British Rail Network SouthEast-LTS Last Class 302 with 310 & 317 EMUs July 1998

Back to July 1998 to see the last Class 302 EMUs running on the London, Tilbury & Southend Line. I'd forgotten that they were still running this late, so they were in service with a few class 317s that had been displaced from the Great Northern line. The 317s were short lived on the LTS and these are the only shots i have of them on this line, and few 310s are seen as well. We see the action at Fenchurch Street, Grays and Pitsea. If you liked the video please subscribe to my channel, there are lots more transport & quirky vids to upload!

[@cornwallkev201]

My god, they all bring back memories when I used to maintain these units at East Ham depot back in the 80s to 94. Class 302, 305, 308, 310 and 312 were the EMUs I worked on. I was a category 3 electrical and mechanical fitter and the manager at the depot was Fred Bower, a fantastic manager. Happy days back then.

[@EastStander091]

Showing my age now but living in East Ham I remember the 302 introduction. Plain green livery they were a bit boring after steam haulage (and for a while Diesel haulage usually by Class 31s as an interim measure cos of introduction problems) However, like lots of things time brings a reconciliation. Look at Pacers then and now!

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

I grew up around East Ham as well, i remember them only in BR blue, very drab! Although the District Line was very bright with white R Stocks and red CO/CP's......I have seen photos of loco hauled LTS trains mostly 24's though.....

[@EastStander091]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus I used to watch Barking FC just to east of station when transition to electric took place and could watch football and the railway tracks almost at the same time. Now you mention it I think I can remember 24s. The flared underground stock were my favourite. If only I had a camera then!

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

@@EastStander091 When i was at junior school we used to go to Barrington Fields on some days for PE...not really my thing but the field was right by where the Woodgrange Park line meets up with the LTS & District Line, so i would watch the trains, red & white District line with blue BR stock plus in Jubilee year a 47 or two with large Union Jack's on them! Happy days.....

[@EssexWolf1993]

Brings me back to my childhood. 😁

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

I aim to please......I rode the 302s to Southend as a kid for days out, that was before Basildon had a station! We we visited Mum's friends there we had to get a bus (an old Bristol FLF) from Laindon as i recall....that was around 1970 time.......happy days!

[@johnchurch4705]

Loved the 302s, nice bouncy seats 💺. Not like the ironing board seats in the latest stock. Enjoyed riding on the 310s and 312s.

[@Keithbarber]

@@johnchurch4705 brings back many a memory for me as well, days out to southend in the 1970s, a y.t.s. scheme at fords of dagenham 1986/7 saw regular use of these very units, and then odd use until their demise The seats on the 357 and few 387 may be "ironing boards", but are smoother rides The original 302/8 units first class (sneaked rides on them for 1 station) were hardly any better than 2nd/standard class, just a pull down armrest, but refurbished sets had better 1987 fares ___________ Dagenham dock - barking 70p 2nd class £1.00 first class

[@johnchurch4705]

keith barber about the same time, I was riding on these to Barking from Basildon. At Barking I would then get a bus to Ripple lane yard as I was working at the wagon repair facilities past the loco shed. Great times 👍🏻.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

@@johnchurch4705 Yes, you did get a much better ride with the older stock....

[@NoddyMaccy]

All that loud humming at Pitsea! Love it!

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

I think it was the buzz from the over-heads...... 25Kv can be very naughty in damp conditions.....

[@rolymier8659]

Travelled on these units so many times in the 1970's when l started work. Even managed to get my dad to pay for my first season ticket. First class one but never told him. Needless to say when l had to pay it was back to second class.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

I think the first class had access to a toliet, most coaches in each 4 car unit were compartment stock with a small open plan area near First class which was the only 2nd Class toilet area....

[@jamesfrench7299]

I like the 310s. Very smart front on them. I wouldn't expect to see catenary and splitting dual tracks in the middle of the countryside like at Pitsea.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

That's where the original line to London via Tilbury branches off left, the line on the right was the new cut-off line via Upminster. The town (the eastern edge of Basildon in reality) is around a quarter of a mile away, the other side of the A13 express roadway, the station looks more remote than it actually is.......

[@cmgrailvideos999]

This is great footage, I’m really grateful you have this recorded - I’d never have know we had 317s on the LTS!

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

The 317s weren't over there for long, i believe it was because older EMU's were due works visits but were too near withdrawl to justify the expense.....

[@GNTel313]

Great footage of the LTS Soi. Wonderful trains now sadly long gone 😢 😞

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Yes, i grew up with the 302s.... day trips to Southend with all over blue ones......

[@GNTel313]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus I used to be dragged to family parties in Barking. The highlight for me was the 20 min ride out of Fenchurch St on the 302's and 308's. Hanging out the window as we travelled out over the jointed track on the viaduct, through Stepney East.... then racing along overtaking the District line trains through exotic places like Plaistow & East Ham. Then passing the depot with yet more slammers all resting between the peak hours. Happy days indeed!!

[@chrisbrown3078]

superb footage again.... good memories of these flying pass plaistow station..

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Yes, East Ham was my local station and when i was young there was just a low level tubular style barrier between the Westbound District Line and the Down LTS line. It was great to watch BR full blue EMUs storming by on their way to Southend....

[@chrisbrown3078]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus I used to know a few staff at plaistow station.. and on the odd occasions they let me down on the westbound platform stand at the end amd see the emu fly passed.. By that time they was in network south east livery.. its a shame but I was young did not have a camera looking back not just the emu units the d stock and c stock as well

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

@@chrisbrown3078 At least you saw them. I was lucky that my Dad was into railways so i did have a camera quite young and got photos of R & CO/CP stock on the District and 306 Shenfield units on the GE lines for instance. Have you seen my Underground upload of crew operated D Stock at Plaistow?.....kzbin.info/www/bejne/nKSqhWOqlphjiMU The Plaistow shots are around 13 min....

[@chrisbrown3078]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus as said im glad I saw them flying about .. I used to sit where you was filming that end of the westbound platform... or some times i would go up to memorial ground and sand there ..

[@djtrainspotter]

Great footage there man. I photod what i could at Shadwell on June 17th that year, the first pics i took of 302's darn it! '98 was when i could afford to phot as many NSE units as possible, mainly '110' snaps tho ffs !! Always less heartbreaking not seeing loco's on your vids hehe!

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

When i first rode the 302s they were all over BR blue and looked very drab. The blue & grey livery was better and NSE was just excellent!

[@annescholey6546]

It was a stuffy weekend in London that July but I managed to squeeze in Barking and East Ham as well as Hither Green. The 302s ran up and down all day. Like Stratford it's another era passed. All thanks to social gatherings I was able to goof off from!

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Happy days indeed......

[@theimperialist2686]

Excellent video as always.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Thank you......

[@K-o-R]

"You know, those red lights on the back aren't there for show. Please remember to turn them on."

[@markcf83]

Incredible to think that, until they got their Electrostars the LTS was seen as a last resort for old rolling stock. Though admittedly the class 317 units weren't that old in 1998.....

[@waleedarif6740]

They still are underaged to be replaced because the oldest 317 units are just almost 40 years old and in my opinion 40 years is now the minimum life expectancy for every fleet of trains in Britain.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

The 317s didn't last long on the LTS and were moved on to other Anglia lines. The 302 & 308s were new to the line back in the early 1960s though.....

[@bulldog1066jpd]

I was a signalman on the lts & t&h line for 28 yrs.... 2 yrs as a train recorder at lv St.... Happy days

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Must have known Loren Fields then?.....

[@bulldog1066jpd]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus yeah I knew Loren for yeah.... he live beside the railway line in Stanford le hope.... think he even had a couple of semaphore signals in his garden....

[@bruceknights8330]

It's telling how poor and unloved the infrastructure was back then, especially the track. I grew up on the LTS and worked at Ilford depot in the 80s. It wasn't until the NSE era that things started to improve.

[@ryangordon3011]

8:16 who was that voice announcer before the Anne announcer

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

No idae.....

[@supersprinter1564]

If you never caught a 310 you missed out on a unique experience

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

I have riden in plenty of 310's (and used to drive 312s!) and do have some on film..... See here kzbin.info/www/bejne/naDVn5She9V1ea8

[@supersprinter1564]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus wow I will look it up now as 310s and 312 were my favorite trains growing up around Birmingham

[@x3nstudios]

OMG DLRRRR

[@rocksreynolds3642]

Thanks for the film Soi, another slice of history. Are any Class 302 or 310 preserved?

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

My plaesure....I don't think any made it. There was an EMU museum of sorts in the Coventry area but i'm not sure what was saved, and that was cloed a good few years back. I know CIG 1753 survives as does the last two 3 car Southern units 1497 & 1498, one i think is at the Epping-Ongar Railway.

[@ianbillericay]

2 class 302 driving coaches at Mangapps

[@jameshunt3924]

THERE WAS A 302 IN GEEN LIVERY WHAT HAPPEND TO THAT

[@Welwyn22]

​@@jameshunt3924I think you're referring to the 306, actually. It's still preserved.

[@cmtrains]

At 5:35 sounds like the camera man needs a trip to the toilet lol.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Yes, some very funny noises coming from that 317 unit.....I assume a dodgy unloader valve somewhere.....

[@simonkalavazides6422]

What was the class 317’s doing on that line? I think I saw some in that livery on the Thameslink services to Moorgate a few years ago.

[@mjt8199]

They replaced some of the 302s.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

But not for long as i recall......got moved on again. Almost an unloved class of unit-BedPan, Euston/Northampton, Great Northern, LTS, West Anglia.....pushed from pillar to post they were......

[@wurlyone4685]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus indeed, they very much were. They eventually ended up with a 'permanent' home at Ilford Depot in circa 2005 as part of the London Eastern Railway franchise ('one'/NXEA) having not been refurbished since before privatisation (or even repainted from the tweaked NSE LTS rail livery that you see them in, here!). There were in absolutely shocking condition and were called "the Beirut units' as a result (because they looked like they'd been in battle). They at last got a (quick/cheap but much needed) interior refresh and external repaint into the 'one' WA inner livery/interior (with the "vomit" carpet as we called it) then and were renumbered as 317/5's, before getting a better interior refurb later in the NXEA franchise. And that's where they have stayed working, until withdrawn very recently due to not being PRM compliant and pending the new class 720 introduction. It's a bit ironic that the 317/6's ended up being withdrawn and scrapped before these tbf - considering the 317/6 were a far nicer unit in every way, but purely because unfortunately they were even less PRM compliant!

[@jameshunt3924]

THERE WAS A 302 IN GREEN LIVERY ARIGINAL WHAT HAPPEND TO THAT

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

It was scrapped when the unrefurbished 302s were withdrawn. Here is a vid with it in taken back in 87 kzbin.info/www/bejne/d3PakGh5eq55ebc

[@bucephalus00]

4:51 was there a 'basher' on that train?

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Yes, there were a few out that day, the last day of the 302 EMUs....

[@jhclausen]

Yes there were four 302s out all day covering every route. I was out all day and can be spotted on this video at 4:00! In the end, a pair of 302s came out the following Monday or Tuesday to cover a peak diagram. I see you also caught 317392 on film at Pitsea. This went to be 317722 and has the dubious honour of being the first 317 to be withdrawn. EDIT: By chance the second 317 went on to be the last class 317 in service. 317311 became 317508 which did the farewell Hertford runs last year.

[@randomclass4653]

wait British Rail in 1998? hMMMMMMMM, btw fenchurch street is now under control of c2c BTW if you didin't know

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

But British Rail built stock, and still in Network SouthEast livery so it's a good title. If you're looking for BR action this vid is full of it, so it's not misleading although yes, it was c2c, or what ever daft name they used. I seem to recall the first franchise winner was removed do to ticketing fraud?......

[@supertrains156.66]

Railway302 no where near same look of class 303also railway 317 a looks like 318 but still love em all

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

@@supertrains156.66 class 317 & 318 were the same train although the 318s had one less trailer car ....

[@supertrains156.66]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus and plus 317 and 318 were built in Brel but ya like I say love em all []|[]|[]