The Metro Marauder - Farewell to Class 455

 

The Class 455s are reaching the end of their natural lives, having entered service in the early 1980s, and transported commuters with greater or lesser efficiency ever since, under Network SouthEast, Connex, SouthCentral and now Southern.  South Western Railway is keeping them in service for a few more months, but today, being the final day before the summer timetable kicks in, is their last day of service under Southern.  And to celebrate, they organised a rail tour, in conjunction with the Branch Line Society . 

It was not an expensive tour, as these things go, but then, they offered no food, and the 455s really only offer rather upright seats, in a 3+2 configuration, with no amenities such as plug sockets, window blinds (we could have done with them at one stage), air-conditioning or even loos!  They did warn us not to drink too much and to be careful how much fluid we took in!  

The tour left Victoria Station at 09:02; we took care to be there in good time, so we could buy a cup of coffee and, if necessary, get rid of it before we went.  There was a huge queue to get through the gateline, so they basically only checked that we actually had tickets (electronic ones) and came through on the train once we were off to check the tickets and issue wrist bands, programmes for the day and souvenir tickets.

The trip was extremely convoluted, with endless changes of direction.  Here is the plan for the day on the back of the programme: 

We first went south from Victoria to Billingshurst, where we were able to get out and stretch our legs for a few minutes, and then, reversing direction, went up the mid-Sussex line to Three Bridges,

where we reversed direction yet again and went to Hove, and then to Brighton, where we had a long break and the Swan Whisperer and I walked down to look at the sea.

  We did take a bus back - it's uphill, and I'm not very good at hills - and then bought sandwiches to eat on the train which went back to Hove, then back to Brighton - this was because they had to be on a different platform at Brighton to get to what I think is the East Causeway line to Lewes.  At Lewes, we reversed again, and went fast to Charing Cross, where there was another pee-break.  Then it did the oddest wiggle from Charing Cross, back over to Clapham Junction, and then round again to Blackfriars, where we again had a 15-minute break.  I got out of the train, but there were seats on the platform, so it was just nice to sit in the fresh air for a bit.  

From Blackfriars, we went down one line to Sevenoaks, where we reversed again, and then back to Victoria.

There was a raffle in aid of Mind in Croydon, and an auction of collectibles.  The SW and I both bought raffle tickets, and, very extraordinary, we both won.  He won a bottle of Cava - Asda's best, but none the worse for that, but I won the 2nd prize which was an hour's simulator experience to "drive a 2000 tonne freight train hauled by a GTRf class 66 locomotive on GBRf's state of the art class 66 Simulator".  Sounds great - although it took ages for the raffle organiser to get the voucher and then the person he gave it to gave it to the wrong person and had to run after her to apologise!  However, I got it in the end, and no harm done.

We had both had more than enough of trains by the time we got back to Victoria, so we took the bus home, and I am very nearly asleep!  All the same, I'm glad we went.  It wasn't the most comfortable railtour, and very far from the luxurious one we are looking forward to as my birthday treat, but it was a grand day out!  And the raffle prizes were the icing on the cake.