Trains at: Ashford International, SEML/HS1, 11/03/23

A very enjoyable afternoon spent at Ashford International situated alongside High Speed 1 where we see plenty of services from SouthEastern, Southern, Eurostar along with freight from GBRF and the VSOE Pullman
Ashford International is really a junction station. This I because it has links to the South Eastern Mainline, Marshlink Line and High Speed 1.
The station has gone through several different refurbishments with The first station being built in 1842 by the South Eastern Railway, the station was formally opened on December 1st.
It remained the property of the South Eastern Railway until Southern took control in 1923, once this happened they then renamed the station Ashford Kent.
Once British Rail was introduced in 1948 a lot of the former services were getting changed and newer ones introduced to meet with the growing demand of passengers.
Eventually Network Southeast took over operations when BR privatised its network.
The station went through a major redevelopment when the Kent Electrification Scheme went through its second phase, this resulted in two former bay platforms being converted into through lines and the former station buildings on the left and right of the railway were demolished and replaced with an over bridge that contains a booking hall, newsagents and catering facilities.
The station eventually became known as Ashford International in the 1990's when the plans for the European Services were introduced by Eurostar. This in turn then brought 2 new platforms into the equation to split the regional and international services.
Currently Eurostar don't stop at Ashford.
My next station will be Manchester Piccadilly.
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 name tornado922 where it isn't just rail related content that I produce.

[@camotech1314]

Thank you for the experience 😊

[@chrisatrailway7573]

VSOE Pullman look amazing

[@alanshelly7068]

A very good Sunday evening buddy from Alan in Lowestoft buddy and thanks for the videos

[@Tornado922]

Thanks once again

[@chriswhitaker4577]

Hi Tornado922. Great film at Ashford International. Looking forward to the next film at Manchester Piccadilly. Kind regards, Chris.

[@Tornado922]

Thanks very much!

[@archiethornton777-3]

I just finished my train spotting 45 mins ago near Canterbury west station recording 2 legands 1) the mighty Pullman's and 2) the great all mighty golden arrow with the class 48 being pulled from behind.

[@RAILTravelers]

Nice 👍

[@Tornado922]

Thanks very much

[@robertstrainsnsw1596]

Great video at Ashford International best bit was the Pullman

[@Tornado922]

The Pullman was amazing to see

[@seanycactushead6697]

Another excellent video from the Tornado. I did some spotting at Ashford international last September. To the east of the station is a footbridge. One can get a fairly good view of the Euro Star trains from the end sections of the bridge. Thanks for posting good sir 😄

[@Tornado922]

I shall remember that for next time I am there! Thanks for the info and I'm gad you enjoyed watching this

[@montystelevision3238]

17:10 When you think, years a go we used to have "Pullman" trains in operation regularly on the Network. Bournemouth Belle, Brighton Belle, Manchester Pullman. Now you are lucky to get a seat on an ironing board on a train.

[@bobbrooks266]

Great video.we had the Steam train pass the farm yesterday. And that Pullman passes to time to time via otford and sevenoaks our farm is next to the main line . Looking forward to seeing more. Regards to the family 😊

[@Tornado922]

I will be venturing near your farm later this year when I start my SEML series from Dover to London :)

[@bobbrooks266]

@@Tornado922 well you won't miss the farm if you're on the train in July August you'll see endless rows of purple lavender 😁

[@kenwilliams3560]

Love the video and the humour keep them coming

[@Tornado922]

Thank you kindly

[@arronsmith3721]

Love all your vlogs thank you for doing them

[@Tornado922]

Thanks very much

[@MatthewRobson-ct5cx]

Great video as usual mate love the Eurostar shooting shooting through the station

[@Tornado922]

Love seeing the Eurostars going at full tilt past the station

[@callumthetransportspotter]

Very good video I would really like to see you go back to Birmingham new street as that is my favourite station in the uk and funny enough my local one as well

[@Tornado922]

I will see if I can get that done later this year

[@callumthetransportspotter]

Thank you❤❤

[@ClaretBlueTrainspotter]

Fantastic video. The 67 was beautiful

[@Tornado922]

Thanks very much!

[@Debbiestrainsandtoys]

😮 according to Spotlog again another nameplate removal for repaint 66745 used to have the Modern railways nameplate

[@alextrainspotterhd6444]

Very good video nice catch on the railtour 67 she did look good, this is a station I always wanted to go to

[@Tornado922]

IT was such a great surprise to see the Pullman coming through!

[@spectrumtrains]

Interesting to see the Pullman, excellent video as usual.

[@Tornado922]

It was such a lovely sight to see

[@arnoldspottingvideos5269]

Great video at Ashford Jarred. Nice to catch the pullman, GBRf 66 and a 373 (for a bonus)

[@Tornado922]

Thanks very much, I always enjoy coming here

[@DJCox95]

Great video Jarred, nice that you caught the Pullman there - hope that the international services will return to Ashford soon.

[@Tornado922]

Thanks very much bud, it will be nice to see the international services calling at this station once again

[@Desiro360]

Excellent video. Sounds like you had a great time at Ashford.

[@Tornado922]

I really enjoyed my time there, always do

[@Desiro360]

@@Tornado922 glad to hear. Hope your Easter weekend was a good one. 😀

[@JackJackProductions]

The Eurostars were going to (in the order they were filmed) Paris, Brussels, London (from Brussels), London (from Paris), London (from Paris), Paris

[@Tornado922]

Thanks for the info!

[@theimperialist2686]

Nice railway video

[@Tornado922]

Thank you kindly

[@johnkent-thanet-uk]

Great video 👍 SE drivers giving their high five (depot whistle) 🤣🤣

[@Tornado922]

It was tremendously nice of them to do so!

[@Sophiebryson510]

Good video

[@Tornado922]

Thank you kindly

[@trainsdu4940]

Feels weird to see 3-car class 171s now. Wonder if there's still some 2 or 4-class ones in Southern now... Great video with the Pullman, the ballast train and the Eurostars at high speed.

[@nottinghamtransportenthusi2784]

Because Southern transferred some of their units to EMR now classed as 170's, with a fourth due for transfer to EMR later on in the year.

[@trainsdu4940]

@@nottinghamtransportenthusi2784 I know that. It just feels weird now lol

[@TFGtransport]

Hey tornado922 the class 321 rentus retired yesterday for me and 29th April 2023 will be the farewell tour for them and the class 313

[@Tornado922]

It is a real shame that those trains have now been taken out of service

[@destrothornyco6666]

14:06 thats what you call a major slip up and that got me laughing for a bit 14:10

[@Tornado922]

I do them fairly regularly haha

[@class56trainsrock62]

7:02

[@michaellittlejohns7968]

Great video

[@Tornado922]

Thanks very much!

[@tjwillow20]

Hi jarred i believe the Eurostars are planned to call at ebsleet and ashford by 2025 at the earliest

[@nottinghamtransportenthusi2784]

So Eurostar can currently only call at possibly Calais Frethun and definitely Lille Europe.

[@Tornado922]

Just seems such a waste to have a station not used to it's fullest potential

[@nottinghamtransportenthusi2784]

@@Tornado922 I agree with you there! If only Eurostar came back!

[@class56trainsrock62]

13:46

[@TFGtransport]

Amazing! Nice video is Manchester picadilly (soz if I spelt that wrong) going to be a rush hour vid?

[@chriswhitaker4577]

Manchester Piccadilly will be a standard 'Trains at' film. His Rush Hour films will begin at Bletchley.

[@TFGtransport]

@@chriswhitaker4577 ok!

[@lmj9517]

this is so weird... why the Hell does this station have no international services stopping here although it's named as *"International?"*

[@class56trainsrock62]

2:10

[@cjs679]

May I ask when ur going to be doing Peterborough??

[@Tornado922]

I will be filming there tonight from 5PM till 7PM

[@anima-tronicfan]

Hi there, what app do you use, how do you know where the trains that don't stop are going, many thanks

[@Tornado922]

I use RealtimeTrains for my information

[@anima-tronicfan]

@@Tornado922 ok thanks, i found out about that yesterday

[@gamevader4752]

What are they using the 3rd rail and not the wires above

[@Tornado922]

The wires are for HS1, everything else on this network is third rail

[@hamshackleton]

All these little toots on the 'yard whistle' for you - is it your growing fame - or notoriety? 🙂

[@destrothornyco6666]

It's actually called a depot whistle 2:10

[@Tornado922]

I'd say it's more notoriety haha