British Rail Network SouthEast 1993-Bromley South & Kensington Olympia with 33, 47, 56, 319 & EPBs

We are back to August 1993 and some Southern Region action. We stert at Bromley South with EPB's and a Thameslink 319 in action before a Cross Country Inter-City working arrives behind 33 202 and a failed 47! I rode this train to Kenny O and we see it depart Olympia still with the Crompton attached. We follow on with a Dutch liveried 56 storming through then we finish off with some 47 action with another Cross Country working here and at Faversham. If you liked the video please subscribe to my channel, there are lots more transport & quirky vids to upload!

[@neilcrawford8303]

I think I listened to this more than watched it. Love the sound of the EPBs EE507 traction motors, I grew up listening to them. I rode in SUBs and EPBs to get to school in Chessington. Add to that the lovely sound of those Sulzer engines at work, especially the 33.

[@martynthomas7486]

Oh yes, those EE507's, music to my ears!

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Yes, some real nice mechanicla & electrical sounds on the older traction....

[@glenjarnold]

Love the sounds of those multiple-units. Reminds me of my fortnightly trips into Kent in the late 80s!

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Yes, older EMUs had a sound all their own.....

[@AtticusBleep]

I appreciate your vids Soi. Very nostalgic.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Thank you, i'm pleased others enjoy them, considering i filmed them for myself back in the day.....

[@zebedep]

Superb footage! Thank you :)

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

My pleasure.....

[@adamc1272]

Brilliant as always. When I was a kid in Greenford my old man used to take us down to Kensington O because you'd often see waifs and strays. Packed lunch and watching trains! Those were the days. Thanks 👍🏻

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

My pleasure......I do have other vids uploaded with Kenny O in them....

[@jhclausen]

Classic class 319 wheel flats at 55 seconds. Why do they have flats all year round? I remember when they took over some of the Victoria to Horsham stoppers. From dad's house I could always tell if it was a 319 because I could hear the rumble of the flats. Couldn't hear the VEPs inside the house.

[@steveluckhurst2350]

Thanks for sharing.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

My pleasure......

[@theimperialist2686]

Excellent railway video as always Soi Buakhao.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Thank you....still plenty more to come.

[@hellooldchap]

Superb as always, Great to see the 33 on XC, and driver doors open on the slammers.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

It was a nice hot August day. I bet those cabs were warm!

[@class43matty]

That EPB with the traction motor whine at 2:29 Hellfire!

[@martynthomas7486]

Another lovely video Soi. Obviously the highlight for me is seeing my beloved EPB's at Bromley South. Thankfully the delivery of Notworkers wasn't sufficient to cover the routes into Victoria and Blackfriars until the back end of 1993, after their invasion on the Cannon Street / Charing Cross lines the year before.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

This film was a fluke really, i heard the Cross Country 47 had failed so had time to go to Bromley in order to ride back behind the Crompton. I wish now i had filmed the main line slam door EMUs, i didn't as they were everywhere back then......what an idiot i was!

[@4vepvik781]

​@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus Not an Eejit at all,Your foresight has given Us the pleasure of seeing the EMU slammers alive n kicking 27years after they were withdrawn n the express stock in 2005/6 so much respect to You.😊👏🏾👏🏾🥇🥇

[@foxhillrailway2252]

top video... can't beat a class 33 ...

[@DKS225]

Anyone who rode behind a Crompton on The Portsmouth-Bristol and The Waterloo-Bournemouth services can testify to that

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Always good thrash machines!

[@HSTPaul]

Great footage as always, I wish I could have seen the cross country workings but I was born a little too late for them, so I love seeing clips of them

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Keep an eye out, i have plenty more to upload.....

[@HSTPaul]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus I like forward to it

[@petersmith4455]

great video, i remember these EPBs at bromley north in the 80s. sad they are gone, the replacements are junk,

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

And the junk is also on borrowed time now!

[@rocksreynolds3642]

I love the sound of those slam-door units, so calming and evocative. The 47 at 4:00 has a livery I don't remember, and I guess it had failed as the 33 was taking all the strain. Thanks for the film Soi, much enjoyed.

[@roberthill6216]

47803. It was in infrastructure livery. There was also a 31 painted in the same livery, but, I can't remember its number.

[@djtrainspotter3079]

@@roberthill6216 31116

[@roberthill6216]

@@djtrainspotter3079 Ahh, excellent.

[@limeyfox]

@@roberthill6216 Why was a 47/8 allocated to Infrastructure? Thought they were always IC machines.

[@roberthill6216]

@@limeyfox I think it had to do with which sector they were allocated to. For example when BR was privatised, 47802 came under ownership of ews, and was stored in a siding next to Crewe station, I cabbed it there. Where as the bulk of the 47/8's were allocated to cross country, and a handful were on the western region for the night riviera sleeper service. 47803 also passed to ews ownership and was stored at Stafford until it was scrapped. The civil engineers department also had a number of 47/9's which were renumbered from the later 47/4 range, so obviously had a need for eth fitted locomotives. The 47/8's also had long range fuel tanks, which is handy to have. I presume that would be to operate the infrastructure test trains. Hope that goes some way to answering your question.

[@timstrainvideos142]

great video. great station announcements and emu electric motor sounds! terrible livery on the class 47 though! what were they thinking!

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Thank you....the Southern had very unique announcements back then....803 i think was experimentation by the sectors for ballast pool locos....

[@craigymarsh941]

Nice video

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Thank you.....

[@geoffbarry9540]

I echo the sentiments of all who have revelled in the sight and sound of first generation suburban EMUs clattering across the screen. My experience of them goes right back to the mid-fifties, catching pre- and post-war SUBs at Thornton Heath's platform 1 to go to East Croydon. Less thrilling, however, are memories of catching SUBs at Honor Oak Park and then later Forest Hill in the depths of winter to commute into London on grey freezing mornings. But that's life of course and I certainly wouldn't have missed it, frozen toes and all...

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Thanks for your memories....i've had some storming rides on the EPBs on the Woolwich to Gravesend route!

[@annescholey6546]

We usually saw Jaffa Cake Ceps hurrying through Bromley South but rarely EPBs in the 80s. Suburban units in the Maidstone area were mainly 415s.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Thanks for the info......

[@AndreiTupolev]

Those famous taped announcements that would often go off with different messages on two platforms at once and talk all over each other 😊

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Yes, i've heard that! Happy days......

[@EM-yk1dw]

Ah those lovely EPBS. Great announcements too. When the railways were a much better place! I miss the 1745 Dover Western Docks Manchester service. XC is rubbish now.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Yes, much better stock to ride on back then. The Southern had some very unique announcements back then as well!

[@Jonsie66]

Everyday was a gala!

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Plenty of variety back then.....

[@stuew6]

class 33 is Burma's star (33202) I have lima model loco

[@AndreiTupolev]

Ah, 47803, which didn't last much longer before it was withdrawn

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

It had failed this day, i was after it for haulage (never did get it!) and it's quite possible it never worked again?.....

[@toddhunter3137]

I grew up with these epb units and the 4cep trains running through Sittingbourne station. Usually multiple to make 8 or 12 car trains. I might be wrong but the epb was only ever multipled to ten car train from what i remember.

[@martynthomas7486]

Yes, they used to couple a 2-EPB on to Kent Coast services to make up 10 carriage trains. You only saw 12 carriage EPB workings on Victoria to Brighton specials when the annual bike run took place- apparently they took the seats out and used the frames as bike racks! Nowadays they don't like to let you take a bike on a train at all.

[@toddhunter3137]

@@martynthomas7486 I miss the epb trains. Be used to have this weird way of coupling two 2 cars with a four car train with different liveries. BR blue and br blue and grey. Then one day a class 465 networker rolled in!!! 1993. This was the future! Lol

[@toddhunter3137]

@@martynthomas7486 I did once see a epb in southern green livery.

[@toddhunter3137]

@@martynthomas7486 the green epb was I think what's called bullied design as the front of it was different from the normal ones.

[@martynthomas7486]

@Todd Hunter, for the last few years in service 4-EPB unit 5001 was painted back into Southern green livery. Unit 5176 was painted in BR blue also. They were often seen coupled together and ran a final railtour together in April 1995.

[@adamc1272]

On that note - was this the route that the Kent cement trains to Greenford would have taken?

[@annescholey6546]

From Northfleet and Hoo Junction mainly.

[@adamc1272]

@@annescholey6546 thank you

[@frostycola42]

the 319 are converted into class 767 diesels there are replacing class 142 143 150 in wales

[@neilcrawford8303]

I think you mean 769s, with the Hydroflex units being 799s. From what I've seen of the Northern 769s on test last year, it's a really neat conversion, and they sound a lot better than sprinter units like the 150s, especially when leaving the station. Interesting times in Wales, ex D stock class 230s on the Wrexham to Bidston line, new CAF and Stadler units to come and the 769s.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

When we are allowed out again i hope to go and see the D Stock on the Bidston line, having grown up with them on the District line it seems strange seeing them on the national network!

[@neilcrawford8303]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus Likewise, be nice to get out. I intend to make use of my Merseytravel pass and visit Bidston. The District line was my easiest tube connection via BR to Wimbledon. Hope tp see the 769s in service out of Southport to.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

@@neilcrawford8303 769s at Southport?....A chance to tick off a new Spoons for a visit.....I have filmed there back in early 1994 in the snow! Still had a signal box and semaphore signalling back then, my main reason for visiting.

[@neilcrawford8303]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus Yes. I've seen Northern's 769442 and 769450 at Southport as an eight car formation, plus 442 running solo prior to the C19 situation. They were on test or driver training, there were a few crew in the cab. I assume the eight car formation was training for recovering a failed unit as many stations around here wouldn't accommodate an eight car.

[@djpeekay25]

Where did the cross country inter-city at Bromley originate from?

[@andrewcranston7790]

Was it not Dover ?

[@djpeekay25]

andrew cranston and do you know where it was going to? Does this service still exist today?

[@steveluckhurst2350]

@@djpeekay25 If you listen carefully, the station announcer says "Liverpool Lime St".

[@djpeekay25]

Steve luckhurst thanks, I had it turned down.

[@Keithbarber]

@@djpeekay25 I dont believe any intercity services run through Kensington Olympia these days Southern run a frequent service to milton Keynes(?), from south of the river and one can change at there or Watford junction to ones required service to ones destination eliminating the need for through intercity services via Kensington Olympia This offers the chance to travel at 11.30am or 5.00pm rather than being tied to the 2.00pm train

[@AdamHiley-pj2zn]

Proper trains these though they would be ancient if still in service

[@steveluckhurst2350]

Is it me, or do the workings appear to be wrong line?

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

No, there were Down, Up, Down Up......The East Coast is paired by direction (ie down slow next to down fast rather than up slow)

[@steveluckhurst2350]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus Aha. Now I understand. Completely different to what I have experienced before.