Saturday 21 April 2018
This article was opened on 23 April 2018
Above: For the first time this century,
but the second time in its preservation career, our Hastings DEMU visited
the Norfolk coastal town of King’s Lynn. Ian McDonald was there to
record the event.
Hastings Diesels Limited’s 73rd public
railtour was from Hastings to Cambridge, Ely, King’s Lynn and the
Middleton Towers branch.
Our outward journey from Kensington (Olympia) took us round the North
London Line to Gospel Oak and then on a short stretch of the line to
Barking, until joining the East Coast Main Line by way of the Harringay
Curve—a new route for our train in preservation so far as we are
aware.
We then ran via the Hertford Loop to Stevenage, and—again, another
first for our train—made good use of the Down Cambridge Flyover (see
video below) built at Hitchin in 2013, which took us onto the Cambridge
line without delaying Up East Coast services.
After calling at Cambridge and at Ely we arrived at King’s Lynn where
our passengers had nearly 3½ hours to visit the town.
Our departure involved a double-shunt move to take us onto the 3-mile
Middleton Towers branch, which is all that remains of
the former line to Swaffham and Dereham, the rest of which closed in
1968. The stub of line remains open to serve a sand terminal.
In the course of the return leg of our journey we were routed along
the East Coast Main Line all the way from Hitchin to beyond Copenhagen
Tunnel. Initially we were running 17 minutes early and were given a
clear run through the double-track section at Welwyn North, only to lose
all of that advantage as we sat at Hatfield awaiting our path behind
stopping trains. After Copenhagen Tunnel we turned right, climbing the
North London Incline to join the North London Line to reach Kensington
(Olympia). Easy timings and expedient pathing saw us running early
thereafter, such that we were re-routed via Penge instead of Catford to
maintain our advantage.
Our train covered the 354 miles in passenger service without incident,
and the minor instances of lateness (shown as no more than 3 minutes)
resulted from awaiting clear signals. The weather was tailing off from a
mini heatwave, and our passengers enjoyed a warm and sunny day out. A
little light rain fell in Cambridge as we returned, and the proximity of
a chain of thunderstorms afforded a striking sunset-backdrop at
Kensington (Olympia).
Historical data
The train was formed thus: 60118-60501-69337-70262-60529-60116, with motor
coach 60118 Tunbridge
Wells leading upon departure from Hastings, and trailing upon
arrival back there.
The publicity leaflet and timings remain available. The actual running times have
also been published.
Annotated extracts from Network Rail’s Sectional Appendix
have been produced for the outward and return legs of this outing.
Cab video footage
We mounted an unattended unmonitored forward-facing camera in the
leading cab and recorded all of the route from Kensington (Olympia) to
King’s Lynn and back, plus the view towards Middleton Towers.
For part of the journey there was more than one member of staff in the
cab (a route-conductor) making the leading-cab soundtrack unusable for
our purposes, so we have also recorded audio from the rear cab which will
be precisely synchronised and combined with the video footage where
necessary.
We haven’t prepared the footage yet (see our YouTube channel for other such
footage), but here is a little taster showing our passage over the Down
Cambridge Flyover at Hitchin:
Photos
Photos on this page were taken by Richard Griffin unless otherwise
stated.
Above: Motor coach Mountfield brings up the rear of our train as it
calls at Cambridge, the first of our itinerary’s destinations. Photo by
Andy Moore.
Above: Our train called at Cambridge
station’s platform 4 on its outward journey. Photo by Andy Moore.
Above & below: 1001 passes over the
Magdalen Road level crossing and through Watlington station in the final
stages of its outward journey—just six miles left to King’s Lynn. Photos
by Ian McDonald.
Above: Our train arrived spot-on time at
King’s Lynn and initially berthed in platform 2, where it was captured by
the lens of Phil Barnes.
Above & below: Once our passengers
had detrained, our train was shunted across to the No.1 carriage siding
on the south side of the station layout; this was to facilitate the
refilling of toilet-water tanks. Ian McDonald was on hand to capture
both halves of this shunt-move as seen from platform 2.
Above: Phil Barnes was also at the ready
with his camera and captured the same shunt-move from a different
angle.
Above & below: This study of rolling stock by Ian
McDonald shows our 1957-vintage Class 201 DEMU alongside a Class 317
electric multiple unit built in 1982 (317 509), and in the platform its younger
cousin a 2015-built Class 387 (387 126).
Above: A window label proclaiming our
itinerary. Photo by Phil Barnes.
Above: Motor coach 60116 Mountfield sports a
“Not To Be Moved” sign while laying over in the No.1 carriage siding at
King’s Lynn: its toilet-water tanks were being replenished at the
time.
Above: Club Class motor coach 60118 Tunbridge Wells was
at the north end of our train today, and is seen here in the No.1
carriage siding which gives every indication of having previously been a
normal platform for passenger use.
Above & below: Once the
tank-refilling was completed we were shunted back to platform 2 for the
rest of our layover time. Overhead Line Electrification reached King’s
Lynn in 1992, and in 2014 a historically sensitive scheme to refurbish
the station was completed.
Above: Our train is stabled in platform
2, with the handbrake applied as denoted by the standard Southern
Region means: a shoe-paddle placed across the offside cab
windscreen.
Above: By the former port in the town is
the Custom House which dates from 1683. Its appearance may rekindle a
memory for those who travelled by train on routes towards King’s Lynn in
the Network SouthEast era, as one of Edward Pond’s illustrations which
decorated the interior of Class 317 units was a depiction of this Custom
House.
Above & below: Gardens in King’s
Lynn, and the station building itself which dates from 1871.
Above: Our journey back to Hastings ran
via the Middleton Towers branch, but for some—like depot dog Eddie—the
day had already been quite long enough!
Above & below: Our train duly carried
out a double-shunt at King’s Lynn to access the Middleton Towers branch,
and then proceeded along the 3-mile line as far as the level crossing at
Station Road, Middleton, to where Ian McDonald had travelled in order to
capture our visit. Because of a lack of suitable staff at the
railfreight (sand) depot, it was not possible for our train to proceed
the short distance into the depot and site of the disused Middleton
station, so the position illustrated is as far as we could go this
time.
Above & below: Thanks to Ian McDonald
who then promptly made his way by road from Middleton, to Watlington once
more where he caught up with us as we headed back towards our next stop,
Ely.
Above & below: We called at
Cambridge’s platform 8 on our return journey, just as a light rain-shower
began. Much has changed at Cambridge—the new island platform, the guided
bus-way, and many modern buildings which occupy all of the area behind
platforms 1/2/3 that was once the station yard and the Dalgety Spillers
factory.
Above: Beneath a striking sunset sky, our
train departs Kensington (Olympia) for the remainder of its journey back
to Hastings. It was running sufficiently early that it was re-routed to
run via Penge instead of Catford.