…at St. Leonards Depot.
We are now taking bookings for the HDL Thames Tidal railtour on Saturday 31 March 2012.
On Saturday 17 December 2011, our train operated the Olympia Express Charter.
On Saturday 3 December 2011 it operated our pre-Christmas Old Curiosity Mystery railtour. An illustrated report has been published.
The DEMU Diary contains details of all workings on the main line since March 2003. See also the HDL Railtour archive.
Our train has six vehicles re-certified for main-line use, including the CEP coach and Buffet car. See the Current fleet status of CDL for further details.
The unit’s formation at the depot is:
[Ashford end] 60116 Mountfield - 60529 - 70262 - 69337 - 60501 - 60118 Tunbridge Wells [Bexhill end]
News articles which are fresh, still being updated, or still current and relevant, are linked below. Older news articles, all closed, have been placed in the News Archive.
Old Curiosity Mystery railtour, 3 December 2011 (photos added on 12 December 2011)
Metrolander railtour, 14 May 2011 (video link added on 24 November 2011)
Midland Pioneer railtour, 10 September 2011 (more photos added on 19 September 2011)
Dorset Diadem railtour, 25 June 2011 (article modified on 8 July 2011)
Comings & goings at St. Leonards Depot (part 2) (photo added on 1 May 2011)
Norfolk Navigator railtour, 26 March 2011 (more cab-video links added on 1 May 2011)
Winter Enigma railtour, 19 February 2011 (last modified on 1 March 2011)
Olympia Express special excursion, 18 December 2010 (photo added on 22 January 2011)
Cab video footage from the Hastings Blue Belle charter (last modified on 12 January 2011)
Hastings Blue Belle charter, 6 November 2010 (last modified on 12 January 2011)
The Wandering Willow railtour, 30 October 2010 (last modified on 9 January 2011)
Cab video footage from the English Electric Echo railtour (last modified on 19 October 2010)
English Electric Echo railtour, 18 September 2010 (more photos added on 23 October 2010)
Central Door Locking (updated on 18 March 2010)
Restoration of trailer car 60528 (updated on 5 March 2009)
Restoration of motor coach 60019 (more photos added on 19 March 2008)
On-Train Monitoring Recorders (updated on 19 March 2008)
Older news articles, all closed, have been placed in the News Archive.
Since 18 May 2003, St. Leonards Depot (leased and operated by HDL’s sister company St. Leonards Railway Engineering Limited) has been playing an increasingly active role as an operational railway depot, dealing as it does with the day-to-day fuelling, cleaning and examination of Southern’s fleet of DMUs, among other tasks. As it has thus become in effect a “main line” depot, with trains arriving and departing from/to the Network Rail network at all hours, we regret that casual visits are not possible. We thank you in advance for your understanding.
![[PHOTO: motor coach in foreground, depot yard in background: 67kB]](20070301-TheSoapRun-Armitage.jpg "Motor Coach 'Hastings' about to set off on The Soap Run
This is a link to a larger version.")
This striking study by Andy Armitage was taken on 1 March 2007 just before Motor Coach Hastings led two cars of 1001 out of the depot on “The Soap Run”, delivering supplies to South Eastern’s carriage-washer near Bopeep Junction. That little outing was also a test-run for Motor Coach Mountfield following completion of modifications in preparation for the fitting of CDL/OTMR. In the background can be seen Motor Coach Tunbridge Wells, Ex-4TC Driving Trailer 76215, and GBRF’s Electro-Diesel loco no. 73 205.