South Western Railway says goodbye to familiar red trains

The old and the new; Photograph South Western Railway

South Western Railway stages farewell tour for its Class 455 trains on Sunday 21 December

The fleet of familiar red trains which have served Chiswick and the wider South West London area for 42 years will be retired by the end of the year as they are replaced by new Arterio trains.

The ‘Class 455 Farewell tour’ will include familiar places on the suburban network, such as Epsom and Kingston, along with special routes including the District Line’s branch between East Putney and Wimbledon, as well as Haslemere on the Portsmouth Direct Line.

The tour is expected to be popular with railway enthusiasts. Just 400 tickets will go on sale at a cost of £45.50 each from the Branch Line Society’s website at 11am on Monday 10 November. The profits will go to three charities: The Alex Wardle Foundation, Macmillan, and The Railway Children.

Class 455 in British Rail blue livery; Photograph by Jeremy Chapter

Neil Drury, South Western Railway’s Engineering and Infrastructure Director, said:

“While customers are getting used to the many benefits of our new fleet of Arterio trains, we know there are a lot of enthusiasts out there who will be sad to see our classic red trains go.

“The farewell tour will be a fitting tribute to these trains, which have been a staple of our railway and worked incredibly hard for more than four decades.”

There were 70 Class 455 trains built for what is now the SWR network between 1982 and 1985, which entered service on suburban routes on Monday 28 March 1983.

The new Arterio trains, which South Western Railway has been introducing gradually since May, can carry over 50% more customers than the Class 455s and include modern features such as Wi-Fi, charging points at every seat, real time information, accessible toilets and air conditioning.

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The new fleet of 90 Arterio trains is currently operating more than 300 services per day.

The final route for the farewell tour is subject to change and will be confirmed shortly before 21 December.