06 November 2025, 14:49

Farewell, 455s! South Western Railway to stage ‘farewell tour’ for iconic red commuter trains

South Western Railway will stage a farewell tour for its Class 455 commuter trains, which have served South West London, Berkshire and Surrey for the last 42 years
The tour will take in familiar places and a few special locations on South Western Railway’s network
Tickets go on sale this Monday, 10 November, with profits going to three charities: The Alex Wardle Foundation, Macmillan and The Railway Children
The fleet is being replaced by South Western Railway’s new Arterio trains, with each 10-car train carrying over 50% more customers than the Class 455s

SOUTH Western Railway (SWR) is staging a farewell tour for its Class 455 trains on Sunday 21 December.

SWR’s fleet of red trains, which transport customers from the likes of Guildford, Twickenham and Windsor to London Waterloo, will be retired by the end of the year. SWR’s new fleet of Arterio trains is being rolled out and will soon operate all its suburban network services.

In recognition of their role in the lives of millions of customers, their popularity with rail enthusiasts, and to mark the end of an era on the British railway network, SWR and the Branch Line Society will run a special charter service.

Class 455 in British Rail blue livery - credit: Jeremy Chapter

Photo by Jeremy Chapter

The ‘Class 455 Farewell’ tour will include some familiar places on the suburban network, such as Epsom and Kingston, along with a few special routes and locations, such as the District Line’s branch between East Putney and Wimbledon, plus Haslemere on the Portsmouth Direct Line*.

Just 400 tickets will go on sale, at a cost of £45.50 each, from the Branch Line Society’s website at 11am on Monday 10 November. The profits will go to three charities, The Alex Wardle Foundation, Macmillan, and The Railway Children.

Neil Drury, South Western Railway’s Engineering and Infrastructure Director, said:

“While customers are getting used to the many benefits of our new fleet of Arterio trains, we know there are a lot of enthusiasts out there who will be sad to see our classic red trains go.

“The farewell tour will be a fitting tribute to these trains, which have been a staple of our railway and worked incredibly hard for more than four decades. Best of all, the proceeds will go to three specially selected charities.

“We look forward to welcoming ticket holders on board on Sunday 21 December.”

A familiar sight for millions of commuters in South West London, Berkshire and Surrey, 70 Class 455 trains were built for what is now the SWR network by British Rail Engineering Limited, between 1982 and 1985. They entered service on SWR’s suburban routes on Monday 28 March 1983.

Arterio and Class 455 at London Waterloo - credit: South Western Railway

Photo by South Western Railway

90 Arterio trains will replace the Class 455 fleet and are currently operating more than 300 services per day, with more joining in the coming weeks and months to transform journeys on SWR’s suburban network.

The brand new, 10-car trains will serve 98 stations in and around South West London, and each will carry over 50% more customers than the Class 455s, significantly increasing capacity for customers.

The £1 billion fleet will also improve customer comfort, providing modern features including Wi-Fi, charging points at every seat, real time information, accessible toilets and air conditioning.

Contact Information

South Western Railway Press Office
press@swrailway.com

Notes to editors

*The final route is subject to change and will be confirmed shortly before the date of the tour. More information will be available on the Branch Line Society’s website.

The Branch Line Society is a UK-based voluntary association for railway enthusiasts. It is a nationally spread organisation with a membership of over 2,600 (including quite a few resident overseas). It was established in 1955 and is widely recognised as Britain's leading amateur group for the study of railway infrastructure and history of networks.

The Alex Wardle Foundation Fund was set up in memory of Alex Wardle, who passed away in March 2016 from Sudden Arrhythmic Death Syndrome (SADS). The foundation was headed by Alex’s father and SWR colleague, Steve Wardle, who passed away in September.

Macmillan Cancer Support has been chosen in honour of SWR colleague James Mckinnon, who passed away in January.

The Railway Children is one of SWR’s partner charities, which supports vulnerable children alone and at risk on the streets and at transport hubs.

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South Western Railway

Operating over 1,500 services each weekday, SWR provides commuter, regional and long distance services to customers in South West London, the southern counties of England and the Isle of Wight.

As well as commuters and business travellers, SWR transports leisure travellers across the region, to many tourist and heritage sites, and the numerous major sporting and social events that take place along the route every year.

SWR provides easy and convenient mobility, improving quality of life by connecting people and communities.

About DFTO

DFTO is the government’s public sector rail owning group. Its purpose is to bring all currently privately-owned train operators into public ownership in advance of the creation of Great British Railways in 2027. Alongside Network Rail, it is one of the ‘twin engines’ of GBR and is enabling and driving forward crucial rail reform.

The group’s current train operating companies are: LNER, Northern, Southeastern, TransPennine Express, SWR, c2c and Greater Anglia. This means that half of the train operators (7 out of 14 train operating companies) that will form the backbone of passenger services under Great British Railways (GBR) are now in public ownership.

Together, the DFTO group employs more than 26,000 people; runs almost 8,000 daily services and manages more than 1,000 stations.

It delivers more than 550 million customer journeys across its networks every year, accounting for 33% of all UK passenger journeys.