.
However another question is do the Central 323s have door control in the middle ie the future to be Northern ones.?

The West Midlands 323s do indeed have a door panel in the middle coach, however with them being largely restricted to double set running on Cross City services nowadays it is rarely if ever used now. Used to see it being used on the Coventry to Wolverhampton corridor every now and then with the keener guards but those trains are usually 350s now.

 

[warwickshire]

The West Midlands 323s do indeed have a door panel in the middle coach, however with them being largely restricted to double set running on Cross City services nowadays it is rarely if ever used now. Used to see it being used on the Coventry to Wolverhampton corridor every now and then with the keener guards but those trains are usually 350s now.

Handy to know. So the facility is there for when transfer to Northern.

 

[jonnyfan]

So what was going on? some kind of manual lockout procedure in lieu of SDO? or did the stations not actually need shorter trains after all?

On the trip from Piccadilly to Stoke, all 6 carriages fit at all the platforms.
On the return trip to Piccadilly, the rear carriage is locked out of use, due to short platforms at Longport (though I'm not sure if any 6 car services stop there anyway), Congleton, Prestbury and Cheadle Hulme (due to the stopping position).

 

[plugwash]

So I guess the station announcements were assuming it would (or at least might) be a pair of 331s with their crappy selective door operation that results in doors being out of service even though the train physically fits in the platform?

 

[jonnyfan]

So I guess the station announcements were assuming it would (or at least might) be a pair of 331s with their crappy selective door operation that results in doors being out of service even though the train physically fits in the platform?

These station announcements are very recent and seem to have lots of errors in them, so some stations need correcting, I'm not sure what information they have used to set these announcements up.

 

[Kite159]

On the trip from Piccadilly to Stoke, all 6 carriages fit at all the platforms.
On the return trip to Piccadilly, the rear carriage is locked out of use, due to short platforms at Longport (though I'm not sure if any 6 car services stop there anyway), Congleton, Prestbury and Cheadle Hulme (due to the stopping position).

They stop there in the early morning (
0756 Stoke-on-Trent to Manchester Piccadilly) (like so: https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:W39749/2022-09-24/detailed#allox_id=0)

The other Longport caller on a Saturday for Northern is the 331s to Blackpool.