The pros and cons of BR compartment stock

There is the security risk - if you are in a compartment, only the people there can see you if you are attacked, as opposed to everyone in the carriage if you are in non-compartment stock. There is also the time factor, finding an empty compartment, or even just opening the extra door if you are exiting through the corridor side will add extra time to the station stops, not a particularly good thing in the ever-busier rail network that exists now. And whilst, I think about it, the introduction of sliding doors as opposed to slam doors will also have been a death nail for it, as you can't really put a sliding door mechanism on every compartment because you will:
a) run out of space
b) add a lot of weight to the car
c) increase the chance of something breaking

I've been trying to design a corridor lavatory (compartment) layout for the Amersham service ever since the S-stock appeared. It can be done, but I'm still waiting for a breakthrough.

On the Met, 'Open' or 'Saloon' types are called 'Car Stock', and compartment types are called 'Stock'. I can't bring to mind any corridor stock in use on the Met. Any ideas?

The Amersham service is in danger of being eclipsed in terms of speed and comfort by the Marylebone trains, despite them being non-electrified. Patronage needs to be carefully monitored, if the spectre of cutbacks is to be avoided.

Surely the Met service could be modified slightly to allow an hourly fast Baker Street-Harrow-Rickmansworth-Amersham service in the appropriate direction during the peak (two fasts per peak perhaps).  Depart Amersham on the hour, Rickmansworth 8 past, Harrow 21 past, Arrive Baker Street 35 past

I personally believe that aside from personal safety there is a desire to cram in as many people as possible and an open saloon achieves this better.

As a teenage guy I discovered how good compartment stock was one night while on the mail train to London. I joined at Whitland (I know it was a really late service back then) and although it by-paased Swansea via the loop it took the scenic route via Bristol and various points south of the normal Swindon route arriving in London around 5.30 or 6 am. I met someone on the train... and both being young and ... well lets say that todays generation will never have a similar experience lol We dropped the blinds on the corridor side of the compartment and just got on with things. Happy days!

Ah, compartment stock. A late night train could offer more privacy than you'd get at home in your parents' house. I remember one very enjoyable trip with my first girlfriend on a non-stopper between Basildon and Barking. I was only 18 so I probably had my clothes back on by the time we'd past Laindon mind.

Ahem,

Can we think of any other benefits?

For interesting historical details about the advantages and disadvantages of compartment stock it will be well worth reading about the Southern Railway and its internal discussions... If only I could remember the references.

Being a sometime railway carriage joiner I will make a few points,

While the horrible airline style seating in open saloons is a new invention, open saloons are not. The LMS in the 1930's were building open saloon stock similar to that found in Mk1 EMU's and even recent DMU / EMU stock.

The earliest designs of railway carriage were based on horse drawn carriages, a few mounted side by side on a railway underframe became the first railway carriages. With long distance services especially with more modern steam locomotives travelling non stop, the toilet and refreshment breaks were no longer desirable, access to toilets and open saloon dining carriages soon appeared.

For most of railway history, compartment carriages have been used for short distance commuting (Metropolitan / SR etc.) and it is only recently that this design has disappeared.
Large numbers of seats and quick loading and unloading were the key reasons the SR kept building compartment stock. Safety is not really a problem and compartment stock does seem to be popular.

For longer distance services access to toilets / refreshment cars are very important and so corridor stock, with open saloons for the dining cars have been normal for over 100 years. Loading unloading time is not really a problem in these services so the extra platform time needed will not impact the service too much.

Of course on the modern railway we don't care if passengers have to stand for ages, and no one seems to worry about dangerously overloaded railway carriages. We note that people like to stand next too and block the doors so we take out a few more seats... convenient for wheelchair users if they can find the room, the one lift is working, and a member of staff is around with a ramp!

Sadly we are now stuck with a style of stock (S stock / modern EMU) that is o.k for medium length journeys, in the middle of the day, but unsuitable for peak hours, and longer distance services.

That isn't airline seating, that is bay seating (sans tables)

This is airline seating:

Northern class 156

Swings and roundabouts, do you prefer tables and people standing down the aisle or airline seating? First did not spend cash changing seating for fun.

If we had a private railway, more and/or longer trains (with upgrades to infrastructure as required) would be being run, the operator having invested to make more profit.
If we had a public service railway, more and/or longer trains (with upgrades to infrastructure as required) would be being run, the operator (government) having invested to reduce overcrowding, add capacity and reap the benefits to the wider economy.

Are you assuming we own all the infrastructure as well - or, at least, don't share any tracks with anyone else - and so don't need to worry about availability of paths?

Oops so it is. Guess I wasn't really paying attention last night!

apart from the aspect of safety,i know only to well of the problems of compartment stock,having been a driver on the lt&s driving the old 302s,308s we had a terrible problem with vandalism.compartments were wrecked so many times.when they converted the units to open stock,there was a dramatic fall in incidents,so win win.