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.

Class 442, no. 2407 "Thomas Hardy" at Moreton on 10th April 2006. This unit carries the revised livery that conforms with the Disability Discrimination Act.

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, was introduced in 1988, to serve on the South Western Main Line from London Waterloo to Southampton, Bournemouth, Poole and Weymouth. Twenty-four of these 5-car units were built between 1988-89 by BREL at their Derby works. Their introduction coincided with the completion of electrification from Bournemouth to Weymouth. The entire fleet was operated by South West Trains.

[edit] Description

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

• Vehicle length is 72 ft, as opposed to 65 ft.
• 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, replacing 4-car units which operated 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 As such, the older 4Rep and 4TC units had to be withdrawn before their replacements were built, which resulted in some unusual unit configurations being used on the Weymouth line between 1986 and 1988.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 from London Waterloo in 58 minutes with no stops, over a journey of around 70 miles (100 km). The timetable change of December 2004 meant that the down fast train from London Waterloo took an hour from London to reach Winchester, with no stops.

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. Upon privatisation, the whole fleet passed to the South West Trains franchise. Unit 2402 was quickly rebranded and had an orange stripe added to its Network SouthEast livery, which looked very similar to Stagecoach Group's corporate image. From 1998, the fleet began to receive the new livery SWT Express white, red and blue livery as they underwent overhaul at Crewe Works. Unit 2404 was the first to be so treated.

During the late-1990s and early 2000s, the fleet continued to operate fast London-Weymouth and London-Portsmouth services. However, in 2004 when the Class 444 units were fully commissioned, the Wessex Electrics were again be dedicated to the Weymouth line.

The Class 442 was one of the first types to make extensive use of plastics in construction, earning them the nickname among staff of "Plastic Pigs". When they were first introduced they were plagued by minor technical failures but have subsequently become among the most reliable EMUs operating in the UK. Their generous accommodation makes them some of the most luxurious long-distance commuter trains anywhere.

In early-2006 the fleet began to receive overhauls, with units emerging in a slightly revised livery that conformed with the Disability Discrimination Act. By January 2007, fourteen of the 24 units had received overhauls.

Despite their recent overhauls, it was announced that South West Trains would be withdrawing the entire fleet of Class 442s in 2007, throwing their future into serious doubt. They have now been replaced on their duties by Class 444s, which in turn will be replaced on their duties by Class 450s spare from the reintroduction of Class 458s into traffic after modifications to their destination displays.

[edit] 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 buffet vehicles were all modernised in a works programme 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. During 2006, South West Trains have sent some units to Bombardier at Ilford. The livery has been modified to make it Disability Discrimination Act friendly.

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.

Notes:

Only two diagrams were expected to operate on 13th January, the last passenger working with South West Trains of a class 442 unit is expected to be the 23.10 Weymouth to Bournemouth service, the last working from Waterloo being the 18.35 departure. This later turned out to be true, with several additional units running passenger services due to a shortfall of class 444 rolling stock. The last day of operation will be 3rd February, where a staff special will be operating to Windsor and Shepperton from London Waterloo.

According to a manager at a 'meet the manager' session at Southampton Central on the 17/01/07, five 442 units have been retained until the 10th February due to a short-fall of 444 rolling stock. The same manager also confirmed that the 442 refurbishment programme, which was cancelled within days of the incumbent being announced as the successful bidder for the South Western franchise renewal, would have seen the brake van and lounge area of the 442 refurbished with standard class seating accommodation.

This is an important consideration regarding the life-cycle of the 442 as with this refurbishment the number of seats available on a 5 car 442 unit would have exceeded the number of seats available on a 5 car 444 unit (SWT figures indicate before refurbishment there are only 4 seats less on a 442 unit), with the capacity of the 444 being touted by SWT as the reason for moving away from the class 442 stock. However the Angel Trains owned 442 stock costs 70-something pence a mile to run, compared to 30-something pence a mile to run of the Siemens 444 stock, which is perhaps the true reason why these trains are being handed back to Angel Trains many years before their desiged life-span has been reached.

The Trains are no longer running as the lease has expired (4th February 2007 at 02.00). All trains will be sent to Eastleigh in the next couple of weeks.

1. ^ ^{a b} Unit withdrawn on 22nd January 2006 and was sent to Eastleigh as part of the withdrawal of the Class 442s.
2. ^ ^{a b} Unit withdrawn due to broken cab windscreen.
3. ^ ^{a b} Unit withdrawn on 17th January 2006 and was sent to Eastleigh as part of the withdrawal of the Class 442s.
4. ^ ^{a b} Unit withdrawn on 15th January 2006 and was sent to Eastleigh as part of the withdrawal of the Class 442s.
5. ^ 2411 failed with a bearing problem at Waterloo after arriving with the 0920 service from Fratton on Saturday 13th January 2007
6. ^ Originally from unit 2418.
7. ^ ^{a b} The DTSO vehicles from units 2413 and 2418 were swapped following problems with these units. The DTSO from 2413 had a broken windscreen, whereas the motor coach in 2418 had suffered a failure. A working unit, numbered 2413, has been created. The four coaches from the original 2413 carry the new livery, having just undergone overhaul, whereas the DTSO (still numbered 2418) carries the old livery.
8. ^ ^{a b} Unit withdrawn on 2nd February 2006 and was sent to Eastleigh as part of the withdrawal of the Class 442s.
9. ^ Unit 2414 returned from overhaul at Ilford Works in mid Janauary 2007 carrying an unbranded white and grey livery
10. ^ Unit 2416 was withdrawn in early August 2006 due to using unreliable and unique (to the fleet) equipment, but was reinstated shortly afterwards due to lack of availability of the fleet. It was withdrawn again in December 2006 after suffering from a fault with its motors. It received the motor bogies from unit 2421 and was in service. Now again out of service due to cables underneath the train catching on fire. Returned to 'spare' or 'available' on 30th January 2006.
11. ^ ^{a b} Unit withdrawn on 19th January 2006 and was sent to Eastleigh as part of the withdrawal of the Class 442s.
12. ^ Originally from unit 2413. This vehicle has recently been overhauled.
13. ^ Unnamed by Sally Taylor (BBC South Today Presenter) on 9th January 2007. But as 2419 was so dirty, the name plate was taken off the train and place onto 2410 (Meridian Tonight) with tape.
14. ^ Unit withdrawn as it broke down on 15th January 2006 on its way to Bournemouth, returned to service on 22nd.
15. ^ Unit 2421 was returned from overhaul at Ilford Works in December 2006 carrying an unbranded white and grey livery. This units' bogies have been removed and placed into 2416.
16. ^ Unit 2424 was refurbished at Ilford Works and then delivered to Stewart's Lane TSRMD for use by Gatwick Express

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British Rail Class 442