Home»All Photographs»The last slammer leaves London

The door was literally slammed on a chapter of railway history today, when Southern ran the final MK 1 slam door service in and out of London. 1A50, the 11.06 London Victoria - Brighton ran as a 12 car formation, made up of 4-VEP's No's 3490, 3505 and 3535. Here's some pictures from the final run. If you want to know more about the history of the individual units which formed the final train, read on... Thanks go to John Atkinson of Tonbridge for compiling it, and allowing me to reproduce it here: Unit 7843 (now 3490) This unit was delivered from York, in blue grey livery, and after commissioning at Selhurst spent a brief period in store at Ford before going into traffic from 9-12-72, it then moved to Ramsgate, unallocated, used for driver training, and was then loaned to the SWD at Wimbledon about December 1973, returning to Ramsgate early in 1974 before moving to Brighton in April. It then led an uneventful existence, and was renumbered 3143 in June 1987. Formation up to this time was 76695 + 62344 + 71024 + 76696, and the unit continued to run, gaining NSE livery, until sent to Eastleigh 23-8-89 for facelift and brake van modifications. The MBS went to unit 3492 whilst all three trailers were formed with MBS 62328(ex 3127) and the unit outshopped 5-10-89 allocated to the SWD. It worked there until transferred to Connex South Central 2-4-98, where it then remained, based at Lovers Walk for the rest of its life, later gaining Connex livery. Unit 7771 (now 3505) This unit was put into traffic 19-4-69 allocated to Lovers Walk in all-blue livery (with full yellow ends) and was formed as 76472 + 62232 + 70922 + 76471. It was outshopped after first overhaul 14-10-71 now in blue/grey livery and remained allocated to Brighton for some years, though it later had a spell based at Ramsgate. It too was renumbered in June 1987, becoming 3071, running as such until face lifted at Eastleigh in 11-89 when the MBS went to 3507, the three trailers being mated with MBS 62352 (ex 3151) and the unit outshopped 9-2-90 as unit 3505, allocated to Brighton and in NSE livery. It remained working here for the rest of its day, at one stage being the nominated 'clean train' 4-VEP unit which worked with an 8-DIG on the 06.42 ex Bognor (what a hassle that was!) though it later passed this crown to unit 3525. The unit was subsequently painted into Connex livery, still carried today. Unit 7834 (now 3535) This unit was delivered to the SR 20-9-72 formed as 76677 + 62335 + 71015 + 76678 and went into traffic from 30-9-72 based at Lovers Walk. It moved to Fratton in March 1974, and was renumbered 3134 from May 1987, gaining NSE livery about this time. It ran thus until sent to Eastleigh about August 1992 for facelift, MBS 62335 going to unit 3536 whilst all three trailers became part of 3535 formed with MBS 62249 (ex 3088), the 'new' unit going into traffic at Lovers Walk from 25-11-92. However, the unit returned to Eastleigh 16-3-93 where the MBS was exchanged with 62335 again, so that the four original coaches of the unit were back together again. The unit remained based at Lovers Walk then until withdrawal today, gaining Connex livery in the process.