Southern Electric Group
Kent Coast Electrification Scheme
(Part 10)
|
|
Southern Electric GroupKent Coast Electrification Scheme
|
|
| To Previous Part |
To Next Part |
||
| Back to Southern Electric Library | |||
Up to 1981 the timetable on the Kent Coast routes were still dominated by the splitting of services at points such as Ashford and Faversham. Minor amendments to services had been made in 1966, when certain trains from Victoria to Ashford were cut back to Maidstone East, and local stations beyond Maidstone were served by the xx49 departure. A further change, in June 1967, saw the ending of the Sheerness—Dover local services, and as a consequence the xx40 from Charing Cross, which had previously split at Gillingham, divided at Faversham with the rear portion calling at all stations from Faversham to Dover Priory.
In May 1971 the services from Victoria were again modified in respect of semi-fast and slow services, giving an xx14 departure from London to Sheerness; this conveyed a Maidstone East portion which was detached at Swanley. Further revisions occurred in 1973 with the pattern of departures from Victoria becoming:
Sheerness was served by a shuttle service from Sittingbourne, except for a peak service to/from London.
May 1974 saw the xx10 extended from Canterbury East to Dover Priory. In May 1975 certain of the xx10 semi-fasts from Charing Cross to Ramsgate via Dover were extended to Margate. The following year saw the Charing Cross services revised, as follows:
May 1978 saw the addition of a xx14 stopping service to Faversham from Victoria.
In May 1982 the Victoria services were completely recast, with the new off-peak pattern becoming:
Cross platform interchange was provided between a fast train and the proceeding slow train at Faversham. On the Maidstone East route the services became an xx06 stopping train to Maidstone East and a xx36 running semi-fast to Maidstone East, then calling at all stations to Margate via Canterbury WeSt
May 1984 saw a complete recast of services on the Charing Cross via Tonbridge line, and the end of splitting trains on Kent Coast services. Trains from London during a typical off-peak hour are:
So what of the future for the railways of Kent? Probably the next section of route to be resignalled will be that from Faversham to Dover, but the timing of such work will depend on the availability of adequate finance. Early in 1983, following the publication of the Serpell Report, it was expected that many lines on BR would be likely candidates for being singled to reduce maintenance costs. In Kent the routes suggested for this treatment were Maidstone West—Paddock Wood, Ashford—Wye—Minster and Dover—Minster. These are, of course, lines which have not yet been resignalled.
On the rolling stock front, the refurbished 4Cep’s, together with the 4Vep, MLV and some 4Cap should continue to dominate the Kent scene for several years to come. It has recently been announced that 4Cap will be used on the East Grinstead—London service when this is electrified from late 1987. New stock for main line services is, in the current financial climate, most unlikely to appear before the end of the century. Plans to refurbish the 4Veps exist, but these are very much of a long-term nature. It is expected that 4Caps will receive some form of facelift treatment before being used on the East Grinstead line, and it is hoped that units remaining in Kent will receive similar treatment.
Mention must now be made of two projects. The first of these is the Hastings electrification scheme, covering the 31 miles of route from Tonbridge to Bopeep Junction (St Leonard’s) for which Government approval was announced in October 1983, and completion of which is scheduled for May 1986. The estimated cost of the scheme is £23.93 million. The scheme includes the singling of 3 tunnels to permit the passage of normal width rolling stock and resignalling of the whole line. It is expected that the service will be worked mainly with 4Cep’s.
The second project, and one which is no less topical than the Hastings line electrification, is the scheme for a fixed link to be provided between Britain and the Continent. The choices at present comprise road/rail tunnels of various descriptions, a straightforward bridge, and a proposal for a combined road-rail bridge-tunnel with offshore islands. A joint party of officials from Britain and France was set up in November 1984 to prepare guidelines for the market, and firm proposals have to be submitted this October. It is quite clear that no public money will be injected into the scheme (from Britain at least). British Rail has pledged its support to any scheme which will involve provision of a rail link. If and when such a link is built (which could be as soon as 1992/93) the effect on the railways of Kent could be considerable.
The future for the railways of Kent will undoubtedly be interesting. Perhaps one day ALL the railways of the ‘Garden of England’ will be electrified, including the line from Ashford to Hastings.
7001/02 and 7101-04 were new with Mark 1 bogies; these were modified about 1960 by provision of hydraulic dampers and other minor alterations. These units had conventional single glazing until first general overhaul (i.e. for about 8 years). Mark 2A bogies were later altered to Mark 4. The motor bogies of 7154-7204 were BR3B. 7154-7211 were ex-works new with AWS (automatic warning system) brackets and wiring conduits. Dates new (corrected): 7111-53 in 1958159, 7205-11 in 1962/63. 7189-95 looked odd when new; they had rectangular section (about 1½in by 1 in) external drain pipes at each end of each bodyside. These were removed after about 2 years.
2Hap unitsAlthough 6001-42 were all allocated to the SED for convenience, construction was not entirely for the purpose of the Kent Coast project but as follows: 6001-04 accident replacements for 2Nol/2Bil/2Hal units; 6005-11 additional stock for general main line use; 6012-42 additional stock budgeted for the CD Gatwick Airport service. (What happened here was that the Three Bridges—Littlehampton service was suddenly extended semi-fast to London; the 2Hap units went to the SED in exchange for the same number of 2Hal’s to the CD. Dates new: 6043-6105 in 1958159; 6106-46 in 1961162 (corrects published information.) 2Hal’s did not generally work to Sevenoaks; only one Sevenoaks train each way, Monday to Friday rush-hours, known at one time as the Waldron Smithers train, was ‘Eel’ formed; it served Cannon Street. In May 1974 2Hap’s 6001-21124-44 became 2Sap’s 5901-42. In May 1977 6045-53 became 5943-51. 5951 reverted to 6053 in October 1977, the others reverting during the first half of 1980. 4Cap—Pairs of 2Hap’s were not bolted together—the buckeye pin was fixed into place.
Since this article was published, the former BR Southern Region SED services pased through Network South East to Connex South Eastern. The Channel Tunnel is open and boat trains are all but a thing of the paSt The Hap fleet is completely withdrawn while the 4Cep fleet is greatly diminished. Several 4Cep sets are cascaded into the South West Trains fleet, while CSE itself has sufficient Class 365 units in service and Class 375 units on order to cease 4Cep operation soon.
| To Previous Part |
To Next Part |
||
| Back to Southern Electric Library | |||