Category: News

NEWS RELEASE: Embargoed until 31/03/2020 23:59Unique 4VEP converted to Dual Voltage EMU. Strawberry Hill Depot, London.The Southern Electric Traction Group has announced that, thanks to work carried out in strictest secrecy at Bombardier UK's Ilford works three years ago, unique 4VEP No. 423 417 is to become the first Southern Region Mark One EMU to become dual-voltage. As originally built, the 4VEP, currently under restoration by the Southern Electric Traction Group at Strawberry Hill Depot, was built to accept traction power from the 750V DC Third Rail network. However, in the interests of ensuring the long-term operability of the unit, the SETG have masterminded the conversion of the unit to dual voltage, meaning that it will be able to run under its own power on either the 750V DC third…

Good evening, Followers of Gordon. This is just a brief update to keep you abreast of progress on fixing the coach heating fault on Non-Driving Trailer No.70797. At present we are getting quotes for materials to correct the fault. This will comprise (approximately): 50 meters of new wiring conduit, plus fixings. 200 meters of replacement wiring. We now expect the cost of this will be around £300. Thanks to the kindness of those of you who have pledged towards our #PintForTheVEP appeal, we have sufficient funds in place to cover this outlay; brilliant work, everyone! Buckie (Holder of the Screwdriver of Truth and winner of the 'Mr Greasy Spanner Monkey 2019' competition) believes that at present we are looking at four months work, assuming two work days a month to get…

          Good afternoon, dear readers. How was your lunch? We hope you've enjoyed the morning's regular updates. Because the earlier "as it happens" post was getting a little unwieldy I'll go back to something a little more conventional. First off, a brief summary of the morning: 70797 is becoming a nightmare for Buckie. It looks like external wiring conduits on both sides of the vehicle are at least partially rusted through to the point where the heating supply is earthing itself. Of course it's failed safe, but rectifying it is going to be a bit of a mission. Have a look through the morning's videos here for more information as narrated by the man himself. There was a pigeon. Let's call it Fred. Fred visited and…

Good morning, dear readers (yes - both of you). This is the first time I've not been able to attend a work day when the bulk of the other Minions are on-site, thanks to severe conjunctivitus, so in-between visits to the bathroom for eyedrops and suchlike I thought I'd try something a bit different with this report. We'll have an almost real time, as it happens, blow-by-blow and cliche-after-cliche series of updates throughout the day to keep you appraised of current progress. It might work, it might not - lets see. 11:20am. Buckie, Darren, Lynn and Maggie on-site. Fielded phone call from Lynn whilst I was getting up. She has found a problem Buddliea plant on the outside of the building - it's clearly been there for some years and…

Good evening everyone. I'm writing this report from my office, early on Sunday evening. I'm telling you that because several things haven't changed since yesterday; the first thing being that I am very proud of what was achieved at Strawberry Hill only 24 hours ago. Yesterday felt like a huge leap forward for the unit and for the SETG (I'll elaborate as we go along). Secondly, I'm still knackered; this preservation stuff isn't simple, but then again anything worthwhile is rarely easy. How lucky are we to not only have a dedicated and talented team backing the unit, but to have so many of you following our progress on Twitter and Facebook. It's astonishing. None of us are doing this to look cool (after all we're railway enthusiasts and as…

Good morning, followers of VEP! I apologise for not keeping a tighter rein on the updates to the website, but as always I have been finding (or have been found) other things to do or simply neglecting to sit down and write when I should have. As those of you who follow us on Twitter and Facebook will be aware, work is progressing well at Strawberry Hill. For those of you who don't have access to those sites, you'll find below a brief outline of the past two months' work and what has been achieved. We are extremely pleased with our progress, and despite extremely limited funds we are making steady headway. As our Chief Spanner Monkey rightly observes, "there are things we can do for pennies and we've got…

  Normally writing would involve a keyboard, but alas I find myself keyboardless. So pen and paper will do. And they have the added benefit that they don’t need a charger. It does mean that at some point in the future I’ll have to translate my own handwriting - your thoughts and prayers will be appreciated. Normal service for the SETG News page would involve my writing something daft/amusing regarding our progress on 3417. But today is different. Because today 3417 is lacking one of it’s most Senior Minions. Driver Gwilym Jones, depot driver at Wimbledon Park, ex Euston West Coast driver and part of the original ‘Three Musketeers’ who decided one evening more than a decade ago that 4VEP No. 3417 could not be allowed to slip quietly away,…

Good morning, Followers of Gordon! A very brief line to let you know a few things: Firstly, Minion Darren reports that we have the first of the new batch of inner window trims ready for fitting. As soon as we can arrange a work day, we will make a test fitting of the first batch. Pictures will be provided! Secondly, we have been notified that our friends at Siemens and SWR that they will require the spare road at Strawberry Hill for maintenance work on part of their fleet. While this is going on, in accordance with our arrangement with both parties, we will be unable to access the shed. However, work such as production of window frames and so on can take place off-site. We hope to regain access…

Good day, folks! A few quick updates for you rolled into one, because I have been rather lax in updating the news. I apologise - please blame the deliciousness of biscuits, the Big Railway, finding free bricks (it's a long story - don't ask) and many other varieties of mundane stuff which get in the way of Playing Trains and telling you lot about it. For those of you who follow the exploits of 3417 on Twitter these little nuggets may come as old news, but I know there are many who don't. So enough excuses; we have things to share.  Firstly, the long-standing AWS fault in both cabs has finally been remedied. Thanks are due in huge part to our friends at the Southern Preservation Group at Tunbridge Wells West…

      Good afternoon, Oh Children of the VEP! Harken all ye here assembled, for we bring you glad tidings of Work Completed, Tea & Pasties Consumed, Ice-ed Buns sent Home, Wood Fitted, Filler Applied, Horns Sounded and Floors Swept! Right - that's enough of the Town Cryer nonsense; on with the news. Minions Darren, Trousers, Potter, Lynn and Maggie were in attendance at Strawberry Hill on Saturday for the first work day of 2019, where they made significant progress towards completing the interior restoration of Driving Trailer No. 76262. After the first order of the day was completed (tea and biscuits, folks - very important) Darren, Trousers and Potter set to the work. The first task of the day was energising the unit; making working conditions for several…