It does seem to be a Tyne & Wear thing, and I don’t fully understand it as Newcastle itself is always pretty friendly and outgoing as far as most things go.
No train driver can really moan about being in a picture (very close range excepted) as people have been taking photos of trains since steam days, so expecting not to be photographed is a bit like going swimming and expecting not to get wet. It comes with the job, and no driver should have taken on the role without knowing that.
Most don’t mind, but the ones that do, it’s more down to bad experiences. A few drivers have had issues with photographers who have been blocking the view in the dispatch mirror etc, and when asked to move been met with ”I can
stand where I want”. Thats usually when they’ve gotten fed up and called into security to have them moved.
These incidents are few and far between and obviously not indicative of all enthusiasts, but they still leave a bad taste in the mouth. It goes from a benign thing to someone making your job harder.
The decision not to refurbish 40 and 83 had nothing to do with the two incidents you mention. It was planned from early on in the refurbishment program that only 86 units would be refurbished - 01 and 02 were always going to be excluded but the other two weren’t determined until late on.
83 did come out of the Kingston Park accident in a rather poor state, worse than the rear unit of the formation (74), but it had a full repair before returning to service so no lasting damage remains to the unit. The warping that appears in some of the accident photos is likely just a trick of the light.
40 and 90 came out of the Airport flooding as bad as each other.
As far as operations go the 4 unrefurbished units have also had a lot of the modifications that the Wabtec units have. The cabs were updated at the same time as the accessibility mods were done, not sure about the water issue, but certainly the 4 units now have the window facing the front passenger seat blanked off as per the Wabtec units. Automated announcements came before the Wabtec refit, around 2010, so the 4 unrefurbished units were fitted with them. The two big differences between those and the Wabtec units were the door tone - one button for the warning tone and another one to actually shut the doors; and the wiring - the Wabtec units were completely rewired.
Both the unrefurbished and Wabtec units retain the button for the old doors closing recording and it can still be played. It’s rare to hear but does occasionally happen.
That must just be a lingering myth amongst drivers then but I suppose it could just be a coincidence.
With regards to the automated announcements though the un refurbished sets didn't have them until very recently, I was trained to make announcements via the PA, (im not saying they weren’t fitted with them originally in 2010 but if they were, they certainly haven’t worked for a few years)
There deffo aren’t any remaining door tones buttons (except for maybe on 4002, but this doesn’t do anything, and 4001 which hasn’t been updated but isn’t in service) and the recordings can’t be played. (Bar on 01) At least not by a driver, maybe the depot workers have some way of setting them off, I’m not sure.
