British Rail Class 432
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| British Rail Class 432 | |
|---|---|
| In service | 1966-1992 |
| Manufacturer | BR |
| Number built | Unknown |
| Formation | Unknown |
| Operator | British Rail |
| Specifications | |
| Maximum speed | 90mph 145km/h |
| Engine | 8 x 380 hp traction motors total 3,040 hp (2,268 kW) |
The British Rail Class 432 (or 4Rep) electric multiple units were built by BR at York Works from 1966-1967 and 1974. The units were built to power the 4TC trailer units on services on the South Western Main Line. Fifteen four-car units were built. The motor coaches were new build, but the trailers were converted from Mk1 hauled stock. They were initially classified as Class 430 and numbered 3001-3015. This was later changed to Class 432 and the units were renumbered to 2001-2015.
[edit] History
With the withdrawal of steam services and the electrification of the line to Bournemouth in 1967 there was insufficient financial justification to electrify between Bournemouth and Weymouth. This resulted in a quandary of how to maintain through services and the solution devised was novel. Tests in the mid 1960s had proved that high speed main line push pull operation was both feasible and safe. The result was to have a high powered EMU at the London end pushing trailer units to Bournemouth where the trailers would be detached and then pulled to Weymouth by a push-pull equipped diesel electric locomotive. The operation in the up direction was would be the reverse.
The high powered EMU tractor units were classified 4-REP (Restaurant EPB), the trailer units 3/4TC (Trailer Control) and the push pull equipped diesel locomotives were converted from 19 of the Southern's native BRCW type 3 fleet (eventually to become designated class 33/1).
Initially eleven 4 Rep units were built to propel the TC units to Bournemouth and pull them back to Waterloo. The 4 Reps were of the contemporary 1963 BR(S) EMU design and were formed of two motor second/standard saloons (MSO) sandwiching a trailer brake first corridor (TBFK) and a trailer buffet (TBuf). The MBSOs were new-builds but otherwise the TBFK was converted from a loco hauled Mk1 corridor composite and the TBuf from Mk1 loco hauled Restaurant Buffets. The 4 Reps were the most powerful EMUs on the Southern Region, with a total of 3,200 hp available, in order to be able to provide the traction for up to eight trailer cars. Just 100 HP short of the famous "Deltic" Class 55 diesel locomotive. Each Rep had eight traction motors and because of this to avoid an overload a Rep could only work with another powered EMU (or EDL) if sufficient traction motors in the overall formation were first isolated. Each power bogie had a shoe beam with two pick up shoes since there were two power circuits. In 1974 an additional four units were introduced to increase the frequency of the service and to provide cover for extended maintenance of the fleet. Even at this late stage, the by then, obsolescent, Mk1 design was adhered to, making these units the last Mk1 stock built.
When first introduced the REPs appeared in overall rail blue livery with small yellow warning panels and small aluminium BR arrows affixed below their side cab windows. The yellow warning panels were subsequently enlarged to cover the whole cab front. They were repainted during the early 1970s into Blue and Grey, losing their aluminium arrows in the process, the 1974 builds emerging in blue and grey livery from new. Surviving REPs did see an application of Network SouthEast livery from 1986 onwards, while the Class 442 "Wessex Electrics" were being built.
[edit] Replacement
Come the mid 1980s the decision came to replace the Bournemouth line stock not only since finance had become available to electrify the line between Bournemouth and Weymouth using new low cost technology but also the unpowered Rep and TC cars were originally built in the 1950s. In the late 1980s the 4Rep units needed replacement. However the long established Southern practice of reusing equipment took place for the traction motors and control gear - being not life expired - re-using them from the Reps. Various solutions to this stock shortage were found. In 1990, the South Hampshire Electrification Project (SHEP) was completed involving the Portsmouth to Eastleigh/Southampton lines. New stock was not allocated due to financial constraints but the service had to be kept running using existing resources. Originally it had been planned to retain three 4REPs which had earlier been stripped of asbestos, however unit No. 2003 was partially written off following the Clapham Junction Railway Crash in 1988, so a change of plan was needed. Instead a new formation of four "6REPs" (unit numbers being 1903 to 1906) was considered and finally implemented on the route. Spare TC trailers formed in the middle had their leading ends repainted and their driver compartment doors locked out of use. Shoe gear was fitted, and all coaches in Blue/Grey were repainted into NSE colours. The 6REPs also saw protracted use on the Weymouth line during the testing of Class 442s. In extreme cases, to keep services running, 4REPs had a motor coach replaced by a Class 73 locomotive. The new stock was to be the Class 442, based on the Mark 3 bodyshell. This required Rep units to be reformed and withdrawn to allow the equipment to be recovered before new 442s could become available. Reconfigured Reps and TCs soldiered on the Bournemouth line to cover for unavailable 442 units from mid 1988 until 1991. The final use of a Rep was in the last week of September 1991, units 1901 and 1904 being the last.
[edit] Preservation
As the electrical equipment was salvaged for use in the Class 442s, only the two driving motors from unit no. 2015 have survived (without traction equipment), both in departmental service.
Both vehicles are used for ultrasonic testing. 62482, since renumbered 999605, is formed in a locomotive hauled test train usually in the care of two Class 31 locomotives. 62483 became 999602 and currently runs sandwiched between Class 101 DMU vehicles.
(The 4Rep Appreciation Society) are looking at saving the remaining carriages and converting back to REP.
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