2-Bil

Back in 1959 we moved from the north of England to the south and took up a home in Crawley New Town in Sussex. Even today this might be rather a culture shock but then it was more like moving between two different countries. In fact many kids at my new school couldn't understand a word I said ...

This move brought me in contact for the first time with former Southern Railway electric trains. The trains along the Horsham line were mainly 2-BIL units like the one shown here - Iunderstand that 'BIL' stands for the romantic label 'bi-lavatory'. Did that mean that the trains had two? Dunno ...

I liked these 1930's electric units in their malachite green livery. They had old fashioned 'slam doors' and were like rocking horses once they got over sixty but I can see now that the were trains full of character. I used to catch them up to London regulalrly and down to Bognor on the coast. They ran (as our modern units on these lines still do) on 700 volts DC picked up from that third rail.

Photo courtesy of Southern E-Group site.