South West London outing to Earlsfield (03/08/24)

Well it's very rare for me to go south of the river, but on Saturday 3rd of August 2024, that's exactly what I did. I went to Earlsfield in South West London, and this is a new area that I have not visited before so... no pressure if I get lost I guess. 

Two Class 345 Elizabeth Line services departing and arriving at Goodmayes station.
Left train: Departing on Shenfield service.
Right train: Arriving on a London Paddington service.
Taken during: August 2024

My journey began by taking the Elizabeth Line (a London Paddington train) from Goodmayes to Stratford which took 15 minutes to reach. At Stratford, I then interchanged for a Jubilee line heading towards Stanmore. The walk was a bit longer than necessary as I sat in a different carriage but no worries, I still made it. It was 20 minutes of a suffering, crowded and sweaty ride up to London Waterloo where I alighted. The weather is hot enough already being 24C, but it was the heatwave season - it certainly hasn't felt like so during the past few months. Interchanged once again onto the National Rail platforms which took 6 minutes to walk through.  

I took the Hampton Court service as you can see on the departure boards at London Waterloo.

Welcome to London Waterloo. One of many London terminals. I had to tap out to access the platforms here and as the station was in Zone 1 it added more cost. Now you may wonder why traveling around Zone 1 is expensive. Well, if you look at the tube map, all of the stations there (unless stated) operates in Zones from 1 to 6 and Zone 1 in Central London is tourist heaven; shops, theatres, landmarks etc. The further out you go from Zone 1, the cheaper it is and the times of day vary as well. So if you travel during rush hour the fares are higher compared to off-peak. It does not apply on weekends thankfully. 

Arriving at the station concourse, I paused and looked up at the departure screen and went for the Hampton Court service. Unlike main London terminals which have a few of National Rail operators, London Waterloo has only one - South Western Railway (SWR). SWR offer a range of services across; South West London, Surrey, Hampshire, Berkshire, Devon, Somerset and Wiltshire. It is insane to think (in my mind at least, I don't know about you) that 24 platforms at Waterloo are all served by SWR and not by other rail operators, considering how large the station is and the areas mentioned above. 

A Class 455 South Western Railway train is seen at London Waterloo on the 14:36 service to Hampton Court.
Taken during: August 2024

My train for the journey to Earlsfield was a Class 455 unit. Entering service in 1983, these trains have been the face of the suburban services across South West London for over 40 years and are starting to reach the end of their time in service. Earlier this year, SWR finally introduced the Class 701 Arterios into service on Tuesday 9th of January 2024, originally they were supposed to enter service in 2019 but a whole host of issues and delays have caused this to happen. At the moment, two are currently in service and operate on Windsor and Eton Riverside services, but will eventually expand to their suburban services and Reading lines. During the 12 minute ride, there were so many SWR services passing by in such a short time - the frequency of trains here are insane. The Class 455 offered a decent ride considering I was only going a couple of stops. As you can see above these (the Class 455s) and the Class 458s retain the South West Trains livery, which was the previous train operator until SWR took over in 2017. It wouldn't make real sense to repaint the 455s into the current SWR livery as they are leaving the fleet, however, the 458s are set to be staying which is something that I will get to later. After an hour of travelling, I finally reached Earlsfield station. 

South Western Railway Class 455 Interior

Interior map showing the train services in London and the South East. The lines highlighted in blue on the map is operated by South Western Railway, while the other lines represent other train operators.

Route map showing the suburban lines for South Western Railway.

Arrived at Earlsfield station which is in Zone 3 of the Tube Map.

Earlsfield seemed like a posh suburban area that contained your shops, restaurants and housing. Basically, typical stuff that you see when you go around suburbs in London. Some are obviously not as posh as other areas in London, but every suburb and town have their own thing going I guess. 

Earlsfield Station entrance.

Earlsfield (High Street), basically.

Go Ahead London WSD19 (SN19XZO) is seen in Earlsfield on route 44 towards Tooting Station.
Bus type seen: Wrightbus Streetdeck
Taken during: August 2024

An airplane seen in Earlsfield heading to Heathrow Airport.

Once I was done in Earlsfield, I made my way back to the station. I boarded route 77 to take me there which didn't take too long. Returning to London Waterloo, I managed to ride a Class 458. Now as I have mentioned, these trains do indeed have a future and are to be redeployed on the long distance services. Currently they are being refurbished and are being reduced from 5 to 4 car, so that they can fit more carriages and accommodate more capacity. The plan originally was for them to be used on the long-distance services from London Waterloo and Portsmouth Harbour, but due to the way people travel nowadays thanks to the pandemic, travelling has changed so SWR have taken the decision to deploy them on their suburban network, while they introduce their full fleet of Class 701 Arterios into service. 

Go Ahead London EH297 (YX18KXK) is seen in Earlsfield on route 77 towards Tooting Station.
Bus type seen: Alexander Dennis Enviro 400 Hybrid MMC
Taken during: August 2024

South Western Railway Class 458 Interior. 

A Class 458 Juniper is seen at London Waterloo having dropped me off from Earlsfield. It then went to do a London Waterloo circular service via Strawberry Hill.
Taken during: August 2024 

  

My outing came to an end and I got a Jubilee and Elizabeth Lines back home, being unsurprisingly busy for a Saturday evening. I am not entirely sure why it has taken me this long to travel on South Western Railway, then again I did not have any purpose for using them as I do not go South of the River Thames that much nowadays. It was nice to experience it though. 

January 2026 update

I wrote this post around September 2024, a month after this trip and since then things have changed. A farewell tour took place for the Class 455 trains on Sunday 21st of December 2025. As it stands, two of them have been retained until March, as the Class 701s continue to enter service. The rest have gone to be scrapped. It's an end of era for the Class 455s for the suburban network around London (and onwards to Woking and Reading at times.) Still, I am glad I managed to get a ride (even if it was just once) before they retired.  

Thank you for reading and happy riding!

A Class 455 is seen at Guildford station on the farewell tour organised by the Branch Line Society. 
The replacement, Class 701 can be seen opposite. Old vs New. 
Photo taken during: December 2025
Photo taken by: Thomas Robinson

Class 455 1983 - 2025.