00
GAUGE
4mm:1ft
1979 to 2004
ERA
IT HAS BEEN a number of years since the release of the as-built Class 411, 4-CEP model which represented the class from its construction until the 1980s refurbishment programme undertaken at Swindon works.
The new model concludes the CEP story from the start of the 1980s through to the withdrawal of surviving units in 2004 when Class 375 Electrostars were introduced on Kent Coast lines and Class 444 along with Class 450 Desiro units on the South Western.
The 4-CEP was slowly diminishing in number during the 1990s as ways to remove the old and increasingly tatty units from Kent Coast routes were sought. Further, during the 1990s, Stagecoach needed more units for its South West Train franchise resulting in a sizeable number being transferred, tidied up and repainted in the TOC’s bright livery. It is a rich period in the history of the class which has some modellers wondering why it has taken so long for
