Class 309 624 in British Rail Maroon | Clacton Express Preservation Group Special

The Class 309 also affectionately known as “Clacton Express” had been a local legend on the Great Eastern Mainline out of London Liverpool Street towards the sunny seaside resort of Clacton-On-Sea from 1963 all the way up to 2000. In collaboration with the Clacton Express Preservation Group, we are delighted to introduce 309 624 to the Rail Tags fleet.

 

Originally built as the Class AM9 these at the time revolutionary multiple units were built at Holgate Works in York in three subclasses: the /1s (601-608) which were two coaches long, 2/s (611-618) which consisted of four coaches one of them containing a “griddle car”, and the /3s (621-627) which were standard four car units. These units were built with the intention to be used in tandem increasing peak time capacity to ten coach services during the peak.

The Class 309s very quickly gained a very positive reputation amongst commuters and holiday makers on the Sunshine Coast and Great Eastern Mainline into London Liverpool Street due to their fabulous comfort levels and high performance also being well liked by traincrew who operated them on a near day to day basis. From 1971 further tweaks were made to Class 309 operations extending services to twelve carriages through an additional 309/1 unit being added to the ten car formation.

Despite major investment in the Class 309s and extended services deeper into Essex, Network SouthEast had earmarked the Class 309 units and other first generation rolling stock for withdrawal and replacement by completely modern rolling stock. This saw the introduction of the Class 321 in 1989 (nicknamed Dusty Bins) which rapidly withdrew operations of Class 305, 307, 308s, notably operating high capacity commuter and express diagrams to Clacton, Ipswich and Norwich. In 1992 Class 321 units started replacing diagrams operated by Class 309s and by May 1993 the Class 309s were withdrawn from their flagship Clacton-On-Sea operations, a premature end at only 31 years of passenger service.

Three out of seven units were saved for departmental use and converted at Eastleigh Works into the Class 960 for in cab signalling tests at Old Dalby prior to a refurbishment plan for the West Coast Mainline which never materialised.

The 960 units were withdrawn in 2004 and stored at Pigs Bay MoD. This opened the window for preservation, where ex 309616 and 306624 were transferred for static exhibition at the Electric Railway Museum in Coventry., 309616 was repainted into the post NSE refurb Jaffa Cake Essex Express livery.

309624 was sold to the Lavender Line and arrived in 2018 where some conservation work was carried out but nothing more, eventually being put up for sale in 2021 due to a change in priorities, thus making it surplus to requirements. A serious but possible risk was the scrapping of the unit being broken up for spare parts..

During the same year, a new preservation group was founded called the Clacton Express Preservation Group which had one aim and one aim only: preserve 30624 (classed as 960102 at the time)

Fighting through a lot of fundraising, campaigns to save the unit and doubts about the viability from the public by March 2022 it was formally announced that the money had been secured via a benefactor to purchase 960102 saving it from scrap and ensuring a preserved future awaits.

Initial restoration works took place on the Lavender Line after an 18th month deal to keep the unit there was agreed, during this time the unit suffered a vandalism attack damaging several internal and external windows which were costly to replace.

Despite the setbacks, in May 2024 it was officially announced the Class 309 was to return back onto Anglian soil finding a suitable home at the East Anglia Railway Museum in Chapel and Wakes Colne where coaches 75965 and 61928 now reside, whilst 75972 is currently located at the Rushden, Higham and Wellingborough Railway awaiting it’s own solo restoration.

75965 and 61928 arrived at the East Anglia Railway Museum in the same month as the announcement, suffering another vandalism attack days before the move occurred where they now reside.

In November 2024 the Clacton Express Preservation Group handed over metal taken from BDTC 75965 which underwent extensive restoration and fabrication works to the exterior, a portion of proceeds from every tag sale goes towards the Clacton Express Preservation Group's restoration efforts.