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Slam Door Sunset Welcome to our compilation of slam door related events during the final sixteen months of slam door multiple unit operation on the former Southern Region. The majority of items have previously appeared on this website as news reports published shortly after the events. Where necessary they have been revised to reflect the now historical perspective and in places additional material, that has been received since first publication, has been added. There is one completely new item - a gallery of miscellaneous pictures taken during the final months. You can navigate to sections either using the narrative that follows or the menu below. Navigation between sections is normally via this page. In concluding this introduction the webmaster would like to express his grateful thanks to the many contributors to these pages. Without such contributions coverage would not have been so comprehensive, so perceptive, nor so enjoyable. Although Mk1 EMU and DEMU stock was being slowly withdrawn over previous years, the first event to mark the departure of and celebrate the service of Mk1 EMUs was held over the weekend of 14th and 15th August 2004 with South West Trains' Slam Door Gala. This event was co-sponsored by The Railway Magazine and this group. Although South West Trains were to continue to run slam door units on the mainline for a further ten months this was deemed to be the last opportunity to run the majority of services with such stock and when all three remaining types were available. South West Trains withdrew its final 4 Cep units within a few weeks, although three units fortuitously were reprieved by being transferred to SouthEastern Trains. In October 2004 this group published in Live Rail (our members' magazine) its special feature Southern Region Fleet Review 2004. The next event, and the only one to celebrate DEMU stock, marked the final withdrawal after some 47 years of service of Southern Region DEMUs. The Last Thump Railtour was run by Southern and the Hampshire & Sussex Units Preservation Society on the 27th November. The final event of 2004 was SouthEastern Trains' Cep Era Railtours, one on December 29th for staff and one on December 30th for the public. These tours were originally intended to set a new speed record between Dover and London and also to mark the final withdrawal of Cep stock. Unfortunately, the previous speed record was not exceeded and the Cep stock eventually soldiered on for a further nine months, much to the delight of enthusiasts. The early months of 2005 were noteable in that whilst the deadline for withdrawal at the end of November was looming slam door units were still sufficiently plentiful to make one wonder, briefly, if they would last forever. However, pundits and enthusiasts were speculating about which train operating company would be the first to complete the withdrawal process. This honour befell South West Trains, but only on the main line because on May 12th the company launched its "heritage" operation with two refurbished 3 Cig units on the Lymington Branch. So whilst South West Trains was the first to complete withdrawal of Mk1 units it is also the only company still to be running them! On May 20th South West Trains had its Last Diagrammed Run, followed eight days later by the Last Run in public service. South West Trains' final celebrations were two Seaside Slammer Railtours between Waterloo and Weymouth, on June 11th for staff and June 18th for the public. On July 23rd SouthEastern Trains ran the only railtour using only Vep stock with its play on words Flush D'Or railtour. The tour was poorly loaded for reasons mentioned in our coverage. Because they were running slightly more modern stock and not EMUs, to the non-enthusiast it was easy to overlook Gatwick Express' slam door stock. Gatwick Express marked the impending withdrawal of its remaining Mk2 trailer units, Mk1 GLVs and Class 73 Electro-Diesel locomotives on the 28th July with its specially arranged and very well attended Final Run. However, "heritage" stock was retained was retained until the end of the year for emergency and maintenance cover and this resulted in a bonus few more runs, though not at peak times. By mid-summer the pundits and enthusiasts had moved on to speculating whether Southern or SouthEastern Trains would be the next to complete the withdrawal process. Given the remaining number of services still being run with Mk1 stock opinion was initially in favour of Southern being the next and this was re-inforced on August 19th with their Final Diagrammed Run. On September 17th Southern and SouthEastern Trains, with the support of South West Trains and this group, ran the spectacular Southern Belle railtour from Ramsgate to Weymouth and return - taking in all three divisions of the former Southern Region all by third rail. Those mid-summer indications about which company would be next to complete withdrawal had been misleading because the end on SouthEastern Trains, having been the second former Southern Region TOC to introduce new generation units into service but then moved very slowly, came rapidly. October 7th saw their Last Run with a peak service between Cannon Street and Ashford International. So it befell Southern to be the last to run slam door units on the mainline with ad-hoc substitutions for Electrostar stock until four days before the deadline. It also befell Southern to run the last slam door unit railtours with a staff tour on November 12th and the Sussex Slammer tour, co-sponsored by this group, on November 19th. Even this was not the final opportunity to travel on such units because a week later Southern laid on its Very Last Run in public service. The last chance to see slam door units running under their own power on the Brighton line came on the 15th December when the remaining stock in store at Lovers Walk was moved to Stewarts Lane for decommissioning. Thereafter, moves on the mainline, save for those associated with the Lymington Branch "heritage" operation, have been locomotive hauled for decommissioning and scrapping. Slam's Final Months is our concluding feature with unashamed nostalgic pictures of slam door units in servive and store during the final months of operation |
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This feature is brought to you by the Southern Electric Group as a service to its members and enthusiasts. The Southern Electric Group is the only group covering all aspects of the Southern Electric System past , present and future. If you are not a member you are very welcome to join the group. For more details please follow the links bottom left. |
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This page updated
9th June 2007 by Colin Duff. |
