My fellow railway enthusiasts and petition signers:

Tomorrow is the day we've all been dreading, the Class 455 charity farewell rail tour, with the last timetabled passenger services operating on Tuesday 23rd December.

Although the retirement and scrapping of these beloved trains has been on the cards since 2017 when South Western Railway took over from its predecessor, South West Trains, the demise of the Class 455s is now imminent!

As in the petition description, nobody under the age of 40 (like myself) living in South West London has ever known a time without these units as rolling stock, and scrapping the entire fleet is destroying history. For the late Queen's Golden Jubilee in 2002 these special trains were painted golden just for the Jubilee.

This class just missed the late Queen's Silver Jubilee in 1977 but have seen the late Queen's Golden, Diamond, and Platinum jubilees, ten British prime ministers from Margaret Thatcher to Keir Starmer, two millennia, two monarchs and a coronation. 

It is absolutely essential that at least a driving cab from one of these units is preserved somewhere for future generations to see, as the Class 442 trains (which held the world speed record for a third rail EMU) were completely mothballed which was a huge mistake as the fleet held a world record. 

WE URGENTLY NEED TO ACT NOW AND GET AS MANY SIGNATURES AS POSSIBLE BECAUSE BEFORE WE ALL KNOW IT IT'LL BE TOO LATE!!