Hastings to Ashford International - Hastings DEMU cab ride - 31 December 2016

Canterbury Bell part 1: Cab view from Hastings to Ashford International, filmed from our preserved Hastings DEMU on Saturday 31 December 2016, during the outward leg of our Canterbury Bell railtour.
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In this video we cover the 28 miles and 65 chains of the Marshlink Line, which is steeply graded at its ends but very flat over the majority of its length as it traverses the Romney Marsh via Rye. This line is unelectrified, and was single-tracked in 1979 between Ore and Appledore; but fortunately it has thus far escaped closure. For many years the train service was operated by Hampshire and Oxted DEMU trains closely related to our own Hastings DEMU.
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Video and audio footage are from an unattended unmonitored forward-facing cab-camera in motor coach 60118 Tunbridge Wells. The railtour began at Eastbourne and ran via Rye and Dover to Faversham.
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0:00 - HASTINGS station
3:27 - Mount Pleasant Tunnel
3:55 - Ore station
5:10 - Ore Tunnel
9:21 - Three Oaks station
11:12 - Doleham station
13:18 - Snailham
17:19 - Winchelsea station
20:21 - RYE station
31:09 - Appledore station
37:14 - Ham Street station
48:41 - ASHFORD INTERNATIONAL station
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Video, soundtrack and captions © Copyright 2016-2018 Hastings Diesels Limited.
www.hastingsdiesels.co.uk/
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Equipment: video and its soundtrack by GoPro Hero3+ camera with suction-mount and extra batteries; processing by Da Vinci Resolve (free).
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In part 2 of this tour we will head due east to Folkestone and Dover Priory, and part 3 will show the remainder of our journey to Canterbury East and Faversham.
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Here is a link to an annotated extract from Network Rail’s Sectional Appendix:
Outward: www.dropbox.com/s/27wsjbrkro7...
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Here is a link to the Railways Archive scanned copy of Major Holden's Report on the Appledore Derailment, published in 1982 by the Department of Transport:
www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/docs...

[@LJones20110501]

When in the mid 1960s I commuted into London on the Southern, passing trains would cause a noise through the air pressure, which was no problem ... until one day the train I was on passed one of those diesel trains. The sudden noise of that engine, combined with the doppler effect, made me 'jump' ... 'Thumper' indeed ! I have seen many of your Cab Rides and I congratulate you for the attention to detail you have shown throughout.

[@hastingsdiesels]

Thank you, and yes I can well imagine!

[@iankr]

Semaphore signalling at Hastings ❤ (something in my eye...) Lovely. Thank you very much.

[@DJAYPAZ]

Great video. The descriptions along the way make for an interesting trip.

[@davidcollins9512]

Thoroughly enjoyed watching this as it brought back lots of memories of travelling this line 40 years ago between Westgate-on-sea (Margate) & Polegate (Eastbourne) - changing at Ramsgate (sometimes at Margate), then Ashford & Hastings. If timing was right we'd have the option of jumping out at Hampton Park & catching an earlier (London) train or sit on the same train & reverse back out of Eastbourne. Or other times travelling with my Dad driving across the marshes from Folkestone to Eastbourne & if at the front of the level crossing on the A259 trying to 'race' the train between the level crossings (train won most times!)

[@bobbrooks266]

Absolutely fantastic video plenty of blowing the horns fantastic

[@matmilne]

Thanks for this. It's such a magnificent line across the Romney marsh, past quaint, picturesque Rye and the dramatic Cadborough cliffs. Reminiscent of the Scottish lowlands in its rural fog-bound beauty, this vital home counties amenity deserves much more attention than it gets.

[@hastingsdiesels]

Thank you - and fully agreed!

[@strains3551]

Great video with lots of info on the way 👍 Remember these well back in the 80s when they were in the br blue & white livery

[@paul197290]

Loved this video from my home town station. It's my absolute favourite. I remember when the old class 201's ran the Hastings to Charing X and Cannon Street routes before electrification and the class 421's and 423's came along. So many memories and lots of noise.

[@gwynmacgregor1384]

Thanks for this video! It brought back many memories of ‘70s/‘80s holidays staying with my aunt in Three Oaks, getting the train back and forth to Hastings and heading the other way to go to Rye on Market Day.

[@Phil-oj5nr]

Also a thank you for the captions, many videographers leave that detail out, and overseas viewers and those not familiar with the lines traversed are left wondering.

[@patrickspeaight9154]

Thank you, Good photography, your use of captions to enable the viewer to identify where they on your journey. I do feel that context is important. The pointing it railway features, keeps interest a t a high level. Thank you, Patrick, Northamptonshire

[@robertcoleman4861]

Another great video,Well done.

[@Dkentflyer]

Nice run, i used to travel on these trains daily back in the 80's to college. A 12 car set was a sight and sound for sure!

[@davidsheriff8989]

Fantastic view of the track...

[@jontownsend6451]

Loving your video productions, full of useful information as always. I always enjoy travelling along the Marshlink line, a complete contrast to hs1, just a few sleepers further on.

[@rubyait]

I’m back again. One of my favorite routes. I have learned a lot in 2 years. I hope we will have new tours in 2021.

[@Feddergenetics]

Ahhhhhh my favourite videos on Christmas Day love it 😍

[@ecoops123]

Its really cool to see my town at a different view I travel everyday.

[@HenrysAdventures]

Very interesting video! I enjoyed that!

[@Broadercasting]

A lovely video that takes me right back to my childhood holidays of Rail Rovers or cycling between Hastings and Rye, picnics in Pett and Coghurst Wood and walk up to Winchelsea. It was double track all the way through back then of course in the '70's. I note some of the station's names have been truncated, from Three Oaks & Guestling , and Ham Street & Orlestone. On a sidenote, it was steam engines in the sidings at Hastings station when I lived as a nipper up on Braybrooke Road behind the station, then a little later, not far from the Bulverhythe depot where the Thumpers are stabled today and, before Health & Safety, I was lucky to be given a tour round! It's nice to see the camera experiments have borne fruit to give good stable pictures given the vibration levels. I've been catching up on some of the videos since they were first put up.

[@hastingsdiesels]

Thank you for your message and reminiscences - glad you enjoyed our videos.

[@2981661]

Great video. Love looking at the English countryside. Looking forward to Part 2!

[@MreViewer]

Love your videos, so informative, thank you. Pity it was such a gloomy day though !

[@stuartthegrant]

Most enjoyable, I will always remember the ride's on these units pre Kent Coast third rail, Ramsgate to Charing cross. Family trips from Dover Priory up to London.

[@rubyait]

Thank you. A Yank who loves Hastings Diesels.

[@dreadnaught3894]

Thank you very much - just love getting this sort of experience. Exchanged smiles with Don Bradman on Hastings Up Platform in 1948 (didn't see Ron Saggers tho')

[@ASCIITerminal]

Thank you very much for posting this. I grew up near Hastings and went to school in Rye, so for me Hastings Diesels were normality. To be perfectly honest, I wish we still had them! My Dad commuted Hastings to London for 30 years and they did the run in an hour and ten on a good day. Try doing that today!

[@annescholey6546]

Grew up on Romney Marsh. It's greeny yellow bogs are home to bullfrogs and chaffinches.

[@AndreiTupolev]

What a lovely ride through the misty wintry countryside. It's usually quite dry in Rye, I've heard.

[@paulhwbooth]

Another excellent one, with really good captions. Thanks.

[@hastingsdiesels]

Glad you like them! This one might be my personal favourite to date.

[@Clavichordist]

I've enjoyed all of the videos I have watched, and particular enjoy your lineside notes since much of this is so different from where I come from, yet very familiar at the same time. This ride in particular reminds me a bit of where I come from across the pond in eastern New England. The former Eastern Railroad line dating back to the early 1840s, now the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA) commuter line, runs through a similar landscape from Ipswich, MA to Newbury, MA where it terminates at a station called Newburyport. Newburyport proper lost its station sometime in the 1980s when the line was completely closed after a drawbridge burned. When the line reopened in the late 1990s, the terminus was moved south to a mile to Newbury. This line once continued north to Portland Maine, but was cut back to Portsmouth and then in the 1970s to Newburyport after the Merrimack River drawbridge was damaged and remained open.

[@MervynPartin]

Despite the lack of interesting scenery on the marshes (I had forgotten how dismal it was in fog) the video of this trip was fascinating and very informative- I enjoyed it. Seeing the whole length of the line, I cannot see any difficulty in electrifying it with 3rd rail, other than political reluctance and an obsession with overhead systems. Thank you for for uploading and long may your Thumper thump!

[@Goodchappy]

Gosh, I watched that all the way through. Pity there weather wasn't a bit sunnier :-)

[@LordHartfield]

I just followed that along with a 6" 1888-1913 OS map. Surprising how little has changed!

[@johncourtneidge]

Superb, thank-you! This is my most favourite part of England! I hope that you will do a run over the metals though Lydd Town and as far as the Dungeness transfer stop. Before those metals are lifted. And a coach therefrom to the lifted portions to Dungeness and to New Romney. Again, thank-you abundantly for providing this most memorable ride!

[@hastingsdiesels]

Hi, Thank you John. We have run to Lydd Town a couple of times, in 2001 and 2005. A report from the latter is here: www.hastingsdiesels.co.uk/news/articles/2005a04/

[@torspedia]

How train journey videos should be done, especially as I have seen some where they don’t even tell you the station they’re at!

[@hastingsdiesels]

Thank you!

[@ajsgaming8003]

my old local station, lived here from 2011 till 2017

[@regulator67bj]

Nice to see the "unit" can put a shine on the metals even on an overcast forecast roll on part 2

[@davidbooth3285]

When you say Ore station has changed your not kidding! I lived in Fellows Rd as a kid in the 1950s and there was the old power station,the signal box and a ticket office and waiting room plus the engine sheds! Ah happy days!!

[@wentonmastermind]

Once again, Richard, thank you so much for both the filming and the comments on screen. The day was a bit overcast, but the views of Romney Marshes conjured up Rudyard Kipling's Smuggler's Song and the films of Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. There was a comment about Doleham. If my memory serves me correctly, its function is to be singled out by Geoff Marshall as the least-used station in Kent.

[@hastingsdiesels]

Thank you @wentonmastermind. Glad you enjoy them. Geoff & Vicki did indeed feature Doleham as the least-used station in East Sussex. I used personally to use that station quite regularly, before they reduced its service so.

[@Broadercasting]

Some of my first memories were looking down at the steam locomotives in Park Sidings (1:52). Years later, my first Rail Rover covered part of this line.

[@anmolmehta7116]

A lovely journey through the marshlands with climbing slopes. I wish the weather could have been sunny though. Gloomy weather right throughout the entire journey.

[@hastingsdiesels]

Well, it was New Year's Eve. Seems kind of appropriate really, and the Romney Marsh is quite susceptible to fog too. If we go through it on a nicer day in the future and I can capture footage, I will do.

[@henrybn14ar]

A nice soft day in the South of England.

[@annescholey6546]

Back on home turf!😊

[@aslamshaikh1451]

As Lovely as it can be.

[@patrickspeaight9154]

Thank you, a map at the start would be a good idea. The information provided is excellent. May be adding the North and South downs, giving context to the banks, gives a helpful steer, as good progress . Thankyou and enjoyable. Patrick Northampton.

[@moskaz1]

great 10/10.

[@Phil-oj5nr]

I guess the Marshland line was double track but rationalised at some point. Third rail is missing, just like Shalford Junction to Reigate. Always wondered why those two obvious gaps were never built. Also Aldershot South Junction to Wokingham. I left UK in 1963 and returned for a holiday in 2005, and was very surprised the upgrade wasn’t completed. We travelled over the route from Ashford to Brighton in 2014 on another trip.

[@andrewmcilwraith1997]

Fantastic video. The annotations and information are brilliant. Strange that you could be on a Highland line almost - apart from the signalistion - in south-east of the country. Thank you for a great video.

[@DaveSuperThomas]

The once-thriving human population of Romney Marsh was devastated by sea surges during the 13th Century and by Malaria epidemics during the 17th Century. Today, sheep outnumber people by several powers of magnitude.

[@lampcolector]

Super video, great shame it is no longer double track and still with Thumpers running up and down.

[@micheleedwards8858]

you could see the camber sands dymchurch lines which were only single track and fed the dungeoness power station in the 60's are they still there

[@bobwood856]

What could have been a fairly dull ride on a dull weather day was made absolutely fascinating by the information and comments bubbles on screen. If only all cab rides could be done like this! Brilliant! Is there any particular reason why staggered platforms are used at quite a number of the stations? Seem to take up more room than they otherwise would.

[@hastingsdiesels]

Thank you, I appreciate your comment. I believe staggered platforms were once commonplace as they made it safer for passengers using the 'barrow crossings' (footpath level crossings between platforms also used in the old days by porters' barrows), as passengers alighting would then cross behind their train. That was the theory anyway, but footbridges have since been provided - including a new temporary one at Ham Street.

[@bobwood856]

Thanks @@hastingsdiesels You learn something new everyday! Logical really, isn't it?

[@gtrb5628]

Didn't know ore station would be so tiny

[@Feddergenetics]

I live in Ore love it here

[@gtrb5628]

@@Feddergenetics same

[@geoffreyhobbs1548]

Thank you for another interesting and informative video. I've noticed in a few other videos that, when a single track enters a station that includes a passing loop, it is more often than not enters "straight in" with any sharp curves on the exit back to the single track. I wonder if this pattern was adopted after the incident you mentioned.

[@hastingsdiesels]

Interesting thought. I don't know. I think it may have been standard practice when lines were *built* as single-track with passing-loops at stations, to have the sharp curvature where the loop-exit and trap points were. Likewise I wonder whether you are right. Further info welcomed, anyone?

[@firefly361]

Anoraks are loving it.

[@laurenceskinnerton73]

I’ve been here.

[@robinmoss5470]

Many thanks for this which gives us a rare opportunity to see the layout of this stretch of railway. I notice you call this video Part 1. What will be Part 2?

[@hastingsdiesels]

Thank you. Your answer is already in the description, which says "In part 2 of this tour we will head due east to Folkestone and Dover Priory, and part 3 will show the remainder of our journey to Canterbury East and Faversham." :)

[@iannang]

Part 2 will be the return trip back to Hastings

[@iannang]

And part 3 will be stopping at each station checking out the "nude in public "displays

[@nicksrailwaymad4271]

I love these videos. I was lucky enough to get a cab ride on the 207 at Spa Valley railway. Do you know if there will be a Hastings to London cab ride in the future?

[@hastingsdiesels]

I do have footage of this from April 2019, and one day would love to produce a video of it. Things remain busy for me at present but I haven't forgotten about it all.

[@barrythedieselelectricstea5217]

excellent cab ride 👍why did they make it single track and will they make it double track again 🤔

[@frglee]

Singling was done (presumably to save money on track maintenance costs) in 1979. The line had been slated for closure a decade previously, but was saved after public protest. Electrification was planned 30 years ago but never took place leaving it the only non-electrified line in the South East, but has been discussed since several times, even with talk of extending HST trains from Ashford. Re-doubling might take place as a result if traffic grew, but it seems unlikely with present traffic levels.

[@edwardhugus2772]

I am from Pennsylvania and enjoy trains and trams from around the world (especially the UK, Australia, and Japan. Would you have a link you could post to direct me to some photos of the type of train you are on in this video? Thank you for the most enjoyable ride along!

[@hastingsdiesels]

Hi Edward, thanks for this. Have a look at the News and News Archive sections of www.hastingsdiesels.co.uk for loads of photos.

[@edwardhugus2772]

@@hastingsdiesels Thank you so much for your reply and the info.....edit: Wonderful photos, congratulations on all of the fantastic restoration work!

[@hastingsdiesels]

Thank you!

[@ChrisAndrewsFirth-ci5ri]

Going past Ashford works in 1965 there where several steam locos parked, does anyone know what they were?

[@DadRail]

Great Video! I'm a train driver based at hastings (use to be a shunter at West Marina) Im also a youtube creator. I would love to make a documentary video about the hastings DEMU

[@hastingsdiesels]

Thank you! Might I ask you to get in touch via email (see the website)?

[@wilfbm9067]

Love your videos DR!

[@codys4449]

Brilliant, is there any chance of a video going up the Hastings Line, or the return of the 'Weymouth Wanderer' thanks :D

[@hastingsdiesels]

Thank you. I do have footage of the 'Weymouth Wanderer' from Hastings to Weymouth and back as far as Redhill (by which time it was dark). I certainly intend to publish the Hastings Line section of this if not quite a lot more of it... all in due course :)

[@codys4449]

@@hastingsdiesels Great, thanks :)

[@ralpha679]

At what degree of wheelslip would sand normally be applied, or is it down to driver judgement?

[@hastingsdiesels]

There’s no sanding gear on these trains!

[@ralpha679]

@@hastingsdiesels Really? Yikes! Best keep that window down then!

[@hastingsdiesels]

Sanding gear isn’t common on UK trains, and even where present (eg on Virgin Voyagers) in some cases it is deployed automatically under wheel-SLIDE conditions only, during max or emergency braking - and in some cases it’s a one-shot system (latterly a 2-shot, so the train didn’t have to be withdrawn from service after 1 event).

[@westwruxshire5042]

Hello sir. Are you sure it was single tracked in 1979? I could've sworn it was double well into the 80s when i used to go between Rye and Hastings and Rye and Ashford.

[@hastingsdiesels]

I don’t have personal recollection of it being single until almost 10 years later: but the Appledore derailment can only have occurred because of the single-tracking, and the report (see link in Info) gives a precise date & description. Note also that it says how the second track, although disconnected, was still in situ - like we see on my Hurst Green to Uckfield video in places - so possibly that’s what you saw?

[@westwruxshire5042]

@@hastingsdiesels That would explain it, or i just wasn't really paying much attention in those days. I like the films though, very relaxing and informative.

[@paulwhitear4983]

A very informative ride. Does the driver come from south-eastern trains? Nice scenery on a misty morning.

[@hastingsdiesels]

Hastings Diesels engages the services of GB Railfreight to operate its train on the main line.

[@SynchroScore]

I've wondered about that myself. Since you have an outside company supply the drivers, do you need to train them in the particulars of driving these? I can imagine it's not very similar to modern diesels or electrics.

[@TheWuschelMUC]

Why was the second track removed?

[@hastingsdiesels]

Like on so many other lines, it was a somewhat short-sighted attempt to reduce operating/maintenance costs when the railways were (seen to be) in decline in the 1960s/70s.

[@antonydicesare4632]

Any more tours and videos coming up

[@hastingsdiesels]

We're taking bookings for our Medstead Mountaineer railtour, see www.hastingsdiesels.co.uk/railtours/

[@stevehillier7018]

If we still used the British Rail Numbers. What is this one . Would it be 1018 ?

[@hastingsdiesels]

It would be a hybrid of units 1001, 1012 and 1013... and some non-Hastings units. I refer you to our website's "About our train" page for more detail: www.hastingsdiesels.co.uk/1001/

[@QwertyScream]

Network Rail uses 6-digit numbers

[@mqcapps]

I'd like to see the cars....coaches...

[@georghieronymus9935]

At the destination. All those tracks, no trains. Must have been exciting 100 years ago? Booming with trains?

[@trainmaniacstudios8216]

Filmed on New Years Eve 2016 mate. No need to be busy at that kind of time.

[@pgchase4578043026]

At 28:31, what is the tragedy to which you refer? Hello from USA.

[@hastingsdiesels]

The Appledore derailment of 1980. If you watch from Rye to Appledore, and the closing sequence of the video, and read the captions it should become clearer.

[@pgchase4578043026]

@@hastingsdiesels Thanks, I was not sure if that was the same as what was referenced earlier @ 28:31.

[@hastingsdiesels]

Hi Peter, yes I see what you mean. The change of side meant that at Appledore where double-track starts again, there was a sharp turnout. If the side hadn't changed, there would have been no sharp turnout and the tragedy wouldn't have occurred.

[@Crewecabking]

Class 1001?

[@hastingsdiesels]

Class 201 in TOPS classification - but our train never wore a TOPS number.

[@171trains]

It would be great if all trains had cameras-it would stop fatalities and trespassers

[@bobbyboy8684]

Most modern trains have cameras now, so how would cameras stop trespassers and suicides.??? Ex southern D.I.

[@hastingsdiesels]

By the same logic, there must be zero instances of speeding or inconsiderate / dangerous driving on our roads?

[@lewiswilson3186]

Whats the point of doleham

[@hastingsdiesels]

What's the point of such an ignorant comment?

[@lewiswilson3186]

@@hastingsdiesels well all I'm saying is that it's only a few houses at doleham

[@hastingsdiesels]

It's also the closest station to Brede. I have used Doleham station more than any other intermediate stop on the Ashford - Hastings line, over the past 40 years. Just because you don't see the point of it, doesn't mean that it has no point.

[@lewiswilson3186]

@@hastingsdiesels oh well someones salty

[@hastingsdiesels]

True.

[@AllensTrains]

Pity you didn't have a brighter day for it. Nevertheless an atmospheric ride. Very stupid singling the track and creating that facing cross over at Appledore. The Bluebell Railway says they made the mistake of singling the line. It doesn't save much on costs because the single line gets twice as much traffic!

[@thumper5450]

I just can't help to talk about your tonka toy horn. You beep so quick nobody with a distance would even know you beeped it. You go for miles with no crossing and still for no reason you beeped it. Then you cross a marked or unmarked crossing and don't beep it at all. How dangerous is that. It scared the hell out of me when you do that. You would loose your job in the US for not BLOWING A REAL HORN AT CROSSING LONG BEFORE AND CONTINUE THRU THE CROSSING. You sure have guts to blast thru a crossing with no Taonka Toy beep at all. I sure hope you don't kill somebody some time.

[@hastingsdiesels]

English railways are different from US railroads.

[@thumper5450]

Blowing a loud horn at crossings, marked or not is one of safest thing you could do. I would think you tighten your butt going past crossing....You should set an example for all engineers there. Beep Beep,

[@hastingsdiesels]

I hear you. But (a) neither I nor Hastings Diesels Limited are the driver of this train, (b) the train is driven by fully qualified professional railwaymen employed by a major railway freight company, and (c) custom & practice around US railroads (including the behaviour of their staff and of the public nearby) are very different to their UK counterparts.

[@thumper5450]

Ok, I understand. But it still scares me when they don't beep and crossings. I wonder just how many cars or trucks they smash in to every year ?? Even how many persons they kill every year ?? Thanks for your responses.

[@hastingsdiesels]

Steve, at all the *road* crossings on the video there are barriers which lower across the road, as well as red lights flashing to warn of the approaching train. Most of the *private* crossings (shown on this video as Accommodation crossings) are fitted with a telephone, and signage instructs users to telephone the signaller to find out when it is safe to cross. Use of the horn is primarily to warn pedestrians at footpath crossings. . To answer your question, there were *six* collisions between trains and road vehicles at British level crossings in 2016/17, and there were *six* persons killed at level crossings (four of whom were pedestrians). During 2016 there were 255 fatalities at grade crossings in the USA, which is 42 times as many - but the USA has a population 5 times the size of Britain, so per person the risk at USA level crossings is only 8.4 times greater.