SWR 455 twilight diagrams/workings

[Rich the Eagle]

* Class 455 Allocations - Fri 9th Jan *

Same diagram, different units today.

5712+5717

5J97 0523 Wimbledon Park Depot Sdgs - Hampton Court (ECS)
2J08 0554 Hampton Court - London Waterloo
1D07 0639 London Waterloo - Dorking
1D16 0748 Dorking - London Waterloo
2G17 0903 London Waterloo - Guildford (via Cobham)
2G28 1034 Guildford - London Waterloo (via Cobham)
2F27 1150 London Waterloo - Woking
2F36 1303 Woking - London Waterloo
2G37 1403 London Waterloo - Guildford (via Cobham)
2G48 1534 Guildford - London Waterloo (via Cobham)
2F47 1650 London Waterloo - Woking
2F56 1803 Woking - London Waterloo
2G57 1903 London Waterloo - Guildford (via Cobham)
2G68 2034 Guildford - London Waterloo (via Cobham)
2F67 2150 London Waterloo - Woking
2F80 2304 Woking - London Waterloo
5Y68 0007 London Waterloo - Wimbledon Park Depot Sdgs (ECS)

Diagrams do change, often at short notice - please check Realtime Trains or an equivalent website before setting out to see them!

 

[Bikeman78]

I take it that any day could be the last now? I expect that some new recruits won't sign them.

 

[Goldfish62]

I take it that any day could be the last now? I expect that some new recruits won't sign them.

I thought training for new recruits on them had stopped a long time ago.

 

[w11_supremecy]

I thought training for new recruits on them had stopped a long time ago.

From the beginning of 2026 all new trainees are being trained on 701s (if their depot signs them obviously) instead of the 455s. Surprised the training school persisted with teaching them the 455s until the last courses of 2025, but I imagine it's because they wanted a decent number of the 701s in service first...

 

[Bikeman78]

From the beginning of 2026 all new trainees are being trained on 701s (if their depot signs them obviously) instead of the 455s. Surprised the training school persisted with teaching them the 455s until the last courses of 2025, but I imagine it's because they wanted a decent number of the 701s in service first...

Which makes a fair bit of sense, otherwise you end up with two types of train that not everyone signs. I've mentioned before seeing trainees on 317s right up to the last few weeks. Of note, there were four drivers at Guildford today enthusiastically taking photos of each other standing next to the farewell sticker on the side of 5717.

 

[w11_supremecy]

Which makes a fair bit of sense, otherwise you end up with two types of train that not everyone signs. I've mentioned before seeing trainees on 317s right up to the last few weeks. Of note, there were four drivers at Guildford today enthusiastically taking photos of each other standing next to the farewell sticker on the side of 5717.

Yes exactly. In fairness it would probably be a bit of a nightmare for rostering if you have large cohorts of trainees who are competent on 701s but not on 455s - particularly up until the last month or two of 2025 where the 701 rollout has gathered pace. Wouldn’t make much sense when there was a fairly even number of both being used. Now it’s a lot easier to manage as there isn’t any 455 diagrams anymore. And the number of competent crew is comfortably in the hundreds now. So week by week there is less of a likelihood of cancellations due to not enough train crew being competent on 701s - like we saw in the early stages of the rollout. Which is a positive step in building resilience.

 

[Steven Taylor]

Which makes a fair bit of sense, otherwise you end up with two types of train that not everyone signs. I've mentioned before seeing trainees on 317s right up to the last few weeks. Of note, there were four drivers at Guildford today enthusiastically taking photos of each other standing next to the farewell sticker on the side of 5717.

I was at Guildford Platform 1 at 20.15 on the 7th January, and the guard of the train from Waterloo asked if I could take his picture standing next to Class 455 unit no. 5716 using his mobile, which I gladly did. I have been travelling on several 455s this week - 2 different consists - and there are a good number of people taking pictures at stations en route such as Oxshott and Cobham and Stoke D`Abernon.

 

[Rich the Eagle]

* Class 455 Allocations - Mon 12th Jan *

A pair of units will be out this afternoon until the end of service.

5716+5721

2D39 1453 London Waterloo to Guildford (via Epsom)
2D52 1628 Guildford to London Waterloo (via Epsom)
2J53 1806 London Waterloo to Hampton Court
2J60 1854 Hampton Court to London Waterloo
2D59 1953 London Waterloo to Guildford (via Epsom)
2D72 2145 Guildford to London Waterloo (via Epsom)
2J73 2306 London Waterloo to Hampton Court
2J98 2359 Hampton Court to Wimbledon
5Y75 0027 Wimbledon to Wimbledon Park Depot Sdgs (ECS)

Usual disclaimer, please check Realtime Trains or the like before setting out to see them!

 

[Rich the Eagle]

* Class 455 Allocations - Mon 12th Jan *

A pair of units will be out this afternoon until the end of service.

5716+5721

2D39 1453 London Waterloo to Guildford (via Epsom)
2D52 1628 Guildford to London Waterloo (via Epsom)
2J53 1806 London Waterloo to Hampton Court
2J60 1854 Hampton Court to London Waterloo
2D59 1953 London Waterloo to Guildford (via Epsom)
2D72 2145 Guildford to London Waterloo (via Epsom)
2J73 2306 London Waterloo to Hampton Court
2J98 2359 Hampton Court to Wimbledon
5Y75 0027 Wimbledon to Wimbledon Park Depot Sdgs (ECS)

Usual disclaimer, please check Realtime Trains or the like before setting out to see them!

 

[Nimbus020]

* Class 455 Allocations - Mon 12th Jan *

A pair of units will be out this afternoon until the end of service.

5716+5721

2D39 1453 London Waterloo to Guildford (via Epsom)
2D52 1628 Guildford to London Waterloo (via Epsom)
2J53 1806 London Waterloo to Hampton Court
2J60 1854 Hampton Court to London Waterloo
2D59 1953 London Waterloo to Guildford (via Epsom)
2D72 2145 Guildford to London Waterloo (via Epsom)
2J73 2306 London Waterloo to Hampton Court
2J98 2359 Hampton Court to Wimbledon
5Y75 0027 Wimbledon to Wimbledon Park Depot Sdgs (ECS)

Usual disclaimer, please check Realtime Trains or the like before setting out to see them!

Many thanks - will aim for the 18:06 for the commute home - there was a 701 failure earlier in the day?

 

[WessexEclectic]

* Class 455 Allocations - Mon 12th Jan *

A pair of units will be out this afternoon until the end of service.

5716+5721

2D39 1453 London Waterloo to Guildford (via Epsom)

Looking at the diagram, are these kept as a ‘hot spare’ @ WAT or have they come from Wm Pk Sdgs?

Also, it may have been mentioned previously but what is the last possible date for a 455 substitution? TIA.

 

[rmHawk765]

Will they still be running up to the end of this week, if it's possible to tell, e.g are any Derby moves planned?

 

[Nimbus020]

Looking at the diagram, are these kept as a ‘hot spare’ @ WAT or have they come from Wm Pk Sdgs?

Also, it may have been mentioned previously but what is the last possible date for a 455 substitution? TIA.

There doesn’t seem to be an RTT record of the units working into Plat 6 at Waterloo earlier today - last week, a ‘hot spare’ worked in from Clapham sidings to take over a diagram

 

[Peter Sarf]

Will they still be running up to the end of this week, if it's possible to tell, e.g are any Derby moves planned?

Last Saturday I think I spotted four or more pairs of 455s at Wimbledon Park CSD (ie non-London half). So at the rate of one pair a week there are weeks and weeks before no 455s will be left on SWR.

 

[rmHawk765]

Last Saturday I think I spotted four or more pairs of 455s at Wimbledon Park CSD (ie non-London half). So at the rate of one pair a week there are weeks and weeks before no 455s will be left on SWR.

Alright, thanks for letting me know. Will try to catch one this Sunday but I don't have high hopes.

 

[OliverH68]

Alright, thanks for letting me know. Will try to catch one this Sunday but I don't have high hopes.

They will only come out if Control need them. They're not running on a planned basis but as adhoc.

 

[Stephen42]

Last Saturday I think I spotted four or more pairs of 455s at Wimbledon Park CSD (ie non-London half). So at the rate of one pair a week there are weeks and weeks before no 455s will be left on SWR.

When the last one leaves SWR metals and the last passenger service diagram are likely to be very different dates. One additional 701 in passenger service will dramatically reduce the likelihood of a 455 being out in service. More than one additional 701 would require a bad patch for 701 availability for the 455s to be required.

In terms of clearing SWR metals, it could be done in under a month depending on the availability of resources and competing priorities for those resources.

 

[LUYMun]

5712 + 5717 allocated to evening services:

2C51 1650 London Waterloo to Reading
2C62 1839 Reading to London Waterloo

 

[Siemens Staines]

And also allocated

5716 + 5721
2R45 1615 London Waterloo to London Waterloo
2S55 1752 London Waterloo to Weybridge
2S64 1933 Weybridge to London Waterloo
2S69 2122 London Waterloo to Weybridge
2S78 2303 Weybridge to Clapham Junction

 

[nctd2306]

AND 5716+721 on the diagram starting with 2R45...

Edit: beaten to it

 

[Siemens Staines]

AND 5716+721 on the diagram starting with 2R45...

Edit: beaten to it

Snap!

As would be expected, journeycheck has been updated accordingly

19:33 Weybridge to London Waterloo due 20:56 will no longer call at Virginia Water.
23:03 Weybridge to Clapham Junction due 00:17 will no longer call at Virginia Water.

 

[Big Jumby 74]

Snap!

As would be expected, journeycheck has been updated accordingly

19:33 Weybridge to London Waterloo due 20:56 will no longer call at Virginia Water.
23:03 Weybridge to Clapham Junction due 00:17 will no longer call at Virginia Water.

You beat me to it my friend. I may be over a decade retired, but some things are ingrained in the grey cells....

Edit: for anyone wondering why this has come about, I will only say that when a particular fleet type, 455's in this case, are very near to their final demise, the opportunity for their use within the overall plan will have diminished substantially within the overall timetable context, and it may have been unavoidable for Control to use them on the above services, with the mind set that skipping Virginia Water on the UP is better than causing overcrowding on the Down (2S55 in particular) in this instance, by running the said Down train as 4 or 5 car.

Edited. BOLD. For clarity, I hope!

 

[rmHawk765]

They will only come out if Control need them. They're not running on a planned basis but as adhoc.

I am aware, but they seem to be allocated to at least one service almost every day despite this.

 

[nctd2306]

5712 and 5717 back on Readings and Hounslow loop today (starting with 2V45)

 

[Rich the Eagle]

* Class 455 Allocations - Wed 14th Jan *

5712+5717

2V45 1607 London Waterloo to London Waterloo
2C55 1750 London Waterloo to Reading
2C66 1939 Reading to London Waterloo

 

[43094]

A few of 5717 + 5712, prior to 2V45 today.

 

[Forty29]

* Class 455 Allocations - Tue 14th Jan *

5712+5717

2V45 1607 London Waterloo to London Waterloo
2C55 1750 London Waterloo to Reading
2C66 1939 Reading to London Waterloo

Aahhhh! missed them by a few minutes!
Would have made a lovely change from seeing them being dragged by a 37 to Newport for scrap through Reading.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 14 Jan 2026 ==

Though did 2C66 run though?

 

[Rich the Eagle]

Aahhhh! missed them by a few minutes!
Would have made a lovely change from seeing them being dragged by a 37 to Newport for scrap through Reading.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 14 Jan 2026 ==

Though did 2C66 run though?

Sorry, day was wrong, updated it to today. 2C66 is due to depart at 1939 this evening.

 

[Class375SE]

Still going, nice run to Reading and now on the way back.

 

[Southern]

Glad they're still active, hope for (another) one last run before they bow out for good