Rush Hour Trains at: Hitchin, ECML, 28/07/23

A superb evening session spent at Hitchin on the East Coast Mainline where we see plenty of services from London Northeastern Railway, Great Northern, Thameslink, Hull Trains and Grand Central.
Hitchin station was built in 1850 as one of the original stations along the East Coast Mainline when the tracks were first layed. The same year saw Hitchin become a junction station when the a line to Royston was built and a year later was extended towards Shepreth. There was a line running from Hitchin to Bedford and for a while was running very successfully, but when the Midland Railway built a line from Bedford to London via Luton the Hitchin branch eventually became a branch line and was starting to lose money because passengers were taking the train from London St Pancras. Eventually the line was shut completely in 1961. The embankment is still there as it now carries a single stretch of track for trains that use the East Coast Mainline for Letchworth Garden City.
The line was operated by the Great Northern Railway to start with before they became a part of the LNER, with the rest as they say is history. Before stevenage was opened Hitchin was served by Intercity services.
When First Capital Connect operated services along the East Coast Mainline they installed new safety features at the station including new lighting, New CCTV camera's and automatic ticket barriers, this in turn gave the station a Secure Station Status.
My next rush hour film will be from Crewe on the West Coast Mainline.
You can now find me on Facebook through the group Tornado922, there you will find regular updates, videos and photos from all of my goings on throughout 2023.
You can also find me on Instagram through the group tornado922 where it isn't just rail related content that I produce.
You can also find me on TikTok under the name Tornado_922.

[@nico.w680]

Lovely to see you at my local station.

[@Tornado922]

It's a great station to come to

[@robertstrainsnsw1596]

Great film at Hitchin

[@Tornado922]

Thanks very much

[@Desiro360]

Awesome video. Glad you got to see a couple of 225 sets in action. 😀

[@Tornado922]

Thanks very much, always happy to catch them!

[@gerontius34]

24:57 "Always good to see a 225 set in action." Yes!

[@Tornado922]

Always love seeing them doing their stuff!

[@TheTrainSpotter2005]

Interesting station Layout but does offer some great views as it seems!

[@Tornado922]

Just as long as a 700 doesn't block the view

[@traveljulian]

Like always beautiful video

[@Tornado922]

Thank you kindly

[@chriswhitaker4577]

Hi Tornado922. Great rush hour film at Hitchin. Looking forward to watching your next rush hour film at Crewe. Kind regards, Chris.

[@Tornado922]

Thanks very much

[@ghighlandchieftain4462]

Amazing video, mate. I was enjoying your videos

[@Tornado922]

Thank you kindly

[@theimperialist2686]

Very nice railway video

[@Tornado922]

Thank you kindly

[@arronsmith3721]

Great vlog

[@Tornado922]

Thanks very much

[@djk2509]

It's not often but the ELY-LONDON KING'S X IS SOMETIMES A 700 BUT MOSTLY IT IS A 2 387S DOING IT

[@Tornado922]

It is nice to have a bit of variety

[@coyi51]

Very enjoyable RHT, platform not very wide, will always have issue with passengers avoiding yellow line. Many thanks.

[@Tornado922]

It's a lovely station to come to, the middle section is fairly wide but the remainder of the platforms on both sides are very narrow. Fortunately nothing passes on the slow lines too fast to cause any real issues

[@nilswestermann2598]

nice video

[@Tornado922]

Thanks very much

[@aviano72]

Some wind but not so much at this station They have a first class section on a class 700 ?? I hope they don't have iron board seats

[@Tornado922]

The first class section on the Thameslink services has been declassified so it no longer applies. I think having first class in those sort of trains is ridiculous as it offers no upgrade at all. I haven't travelled on a 700 for quite some time now so I can't remember how comfortable the ride is

[@jameschorley1711]

I enjoyed watching your video every week,did you go to the seven valley railway steam gala today😊

[@Tornado922]

Thanks very much :) I did indeed

[@Sophiebryson510]

Superb. Have you considered filming at model railway exhibitions? Your witty commentary would be brilliant there

[@JayEmmet]

He actually does that quite a bit

[@Sophiebryson510]

@@JayEmmet that’s his club layout, I’m talking about public exhibitions

[@Tornado922]

@@Sophiebryson510 I may give it a go at a later date

[@jamesuk1704]

Please could you do Stevenage next Hitchin is close to my local station

[@Tornado922]

I will get that done this year

[@jamesuk1704]

@@Tornado922 alright

[@robertwhitmore616]

Could you come back and do Leicester again

[@Tornado922]

It is on my list of places to get done

[@keiranclarke2955]

20:39 28:39 it's very interesting when trains overtake other trains. 😂😂😂😂

[@Tornado922]

I love it!

[@eaea2332]

Does Avanti west have trains made in UK?

[@scotishguy]

no i dont think so

[@Yoshithegamer77]

Hi there, what is your favourite freight train?

[@Tornado922]

I do love the car trains that run across the country

[@Yoshithegamer77]

@@Tornado922 Nice

[@darrylbradbury7849]

Any grand central class 221

[@Tornado922]

Nope

[@camotech1314]

700s are way too long, blocking all the action 😕

[@Tornado922]

I'll have to write an official letter of complaint ;)

[@camotech1314]

​​@@Tornado922yes how dare Thameslink have their trains so long? 😮 Never seen them full anyways! 😅

[@charlottelarimore9261]

First

[@Tornado922]

jolly good