British Rail Network SouthEast-South of Thames EMU Variety

[@bobwood856]

The deep hum of the traction motors on the old emu stock is so much more pleasant than the horrible high-pitched whine and screech of the new classes. It's the same on the older underground stock as well. Very nostalgic. Thank you again, Soi.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

My pleasure...The older stock had DC motors whereas the new stock has AC motors which sound like a 1950s Sc-Fi spaceship taking off!......

[@mikelitoris4027]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus invest some cash into an NSE collection on train simulator. 455 456 411 421 423 415 EPB 416 EPB 465 (BREL and Metro Cammell Sounds) 466 365 313 205 thumper (fkin awesome) 442 wessex class 50 and 47 you can run them on Chatham Mainline, London Southern Network, Brighton Mainline, Portsmouth Direct Line. Its brilliant

[@mikelitoris4027]

oh and the 319! theres probably more ive forgotten

[@daveattrill2712]

​@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus I've actually noticed on some footage of a class 323 pulling away that the 'sci fi' style sound dissolves gradually into something reasonably close to the olde worde noise.

[@MK-1973]

Wonderful old nostalgic clips from the era of the slamming door, thanks for putting them together and sharing.

[@zebedep]

Great film - I miss travelling on those old units

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

They had character.....and comfy seats!.....

[@mohatchett8001]

My husband travelled from London Victoria to Waterloo via Dover,Hastings,Brighton to Portsmouth Harbour in one day

[@zebedep]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus very true! Didn't EPB stand for 'Every Passenger Bounces'? ;-)

[@ryangarritty9761]

That first view of the sea each summer from the window of one of these old English Electric driven slam-door units : priceless.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

For me it was being on an 302 EMU heading to Southend......We first saw the sea by around Leigh-on-Sea and follwed it all the way to Chalkwell.....happy days....

[@ryangarritty9761]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus Lovely. With us, it would've been around Herne Bay, I think, when we'd first notice the sea, the journey continuing on to Westgate-On-Sea or Margate. Great days. Always makes me laugh these days when kids feel hard done by if they don't get a two-week holiday abroad.

[@edwardbarnes2702]

@@ryangarritty9761 Hi Ryan, yea live in Herne Bay also, like you say when seeing the sea when you start to arrive a Whitstable! The plastic things are sole less,

[@martynthomas7486]

Ah the great days of EPB, VEP, CEP & CIG dominance. I'll never forget the horror I felt on arrival at Charing Cross to see a Notworker forming my train to Hayes for the first time. I avoided it by jumping on the first train to London Bridge and changing for a lovely EPB ride home! Couldn't avoid them forever though. I used to love the odd fast run on a 2-EPB attached to an 8 carriage VEP or CEP rake from London Bridge to Chatham, especially on a warm day with all the droplights open and a cool breeze on your face. Now we have these awful hermetically sealed plastic things which screech along with motors sounding like a cross between a lawnmower and a hairdryer. Keep up the good work in posting these fantastic vintage videos Soi.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Thanks for your comments.....i too would have bailed at Lon Bridge for something better. I've had some storming runs years ago from Woolwich to Gravesend when i used to visit a friend down there, being bounced out of your seat was all part of the fun on an EPB! I still have a lot more to upload...so happy viewing!

[@martynthomas7486]

Lovely, I look forward to seeing them. Yes, the EPB's could stretch their legs on the semi fast runs out to Gravesend and Gillingham, where they regularly got up to 75mph. It was sad to witness their steady decline but luckily I had a friend at Slade Green depot who used to advise me of the diagrams EPB's would be working so that I was able to successfully dodge the Notworkers for as long as possible!

[@MPsNewswatch]

Brings back memories of getting either a 455 or 456 or sometimes both from Forest Hill to Charing Cross when NSE ran stoppers from Caterham via East Croydon in the off-peaks and all day Sunday when I'd go to CHX for the meet-up to go to Boarding School. Southern decided to muck about with the CHX slots by sending daytime services I think to Reigate, then Horsham with only evening and Sunday services being stoppers to Caterham. These finally stopped in 2009 as part of the remodelling of London Bridge. (Except for the recent 455 farewell tour which saw a unit return for the first time since then).

[@EM-yk1dw]

Nice one Soi. So much more variety then, and the railway was a service not a business like the civil servants go on about now.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

It would be nice if the railway could be run by railway professionals rather than career civil servants......

[@jlewis997]

Brilliant video. Never seen a video of a loco on a passenger working at Tonbridge. That has to be very rare

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

It was a rusty rail train working. The line to Redhill had just been electricfied and the new EMU service was due to start soon. This rake with the ED was used to trundle up & down to take the rust off the conductor rails!

[@vicsams4431]

I remember 73s in pairs on the Waterloo to Pompey but I have not seen a 73 +4VEP combination. Also rare to see two 4CEPs with a 4EPB.

[@davidwolstenholme6413]

Great to see these old ladies of the southern regions, being a northerner I didn't manage to do them. Such a bewildering mix of classes and a numbering system we weren't used to. They were fascinating to me and they still are . And I still get CEPs and VEPs and REPs mixed up!

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Same we me and i lived in London! But north of the Thames, the Southern was a unique world of its own...... I wish now i had filmed more of the old SR units but they were everywhere! And they all looked similar.......

[@davidwolstenholme6413]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus In my day there were so many first generation DMUs and EMUs I thought they would last forever! I was very young at the time. My local station witnessed some amazing formations of units, nine coach sets of 101, 104, 108 and 110, I am so glad I lived through those days, the 1970s and early 1980s were like a playground to me, I grew up on a steady diet of real DMUs.

[@europeantransporttv212]

Brilliant footage. Very enjoyable! Keep it up!

[@andrewwakldnz]

Loads of memories! Thanks Soi 🙏

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

My pleasure.......i do have a lot more to upload.....

[@ace-paidinfull5240]

Was due to make an appearance in the country the very next year this was filmed😂 And who knew he’d grow up to love trains😍 I only been on one those slam doors once and once only from margate to charing cross - good memories, they could move boy, obviously it was a semi fast service but yh that was ages ago man around 2004/5💭💭💭💭😔

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

You just managed it. The old Southern Slammers were on their last legs by then.......

[@ace-paidinfull5240]

Soi Buakhao 👎🏽

[@neilcrawford8303]

Posted two years ago. In the two years since you posted this, we've lost the 442s, 456s and Southern 455/8s to the scrap man. Love the BR Southern region, brought up watching trains on the Chessington branch. Love the versatility of the EP stock plus the 73s and 33/1s. I've seen a 33/1+VEP at Tolworth once on a heavy snow day. VEPs or CIGs with 2EPBs or SAPs weren't unusual on the 42 Guildford via Cobham services. Got to agree with another comment, just love the sound of those EE traction motors. I do dislike the sound of the Networkers, (or for that matter the 323s that Northern now have). As for variety, the Southern franchise today plus GatEx is predominantly Electrostars, with a sprinkling of 313s and 171s to break the monotony. The 313s being on very limited time if the whispers going around are correct. I still get to see a little slice of ex BR-S at Southport with the 508s and 769s (ex 319s). Great video as usual and lovely record of SR EMUs and Network Southeast.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Thanks for your memories..... I was at Southport recently, saw BR 150 & 156 Sprinters as well as the 769 & PEP units, there is a vid of this already uploaded to my channel.....

[@annescholey6546]

My short hops on EPBs from Strood to Rochester in 1989. And the duff named Guns n Roses.

[@lamborghinihexagons5502]

4:40 were EPBs and CEPs coupled together rare?

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

I think it was a regular operation to increase capacity in the peaks, extending some trains to 10 coaches.

[@mikelitoris4027]

awesome video

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Thank you.....

[@jamesfrench7299]

Having the covered gangway at the ends of the train is odd to my eyes. Those deep cam sounds of the older stock are familiar however. Third rail power is also alien to someone used to overhead catenary.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

A lot of the main line Southern Region units could couple together to form 8 or 12 coach trains and you could walk through the whole train. Back in the 1920s & 30s the Southern Railway electrified most of the inner and out suburban system, 3rd rail being cheaper and more easily do-able than overhead, which was still in its infancy.

[@jamesfrench7299]

@@tonywise198 it's just how NSW rolls.

[@AndreiTupolev]

VEP propelled by a 73? had there been a breakdown? And a HAP leading an 8CEP on an up Kent Coast fast, would that be? Rad! The 2 EPBs with bars over the windows didn't look very inviting; looked like the prison train. I think they were fitted for working on the North London line weren't they.

[@EM-yk1dw]

Yes North London line.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

The 73 on the VEP was bedding in the juice rail on the line to Redhill, trying to take the rust off! It was still worked by DEMU's but the electric service was due to start the year i was filming this. I will be uploading an NSE DMU vid which will show a couple of DEMU's on this line.

[@ace-paidinfull5240]

You see that class 582, it looks like a 317, was going to say did they run on that line back then ??

[@ozo247]

its a class 455/5

[@ace-paidinfull5240]

Owen Bush so I thought, but i got confused.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

The 317 and 455 used the same basic bodyshell......like the class 165 Turbo units and 365 EMUs.....

[@lewisculverwellvlogs9789]

I thought the Class 319s did not go to Sevenoaks until 2009 when the Class 377//5s were introduced on the Brighton Main Line and when the 2 platforms at Blackfriars closed and when the Class 465s and Class 466s got replaced on the Catford Loop Line by Class 319s

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Sevonaoks was one of the original terminal points. St Pancras men in one of their links, worked the four S's....Sevenoaks, Selhurst, Sutton and S**t trains (the Forders bin trains full of London's waste to landfill)....lol

[@lewisculverwellvlogs9789]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus The Class 319s didn't go to Sevenoaks until March 2009 replacing the Class 465s and Class 466s and when 2 platforms at Blackfriars station is closed and when Southeastern is jointly operated with First Capital Connect

[@jacksebsmith]

@@lewisculverwellvlogs9789 319s very much so went to Sevenoaks in the 90s. When the Thameslink route first opened in 1990 Luton/St Albans-Sevenoaks via the Catford Loop, Swanley, and Otford was one of the original routes before privatisation. I grew up in Shortlands in the 90s, and used to catch a Thameslink 319 direct to Luton where my Grandparents would meet me off the train from Derby to take me back up there with them for the school holidays.

[@MPsNewswatch]

I certainly remember getting on 319s to Bromley South from Catford when my parents would take me to Margate.

[@MKTTransportVideos]

What station is that at 3:54? What's with the 117 in the other platform?

[@Matty1997Phillips]

Looks like Reading to me

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

It is Reading, the class 117 DMU is on a North Downs working....

[@mohatchett8001]

Can not beat the old slam doors much better then the modern stock we have today.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

People certainly shifted on and off a lot quicker back then......

[@mohatchett8001]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus They certainly did and there were more of them

[@bretonics3058]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus yes simply open the door as the platform approached and hurl yourself out. With luck the door would spring back closed.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

@@bretonics3058 Younger people these days seem amazed at such happenings....but we all took it in our stride as part of life.....bit like Routemaster buses and leaping off as they slowed going around corners.....

[@mohatchett8001]

@@tonywise198 Hello Tony About the 4-CORs upholstery spot on mate

[@ace-paidinfull5240]

Miss the 319s

[@toddhunter3137]

Hi Zammy, come and live in Manchester, we have the 319s, refurbished into northern livery and the 3rd rail pick up shoe removed (so overhead line only). Still very good trains, I like them, I remember them in the network southeast colours when I used to live down south.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

And they are an improvement on a Pacer i should imagine! I have been on one or two from Liverpool to Manchester.....good stock.

[@toddhunter3137]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus I love the 319s. The four car unit I sit in the power car the electrical pantograph. I live in eccles these days so see the refurshed sets. But I do miss them in the thameslink NSE colours. I used to go down Brighton alot. I loved these units dual power. It's the Brighton to Bedford. I loved these the way it changed power mid route somewhere subsurface in Central London. Was it Farringdon?, the units were normally 8 car and changed power from third rail to over head. Now these are up north I think it's purely overhead now for these.

[@vicsams4431]

Generally I hate all karts, but the best were 4CEPs if you wanted 90 mph running to Dover for the 02.00 sailing to Calais and a CC72000 to Amiens ! Having a 73 on the rear would be acceptable !

[@MrVxrman]

Nice one Soi 🙂🍻👍🏻

[@trainrover]

Why that Kent Link logo?

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Various lines in the NSE area were grouped together, had their own route manager and given a name...Kent Link was one, South West Lines, West Anglia, Great Northern ect....

[@annescholey6546]

Occasionally suburban units strayed onto the main lines in the 80s when availability was poor. Haps and EPBs even got as far as Sandwich.

[@lewisculverwellvlogs9789]

Why was the Class 319s going to Sevenoaks in the 80s and 90s?

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Because that was one of the original routes that the Thameslink services operated to.

[@lewisculverwellvlogs9789]

We normally have the Class 415s and Class 416s going to Sevenoaks in the 80s and 90s

[@jacksebsmith]

@@lewisculverwellvlogs9789 When Thameslink first started, one of the routes was Luton/St Albans-Sevenoaks via the Catford Loop, Swanley, and Otford before privatisation. The service resumed again in 2009 which FCC and SE jointly operated.

[@lewisculverwellvlogs9789]

@@jacksebsmith I thought the Sevenoaks service on the Catford Loop Line in the 80s and 90s are on normally operated by a South Eastern service using the Class 415 and Class 416

[@lewisculverwellvlogs9789]

@@jacksebsmith When did Privatisation begin?