Expansion South West London Network: London Waterloo - Chessington, Hampton Court, Shepperton & Feltham

With a route length of around 43 miles, this network route provides a much more expanded experience than the previous network route in TSW (Cardiff City Network) as well as including parts of the SWR network not seen in TS Classic before. This route would be set during 2025 and the transition between 701s and 455s





Proposed Rolling Stock

• Class 455/7 and /8 in South Western Railway (Ex SWT) livery

The Class 455s have been stalwarts of the London commuter services since their introduction in 1982, with their replacement by the much delayed 701s finally occuring this year. The 4 car units almost always work in pairs and have a top speed of 75mph.

• Class 701 'Arterio' in South Western Railway livery

Construction on these units started all the way back in 2019 but delays due to COVID as well as multiple software issues and disagreements with the RMT union meant they didn't enter service until the 9th January 2024, initially on services to Windsor. In September they began working on the Shepperton branch and since then have found themselves also working services to Hampton Court, Chessington South, Woking and Weybridge. The fleet is formed of 60 10car units and 30 5car units

What services would be included with this route?

• Surbiton - London Waterloo: 6tph (additional services at peak times)
• Chessington South - London Waterloo: 2tph
• Hampton Court - London Waterloo: 2tph
• Shepperton - London Waterloo: 2tph (additional services run via Twickenham during peak times)
• Feltham - London Waterloo: 6tph (additional services run during peak times)

Some suburban services are run by class 450s and 458s these days (mainly the Weybridge and peak time via Brentford services) and so these would be substituted by 455s if an 8car formation but if there's a 5/10car 458 diagrammed then this would be swapped for a 701/5.

 

I like the route suggestion, but not the era. Take it back 30 years and add in slam door units and class 50s and I’ll buy it! (Even if the Class 50 was a separate purchase!)

 

Did any of the Exeter/Salisbury services stop at Surbiton back then or would be like with the BCC 170 DLC and using some creative license to make them stop at Surbiton?

 

While I love the slam-door era suggestion, I wouldn't mind a mixture of 455s and 701s.
The 455s retire from service on Tuesday-week (23rd December) so it'll be lovely to be able to have them to drive and experience after they're gone. It's about time we had a Mk3-Derived EMU in TSW.