Southern's Final Scheduled Slam Door Workings

The last day of scheduled Mk1 workings by Southern was Friday 19th August. On that day u1805 worked the 05.09 Seaford-Brighton and the 06.15 Brighton-Eastbourne where it then coupled to u3515 and u3911 which had previously worked the 06.10 Eastbourne-Hastings and 06.52 Hastings-Eastbourne. The 12 car formation then worked to Victoria and the worked the 09.36 Victoria-Brighton. In the evening peak the 17.17 Victoria-Seaford/Eastbourne was formed of u1866, u3535 and u3486 with the 4Cig leading the formation and working to Seaford. The pair of Veps then worked ECS from Eastbourne to Lovers Walk whilst the Cig worked the 18.43 Seaford-Lewes and 19.07 Lewes-Seaford. The final scheduled passenger working by a slam door unit was the 19.32 Seaford - Brighton which quickly then departed ECS for Lovers Walk.

Southern's choice of an evening peak service the last scheduled slam door working out of Victoria was challenging because it resulted in regular commuters vying with enthusiasts for seats. Fortunately, it being the summer holiday period, it was not overloaded for the majority of its journey. It did, however, result in normally stoic commuters being bemused by the enthusiasm for the old stock by the many railfans on the train! Fortunately the heavy rain stopped in time but a damp grey murky evening resulted with lighting conditions poor for photography.

Southern continued to use slam door stock on an ad-hoc basis (with some regular workings emerging) - as detailed on our Southern Mk1 Finals page - until Saturday 26th November; further details on our Southern - very last run pages.


(above) The 12 car formation u1866+u3535+u3486 at Salfords. photograph by Colin Price

(top left) Vep 3486 approaches platform 17 at Victoria at speed leading the ECS from Lovers Walk, (top right) the Seaford portion at this time only containing enthusiasts before the commuters descended on the train, (below left) at Lewes the last scheduled splitting of a Southern slam door working was witnessed by many adoring enthusiasts, the spirit of the occasion being marred somewhat by over-zealous stewarding by platform staff, and (below right) Cig 1866 departing Newhaven Harbour for Seaford for the penultimate scheduled time. photographs by Colin Duff


(above left) The last chance to leave a slam door open at Seaford shortly before the 1932 departure to Brighton, and (above right) the driver of the last scheduled slam door working smiles for photographers upon arrival at Brighton. photographs by Colin Duff

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This page updated 16th April 2006 by Colin Duff.
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