End of the Line for Britain's OLDEST Electric Train - Southern's Class 313!
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- Опубликовано: 7 май 2023
- In this video, we'll be taking a look at Southern's elderly Class 313 units, which are due to be retired at the May 2023 timetable change. These workhorses have been on the UK's rail network for almost 50 years now and are certainly showing their age... so join me as we take one last ride on them as they reach the end of the line!
Journey Details:
Date of Travel - April 2023
Operator - Southern (Govia Thameslink Railway)
Train type - Class 313
Origin - Seaford
Destination - Brighton
Price - £23 (Southern Daysave, booked 3 days in advance)
Thanks for watching and I hope you enjoyed the video!
Music from EpidemicSound and is used under license.
A massive thanks to the following for their contributions to this video:
Part Time Spotter - As mentioned in the video, please do check out his blog for useful information/allocations on riding these trains ahead of their retirement: partimespotter.wordpress.com/
Coastway Will - Check him out here! / coastway_will
Follow me on social media:
Twitter - / midland__london
Instagram - / midlandlondon
Support the channel here: ko-fi.com/midlandlondon
#southern #class313 #coastway #Brighton #travel #trains #tripreport #vlog
I love the BR livery. Simple and classic.
It's good when clean but so miserable when it's filthy
@@leonblittle226 everything is miserable when filthy.
@@MASSspec1990 For a steam train, it's either heading for scrap, or have been a hard working horse.
I worked on these trains in the 1970's at the Railway Technical Centre, Derby, helping to design the interiors. Can't be 50 ago! They followed the PEP prototype units, and I remember we nicknamed PEP - Pack Em Perpendicular.
I have heard the 4EPB units called Excessively Packed with Bodies.
Derby ❤
I remember when they were coming into service in South London, they were positively space-aged compared to what we were used to! I remember waiting on the platform at Clapham Junction and being so disappointed if my train pulled in and it was one of the old trains with the slam-shut doors! 😊
The slam door stock was far superior though: Luggage vans. Toilets on some stock. First Class for important people. Very simple mechanics and control gear.
I was thinking this ...not sure I want to admit my age!!
I was 4 in 1980 when the 508s started to usurp the reign of the 4-SUBS on the Mole Valley line via Stoneleigh.
I remember my dad telling me that the 4-SUBs were the "ordinary" trains and the 508s the "modern" ones on our weekly Saturday traipse up to Waterloo to see the museums etc. The 508s did indeed look space age with their magical slidey doors and smoked glass tinted windows, but I loved the aroma of brake-fluid, tobacco and mouldy upholstery of the 4-SUBS.
Shame the windows didn't synchronise with the seats
we used to take them out to Hertfordshire and back, and they made me think of that show _Space 1999_ the way they magically floated along tunnelling...they champion the metro or even the Expo-Express that had been here
The reason for the dirty seats is because of some people’s insistence on putting their feet on the seats. I’ve seen many a conductor ask someone to take their feet of the seats and after the conductor had gone they promptly put their dirty feet back on the seat. I am sure they wouldn’t want people putting muck on their seats at home? Great video BTW.
You'd never guess they are THAT old just by looking at them. But thinking about it, I guess they must be! I remember seeing them as kid back in NSE days (later Silverlink) on local services out of Euston, and of course the FCC units out of King's X. I also recall the very similar 315 (25kv only) units on GE local services out of Liverpool street - They looked really good in FGE livery.
Many Scottish viewers will also recognise them as very similar to their 314s, and of course the DC-only class 507/508 continue in service (for now) on Merseyrail service. Overall the 313 or PEP design and following varient classes have been a significant if unglamorous contributor to the UK rail network for 5 decades. I'm pleased to see Southern are doing something to mark their passing (and yes BR blue/grey looks far classier) and that one unit will be preserved. After the many millions of miles of basic but reliable commuter services they have put in, they deserve to be momorialised in some way. Sometimes, BR did get things right after all!
I commuted on these regularly, glad to see them go, deeply uncomfortable to ride on.
Literal first thought was just how good that looks in its BT livery. Proper smart
I remember that the original seats had separate, removable, swabs and backs - the concept being that damage could be rectified quickly to allow trains back in service ASAP.
I think I remember it on silverlink with occasional seat pads that were falling off as a kid
They actually look quite modern!
Minute seven : in the late 80th I took a nightferry from Dieppe to Newhaven. The boat was late and the train already waiting in front of the station, behind the bordercontrol. This train was waiting until all passengers did pass the control-my first visit to the UK!
Lol these old trains i still remember old carriages having self opening doors no safety locks and windows opening up 👍👍
Really excellent film. As for Newhaven, I have enjoyed the privilege - back in June, 1987 - of getting the London Victoria - Newhaven - Dieppe boat-train ... (That is, a train from London Victoria to Newhaven, which draws up alongside the ferry).
These trains were very light and when introduced on to Surrey commuter lines suffered from slipping due to rail conditions- mainly, leaves on the line- so many were sent to Merseyside where one assumes trees do not grow! In fact, not all the carriages went there and the new build stock that replaced the slam door trains beginning in the early 80s had one included in each set- so the roof line is lower where that carriage is in the set. Do these trains have re-cycled electric motors from earlier stock? That was the beauty of Southern electric- many key components went on forever -but not any longer, which makes so much sense in this "Great Age of Sustainability".
Nice to see Big blue! Honestly going to miss the Class 313s. Great video
The BR Blue and White was such a classic livery. RIP Class 313 (1976 - 2023)… You will be missed
I remember going on them only once during their last weeks on the Overground in 2010 going to Stratford from Clapham Junction and watching them in action on the East Coastway a couple years ago.
Sussex by the sea, Seaford railway station is like going back time 🙏👏
A fantastic video. Thank you for your time in making this video
Bravo! Thanks
Well explained thank you
Blue livery looks great !! 😁
5:45 Great shots. There's something of a romanticised feeling about being on the southeast coast, especially the closer you get to Dover. The idea that it's the frontier of the British Isles before heading off to see the rest of the world to the east. The fact that both land masses are around the same level, and the fact that in some cases
the English Channel during low tide is surface shallow in some spots, shows us just how connected we are to the continent - despite the Channel separating us.
How many men disembarked at those south coast stations in WW1 and WW2, and wondered if they'd see home again?
@@borderlands6606 - There's plenty of people now disembarking daily from dinghies who never want to return home again 😂😂
Amazing.
amazing video
Excellent video as always and thanks for the mention
Very enjoyable video. The effort you have put into making it clearly shows. Thank you!
Sad to see them go but also very happy to finally get new trains
no please dont let them go i love them
as much as I like them... They aren't that practical compared to newer trains
Having commuted on them I was more than happy to lose them on my line
Sorry, but their time is up and they gotta go
All good things must come to a end eventually
Glad I got to travel on them. I had a good day when I went on them.
Woah! Cameo with my poundland bag at the end :D
Great video as per Midland!
I was wondering who’s that was 😭😅 many thanks DOTS!
Nice video.
Going to miss them
I attended the class 313 farewell tour wearing my British Rail uniform on the day
I used to hate the 313's with a passion, but that was likely due to their shoddy performance on the Silverlink network. Doors that staff occasionally had to wrench open, or with *DEFECTIVE DOOR OUT OF USE* stuck on the window. Seats that wouldn't stay fixed to the base, so you were tilted sideways. Roofs that would leak in very heavy rain, which made me avoid the car with the pantograph! They always seemed to run at a snails pace too.
Awful trains. Not sure Anyone commenting has ever travelled on one.
i’ll miss em i’ll miss em… i just loved how they sound u got a few recordings with the 313 blasting it’s horn oh boy was i happy after watching those self recorded videos… i have also gotten footage of a farewell tour and oh boy i almost cried… may they rest in peace 1976-2023…
Seek medical help.
@@steveluckhurst2350 wat
@@leonsacher3919 can't you read? Obviously you can't spell.
Hopefully the first one built will be preserved.
Going to the National Railway Museum.
@danielsellers8707, unfortunately not. They are sending one used by Network Rail as it still has the old seats in it. Old blue will be trashed.
I’m not a huge fan of older trains but I love all of the PEP trains. The motors, the design, the sound of the resistor fans when the train sets off. I have used the merseyrail PEPs frequently and they are my favourite.
Taking these units from Portsmouth Harbour to Brighton on a stopping service was the "highlight" of my week while at university.
I love the old BR blue and white.
Sad to see them go, time has flown..
For all the criticism of BR, the liveries that came in the era of the HSTs are beautiful. Not boring, but still dignified.
Subbed 👍👍
Here in Italy you can fins a couple of locomotives from 1958...
Brilliant video of the Southern Class 313's, they will indeed be missed. I like the blue livery, it's a shame I've failed to see it up close in person.
Not missed by people that travel on them.
BR livery please ! I'm old enough to just think that that's what trains "should" look like
The Class 507 and 508 units on Merseyrail date back to the 1970s, as I write they are still in service, but are slowly being replaced
I used to travel on these daily when they were running from Watford Junction to Euston with Silverlink and later London Overground.
And after that, its the Tyne & Wear Metro.
I never complain about the SE getting loads of £ given the Type 1 EMUs getting 51 yrs service, but its mad how many generations the SE has had vs the NE excl. the Pacer (which was crap).
You should do Corby to London with EMR with first class if possible
Now I want to see some current-generation trains in that livery!
GBRF did a Class 66 in large logo. Does that count?
Great Northern has put out a tender for units, and it is speculated they will pick up the 379s and send the 387/1s south. Southern would still be short units for a year or so
Aside from the different interior and livery these train look very similar to the class 314s which operated in Glasgow and the surrounding towns and villages from 1979-2019. I used them a lot
Silverlink used to lock the windows to stop people throwing the easily detachable seat cushions out the window. Roasting in summer!
I sure hope these units are preserved.
313001 is said to be going to the National Railway Museum, same with Northern's 150001.
Must be time to send it to the Isle of Wight railway
Once these go then the oldest fleet is the Class 507/508's on Merseyrail network if I remember right. They are from 1978-80 & are being replaced too
Can they paint more in the BR scheme? Looks fantastic in its simplicity.
Well, I remember when the 313s were first introduced (was it really 1976? I thought it was 1975). I was living in Palmers Green (London N.13) and took the train every day to Moorgate. The revolutionary characteristic of the 313s was that they could run on either an overhead wire or a third rail. At Drayton Park, the overhead pantograph would be lowered, and the third-rail shoe would pick up the power for the remainder of the journey into Moorgate. So technologically innovative!
You mention, in relation to the lack of any toilets, that the 313s currently sometimes run all the way from Brighton to Portsmouth. Back in the day, they ran from Hertford North and/or Welwyn Garden City to Moorgate. Is Brighton - Portsmouth actually further than Hertford North - Moorgate?
Ironically, I now live on the south coast of Sussex, not far from Seaford, and I recently travelled on a 313 from Brighton to Lewes (where I changed for a train that came from London and went on to Eastbourne and Hastings). They just won't let go of me! But they are very basic, and not very comfortable, so they won't be a big loss, apart from the nostalgia.
In between the BR blue and Southern Coastway green, its a nobrainer choice. The Southern Coastway livery is always more colorful than the bland blue. The typeface will always reminds me of the old Southern Railway. Farewell, 313.
as a regular on this service the BR paint job is best. as much as i hate the old things i'm sad to see them go.
In the 1980s I was staying in Brighton and went on a day trip to France. In the morning our train terminated at marine. In the evening we returned from Harbour, a 5 minute walk. It did seem pretty pointless having a separate station even then. I guess since the tunnel was built, going by boat and train across that part of the channel is obsolete!
You can see the little indent on the roof where the pantograph would go
Amazing video be such a great loss to rail network. Like where I live in Norwich Norfolk when class 90 and mk3s and dvt and 156,153,170 were removed from service on greater Anglia miss them a lot. Also what speedometer were you using as like to put on my phone to
Polish EN57-038 60 years in sevices. It is operating Tłuszcz- Ostrołęka line.
It would be nice to hear the old girl express herself in her own inimitably mellifluous fashion, uninterrupted by well-meaning but ultimately intrusively egotistical 21st-century tech-human interventions :)
Wow had no idea they were from the 70's when I took them from Moulsecoomb to Brighton at uni, hopefully a set or a few get put aside for preservation.
They're said to be trying to keep '313001' from being broken up.
@@None-zc5vg I read it will be presented to the National Railway Museum.
I think the modern BR livery is the best, its nice and simple and easy for a child to draw
Love the content mate can you do a video on the class 507 and class 508 on mersyeail root as they are being replaced soon id love to see a vid on them thanks
Will miss her.
I wish I could catch313201 but wasn’t out on the day I visited them
Good video! What gps app are you using?
Brilliant video, I have the 507 and 508s whilst they last. Can I ask what app you use for your speed?
I'm rather surprised you didn't mention the remains of Bishopstone Beach (aka Tidemills) station. There's certainly a bit of history behind the lost village.
These trains are alike to the 507/508 class trains 🚆
10:43 I once made the mistake of going to Brighton on a match day, never again, the trains were absolute chaos and I don't want to do that again.
Appreciate the old BR livery , the Double Arrows would have made it look more complete though.
Hi Midland London at 9 minutes & 34 seconds you show an app with a speed showing and which direction you are travelling i.e. Down Sleaford, Please what app is it and where can I get hold of it, thanking you in advance Mike.
PS Re the unit I love the modified BR Livery, a true classic livery.
Oh and I like the current Southern livery.
At 11:37 I spy with my little eye an American yellow Blue Bird school bus hiding behind the bushes. WTH? Why would someone in England want to drive a rickety rattly old Blue Bird with the steering wheel in the wrong place?
I rode that line quite a few times when visiting a school friend of mine who lived in Bishopstone Village, but in those days Southease was called Southease And Rodmell Halt, and there were still the Newhaven boat trains from Victoria. The Seaford branch even had trains from Horstead Keynes before the Ardingly branch was closed to passenger trains in 1963, and they were old 2BIL and 2HAL units (with more comfortable seats than modern trains...).
Good to see theres a conductor on board as i didnt think London train companies had any other than Gwr
All the conductors are being replaced by "revenue collectors" when the 313s go.
@@steveluckhurst2350 that sucks
The BR livery
These were dual voltage I think? 750 vDC and 25kVAC overhead. Northern City line ran these for many years.
It's hard to believe these are older than the Pacers.
That cacophony of train horns has replaced the cacophony of detonators which were placed on the track in previous years for a 'last train' event.
Guessing the seats have been replaced at some point. The Class 314s used by Scotrail had 2+3 seating with the original low-backed but well-cushioned BR seats right up to the end.
As for Liveries, I've never been mad keen on BR blue (which is rather drab), and always preferred Network Southeast.
we have them In Liverpool to on Mersyrail.
These Trains must have been hand me downs from elsewhere, because I don't remember these trains running on the southern lines whenever I used to visit down there, it was always really rough old slam door trains .
The only train i recall that was a little bit more modern was the Brighton - Bedford train.
They used to work on the London commuter lines for years. The first one I rode was out of Moorgate, although I don't remember where I alighted.
@@jsp7202 The class will be forever associated with Broad Street Station and the North London Line. Now the 313 is following Broad Street into railway history. It's right that 3x2 high density stock is to be preserved. The modernised coaches are more comfortable, but less symbolic of the routes the 313 was developed for.
@@borderlands6606 although Broad Street is the only London termini that I had never used I always associated it with the old class 501, which I had never ridden. How I wish I had but oh well.
@@jsp7202 The 501 was pretty horrible in reality, I travelled on them regularly into Euston. Cramped seating with "prison" bars on the windows owing to close clearances. Broad Street Station was run down in its later years, but still atmospheric until it became a temporary platform hovering over a building site.
Oh heck, the timetable change is May 21st right? I'd best hurry, I had no idea they were going so quickly!
You can see where the track would have spurred off from Eastbourne, just after the old Bedfordwell pumping station.
They were also used on Merseyrail until the 2004
I’m getting quite nostalgic about southern EMUs. Can we start calling them “Heritage” EMUs. I keep opining about possibly having a heritage electric railway. I know of several health & safety concerns, but it would just be nice to see VEPs, Subs and455, yes 313s running for posterity !
How do I read the diagram and how do I know which unit will be running the diagram in part time spotter’s website?
What app are you using to measure the speed? I've been looking for something like that for ages!
I never knew that there was an intention to take the line all the way to Eastbourne. The gradients alone, around the Seven Sisters and Beachyhead sections of the South Downs are probably some of the most dramatic.
We can be glad they didn't. The beauty of The Seven Sisters, Seaford Head, and Beachy Head is that it is not too easy to get to.
@@avalon7902 what rubbish!
I've never heard of this before, and struggle to believe it was ever a thing (other than in the minds of a 19th century crayonista). The line was built to serve Newhaven, and extended to Seaford because it was easy to do so. To go beyond Seaford would require substantial tunnelling just to get to the Cuckmere, then along a flood prone valley to rejoin the main line near Berwick, it would serve two villages, but other than that have very little value for a great deal of expense. A more direct route from Seaford to Eastbourne would require a 7 mile tunnel, well beyond what had been done before, for very little benefit.
It's worth noting that the LBSCR also built Littlehampton station as a through station, with AFAIK no plans to extend the line.
@@joegrey9807 This fool's research is woeful. SEF was never intended to be a through station. It had a turntable at the end of the platform!
At this rate, the class 484/230 is gonna end up being the oldest multiple units in use on national rail, which is odd as they are meant to be new
Unless…
Network rail buys the Albany railway tracks
THE OLDEST is the underground trains VICTORIA line 1972 !! Now still going
@@AquaFonic You mean Bakerloo, the victoria line have 2009 stock. Besides, i meant on national rail.
The oldest multiple units will be the Merseyrail units. Still older than those (and the 313s) are the Mark 3 stock (Scotrail will be holding on to those for quite a while too)
@@Seagull81006 well actually since Bakerloo line is partially on National Rail network (so is District, but it has new trains so nobody cares) from Queen's Park to Harrow & Wealdstone, 72 stock is required to have TOPS number to record data when it's on national rail tracks so technically, 1972 stock is also a BR class 499/2, thus it's the oldest EMU, not only on the Underground, but also on the National Rail as well. Ironically, the previous oldest stock on NR was Class 483, which is also a former 1938 tube stock
I think some services end up going to LDN victoria
Nope
Slam door trains were good ... they enabled EASY EXIT in the case of emergency ( note the recent London Underground PANIC when smoke appeared ! ) busted windows etc ... DAVE™ 🛑
Nice English weather
Merseyrail still using them well class 507s & 508s till next year on the Southport line
Favourite Livery: Blue & Grey.