They label the seats so each coach in the whole train forms one unbroken sequence—car 1’s last seat = car 2’s first seat, etc.—but in a symmetrical pattern that lets two people sit facing each other at the same table. The code means, roughly, window/aisle, seat number, direction arrow, and uses mirror pairs so you always know “your 23” will line up nose-to-nose with 24 in the pair on the other side.
The numbering is a remnant from the time railcars had mostly 9 to 11 separate compartments with 6 or 8 seats each. The first digit (or two) is the number of the compartment (from 1 to 11) and the last one – the number of the seat itself. Within the compartment one row has the odd numbers (1-7-3-5 or 1-3-7-5) the other the even ones (2-8-4-6 or 2-4-8-6). In addition the first scheme was about three seats abreast, taking numbers from 1 to 5 and 2 to 6 respectively and 1, 5, 2 and 6 being end seats (window or aisle) while 3 and 4 are middle seats. When four seats abreast were introduced, 7 and 8 seats were also pushed in the middle, thus resulting in this weird numbering.
When single salon coaches started getting introduced, this compartment numbering persisted which in a salon-type car converts to first row having seats 11-17_13-15 (or 11-13_17-15), second row having 12-18_14-16 (or 12-14_18-16), where 11, 15, 12, and 16 are window seats, the others are aisle seats, and each two rows matching a compartment – thus third row will have seats 21-27_23-25 (or 21-23_27-25), as that would match the odd side of a second compartment of a compartment coach. This going all the way to 118 as probably the largest number of a seat in a coach. In addition because of this there are normally no seat numbers ending on 0 or 9 as there are no compartment coaches with five seats abreast.
Also in the given example it is visible that 25 is the window seat, not 27 (see the window symbol). Positioning of -3 and -7 seats may vary but they are normally in the middle.
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They label the seats so each coach in the whole train forms one unbroken sequence—car 1’s last seat = car 2’s first seat, etc.—but in a symmetrical pattern that lets two people sit facing each other at the same table. The code means, roughly, window/aisle, seat number, direction arrow, and uses mirror pairs so you always know “your 23” will line up nose-to-nose with 24 in the pair on the other side.
Strange compared to what exactly?
In what way do you perceive it as odd? What are you comparing it with?
I’ve not seen that style of numbering used, ours tend to be more this style : https://sites.create-cdn.net/sitefiles/19/3/4/193478/Class350SeatingPlan.pdf
The numbering is a remnant from the time railcars had mostly 9 to 11 separate compartments with 6 or 8 seats each. The first digit (or two) is the number of the compartment (from 1 to 11) and the last one – the number of the seat itself. Within the compartment one row has the odd numbers (1-7-3-5 or 1-3-7-5) the other the even ones (2-8-4-6 or 2-4-8-6). In addition the first scheme was about three seats abreast, taking numbers from 1 to 5 and 2 to 6 respectively and 1, 5, 2 and 6 being end seats (window or aisle) while 3 and 4 are middle seats. When four seats abreast were introduced, 7 and 8 seats were also pushed in the middle, thus resulting in this weird numbering.
When single salon coaches started getting introduced, this compartment numbering persisted which in a salon-type car converts to first row having seats 11-17_13-15 (or 11-13_17-15), second row having 12-18_14-16 (or 12-14_18-16), where 11, 15, 12, and 16 are window seats, the others are aisle seats, and each two rows matching a compartment – thus third row will have seats 21-27_23-25 (or 21-23_27-25), as that would match the odd side of a second compartment of a compartment coach. This going all the way to 118 as probably the largest number of a seat in a coach. In addition because of this there are normally no seat numbers ending on 0 or 9 as there are no compartment coaches with five seats abreast.
Also in the given example it is visible that 25 is the window seat, not 27 (see the window symbol). Positioning of -3 and -7 seats may vary but they are normally in the middle.