British Rail Class 456

British Rail Class 456
South West Trains Class 456 No. 456017 at Wimbledon station.
The interior of a South West Trains refurbished Class 456
In service	30 September 1991 - present
Manufacturer	BREL York
Family name	BR Second Generation (Mark 3)
Constructed	1990 - 1991
Refurbishment	Refresh: 2005 - 2007 by Southern. Full refurbishment: 2014 - 2015 by South West Trains.
Number built	24 trainsets
Formation	2 cars per trainset DMSO-DTSO
Fleet numbers	456001 - 456024
Capacity	152 seat
Operator(s)	South West Trains
Specifications
Maximum speed	75 mph (121 km/h)
Weight	72.5 t (71.4 long tons; 79.9 short tons)
Power output	500 hp (373 kW)
Electric system(s)	750 V DC third rail
Braking system(s)	Air (westcode)
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge

The British Rail Class 456 electric multiple-unit trains were built by BREL York Works from 1990-91.

24 two-car units were built as direct replacements for the elderly Class 416 2EPB units which operated on the Central Division of the Southern Region of British Rail. Units were delivered into traffic painted in Network SouthEast blue, red and white livery. Units were numbered in the range 456001-024. Each unit consisted of two carriages; a driving motor and a driving trailer. The technical description (when new) of the unit formation is DMSO+DTSOL. Individual carriage numbers were as follows:

When first introduced, the units suffered from many technical and reliability problems, which delayed the replacement of the 2EPB units. However, once they settled down the units were used on many services, including London Bridge to London Victoria via Crystal Palace, and via Denmark Hill and London Victoria to Horsham. Before the lines closed in 1997 to allow the building of Tramlink, Class 456 units worked services on the West Croydon to Wimbledon Line before being allocated to Victoria - Epsom via Sutton and West Croydon, especially at peak times, as well as services from Epsom Downs and Dorking.

The trains then moved to South West Trains, being part of a 455+456+456 set to cover for the refresh of the company's Class 455 sets, before moving to a ten car 455+455+456 set.

Since the privatisation of Britain's railways, the entire Class 456 fleet passed into the Southern (formerly known as South Central) franchise, which was originally won by Connex South Central. Only one unit, No. 456024, was repainted in white and yellow Connex livery, when it was named Sir Cosmo Bonsor after a chairman of the South Eastern Railway. The rest of the fleet had remained in NSE livery, until summer 2006 when the fleet started to be repainted.