Thameslink Driver's Eye View: Brighton to London Bridge

[@ChoppingtonOtter]

Seeing all these busy lines in use and many, many trains crossing here there and everywhere plus all the trackside infrastructure is a reminder of just how massively complicated the system is and we just take for granted that it all works. The amazing thing isnt the odd delay, it's that there's not lots more faults, breakdowns and so on. A credit to all those folks working on this system.

[@salmankhan-fk2qc]

vary...good...love...now...UK...real

[@blueqeloxxx]

WILL SOMEBODY SHOOT THE BLOODY TAPDANCER.............

[@eswnl1]

hopefully no-one tries to cut any wires.

[@Quercus_Maximus]

Excellent video with a view and audio you could never get as a passenger. Playing on a 65" TV, is like being there and a great way to tour Southern England from Southern California.

[@MichaelBeeny]

Looks even better on a 86 inch. Size does matter. lol

[@alexconde4651]

Just love how green everything is. Been to Yorkshire once and can not wait to visit England again. Greetings from Spain.

[@bazza945]

Best video for the sheer number of train movements. The bonus was near the end, with glimpses of all the famous London modern era buildings. Well done Ben, thank you. Earmarked for future viewing.

[@MrChristof10]

Brilliant video, loved the glimpse of Gatport Airwick !!! Many thanks for posting.

[@TheArkamedBat]

At 30:30

[@peterdean8009]

Originally 'cracked' in the 1980s by BBC Radio 2 DJ Ray Moore. RIP.

[@b30233]

I saw this in the suggested list and I was like um ok so I clicked it and I didn't realize how much I love this much better than watching train sim 2016

[@richardking6424]

Brilliant video! I love seeing what the route is like from the driver's perspective; it certainly makes a change! Keep them coming!

[@ricwilki6254]

Had to rewind at Gatwick to make sure I red it right! I’m a regular traveller from London to East Croydon and occasionally to Hassocks, so good to see it from the cab. Great job!

[@camotech1314]

I love that this one is on the outside of the glass, so you can hear the track perfectly.

[@C4793-h3o]

Great video! Such an asset for researching the main line from Brighton to London from here in Australia. I’m looking at locations to move back home to, ideally I really need to be near a main line. Fantastic resource.

[@valtrus901]

Amazing run. 8-12 car beautifully designed trains running every 2-3 minutes in the opposite direction at 90 mph.........Impressive. Excellent video, save for the rattling fly doors. Thanx for the video in HD.

[@richardcochrane1966]

30:30 Have to say, the arrival at "Gatport Airwick"(!!) had me giggling quite merrily!!

[@vitorlopes7857]

i'm addicted in see videos like that, someone else?

[@triptechable]

Awesome! My current house at 35:35 in the right! Great to see forest hill and brockley where I used to live also. I have a gross story about honor oak park station too 😂

[@jamesrivis620]

Amazing ride !! Montpelier Junction freaked me momentarily as thst is where I live in Vermont, USA. Impressive speeds. Amazing number of trains on same track. Gatport Airwick eh.....hahaha...wise guy. Is third rail live ? The Shard...wow ! Expat here 1966.

[@beneliastrains]

Thanks! Third rail is live indeed.

[@darkside421]

750 volts of pure DC current if you wanted to know and shard well I still haven't properly seen it yet at dark would be nice.

[@nigel2093]

Amazing video, really enjoyed it. I didn't think the fly doors were much of an issue, thanks for posting.

[@crabtonia]

So much more relaxing to watch than the frenetic 60s (?) film of the Victoria to Brighton journey...thank you...dgp

[@jackvieira5157]

from playing train sim world 2 end 3 this is cool very nice jerney on the phone

[@colinmiles1052]

Fascinating...who would have thought a relatively mundane journey could be so captivating!

[@liamthompson9342]

Wonderful clear video, one of the best I've seen

[@HenrysAdventures]

Great video! Nice to see the Wessex Electrics!

[@bazza945]

Second viewing and just as enjoyable as the first time.

[@neilforbes416]

30:34 "Gatport Airwick?" HUH?

[@elljones6159]

57:26 love the signal all lit and ready, but nothing to signal as they line is yet to be built!

[@tact86]

Great Video, Thanks for posting!

[@jonathanparry9505]

Most enjoyable thanks for sharing and please keep posting

[@58bigjim]

Keep up the good work my friend!

[@simongentry]

a completely new angle on trainspotting !!! ty

[@aquasmashau]

I play this on Train Simulator, and at Three Bridges 23:00 the train pulls through a new depot before Three Bridges Station. Is this depot for the new Thamelink trains eh? Train Sim needs an Update I think.

[@Lewwytravels]

aquasmashau Train Sim needs Class 700/707 and 345. Do you agree?

[@TheArkamedBat]

@@Lewwytravels And also Class 180.You Will Going Nowhere 😝

[@mikepeirson1150]

In the 40s and the 50s as said before as a kid I did this journey many times on the old slam door train EMUs. How much more efficient the later trains are, and with more acceleration compared to those. I must admit I miss the clickety clack of the rails and the compressor noise of the old trains, and the way the telephone poles and wires just whizzed by which as a kid was fascinating to me. Just watched this for the second time, clicking noise not so annoying, I just ignored it and it went away. Takes me back a bit to my childhood.

[@MattWillisVideoProductions2023]

Fantastic journey! Miss being down that way! Love using this line!

[@catmar1944]

Great video thanks for producing and uploading, I really enjoyed the speed.

[@max010113]

I sure love flying from Gatport Airwick

[@sg1742z]

30:30 Gatport Airwick I see what you did there 🤣

[@rigletheexplorer]

ohhhhhhhhhh...lol. i read it wrong...

[@pauldavey1716]

I'm a mere mortal, please could you explain what happened?

[@pauldavey1716]

AAaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh Gatport Airwick... Sorry, I thought it was some sort of in joke between drivers!

[@TIMBOWERMAN]

It was an in-joke on Radio 1

[@sylviaelse5086]

13:47 I was a bit surprised by the signalling on the Down Main. At 14:11 it's a single yellow, and then at 14:41 it's red, which is just as well because at 14:51 there's a train coming the other way. But what would that train driver have been seeing?

[@timtim4603]

Hi should be double yellow, yellow, red a single yellow is always before red that is uk signalling which in train talk they call aspects, hope that helps❤️

[@tcc300892]

Green is clear/proceed, double yellow is preliminary caution, single yellow is caution, and red is danger/stop, so you'd anticipate that a single yellow would be followed by a red. I can see why it's slightly counterintuitive as you might expect the double yellow to signify a higher level of caution, but the way I think of it it's almost like a countdown to red: double yellow > single yellow > red.

[@sylviaelse5086]

@@tcc300892 No, that wasn't what concerned me. If one direction on a bidirectional line is showing green, double yellow, yellow, red, then the corresponding signals in the other direction should all be red, so that in the worst case, two opposing trains stop on opposite sides of the same pair of red signals. You don't even want that to happen of course, since unravelling it is awkward, but at least it's safe.

[@tcc300892]

@@sylviaelse5086 ah, apologies - I misunderstood. That's interesting. I'll try and get an answer.

[@spacefallsFH]

As far I believe, that signal a distance signal so it can only be yellow or green.

[@33stevelinda]

The rattle isn't too bad .nice video

[@rubyait]

Ben, I saw this first on my iPad. It was ok. But on my 50” smart tv, it was gorgeous. Thanks so much.

[@sagargullepalli9820]

wonderful video

[@davidreay5911]

Excellent video Ben, but all those passengers running at East Croydon , I would have thought they could have been advised where to stand.

[@luqmanhakimpens]

Love the sound.

[@MrMoodymaniac]

What was that bloody clacking noise?! Sounded like rosary beads banging against the window!

[@widsy2012]

The driver wanking furiously before the next stop lol

[@raymondfrancis2983]

Stephen and Tony Auckland it’s actually the electricity charge as it moves down the line, the clicking noise is to let the driver know his train is powered up by the live rail

[@rubyait]

Stephen and Tony Auckland I turned the sound off. I find engine noise to be monotonous and boring. Then again, I am not a trains man but a British railfan.

[@magdaklajmon4910]

Read The Description!😉

[@tcc300892]

@@raymondfrancis2983 no it's not.

[@AndreiTupolev]

Stoats Nest Junction: best junction name ever.

[@ianhutchinson1783]

I think Junction Road Junction is pretty cool.

[@civilmaterial]

Fantastic

[@aetch77]

9:52 Question The signals look to be bi-directional. We're fast approaching a green. There is a train running in the opposite direction on the other line. The signals on the other track are showing double yellow, for the direction opposite of which the train is travelling. Shouldn't it be showing red?

[@Hamudi_40]

Well in Germany I always see a red light at the opposite line maybe it’s just when there’s like a train crash at right side all trains need to go to the left side

[@ianhutchinson1783]

The double and single yellows are just repeaters for the red signal ahead. As repeaters - or distant only signals - that is their most restrictive aspect. I think it is called SIMBIDS or Simplified Bidirectional Signals such that the block sections for wrong road running are much further apart and will have a much lower traffic capacity, but very useful to have for their flexibility they give the service should wrong road running be required.

[@spacefallsFH]

It's a distance signal ~ with preliminary caution

[@ОльгаЛебедева-п9д]

Great video, thanks! Could someone please tell me what "Up Fast", "Up Quarry" etc. mean?

[@extrude22]

Ольга Лебедева on a 4 track railway there is a fast line and a slow line for each direction. Slow lines are for trains which stop at all or most of the stations allowing the way, fast lines are for trains which don’t stop at many stations. In the UK all lines going towards London are going UP to London and lines going away from London are Down from London. Quarry is just the name of a particular section of line. If the train is in Up Quarry it is going towards London.

[@melkiorwiseman5234]

LOL @ Gatport Airwick -> Gatwick Airport 😆

[@rayg4360]

Rowena Eden and i went up and down this line, not cos we wanted to go anywhere in patricular

[@IbnBahtuta]

I thought he was practising that German dance where they slap each other.

[@Biggles-gm6tm]

Its actually the driver playing with one of those ping pong bats with a rubber ball on an elastic. Naughty! He should be concentrating!

[@craigymarsh941]

you should do a drivers eye view video on Tyne and wear metro on the green line from airport to south hulton

[@hasnaouisaid4137]

c jolie la voie ferre

[@fkfj_]

Question! So, Down obviously means down towards Brighton or out of London (as seen in your Ldn -> Btn video) and Up is obviously the reverse, into London. Does this still apply for trains north of London: so would London to Birmingham for example be Up? Or, is London the 'hub' if you will - so would this make all trains departing London be Down and the reverse be Up? Apologies if that requires a couple of reads to make sense!

[@beneliastrains]

A good question. Up is always towards London.

[@SynchroScore]

But to further that question, what about a route that doesn't actually go toward London, like Brighton-Portsmouth, or Sheffield-Manchester?

[@AndreiTupolev]

Sylderon It's "up" if it's heading in the direction of London. So Manchester to Sheffield would be "up" because it's in the direction of London.

[@trevordance5181]

I was told that the up line is the one that goes in the direction of what is considered to be the largest/most important end destination on the line. This obviously is not always London. I stand to be corrected if this is not so.

[@KasabianFan44]

@@SynchroScore On non-London routes, “up” is towards the destination that the railway company thinks is the “more important” one. On the Brighton-Portsmouth route, “up” is towards Brighton; same goes for the Hastings-Brighton route. On the Hastings-Ashford route, “up” is towards Ashford.

[@JJMMWGDuPree]

I'm dying to know what the loss of sound was. Somewhere there was a sound of some kind that someone doesn't want us to hear. Yes I am nosey...

[@ace-paidinfull5240]

I just finished driving this on train sim world 2 and then found this vid lol Is this that rare 377 that thameslink have painted in southern colours then or was this a regular thing? Tbh theres been a lot of changes on the mainline over the years. How comes no aws btw?

[@thomasw1]

1. All (or most tmk) 377's in the UK are operated by Southern, so painted green / white. 2. The camera was on the outside of the train, so there is no cab noises at all.

[@ace-paidinfull5240]

@@thomasw1 okok

[@kingwillie1145]

Enjoyable ride.

[@windsoord]

31:28 Shortage of train crews MY ARSE

[@gwr5029]

yeah - "temporary train staff shortage" - another way of saying "dispute with union"!

[@johnridley2520]

Pipper Dickens to

[@joshuahawkes7218]

or when they muck up holidays and realize that they don't have enough crew to cover the middle two weeks of summer, or Christmas week (although network rail seem to do all their work at Christmas so that's a lucky break I guess). and yes, this has happened before.

[@everythinggaming7938]

Anyone else surprised at how quickly the train can go from 90mph to 0. Definitely not like that on train Sims 😅

[@terratec1001]

47:00 - Why do passengers never know where abouts the train is going to stop at the platform?

[@AndreiTupolev]

terratec1001 Looked like it was a four car train. They were probably expecting eight or twelve.

[@TheArkamedBat]

They should watch the platform "screen"

[@raphaelnikolaus0486]

30:30 The Caption! Top :D

[@thephantomeagle2]

I've ridden that train several times, along with the line from Southampton to Brighton. These trains don't have traditional locomotives, they have driver cars and passenger cars(no control cab). Therefore there is no traditional reverse, and forward like you'd have on a train with a locomotive. The Engineer moves to the other end of the train to head from London to Brighton in this case

[@beneliastrains]

John Randall Banks I think you'll find they do have a reverse setting - it's used when uncoupling from another unit. Rarely for any other reason.

[@randallbanks1589]

That makes sense.

[@damgreene]

nice vid ...but here is a noob question.....howcome we dont hear the cab sound. dont all uk trains use them?

[@damgreene]

i mean in cab signal alert chime

[@tcc300892]

The camera is mounted on the outside of the cab.

[@sync0x]

Thank you for including the live overlay of location and line. Is this a feature of the car, or an implement of your own design?

[@rajivkrishnatr]

Are these the suburb trains? What's the top speed of these trains? I'm confused because it looks like it's traveling more than 90 kph(or is it mph?)

[@beneliastrains]

Yes, they are commuter trains. Their top speed is 100mph. Yes, it's 90mph - we use mph in the UK

[@TheArkamedBat]

@@beneliastrains And 1mph=1,6kmh if you didn't know

[@TheArkamedBat]

GatPort AirWick?

[@TIMBOWERMAN]

What is that flapping sound and where are the in-cab signals for signal aspects like a bell for green and a beep for double-yellow, yellow and red?

[@WCML730]

That flapping sound it's the Door and this was filmed outside the train so the camera sticks to window

[@simonarnold5212]

My old station I used regular for work and West End.

[@TheKonga88]

Is there no Coulsdon South Station anymore? 🚉🚉🚂

[@beneliastrains]

Yes. It's on the Redhill (Slow) line which requires the train to branch off at Earlswood

[@TheKonga88]

@@beneliastrains Oh, I never realised that. Thank you for responding.. 🚂🚉😀

[@58bigjim]

Fantastic video,watch it often!!

[@acleray]

Gatport Airwick indeed.

[@geoffbarry9540]

Was there anything significant in the procession of 442s going south. Once I woke up to them I counted 6 x 10 car formations and one single unit. That's a lot 442s. Would the movements be associated with their withdrawal for storage (although one wouldn't expect this to be going on at the tail end of the evening peak)?

[@beneliastrains]

This was filmed at a time when the majority of GX services were still 442

[@FabianEason]

It was probably 4 x 10-car on the Brighton GatEx services which I think are every 15 mins in the peak, plus 2 x 10-car on the Eastbourne route (which is every 30 mins or something like that) which although not GatEx services were operated by the 442s in the peak. The single unit would have been on GatEx to Gatwick only, being a tail-end of the peak service having left London around 1845 (judging by the time on the clock at Gatwick in the vid).

[@SMILEVIDEOTRAINS]

excellent

[@dcmoisan]

When you leave Gatwick Airport Station, the signal bridge for your track shows "RA" along with the green aspect. What does "RA" signify?

[@beneliastrains]

It means go

[@beneliastrains]

Or officially 'right away'. It means platform staff have completed their duties and you can now depart

[@dcmoisan]

So it's like a "ring-off", what the Boston MBTA calls it when they signal trains at the terminal stations to proceed. Great video!

[@Quercus_Maximus]

Question for Ben Elias: Do you ever get scared travelling through those long tunnels?

[@beneliastrains]

Nope. Never found them intimidating at all.

[@Edgecrusher66]

how much is the fare?

[@paradise_drift7]

Was that a class 700?

[@boringlyamusing366]

Please do Brighton to Hastings

[@TheArkamedBat]

Or to Ore

[@KasabianFan44]

He worked for Thameslink, not Southern.

[@GTRRailwaysTrainspotter]

How big and visible was the camera to other passengers?

[@widsy2012]

Whats the scraping noise when the trains pulling in? Is that the brakes?

[@thomasw1]

It’s the sides of the wheels grinding against the curved rails - we call the noise ‘flange’.

[@northessexbusphotography54]

How did your camera not fall off as it is on the outside?

[@guintube]

What camera are you using? Tripod or suction cup on window? Good videos.

[@WCML730]

There's these cameras that stick to windows even at high winds so this Camera sticks to the window while the train goes to London Bridge

[@ArnodeBruin]

If the train at London Bridge arrival than once he returned to Brighton?

[@crazycraigy01]

What is UP FAST and MAIN..

[@Gagon32]

Why isn't the AWS sound audible?

[@beneliastrains]

Check the description

[@Gagon32]

@@beneliastrains alright, thanks

[@kharkhov]

What was the camera?

[@canaljkt]

lol i played this on train sim , remember all the stff :;)

[@KillilaghChurch12]

what camera are you using, really clear

[@TraineePilotJess]

30:30 Gatport airwick?😂😂😂

[@geoffbarry9540]

What happened to the AWS tones? Did you edit them out?

[@geoffbarry9540]

Sorry, just answered my own question..."camera mounted outside"...I'll read everything properly first next time!

[@markchambers491]

Great vid…but had to watch with the sound off because that clicking is really annoying after a minute or so!

[@JSGRanks]

19:02 that's pretty cool tbh

[@gregt1187]

This thing got square wheels?!?!?

[@MidnightVisions]

Too bad somebody blocked the tracks with that building. : )

[@JasonHarrisDorset]

great video, dam shame about the lens cap.

[@beneliastrains]

Jason Harris thanks, but what lens cap? the GoPro doesn't have a lens cap

[@Lewwytravels]

Jason Harris The tapping noise is the doors at end of the train that let people move through if there is 8/10/12 car trains. (Fly doors)

[@faheemwaqar1472]

I like This View

[@mattielad8650]

How come you wasn't getting any AWS sounds when closing in on the signals ??

[@beneliastrains]

Have a look at the description. Your question is answered

[@mattielad8650]

@@beneliastrains I realised after id written it . Id already had the video on full screen so didnt see the bit saying camera outside .. xx

[@MattIPv4]

gatport airwick.

[@TheArkamedBat]

30:30

[@johnbell3621]

Speed up the video by x2 and it only takes 30 minutes to London. (If only)

[@doodemog]

Brighton, the Rhyl of the south 🙈

[@Jackkane71]

i cant play this video with speakers

[@Deathcult82]

You went to close to the LB buffers..Scenario crash... :X

[@barboror]

Sorry about that getting old 😃