Hornby BR 2-BIL 2 Car Electric Multiple Unit Train Pack - R3258
The Southern Railway (SR) was
established in 1923, linking London with the Channel ports, South West
England, South coast resorts and Kent. It was the smallest of the 'Big
Four' railway regions with most of its revenue coming from passenger
traffic rather than freight in the more densely populated region of
southern England.
A number of famous 'named' trains were
operated by SR including the Brighton Belle, Bournemouth Belle, Golden
Arrow, the Night Ferry (London - Paris and Brussels), Atlantic Coast
Express and the Devon Belle.
Both Richard Maunsell and Oliver Bulleid
served as Chief Mechanical Engineers to the SR between 1923 and 1948 and
both designed new locomotives and rolling stock to replace those
inherited in 1923.
The electrification of the region began in
1929 under the management of Sir Herbert Walker. On completion it was
the world's largest electrified railway system.
Southern Railway gave the designation 2-BIL
to the DC third rail electric multiple units built during the 1930s.
The formation was a 2-car set: MBTL-DTCL, and were called 2-BIL (2-car
Bi-Lavatory stock) because each set had two lavatories, one in each car.
They were built to work long distance semi-fast services on the newly
electrified lines from London to Eastbourne, Portsmouth and Reading.
Between 1935 and 1938, a total of 152 sets
of the Class 2-BIL were built in 4 batches and were numbered 2001 -
2152. Numbers 2001 - 2010 in 1935 for service on the London to
Eastbourne sector. Numbers 2011 - 2048 in 1936 for the London Waterloo
to Alton and Portsmouth slow service. Numbers 2049 - 2116 in 1937 for
the Portsmouth to Bognor Regis service and numbers 2117 - 2152 in 1938
for the London Waterloo to Reading route.
The steel panelled wooden framed bodies
were built at SR Eastleigh Works and the steel underframes at SR Lancing
Works. Each 2 car unit measured 129'6" long and 9'2" wide and were
powered by two English Electric traction motors of 275hp (205kW) with a
maximum speed of 60mph. The units were fitted with automatic air-brakes.
The 2-BILs weighed 74tons 15cwt and had a passenger capacity of 24 in
First Class and 84 or 88 in the Third Class area.
In the early years of WWII Southern Region
suffered considerable damage due to its proximity to the coast,
including the loss of some 2-BIL units. By the end of the War the
proportion of freight carried had increased from 25% to 60% as the
region had been a marshalling area for troops and armaments destined for
the invasion of Europe.
The remaining units stayed in service and
passed to the newly formed British Railways in 1948 where they were
re-classified as Class 401 and continued in service on BR Southern
Region until all the units had been withdrawn.
The only 2-BIL unit to survive was No.
2090, formed of carriages No. 10656 and No. 12123 and is currently on
display at the National Railway Museum, Shildon.
The set No. 2086, represented here,
consisted of Brake No. 10652 and Composite No. 12119 and was outshopped
in October 1937 and remained in service until the 12th June 1971. After
being stored for a few months at Micheldever the unit was scrapped by A.
King Ltd. Wymondham in November 1971.
