Yet again another great film footage, love the history you provide on past stations and lines, learn so much and nice seeing different parts of this country, please don’t stop filming these!
I dont mean to be offtopic but does someone know a way to log back into an Instagram account?? I somehow lost my account password. I would appreciate any assistance you can give me
@Bryce Vincenzo I really appreciate your reply. I got to the site thru google and im in the hacking process now. Seems to take quite some time so I will reply here later with my results.
I found this quite fascinating and I'm definitely not a Train Spotter.... I followed it beginning to end on Google Maps satellite view. How so much of it has changed since I lived in the South East up to 1985.... the little posts of information were fascinating. Thank you so much for this excellent film.
So much information as well as a great train ride. It was obviously a huge effort to make this vid, so thank you for that. PS - love the sound of that engine!
Alas much has changed, yes. I explored the area a little in 1999, and it was possible to stand by a fence on the roadway by the Lord Warden Hotel and look across the former trackbed at the Dover Marine signalbox. But when I returned with my camera, the box had been demolished. Also, the quadrilingual "Do not cross the track" BR signage that I was going to liberate had gone. :(
Thoroughly enjoyed that video: thanks VERY much for keeping us so well informed throughout the journey. At the first tunnel, I hurried the film on, but then I realised that I had missed some info. during the transit, so at the next tunnel, I put up with the dark until more info came on screen and I was fascinated by what I learned! Very well done, and thank you again.
As a passed second man, ( Next step Driver ) motive power, based at Dover Marine, I ran this line many times. But then there was no high speed line, so this looks very different at the start. Great memories, thanks.
Very very cool video. Thanks. Brings back memories. I spent parts of 3 summers up to the left just past the footbridge at 23:20, right on Folkstone Road, behind The Royal Oak.
Thank you Richard for this great video. Also love the interesting historical and informational captions you've added. Greetings from Texas. Keep up the good work.
I had a holiday home,AKA caravan, in Winchelsea for a few years and used to love the sound of these going up and down to/from Hastings in the early hours.My parents joined Hastings Diesels and enjoyed many trips with them.Very nostalgic for me.
I really like that video, its fascinating how the facts/information is on top left and I travel on that route dover to ashford and back, its cool seeing it on youtube though and great video
traveled that route or 8 years, necver seen it from this view...thank you. remember getting on the wrong part of the train when it split at ashford....landed up in Canterbury.
Love this part as well. Brilliant video. Kent holds a special place in my heart for me in many ways. Met my first proper girlfriend in Folkestone in the late 90's and the county itself has so many things to do and places to see. And I love Ashford Intl. station as I used to change trains from the Marshlink route to get to Folkestone. Love the humour when you get trounced by the Eurostar. Classic !!!!
Richard, great work! I’m watching this in Nov 2023. Having grown up in Ashford, worked in Smeeth, lived also in Hythe, and now living on the outskirts of Dover I can say that I know the area surrounding your journey very well. Your excellent captioning was accurate and well researched. I’m thinking the tunnel under the country house grounds is probably either the Brabourne family’s ‘New House’, owned by Lord Brabourne (married the late Countess Patricia Mountbatten). Or perhaps the original Palladian manor - Mersham Le Hatch, on the other side of the A20, the seat of the Knatchbull family. I hadn’t realised there were so many disused stations on the route. As you approached the two tall gothic tunnel entrances before Dover you described the ‘new’ Samphire Hoe country park there. This was in fact created as you say from (half) of the spoil of the channel tunnel boring except that was chalk marl, not just chalk, an interesting conglomeration of clay and chalk from beneath the sea bed. I am also a volunteer ranger at Samphire so that part was particularly fascinating. It is in fact another SSSI and is a riot of colour in spring with orchids and other flowers
Hi and thank you for your kind comments. Yes, I am fond of this area and lived in Canterbury for a couple of years about a quarter-century ago; during my time there I paid visits to the (then rather newer) Samphire Hoe CP and was duly impressed by its scale and history. I am certain its flora & fauna will have continued to increase as it 'grows into itself'. I also went to the fenced-off but still vaguely extant Dover Western Docks station, seeing from afar its signal box (soon to be demolished) and a quadrilingual sign about keeping off the tracks (there weren't any left; someone else pilfered the sign before I could)!
@@hastingsdiesels Would be great if you visited Samphire for a chat and a tour of the maturing land. And join us for a coffee in the shelter, let us know if you are going to visit so I can be there, I am a ranger.
Ive live in Kent for most of my life and never knew the history of the railway. Came back from France in 1967 and we came back from Dover harbour station. Looking forward to part 3
Thank you for showing where the Elham Valley Line joined this route, as the actual junction site is the only remaining evidence of it at this end. The Channel Tunnel works totally obliterated the trackbed between here and Peene. Between Peene and Canterbury, quite a lot of the line can still be seen if you know where to look, including Etchinghill Tunnel, Lyminge, Bishopsbourne and Bridge stations, and Bourne Park Tunnel. The site of the other junction, just West of the bridge carrying the Canterbury East line over the Canterbury West line, can still be clearly seen.
It's been a long, long time since I travelled that route, and it has changed a lot since I did. I think the biggest change is around Folkestone, with the loss of quad tracks and only one platform in use at Folestone Central.
Wow, a lot has changed sadly. Dover Town Yard gone, Dover Marine/Western Docks Station gone plus all the sidings, car ferry etc., Archcliffe Junction, Hawksbury Street Junction and Marine Boxes’s also history. Used to curse my luck when I shunted trains there on winter evenings years ago, but didn’t realise at the time the history of the place and what was going to be lost forever. Should have savoured it more at the time.
Things on this line have changed a lot since I was a boy and used to go down to Folkestone, but the Rye and Ashford remains little altered apart from being singled, which you don't notice as a passenger.
That, what was it called, Sellindge Converter Station looks interesting, like a modern version of the AC/DC converter stations the SR built back int he 1930s with great big DC generators driven off the AC grid supply to supply traction current. I expect it's all modern and electronic now though.
It would, wouldn't it! :) I did in fact capture the Hastings - Tonbridge route about 18 months ago. I wish I had time to produce more videos. One day, I promise, I will.
@21:12 With the Folkestone dock finally getting refurbished into a tourist area, it looks like the short branch line to the docks is also being preserved as a Remembrance line. This is a positive development for local tourism and preservation of its historical significance. Future expansion may have it run to the Folkestone East and then the main Folkestone Central station for connectivity to the rest of the rail network, allowing a further boost in tourism traffic. www.theremembranceline.org.uk/index.html
Roll on HS2... 10:00 My main annoyance is that services from The North should have terminated at Ashford International with a stop at Stratford 'white elephant' station. At least it would've seen a major bump up of passenger numbers and an interchange at Ashford for Eurostar transfers could have offered a watertight case for building it (tickets could've been purchased at relevant HS2 stations, even if direct boarding was not possible.) But no, they built a terminating stop at a station that already has a northern link.
I have now watched all of your cab ride videos . Always informative and interesting . Sadly , only the last part of this ride to watch . Do you guys remember the SRN 4 Hovercraft at , Dover ? Another sight resigned to history . Thanks for some great entertainment , Hoping there will be more to come .
Thanks Tony. I only saw a hovercraft once and that was at Portsmouth. Glad you have enjoyed these videos. There's lots more footage 'in the can' and more will get captured soon too, but life has thrown me a lot of extra tasks in the last couple of years and I just haven't been able to afford the (considerable) time that this takes. I do think of it often, and do intend to resume in due course.
That was probably an SRN , ( Saunders Roe Nautical ) 6 . Powered by a Rolls Royce Gnome . I think both types are on display , along with other types at the hovercraft museum at Lee on Solent , Formerly , HMS Daedalus . Looking forward to your new videos . Kindest regards , Tony .
Thanks for a very interesting and watchable video. Reference the new country park, if we could dredge up more of the sea, we could perhaps help to lower sea levels and expand our country too. 😊
Thank you. As to dredging up more of the sea to make more land, well it has been done on the Romney Marsh, the Norfolk Broads, and large parts of the Netherlands... but it would need an impossibly large effort (with correspondingly large rise in sea-level through global warming) in order to achieve any lowering of sea level!
If you would like to see how the stretch of line has changed from Folkestone West to Dover Priory, have a look at this video ua-cam.com/video/G0wTjxryUy4/v-deo.html I've no idea when it was filmed, but it's coming from the other direction, and many of the removed lines and closed signal boxes are still in use.
There is a shaft in the abbotscliffe tunnel that runs up to the cliff above, anyone have any info on this, how deep is it? You can see just see down to track level from above.
It looks as if there's a shaft on the cliff-top, a construction/ventilation shaft. Is that the one you mean? Should be possible to work out its depth by finding the height of the cliff and the elevation of the railway.
Great video. Many times in the 70s & 80s we'd take the train to Dover or Folkstone then cross the Channel on the Sealink ferry to Calais or Bologne then onto Paris. Do many trains still go to Dover as most folks probably take the tunnel so affecting the ferry business?
Dover Western Docks station closed in 1994 after the Chunnel opened, but yes Dover has a regular train service including Javelin high-speed trains from St. Pancras.
Very nice video. It was quite difficult to see the English Channel from the current angle of the camera due to foggy conditions though. Couldn't spot the newly built viaduct also after the tunnel.
Why do some stretches have fencing that blocks sight of the Eurostar line and others that don't? I cannot see the point of putting it there in the first place. Fascinating video, thank you.
Thanks for this, I'll bear it in mind when videographing subsequent outings from now. Equally, we do have hundreds of exterior images of our train on the website at www.hastingsdiesels.co.uk ;)
I grew up in ashford, and being kids we hung about on that very line and the non electrified Hastings line doing things like putting coins on the tracks to see what the trains did to them. One time and don’t ever try this kids we also touched the third rail with our feet and nothing happened, thick soles on our shoes maybe who knows. The stupid things kids get up too.
In my career as a railwayman I've accidentally kicked an electric rail with my boot after the person I was carrying the fire-extinguisher for shone the torch elsewhere for a second - and felt nothing. Equally, a kid died after tripping on the rails at the same location, and I've seen a youth lying dead across the rails at another location after getting juiced. The only way to stay safe from its dangers is not to go on the track.
Dollands Moor is a bit of a white elephant, rather like Kingmoor or Tyne Yard, those gigantic marshalling yards built as part of the Modernisation Plan that were obsolete within a few years.
its pretty much a interface for EUROTUNNEL Compatible locomotives (class 92s and SNCF class 222000s) to switch with uk locos but most occaisions they use class 92s but thats probably it because our freight that comes through the tunnel goes to didcot or wembley however it is useful for storing new Stock and freight.
You may well be right about Mersham Tunnel, it just wasn't listed as such (or at all, actually) in the Sectional Appendix. Our film concludes (in part 3) with Dover to Faversham, which is as far as the train went. (Much more recently, Feb 2023, we did actually film to Faversham via Paddock Wood and Strood.)
it was for the eurostars when they used third rail before Hs1 was built and they would continue on at saltwood junction (then) contentental junction. they would switch voltage and signalling systems from AWS/TPWS to TVM430 for the channel tunnel but now class 375s can use it if they are through trains
Coming into Dover Priory at time 32:43 there is an illuminated OFF sign. I have seen the same on other stations, any idea what it is for? Excellent video by the way, also made me smile when the Euro star overtook.
Presumably, when the train is running downhill, the Diesel's rpm drops to tick-over, and you then have the benefit of regenerative braking from the traction motors?
No such luck, I'm afraid. The regenerative braking would have to feed its energy into a huge on-board battery. I might be wrong but I believe the modern DEMUs (e.g. Voyagers) use the motors for braking and the energy is dumped as heat, which is called rheostatic braking.
@@nickrobson9636 a diesel engine driving electric motors. Regenerative breaking means to reverse the electric motors into generators to return power to the electric supply. There is no connection to the third rail. The principal is the same in just about every diesel-electric locomotive... this unit no more uses RB than a class 47 a 33, a 20 etc... RB can only be employed where the power source is electricity. Class 76 & 77 used RB, Pendolinos are so efficient at doing it that every 7th train runs "free". RB in this case would involve converting the recovered energy back into diesel oil. There was a "unit" that used traction batteries - the MLV 68xxx class(?) but they only recharged from the 3rd rail or shore supply.
The unusual profile of Shakespeare tunnels is thought to be to help resist the sizeable pressure of the rock above; this may not turn out to be the full answer.
@@hastingsdiesels it might also explain why they are single line tunnels. Maybe its just me but most tunnels on the Southeast tend to be oval shape instead of round.
Thank you. Bidirectional signalling increases operational flexibility: if something goes wrong with one track, it is still possible to run a train service (albeit reduced) in both directions using the remaining track.
great video i remember seing this go passed Buckland Junction, also do you know when you will be uploading the recent one from 11th January faversham hop as i saw that at shepherds well
Thanks. I have a large backlog of video material, but have also been continuing to work through much of these times and so have not had the acres of free time that producing such videos takes, unforunately.
Further to my previous message, in the case of the Faversham Hop, please see the Canterbury Bell footage which covers the same route and the footage actually came out better anyway. The only bits of the Faversham Hop I intend to publish are between Eastbourne and Hastings, which I did duly film this time.
Ah right - as far as I can tell it is just an arch to help hold up the cliff at that point. There was a turntable on the railway immediately in front of the mouth of that arch, as can be seen on old maps. I don't believe this was a tunnel or that it "led anywhere".
There was a fort right there called Archcliffe fort so it's probably an old entrance to that plus the whole area is full of old fortifications and tunnels.
The rail companies serving the intensive but relatively short-distance commuter routes south of London started introducing third-rail electrification over 100 years ago. Electrification of routes west and north of London would have been a more 'open-ended' proposition: but when it did finally come, technology had matured to the point where the benefits of overhead electrification made it the better choice.
Yup! They do do that a bit. The engine-speed governor is quite a crude device comprising a system of mechanical linkages and bell-cranks connected to the fuel rack at one end, and actuated by oil pressure and a centrifugal governor unit at the other. A small amount of hysteresis in any part of the system can result in hunting. The DEMUs did this back in BR days too, so it's quite a characteristic noise. :)
Could someone please clarify the meanings of up/down and off/on for trains and routes? I often see “OFF UP” and “OFF DOWN” signs on platforms. Also, looking across the rail bed underneath opposite platforms I see what looks like some sort of gauge with what appears to be an adjustable slide marker. Is that a guide for laying ballast or some other alignment purpose?
UK railways generally have an Up direction and a Down direction (e.g. typically Up is towards London), these are shown in the Sectional Appendix linked from the information below the video. The OFF indicators are to tell staff other than the driver (i.e. the Guard and/or platform staff, who may not have a view of the platform starting signal) that the starting signal is displaying a proceed aspect. Where trains can depart a platform in either direction, there will be OFF indicators for each direction, hence OFF UP and OFF DOWN.
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
How every cab ride video should be,informative graphics and NO voice overs or music! well done
Thank you Andrew, glad you like my style of cab ride video. :)
@@hastingsdiesels yh its very good lol
Very nice! Best way to watch a cabride, no music, calm dieselsound in the background, clear explanations of interesting points down the line.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Yet again another great film footage, love the history you provide on past stations and lines, learn so much and nice seeing different parts of this country, please don’t stop filming these!
I'm not a rail enthusiast, but one doesn't have to be to enjoy these cab rides. Really interesting stuff and quite relaxing too.
I dont mean to be offtopic but does someone know a way to log back into an Instagram account??
I somehow lost my account password. I would appreciate any assistance you can give me
@David Harlan instablaster =)
@Bryce Vincenzo I really appreciate your reply. I got to the site thru google and im in the hacking process now.
Seems to take quite some time so I will reply here later with my results.
@Bryce Vincenzo It worked and I actually got access to my account again. I am so happy!
Thanks so much you saved my ass!
@David Harlan Glad I could help =)
Without doubt, the best ride-along cab video I've seen. Clear, great quality and with lots of interesting info in the captions.
Ah, thank you - that's a very kind thing to say.
This are great videos. High quality, clean windscreens and lots of useful information on the way. Well done.
Thank you, glad you appreciate it.
A faultless, exemplary video of how to do a cab ride on a fascinating piece of track.
Big thumbs up, especially for the helpful notes. Wish all cab-rides were as good as this.
Thank you!
I found this quite fascinating and I'm definitely not a Train Spotter.... I followed it beginning to end on Google Maps satellite view. How so much of it has changed since I lived in the South East up to 1985.... the little posts of information were fascinating. Thank you so much for this excellent film.
So much information as well as a great train ride. It was obviously a huge effort to make this vid, so thank you for that. PS - love the sound of that engine!
Really interesting to watch plus the added information. Most excellent.
Thanks for the video totally awesome thanks love the thumpers, a great line from Folkestone with some awesome tunnels!!😎🚃🚃🚃💯🇬🇧
Thanks for posting, I worked as a 'Box boy ' in Hawkesbury Street many years ago things have changed a lot since then.
A most interesting video.
Alas much has changed, yes. I explored the area a little in 1999, and it was possible to stand by a fence on the roadway by the Lord Warden Hotel and look across the former trackbed at the Dover Marine signalbox. But when I returned with my camera, the box had been demolished. Also, the quadrilingual "Do not cross the track" BR signage that I was going to liberate had gone. :(
Thanks for that - especially the captions. Always good to know where all the old stations and junctions were.
Thanks for the added descriptions.
This is really well done. Very interesting annotations. I was born in Shildon so railways are kind of in my blood. Many thanks for the video.
Thanks for uploading this. I like the facts in the top left of the screen.
I enjoyed this, no music. Great video
Thoroughly enjoyed that video: thanks VERY much for keeping us so well informed throughout the journey. At the first tunnel, I hurried the film on, but then I realised that I had missed some info. during the transit, so at the next tunnel, I put up with the dark until more info came on screen and I was fascinated by what I learned!
Very well done, and thank you again.
Thank you, Peter, and glad that my efforts weren't in vain!
This is an excellent video, with excellent commentary! Thank you! How I love this area of England....
What a great journey especially along the cliffs and the run in to dover,Many thanks bob.
As a passed second man, ( Next step Driver ) motive power, based at Dover Marine, I ran this line many times. But then there was no high speed line, so this looks very different at the start. Great memories, thanks.
Very very cool video. Thanks. Brings back memories. I spent parts of 3 summers up to the left just past the footbridge at 23:20, right on Folkstone Road, behind The Royal Oak.
Thank you Richard for this great video. Also love the interesting historical and informational captions you've added. Greetings from Texas. Keep up the good work.
This is a beautifully done video, with excellent annotations! Bravo!👏
Thank you, glad you liked it!
I had a holiday home,AKA caravan, in Winchelsea for a few years and used to love the sound of these going up and down to/from Hastings in the early hours.My parents joined Hastings Diesels and enjoyed many trips with them.Very nostalgic for me.
I really like that video, its fascinating how the facts/information is on top left and I travel on that route dover to ashford and back, its cool seeing it on youtube though and great video
traveled that route or 8 years, necver seen it from this view...thank you. remember getting on the wrong part of the train when it split at ashford....landed up in Canterbury.
Love this part as well. Brilliant video. Kent holds a special place in my heart for me in many ways. Met my first proper girlfriend in Folkestone in the late 90's and the county itself has so many things to do and places to see. And I love Ashford Intl. station as I used to change trains from the Marshlink route to get to Folkestone. Love the humour when you get trounced by the Eurostar. Classic !!!!
Thanks a lot - used to travel Waterloo East to Folkestone for a while on the old slam door death traps
Commuting? That must have taken ages.
I really enjoyed watching this & learn't a thing of two. Well done.
Richard, great work! I’m watching this in Nov 2023. Having grown up in Ashford, worked in Smeeth, lived also in Hythe, and now living on the outskirts of Dover I can say that I know the area surrounding your journey very well. Your excellent captioning was accurate and well researched. I’m thinking the tunnel under the country house grounds is probably either the Brabourne family’s ‘New House’, owned by Lord Brabourne (married the late Countess Patricia Mountbatten). Or perhaps the original Palladian manor - Mersham Le Hatch, on the other side of the A20, the seat of the Knatchbull family. I hadn’t realised there were so many disused stations on the route. As you approached the two tall gothic tunnel entrances before Dover you described the ‘new’ Samphire Hoe country park there. This was in fact created as you say from (half) of the spoil of the channel tunnel boring except that was chalk marl, not just chalk, an interesting conglomeration of clay and chalk from beneath the sea bed. I am also a volunteer ranger at Samphire so that part was particularly fascinating. It is in fact another SSSI and is a riot of colour in spring with orchids and other flowers
Hi and thank you for your kind comments. Yes, I am fond of this area and lived in Canterbury for a couple of years about a quarter-century ago; during my time there I paid visits to the (then rather newer) Samphire Hoe CP and was duly impressed by its scale and history. I am certain its flora & fauna will have continued to increase as it 'grows into itself'. I also went to the fenced-off but still vaguely extant Dover Western Docks station, seeing from afar its signal box (soon to be demolished) and a quadrilingual sign about keeping off the tracks (there weren't any left; someone else pilfered the sign before I could)!
@@hastingsdiesels Would be great if you visited Samphire for a chat and a tour of the maturing land. And join us for a coffee in the shelter, let us know if you are going to visit so I can be there, I am a ranger.
Thank you - I am by no means local to there but will bear it in mind should I plan to be in the area.
Very informative and a real pleasure to watch. Thanks.
Thank you for this wonderful video - so much history covered there in your embedded comments - long live the Hastings Unit !
Excellent video as always , very interesting route, thank you.....
Awesome again my friend I really like these train rides almost like being there thank you and keep up the good work
4:09 - That Eurostar was actually going at 270 km/h, which is the maximum speed limit on HS1 through Ashford.
Ive live in Kent for most of my life and never knew the history of the railway. Came back from France in 1967 and we came back from Dover harbour station. Looking forward to part 3
Thank you. Dover Harbour closed in 1927 :-) You would be thinking of Dover Marine, which was renamed in 1979 to Dover Western Docks.
Thanks for uploading this, great view, I could imagine if Javelin trains went to france
Thank you for showing where the Elham Valley Line joined this route, as the actual junction site is the only remaining evidence of it at this end. The Channel Tunnel works totally obliterated the trackbed between here and Peene. Between Peene and Canterbury, quite a lot of the line can still be seen if you know where to look, including Etchinghill Tunnel, Lyminge, Bishopsbourne and Bridge stations, and Bourne Park Tunnel. The site of the other junction, just West of the bridge carrying the Canterbury East line over the Canterbury West line, can still be clearly seen.
Indeed. I visited Bourne Park Tunnel some 20 years ago, and isn't the station near it preserved in some fashion?
Enjoyed (almost) every minute. Thank you. Sad to see Marine station gone.
It's been a long, long time since I travelled that route, and it has changed a lot since I did. I think the biggest change is around Folkestone, with the loss of quad tracks and only one platform in use at Folestone Central.
Superb. There's a wealth of information conveyed. Thank you.
Great to see the old Arch cliff tunnel turntable brick recessed retaining wall is still in place on the left approaching Dover Harbour.
Wow, a lot has changed sadly. Dover Town Yard gone, Dover Marine/Western Docks Station gone plus all the sidings, car ferry etc., Archcliffe Junction, Hawksbury Street Junction and Marine Boxes’s also history. Used to curse my luck when I shunted trains there on winter evenings years ago, but didn’t realise at the time the history of the place and what was going to be lost forever. Should have savoured it more at the time.
It’s a shocker, isn’t it. As a (young) passenger I recall that outrageous multi-track diamond crossing just outside Western Docks.
A real nice ride. Love the info, very interesting.
The educational and visual side of these videos makes for an interesting 'virtual' train journey. Great work!!
Great informative video, thank you so much !
Excellent. Thank you. Been here, done that, and still learn every time.
Brilliant footage!
Thanks very much; a mine of fascinating information! A good thing though that I am not a train driver because I find the passing sleepers mesmerising!
Thank you. I think it's more mesmerising when you're seeing it on a screen, compared to when you're actually driving.
Yes, I have the same problem! In my case, it is an age thing!
Like therapy watching this, the tunnels are a bit hypnotic.
Things on this line have changed a lot since I was a boy and used to go down to Folkestone, but the Rye and Ashford remains little altered apart from being singled, which you don't notice as a passenger.
That, what was it called, Sellindge Converter Station looks interesting, like a modern version of the AC/DC converter stations the SR built back int he 1930s with great big DC generators driven off the AC grid supply to supply traction current. I expect it's all modern and electronic now though.
Great informative cab ride video. It would be great to see some cab footage of this on the 1066 line.
It would, wouldn't it! :) I did in fact capture the Hastings - Tonbridge route about 18 months ago. I wish I had time to produce more videos. One day, I promise, I will.
@@hastingsdieselsI look forward to it!
Great Video just came across it. Enjoyed it thank you. ( John Whitehouse)
Excellent really enjoyed that thank you for posting :o)
@21:12 With the Folkestone dock finally getting refurbished into a tourist area, it looks like the short branch line to the docks is also being preserved as a Remembrance line. This is a positive development for local tourism and preservation of its historical significance. Future expansion may have it run to the Folkestone East and then the main Folkestone Central station for connectivity to the rest of the rail network, allowing a further boost in tourism traffic.
www.theremembranceline.org.uk/index.html
Brilliant video many thanks.
very informative everything explained, sites
Roll on HS2... 10:00
My main annoyance is that services from The North should have terminated at Ashford International with a stop at Stratford 'white elephant' station. At least it would've seen a major bump up of passenger numbers and an interchange at Ashford for Eurostar transfers could have offered a watertight case for building it (tickets could've been purchased at relevant HS2 stations, even if direct boarding was not possible.)
But no, they built a terminating stop at a station that already has a northern link.
Fine Video! Greetings from Lübeck (Germany)!
I have now watched all of your cab ride videos . Always informative and interesting . Sadly , only the last part of this ride to watch . Do you guys remember the SRN 4 Hovercraft at , Dover ? Another sight resigned to history . Thanks for some great entertainment , Hoping there will be more to come .
Thanks Tony. I only saw a hovercraft once and that was at Portsmouth. Glad you have enjoyed these videos. There's lots more footage 'in the can' and more will get captured soon too, but life has thrown me a lot of extra tasks in the last couple of years and I just haven't been able to afford the (considerable) time that this takes. I do think of it often, and do intend to resume in due course.
I travelled on it 2 or 3 times. A bit bumpy but a quick way to cross before the tunnel. It was bloody huge
That was probably an SRN , ( Saunders Roe Nautical ) 6 . Powered by a Rolls Royce Gnome . I think both types are on display , along with other types at the hovercraft museum at Lee on Solent , Formerly , HMS Daedalus . Looking forward to your new videos . Kindest regards , Tony .
Brilliant work,. Appreciated. Vernon in Johannesburg.
Great quick train ride brillant
Excellent vid x
Terrific video, thanks! Ahh, all those depressing footbridges...
Very watchable. We don't get scenery like this in Australia.
Bella123Bella1234 Check out Sydney Trains Cab Videos. Eminently watchable.
Thanks for a very interesting and watchable video.
Reference the new country park, if we could dredge up more of the sea, we could perhaps help to lower sea levels and expand our country too. 😊
Thank you. As to dredging up more of the sea to make more land, well it has been done on the Romney Marsh, the Norfolk Broads, and large parts of the Netherlands... but it would need an impossibly large effort (with correspondingly large rise in sea-level through global warming) in order to achieve any lowering of sea level!
Very good video . Very informative And interesting .
Never saw these in service-which won't surprise you when you learn I grew up in Berkshire.
If you would like to see how the stretch of line has changed from Folkestone West to Dover Priory, have a look at this video ua-cam.com/video/G0wTjxryUy4/v-deo.html I've no idea when it was filmed, but it's coming from the other direction, and many of the removed lines and closed signal boxes are still in use.
There is a shaft in the abbotscliffe tunnel that runs up to the cliff above, anyone have any info on this, how deep is it? You can see just see down to track level from above.
It looks as if there's a shaft on the cliff-top, a construction/ventilation shaft. Is that the one you mean? Should be possible to work out its depth by finding the height of the cliff and the elevation of the railway.
Thanks for sharing!
Great video. Many times in the 70s & 80s we'd take the train to Dover or Folkstone then cross the Channel on the Sealink ferry to Calais or Bologne then onto Paris. Do many trains still go to Dover as most folks probably take the tunnel so affecting the ferry business?
Dover Western Docks station closed in 1994 after the Chunnel opened, but yes Dover has a regular train service including Javelin high-speed trains from St. Pancras.
I got seasick in 1982😵
Good job Rich!
Elegaic journey . . . a sad litany of closed lines, abandoned branches, disused stations, redundant buildings and lifted tracks . . .
There's still a signpost for Smeeth station not far from Donkey St in Kent😊
Very nice video. It was quite difficult to see the English Channel from the current angle of the camera due to foggy conditions though. Couldn't spot the newly built viaduct also after the tunnel.
Thank you. The new viaduct is from 27:41 to 27:59. It is a 'zero height' viaduct, if you like, carrying the line along the beach.
Why do some stretches have fencing that blocks sight of the Eurostar line and others that don't? I cannot see the point of putting it there in the first place. Fascinating video, thank you.
Noise abatement.
It would be neat to have a quick shot of your train before you set off?
Thanks for this, I'll bear it in mind when videographing subsequent outings from now. Equally, we do have hundreds of exterior images of our train on the website at www.hastingsdiesels.co.uk ;)
@@hastingsdiesels I thought the same so I searched "60116 Mountfield" and found some nice images.
I guess I’m the only person that doesn’t know. Is the repeating bell a dead man’s switch warning?
Yes, it is the Automatic Warning System (AWS). en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_Warning_System
Thanks Cooper_87
@@alanwells4752 happy to help
I'm glad you asked because I didn't know either. Reading the wiki link it's a great system.
I grew up in ashford, and being kids we hung about on that very line and the non electrified Hastings line doing things like putting coins on the tracks to see what the trains did to them. One time and don’t ever try this kids we also touched the third rail with our feet and nothing happened, thick soles on our shoes maybe who knows. The stupid things kids get up too.
In my career as a railwayman I've accidentally kicked an electric rail with my boot after the person I was carrying the fire-extinguisher for shone the torch elsewhere for a second - and felt nothing. Equally, a kid died after tripping on the rails at the same location, and I've seen a youth lying dead across the rails at another location after getting juiced. The only way to stay safe from its dangers is not to go on the track.
Dollands Moor is a bit of a white elephant, rather like Kingmoor or Tyne Yard, those gigantic marshalling yards built as part of the Modernisation Plan that were obsolete within a few years.
its pretty much a interface for EUROTUNNEL Compatible locomotives (class 92s and SNCF class 222000s) to switch with uk locos but most occaisions they use class 92s but thats probably it because our freight that comes through the tunnel goes to didcot or wembley however it is useful for storing new Stock and freight.
I think the bridge at 6:42 is Mersham Tunnel
Edit: Will you carry onwards from Faversham Station?
You may well be right about Mersham Tunnel, it just wasn't listed as such (or at all, actually) in the Sectional Appendix. Our film concludes (in part 3) with Dover to Faversham, which is as far as the train went. (Much more recently, Feb 2023, we did actually film to Faversham via Paddock Wood and Strood.)
3:57 100 mph on the southern region? I never thought I'd see it.
it was for the eurostars when they used third rail before Hs1 was built and they would continue on at saltwood junction (then) contentental junction. they would switch voltage and signalling systems from AWS/TPWS to TVM430 for the channel tunnel
but now class 375s can use it if they are through trains
Eurostar 373 Pointless speed limit for Eurostar’s as they’d never reach that speed in the down direction.
Excellent video. The 600hp ( correct?) EE engine brought back memories.
500hp in the Hastings units, 600hp in the other DEMUs, although Wikipedia says 600hp I think you will find that this is incorrect.
Coming into Dover Priory at time 32:43 there is an illuminated OFF sign. I have seen the same on other stations, any idea what it is for?
Excellent video by the way, also made me smile when the Euro star overtook.
The OFF sign is a signal repeater for platform staff. It indicates that the station starting signal in that direction is showing a proceed aspect.
Very enjoyable and info. good. cheers !
Presumably, when the train is running downhill, the Diesel's rpm drops to tick-over, and you then have the
benefit of regenerative braking from the traction motors?
Regenerative to where? Its a diesel. There is no connection to the third rail
No such luck, I'm afraid. The regenerative braking would have to feed its energy into a huge on-board battery. I might be wrong but I believe the modern DEMUs (e.g. Voyagers) use the motors for braking and the energy is dumped as heat, which is called rheostatic braking.
@@captainboing it is a Diesel electric.
@@nickrobson9636 a diesel engine driving electric motors. Regenerative breaking means to reverse the electric motors into generators to return power to the electric supply. There is no connection to the third rail. The principal is the same in just about every diesel-electric locomotive... this unit no more uses RB than a class 47 a 33, a 20 etc... RB can only be employed where the power source is electricity. Class 76 & 77 used RB, Pendolinos are so efficient at doing it that every 7th train runs "free". RB in this case would involve converting the recovered energy back into diesel oil. There was a "unit" that used traction batteries - the MLV 68xxx class(?) but they only recharged from the 3rd rail or shore supply.
@@captainboing Point taken!
why are the Shakespeare tunnel entrances shaped like keyholes?
The unusual profile of Shakespeare tunnels is thought to be to help resist the sizeable pressure of the rock above; this may not turn out to be the full answer.
@@hastingsdiesels it might also explain why they are single line tunnels. Maybe its just me but most tunnels on the Southeast tend to be oval shape instead of round.
What is the bell or buzzer thingy that keeps going off?
Automatic Warning System (AWS). Wikipedia will tell you all about it.
What is that darn bell that keeps ringing? Did I miss it in the captions?
Automatic Warning System (AWS). Wikipedia will tell you all about it.
Vigilance alarm ?
Great stuff, thanks. Why are the tracks in that first section both bidirectional?
Thank you. Bidirectional signalling increases operational flexibility: if something goes wrong with one track, it is still possible to run a train service (albeit reduced) in both directions using the remaining track.
@@hastingsdiesels Thanks!
Shame that on full-screen the YT video title partly obscures the interesting captions.
Sorry to hear that. The full-screen title-bar shouldn’t be present all the time, though, covering the top segment of whatever you’re watching?
If you see title all the time then move mouse cursor to middle of screen. It should disappear when you stop moving mouse.
great video i remember seing this go passed Buckland Junction, also do you know when you will be uploading the recent one from 11th January faversham hop as i saw that at shepherds well
Thanks. I have a large backlog of video material, but have also been continuing to work through much of these times and so have not had the acres of free time that producing such videos takes, unforunately.
Further to my previous message, in the case of the Faversham Hop, please see the Canterbury Bell footage which covers the same route and the footage actually came out better anyway. The only bits of the Faversham Hop I intend to publish are between Eastbourne and Hastings, which I did duly film this time.
At the 33.12 point to the left is what looks like a bridge or tunnel that has been blocked up. Are you able to shed some light on this please?
33:12 is the total duration of the video - tell me the timestamp of the feature you're interested in please!
@@hastingsdiesels sorry my mistake. What an idiot lol. 28.38. To the left of the video what was that?
Ah right - as far as I can tell it is just an arch to help hold up the cliff at that point. There was a turntable on the railway immediately in front of the mouth of that arch, as can be seen on old maps. I don't believe this was a tunnel or that it "led anywhere".
There was a fort right there called Archcliffe fort so it's probably an old entrance to that plus the whole area is full of old fortifications and tunnels.
Is there a reason why the South East seems to use the third rail system more than most other lines?
The rail companies serving the intensive but relatively short-distance commuter routes south of London started introducing third-rail electrification over 100 years ago. Electrification of routes west and north of London would have been a more 'open-ended' proposition: but when it did finally come, technology had matured to the point where the benefits of overhead electrification made it the better choice.
Why thank you very much for your comprehensive answer.
They did start off with overhead (overhead DC?), then went to third rail.
That engine is hunting on idle
Yup! They do do that a bit. The engine-speed governor is quite a crude device comprising a system of mechanical linkages and bell-cranks connected to the fuel rack at one end, and actuated by oil pressure and a centrifugal governor unit at the other. A small amount of hysteresis in any part of the system can result in hunting. The DEMUs did this back in BR days too, so it's quite a characteristic noise. :)
But it's a lovely sound though!
Een bijzonder interessante rit.
Could someone please clarify the meanings of up/down and off/on for trains and routes? I often see “OFF UP” and “OFF DOWN” signs on platforms.
Also, looking across the rail bed underneath opposite platforms I see what looks like some sort of gauge with what appears to be an adjustable slide marker. Is that a guide for laying ballast or some other alignment purpose?
UK railways generally have an Up direction and a Down direction (e.g. typically Up is towards London), these are shown in the Sectional Appendix linked from the information below the video. The OFF indicators are to tell staff other than the driver (i.e. the Guard and/or platform staff, who may not have a view of the platform starting signal) that the starting signal is displaying a proceed aspect. Where trains can depart a platform in either direction, there will be OFF indicators for each direction, hence OFF UP and OFF DOWN.