Thanks for this. I grew up in Paddock Wood and spent many happy hours train spotting there. The disused siding on the left just before you get to the Commercial Road bridge originally served the British Car Auctions facility. Just the other side of the road is another short siding on the left, that runs from the platform, back to the bridge. When I was growing up, the Transfesa fruit distribution centre (through the other side of the station, on the left) had a busy freight yard and unloading facility; as a result, an 08 or 09 shunter (from Ashford) would be allocated to the station. One day whilst down there spotting, a kind driver gave me a ride in an 09 cab as he took the shunter out of that siding, before dropping me off at the platform - and he let me have a brief go at driving it too. My friends and I used to love standing right in the middle of the old iron Victorian footbridge (now sadly gone) when the 4VEP units thundered down the through lines at 90mph. The sound was incredible and the bridge would shake like a fairground ride.
My old dad was passed out for all boxes to Tonbridge from his relief base at Cuxton when they moved him from Hoo, it was a hodgepodge time as one time he could be stuck at Snodland having cups of tea with ol' Judge Dread there whilst he rebuilt the signal box from top to bottom and put in a flushing loo to replace the BR "thunderbox" that all boxes seemed to have or he might be at Gillingham or Strood, Rochester or even up as far as Swanley, Farningham Rd or kicking his heels on Sheppey, think Sittingbourne was furthest down that line or Tonbridge and the occasional turn at Orpington B as old A sadly was just out of commission back then, I remember him being offered grade at Dartford and he was no thanks and took relief at Elmers End then onto Wimbledon A and London Bridge plat 1-6 panel til his retirement. He then went to work for Swanage and even today I am told the lingering smell of his everlasting rollup can be smelt in Harman's Cross box.
Next one should be uploaded in a week or so. Paddock Wood to Hither Green via Sevenoaks. It’s all recorded. Hoping to edit it together this coming week
I've wanted to ride this line ever since first seeing it on a map - and now I have. Thank you. Although it looked dead straight on the map, I can see - looking in more detail - that there are tiny kinks every so often. As if the surveyors back in 1836 couldn't quite manage to get it perfect.
Presumably there are some geological reasons why there are slight deviations. The line from Redhill to Ashford is pretty much straight throughout. The slight kinks at the end of Tonbridge are where there have been realignments made to ease the curve towards Sevenoaks
I was reading something about the Crowhurst spur that NR could put it back in to commission within a week if it was ever needed as its not technically closed but mothballed.
Your comment that Tonbridge signal box is no longer in use is incorrect. The signal box is still operational and controls the Hastings line south of Tonbridge to Stonegate. The box contains a signalling panel which fringes to both Ashford IECC and Robertsbridge.
Incidentally the bridge at 2:50 was known locally as the "Philly bridge" and apols in the eighties to any drivers that us "students" used to give the ol' two fingered salute from up there it being a school for very naughty boys cough cough rhymes with horstal cough right up into the later eighties when it became the school for the blind and now has all gone into housing. I remember cadging a cab ride to Redhill from Tonbridge after doing an emergency stores delivery because us at Waterloo only had this certain crucial thing and muggins here got roped into having it in the brake on the last down with the comment of "kip on the bench" if no train back but a parcels driver to Redhill took pity on me and even let me have a go of the ol' 73 so he could go for a jimmy, I know the bloke is long retired so no danger getting him into grief and he got me a cab ride on a Clapham parcels where I managed to beg a lift from a train going through Olympia via a chat with Stewarts Lane who picked me up at Latimer Bridge to where I lived behind Olympia and still made it to work next day early turn at Waterloo :D So what was intended as the mega crappy of days ended as just about the most awesome covering half a region in the cabs and sitting letting the ol 73 trundle its way along the straights towards Redhill. I was officially the lampsman's assistant but them lazy buggers in Stores next to us were always getting the grumpy Welsh AM to get me to do the donkey work like stores runs to godknowswhere :(
liked that section as you passed over the gap between the two tunnels, on a bridge...very strange , would make a small but easy build model railway though, but not very interesting though, especially if you modelled the tunnel lines and just had the route you travellled as a cross over....
Excellent footage, looking forward to seeing more :) Only thing is I am pretty sure the signal box at Tonbridge still is used for a section of the Hastings Line from the country end of Somerhill Tunnel.
Yet again another brilliant video. Many thanks. But, why go all the way to Paddock Wood to change ends, or was it for Driver route refresher training? Looking forward to the next instalment.
That one, I can’t answer! I can only assume they didn’t want the machine clogging Tonbridge for a little while, maybe due to stuff shunting in/out of the west yard or whatever?
I notice there are long orange routes alongside the track just after the junction at Redhill and on the approach to Edenbridge station. Are they a permanent fixture to denote safe walking routes for trackside staff, or are they temporary while work is being carried out?
They are walkways. The ones at Redhill I believe are for the passenger train sidings at Redhill, and the ones at Edenbridge are for the groundframe crossing at Edenbridge. This saw a lot of use fairly recently due to the landslip between Godstone and Edenbridge, when trains were using that crossing to turn back at Edenbridge
That’s what tampers are. They have deliberately hard suspension, because that’s exactly how they do their job - by finding all the dips and kinks in the track to eradicate them
![สาวเมืองเพชร - ธีเดช ทองอภิชาติ [Official MV]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/kEt7F9PvO3I/mqdefault.jpg)
Another calming and interesting video. Thank you for the video. See you on the next! Cheers mate! 🇬🇧👍🙂🇺🇸
Thanks for this. I grew up in Paddock Wood and spent many happy hours train spotting there. The disused siding on the left just before you get to the Commercial Road bridge originally served the British Car Auctions facility. Just the other side of the road is another short siding on the left, that runs from the platform, back to the bridge. When I was growing up, the Transfesa fruit distribution centre (through the other side of the station, on the left) had a busy freight yard and unloading facility; as a result, an 08 or 09 shunter (from Ashford) would be allocated to the station. One day whilst down there spotting, a kind driver gave me a ride in an 09 cab as he took the shunter out of that siding, before dropping me off at the platform - and he let me have a brief go at driving it too. My friends and I used to love standing right in the middle of the old iron Victorian footbridge (now sadly gone) when the 4VEP units thundered down the through lines at 90mph. The sound was incredible and the bridge would shake like a fairground ride.
I love hearing stories like this. How times change!
Really enjoyable, thanks. Excellent captions.
My old dad was passed out for all boxes to Tonbridge from his relief base at Cuxton when they moved him from Hoo, it was a hodgepodge time as one time he could be stuck at Snodland having cups of tea with ol' Judge Dread there whilst he rebuilt the signal box from top to bottom and put in a flushing loo to replace the BR "thunderbox" that all boxes seemed to have or he might be at Gillingham or Strood, Rochester or even up as far as Swanley, Farningham Rd or kicking his heels on Sheppey, think Sittingbourne was furthest down that line or Tonbridge and the occasional turn at Orpington B as old A sadly was just out of commission back then, I remember him being offered grade at Dartford and he was no thanks and took relief at Elmers End then onto Wimbledon A and London Bridge plat 1-6 panel til his retirement. He then went to work for Swanage and even today I am told the lingering smell of his everlasting rollup can be smelt in Harman's Cross box.
Thanks for the anecdotes. Love hearing stories about the old days
Another great video, the captions about ESR'S, line diverges, route indicators etc. are so useful.
Glad you enjoyed it. I try to give some information without bombarding and distracting from the journey itself
Great stuff. As a Tonbridge boy it's nice to see a Driver's Eye taking us through there. Don't see them often!!
My next video is from Paddock Wood up towards Orpington, so will be through Tonbridge again
@@emmo999 Ah wow. Can't wait. If I had a quid for every time I've been from TON to CHX I would be a reasonably rich man!!
I’m hoping to have it uploaded next weekend, if I get time to edit it together
Great video emmo, amazing train journey, love the imfomation captions you include in the video, looking forward to seeing your next video, thanks 👍👌😀
Next one should be uploaded in a week or so. Paddock Wood to Hither Green via Sevenoaks. It’s all recorded. Hoping to edit it together this coming week
A very nice video on a very interesting line thanks for sharing 👍
Glad you enjoyed it
I've wanted to ride this line ever since first seeing it on a map - and now I have. Thank you.
Although it looked dead straight on the map, I can see - looking in more detail - that there are tiny kinks every so often. As if the surveyors back in 1836 couldn't quite manage to get it perfect.
Presumably there are some geological reasons why there are slight deviations. The line from Redhill to Ashford is pretty much straight throughout. The slight kinks at the end of Tonbridge are where there have been realignments made to ease the curve towards Sevenoaks
I was reading something about the Crowhurst spur that NR could put it back in to commission within a week if it was ever needed as its not technically closed but mothballed.
They can’t put it in that quick anymore. That had to dig through it a year or so ago to repair the big landslip that happened on the line near there
Your comment that Tonbridge signal box is no longer in use is incorrect. The signal box is still operational and controls the Hastings line south of Tonbridge to Stonegate. The box contains a signalling panel which fringes to both Ashford IECC and Robertsbridge.
You’ll note in the description I already noted this error on my part
Incidentally the bridge at 2:50 was known locally as the "Philly bridge" and apols in the eighties to any drivers that us "students" used to give the ol' two fingered salute from up there it being a school for very naughty boys cough cough rhymes with horstal cough right up into the later eighties when it became the school for the blind and now has all gone into housing. I remember cadging a cab ride to Redhill from Tonbridge after doing an emergency stores delivery because us at Waterloo only had this certain crucial thing and muggins here got roped into having it in the brake on the last down with the comment of "kip on the bench" if no train back but a parcels driver to Redhill took pity on me and even let me have a go of the ol' 73 so he could go for a jimmy, I know the bloke is long retired so no danger getting him into grief and he got me a cab ride on a Clapham parcels where I managed to beg a lift from a train going through Olympia via a chat with Stewarts Lane who picked me up at Latimer Bridge to where I lived behind Olympia and still made it to work next day early turn at Waterloo :D So what was intended as the mega crappy of days ended as just about the most awesome covering half a region in the cabs and sitting letting the ol 73 trundle its way along the straights towards Redhill. I was officially the lampsman's assistant but them lazy buggers in Stores next to us were always getting the grumpy Welsh AM to get me to do the donkey work like stores runs to godknowswhere :(
liked that section as you passed over the gap between the two tunnels, on a bridge...very strange , would make a small but easy build model railway though, but not very interesting though, especially if you modelled the tunnel lines and just had the route you travellled as a cross over....
It’s certainly a bizarre layout!
Excellent footage, looking forward to seeing more :)
Only thing is I am pretty sure the signal box at Tonbridge still is used for a section of the Hastings Line from the country end of Somerhill Tunnel.
Yes, you’ll note I’ve put something in the description about this.
@@emmo999 Ah my apologies, must have missed that part!
Still, look forward to any more footage you have :)
Next up is Paddock Wood to Hither Green. I haven’t edited the footage yet, but hoping to have it uploaded next weekend
@@emmo999 Ah right, sounds excellent :)
Out of curiosity is it into the PAD at Hither Green?
Flyin9 Scotsman Yes, that's it
Yet again another brilliant video. Many thanks. But, why go all the way to Paddock Wood to change ends, or was it for Driver route refresher training? Looking forward to the next instalment.
That one, I can’t answer! I can only assume they didn’t want the machine clogging Tonbridge for a little while, maybe due to stuff shunting in/out of the west yard or whatever?
You get a true picture of the track geometry on a Tamper or Stoneblower ☺️
I’m glad people enjoy them. I find them quite relaxing to just sit and watch
@@emmo999 yep very enjoyable. Therapeutic almost. Thank you.
I notice there are long orange routes alongside the track just after the junction at Redhill and on the approach to Edenbridge station. Are they a permanent fixture to denote safe walking routes for trackside staff, or are they temporary while work is being carried out?
They are walkways. The ones at Redhill I believe are for the passenger train sidings at Redhill, and the ones at Edenbridge are for the groundframe crossing at Edenbridge. This saw a lot of use fairly recently due to the landslip between Godstone and Edenbridge, when trains were using that crossing to turn back at Edenbridge
I'll give it one thing for third rails it looks better visually
There are pros and cons to both power sources. Personally I like the third rail and it’s generally a very reliable system
great thank you.
Glad you enjoyed it
The section from Redhill -Tonbridge must contain some of
the longest straight sections of track ?
If you can ignore the slight wiggle at Tonbridge, where the layout has been altered over time, the straight track actually goes Redhill to Ashford
Was you a SE driver before, now a tamper driver?
Why does the turbo kick in and out whilst cruising? Is it some kind of speed set keeping the tamper at the set speed?
Yes. They have a speed limiter. Once the machine gets to it, the power cuts off. So this results in the power going on/off whilst cruising
@@emmo999 nice bet that makes maintaining 60 easier
Just have to watch it on the downhill sections, as they can still accelerate down the gradients
6:05 - 6:51
Rickety ride
That’s what tampers are. They have deliberately hard suspension, because that’s exactly how they do their job - by finding all the dips and kinks in the track to eradicate them
Sounds like the driver has COVID to me
Thanks for your insight, Dr Kildare