Fabulous video, Mrothren! I'm proud to call the Grain Branch Line my closest freight line as the isle of Grain is quite a nice place, and there are some really nice level crossings on that line (shame Stoke's been turned off), but the highlight crossing on that line for me is Grain LC! It really gives a different perspective going into these industrial aggregate yards on a pretty Hastings DEMU like that one. Additionally, I'm glad to see the Angerstein Wharf foot crossing was kept open too! 👍🏻😎
Thanks! It was was nice to see the Grain Branch for sure. When I spoke to some Network Rail workers, they said that there is a future plan to make Grain an automatic level crossing at some point. It will be a shame if that happens.
I was lucky living in Gravesend on the outskirts in a place called Riverview Park, it was half an hour on me trusty Raleigh Chopper to get me down to Hoo to see me dad in the box if he was there or go for a ride in me uncles loco, wasn't a bad place at all for growing up in esp if you liked trains. Learnt my first swear words from the owner of the then closed Gravesend West, he used to catch us kids and red in the face used words that got us all into a LOT of trouble when we innocently asked what they mean't, I do believe the police went and had a polite word with the owner to use some restraint in what he said to kids trespassing on his plot lol
Thanks for this !! And CHARING CROSS too !!!! Almost 60 years later from when I rode from Woolwich Arsenal to Charing Cross on this Southern Railways line 5 times a week and back to Westminster Technical College Hotel School for two years....many great memories in this video for me, a Canadian immigrant now living in Vermont.
Richard Beeching wrote a report to try and address the huge lossses of Public Money that British Railways was making. Under 1947 Transport Act which nationalised the Railways they weren't allowed to make a loss and be a burden on the public Purse. Beeching didn't close ny Railways, the poloticians did. Most of them under Harold Wilson including several marked for development in the Beeching Report. By the way there never was a passenger service on the branch, it has always been freight only.
I went on one of these tours in the late seventies, the narrow Hastings stock is what they used then too. We went to Eastbourne and saw all the semaphore signals and the coal mine in Kent which was an amazing place, to Shoreham along the now closed line to the cement works. We went down one branch where it was obvious that the residents that backed on to the railway were aghast at a passenger train going down there! We started at Angerstein Wharf which was very poignant for my father and me as my great uncle was actually killed at the pedestrian crossing as a train of trucks was across it and pulled away as he crawled underneath. I am glad the crossing is kept open as rights of way should never be closed regardless of any excuse.
It was then and still is now a bleak grim place lacking a lot of facilities for tourism, Sheerness and Leysdown/Allhallows were really the only "lively" spots in the area but it was very poor quality. When they closed the asbestos factory down the workers traffic almost trickled to nothing so it was doomed. Even the Sheerness branch yards have all gone and surprisingly there were quite a lot of industrial rail down that part of Kent, all gone and the land pilfered for development.
Nice work 👍 Interesting to see the Grain Branch from a different perspective, on a train. Surprising Grain is still manually gated, as NR have to drive upto the crossing to control it. Although, adding to your comment, the business of the road is one problem, and it can't be closed easily, given there's no other alternative route by road to Grain.
Wow! That really brought it all together for me, having seen your foot crossing videos & Stokes crossing closure video in the past. What a great opportunity-thank you for your expert & dedicated video documenting & editing & on-screen notes.
There used to be a pipeline between grain ,Heathrow and Gatwick to take the fuel to the airports looks like it was allowed to get into a state of disrepair also TWO major power stations have bit the dust with lots of men losing their jobs in the area as every big employer closed down
Nice video as always. You always manage not to get yourself in a reflection to see what you look like lol. I remember your video about the foot crossing. Glad they kept that one open. It's part of history. The good part.
Excellent record! Know Hoo only too well - great to follow your run on G.Maps - used to work near Charing Cross, and have friends in Hastings, so mighty pleased to recollect all these places with you by rail! Thank you 🙂
Not only do we get to see hardcore Thumper and freight line footage but also train side views of two previously filmed crossings. This is the video (& channel) that keeps on giving. In addition I'm delighted to see the foot crossing was saved.
hey, just out of curiosity do u have a discord account? i'm only asking because i've been DM's by someone using your username and profile pic and i want to know if its you or someone trying to trick me or not. the account I've been DM'd by is morthren#6688
@@morthren i think whoever is doing is is the same person that tried to make people think they were Jimwoodward1212 and is trying to raid servers or something. I don't get it tbh but hey they must think you are a great youtuber if you were one of the people they chose to impersonate
Are they still running containers from Grain? Only reason I ask is that they used to run a lot up and down the North Kent Line, but not seen any for a few years now....
You've done it again! Another excellent video, this time filmed in part on my doorstep and very interesting too. Please return when and if the spur to Allhallows is ever re-instated. There is more justification for its existence now than there ever was, given the increasing population and the difficult road access generally throughout the Hoo Peninsular.
Very interesting. How did it return to Charing Cross from Angerstein Wharf - did it reverse up to Blackheath, or go via the Bexleyheath or the Sidcup Loop? Would’ve love to have seen this - back in the 80s I’d travel into Charing Cross every commute to see the Hastings units thumping and whistling away in or out of CX.
It went via the loop. There wasn't much to see so I didn't include any of it. They do 5 railtours a year to different places. See www.hastingsdiesels.co.uk for their upcoming tours
Really great video, as always. How did you hear of this , can anyone take the trip or something similar. Makes for an interesting journey and i would like to take the trip myself. Can you point me in the right direction please.
A fascinating visit to two lines I've known about, but never been able to visit, aboard a Hastings DEMU of the type I remember from my lineside days at Petts Wood Junction, in the mid-Fifties when they replaced my lovely "Schools" steam locos on the Hastings services :(. I've seen aspects of the Angerstein Wharf line from railway journeys in the Charlton area, and from the A102(M) on the way to North Greenwich, and I knew of the foot crossing, but never explored it fully. In the 1960's and '70's, with no steam trains to watch, I took up cycle racing and regularly raced in Isle of Grain courses, when the area was much more sparsely populated and undeveloped than it is now, with a bleak atmosphere like the early chapters of Dickens' "Great Expectations" especially in bad weather, and you could still buy a pint of Courage's mild ale at the "White Horse" in Stoke! I remember that we used to cross a bridge over the railway at what I think was the site of Beluncle Halt at the foot of the climb up to the finishing line in Stoke Road. With all the new development in the area, I believe there are plans by Medway Council to re-instate a passenger service on the line with a station at Sharnal Street.
I worked at Grain in the 1970's as a Chargeman(Shunter/Crossing Keeper) . The gates then were right next to the track without any traffic lights and had to be closed manually. It was nightmare ! One of my colleagues got knocked down by a car that wouldn't stop and he was badly injured
I couldn’t help bursting into the Charlton Atheletic’s song , ‘Oh the red,red, robin goes bob, bob, bobbing along...’ from my 1959- 61 Saturday afty 2nd Div games at The Valley !!! Soccer was soccer back then and you would need a broken leg to leave the pitch...none of this ‘cover your eyes fake whinging’.
It's heard that they are building a train terminus at Sharnal Street on the ratcliffe highway to transport people to London from the hoo peninsula. This come after building 10,000 new homes in the area. These plans are yet to be confirmed as of May. It would be good of they did to ease road congestion in the area.
Passenger services as far as Sharnal Street are in planning as part of the infrastructure upgrade to support all the houses (16,000) planned for the area (£67m has been granted to do this - watch for updates)
morthren. Amazing. I’ve been going out to Grain, birdwatching, since the 1960s and have watched it change massively. Used to feel very remote, not any more. Flyovers at Stoke Crossing. Oh dear.
Thanks for the video. I spent roughly six months commuting to Grain about ten years ago. They were expanding a power generation site next to the Grain aggregates terminal. Natural gas ships were also coming in to the dock next to the aggregates terminal. It's changed a bit, the crossing was still in use back then, and certainly no oil sidings. There is a housing estate in Grain. Only a couple of shops, and served by a poor bus service. Not a place you'd want to live in if you can't drive. I believe they put the flyover in as vehicles were taking risks at the crossings and jumping the lights etc. I think there had been some near misses. It was mentioned during my site induction about the railway crossings.
There never was a passenger service on the Branch, it has always been freight only. Pity the video was only taken from one side of the train as the interesting sidings and remains, of the old London transport Central Repair Depot , the SER Signal Works, remains of the other side of the Angerstein triangle and so on are on the other side of the train. As for the oil terminal it will only be in use for a short while until the pipeline which runs from Buncfield (Hemel Hempstead) finishes its upgrade.
Hi a great video, but I dont think the tankers would be loaded with aviation for Heathrow , I think its all pipeline fed to Heathrow I dont think they have a rail link...
Thanks. It all heads to Colnbrook where the tankers are discharged. I understand there is a pipeline from Colnbrook to the fuel 'tank farm' at Heathrow.
I am surprised there are any manual crossings left in GB. what can you tell me about the diesel. It doesn't sound like any diesel-electric I have ever heard. What kind of a drive system does it have?
There are still a few manual crossings left in the UK with Grain being one of them. Although I was told that there are plans to automate it at some point. Here's some info on the train: www.hastingsdiesels.co.uk/1001/
Wow my late father and uncle Ray would have loved this video, my father was relief signalman often operating from Hoo if he wasn't at Cuxton and he often did duty down the Grain line this was in the 70's as he often had to meet with Ford trains coming onto the main line over on the Sheerness branch often driven by my uncle Ray in his trusty 33 sometimes with me in the cab too and often they would have a cup of tea before letting the train move on and bugger the train schedules as tea was more important. In that time my father was passed out on boxes from Swanley down to Sittingbourne and even as far as Paddock Wood and back up to Orpington (have lovely memories of old Orpington A and B which he used to take me in the summer holidays to on nights) He spent his retirement manning mostly Harman's Cross on the Swanage railway :)
Fabulous video, Mrothren! I'm proud to call the Grain Branch Line my closest freight line as the isle of Grain is quite a nice place, and there are some really nice level crossings on that line (shame Stoke's been turned off), but the highlight crossing on that line for me is Grain LC! It really gives a different perspective going into these industrial aggregate yards on a pretty Hastings DEMU like that one. Additionally, I'm glad to see the Angerstein Wharf foot crossing was kept open too! 👍🏻😎
Thanks! It was was nice to see the Grain Branch for sure. When I spoke to some Network Rail workers, they said that there is a future plan to make Grain an automatic level crossing at some point. It will be a shame if that happens.
I was lucky living in Gravesend on the outskirts in a place called Riverview Park, it was half an hour on me trusty Raleigh Chopper to get me down to Hoo to see me dad in the box if he was there or go for a ride in me uncles loco, wasn't a bad place at all for growing up in esp if you liked trains. Learnt my first swear words from the owner of the then closed Gravesend West, he used to catch us kids and red in the face used words that got us all into a LOT of trouble when we innocently asked what they mean't, I do believe the police went and had a polite word with the owner to use some restraint in what he said to kids trespassing on his plot lol
Fascinating as always Daz! You're a bit like Heineken lager - reaching the parts that nobody else does. Cheers, Brian
Thanks!
I was just about to comment........'hey! someone on YT has done a vid on that closed crossing!........then I remembered who it was.
George Marshal/Jago Hazzard
Thanks for this !! And CHARING CROSS too !!!! Almost 60 years later from when I rode from Woolwich Arsenal to Charing Cross on this Southern Railways line 5 times a week and back to Westminster Technical College Hotel School for two years....many great memories in this video for me, a Canadian immigrant now living in Vermont.
Everything about that was gorgeous. From loco to engine sounds and the view along the way.
I love all the old industrial buildings and other related paraphernalia... long may it last... Sod the effing developers.
"passenger service ended in 1961...."
**DAMN YOU BEECHING!!**
Not anymore
Beeching Report was published in 1963
@Dr Moriarty Ha ha
Richard Beeching wrote a report to try and address the huge lossses of Public Money that British Railways was making. Under 1947 Transport Act which nationalised the Railways they weren't allowed to make a loss and be a burden on the public Purse. Beeching didn't close ny Railways, the poloticians did. Most of them under Harold Wilson including several marked for development in the Beeching Report. By the way there never was a passenger service on the branch, it has always been freight only.
I went on one of these tours in the late seventies, the narrow Hastings stock is what they used then too. We went to Eastbourne and saw all the semaphore signals and the coal mine in Kent which was an amazing place, to Shoreham along the now closed line to the cement works.
We went down one branch where it was obvious that the residents that backed on to the railway were aghast at a passenger train going down there!
We started at Angerstein Wharf which was very poignant for my father and me as my great uncle was actually killed at the pedestrian crossing as a train of trucks was across it and pulled away as he crawled underneath.
I am glad the crossing is kept open as rights of way should never be closed regardless of any excuse.
Audio switching to back cab
Unmonitored camera?
I can't see why they'd stop passenger service on the line, I'm sure it would've drawn some profit from sighseers.
It was then and still is now a bleak grim place lacking a lot of facilities for tourism, Sheerness and Leysdown/Allhallows were really the only "lively" spots in the area but it was very poor quality. When they closed the asbestos factory down the workers traffic almost trickled to nothing so it was doomed. Even the Sheerness branch yards have all gone and surprisingly there were quite a lot of industrial rail down that part of Kent, all gone and the land pilfered for development.
Love it, thanks for sharing.
the fuel line to Heathrow would be interesting
Love to do this trip great stuff
Nice work 👍 Interesting to see the Grain Branch from a different perspective, on a train. Surprising Grain is still manually gated, as NR have to drive upto the crossing to control it. Although, adding to your comment, the business of the road is one problem, and it can't be closed easily, given there's no other alternative route by road to Grain.
Thanks! That's one of the reasons I wanted to go on the tour really, to see the crossings from the train
Wow! That really brought it all together for me, having seen your foot crossing videos & Stokes crossing closure video in the past. What a great opportunity-thank you for your expert & dedicated video documenting & editing & on-screen notes.
There used to be a pipeline between grain ,Heathrow and Gatwick to take the fuel to the airports looks like it was allowed to get into a state of disrepair also TWO major power stations have bit the dust with lots of men losing their jobs in the area as every big employer closed down
Gr8 vid Daz!
Nice video as always. You always manage not to get yourself in a reflection to see what you look like lol. I remember your video about the foot crossing. Glad they kept that one open. It's part of history. The good part.
Excellent record! Know Hoo only too well - great to follow your run on G.Maps - used to work near Charing Cross, and have friends in Hastings, so mighty pleased to recollect all these places with you by rail! Thank you 🙂
Not only do we get to see hardcore Thumper and freight line footage but also train side views of two previously filmed crossings. This is the video (& channel) that keeps on giving. In addition I'm delighted to see the foot crossing was saved.
hey, just out of curiosity do u have a discord account? i'm only asking because i've been DM's by someone using your username and profile pic and i want to know if its you or someone trying to trick me or not. the account I've been DM'd by is morthren#6688
I do but that is not me. I have no clue why someone would want to impersonate me 🤔
@@morthren i think whoever is doing is is the same person that tried to make people think they were Jimwoodward1212 and is trying to raid servers or something. I don't get it tbh but hey they must think you are a great youtuber if you were one of the people they chose to impersonate
@ZZ9 Productions you get some strange people who seem to have a problem being themselves.
Nice video and opportunity!
Enjoyed that. Was that the foot crossing from a previous vid?
once again another great video to peak my curiosity
Stoke Medway Airfield (Rochester)
I was quite surprised to see that when we passed it!
Really great video!! Really cool to go along a freight line and see what not too many people get to see.
Nice footage and lovely DEMU
great andan interesting video well done. hat soff .
I always thought a 'Thumper' was a two or three car DEMU, not the straight-sided 6 car 'Hastings' units.
Love the old DMU's..............
A great video , interesting journey .... seems Angerstein often visited by those with a paint spray can ! ! .....
Are they still running containers from Grain? Only reason I ask is that they used to run a lot up and down the North Kent Line, but not seen any for a few years now....
Where's the steam locos then you'd have more of a crowd this is boring yaaaaaawn steam is king definatly compared to this fek in shit .
Geoff marshall took a cab ride on this line.
gr8 video
You've done it again! Another excellent video, this time filmed in part on my doorstep and very interesting too. Please return when and if the spur to Allhallows is ever re-instated. There is more justification for its existence now than there ever was, given the increasing population and the difficult road access generally throughout the Hoo Peninsular.
Very interesting. How did it return to Charing Cross from Angerstein Wharf - did it reverse up to Blackheath, or go via the Bexleyheath or the Sidcup Loop? Would’ve love to have seen this - back in the 80s I’d travel into Charing Cross every commute to see the Hastings units thumping and whistling away in or out of CX.
It went via the loop. There wasn't much to see so I didn't include any of it. They do 5 railtours a year to different places. See www.hastingsdiesels.co.uk for their upcoming tours
"London's 'only' foot crossing " made me laugh
Why?
Great video!
Really great video, as always. How did you hear of this , can anyone take the trip or something similar. Makes for an interesting journey and i would like to take the trip myself. Can you point me in the right direction please.
Thanks! I've now added it to the description... you can visit www.hastingsdiesels.co.uk to see their planned future railtours
Fantastic opportunity
A fascinating visit to two lines I've known about, but never been able to visit, aboard a Hastings DEMU of the type I remember from my lineside days at Petts Wood Junction, in the mid-Fifties when they replaced my lovely "Schools" steam locos on the Hastings services :(.
I've seen aspects of the Angerstein Wharf line from railway journeys in the Charlton area, and from the A102(M) on the way to North Greenwich, and I knew of the foot crossing, but never explored it fully.
In the 1960's and '70's, with no steam trains to watch, I took up cycle racing and regularly raced in Isle of Grain courses, when the area was much more sparsely populated and undeveloped than it is now, with a bleak atmosphere like the early chapters of Dickens' "Great Expectations" especially in bad weather, and you could still buy a pint of Courage's mild ale at the "White Horse" in Stoke! I remember that we used to cross a bridge over the railway at what I think was the site of Beluncle Halt at the foot of the climb up to the finishing line in Stoke Road. With all the new development in the area, I believe there are plans by Medway Council to re-instate a passenger service on the line with a station at Sharnal Street.
I worked at Grain in the 1970's as a Chargeman(Shunter/Crossing Keeper) . The gates then were right next to the track without any traffic lights and had to be closed manually. It was nightmare ! One of my colleagues got knocked down by a car that wouldn't stop and he was badly injured
Another very interesting video.
I guess your feet stayed dry too. No wellies needed.
Thanks. Nice and dry on this one!
I couldn’t help bursting into the Charlton Atheletic’s song , ‘Oh the red,red, robin goes bob, bob, bobbing along...’ from my 1959- 61 Saturday afty 2nd Div games at The Valley !!! Soccer was soccer back then and you would need a broken leg to leave the pitch...none of this ‘cover your eyes fake whinging’.
It's heard that they are building a train terminus at Sharnal Street on the ratcliffe highway to transport people to London from the hoo peninsula. This come after building 10,000 new homes in the area. These plans are yet to be confirmed as of May. It would be good of they did to ease road congestion in the area.
Is this Grain, opposite Southend in the Thames Estuary? Looks like a very interesting rail journey.
Great video well done
Passenger services as far as Sharnal Street are in planning as part of the infrastructure upgrade to support all the houses (16,000) planned for the area (£67m has been granted to do this - watch for updates)
excellent video+++
I saw this tour from the cab. Another perspective of an interesting place. The area needs a dump/incinerator/landfill and people willing to use it!
What is the route into Heathrow to deliver fuel? Never heard of that before.
Colnbrook BAA Logistics is the fuel depot, right next to Heathrow Airport
morthren. Amazing. I’ve been going out to Grain, birdwatching, since the 1960s and have watched it change massively. Used to feel very remote, not any more. Flyovers at Stoke Crossing. Oh dear.
Thanks for the video.
I spent roughly six months commuting to Grain about ten years ago. They were expanding a power generation site next to the Grain aggregates terminal.
Natural gas ships were also coming in to the dock next to the aggregates terminal.
It's changed a bit, the crossing was still in use back then, and certainly no oil sidings.
There is a housing estate in Grain. Only a couple of shops, and served by a poor bus service. Not a place you'd want to live in if you can't drive.
I believe they put the flyover in as vehicles were taking risks at the crossings and jumping the lights etc. I think there had been some near misses. It was mentioned during my site induction about the railway crossings.
Interesting. Thanks for sharing. Lovely old stock.
Really enjoyed that - thank you. I am overseas and miss the railway a lot so videos like this are good therapy.
Isn't Angerstein LC the only fxing in London?
It is but it's soon to be closed. Network Rail say it's one of the most dangerous crossings on the network!
This is not the only London foot cossing - we have three here in havering on the Romford - Upminister line.
It was nice to see something of the space between the "almost closed" foot crossing and the houses, a space not shown in your foot crossing video.
Hard to believe people live on Grain surrounded by all that crap.
Them DEMU motor well for a old unit
There never was a passenger service on the Branch, it has always been freight only. Pity the video was only taken from one side of the train as the interesting sidings and remains, of the old London transport Central Repair Depot , the SER Signal Works, remains of the other side of the Angerstein triangle and so on are on the other side of the train. As for the oil terminal it will only be in use for a short while until the pipeline which runs from Buncfield (Hemel Hempstead) finishes its upgrade.
Sorry you're wrong, up till the late sixties there used to be Gravesend to Grain service.
Hi a great video, but I dont think the tankers would be loaded with aviation for Heathrow , I think its all pipeline fed to Heathrow I dont think they have a rail link...
Thanks. It all heads to Colnbrook where the tankers are discharged. I understand there is a pipeline from Colnbrook to the fuel 'tank farm' at Heathrow.
Good video mate, keep up the good work
Excellent shots !
Was that a tourist train???
Yes, a rail tour special
Great video thanks
I am surprised there are any manual crossings left in GB. what can you tell me about the diesel. It doesn't sound like any diesel-electric I have ever heard. What kind of a drive system does it have?
There are still a few manual crossings left in the UK with Grain being one of them. Although I was told that there are plans to automate it at some point. Here's some info on the train: www.hastingsdiesels.co.uk/1001/
manual one in Whittlesey, North Cambridgeshire
12:25 foot crossing - remember that one - great video.
Great stuff
I was on that tour ... buffet car was excellent!
Aha, yes! I got a sandwich and a drink 🥪
Solid.
Wow my late father and uncle Ray would have loved this video, my father was relief signalman often operating from Hoo if he wasn't at Cuxton and he often did duty down the Grain line this was in the 70's as he often had to meet with Ford trains coming onto the main line over on the Sheerness branch often driven by my uncle Ray in his trusty 33 sometimes with me in the cab too and often they would have a cup of tea before letting the train move on and bugger the train schedules as tea was more important. In that time my father was passed out on boxes from Swanley down to Sittingbourne and even as far as Paddock Wood and back up to Orpington (have lovely memories of old Orpington A and B which he used to take me in the summer holidays to on nights) He spent his retirement manning mostly Harman's Cross on the Swanage railway :)
what did it cost to ride ? do they a meal car or snacks ?
It was £40 for a seat in standard class. They had a buffet car for drinks and snacks. On some tours you can have a meal in club class
@@morthren wow ! thats like 50$ for that you should get a meal , Thanks for taking us on the tour !
WW 2 era train
Not quite, 1956 this one