Reading to Hungerford - Hastings DEMU cab ride - 24 March 2018
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- The Sixty Marches charter, Part 1:
Cab view from Reading to Hungerford. Filmed from Hastings Diesels Limited’s preserved Hastings DEMU on Saturday 24 March 2018, during the outward leg of The Sixty Marches private charter.
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In this video we travel the 26 miles and 55 chains from Reading to Hungerford. We depart from Reading platform 8 and proceed onto the Westbury Lines, through Reading West, and turning right at Southcote Junction following the Reading - Taunton Line through Newbury to Hungerford. The Reading - Hungerford and Reading - Basingstoke routes were built in 1847/8 by the “Berks & Hants Railway”; the Reading - Hungerford - Westbury route is still known colloquially as the “Berks & Hants” although it does not go into Hampshire at all! Some of the running, particularly near Theale, is a bit slow as we are following a stopping train (a Network Turbo which we see leaving Reading just as we also depart, and which we catch up with again at Newbury and will see again turning back at Bedwyn). There is a bit of rain in the Kintbury / Hungerford section but we hope it won’t spoil your enjoyment of the journey.
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Overhead Line Electrification works were taking place on the GWR network, with work visibly in progress during the Reading - Newbury section; and over the weekend when this was filmed the Didcot route was completely closed for electrification work, with many diverted services vying for pathways over the Berks & Hants.
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This outing began at Hastings and ran via Tonbridge, Redhill and Guildford to Reading, then via Hungerford (this video) to the Westbury area where we turned right at Heywood Road Junction, through Bradford-on-Avon and Bath to Filton, through the Severn Tunnel into Wales, to Maindee Junction (Newport) for the line through Abergavenny to Hereford; the return journey was via the same route. We intend to produce video footage of the entirety of the rest of this journey to Hereford.
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Video footage is from an unattended unmonitored forward-facing cab-camera in motor coach 60116 Mountfield. The soundtrack mostly comes from the camera in the leading cab; however, on a few occasions there was radio usage or (at Newbury) chatter via the cab window which we are not permitted to publish, in these cases the soundtrack you hear on this video is instead an accurately synchronised audio recording made in the rear cab.
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0:00 - READING station
2:03 - Westbury Line Junction
5:20 - Oxford Road Junction
5:33 - Reading West station
7:13 - Southcote Junction
13:21 - Theale station
17:11 - Down Towney Loop
18:26 - Aldermaston station
20:10 - Midgham station
22:58 - Thatcham station
26:16 - Newbury Racecourse station
27:17 - site of Newbury East Junction
28:36 - Newbury station
34:20 - site of Enborne Junction
39:19 - Kintbury station
44:20 - HUNGERFORD station
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Video, soundtrack and captions © Copyright 2018-2019 Hastings Diesels Limited.
www.hastingsdiesels.co.uk/
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Travel on our train! See our Railtours webpage at:
www.hastingsdiesels.co.uk/rai...
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Equipment: video by GoPro Hero3+ camera with focus modification, suction-mount and extra batteries; back-cab audio by Tascam DR-44WL courtesy of / moretojack ; video production by Da Vinci Resolve (free).
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Here are the actual timings for the day’s outing:
www.hastingsdiesels.co.uk/dia...
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Here are annotated extracts from the Network Rail Section Appendix:
Outward: www.dropbox.com/s/nexbk2jdnmp...
Our return journey’s route was changed just a day or two before the trip because of a bridge strike - from Hereford to Filton Abbey Wood we were supposed to have been routed via Worcester and the Gloucester area to Yate and Bristol Parkway, but as things turned out we had to retrace our steps via the Severn Tunnel. The following shows our original route.
Return: www.dropbox.com/s/kana0042y09...
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When passing Colthrop Crossing Signal Box if you pause the video you can see someone taking what looks like to be a photo. Well I was that person on duty in the Signal Box and I took a video of this train passing. Here is the link to my video.
th-cam.com/video/OTzllRnfG4g/w-d-xo.html
Tah Muchley!
Trivia: Approaching Midgham Station, you would have noticed 'Woolhampton' popping up on the screen just before the station.
The station is actually in the village of Woolhapton and Midgham is about two miles away, not even on the line.
This is because the GWR decided to call the station by the next nearest village, because they did not want passengers confusing it with Wolverhampton, that was also served by the GWR.
Tip: If you like a nice walk, get the train from Midgham to Newbury and walk back along the Kennet and Avon canal.
It's about two hours worth and when you get back to Midgham, pop into the Rowbarge for lunch, which is on the canal.
Yes indeed, I put Woolhampton up as a caption precisely to highlight the fact that they deliberately mis-named Midgham station :-) Good idea for the walk, beware though of the swing bridge by which the canal towpath changes sides - I wanted to get along there once but a single-crewed narrowboat had had no way of shutting the bridge so the towpath was effectively temporarily severed.
As a local lad who has commuted this route to Slough for work (20+ years), popped to Hungerford with the family for days out etc I can only say how wonderful this video is. Great to see the route from the track.
Thank you Jonathan, glad you enjoyed it!
Always a good day when one of your videos pops up on youtube. The canals of Britain worked towards their own demise, transporting material for the "new fangled railways" which once opened led to the canals almost complete abandonment for long haul freight traffic.
Yet another superb video from Hastings, really looking forward to seeing the rest in this series, well done guys.
Thank you... so am I :)
This is better with back cab audio. At least you don't have to listen to that flat!!
Great video as ever. Love the research you guys do into the local areas, a real education ;)
Thank you! I provide leading cab audio where possible, flats or no! I suppose I could add the rear cab soundtrack as an alternative soundtrack, if YT supports that?!
Wheel lathe visit soon I hope!
Great video, as usual. Am I the only one who thinks it all looks so much better without the uglification wires.....sorry electrification! "Progress", I know, but at what cost to the countryside.
Mr. Grumpy has left the building!
Bob, you are not alone in your comment about the cateniary wire fittings. They should have used the system as on the GNER.
I'd tend to agree, it does look a bit... chunky.
Chunky! More like a battleship builders yard!....(Watching your excellent videos in NZ)
@@davidgandar7339 Reading is just unrecognisable from when I knew it, admittedly a few years ago now. Just a metal tunnel. I just hope this doesn't happen to my local station, Taunton. No sign of the dreaded wires there yet!
@@hastingsdiesels I'd go with unbelievably ugly.
Brillant as usual, thanks for uploading!
Thanks for the ride and all the useful info...I'm looking forward to viewing more of your cab rides.
As someone who drives the route frequently on slightly later forms of Diesel Electric Train with four times as many cylinders I found this very good viewing!
Yet another awesome video
Thanks for the video.
Always appreciated.
Have used the line many times---though never in a DEMU!---but never knew the names of the level crossings, so a double thank you.
another excellent video, waiting for the next...
Patience :-) My aim (and I've managed to stick to it for some months now) is a video every Saturday.
Excellent film. Well documented. Looking forward to the remainder of the journey. ( I don't mind the flat)
👏👏😁Thank you for this - brilliant 😁
Another enjoyable trip!
Thank you for posting this excellent video. As someone who travelled it behind Kings, Castles and Warships, it has always had a special place in my heart. It's a pity about the disfiguring OLE - but we must accept progress (I suppose).
TRIVIA: When approaching Midgham station, Woolhampton was displayed with the Woolhampton crossing. Midgham is about two miles away, but the GWR called the station at Woolhapton Midgham, because they did not want passengers at Paddington getting on the wrong train for Wolverhampton.
Great video, (hope you get that wheel flat sorted).😉🙏
Another great vid 👍
Great video and interestingly this is the same route the class 210 Demu used to service as far as bedwyn back in the 80s
Ah, the thing with a 317 bodyshell?
@@hastingsdiesels that's the one. There were two units-one a three car and the other a four car.
Very nice ride thankyou
Another fine vid thanks richard pity it was a bit gloomy kind regards bob.
A very nice run.
Looking forward to hearing the section between Hungerford and Westbury. That will be a test for the engine...
Nice video.
...Unusual overhead wiring rigs...different to the usual ones elsewhere..!!!
Thank you. An excellent video, as usual. One of the best aspects of your videos is the printed commentary about junctions (present or former) and other details about the tracks taken. For example, I wasn't aware of the Reading Feeder Lines at that point, until you pointed them out. Then I found the track plans. It's quite an arrangement!
Glad you enjoyed it!
B
Bbbv ngghh
Network rail's Yellow Sprinter on shed at Reading. That's one place that they've made a great improvement, before all trains off the Reading West line for the old platforms 8/9 (the relief line platforms) had to cross all four tracks, and they would usually have to wait for up to 10 minutes if there was an HST anywhere between Reading and Didcot for it to cross in front.
Good spot with the yellow sprinter, do you know what that does? I did see it but didn't know.
Yes, the Reading Feeder Lines which pass beneath the new viaduct giving a grade-separated junction must be a huge help.
@@hastingsdiesels I think it's used for track testing isn't it, ultrasonic track testing or something like that
At 23.16 on the right of the track hidden in the trees, you can just see the white discs with red centres on the gates that closed the branch line into the Thatcham Army Ordnance Depot (opened 1940; closed 1999) which is now a housing estate. The points, branch line and the lines in the depot were all taken up. The Ordnance Depot ran all the way to the end of the green fencing at 23.43.
Great spot, thank you for this. My research had shown that such a facility once existed, but I'd not looked carefully enough to spot this physical evidence still there for all to see. Thank you!
i know for a fact that as recently as 2010, the sidings were still there, only severed a few feet from the mainline, visible from the station. from looking at the footage 23:14 it seems there's still some left under the bushes nearer the gate.
Great video Enjoyed Thanks. ( John Whitehouse )
Always impressed by the number of enthusiasts w/cameras along the way. How are your runs publicized in advance? Am watching this from Philadelphia as a regular traveler in the 40s -50s from Reading to my great-aunts in West Lavington, Wilts (station long Beecham-ized). (Next video Hungrford to Westbury covers this)
Thank you. Our outings are advertised on our website and on twitter, and do seem to attract a lineside following, yes. :)
27:17 to the left I BELIEVE there was (recently as the mid 2000s) another buffer-stop for the DNS past the one still next to the mainline, hidden away in the weeds next to the building with the red stripe.
Still a few slightly lower brick arch bridges past Newbury it seems, kind of don't want to think about what they'll do to them once they reach them with the electrification work.
I remember that set of buffers. Always wondered why they were there. They went when the industrial site was expanded. Can't recall the date, but I think it was mid-1990s.
@@peterdavy6110 I'm no expert (having not been born at the time) but from the photo's I've seen there were several at different times. as far as i can tell there was a set right next to the buildings in question until the mid 2000s (there's a photo as part of a "current" DNS photo album on flikr) perhaps even 2012, now a substation, for the overhead lines i'd asume. but i can see that it used to go right up to the old brick overbridge, obviously long gone, mid 80s according do the nice little plaque on the last remaining stone of it (with a lovely etching of an LSWR T9). somewhat entertaining to try to figure out which buildings were there before they closed the line, but there's a sense of bitterness when what was once the junction of a very useful (and dare i say, more so today were it still existent) public transport route is now a shady looking furniture shop and a papa johns. that's... progress??
I hate seeing the virgin GW skyline being wrecked by electrification. I remember the same on the ECML years ago. The last time I travelled on an unelectrified East Coast was behind a 47 - not even an HST LOL!
Love your videos. One question, I see you recorded Cromer to Holt along the NNR. Have you got any videos coming from the East Anglian area? I only ask because your cab view videos are the best, and there is little to nill cab view videos of East Anglia, except the Rail125 series filmed in 1998, which funnily enough shows the Hastings unit at Great Yarmouth on the Burney Arms Branch.
It's all down to where we've been. The next outing after The Sixty Marches was the West Norfolk Wanderer, so expect footage from Hitchin to King's Lynn plus the Middleton Towers branch. And you'll see that we're intending to run a railtour to Lowestoft and Norwich in May, so that'll get videoed - come on it if you like! www.hastingsdiesels.co.uk/railtours/
Another great video. A quick question: what is the top speed and typical fuel consumption for these units?
Our DEMU's maximum permitted speed is currently 75 mph. Its fuel consumption will depend very much upon the type of working, but for a long day out we probably run at something like 2 miles per gallon. Many further details here: www.hastingsdiesels.co.uk/1001/
Nice! I subbed. Greetz from the Netherlands. Joachim - TrainJJ
Between Towney and Aldermaston was the Ufton Nervet bridge!
No, it isn't. Ufton bridge is before Towney, as described in the on-screen commentary.
Although electrification is a definite upgrade it is so very ugly, non-electrified lines can be almost invisible in the landscape only becoming noticeable when a train actually passes by. As electrification advances I suppose we will get used to it
17:05 I see! I'm doing extensive research on that story!
sounds like a flat spotted wheel around 26 to 37
Great ride. When will the rail route reopen from Reading to Didcot? How long will the trains be rerouted through Newbury?
It was a weekend engineering possession.
Btw, your captions ( Holy Brook, Newbury Race Course) add a deal of interest to the journey. Please also think about an annotised map of the journey - I have to keep dragging out my old Shell South-East England Road Map which also shows rail routes.
Thank you. Some of our more recent videos do indeed have a mapping feature!
@@hastingsdiesels openrailwaymap.org is very good. I've been following these with the video in one tab and the map in another.
I've ridden (normal) PAD-RDG-DID many times, and never gotten good shots of lightweight Unipart-Dorman LED signals. Your videos are excellent for signal visibility, and this one has got a nice set of feathers lit and transitions given you are following another train. Your captions annotations are also outstanding. Why doesn't Compton signal T2871 have a feather?
I need to plow more carefully through the rest of your videos looking for green banner repeaters, PRIs, and splitting distants.
Thank you, glad you like! You evidently know (far) more about actual types of signal heads than I do (personally I drive on LU not NR and ours are mostly not nearly as visible as these). You ask about Compton signal T2871 - you mean Newbury, surely? The bay platform to the right of the one we pulled up at was the 'Compton bay', for the Didcot shuttle trains when the dear old DN&SR was still working (I explored a lot of its remains in my youth, hence particular interest!). Anyway ref signal T2871 it is basically a "wrong-road starter" (in LU parlance anyway), there is only one route available and that's back across onto the Down Westbury. You'll only need a feather where there's more than one route available, e.g. if the Up Westbury were bidirectionally signalled. And yes, you will find a green banner repeater near Bath in an old video that's on here (hmm, yes it's near Keynsham in fact, but I just checked the footage that'll get published in about part 4 of THIS outing and it's not green as the signal in question is yellow). You'll find a PRI at Shortlands on the Tonbridge to Clapham video, and a splitting distant on the GWML near West Ealing on the West Ruislip to Willesden video. :-)
I like those signals. The junction feathers look rather like Mickey Mouse's ears.
..One thing I must say is :- that I always have to turn the volume right down on my Sound Pack...as the engine noise tends to cause me to " Doze - off "...with its repetetive sound...and I end up missing parts of the ride..!!!.
I think the throb of a 4SRKT is a great therapeutic "White Noise" to relax to !
Beautiful sound.
Noticed that the train has both the two-tone horn and a whistle. Under what condition does the driver use the whistle instead of the horn?
Horn is used for Whistle Boards and Whistle is used for Depot and Trainspotters
Sort of! There's actually no official distinction between one and t'other, each are an audible warning device. Different drivers will do different things, some only use the whistle (BTW the units were fitted with chime whistles when new, but the horns soon replaced them; we retro-re-fitted ours with whistles sourced from LU). Personally I like a mixture as this driver does: horn for official purposes, whistle for acknowledging linesiders.
Hastings Diesels Ltd Wow I didn’t actually know this. Thanks for letting us know :)
Another great trip, shame about the wheel flats.
What is the unit’s speed limit please?
Hi, it's 75mph. More info here: www.hastingsdiesels.co.uk/1001/#technical
Don't think I've seen a signal aspect before where the lens changes colour rather than lighting a different lens - 1st signal 3:30 or so
modern LED signals, spreading rapidly, less power use, easier maintainence, only need max of two 'heads' to show four aspects,
That's how modern LED signal heads are arranged. The LED can show different colours depending on which wires are energised, so a separate head for each aspect is not required.
Cheers - obvious enough with LEDs but first time I've seen it.
When will electrification be completed on the line the train was running on?
Newbury to Reading has now been energised!
Thank you for this, I wouldn't have known that. I knew though that the video would form an historical record of work in progress. :)
@@hastingsdiesels Probably the last shot of the old Newbury station footbridge before it was demolished.
@@peterdavy6110 Crikey, you're right. We went through again on 16 June on our way to Paignton, and it had gone. I've uploaded a soundtrack-less version of our June footage, from Newbury Racecourse (platform 3 this time) and so onward into the Down Newbury Loop, for comparison: th-cam.com/video/uocfkHDN8O8/w-d-xo.html
Southcote Junction's still a flat junction, though
So what happened to the Ascot to Reading leg?
Ah, I assumed it was part of the Alpine Sunset series. Sorry.
The Sixty Marches didn't come through Ascot, it came from Guildford direct to Reading via Sandhurst; and I didn't board until Reading so there's no footage from that bit.
Ah yes. Look at the 'Show more' info on part 6 of the Alpine Sunset, you'll see my explanation there. No worries.
New bogie bearings needed after this ride because of flat wheels.
Not really. The bearings will be just fine unless they were not correctly assembled. The tyres have a much tougher job to do.
The electrification of railways does spoil the look of them.
Agreed. It's almost as if there's a brief to make the whole thing as ugly as possible, starting with the pylon design. The number of pylon designs used amazes me.
Not quite sure why you called the loop at Hungerford ‘up passenger loop’ when it’s generally referred to as the ‘Hungerford Loop’ and mostly used by the aggregates trains...
I'm not intimately familiar with this line, so I'd never heard it referred to at all. So I could only go by what it says in the Sectional Appendix, which is Up Passenger Loop. 🤷🏻♂️
It means that the loop is passed for handling passenger trains should the need be. The down loop at Towney is now upgraded to a "passenger loop" since electrification.
@@hastingsdiesels I’m sorry. I never saw your reply to this until today from an additional reply.
I’ve checked with a couple of friends who have also heard it referred to as the Hungerford Loop in recent years. There was until not so long ago a down loop at Hungerford too which led to some sidings and was used even less. Hence its (and the sidings) removal. Although the sidings were removed quite some years ago to be fair.
In terms of passenger use for Hungerford Loop, one of my friends could find no evidence of passenger train use in recent times (only aggregates). Most trains tend to stop at the Theale loop. Even then, mostly aggregates and the occasional charter for timings. I’m guessing the appendix name hasn’t been changed.