Inside a Classic British Rail Commuter Train! Class 414 2HAP | Curator with a Camera

Once a shining symbol of modernisation, now a reminder of the daily drudgery of the dreaded commute-the class 414, AKA 2HAP, is many things to many people. Join Andrew McLean as he explores inside the carriage and cab of one British Rail's greatest workhorses.
From ever-changing liveries to the secret meaning behind the mysterious black triangle, discover the long and fascinating history of this classic electric multiple unit, which entered service in 1957.
This episode of Curator with a Camera was filmed at Locomotion in Shildon. To find out more about Locomotion, visit: www.locomotion.org.uk
For the National Railway Museum in York, head to: www.railwaymuseum.org.uk
Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:23 2HAP: Origins-The BR Chronicles Chapter One
1:47 Why is it called 2HAP?
2:12 Shrek is life
3:25 The mysterious Bblack triangle
4:01 The history of the livery
4:43 Power and traction
6:07 A surprise livery!
7:36 Inside the carriage
10:20 The guard's compartment
12:12 Into the driving cab
14:57 2HAP: Legacies-The Journey Continues
#trains #britishrailways #railway

[@NatRailwayMuseum]

Ah, the joys of railway commuting. Hit reply and tell us your stories...

[@DavidScholz-bu1ix]

WELL, IF YA CURIOUS, I SERIOUSLY DO ACTUALLY RECENTLY RECALL SEEIN' AN OFFICIAL EPISODE OF ENGINE ARRIVAL CREATED BY FAN OF HIRO FEATURING A CHARACTER WHO'S OFFICIALLY KNOWN AS CROVAN, THERE WAS BASICALLY A MONTAGE OF WHEN CROVAN PULLED A COMMUTER PASSENGER TRAIN!

[@wwebradbutt]

Would a intercity 225 power car put in to the collection at some point

[@Liam199Mcgrath]

How can people commute on the railways when it’s getting ridiculously expensive

[@pj100565]

@@Liam199Mcgrath Because London weighting on salaries helps to pay for the commute.

[@Liam199Mcgrath]

@@pj100565 from where I live, it’ll cost me £10 to get into the centre of Worcester on the train. Same journey by bus is £2 one way

[@GavinGWhiz]

Congratulations to the editor for the single-frame Shrek joke that graduated into the entire chapter name and a thumbnail gag. Good stuff.

[@darksars3622]

Where?

[@simonrobbins8357]

@@darksars36222:23

[@triumphrider572]

I'm C Potter! I helped with the restoration. Didn't know about the ephemera

[@stugilman8283]

Absolutely loved getting off these while they were still moving - judge the speed , lean out with one foot raised, drop down already in your walk and you'd just kiss the platform and be off out the barriers before it had even stopped ❤ poetry...

[@misterthegeoff9767]

as a schoolkid we used to go to the end of the platform, jump on the train as it came into the station holding onto the door handle with a foot on the running board and ride down the platform on the outside of the train. I'm sure the drivers loved us!

[@rogerphillips7270]

The seats were more comfortable than the modern ones.

[@sapper82]

Yes, VERY much!

[@nikkicrow6922]

Those network southeast springy seats that as a kid I'd bounce on and an instant fog of dust and god knows what else would rise up, much to the annoyance of my parents. Can still smell them now. I'd take those over the ironing boards we have to sit on now though! 😂

[@unclebuckeroo]

I was born in 1955 south London. So the third rail slam door was an important part of my life. I loved these trains, they took me to the south coast, and they were fast! Aerodynamic as brick, but still they were fast. Fond memories.

[@bruceknights8330]

I looked after the unit for many years at Shoebury. Fun fact. One side was more faded as it was facing the sea. Nice to see it looking so smart

[@gaillaffer7579]

Didn’t they have pantographs on the Fenchurch line? I used to live right beside Basildon station and loved the sound of all the doors slamming shut.

[@johnstedman5054]

@@gaillaffer7579 they did. But this unit was off the Southern and was third rail only - never worked on the LT&S. It was only stored, like so many other redundant units, at Shoeburyness.

[@neilcrawford8303]

​@@johnstedman5054 Was that at the MOD site (later QinetiQ) at Shoeburyness? I took a trip up there once to see the stored SR EMUs.

[@johnstedman5054]

@@neilcrawford8303 yes. I never did get to visit, but a lot of stock was stored there.

[@dodgydruid]

In the 70's I made it a mission to ride all the in service EMU's on the SR plus the various DEMU's so very likely I rode the cushions of this old lady and if in the mid eighties she went through Selhurst I prob did her TOPs docket too as we often got the 2HAP's from the Bromley North branch which was my local so knew them well. Now fast forward to the nineties I got to know quite well one of the shunters at Bournemouth West depot the last bit of the Somerset & Dorset railway still extant and through dint of BR dad and ex BR myself got to visit the forlorn HAP's, EPB's, ex Tynesides that were parked there for a long long time falling victim to the vandals. Now the shunter says to me, a pre-sale report was written for every one of them just in case a heritage or need for a sandite/deicer became a thing and the engineers report showed every single one of them were in pristine, perfectly serviceable condition as good as when they left Ashford and Eastleigh and the traction motors, electric gear, frames had decades left of life in them as they were so easy to repair or maintain... Some had been to Eastleigh, Slade Green, Selhurst scant weeks before being pulled off the roster sporting new paintwork and interiors, traction motors repacked and tuned up for duty and they withered at the hands of vandals before most were broken up... an utter disgrace in my mind and I remember them EMU's in green, then green with yellow tabs then monastral blue before the grey and blue at the end. I can also remember the 4SUB's that ran out of London Bridge with one corridor compartment with a toilet at one end... see no one remembers them. When the 4SUBs were migrated over to Waterloo the corridor compartment coaches were all scrapped and they became all open saloons.

[@cedarcam]

We went to MC metals in Glasgow where on that day a NSE EMU was being ripped apart. When we went in the yard foreman said a lot that had gone there had years of life left in it and it was scandalous the amount of taxpayers money being wasted. I am sure it was the government wanting to privatise just wanted rid of old looking trains so operating companies just saw shiny new ones on the market.

[@tonym7366]

This brought back some good memories...these units were an intrinsic part of life in the south east for well over 40 years....the guards opening up the compartment for mums and their pushchairs....really comfy upholstered seats...not moulded plastic ! These units were used with 4 car units to create ten coach trains ( 4 X2 plus 2 HAP) enabling larger numbers of passengers to travel, with a consequential expansion of towns served by "southern electric" .

[@michaelwilliams3232]

Seats were sprung and very comfortable. Under some seats was a ferocious heater in the carriage.

[@martinploughboy988]

And sometimes the heater was on in the summer.

[@batman51]

Provided you weren't sitting on them, the 6 seat bench at the end of the coach (and on EPBs etc) were fun to watch as 6 people bounced up and down synchronously.

[@trainzfan65]

Love these videos. It's so great to see these unsung heroes get some attention. The railway isn't always Flying Scotsman, it's also stuff like these and other units/locos that kept Britain moving. It's also nice to see detail of some of the collection that you'd normally never see!!

[@robertp.wainman4094]

As a kid from Yorkshire visiting relatives in London - the slam doors were the sound of the city!

[@The-Signal-Man]

I never thought I'd hear Shrek's name in a video from the NRM. Great Stuff

[@BoaFilmsPlc]

I remember learning these on my driver's course in 1992. The cabinet in the cab is called the Auxiliaries Cupboard. As this is the slightly later 1957 type you have a mix of fuses for line (750v) and MCBs for 70v DC auxiliaries. The earlier 1951 types had fuses for both. The huge fuse was the 100 Amp or main fuse. But on the 57s you couldn't change it, as it was the line side of the AIS (Auxiliaries Isolation Switch).

[@Robslondon]

Wonderful video. A train from my childhood, and what a beautiful restoration.

[@jedrick001]

Love the sound of slam door trains. These used to go passed our house in Isleworth as a kid contributing to my love of trains. I used to sit at my bedroom window watching them go by. I now live a few miles from this one at the NRM Sheldon. Must pop and see it now finished restoration.

[@paredding]

Ah good - was wondering if this was in the New Hall at Shildon as didnt see it last year. Plan to be there in July again - hv ticket booked 🙂

[@damianharris2167]

Another great film. Please keep them coming. Maybe they were despised by commuters during their day but I bet you’d fill that unit 5 times over today if you chose to run it on a railtour.

[@Dellboy56]

Whenever I'm anywhere near York, a visit to the museum is a must.

[@juliansadler6263]

The EE507 motors had a 50 year career and finally bowed out under the class 442. How many modern motors will last so long? I also remember one day when a service diagrammed for 3x2HAP turned up with a single unit and the driver shot past the waiting passengers and stopped at the 6 car board.

[@mooglesmodelrailways]

I remember travelling on these as a kid in north Kent. We used to lift the cushions up to see what we could find under them. Money, magazines and newspapers usually were what we found if anything. Did the same on the 4 coach versions. Some, can't remember if they were 2 or 4 coach ones, had single compartments. We always looked for the red line above the windows that designated this. Was like having your own private carriage!

[@johnstedman5054]

There is no way that the 2HAP could be described as the mainstay of the Kent Coast electrification of the late 1950s. They may have had an important part to play, but the mainstay was undoubtedly the 4CEP units (later class 411s).

[@radiosnail]

Travelled to town on these back in the day on the Bexleyheath Line. . As a teenager can remember the compartmented versions and as a boy remembered them in green and then blue

[@batman51]

Much more likely to have been an EPB. HAPs, having a higher top speed, were generally used for longer distances e.g. Gillingham and Maidstone.

[@pj100565]

@@batman51 and as far as Ramsgate. I believe some HAPs were geared for 90 mph running.

[@Mounhas]

My job in London involved shifts and day shift was 0800-1300 but often did overtime to 1600 or more often 1800. Not liking being crammed in I often would find an unlocked drivers cab and sit in comfort, never touched anything, & would hide when it stopped in Orpington, I was going further. As to the seats in the compartments they were very comfortable & when a train was refurbished it had a special smell.

[@user-rc4eu1be7d]

The tool cupboard would have had the emergency equipment in them. Comprising of First-aid kit; a crowbar; a rope; an axe; a saw; a hammer. Also, in the guard's van would be Track circuit clips, a red flag and track detonators caps to protect train in emergencies. The guard could use the red brake handle to stop the train, if required. Some guard vans had a tiny oven or electric ring to warm food,

[@Spudgun81]

Great video and remember riding on these trains when I was a child. I still remember the sound of the engines and the bell that used to ring before the train departed. As a child I associated being an adult with the right to get off the train before it had come to a stop. There was something quite impressive about a man in a suite elegantly opening the door and walking onto the platform as the train came into Charing Cross. The trains didn't always feel safe, the trains that used to go to Croydon used to reach 80mph and felt unstable. I was even on one when it de-railed. The Clapham disaster didn't help the train's image.

[@techgeekout]

The archive footage is absolutely fantastic, really gives an insight for those of us not around at the time. Keep up the good work

[@johnstedman5054]

perhaps a pity that the onboard shots of commuter travelling were taken aboard a 4VEP (Cl.423) unit, and not the type of unit that this video is depicting.

[@markpunt9638]

And still we have trains launched with no toilet - I refer to the Elizabeth line. On the way from Reading to Essex on a train with no toilet.Absolutely crazy.

[@petec2583]

You wouldn't do that whole journey on the Elizabeth line though would you unless you were mental, you'd get a nice GWR IET from Reading to Paddington (no intermediate stops and they very much do have toilets) and then use the Elizabeth line to get from Paddington to Liverpool Street. And you'd only stay on it after LST if you were going to one of the little stations not served by GA. So your argument doesn't hold water (pun intended).

[@petec2583]

Love how it's nice and shiny on top and then you look underneath at the traction motors and it looks like it's been at the bottom of the sea 😂

[@misterthegeoff9767]

My Mum used to work for Fray Bentos pies in the late 60s. One of the 'perks' of the job was she could take a pie home for dinner. One evening she was travelling home with her pie in the basket on top of the seat opposite and because of the shape of the basket it was tilted 45 degrees. The pie started to leak onto the man sitting opposite my mum who, because it was the 60s, was wearing a pin striped suit and a bowler hat. By the time my Mum got to her stop and retrieved her pie the businessman, still oblivious, had a moat of gravy around the brim of his bowler hat.I am sure when he finally got to his stop and stood up he had one hell of a surprise.

[@pj100565]

Lovely! The HAPs were based at my home depot of Ramsgate and took me school every day, so HAPpy memories. Slight correction to the caption early on required - the Kent Coast line is so much more than just Minster East junction to Buckland Junction! 😊

[@michaelkeen5010]

Brought back many memories of the slam door trains on the Herne Bay - London services.

[@Alan-ln3ls]

16:22 shows the narrow-bodied class 201 diesel, the "Hastings Thumper".

[@batman51]

Well, a Hastings diesel. The Thumper name is a relatively recent addition.

[@pjeaton58]

???????

[@MalcAnderson73]

Great video, thank you. My local line growing up in the 70s was Guildford to Reading, which is still not electrified, so we had DMUs - but they looked the same, even if they 'growled' in their own way. I much preferred the BR blue to NWSE… and today I learned why some had the triangle graphic on the front. It always made me think the engine was smiling as we waved to the drivers from the footbridge as kids.

[@johnboxxy3432]

Like the Kinks reference. I am old enough to remember them and the trains. Double decker trains here in Sydney still running 50 years on .

[@SaturnCanuck]

Lovey. I'm sure i rode on some of these over the years. I love how both liveries are preserved.

[@spitfire1962]

I loved the old Green Slam door trains.

[@Nanonic001]

My nan was in a wheelchair for most of her life and was always put in the guards van when we travelled.

[@RoamingAdhocrat]

yeah. I love these old trains, I love using slam doors, but I'm glad everyday trains are increasingly accessible for all. actually also a bit peeved by the small-c conservatism of the Southern Railway / BR Southern Region - other companies in Britain had electric commuter trains with saloon layouts and powered sliding doors from the 20s and 30s... did your passengers really need to wait 50 years for that?

[@truebrit3578]

The smell of those carriages on a damp wet morning. Comes to me even now. Excellent video

[@jonathanbutson1385]

thanks, i used to commute on 4-CAPs, they were 2 x 2-HAPs permanently coupled, wonderful memories. By the way the black triangle means "there isn't a guards compartment at the other end of the unit" they had this because most units had guards compartments at both ends. people often get caught out by that.

[@stuarthall6631]

Wonderful video! Thank you for uploading! I am being rather pedantic (please forgive!) but your livery diagram @4:15 shows yellow paint applied to both ends, whereas it was only ever applied to the cab end. The other, inward-facing end between vehicles was plain blue.

[@tonykarasek4816]

Very very informative. I rode the 4SUB and I think 4VEP trains from Waterloo to Horsley many times. I quite enjoyed the ride. Thank you for posting this "expose".

[@rogerking7258]

Definitely food for thought here and a lot of sense spoken, particularly about vehicle weight, but a discussion on future environmental requirements while showing off a DCOE smacks of taking the piss!!!!!!!!!

[@bowlingbuddie]

Travelled daily to school on theses type of trains in the early 70's , they did have a Double Decker version which I occasionally travelled on.

[@martinploughboy988]

As I recall, the double deckers were mainly used on the North Kent routes. I used to travel in on those lines, which used a different type of unit, we certainly didn't have loos.

[@damianharris2167]

The 4DD stock designed by Oliver Bulleid. Operated on the Charing Cross - Dartford route. Only 2 units ever made and sadly not considered a success although 2 vehicles have been saved from the scrap man.

[@martinploughboy988]

@@damianharris2167 Without opening windows they were incredibly uncomfortable in summer weather, They weren't quick to load/unload either.

[@alexdavis5766]

I went to school in the early 00’s on these in Kent. Was telling a younger person how we used to open the doors on these with the window and she was shocked and thought I was much older than I was, when I told her my age, she was even more shocked that they existed just as she was born. We used to love getting off the train just before it came or stand still like you said. It was great fun. Very nostalgic watching this, also feeling old.

[@flybobbie1449]

Similar trains all around the country. One memory was last train Brum to Walsall. All on my own in the carriage, warm early summers evening, windows open and train belting along. That familiar clackerty clack and points rumble.

[@davidpanton3192]

Where the guard could fill in his... overtime sheets.

[@Phil-oj5nr]

Good memories of those far off days. Picton, South Island, New Zealand.

[@NJPurling]

I couldn't help but notice SANPAREIL and ROCKET as well as what looked like a APT prototype. So it's in good company.

[@NatRailwayMuseum]

Have a look at our back catalogue for videos on those!

[@darleytransportandtravel6353]

What beautiful passenger carriages! If only I could travel to work and back on a train as comfortable as this. Journey times shorter as passengers were able to get on and off quickly and not crowd together at one door waiting for the guard to open the doors. Modernity, beauty and common sense do not go together.

[@johnstedman5054]

If you had travelled on them daily then you might not speak quite so kindly of them. At each station the doors would be flung open, losing any warm air on a cold winters day. Then if you were sitting by the door (with a cold draught up your leg for most of the way) the boarding passengers would tread on your feet as they struggled to get on. If the train was crowded they would stand immediately in front of you so your couldn't move. It wasn't much fun, especially if you were in a smoker with all the windows closed..........

[@RoamingAdhocrat]

All well and good if you're physically able to board a train through a slam door! These units were obsolete thirty years before they were built. I personally love slam doors but it would have been better if the SR had adopted powered sliding doors for commuter trains alongside the LMS, LNER and LT in the 1930s.

[@lazrseagull54]

Lots of doors makes sense on urban rail/commuter rail/metros but not such narrow, manual doors so close to where people are sitting, forcing them to move their legs for people getting on and off. The PEP prototypes had the most sensible door layout of any UK commuter train and London Overground/Elizabeth line trains have the most sensible seating arrangement. The trains with the 2+3 seating and long, narrow gangways are just the worst.

[@joshslater2426]

Hopefully the next episode will be on the L&YR Class 5 at the NRM. It’s one of my favourite York exhibits and I really love seeing it. In the 50s it served at Normanton, the town I grew up in, so I have a neat personal connection to the loco.

[@dungbetel]

Good piece of social history. I used the Fenchurch Street and Liverpool Street lines in the 60s and 70s and the archive footage brings back memories (even thought the trains were not exactly the same)

[@ricardlupus]

Lovely video, with just the right level tech nerdyness while still putting it all in the grand scheme of things.

[@RJE48]

I just about remember riding on these when I was really young, as well as the last of the compartment versions of these trains on the Connex South Central Network. It was the Epsom/Dorking/Horsham to Victoria lines.

[@davidalcock718]

I remember in the 1960s mailbags being flung in and out of the luggage space on these and similar units at East Croydon - the double doors were essential for that. Could be annoying if there were lots of bags to be loaded and unloaded. In the 1970s I remember cardboard boxes of live baby chickens being offloaded at Purley at 7am - that was annooying too, because it made my connection at Redhill very tight.

[@jozefbubez6116]

And there was wet fish too, racing pigeons an dwhatever else!

[@SmudgeThomas]

I miss slam doors. They always seemed such a part of the commuter life. Which seemed quite glamorous, a train every day and a nice house...family supported on one income...a lost world.

[@dannypaulread1023]

I don't think I ever traveled on a 2 HAP but I remember the same ones which had the corridor connection and the trains replaced then 30 - 40 years later in the case of class 375, 376 and 377.

[@archstanton5603]

Informative video - thank you! There are excellent histories of the 2 HAP units (BR & SR versions) along with all other Southern Electric units on BloodandCustard.

[@Gregdotgreg]

Strictly speaking, the triangle indicated there was no brake van at the other end of the unit. Hence, a unit which had a brake van at both ends, had no triangle

[@cedarcam]

Thanks for that. I learnt something new today.

[@stevesalvage1089]

Very interesting, and very well made , they have there own place in history, third rail electrics go back before diesels , thanks for sharing the 2hap

[@22pcirish]

Should give it back it’s 6000 series number!

[@leeosborne3793]

Brilliant! The restoration job you've done on that is fantastic.

[@chasselmes8141]

Excellent! Oh the memories. I have the honour of driving the last set of Haps to Reading from Waterloo (so the Windsor Line Foreman told me, he rode with me to Wokingham) and back, 4311 country end, 4309 London end. I don't know what the 2x2-Haps were in the middle. 1993 or 94.

[@sapper82]

They were actually built with Mk3 Motor Bogies and the Mk.4 upgrade replaced the original secondary suspension with knife edge mounts. Network South East was the result of a much needed shake up of BR's management systems and it allowed Chris Green to push ahead with his idea of reopening the tunnel between Farringdon and Holborn Viaduct to create the Thameslink Service. You missed out the inter-carriage coupling with a single central buffer, 3 link chain with screw eye-bolts at each end and a 10 hole wearing plate that was an absolute bastard to change when they came into Eastleigh for a C1 repair!

[@NewModelRailway1]

I bet there were plenty of drivers who ignored the no smoking in the cab rule, at least for a while anyway.

[@keith800]

Certainly the mainstay of the commuter the railways certainly got their moneys worth out of them brings back memories when I used to go from Orpington to London when I worked up there.

[@franktuckwell196]

I used to drive these units, seems funny to get a guided tour.

[@richardswiderski4985]

Very interesting thanks for showing.

[@nathansmith7153]

I was a prefect at a grammar school where we commuted in these. Had to stop the younger students playing tag in the racks.

[@rodrigodelprat]

Fantastic stuff. I remember that moquette so well. The modernisation that took place with the NSE livery belies just how ancient they are in the cab and brake van - I do love that 50s industrial design aesthetic, where everything always seemed to be painted in that dull washed out green colour.

[@kevinblakeman8858]

I liked these units and they were nice to drive and i miss them and thanks for the video

[@AJBa83]

These are very relaxing thanks. 👍

[@jozefbubez6116]

Very interesting! To some of us, regular commuters on Southern Region to school between 1961 and 1966, 2 HAP would be high tech. 2 HAL comes to mind and earlier models with no corridor/toilets. I think the travelling public was a bit tougher in those days!

[@richardclarke376]

Wow that brings back so many memories I hardly know where to start. The main thing I remember when you got into the passenger compartment the first thing that hit you was that smell.

[@businessmonitor6939]

Where I grew up on the South Coast these trains were very common in the late-70s/80s.

[@richardroyle5224]

Great video!

[@jerry2357]

1:59 It was an electro-pneumatic brake version of a 2-HAL, and a 2-HAL was a "half a lavatory", i.e. equivalent to half a 4-LAV unit. A 4-LAV was an outer suburban train which included lavatories, unlike the 4-SUB suburban unit. Air brakes (i.e. pneumatic brakes) were used on all Southern Electric stock. The electro-pneumatic braking system, which was faster and more efficient, where the air brakes were controlled by electric circuitry, were introduced early in BR days, firstly in the 4-EPB suburban units and later in electro-pneumatic versions of other stock, all of which had class codes that ended in "P", e.g. 4-CEP, 4-BEP, 4-VEP etc.

[@jamallhayden2512]

Thank You!

[@CarolineFord1]

I like these social history videos on more recent trains

[@scopex2749]

I was a train engineer at Wimbledon depot for many years and they preserved one of our old slam doors. It was painted in GREEN and still makes runs out now and then. Excellent video I traveled many miles in these things.

[@RoamingAdhocrat]

is that the 4SUB that got preserved in the 80s?

[@henrybn14ar]

Luxurious compared to horrors such as City Beam, the new South Western Trains class 455 and their new successors.

[@alunhoskins4513]

I really enjoyed this, thanks. As a kid in the 60’s - and a teenager from 1970 - my trains were the narrow DEMU’s from Hastings or (next stop) St. Leonard’s Warrior Square to Charing Cross. I much preferred them to any of the new stuff that came along. Still do. I’ve lived in Co. Tipperary, Ireland since 2008 and the trains are fewer here and a wider gauge. Some interesting stuff and some older, (1970’s I ‘think’) huge, American loco’s for goods traffic: complete with the railings and walkway along the side…if that makes sense. We still have a branch line locally too - they’ll wait for you if they see you arriving a bit late. 2 trains a day and 2 carriages, a diesel multiple unit on it - and they always put me in mind of the generation of old BR trains, such as this one. A wonderful video - new subscriber here👍

[@paultaroni7201]

From what i remember they were always bloody freezing and draughty in the winter and of i was always being told by my parents not to touch the window surrounds because they were filthy.

[@redred7289]

"Double seat, Double seat, Gotta get a double seat." Ben Elton.

[@dodgydruid]

Do say "Hi" to my old mate Simon Huntingdon who is attached to the APT crew up there :) Solid chap :D

[@mdhazeldine]

Never rode these, but went on lots of 4-VEPs, CIGs and some CEPs too. I remember not liking them that much at the time, but now I wish I could go on one again. Hopefully that will come true via the Southern Electric Traction Group's restoration project.

[@ghoststationman4349]

Top units used to ride them years ago in the 90's Brockenhurst to Poole

[@Retirement_Life]

Grea video and so interesting

[@stevekelly5166]

Cartoonised speaker looks like a microphone. Speaker was above. Upside down black triangle, well in my 44th year of working with railways, and the trainspotting years before, I never knew that. Thanks!

[@debsmith5520]

For greater verisimilitude the restoration should have included a thick tarry coating of dead flies over the bright yellow, and windows coated in baked on brake dust. Otherwise it was a fond trip down memory lane, to trains with superior levels of comfort, all be it limited toileting.

[@AdamJRichardson]

On the exterior I'm sure it looks better than it left the factory! Aesthetically these weren't anything to write home about, but they certainly performed a valuable service for many decades.The large quantity of doors works well for rapid onboarding/offboarding of commuters.

[@richardbrobeck2384]

Nice Video !

[@johnjephcote7636]

The Emergency Chain at £50; i remember it at £5 and Giles in his cartoons labelled it '£50 a pull'.

[@apexqc04]

I live in Stockport, so not the south, but we had the 25kv class 304 which wasn't so different in principle to these. Swinging open the doors as the train slowed (or, just as often, locks not working and running to the next door along to get off).

[@plunder1956]

I did in fact travel on some of these in that period, but most of my 15 years commute to London from the late 70s to the early 90s was on Loco hauled trains with a slightly different internal layout. Generally crampt & grubby carriages over 15 years. I DO NOT miss that experience.

[@paulbrien4817]

My grandad was wheelchair bound. In the 80's and early 90's spent many an hour in the guards van, as there was no sense of accessibility when these were in operation. I use to have to help my uncle lift from the platform level to the guards van.

[@morzee94]

I’ll always remember the early 2000s when these were replaced by electrostars. It felt like going from a museum to a spaceship!

[@jammiedodger7040]

They are better than the modern trains.

[@paulketchupwitheverything767]

It's good to see this unit restored, but as Andrew said in the video, they were in service for a long time. Maybe too long. I don't remember them as being particularly comfortable or quiet to commute in towards the end. Often noisy with clunky couplings or suspension and with the musty smell of damp seats. Some people struggled to close the doors properly, which could cause delays when departing stations. The compressors would intermittently make their distinctive 'dung-dung-dung' noise as they topped up the air pressure.

[@kristinajendesen7111]

I used to work those attached to a VEP as a guard out of Bournemouth. The students would sit in the HAP hoping you wouldn't switch units to check their tickets. Such a shame that the NRM didn't preserve a 442, not even a driving trailer. The fastest 3rd rail unit in the world. Hopefully a 159 will be preserved when their time comes. Pity it won't be in NSE or SWR livery and interior though unless someone spends a lot of money.

[@sgbuses]

If only Singapore had a railway museum like the UK...