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SWR Metro fleet permanent withdrawals

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444045

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Anyone know what 455 units were on :

5Y51 14+32 Bournemouth Depot to Wimbledon Park today please ??

Thanks in advance.
 

Snow1964

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Have GBR (DfT OLR) or whatever the nationalised SWR will be called committed to lease 455s for foreseeable future.

I'm aware the 701 leases expire end of May at same time as franchise ends, (although might have recently been quietly renewed or extended)

Asking the question because presumably the new company will not be enthusiastic about paying for 2 fleets, so what will it do. Anyone got any ideas. Short term might have to pay for both, but how long would it tolerate also paying for 455s. Unlikely it will want to continue in zombie state as SWR have been doing
 

Nicholas Lewis

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Have GBR (DfT OLR) or whatever the nationalised SWR will be called committed to lease 455s for foreseeable future.

I'm aware the 701 leases expire end of May at same time as franchise ends, (although might have recently been quietly renewed or extended)

Asking the question because presumably the new company will not be enthusiastic about paying for 2 fleets, so what will it do. Anyone got any ideas. Short term might have to pay for both, but how long would it tolerate also paying for 455s. Unlikely it will want to continue in zombie state as SWR have been doing
Im pretty well sure that is no.1 issue of whoever is put in place to run SWR when it transfers to Directly Operated Railways next month. They will of course use the change to come up with a new plan so expect the 455's to roll on for another year.
 

shmee

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Hi all! First time posting here, apologies if this is the wrong section or anything

I've been wanting to spot 455868 in the lovely azure livery. I've been scanning RTT for the past fortnight or so, but to no avail. Always comes up as no allocations for the day. I did see it on there last on Sunday 23rd March

Am I too late? I've heard the class 455s are on the way out so I'm aware there's only so much time before they're all gone...
 

nctd2306

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Berkshire
Hi all! First time posting here, apologies if this is the wrong section or anything

I've been wanting to spot 455868 in the lovely azure livery. I've been scanning RTT for the past fortnight or so, but to no avail. Always comes up as no allocations for the day. I did see it on there last on Sunday 23rd March

Am I too late? I've heard the class 455s are on the way out so I'm aware there's only so much time before they're all gone...
I was told it's waiting for a new motor axle, which means it hasn't been retired but equally might be out of service for a while.
 
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From @WarrenTManager post in the 458 thread, I think that this is 5902 final passenger service

Monday 14th April 2025
2K69 2227 London Waterloo to London Waterloo
 

dodger

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Christchurch
Afternoon

Just wondering if anyone could identify the units on 5B39 0915 Wimbledon Park to Bournemouth T&R.S.M.D. today.

Thank you in advance.

Dodger
 

LUYMun

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Can anyone confirm if 5725 has been sent to Newport already? Been told a while back it was supposedly going on 14th April.
 
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5725 is hidden away on 13 road in the lift shop. It is still being harvested. I am sure the motor coach will be going to Beeston as there is a request to lift the coach on arrival to retrieve the motor bogies to overhaul at least the wheelsets, the other three coaches may join it there.
 

Class15

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Still looking good for no 455s come Dec?
I’d be absolutely amazed if that happened. Look at the pace of the rollout so far. The 701s have been in passenger service for over a year and have only got 6 diagrams so far.

I can’t see the 455s being gone by the New Year, which is good news for those of us that like the class. They are, after all, one of the last BR-era EMU classes in service around London.
 

TT-ONR-NRN

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I can’t see the 455s being gone by the New Year, which is good news for those of us that like the class. They are, after all, one of the last BR-era EMU classes in service around London.
That has absolutely no relevance whatsoever and certainly doesn’t stand up as a reason to keep them on longer, if anything it’s the opposite.
 

Class15

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That has absolutely no relevance whatsoever and certainly doesn’t stand up as a reason to keep them on longer, if anything it’s the opposite.
Hence why I said ‘good news for those of us that like the class’.

I am merely expressing an opinion; I cannot halt the 701 rollout (SWR have done a pretty good job at that themselves :D)

I’m sorry if my post was taken the wrong way.
 

Goldfish62

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I’d be absolutely amazed if that happened. Look at the pace of the rollout so far. The 701s have been in passenger service for over a year and have only got 6 diagrams so far.

I can’t see the 455s being gone by the New Year, which is good news for those of us that like the class. They are, after all, one of the last BR-era EMU classes in service around London.
Certainly seems to be the current plan to get shot of them by the end of the year.

Reported on the 701 thread that from May Class 455 diagrams are down from 30 pairs to 22, plus one single unit diagram. With Class 701 driver training having at last been restarted in a streamlined form it's planned to introduce another 25 Class 701 diagrams by December.
 
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Certainly seems to be the current plan to get shot of them by the end of the year.

Reported on the 701 thread that from May Class 455 diagrams are down from 30 pairs to 22, plus one single unit diagram. With Class 701 driver training having at last been restarted in a streamlined form it's planned to introduce another 25 Class 701 diagrams by December.
I remember hearing a few months ago that they were going to run out of parts late this year, so they'll definitely be wanting them gone by then (otherwise they're not going to keep that reliability record for very long).
 

moley

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But reduce daily requirements from 30 pairs to 22 pairs gives you another 16 Christmas trees which in turn keeps the rest in spades for longer.
 
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Class 701s, of which their entry into service is rather late
I think you misinterpreted: They're asking what's replacing the 8 455s being removed in May. Unless you have some new information, we don't know yet if that'll be more 701 diagrams, movement of 458/4s / 450s, or a mixture.
 

moley

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It has been commented elsewhere that there will be an increase in 458/4 diagrams.
 

Class15

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I think you misinterpreted: They're asking what's replacing the 8 455s being removed in May. Unless you have some new information, we don't know yet if that'll be more 701 diagrams, movement of 458/4s / 450s, or a mixture.
It has been commented elsewhere that there will be an increase in 458/4 diagrams.
From 9 to 12, that's only 3 out of the 8
This seems to make more sense - one wonders where the other 5 are coming from then!
 

swr444

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There will be short term planned 455s put in on the 701 diagrams come may TT change. There are lots of 701 diagrams but they won't all come in at once, so week by week they will be changed to 455s until it's possible for it to be replaced by a 701
 
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There will be short term planned 455s put in on the 701 diagrams come may TT change. There are lots of 701 diagrams but they won't all come in at once, so week by week they will be changed to 455s until it's possible for it to be replaced by a 701
Thanks for confirming, interesting way of doing it. Guess it means they can be replaced at the earliest opportunity when it's possible to do so.
Looking forward to seeing what the frequency of introduction will be with this new training course.
 

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