As the last 2 Bil unit was being completed at the end of 1938, designs were already drawn up for a new type of 2-car main line and branch unit, the 2 Hal.

Robert Maunsell had retired in 1937 and Oliver Bulleid was now the Southern Railway's Chief Mechanical Engineer.  Although Leonard Lynes continued as Bulleid's Carriage and Wagon Assistant, Bulleid's arrival marked the start of a series of changes in the design and construction of the Southern's passenger rolling stock.

Units 2601-2692

76 units, numbered 2601-76 were constructed in the first half of 1939 for the Gillingham and Maidstone electrification.  These were followed at the end of 1939 by a further series, numbered 2677-2692, to enable Waterloo-Reading line trains to be strengthened from six to eight cars at peak times.

This first build of 2 Hal units used a similar form of construction to the 2 Bil,. with composite body (wood frames, steel panels) and a wood/canvas roof.  The driving cab, however, was fabricated from welded steel sheet - Bulleid was to develop the use of welding techniques for a range of rolling stock applications during his time as the Southern's CME.  The cab was similar in general shape to the traditional standard Southern suburban EMU front end but it was more plain and angular in appearance.

The interiors were much more utilitarian than earlier main line units, presumably in order to reduce the cost of construction.  Comfortable hammock-slung lift-out cushions in the 4 Lav and 2 Bil Third-class compartments gave way to hard, narrow, suburban-type bench seating with a scalloped top line to the seat backs.  The First-class compartments were better but nevertheless only just up to previous Third-class standards.  Despite their reasonably steady riding qualities the 1939 2 Hal units were among the Southern's most uncomfortable stock.  Traditional varnished hardwoods were replaced by rexine and cotton-finished panelling in cream, beige, grey or light blue according to class and the function of the panel concerned.

The units were made up of a Driving Motor Brake Third (DMBT) and a Driving Trailer Composite (DTC).  The DMBTs had a driving cab, guard's van area and seven suburban-type Third-class compartments with five-a-side seating and no side corridor.  The internal layout of the DTCs was cab, four Third-class compartments, four First-class compartments and lavatory, with the corridor on the left-hand side (the opposite side to the 2 Bil DTCs).  Underframes and with English-Electric suburban-type electrical equipment were essentially the same as the final batch of 2 Bil units.

2677-92 became common stock with the 2 Bil fleet on the Western Section and in due course with 2 Bil units on the Central section.  The Maidstone and Gillingham services on the Eastern Section, however, were normally worked exclusively by 2 Hal units.

2693-2699

War losses to 2 Bil and 2 Nol units caused a shortage of 2-car units so a small batch of 2 Hal units was built at the end of 1948.  These units, numbered 2693-2699, were on the same type of underframe and had the same motors and equipment as the 1939 series.  However, the new units had all-steel bodies and the front-end profile of post-1945 suburban stock.

The DMBTs had cab, guard's van area and seven non-corridor Third-class compartments seating six a side.  They were similar to contemporary 4 Sub. DMBTs except that they had one less compartment and larger guard's vans with a nominal load capacity of 2 tons - in times now long since gone, local passenger trains outside the suburban area carried a large amount of parcels and miscellaneous traffic, including boxes of fish and bulky items such as milk churns.

Like the earlier 2 Hal units the DTCs had a driving cab, four Third-class compartments seating four-a-side, four First-class compartments seating three-a-side and a lavatory but this time the corridor was on the right and incorporated a communicating door (normally locked) to the driver's cab.

The seating in these new units was to post-war suburban standards and greatly superior to the 1939 batches.

2700

In 1955, one more 2 Hal unit was formed.  Its DMBT, no. 12664, was an 82-seat all-steel suburban saloon built in April 1950 and originally formed in 4 Sub. 4590 (a story on its own).  Having been built as a suburban vehicle it had only one periscope and therefore - in theory at least - it could not work solo.  A second periscope was fitted in 1957 as part of a general overhaul.

Its DTC, 12855, was one of four accident replacements built at the end of 1954 and was built on the underframe of 2 Bil driving trailer 12037, the body of which had been destroyed in an air-raid at Brighton in May 1943.  It was generally similar to the DTCs of the 2693-2699 batch but had the Formica and veneer interior finish of contemporary EPB stock.

In service

The 2 Hal fleet survived the war with no losses.

Unit 2646 was disbanded early in 1948, its DMBT going to 4 Lav unit 2926 to replace a car written off in the South Croydon collision, and its DTC to 2 Bil unit 2056 to replace an accident write-off.

Unit 2653's DTC was transferred to 2 Bil unit 2088 to replace DTC 12121, the body of which had been destroyed by fire at Littlehampton in 1950.  A new all-steel body, similar to the DTCs of units 2693-97, was built on the underframe of 12121, numbered 12854 and allocated to unit 2653.

2680 was written off in an accident at Chatham in 1956.

From 1955/56 to 1959 the First-class compartment next to the Third-class accommodation in the DTCs was de-rated to Third-class, initially by sewing up the armrests to provide four-a-side seating.  The compartments were up-rated again when the 2 Hal units transferred away from the South Eastern Division, as the Eastern Section had become.

Large-scale transfers took place in 1958 as the South Eastern Division began to receive new 2 Hap. units in preparation for the Ramsgate electrification.  The transferred 2 Hal units replaced the coastal 2 Nol units and enabled a separate Gatwick Airport portion to be provided on semi-fast services from Victoria - the all-steel units 2693-2699 were normally used for this purpose.

In 1959-61 the old seating in some units was replaced on overhaul by a more comfortable type, possibly because comparison with the 2 Bil units, with which they were now extensively interworking, was not favourable to them.

Final years

It is a regular feature of S.R. multiple unit history that the last few years in the life of a fleet are marked by mishaps, mix-ups and irregular occurrences.  The 2 Hal units were no exception.

General withdrawal of the 2 Hal units started in 1969, by which time quite a few had been painted blue.  The last 2 Hal units in passenger traffic, 2610, 2623, 2627-29 2661, 2674, 2679, 2695 and 2698-99 were withdrawn on 31^st July 1971.