*THUNDERSTORM* Chaos at Hitchin Railway Station, ECML | 29/05/18

A busy and thundery visit to Hitchin rail station situated on the East Coast Mainline during a wet afternoon of Tuesday 29th May 2018. Loads of action is included such as announcements errors and trains being held at red signals. Though the thunder isn't heard much in the video there was a flash of it when i wasn't recording.
RAILFAN 2003 was on 1Y86 from York to London, his channel can be found here: / channel
Hitchin info:
Hitchin railway station serves the town of Hitchin in Hertfordshire. It is located approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) north east of the town centre and 31 miles 74 chains (51.4 km) north of London King's Cross on the East Coast Main Line.
Until the current Stevenage station opened in 1973, many Intercity services stopped at Hitchin.
In August 2007 Hitchin was awarded Secure Station status after improvements to station security were made by First Capital Connect, including new lighting, extra CCTV and the installation of automatic ticket gates.
History:
The first section of the Great Northern Railway (GNR) - that from Louth to a junction with the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway at Grimsby - opened on 1 March 1848, but the southern section of the main line, between Maiden Lane and Peterborough, was not opened until August 1850. Hitchin was one of the original stations, opening on 7 August 1850.
On 21 October 1850 Hitchin became a junction station with the opening of the first section of the Royston and Hitchin Railway, between Hitchin and Royston (it was extended to Shepreth on 3 August 1851). The Midland Railway (MR) opened a route from Leicester via Bedford to Hitchin on 1 February 1858.
After the opening of the Midland Railway's own line from Bedford via Luton to London, and the line's terminus at St. Pancras in 1868, their line between Bedford and Hitchin was reduced to branch status. It lost its passenger service in 1961 and was closed completely in 1964, with the exception of a stub from Bedford to Cardington which itself was closed in 1969. In May 1964 part of the line was used for the railway scene in the film Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines.
Accidents and incidents:
On 14 April 1949, the solicitor and historian Reginald Hine committed suicide here by jumping in front of the slow train from Cambridge.
On 19 November 1958, a freight train overran signals and was in a rear-end collision with another. A third freight train ran into the wreckage.
Facilities:
There are 12 car platforms on the Up and Down Slow lines only. 17 chains (340 m) to the north of the station is Cambridge Junction, where northbound trains for Cambridge need to cross the two Up (southbound) lines.
Following a refurbishment of the station by First Capital Connect in 2007, the station's subway was refurbished at a cost of £300k. The refurbishment also involved general cosmetic work throughout the station, as well as a new high quality waiting room in the existing station buildings on Platform 2. This waiting room is fully accessible at all times via the automatic doors.
There is a small shop located by the stairs on Platform two, and various vending machines throughout the station.
The station has a large booking office and a variety of modern Touch Screen ticket machines located in the booking office, and the station's cycle facilities were completely upgraded in 2007 and now include sheltered spaces for 68 bicycles provided next to the station buildings. The station also has help points throughout.
Hitchin station now has automatic ticket gates at the station entrance, which were installed by First Capital Connect during 2007.
Services:
Hitchin railway station is managed by Great Northern and has two platforms situated on the slow lines. Platform 1 is used for trains towards London and a few starting/terminating services to/from London. Platform 2 is used for trains towards Peterborough and Cambridge. Platform 1 also provides access to the sidings, used for removing stone and scrap metal.
In the current 2016 off-peak timetable there are two trains per hour to both Peterborough and Cambridge northbound, plus one that terminates at Letchworth. One of the Cambridge services calls at principal stations only whilst the other serves all intermediate stations; Peterborough trains call at all stations north of here. Southbound there are four trains per hour to King's Cross - two are limited stop whilst the other two serve principal stations then Potters Bar, Finsbury Park and King's Cross. There is also an hourly service to Moorgate via Hertford North on weekdays only. There are a number of peak hour service variations and extra calls, including some trains that start & finish at Royston, trains to Kings Lynn and limited stop expresses to Peterborough and London.
On Sundays, there are three trains per hour to London (two semi-fast, one stopper), two to Cambridge (semi-fast and stopping), and an hourly service to Peterborough.

[@sapphireseptember]

Oh my goodness, trains and a thunderstorm? Now you're spoiling us! I love thunderstorms, I'm the crazy person who'll go and stand outside. 😁 Sounds like it was total carnage on the railways that day. Cancellations, delays, and a train stopping where it shouldn't, fun times! 😀

[@amjkodaz]

Great Video Richard, ive never seen somebody devote so much time into hard work. Great Job!

[@TrainBoy66YT]

Fantastic video mate and very enjoyable. Hitchin is a absolutely fantastic station

[@trainmanbob]

What a hugely enjoyable video. Thanks for the time and effort you took in dreadful conditions to bring it to us. I have subscribed. Cheers, Bob

[@RichardChalklin]

trainmanbob Thank you! I go out no matter the weather!

[@flybobbie1449]

Shows how long it's been since i have been on trains, but last several years surprised how modern they all are.

[@flybobbie1449]

Horse hair and springs coming through seats i remember, but, train from Euston to Brum had some hard seats and no aircon when mask wearing few years ago.

[@airzulu2733]

Enjoyable to watch well presented and lots of good information . Hitchin and stevenage great places watch trains .

[@chriscork]

Brilliant ... and you told us what every train was ..10/10 Thanks

[@BritishRail60062]

Interesting workings there. I am glad to see the HST's are still running stong on the ECML. A like from me.

[@RichardChalklin]

Transport & Simulation Hub Thank you! The HST's have still got a few months on the ECML

[@WestCountrySteamVideos]

Great Video. Amazing variety of shots and locomotives...Regards Tom

[@daniellindsay1510]

3:12 I was on that train lol

[@trainrover]

for a burgeoning compact population, the u n l i k e l y numbers of Brits' claims at happening to have been recorded on uploads around this here website must point toward some advent of WASP inadequacy prevailing in dat der realm since the '90s..oh well

[@annescholey6546]

It was a monster weather front. Saw the northern edge from South Yorkshire

[@KPTHR3]

I was there at the same day and time as you on the same platform at the northern end. Nice.

[@RichardChalklin]

KayPeaThree 3 But you didn't record :(

[@KPTHR3]

Richard Chalklin Ah. I did. I posted one of my photos on my instagram

[@thebrummierailenthusiasts5329]

I heard the thunderstorm this morning and it was so frigging loud Richard chalkin

[@thebrummierailenthusiasts5329]

breaking news for you Richard chalkin virgin east coast is now becoming LNER express because virgin east coast were not making enough money so they said on the news that lner is now taking over as the new train company

[@stefanharrison5337]

@@RichardChalklin trying York station without thunderstorms?

[@Sam_Green____4114]

Where are all the freight trains ? When I used to spot here about 1976 to 1978 there was an endless stream of freights all with 12 ton box wagons and other stuff such as the odd container train from Kings Cross.Lots of Loco Hauled passengers usually 47s .The odd Deltic.I once saw a Deltic at Hitchin couple to a 31 on a parcels service.The passenger trains were slam door class 312 GN Electrics which only went as far as Royston.There was no service to Peterborough you either had to go to Stevenage and change or get the two car DMU to Huntingdon ,which was my train home, and went into the bay platform on the up side.I remember the fare was about 20p single ,30p return or something like that.Half fare for a child..I hope the Guard wouldnt come through so I had money for sweets or Fish and chips.The ticket collector on the station exit at Huntingdon didnt usually ask for my ticket as I was always there spotting especially the school holidays.

[@AndreiTupolev]

That;s unusual 10:54; Virgin and EMT power cars on the same train.

[@DB_137]

Yh, was usually only the EMT power cars on a single train when they were on loan to LNER, if I remember rightly.

[@simonrichardson5077]

Great work,thanks

[@southerntrains.3773]

Love this video

[@Salty3439]

Awesome 👍👍👍👍

[@DB_137]

I heard somewhwere that a new link from Bedford to Cambridge is due to be built. That should be interesting XD

[@tianapower1242]

Great vid keep on uploading

[@trainlover7093]

When the lady kept on saying that trains were being cancled due to an operating of an incident what was the incident?

[@asbood112]

Timetable had been changed not long prior. I think it was the transport sec’s idea and it backfired horrendously.

[@rcflint]

Good video, DVT is not a class 82, though.

[@prodbymj.]

3:02 was quite nice

[@johnlyon2080]

mesmerizing. the new order. nice to see an 8 car 700 more civilized length.

[@bowlerstuff9589]

Delays here while I was stuck at Rochester for 2 hours and 30 mins

[@Arbiter50productions]

At 7:58 that was actually 700126

[@stefanharrison5337]

Arbiter50 productions Thameslink is decepticon

[@channelnotinuse4078]

Where's the thunder

[@johnrugman52]

A nice bit of filming, in that sort of weather I prefer to be in th loft with my layout lol

[@AndreiTupolev]

It beats me how Go Ahead Thameslink Govia Southern Great Northern or whatever they're called now keep the franchise.

[@trainrover]

nothing about those newish 700ers(? [&why that blurred screen grab?!) has impressed me, and now their electronics are unnecessarily distressingly *too* loud..outdoors 💩pfft 💩

[@KeeperOfPoops]

4:12 CANCELLED?! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! all the rest a great video

[@stefanharrison5337]

Really right now

[@soundseeker63]

Those 700 units don't half make a horrible shrill noise! A common there with modern units....I don't suppose the designers even think about such matter anymore.

[@SchneiderMarcel]

08:49 "Deutsche Bahn" logo on a British train. :D

[@MS46532]

It cause the same thing for the SEML as well.

[@tonyp011]

i thought virgin trains don't operate on the ECML anymore as thats what ive seen in other you tube vlog videos in may this year

[@RichardChalklin]

Anthony Parker They stop operating on 24th June when LNER will then take over

[@tomlee9534]

Great vid. Just wondering, was there no freight or is this purely a passenger video?

[@RichardChalklin]

Tom Lee No freight. Just to let you know i film every train. I never miss any, weither it's a very slow moving train or a train outside the station i will always note it in the video

[@breeze1472]

i like the 700 class train

[@lucysuddell4412]

SAME

[@kianthetrainspotter7777]

Any lighting

[@RichardChalklin]

Kian Russell Yes but off camera

[@kianthetrainspotter7777]

Richard Chalklin did u take pics

[@RichardChalklin]

Kian Russell My dad does. He is mostly off camera though

[@Trenibycarmefastfurious]

Bei treni. Mi sono iscritto al tuo canale se vuoi puoi iscriverti al mio. Saluti da Italia

[@RichardChalklin]

Grazie! Sarò sicuro di iscriverti al tuo canale! Sorry if it is bad italian

[@RichardChalklin]

Grazie. Mi iscriverò anche al tuo canale