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British Rail Class 442

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Class 442, no. 2402 "County of Hampshire" at Wool on 16th April 2004, with a service from London Waterloo to Weymouth.
File:2419 'BBC South Today' at London Waterloo.JPG
Class 442, no. 2419 "BBC South Today" at London Waterloo on 19th July 2003. This unit is painted in South West Trains Express livery.

The British Rail Class 442 (or 5Wes) electrical multiple units, also known as Wessex Electrics, were introduced in 1988, to serve on the South Western Main Line from London Waterloo to Southampton, Bournemouth, Poole and Weymouth. Twenty-four 5-car units were built between 1988-89 by BREL at Derby. Their introduction coincided with the completion of electrification from Bournemouth to Weymouth. The entire fleet is operated by South West Trains.

Description

The Class 442 is based on the Mark 3 carriage bodyshell, and have a number of features which distinguish it from the slam-door units they replaced:

  • Vehicle length is 23 m (72 ft), as opposed to 20 m.
  • All vehicles are air-conditioned, and have powered internal doors and external plug doors.
  • Units consist of 5 vehicles, and operate as 5-car or 10-car trains, as opposed to 4-car units operating as 4, 8 or 12-car trains.
  • Maximum permitted speed is 100 mph (160 km/h).

In true BR Southern Region tradition, many electrical components, including traction motors and electrical control gear, were salvaged from the Class 432 units they replaced. As such, the older 4Rep and 4TC units had to be withdrawn before their replacements were built, which resulted in some unusual unit configurations being used on the Weymouth line between 1986 and 1988.

The Class 442's increased top speed, combined with timetable changes, resulted in some minor journey time improvements, for example, the down fast train (xx32) reaching Southampton Airport Parkway station in 58 minutes with no stops, a journey of around 70 miles (100 km). The units were initially dedicated to the Weymouth line, but through the 1990s began to be diagrammed on the London Waterloo to Portsmouth direct line. When the Class 444 units are fully commissioned, the Wessex Electrics will again be dedicated to the Weymouth line.

The Class 442 was the one of the first types to use plastics extensively in construction, earning them the nickname among staff of "Plastic Pigs".

Fleet Details

Units are numbered 2401-2424, and are formed of two outer driving trailers, two intermediate trailers, and an intermediate motor vehicle, which also has a buffet counter. The description of this formation is DTFso+TSO+MBRSM+TSO+DTSO. Individual vehicles are numbered as follows:

  • 77382-77405 - DTFso
  • 71818-71841 - TSO
  • 62937-62960 - MBRSM
  • 71842-71865 - TSO
  • 77406-77429 - DTSO

The motor buffer vehicles were all modernised in a works program at Crewe from 1997-98. At the same time, units were also repainted from their original Network SouthEast livery, into South West Trains' Express livery.

Over the years, various units have received names. Many of these are towns or places along the routes that they work, whilst a few have been for publicity purposes.

The complete fleet list is shown below, with details of vehicle numbers, names and livery.

Unit Number Name (carried on MBRSM) Livery DTFso TSO MBRSM TSO DTSO
2401 Beaulieu SWT Express 77382 71818 62937 71842 77406
2402 County of Hampshire SWT Express 77383 71819 62938 71843 77407
2403 The New Forest SWT Express 77384 71820 62941 71844 77408
2404 Borough of Woking SWT Express 77385 71821 62939 71845 77409
2405 City of Portsmouth SWT Express 77386 71822 62944 71845 77410
2406 Victory SWT Express 77389 71823 62942 71847 77411
2407 Thomas Hardy SWT Express 77388 71824 62943 71848 77412
2408 County of Dorset SWT Express 77387 71825 62945 71849 77413
2409 Bournemouth Orchestras SWT Express 77390 71826 62946 71850 77414
2410 Meridian Tonight SWT Express 77391 71827 62948 71851 77415
2411 The Railway Children SWT Express 77392 71828 62940 71858 77422
2412 Special Olympics SWT Express 77393 71829 62947 71853 77417
2413 - SWT Express 77394 71830 62949 71854 77418
2414 - SWT Express 77395 71831 62950 71855 77419
2415 Mary Rose SWT Express 77396 71832 62951 71856 77420
2416 Mum in a Million 1997 - Doreen Scanlon SWT Express 77397 71833 62952 71857 77421
2417 Woking Homes SWT Express 77398 71834 62953 71852 77416
2418 Wessex Cancer Trust SWT Express 77399 71835 62954 71859 77423
2419 BBC South Today SWT Express 77400 71836 62955 71860 77424
2420 City of Southampton SWT Express 77401 71837 62956 71861 77425
2421 - SWT Express 77402 71838 62957 71862 77426
2422 Operation Overlord SWT Express 77403 71839 62958 71863 77427
2423 County of Surrey SWT Express 77404 71840 62959 71864 77428
2424 Gerry Newson SWT Express 77405 71841 62960 71865 77429