Saturday 27 February 2016

Twilight Journey to Bromley

EMU Class 466+465, "Networker", stands at Bromley South Station on the Southeast Line

This is continued from my blog on February 15th. After finishing my meeting in Central London, I headed to Bromley, a southeastern suburb of London City, to meet with a British rail fan. To get to Bromley, the Southeastern Line was convenient from Victoria Terminal.

My vehicle was a commuter train, the EMU Class 465+466, called "Networker". The Class 465 was launched in 1991 to replace an old model, Class 415. It is a 4-car train, while the Class 466 is a 2-car train, which debuted in 1993. Both Classes 465 and 466 are for a 1,435 mm gauge track with a 750 V DC (a third rail) electric system. The maximum speed is 120 km/hour. So far, a total of 147 sets (588 carriages) of the Class 465 and 43 sets (86 carriages) of the Class 466, have been built by BREL, ABB and GEC Alsthom.

My train, "Networker", was bound for Orpington being composed of Classes 465 (4 cars) and 466 (2 cars). It was crowded because of the evening rush hour. I saw many businessmen and businesswomen boarding. They were looking at their cellular phones, listening to music, reading books or just relaxing. Different from the commuter trains in Tokyo, there were not many people who were napping. "Networker" travelled slowly in the downtown area, but it increased speed after leaving Herne Hill. My twilight journey went by at lighting speed.

Side view of the Class 465