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I think Western Region DMU's took over from the DEMU's on the North Downs in the early 1980's.

Probably nothing too weird in the context of things, but I head back about 10 years ago of class 455's working London Victoria-South coast services as far as Haywards Heath in place of 400's and class 205's covering for 165/166's on the North Downs.

Not Honda but Kia/Hyundai at least until recently had the indicator stalk on the right. I think since the Hyundai i30/Kia C'eed models the indicator stalk has been on the left like all other manufacturers.

Best part of NSE was the brandings applied to some routes - Thames, Sussex Coast, Kent Link, etc, proudly displayed on the trains sometimes even with branding to indicate the type of train - "Thames Turbo", "Kent Link Networker", etc. Even small routes like North Downs and Marshlink had their...

The train depot at St Leonards on sea still has the Network Southeast sign located off Bridge Way (opposite Elva Recovery) just before the footbridge over the line. The sign on the gate to the depot on Cliftonville Road shows the Kent Coast NSE logo.

That's why a version suitable for this line (class 171) was suggested years ago but was dropped in favour of converting spare 158's to 159's.

I always noticed a funny smell (maybe like tarmac?) on the Turbo's back in 1996/97 but only on the 165's, so I put it down to the floor covering. The 166's never smelt like it and the last couple of times I went on a Turbo (back in 98 and 99) - 165005 and 165115 - they'd 'lost' the smell. ---...

Ref. 166 vs 165: 165's - "Thames Turbo" or "Chiltern Turbo" 166's - "Turbo Express" As stated, 165/0's 75mph and 165/1's are 90mph. 165/0's had different window designs when new (in addition Chiltern installed new windows at refurb). In the early days the three car 165's had a larger...

Back in 1996/97 I remember being in the car park of Sainsbury's Hampden Park and seeing a thumper named Ashford Faye with the class 411 carriage in the middle go past. And I travelled on a class 205 between Oxted and Uckfield back in the summer of 1997. But my best memory was this.... I...

Anyone want to share memories of the Southern Region Thumpers?:cool:

The news on Heart FM Sussex were telling non-Lewis residents to stay away and there will be no extra trains laid on.

Anyone remember the Southern trains advert from around 2004? "The 8:15 to Croydon".

Buses? Stagecoach in East Sussex were still using Leyland Nationals from around 1977-79 as recent as 2000 Hmmm...orange vinyl seats! Used to be fun hearing the engines scream as the bus travelled up Rodmill Drive in Eastbourne. Not that the Alexander-bodied N-reg Volvo double deckers were much...

Always wondered why SWT's new generation of trains were numbered in the 4xx range and Southern/Southeastern's in the 3xx family. Maybe it was because some Southern (and Southeastern?) sets were delivered as dual voltage.

465/466 Networkers 444/450 Desiro 390 Pendolino 165/166 Turbo

Reading - Gatwick airport would normally be a 166, although I've heard FGW tend to use either a 165 or 166 at will these days. In the late '90s when I travelled on this route, most of the Gatwick trains were 166's and even branded as 'Turbo Express train' in the timetable. It was rare to have a...

My original point about 313's being suited to South London services was based on the interior configuration, as they are setup for inner suburban workings already. Also, how similar are they to the 455's in terms of driver knowledge and maintenance? Can they be any worse at keeping times or...

I have memories of the 442's Wessex Electrics speeding through Farnborough in 80s/90s.8-) Back around 1997, SWT ran a fast train which called at Farnborough Main then ran non-stop in to Waterloo. I did catch that train once with the aim of sampling the 442's as part of my newly developed...

Once or twice we took the train back around 1986/87 from Farnborough North to Reading or Guildford on the North Downs line. I was only about six but I remember being excited about going on a 'diesel' train which I understand now was probably a class 117 or 119. If I remember correctly there was...

Seems like a good topic for my first post! I got interested in trains back in 1996 at the age of 16, when a house move from Hampshire to Sussex resulted in me living away from home and staying with relatives to finish my last 8/9 months at school. I used to catch the 16:03 from North Camp to...