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What did I used to travel on?

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DeeGee

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I've been thinking about my days travelling round Network South East in slam-door stock. I've been looking at Wikipedia to try and find out what was what, but I'm confused by Beps and Ceps and TOPS and stuff. I'm not really an enthusiast, but I want to show my boy what the EMUs were like that I travelled on. If I have class numbers I might be able to find photos.

There are four main sorts, all third rail EMU from what became Connex. I'd have been using them in the dying days of Network South East, and the beginning of Connex.

The main journeys I made were on the Maidstone East Line. Those were slammers with, I think three doors to a carriage. They were orange inside, had small luggage racks above the windows which had a sort of pinch latch. Doors had a handle which rotated.

When I began commuting, it was from Sevenoaks. Those had doors in every bay of four, with droplights.

I used to occasionally make journeys on the Brighton Mainline. The main thing I remember of those is that there was a buffet on board. Did they also have bars on the windows to prevent people leaning out?

Finally, were the EMUs on the Chatham Mainline that got replaced by the Networkers any different from the Sevenoaks ones? Were they also the ones used on the Medway Valley Line at that time?

Sorry I'm so vague, I'm reminiscing out loud if anything...
 
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trainmania100

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NSE had Class 423 VEP
They also had class 421 4CIG

I am unsure of the others but im sure they had 416s as well

Just search NSE Class 423, 421 and 416 that might bring back some memorys :D
 

eastwestdivide

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The main journeys I made were on the Maidstone East Line. Those were slammers with, I think three doors to a carriage. They were orange inside, had small luggage racks above the windows which had a sort of pinch latch. Doors had a handle which rotated.
...
Finally, were the EMUs on the Chatham Mainline that got replaced by the Networkers any different from the Sevenoaks ones? Were they also the ones used on the Medway Valley Line at that time?

Point 1 - orange inside and pinch latch = refurbished 4-CEP/Class 411
Point 2 - Chatham, Sevenoaks and Medway Valley lines all shared stock, which varied by service at different periods, but essentially anything with first class was maintained at Ramsgate, anything suburban and 2nd-class only at Slade Green. Those two depots between them supplied all the South Eastern Division EMU services, with no significant allocation to one line or another. (I expect someone will point out some exceptions later)
 

DeeGee

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RichJF

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I used to occasionally make journeys on the Brighton Mainline. The main thing I remember of those is that there was a buffet on board. Did they also have bars on the windows to prevent people leaning out?

Do you mean a buffet CAR or buffet trolley? If it's a buffet car then it's a 4Big unit that lasted until the 90s.

4Cigs had window bars fitted to them & had a buffet trolley service.
 
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DeeGee

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Do you mean a buffet CAR or buffet trolley? If it's a buffet car then it's a 4Big unit that lasted until the 90s.

4Cigs had window bars fitted to them & had a buffet trolley service.

Definitely a buffet car. However, sometimes I travelled from Victoria to Brighton, and other times on the Portsmouth train to Hove. Would they be different?
 

30907

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Looks like the one. Even in Connex livery!



That's them. Thanks. I preferred these because I didn't have people squeezing past my legs to get out of the door. Was the dwell time much longer, they seemed to be less "commuter"?

Longer, but not hugely so, unless they were dealing with high turnover at an intermediate station (or working a suburban route, which could prove a problem). For example, the standard booked stop at Bromley South was 1.5minutes, whereas the suburbans had just the bare 20 seconds.

The CEPs were built for Kent Coast "express" services, and didn't appear on the Maidstone East line until relatively late on.
 

yorksrob

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If you'd like to re-live your slammer days, you might want to go on a tour with Hastings Diesels limited. They have a CEP carriage (with the orange walls) and a BIG buffet car (used on the Brighton and Portsmouth lines) included in their train.
 

chris7153

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With a few exceptions, there were basically three main types of units that covered all the long distance express and outer suburban services on the southern region. All these units were fully interchangeable and often different types worked in multiple with each other. These were;

4 ceps & beps - original built for the Kent coast electrification express services, 121 of these units (4cep Tops class 411) were refurbished at Swindon in late 1970s with hopper windows, orange and yellow wall panels, false ceilings and new seats etc. These units dominated kent and Southeast services, a hand full of these units going to SWT in the late 90s. In addition to these 7 units with buffett cars were also refurbished. (4bep class 412) These were used exclusively on Waterloo - Portsmouth services.

4 cigs & bigs - 138 units (4 cig class 421) initial batch for Brighton & Sussex coast services, later batch on services out of Waterloo to Portsmouth / Southampton. a further 28 units had buffet cars (4 big class 422)

4 veps - 194 units (class 423) for outer suburban services across entire region, these had doors to each seating bay and were more of a high denisty layout with 3+2 seating. Services such as kent coast stopping trains, Maidstone east line, Brighton line stopping services, Waterloo to Guildford / Alton, Basingstoke etc.

Goggle images of these classes should give you plenty of photos.
 

30907

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With a few exceptions, there were basically three main types of units that covered all the long distance express and outer suburban services on the southern region. All these units were fully interchangeable and often different types worked in multiple with each other. These were;

4 ceps & beps - original built for the Kent coast electrification express services, 121 of these units (4cep Tops class 411) were refurbished at Swindon in late 1970s with hopper windows, orange and yellow wall panels, false ceilings and new seats etc. These units dominated kent and Southeast services, a hand full of these units going to SWT in the late 90s. In addition to these 7 units with buffett cars were also refurbished. (4bep class 412) These were used exclusively on Waterloo - Portsmouth services.

A little detail - the Ceps and Beps were also used on Arun Valley services to Portsmouth and Bognor from quite early in their lives. And, to complete the EP-era picture, there were the semi-corridor Haps on the SED (they migrated west later).

I won't mention the Bournemouth line stock, otherwise I might utter the magic number 442. :)
 
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