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Original Text (Annotation: EPW040931 / 400857)
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This would appear to be a train made up of two three sets at the outer ends with two non driving trailers sandwiched in the middle. This was a common arrangement in the first 20 or so years of electrification on the Southern, with former steam hauled coaches being rebuilt with driving cabs and motor bogies and formed into three car sets. When passenger numbers increased instead of making them into four car sets they put together trailers with no driving or power equipment that, together with a second three car unit, made eight car trains for the rush-hour services. There appears to be an unusually short vehicle in this formation as a trailer.
By the 1950s most set were four cars, often with a new metal bodied additional trailer inserted. South West Trains still has some four car sets of modern stock with a one trailer that has a different side and roof profile, thus perpetuating a characteristic of 'Southern' trains over the last 60 plus years! '