At least one Class 203 unit was repainted in all-over Rail Blue with the carriage numbers repositioned higher, before all five remaining buffet units became blue and grey. Yellow squares and later yellow ends were added during repainting. In the 1980s the remaining five buffet cars were withdrawn and scrapped. The remaining five Class 203s became five-car units, with one shortened to four cars to run the – shuttle when the Tunbridge Wells- service was withdrawn as part of the Tonbridge–Bopeep Junction electrification scheme.