Third-Rail EMU Photos

[phil_sutters]

As distant views seem to be acceptable here is one.

[Darius43]

That picture brings back happy memories of seeing CIGs and HAPs passing by on that embankment in the mid ‘70s from my Grandparents’ house at the end of Surrey Road.

 

Cheers

 

Darius

[Claude_Dreyfus]

With only a month of service left, the Southern class 455/8s are very much in their twilight. Apart from a few stabled in Horsham and Hove (apparently due to Selhurst depot have space issues) all still seem to be gainfully employed. Their withdrawal has been well publicised in the local media, as has the fact their replacement is from existing stock (Southern may get 377163/164 back from SE, in fact I think I may have seen 163 sitting in the yard at Selhurst yesterday morning). It is a gamble as Southern are (yet again) having a torrid time with cancellations, and further cancellations post withdrawal (especially citing stock availability) will be taken very badly. Not that Southern will particularly care about customers reaction, given their pathetic customer service recently (long story, won't bore you with it here...).

 

Anyway, here are a set of photos (taken on my phone) at East Croydon yesterday (12th April) of some 455 services.

 

 

 

455842 and 455830. I thought this was a Croydon - London Bridge shuttle (it was advertised as terminating) so was a little surprised to see it head off south, with passengers aboard, so I am not sure what service this was.

 

 

 

455837 and 455823 have just arrived with the 2T49 17:40 from London Bridge.

 

[Grizz]

A few photos of 313s on a trip from Lewes to Gotham City on Thursday....

 

 

 

[jbqfc]

377608 seen at a misty Tattenham corner 

 

[eastwestdivide]

A couple from London earlier this month.

 

The new and the old, 377 and 455 side by side at London Bridge 02 April 22:

 

Crystal Palace 378, 14 Apr 22:

[Gwiwer]

While most people are out chasing Southern 455s here's another class you won't see in this location for very much longer.  707015 calls at Raynes Park with a Shepperton - Waterloo service.  All weekday daytime Shepperton trains via Wimbledon are currently booked for 707 operation but rolling stock allocation may change with the May timetables and in any case the last 707s must leave SWR in August.  

 

 

And a sister unit on the down (Shepperton-bound working)

 

 

Raynes Park offers many photo opportunities such as the chance of capturing a stopping train being overtaken by a fast one.  Here a Waterloo service formed of 455 stock is about to be overtaken by a 444 coming up from the Weymouth line

 

 

Seconds later and with the 455 still at the platform 444043 trails the express as it overtakes. 

 

 

The Epsom branch platforms are sharply curved and steeply graded; here 5724 leads a Waterloo - Guildford service onto the branch.  The "via" display is incorrect; this train runs "via Epsom" not "via Surbiton" and the headcode should be 16 not 30.  

 

[Northmoor]

12 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

Raynes Park offers many photo opportunities such as the chance of capturing a stopping train being overtaken by a fast one.  Here a Waterloo service formed of 455 stock is about to be overtaken by a 444 coming up from the Weymouth line

I think some of my last Raynes Park shots were on B&W and buried in the loft at present, but I agree the station has lots of interesting views, with two pairs of tapering (and staggered) platforms, with a footbridge angled across the four tracks.

 

I have a similar shot from platform 4 but slightly further back so you can see how overgrown it looked at the time (July 2015):

 

I think that day I was specifically looking to photograph 455s on SWT, thinking they might not be around for much longer.  Seven years later.....

[Gwiwer]

Poor quality images, as they were taken on a 126 Instamatic by a much younger Gwiwer who didn't understand as much then as I do now about railway photography.  But probably worth an airing for their rarity.  An early outing with photography guru John Vaughan and railway author Paul Clark.  

 

I don't have the date recorded but sometime in summer 1970 two of the Brighton Belle units were out of traffic.  In order to maintain capacity a 4-Cor unit was coupled to the serviceable unit and ran at least two round trips Brighton - Victoria - Brighton.  

 

The down working is caught at Burgess Hill and the subsequent up emerging from Clayton Tunnel.  Both at a speed of around 75mph.  Pullman supplements were not charged in the Cor neither were refreshments available.  

 

 

 

[John M Upton]

This was my office for a fair chunk of Saturday afternoon whilst everyone else was chasing a pair of Class 50's around:

 

Nice paintwork, worse one of the whole batch to drive though...

Edited April 23, 2022 by John M Upton

[Nearholmer]

313 lovers (there must be some/one) might find this interesting https://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/documents/BRE_GNElectric1973.pdf

 

Note especially the brilliant piece of crayon-work to turn a PEP into a 313 on the penultimate page.

 

 

 

 

Edited April 23, 2022 by Nearholmer

[hexagon789]

1 hour ago, John M Upton said:

This was my office for a fair chunk of Saturday afternoon whilst everyone else was chasing a pair of Class 50's around:

 

Nice paintwork, worse one of the whole batch to drive though...

She does look pretty good. What's up with her though? Just one of those unfortunate "weak" units you get?

[John M Upton]

On taking power, particularly in one direction more than the other, she tends to be very jerky.  She's never been a good runner compared with the others but basically it's tired and in need of retirement. 

[phil_sutters]

While waiting for the 50s ....

 

Some roof details, should you be modelling one of these.

.. and here's one I snapped earlier .... a lot earlier

Edited April 24, 2022 by phil_sutters
Adding the text

[Gwiwer]

9 hours ago, John M Upton said:

whilst everyone else was chasing a pair of Class 50's around:

I didn’t have to chase ….. they came to me!  
 

Following an afternoon on the south bank I strolled into London Bridge with the thought that there might be a 455 I could use on my way home. 
 

Sure enough there was - a choice of two in fact. I hopped aboard 843 for the all-stations-to-East Croydon crawl on a Coulsdon Town working rather than the other option via Tulse Hill on the Caterham service. 
 

As I wondered why so many cameras were out at various stations, especially Norwood Junction, the 50s roared through.  I didn’t think the 455s had quite that level of interest 🤣

 

 

[John M Upton]

Apparently the 455 farewell tour has sold out!!

[rodent279]

9 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

313 lovers (there must be some/one) might find this interesting https://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/documents/BRE_GNElectric1973.pdf

 

Note especially the brilliant piece of crayon-work to turn a PEP into a 313 on the penultimate page.

 

 

 

 

Interesting. Shame the opportunity to revise the AM10 design to include sliding doors wasn't taken, as well as upping the maximum speed.

[C126]

On 23/04/2022 at 22:58, John M Upton said:

This was my office for a fair chunk of Saturday afternoon ...

 

I was off to Chichester for a day-trip - spending a long weekend visiting relatives in Bognor - and caught Mr Upton's office as it came into Barnham.  I hoped it was him driving, but this was the morning.

 

 

Had to explain to my Beloved why the line was crawling with earnest-looking men brandishing cameras that day...

[phil_sutters]

One of the problems with threads this long is remembering which photos one has already added. I was compiling an album of Brighton station shots and didn't think that I had offered these previously, but maybe I have, if so - apologies.

 

Edited April 25, 2022 by phil_sutters

[Hal Nail]

On 24/04/2022 at 07:08, John M Upton said:

basically it's tired and in need of retirement. 

Based on my career alone, she could easily have another 25 years left then.

[Claude_Dreyfus]

A couple more 313s whilst waiting for the aforementioned class 50s.

 

313210 on the Bognor - Littlehampton shuttle. It was probably one of the most photographed 313s that day as the 50s were following, so an ideal subject to check on light/shadow etc.

 

313206 nearly made itself profoundly unpopular with the number of photographers on the down platform at Ford. A few seconds later and the tour would have been obscured. Sadly I did not catch 313201.

 

 

[John M Upton]

313201 spent a couple of hours parked down Littlehampton as there was a shortage of drivers so one out and and back trip got cancelled.  It didn't move again until I woke it up mid afternoon.

[Claude_Dreyfus]

Today I hear the first of the Southern 455s are off to Newport to meet their maker. 47727 is performing the last rites for 5838 and 5839. Here are the two units back in happier days; not amazing pictures, but the only ones I have of these two units.

 

455838 leaves a snowy East Croydon back in February 2013

 

455839 approaches Victoria in January 2015.

 

RIP 

Edited May 4, 2022 by Claude_Dreyfus

[Oldddudders]

A few pics I have finally unearthed from July 2004. All have a bit of compressed perspective  - I had just bought a telephoto lens (135mm f2) from a bloke on Vic station for cash! An ebay sale by a Malaysian on holiday, and we did the deal in a cafe on the raft. I was not disappointed. I caught the first train down to Clapham Junction and bingo. As the Nikon D2h was APS-C format, the lens effectively became a 200 mm f2. 

 

 

[Gwiwer]

Oooh a 170 at Clapham.  Normally confined to the Reading - Brighton workings I believe although they probably ran up to Town to keep the crew's familiarity up to date.  That would have been a Salisbury working, surely, as I don't think they were allowed farther west.  Not compatible with the 159s, y'know.  

 

Clapham Yard looks much the same today even if some of the stock doesn't.  The 458s are blue and have five coaches - for now - and the slammers are gone.  Most of the 450s are also still blue in what must surely be the most drawn-out re-livery of all time.  

 

Allowing for the practical reality of the 455 and 456 fleets remaining red due to their short lives, which in the former case have proven to be a bit longer than expected at the time, Stagecoach-based livery with SWR decals still persists on all the 458s, most of the 450s, some of the 444s, most of the 158s and all the 159/1s.  Only sub-class 159/0 has been fully reliveried in SWR grey.  The 707s were of course delivered in Stagecoach red and famously that franchise managed to operate just a single train of the stock before handing over the keys but in doing so kept a promise.  Those remaining with SWR are still red of course.  

 

Clapham footbridge itself is undergoing a painfully slow repaint as is much of the station.  In the same colours as seen here.  Very much needed but a Band Aid solution to the problem of a fast-decaying and elderly station which desperately needs a full rebuild.