Class 465/466
Kent Link Networker
Since 1952, South Eastern Division suburban workings were handled by 2 / 4 EPB, which had superseded the pre-Grouping designs which were deployed when the ex-SE&CR lines were electrified by the Southern Railway. The units had given sterling service since their inception, plying the suburbs, but by the early 1980s their age, coupled with the desire to gradually phase out separate compartment and slam-door stock, saw a replacement fleet being sought. British Rail had reformed EPB compartment stock into arrangements with saloon carriages only, to reduce the risk of attacks on services (compartment stock was only to be used on peak time services). General maintenance on the EPBs had also become more expensive, particularly after the formation of the Business Sectors in 1982. Seats growing mould, compounded by broken light bulbs became noticeable on some sets as the units continued on commuter routes throughout the 1980s. It was the ''London & SouthEast'' sector which instigated a replacement programme for this stock, although the project took off under the re-branded sector image of ''Network SouthEast''. The sectors were under pressure from Central Government to reduce operating costs in response to a Treasury objective of reducing subsidy paid to British Rail. This, it later transpired, the sectors succeeded in. Network SouthEast's overall aim within its operating boundaries was to replace all slam-door stock on London suburban workings with modern, standardised designs of sliding door configuration - colloquially known as the ''Networker Family''. These would be cheap to maintain and easy to acquire parts for. The replacement programme became known as the ''Network 2000'' project.
The replacement scheme met formal approval to proceed in 1986, the Network SouthEast brand itself coming into existence on 10th June 1986. The new generation of Kent suburban electric multiple units would feature three-phase drive, regenerative braking (the electric motors reverse direction to slow the train down, which in turn allows some of the wasted electrical power to be returned to the grid), and have the then revolutionary aluminium body construction. In spring 1988 Network SouthEast began inviting potential builders to bid for a contract outlining the construction of no less than 710 EMU vehicles, these of which would be coupled into formations of four (leaving two spare) and become ''Class 465''. British Rail Engineering Limited (BREL, later to become ABB) at York and Anglo-French electronics giant GEC Alsthom at Birmingham rose to the challenge of developing a design package suitable to the needs of the ''Networker project''. Both companies devised traction packages which had distinct pros and cons over each other, but with steady influence from the railway politics of the era, both companies were eventually selected to share the contract work. The design of the units to be built by each company was explicitly laid out by the Business Sector, the appearance of the body shells of both batches tracing their lineage back to the original drawings of BREL. However, a noticeable disadvantage from the outset, contrary to the endeavour of producing a totally standardised fleet, was the difference in electronic constitution between BREL and GEC builds. Although virtually identical aesthetically, the separate BREL and GEC batches used different components, thus preventing interchange of parts and requiring two separate stockpiles of replacement components. Body shells were virtually identical, however, and to be built at an aluminium factory in Breda, Italy. Contracts were finally signed in August 1989, but to add to the prevailing complications, delivery of Class 465 vehicles was to be slower than originally envisaged, partly due to the late confirmation of which companies were to build the units, but also because of insubstantial finance. This instigated a stop gap measure to cover for the short-fall in new stock deliveries, thus in May 1991 a proportion of GEC's Class 465 build number was altered to allow the construction of a fleet of 43 two-vehicle units, latterly to become ''Class 466''. This would allow the new stock to assume the existing maximum ten-vehicle length formations on peak time suburban work. Unit Nos. 465001 to 465050 and Nos. 465151 to 465197 became part of the BREL batch, whilst GEC Alsthom were responsible for units Nos. 465201 to 465250 and all of the two-car units, 466001 to 466043.
Class 465
No. 465001 is seen at Dartford on 1st July 2004 after bringing in a service from Charing Cross
via Greenwich. The '4' digit transfer is no longer present, but a watermark imprint of the number
is evident. 465001 was part of an initial batch of fifty units to be built by BREL at York and was
the first of the class to be delivered to BR for testing, along with 465201 of the GEC Alsthom builds.
David Glasspool
This next picture depicts the second unit of the class, No. 465002 at Swanley on 27th February 2004,
forming a service to Blackfriars via Catford. It wears the same livery as No. 465001. David Glasspool
No. 465003 trundles into Swanley station on 13th February 2006, pairing with another unit of
the class on a service from Blackfriars, destined for the Bat & Ball line. David Glasspool
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