Great to see the Thumper back in action. It reminds me of when my sister in the late 1960s got on one of them at Cannon Street by mistake instead of the usual EMU service to Chatham and beyond. She ended up at High Brooms. When I said to her didn’t she notice the train looked and sounded different, she said ‘no, I just fell asleep’. I guess if one is not a rail fan, they just don’t notice differences.
I grew up in Dorking (born 1972) with the Reading-Tonbridge line running behind my house so the sound of the 206 Tadpole Units was as familiar as bread and butter. Such a wonderful sound. I think when I was very little I found standing on the platform next to the engine room quite scary! I travelled on them right up until they were replaced by the Class 117 DMUs in about 1979-1980. We used to travel to Gomshall quite a lot as kids to see Grandparents and when we heading home they used to thunder down the hill from Guildford direction and I still have a clear memory of how they rocked side to side on the tracks as they went over the pedestrian crossing (Gomshall has a staggered platform). I always thought the black triangle was the train sticking its tongue out at me lol! VERY occasionally an Oxted 207 would show its slimmer face on that line which was always exciting! Thanks for this - wonderful high quality footage!
Good video.I caught it outbound at Tonbridge. A fair crowd turned out too. The train looked fairly full. I rode this one a few years back. Great memories. 👍 💯🇬🇧
Had not realised it would be working as a 7 car formation with 5 out of 6 narrow bodied coaches and 2 normal width ones. Is that normal? Brings back memories of the Tadpoles on Reading-Redhill. Good job the clearances in the Hastings line tunnels have been widened :) Well done Hastings Diesels for keeping it operational and main line certified.
Excellent video 🙂. Excellent shot. I personally saw the Hastings Diesel DEMU Thumper 1001 at Redhill Railway Station on Saturday 6th January 2024 believe this or not and I am certainly most happy and it is a great thrill seeing other videos featuring the Hastings Diesel I saw from recent days. Take care and many best wishes 🙂. Excellent footage you extraordinarily and delightfully captured 🙂. From your new friend Foxy in Brighton, East Sussex, England, UK 🙂🙂🙂.
I grew up 300 yards from HG depot road entrance and used to do HG regularly, often in school uniform at lunchtime. Mid seventies. Foreman would always say it was ok to walk round , but come and see me when you’re off, lads. Cromptons and Ed’s everywhere and four 71s after withdrawal too. Used to lie in bed and hear twelve car Hastings units blasting through the station, three separate lots of exhaust noise, as the middle two combined. Mgr trains going down the dartford loop used to make my bedside light rock gently by the time the last few wagons were rolling by. I used to wonder if the house would fall down if the trains were double the standard 43 hoppers(47 piloting a 45) Good times. And every train to London, either from Lee or HG was an EPB. Or a HAP.
Those things were so slow on acceleration that one could chase it down the platform as it was pulling out and leap aboard. Even slower than the multi engined Leyland 680 DMU's.
Yeah. Tadpoles were even slower. I like this triple power car configuration for a bit more oomph, although the extra sounded idle until the East Croydon shot.
Great to see the Thumper back in action. It reminds me of when my sister in the late 1960s got on one of them at Cannon Street by mistake instead of the usual EMU service to Chatham and beyond. She ended up at High Brooms. When I said to her didn’t she notice the train looked and sounded different, she said ‘no, I just fell asleep’. I guess if one is not a rail fan, they just don’t notice differences.
I always wonder whether "non-enthusiasts" notice the sound of diesels as much as we do haha.
@@BB-xx3dvnot necessarily as a volunteer I do have people who are interested in this
@@BB-xx3dv 🤦♂️
I grew up in Dorking (born 1972) with the Reading-Tonbridge line running behind my house so the sound of the 206 Tadpole Units was as familiar as bread and butter. Such a wonderful sound. I think when I was very little I found standing on the platform next to the engine room quite scary! I travelled on them right up until they were replaced by the Class 117 DMUs in about 1979-1980. We used to travel to Gomshall quite a lot as kids to see Grandparents and when we heading home they used to thunder down the hill from Guildford direction and I still have a clear memory of how they rocked side to side on the tracks as they went over the pedestrian crossing (Gomshall has a staggered platform). I always thought the black triangle was the train sticking its tongue out at me lol! VERY occasionally an Oxted 207 would show its slimmer face on that line which was always exciting!
Thanks for this - wonderful high quality footage!
Nice 1001 dmu I love the engine sounds ad they just remind me of a class 20 chopper! Nice video of this beast of a dmu 🥰😍🤩
Was thinking the same thing! Class 20
Nice seeing a Demu in all its glory at Hither Green . Always remember as coming from that area the tragic accident with one in the late 60s.
I remember these in the 1980’s on the Oxted line. Brings back memories of railway’s past 😊
I lived in Old Oxted for several years, before moving to the Norfolk Broads, where I reside these days.
Good video with good sound of the old DEMUs.
Nice capture. I caught the DEMU 1001 at Chilworth and Shalford
I enjoyed that thanks, you seemed to have a good time scooting around chasing this - I do the same when railtours come to Scotland and it's great fun!
Good video.I caught it outbound at Tonbridge. A fair crowd turned out too. The train looked fairly full. I rode this one a few years back. Great memories. 👍 💯🇬🇧
Had not realised it would be working as a 7 car formation with 5 out of 6 narrow bodied coaches and 2 normal width ones. Is that normal? Brings back memories of the Tadpoles on Reading-Redhill. Good job the clearances in the Hastings line tunnels have been widened :) Well done Hastings Diesels for keeping it operational and main line certified.
Do they have a driving trailer, so that they can put together a Tadpole?
used to love hearing them as they pulled away from Appledore station on their way to Ashford or Hastings.
I love the old southern region trans they had so much character it's nice to see them running on special services 😊😊
Excellent video 🙂. Excellent shot. I personally saw the Hastings Diesel DEMU Thumper 1001 at Redhill Railway Station on Saturday 6th January 2024 believe this or not and I am certainly most happy and it is a great thrill seeing other videos featuring the Hastings Diesel I saw from recent days. Take care and many best wishes 🙂. Excellent footage you extraordinarily and delightfully captured 🙂.
From your new friend Foxy in Brighton, East Sussex, England, UK 🙂🙂🙂.
Saw this coming through New Beckenham! Daughter v impressed as it chugged past.
phwor, what a fantastic video !
It just looks so wrong with the two non standard coaches 😟
I accidentally bumped into this railtour on my way home from crawley. It was a good 15 minutes before my train turned up imo
I grew up 300 yards from HG depot road entrance and used to do HG regularly, often in school uniform at lunchtime. Mid seventies. Foreman would always say it was ok to walk round , but come and see me when you’re off, lads. Cromptons and Ed’s everywhere and four 71s after withdrawal too.
Used to lie in bed and hear twelve car Hastings units blasting through the station, three separate lots of exhaust noise, as the middle two combined.
Mgr trains going down the dartford loop used to make my bedside light rock gently by the time the last few wagons were rolling by. I used to wonder if the house would fall down if the trains were double the standard 43 hoppers(47 piloting a 45)
Good times. And every train to London, either from Lee or HG was an EPB. Or a HAP.
Wow thanks for sharing this
As it's slam door stock, are they now fitted with electronic door locking?
Yes they are fitted with central door locking
A team of people with one ready at every station?
Or one person making a mad dash between them?
Good video!
Just me dashing around to as many spots as possible
Those things were so slow on acceleration that one could chase it down the platform as it was pulling out and leap aboard. Even slower than the multi engined Leyland 680 DMU's.
Yeah. Tadpoles were even slower. I like this triple power car configuration for a bit more oomph, although the extra sounded idle until the East Croydon shot.
Good video, like.
Great to see it’s the Tunbridge Wells named thumper unit that’s doing the rounds, or is that the only 1 still in service.
So, what's it doing in Kent?
Going on a Sunday stroll 😂
Working a railtour to Guildford
What on earth was the route this took?
Hastings - New Cross - Hayes - Blackfriars - Guildford - Redhill - Hastings i think
Didn't stop at East Croydon, surprisingly
@@1anhunter1 it wasn't booked to stop
Respect honnor all my heart ❤️ 💙 💜 safe travels ❤️ 💙 u us proud 👏 🥲
I grew up in Lee, the next station to the east of Hither Green. I was just wondering if the "Surrey Hills Surprise" is how dreadful the train is. ;)
And then they 'invented' the third rail...😊