class-423-4vep

The BR Class 423 '4VEP' was a family of 194 four-car DC electric multiple unit sets built by British Railways York Works between 1967 and 1974 for the Southern Region's outer-suburban and secondary main-line services on the third-rail network, becoming the standard Southern Region outer-suburban EMU for the final decades of the twentieth century and working almost every non-express electric service on the SR's diverse network of commuter and secondary routes from London to the Kent and Sussex coasts and Hampshire. The VEP designation stood for Vestibule, Electric, Pullman, reflecting the vestibule-style end gangways rather than the full inter-vehicle corridor of the 4CIG.

The 4VEP was built in very large numbers — 194 sets — and became the defining rolling stock of the Southern Region and Network SouthEast outer-suburban experience for a generation of commuters and leisure travellers. The units worked the services from London Victoria and Waterloo to stations throughout Surrey, Hampshire, Kent, and Sussex that fell between the intensive inner-suburban 4SUB network and the express 4CIG and 4CEP services on the busiest corridors: the semi-fast Waterloo–Basingstoke, Victoria–Brighton calling services, Charing Cross–Hastings, and dozens of other intermediate-distance electric services.

Two examples are preserved: 3417 and 3438.