The Southern Railway (SR) gave the designation CP to the fleet of AC

electric multiple unit An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple-unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a numbe ...

s used on the former

London, Brighton and South Coast Railway The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR; known also as the Brighton line, the Brighton Railway or the Brighton) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1846 to 1922. Its territory formed a rough triangle, with London at its ...

lines in the Crystal Palace area.

Construction

The CP (Crystal Palace stock) units were built in 1911–1913 to provide the electric train stock required for the

LBSCR The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR; known also as the Brighton line, the Brighton Railway or the Brighton) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1846 to 1922. Its territory formed a rough triangle, with London at its ...

AC overhead electrification to Crystal Palace and the surrounding area. This stock comprised some 90 cars, which were used in three-car formations, usually (Driving Trailer

Composite Composite or compositing may refer to: Materials * Composite material, a material that is made from several different substances ** Metal matrix composite, composed of metal and other parts ** Cermet, a composite of ceramic and metallic materials ...

+Driving Motor Brake

Third Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * Second#Sexagesimal divisions of calendar time and day, 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (d ...

+Driving Trailer Composite). Thirty motor coaches and 30 driving trailers were built by the Metropolitan Amalgamated Carriage and Wagon Co. Ltd. in 1911. Each motor coach had four Winter Eichberg motors. A further 26 driving trailers were built at the LBSC's

Lancing Carriage Works Lancing carriage and wagon works was a railway carriage, railway carriage and wagon building and maintenance facility in the village of Lancing, West Sussex, Lancing near Shoreham-by-Sea in the county of West Sussex in England from 1911 until 196 ...

. In 1912, four additional motor and trailer pairs were delivered by MAC&W's successor, the

Metropolitan Carriage, Wagon and Finance Company Metro-Cammell, formally the Metropolitan Cammell Carriage and Wagon Company (MCCW), was an English manufacturer of railway carriages, locomotives and railway wagons, based in Saltley, and subsequently Washwood Heath, in Birmingham. Purchase ...

. Lancing Works built eight more trailers the following year. After the replacement of the AC overhead equipment by the 660 V DC third rail system adopted as standard by the SR, the carriages that formed these units were rebuilt accordingly.

Formations

The LB&SCR originally did not buy sufficient stock for 30 sets, on the grounds that the trailers cars would be quicker to overhaul than the motor cars. Fixed formations were not used, and as the Motor cars had cabs, the CP stock could be used in trains of two to six vehicles.

References

* * * * SR CP CP London, Brighton and South Coast Railway Train-related introductions in 1911 {{electric-loco-stub