3 Car Trailer For Sale
4-DD unit 4902 a survivor against all odds.
With only two double deck units ever built to run on the British Railway network you would have thought one 4-car set or at the very least one driving end would have been worthy of preservation by the National Railway Museum. Alas that has never been the case so unit 4902 which survived into preservation (of sorts) has lead a perilous existence since finishing service with BR when withdrawn in October 1971.
The two 4-DD units originally numbered 4001 and 4002 were 750v DC EMU’s built to increase capacity on the South East London Suburban network. They were designed by Oliver Bulleid of the Southern Railways and are in fact a sort of one and a half decker as the upper floor seats occupy the luggage rack space of the lower saloon. They were seen as an innovative solution to the capacity problems experienced on lines from Dartford into London Charing Cross and Cannon Street but once in service had several major short comings. The biggest problem was found to be station dwell times as they had slightly less doors than a standard 4-SUB or 4-EPB unit but two decks so more people to get on and off. This one factor worked against the design so plans to build more were never carried through. Instead the units were allocated to busy but not high peak services and were used on the same workings for just about the whole of there 22 year career.
4902 survived in preservation as a 3-car set comprising vehicles S13003S+S13503S+S13004S with the other intermediate trailer S13504S scrapped soon after withdrawl. It spent many years at the fledgling South Eastern Steam Centre based at Ashford Steam sheds but this museum never really became a comercial success. Then after an acrimonious falling out with the landlords British Rail over unpaid rents that had gone on for years the site was closed and cleared in a hurry. Alas as reparation for unpaid debt BR contracted T.W. Wards of Silvertown in London to cut up remaiПing stock on site. Intermediate vehicle S13503S was dealt with on site almost straight away leaving just the two driving motor ends. These were hastily removed from the site after T.W Ward’s agreed sales to preservationists. Thus vehicle S13003S seen here initally moved to open storage in a farmyard at Great Bower Farm, Challock, Kent while the other end S13004S ended up in Northamptonshire at the Northampton & Lamport Railway where it arrived in November 1984. vehicle S13004 subsequently moved to the Northants Ironstone Trust at Hunsbury Hill while S13003S seen in the picture moved to secure storage at Hope Farm, Sellinge, Kent. The site is owned by A.J. Birch but is also home to many restored and unrestored vintage vehicles as well as the Southern Locomotives Group. What the future holds for the 4-DD is any bodies guess but 40 years of open storage sure is taking its toll.