The South London Workhorse
The 137 sets of Class 455 trains are the workhorses of the electric routes South of the Thames. These are some pictures of those run by South West Trains.
They may have been built in the 1980s, but they scrub up well. They are also built to withstand the heaviest accidents. Is there any other train in the world that can protect the occupants, if an idiot drops a twenty-four tonne cement mixer on top? The Class 455 and their sisters the Class 317 can, as this actually happened at Oxshott to a Class 455. No-one was killed and the train later returned to service a couple of years later.
Perhaps the greatest complement to these trains, is that South West Tains are fitting them with new traction motors, as is detailed in Wikipedia. Would you put a new engine in your 1980s-built car?
There’s an old phrase about horses – Handsome Is As Handsome Does
These Class 455 trains may not look the most beautiful and sexy trains from the outside, but they are the living proof of the phrase.
It is interesting to note, that South West Trains converted their Class 455 trains from 2+3 to 2+2 seating, as happened to many of the Class 317s in North London. However, Southern have kept the cramped 3+2 seating, as have Northern with their Class 319 trains.
Although, I’m only slim and don’t occupy much seat space, I do feel we should endeavour to make 2+2 seating the rule for Standard Class.
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