They were built to the Hastings line loading gauge which was required to go through Bo peep tunnel. I believe the tunnel was later made single track so the loading gauge restriction was removed. This is my understanding.

@@brucestrong5942 oh ok cheers

It's at worting junction just west of Basingstoke. The DEMU would probably have been on a Salisbury service and the HST on what would now be a cross country Bournemouth. Service.

I can't be 100% sure but it looks like the run down to St. Mary Cray from Chislehurst Junction. I commuted into Holborn Viaduct via Catford Loop from SMC. 1979 - 1988. This video brings the memories flooding back.

And how good they were at stopping, with an 8 car you could generally hit the end of the platform at around 50 and stop nicely on the mark (unless you had one with non ferrous blocks then you were in trouble!)

When I see videos of these trains, it reminds me of long forgotten smells - of a combination of rust and stale tobacco. And of how they 'crept' out of stations (unlike modern trains), sometimes lurching forwards with a violent jolt before moving off! I do miss all of this....the clp, clp, clp of doors slamming, the frantic guard's whistles, and the 'clickety-clack' of fast trains passing through on unwelded rails! ...those are now distant memories of a lost world. A pre- digital age where I remember as a small kid, the station guard actually putting in wooden destination slots (with the stops) into a holder before the arrival of each train. No dot matrix displays or computer screens. This wasn't the 1960's, but the early 1980's!

@@robtyman4281 agree entirely. And yet back then we cursed how crap they were 😂 Nostalgia is a funny thing isn’t it! 👍🏼👍🏼

@@OlafProt ....it certainly is! I suddenly feel really old! 😆 lol

@@robtyman4281 I’m kinda happy to be 51 (that’s getting old right? 😂) The railways def were a lot More varied in terms of loco’s and rolling stock, when I was spotting as a kid. And also staff were more willing to let me have a cab ride, or go in the signal box or guards van or clip tickets or whatever, without h&s fear or fear of ppl having the wrong intentions. Ah bollocks I’m One of those people.. the good old days. They were not all good that’s for sure.

I was born in 1968 and raised in the 70s and 80s. Our railway station was called Tring which is in Hertfordshire on the west coast mainline. I remember the old 310 emus 25kv overhead. Slam doors when the train pulled away you felt every notch applied on the power controller and when the brakes were applied coming into a station you got your ears Pierced with squealing and nearly thrown to the floor. All said and done though we experienced history that modern day travellers won't.

I hadn't noticed that.