width between the narrow Hastings Line stock and the standard width Hampshire trailer, the units were nicknamed Tadpoles. Additional peak time services were hauled by Class 33 diesel locomotives until May 1977. The express service from Reading to Gatwick Airport was launched on 12 May 1980, using three-car Class 119 DMUs, based on the Western Region. The trains were especially modified for this service, to create extra luggage space: the buffet counter in the centre coach being removed. Class 101 three-car units were later used on the route as well. All of the stations between Shalford and Betchworth inclusive, were recommended for closure in the 1963 Reshaping of British Railways report. The report recommended that the whole of the North Downs Line should be developed as a trunk route. Freight services no scheduled freight services used the line. The travelling post office train from Dover to via Tonbridge, Redhill, Guildford and Reading was routed along the line from May 1988 until 2004. The Network Rail 2008 Strategic Business Plan recommended that an enhancement project for the line should be pursued to enable freight traffic from the Channel Tunnel to use the line. Electrification proposals Electrification had been shelved prior to World War II as it was felt that little traffic would be generated. Non-electrified parts of the North Downs Line included to (Aldershot South Junction) and Junction to . In August 1981 Modern Railways magazine studied an electrification strategy for the then Southern Region of British Railways. The article saw potential on the route with the area having developed rapidly, and also with the prospect of Channel Tunnel traffic; cross-country passenger and freight workings might also be diverted along the route. Subsequently, some of the routes considered were electrified, including Redhill – Tonbridge (1994). Until then, North Downs Line services continued from Redhill to Tonbridge. According to internet sources, electrification of these sections of the North Downs Line was again discussed as part of the Blackwater Valley Rail Survey, in 1991. Motive power from the outset would have been the BR Mark I-based electric stock classes, but the idea was set aside, when the existing diesel multiple units on the region began to be replaced by the current Class 165/166 'Turbos'. After the privatisation of British Rail, Railtrack electrified a siding on the line at Wokingham. Electrification was proposed again in 2016 by Surrey County Council, based on research by